The Fort Scott Fire Department joined other departments around the nation in Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 4-10, by visiting local public and private schools to inform students of the dangers of a fire in their home.

Chief Paul Ballou said they use the entire month to visit area schools with a fire engine and their Fire Safety House, which simulates a house fire with artificial smoke and a smoke detector going off.

“We really put our focus on fire safety in the home,” Ballou said, saying they want to make sure the children know to leave the house quickly and meet the rest of their family at a predetermined point outside.

The firefighters also teach the children the difference between their own toys and tools which are only to be used by adults, including matches.

The Fire Safety House, which has been in the Fort Scott Fire Department’s possession since they built it around the year 1997, gives the fire department personnel an opportunity to teach the children to stay low, how to climb down a ladder and even what information to tell dispatchers if they have to call 911 in the case of a fire.

Captain Dale Bollinger said the fire house has greatly helped them in training students since it is easier to teach them in a hands-on demonstration than just by telling them. After practicing and hearing the information each year, Bollinger said some of the older students are able to quote it back to them.

When the department completes this month’s fire prevention focus, they would have spoken to approximately 1,200 students, sometimes seeing about 240 a day.

“It’s a big month for us,” Ballou said. “We really enjoy it.”

Bollinger said the community also enjoys the theme and is receptive to it, with schools often planning their schedule around the visits and even including the topic in other teaching periods.

Throughout the rest of this week, the fire department will visit different preschools and next week will make an appearance at Eugene Ware Elementary.

Once again, members of the Fort Scott community and surrounding areas participated in a statewide effort to protest against abortion through the Kansans for Life annual Life Chain event held Sunday afternoon.

This year’s event was led by volunteer director Joe Barr and included scores of participants who formed a line on the east side of Interstate 69, stretching from about National to Jayhawk Road, with participants of all ages and religious denominations holding signs expressing their support for life and against abortion.

“You have a legal right to assemble and to express your conviction peaceably on public property,” a slideshow at First Southern Baptist Church told participants in the event before they took their places by the highway.

The participants took advantage of that right, occasionally receiving positive feedback from drivers in the form of a honk, wave or thumbs up gesture. But they also came prepared to accept negative responses and respond in kindness.

“You have chosen to do the Lord’s work today,” Barr said, saying he realized their event competed with major sporting events such as Nascar and Kansas City Royals and Chiefs games. “This is Christians working together against the scourge of abortion.”

Participants were encouraged to consider the rally as a solemn event in remembrance of the approximately 53 million unborn children aborted since 1973 when the Roe vs. Wade court case legalized abortion.

“We want to stand boldly to say that’s not right,” said Paul Martin, children’s minister at Community Christian Church, during his prayer before the event.

Barr also said if anyone wanted to get involved in the Kansans for Life committee to help plan the event for next year, they should let him know. Those committee members are only required to attend four meetings during the year, bringing new ideas to the table as they plan the Life Chain for 2016.

After working at Medicalodges in Fort Scott for 20 years in a variety of positions, current marketing manager Deb Madison will officially retire from the facility after Sept. 30.

Born and raised in Fort Scott, Madison first worked at Medicalodges as a high school student not long after it opened in 1966. She returned in April of 1995 when the administrator, a former classmate of hers, asked her to consider taking a position there.

“I took it hesitantly,” Madison says of that decision. “I just didn’t know whether I would actually like this kind of work. But after you work here a few days, you realize it’s something you love.”

First working as a housekeeping supervisor, Madison eventually served in several departments including social services, human resources and eventually community relations and marketing. Madison said that latter position has been one of her favorites, saying she gets to be a part of both worlds as she works with Medicalodges but also interacts with the community.

But Madison says her favorite part of the job has been her fellow staff members and the residents she sees each day.

“Residents become your family,” Madison says. “A lot of them you’re around them as much as you are your own family…It will be hard not to see them every day.”

Madison says it has been an honor working for Medicalodges over the last two decades, as she saw changes come to the facility such as seven different administrators and also different regulations enforced at the state and federal level. Overall, Madison says they have changed the atmosphere from that of an institution to that of a home for their residents.

“It’s all about teamwork here,” Madison says, adding the staff helps each other out when needed, even if it is outside of their own area of expertise. “We’ve got a good staff.”

But Madison says she looks forward to retirement and spending more time with her seven children and nine grandchildren, ranging from two to 14 years old. All of her children live in or near Fort Scott.

