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All posts by Submitted Story
Obituary of Robert R. Lamb
Robert Ray Lamb, age 88, resident of rural Bronson, KS, died Friday, October 12, 2018, at Medicalodge of Girard, KS.
He was born March 26, 1930, in Bronson, the son of Ray Linus Lamb and Winona Agnes Goodno Lamb. He married Lois Irene Rogers on October 15, 1950, at her family’s home in Bronson.
She preceded him in death on June 17, 2018.
Together, Bob and Lois operated their own dairy farm for many years. Bob loved going to yard sales and farm auctions.
He was an all-around handyman who enjoyed tinkering with mechanical things in his workshop.
Most recently, he regularly attended services at Dry Ridge Baptist Church.
Survivors include two sons, R. W. Lamb, Bronson, KS, and Michael Ray Lamb, Pittsburg, KS; two grandchildren; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. Bob had two sisters, Wanda Braden and Shirley Toon.
Besides his wife Lois, he was preceded in death by his parents.
Pastors Lon Hale, Michael Miller and Mark Davis will conduct funeral services at 10:30 AM Friday, October 19th, at the Cheney Witt Bronson Chapel.
Cremation will follow with private family burial in the Battlefield Cemetery at a later date.
The family will receive friends from 6:00 until 8:00 PM Thursday evening at the Bronson Chapel.
Memorials are suggested to either Dry Ridge Baptist Church or Bronson Baptist Church and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Bronson Chapel, P.O. Box 93, Bronson, KS 66716. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.
Obituary of Albert Pavey
Albert William Pavey, 95, formerly of Fort Scott, passed away early Wednesday morning, October 10, 2018, in the Monterey Park Rehab and Health Center in Independence, Missouri. He was born June 19, 1923, in Fort Scott, Kansas, the son of Pete and Bertha (Hutchinson) Pavey. He married Dorothy L. Green June 27, 1975, in Miami, Oklahoma, and she preceded him in death May 13, 2015.
Albert served in the US Navy during WWII, and he worked at Fairbanks-Morris Water Pump Company, retiring in 1988.
He is survived by several nieces and nephews. In addition to his wife Dorothy, he was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers, Percy Pavey, Paul Pavey, Hubert Pavey, and two sisters, Nellie Ticknor, and Alberta Marshall.
Rev. Larry Stevicks will conduct graveside services 2:00 p.m., Monday, October 15, 2018, at the Oak Grove Cemetery under the direction of the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home. Military Honors at the cemetery will be conducted by the Navy Funeral Honor Detail. Memorial contributions may be made to the Oak Grove Cemetery and left in the care of the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home, 15 W. Wall Street, PO Box 309, Fort Scott, KS 66701. Condolences may be submitted to the online guestbook at konantz-cheney.com.
The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office Daily Reports Oct. 12
Federal and State Agencies Address Rising Use of E-cigarettes
More than 10 percent of Kansas high schoolers use e-cigarettes
TOPEKA – Kansas, along with the rest of the nation, is experiencing an increase in the use of e-cigarettes among youth. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), along with its partners, seeks to raise awareness of the potential harm to those who use this product. According to the 2017 Kansas Youth Risk Behavior Survey, one in 10 (10.6 percent) high school students in Kansas currently use e-cigarettes. And national data show that e-cigarette use among youth increased from 1.5 percent in 2011, to 11.7 percent in 2017. E-cigarettes are now the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. youth.
This month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an analysis of retail e-cigarette sales data from 2013-2017. It shows that sales of JUUL, an e-cigarette shaped like a flash drive, grew more than seven-times from 2016 to 2017, and JUUL Laboratories held the greatest share of the U.S. e-cigarette market by December 2017. In September, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the issuance of more than 1,300 warning letters and fines to retailers that illegally sold JUUL and other e-cigarette products to minors.
