With the arrival of spring-like temperatures, the Woodland Hills Golf Course is prepared for an increase in golfers and events and features a number of changes and improvements accomplished in recent months.

About six years ago, the city of Fort Scott purchased the golf course from the owners, who were no longer able to keep it up themselves. At that time, City Manager Dave Martin was new to his position and faced an unpopular decision concerning the course.

Martin said at a Chamber of Commerce event Thursday morning that some residents encouraged the city to invest in the course while others urged them to stay out of such an endeavor. From the beginning, Martin said the city knew it could not only be the city involved, but the entire community invested.

Because of the community support, the golf course has been able to make a number of improvements as it provides further recreational options for the city. In just the past year the golf course has constructed a new clubhouse, employed a professional in Shannon O’Neil as the director, leased new golf carts, created a new website and are now beginning the process of building a new golf cart shed.

“We’re definitely going in the right direction,” O’Neil said. “We have good momentum right now and it’s just one step at a time.”

Rates are $12 for individuals Monday-Thursday, and $14 for individuals over the weekend. The course has more than a dozen employees, including some high school students who hold part-time jobs.

Throughout the year, the course provides a location for tournaments, both for out-of-town and for local high school teams. A number of fundraising tournaments are also held at the course. Upcoming events include the Elks Lodge Spring Golf Tournament Saturday to raise funding for fireworks, the Second Annual Mercy Health Foundation Tournament on June 10, one hosted by the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce on July 28, and a number of other scrambles held on specific weekends over the summer.

After finding success in this season’s debate tournaments, 13 Fort Scott High School students qualified for nationals, the largest number in the team’s history.

“Personally, I am proud of their hard work,” coach Amber Toth said of the students, some of whom had qualified in the past while others were first-time qualifiers. “I realize that hard work doesn’t always yield just reward, but I am happy to say that it did in most cases.”

Those students include Darby Toth, Zach Humble, Joe Adams, Mark Adams, Alex Gorman, Isabella Provence, Rebekah Sweyko, Brooklyn Lyons, Madi Toth, Emma Faith Humble, Elizabeth Ngatia, Seth Cross and Chloe Studyvin.

“I felt relieved, accomplished, because all of my hard work finally paid off,” said sophomore and first-time qualifier Chloe Studyvin.

Each team participates in 12-14 regular season tournaments before moving on to district tournaments in the National Speech and Debate Association. The students can compete in two of the 13 different events in an effort to be one of the two students to qualify for nationals from each category.

The categories Fort Scott students qualified in include Student Congress-House, public forum debate, Lincoln Douglas debate, humorous interpretation, informative speaking, duo interpretation and program of oral interpretation.

“I am really excited to qualify as a freshman,” Madi Toth said of her achievement. “My goal is to be a four-time qualifier. I was worried about having to beat seniors to make it, but we worked hard and we did it.”

The students will travel to Birmingham, Al., in June to compete. The team has held a number of fundraisers throughout the year for the trip, but still lacks about $2,000 according to Toth. The final fundraiser will be a Community Showcase at the Ellis Fine Arts Center on May 1, at 7 p.m., with the team requesting free will donations from those attending.

The Fort Scott National Historic Site welcomed visitors from neighboring counties and even states for their 35^th annual Civil War Encampment held over the weekend.

The site welcomed a number of volunteers from the Holmes Brigade, 4th Missouri Cavalry, Western Bluecoats Field Hospital, 3rd Kansas Artillery Battery B and other local residents who dressed in Civil War period clothing and gave a number of demonstrations including baking, soap-making, infantry, cavalry and artillery.

Historian and author Diane Eickhoff gave a program on Women Soldiers of the Civil War, discussing roles the women played during the war, such as in laundry, cooking, knitting, teaching and nursing as well as by working in factories and arsenals and as clerks, spies, scouts and soldiers.

Fort Scott Presbyterian Village continues to host their annual Art is Ageless Exhibit through Monday, April 24, allowing visitors to see the creations of community members age 65 years and over.

“There’s quite a bit of art that has been entered this year,” Executive Director Ginger Nance said, adding many of the artists are self-taught.

Members of the community are encouraged to visit the exhibit and vote for their favorite work of art, which includes a variety of paintings, drawings, sculptures, sewing projects and photography, for the people’s choice award.

There are nine categories that will be judged, also divided between amateur and professional, based on if the artist has sold their work. Local competition winners will then be judged against winners of the 16 other Presbyterian Manors, with the winners being featured in a calendar.

“It’s not… about all that competition,” Nance said. “It’s about having fun and continuing to be creative and try new things.”

The Presbyterian Village is also selling tickets for the annual Good Samaritan fundraiser to be held May 17, including a chicken dinner and auction. Two trips to Santa Fe will also be raffled off, with each ticket costing $5 and three for $10. Funding raised is used to support Presbyterian Village residents who run out of finances needed to support themselves.

Buck Run Community Center provided various Easter activities for families Saturday morning, including crafts, snacks and dying eggs. Walgreens simultaneously provided an opportunity for children to have their photo taken with the Easter bunny, receiving a free photo print.

The area Good Neighbor Action Team and the City of Fort Scott will host a meeting Thursday, April 20, to discuss and listen to ideas about the needs of northwest Fort Scott.

Focusing on the area to the north of 6^th Street and west of National Avenue to the Marmaton River, citizens are invited to attend the 5 p.m. hot dog dinner and the 6 p.m. meeting at the First Presbyterian Church, where they can express their concerns and desires for that part of the city.

Craig Campbell said the team had success at similar, past events and will continue to work with the city, the codes department and those living in that area to create a plan of action.

“The purpose of the event is to listen to the residents and property owners in the designated area,” Fort Scott Codes Manager Rhonda Dunn said. “We want to know their concerns and their desires as we formulate a plan to partner with them to enhance the overall quality of life in the area.”