Madison and her husband will also continue working at their ranch, Madison Cattle, located about six miles north of Fort Scott and says she plans to remain active in the community.

“I’m sure I’ll be plenty busy,” Madison says of her retirement. “It will be a different chapter in my life.”

Fort Scott National Historic Site and the city of Fort Scott welcomed 91 new United States citizens Friday morning with the naturalization ceremony for the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

“Participating in ceremonies such as this is one of the best parts of my job as magistrate judge,” said the Honorable Teresa James, U.S. Magistrate Judge.

Forty different countries were represented by the new citizens, including Mexico, Canada, Ukraine, Russia, China, Thailand, South Africa, Kenya, India and others. Their careers included homemakers, students, software engineers, painters, concrete workers, professors, pastors, bakers and even a member of the United States military among others.

“I know you have worked very hard to accomplish this goal,” James said, saying they earned their citizenship with all the work they went through to reach this point. “It is a lengthy and rigorous process.”

The Honorable Mark Ward, District Judge of the 6^th Judicial District, said those new citizens had to go through several steps including studying English and taking a 100-question, U.S. history and government test, which Ward pointed out many natural-born citizens would struggle to pass.

“I congratulate each and every one of you,” Mark Ward said. “You should be proud of your accomplishments.”

Ward, whose father-in-law emigrated from Italy at the age of 11 years, said that accomplishment has earned them the right to vote, practice their own religion and many other freedoms which they should hold on to.

“Many of us don’t realize how lucky we are,” Ward said. “It’s easy to take our rights and freedoms for granted.”

Betty Boyko of the historic site encouraged the new citizens to visit their site again. Boyko said the site has hosted the event four times and the fort and the entire community enjoy providing a venue for the ceremony.

“This is a great day, a great memory, and we thank you for allowing Fort Scott to be the place where this memory takes place,” Fort Scott City Manager Dave Martin said.

The Fort Scott High School band and orchestra provided music throughout the ceremony while the Pittsburg State University Army ROTC presented the colors.

Fort Scott Community College was named the top-ranked community college in the nation in a second annual study done by SmartAsset, a personal-financial advice platform which used data from 565 public, two-year colleges for the study.

“Community colleges are getting a lot of attention lately,” managing editor A.J. Smith said, saying she and others did the study to provide information to those considering college and student loans. “So we’re happy to look at what some of our great community colleges are providing.”

In 2014, FSCC was ranked at ninth in the nation, but their 12:1, student-teacher ratio, reasonable tuition rates and 87 percent graduation or transfer rate led to their earning that top position for 2015. A fourth area the study looked at was the ratio of the median starting salary for graduates to the cost of attendance.

Smith said FSCC’s increase in graduate or transfer rate and the only slight in-state tuition increase compared to more drastic rises for other colleges led to their move into first place in the study.

SmartAsset pointed out that FSCC is also one of the oldest of its kind, founded in 1919 as the first community college in Kansas.

Other top 10 community colleges were located in Missouri, Illinois, Arizona, Mississippi, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas. Labette Community College in Parsons was ranked fifth.

For a 27^th year, the Gordon Parks Center in Fort Scott is facilitating the Gordon Parks Photography Competition, encouraging both local and international amateur photographers to submit photographs before the Oct. 1, deadline.

“The goal is to honor Gordon Parks through the medium he is most well-known for – photography,” said Jill Warford, executive director of the Gordon Parks Museum. “Another goal is to encourage and recognize photographers in Gordon’s name.”

Conducted by the Fort Scott Community College since 1990, the competition has had more than 4,000 people participate.

Individuals can submit up to five photographs, without any digital alteration, taken within the last two years. Each entry costs $10 and must follow the 2015 theme of “The Learning Tree” Years – taken from Parks’ novel of the same name which followed characters through different life transitions and influences.

Participants can use that theme for a photograph from any perspective, their own or someone else’s, as they capture scenes from life.

The competition will provide $500 in winnings, giving $200 to the first place winner, $100 to the second place, $75 to the third place photo and $25 apiece to five honorable mention photographs.

The first round of judging will be complete by Oct. 30, with 15-18 photos being selected for the finalists’ round, with finalist photographers notified by email. Winners will be named on the 103^rd anniversary of Parks’ birthday, Nov. 30.

This year, only amateur photographers will be allowed to participate, excluding those who have a full-time job or make a living in photography.

Photo Credit: Gordon Parks Museum/Center for Culture and Diversity