“Youth use of e-cigarettes is concerning because e-cigarettes often contain nicotine, and nicotine exposure during adolescence can cause addiction and can harm the developing brain,” said Dr. Greg Lakin, Chief Medical Officer, KDHE. “JUUL products contain particularly high levels of nicotine.”
The U.S. Surgeon General concluded in a 2016 report that the use of tobacco products containing nicotine among youth, including e-cigarettes, is unsafe. E-cigarettes produce an aerosol that generally contains fewer toxic chemicals than secondhand smoke from cigarettes. However, it can contain many harmful and potentially harmful substances, including nicotine, heavy metals like nickel, tin and lead, volatile organic compounds, and cancer-causing chemicals. Because e-cigarettes have risen in popularity so quickly, the long-term effects and dangers of inhaling the aerosol from e-cigarettes are still relatively unknown.
The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) imposed restrictions on tobacco industry marketing, specifically on advertising targeting youth. Exposure to tobacco product advertising has been shown to influence young people to start using tobacco products. E-cigarette companies, however, were not included in and are not restricted by the MSA. E-cigarette companies are using techniques identical to those used by tobacco companies that have been shown to increase use of cigarettes by youth, and research shows they have been successful in their attempts to reach youth. The 2016 National Youth Tobacco Survey found that 78.2 percent of middle and high school students had been exposed to e-cigarette advertisements from at least one source.
E-cigarettes are not one of the seven medications approved as a “quit smoking” aid by the FDA. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluded that there is not enough evidence to recommend e-cigarettes for smoking cessation in adults. Many adult e-cigarette users do not stop smoking cigarettes and instead transition to dual use of both cigarettes and e-cigarettes. In 2016, more than half (56.1 percent) of Kansas adults who currently use e-cigarettes were also current cigarette smokers.
The U.S. Surgeon General concluded in a 2016 report that actions should be taken at the national, tribal, state and local levels to address and prevent e-cigarette use among youth and young adults. One of these recommended actions is engaging youth in comprehensive community and statewide tobacco control programs. Resist is a statewide youth-led tobacco prevention initiative that seeks to change youth perceptions of tobacco use, reduce youth exposure to tobacco products and reduce tobacco use rates in Kansas. Resist is sponsored in part by KDHE. For a complete list of resources on e-cigarettes and other tobacco products impacting Kansas youth, please visit http://www.kdheks.gov/tobacco/youth.html.
Forks and Corks Nov. 3
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The Fort Scott Police Department Daily Reports Oct. 9-11
Click below for the daily reports, which can best be viewed on a computer.
Pray For Mercy by Patty LaRoche
2 Chronicles 7:14 ~ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Mercy Hospital of Fort Scott, we are told, will close its doors at the end of this year. The news causes many to question how a medical facility that, at one time, was touted as being one of the most respectable, highly-sought providers of medical care in southeast Kansas will no longer exist. Community members are stunned by this decision and saddened for the future of those faithful employees who no longer will have a job.
It is time to pray.
It is time we take this loss to our Heavenly Father and ask Him to perform a miracle. Blaming the powers-that-be or welfare recipients or drug addicts or insurance companies is a natural response (and just a few I have heard), but our best chance to give Fort Scott a chance to resolve this earthly crisis is to pray.
Will you join me in doing that? Today? Right this moment and every time you think of this loss? Will you give God a chance to be God?
You know…
The same God who created the world…and you?
The same God who made it possible for a 90-year old woman to give birth?
The same God who parted the Red Sea for the Israelites and provided manna to them for 40 years?
The same God who delivered Daniel from the snares of the hungry lions?
The same God who joined three faithful men to save them in a fiery furnace?
The same God who sent his son, fulfilling hundreds of Old Testament prophecies, to save this world?
And, if you are reading this article, the same God who has given you another day of life?
God is not surprised by Mercy Hospital’s decision to close. He is not pacing Heaven’s golden streets, wringing His hands, trying to figure out what His next move will be. Quite the opposite, according to evangelist Alan Redpath who wrote the following in the 1950’s: “There is nothing—no circumstance, no trouble, no testing—that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But as I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will cause me to fret—for I shall rest in the joy of what my Lord is!”
Re-read 2 Chronicles 7:14. Let us not waste our time fretting. Let us humble ourselves and seek God’s face, repent and trust that God waits for us to rely on Him.
Let us pray.
Obituary Of George Holt
George Holt, 83, of Uniontown, Kansas passed away Wednesday evening, October 10, 2018 at Country Place Living in Fort Scott. He was born May 6, 1935, in Uniontown, Kansas, the son of Herbert and Beulah (Neth) Holt. He graduated from Uniontown High School in 1953 where he lettered in football and basketball. He married Esther Ann McKee on March 4, 1956, In Uniontown. To this union were born two sons, Brent and Brad. The boys grew up on the family farm north of Uniontown, where their parents worked the land and raised cattle for sixty-two years.
Survivors include his wife, Esther, of the home, a son, Dr. Brent Holt and his wife Cheryl, of Roanoke, Virginia; two grandsons, Logan Holt (Carolina), and Sam Holt, of Christiansburg, Virginia; three step-grandchildren, Trevor, Sean, and Cara, and one great-granddaughter, Fernanda Alison Holt-Salinas. Also surviving is his sister, Nadyne Walker, of Fort Scott, several nieces and nephews, including two special care-givers, Donna Sifers and Marci Williams. He was preceded in death by his parents, a sister, Marilyn Brown, and his beloved son, Brad, who died in 1989.
Private services are under the direction of the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home, with burial in the Uniontown Cemetery. Memorial contributions are suggested to the Uniontown First Missionary Baptist Church Building Fund, and may be left in the care of the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home, 15 W. Wall Street, PO Box 309, Fort Scott, KS 66701. Condolences may be submitted to the online guestbook at konantz-cheney.com.
Obituary for Linda Susan Toepfer
Linda Susan Toepfer, age 69, a resident of Ft. Scott, Kansas, passed away Thursday, October 10, 2018, at the Mercy Hospital Emergency Room in Ft. Scott.
She was born April 18, 1949, in Ft. Scott, the daughter of Allan Todd and Dorothy Sackett Todd.
Linda graduated from the Uniontown High School with the Class of 1967. She married Thomas Charles Toepfer; they later divorced.
In earlier years, Linda had worked at Wal-Mart in both Baxter Springs and Ft. Scott. She then attended nursing school at Fort Scott Community College and became a Registered Nurse. She worked as a nurse in Florida and Joplin, Missouri. She later retired from the Bates County Hospital in Butler, Missouri.
Linda was a loving and devoted mother to her three daughters; she worked hard as a single mother to make sure the family’s needs were always supplied. She loved spending quality time with children and grandchildren as well as going to the beach and taking trips to the casinos.
Survivors include her three daughters, Michelle “Shelly” Edwards, of Leawood, Kansas and twins, Kerri Bohlken and husband Randy and Kendell Dawn Mason and husband, Steve, all of Ft. Scott; five grandchildren, Alex Mason (Holli) of Redfield, Kansas, Ashton Mason, of Olathe, Kansas, Jessica Amico (Joey) of Maryland, Max Bohlken (Savannah) of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and Lane Bohlken of Ft. Scott; and a great-granddaughter, Lucy Mason. Also surviving is a brother, Matt Todd and wife, Ezra, of Independence, Missouri.
She was preceded in death by her parents.
Following cremation, a graveside service will be held at 3:00 P.M. Monday, October 15th at the Paint Creek Cemetery south of Redfield, Kansas.
The family will receive friends from 12:30 to 2:30 P.M. Monday at the Cheney Witt Chapel prior to leaving for the cemetery.
Memorials are suggested to the Polycystic Kidney Disease “PKD” Foundation and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347, Ft. Scott, KS 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.
The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office Daily Reports Oct. 11
Medicare Open Enrollment Begins October 15;
Free counseling available from KDADS’ SHICK program
TOPEKA, Kan. – The open enrollment period for Medicare coverage in 2019 begins October 15, 2018, and runs through December 7, 2018.
“Older adults can sign up for Medicare for the first time during this period, and current Medicare consumers can make changes to several aspects of their coverage as well,” said Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) Secretary Tim Keck. “If you’re already enrolled, this is an opportunity to review your coverage and adjust, as necessary, so it better meets your needs.”
“Earlier this year, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced new policies that support increased flexibility of benefits, allowing Medicare Advantage plans to offer innovative coverage that fit the needs of people with Medicare,” Secretary Keck said. “The more affordable choices being made available through this patient-centered approach to health care lead to greater health security for those who need it most.”
During open enrollment, those currently enrolled may:
- Switch from original Medicare to Medicare Advantage, or vice versa;
- Switch from one Medicare Advantage plan to another or from one Medicare Part D prescription drug plan to another;
- And if you didn’t enroll in a Medicare Part D plan when you were first eligible, you can do so during open enrollment, although a late enrollment penalty may apply.
If you want to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan, you must meet some basic criteria:
- You must be enrolled in Medicare Part A and B
- You must live in the plan’s service area
- You cannot have end-stage renal disease (some exceptions apply)
CMS estimates that the Medicare Advantage average monthly premium will decrease by $1.81 in 2019, from an average of $30 in 2018 to $28. Approximately 83 percent of Medicare Advantage enrollees remaining in their current plan will have the same or lower premium for 2019.
If you’re already enrolled in a Medicare Part D prescription plan or a Medicare Advantage Plan and you do not want to make changes to your coverage for 2018, you don’t need to do anything during open enrollment, assuming your current plan will still be available in 2019. If your plan is being discontinued and isn’t eligible for renewal, you will receive a non-renewal notice from your carrier prior to open enrollment. If you do not, it means you can keep your plan without doing anything during open enrollment.
Be aware that benefits and premiums could be changing for 2019. So even if you’re confident you want to keep your current coverage for the coming year, it is important to understand any changes that may apply and check to make sure your current plan is still the best available option. The available plans and what they cover change from one year to the next, so even if the plan you have now was the best option when you shopped last year, it is important to verify that again before you choose your plan for another year.
Between January 1 and March 31 each year, those enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan have the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (MA OEP) to make a change. Your coverage begins the first day of the month after you enroll in the plan. You must be in an MA Plan already on January 1 to use this enrollment period. There is a coordinating Special Enrollment Period (SEP) to add or drop Part D when switching plans if applicable. You can only make one change during the MA OEP.
Changes to be aware of for 2019 include:
- 58 Medicare Advantage plans are available
- 100 percent of people with Medicare have access to a Medicare Advantage plan
- 26 Medicare prescription drug plans are available with premiums varying from $16.20 to $99.10
- 100 percent of people with a Medicare prescription drug plan have access to a plan with a lower premium than what they paid in 2018
State-by-State Fact Sheets are now available at https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Reach-Out/Find-tools-to-help-you-help-others/MA-Part-D-Landscape-State-by-State.pdf
For more information on these changes and other Medicare-related issues, please contact KDADS’ Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansas (SHICK), a free program that offers Kansans an opportunity to talk with trained, community volunteers and get answers to questions about Medicare and other insurance issues. SHICK has counselors throughout the state that can assist people to stay informed on changing conditions in health care insurance. Call 800-860-5260 for this free counseling service.
SHICK counselors receive training on Medicare, Medicare Supplement Insurance, Long-Term Care and other health insurance subjects that concern older Kansans. The counselors do not work for any insurance company, their goal is to educate and assist the public to make informed decisions on what’s best for each individual situation.