The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce announces a Golden Egg shopping event which will take place on Saturday, April 16th. Most stores in the Downtown Historic District and several additional locations will be participating in the hunt!
Customers are invited to shop local retailers to search for the hidden gold eggs. The golden eggs will contain coupons, promotions, Chamber Bucks, and more! Participating retailers include Angie Dawn’s Boutique, Bids & Dibs, Hedgehog. Ink! Bookstore, Iron Star, Laree + Co., Main Street Gallery and Gifts, Mayco Ace, Museum of Creativity, Sunshine Boutique, Treasure Hunt Flea Market, Varia Quality Resale Clothing, Sekan’s Occasion Shop, and Shirt Shack!
The Chamber encourages the community to join the hunt on Saturday, April 16th. Get ‘egg-cited’ to shop local!
Contact the Chamber for more information at 620-223-3566.
Kansas Gas ServiceApril awarenesscampaignaimsto increase calls to 811
April isNational Safe Digging MonthandKansas Gas Serviceis celebrating by introducing itsteam of “Dig Heroes.” The Dig Heroes’ purpose is tohelppromote safe diggingamongKansans–regardless of the type or size of digging project they’re planning.
Kansanscan becomeDig Heroesby taking the Safe Digging Pledge atBeADigHeroKansas.com, where theycan share their commitment toalways calling 811 before they dig andbe entered to win a $100 gift card.
Who Are the DigHeroes? The Dig Heroes are a group of superheroes who have taken the pledge to practice safe digging no matter how big or small their digging project might be. “The Dig Heroes are a fun new addition to our annual public awareness campaign, as they encourage participation from all types of customers–from developers to homeowners and gardeners, and of course, dog lovers,” saidDawn Tripp,manager ofPublic RelationsforKansas GasService.
When someone digs inKansas, whether planting a tree or digging the foundation of a skyscraper, there is a high probability of an undergroundfacilitywithin the site. When customers make the free call to 811 or visitKansas811.combefore digging, professional locators will mark theundergroundfacilitieswithin the designated project area with flags and/or paint at no cost to the home or business owner.
“Many people don’t remember to call 811 before planting a garden, removing trees, installing sprinklers and other outdoor projects, but a quick call to811 can prevent significant outages and inconveniences to neighborhoods,” said Trey Pool,Manager of Public Awareness and Damage Prevention for ONE Gas, parent company ofKansas Gas Service.“We hope to help change that by raising awareness to call 811 before starting any projects that involve digging into the ground.”
When to Call 811 Individuals should call 811 at leasttwo full working daysbefore starting their digging projects– no matter how small–to make sure that all lines are protected and the chances of hitting a line decrease.
3 Tips to Remember Before Digging 1.Even if you’re digging shallow, you need to call to have your lines marked. 2.If you hire a contractor, make sure they call811prior to digging. 3.Respectthe Tolerance Zone,which is the area 24inches from the outside edge of the pipe in all horizontal directions.Within this zone, you should use reasonable care, such as hand digging, vacuum excavation or similar safe excavation methods to avoid any contact or damage to the line.
Learn more about the Dig Heroes, safe digging,and take the pledge atBeADigHeroKansas.com for your chance to win a $100 gift card.
About Kansas Gas Service KansasGas Service provides a reliable and affordable energy choice to more than 645,000 customers in Kansas and is the largest natural gas distributor in the state, in terms of customers. Headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas Gas Service is a division of ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE: OGS), a 100–percent regulated natural gas utility that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “OGS.” ONE Gas is included in the S&PMidCap400 Index and is one of the largest natural gas utilities in the United States. Formore information and the latest news about Kansas Gas Service, visitkansasgasservice.comand follow its social channels:@KansasGas,Facebook,Nextdoor,LinkedIna
Title of each Poem: (Remember, each poem needs to be on a separate page. Limit 2 poems per entry. – list titles here)
Entry:$5 entry fee. An entry may include up to 2 poems. One entry per person. Entry forms are available at the store or email Jan at [email protected] for an entry form.
Deadline: All entries must be delivered, emailed to [email protected] or mailed to Hedgehog.INK! 16 S. Main, Fort Scott, KS 66701 by 5:00 p.m. on April 30, 2022.
Theme: The theme for this year’s contest is, “What inspires you?”
Guidelines:
Entries need to be typewritten if at all possible. (Neat hand-written manuscripts will be accepted.)
Each poem should include a title and be submitted on a separate page. No other information should be included. A number will be assigned to each participant at the time of submission.
Remember, do not include your name on your submitted poem.
Two winners in each age group will be posted during the first week of May. A celebration of poetry will be held at a later date.
4/8-9 ~ KOMB 103.9 FM Home Sport Farm Garden Show, Friday 5-8pm, Saturday 9am-3pm,
Arnold Arena on the campus of FSCC
4/8-10 ~ FSCC Presents ‘Godspell’ Fifty years after its theatrical debut, the musical “Godspell” returns to the stage at Fort Scott Community College in an exciting, powerful new form next month.7:30pm March 25-26 and 2pm March 27. Admission is $5. FSCC students, faculty and staff are admitted free of charge. Masks are required.
4/9 ~ Hopping Crappie Tournament, Lake Fort Scott, 6am, click here for FB event.
4/9 ~ Easter Egg Hunt hosted by Kiwanis, Gunn Park Shelter 2, 11am sharp!
4/9 ~ Paint & Pizza Easter Cross Party at Papa Don’s, click here for details.
4/9 ~ FS Christian Heights 8th grade Car Hop & Bake Sale at the school, 4-7pm
4/9 ~ Joe Erie Benefit, Holmtown Pub with Bourbon County Revival, 12-2pm
SAVE THE DATE:
4/13 ~ One-Day Shuttle Trip to view the Gordon Parks exhibition, Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS, 8:30am-6pm, click here.
4/14 ~ BINGO hosted by American Legion Post 25 at Memorial Hall, 7pm
4/16 ~ Find the Golden Egg Shopping Event, Downtown Fort Scott Historic District
4/15 ~ Kansas Rocks Recreation Park Spring Off Road 101 Course, 2051 130th St. Mapleton, KS, 9am-5pm
4/23-24 ~ Civil War Encampment Weekend at the Fort Scott National Historic Site, click here.
Healthy Bourbon County Action Team staff have organized a fourth seminar targeting women who are seeking information on starting/growing a business.
The event is Wednesday, April 6 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the HBCAT office, 104 N. National Avenue.
“This will help local women entrepreneurs know their resources and learn from local women leaders on how to create a sustainable business,” said Rachel Carpenter, program director. “This is an opportunity for women to network and create relationships to help their businesses take the next professional step.”
For this Dare to Dream seminar, the time has been scheduled for table-talk discussion with past keynote speakers and panelists.
“This is the fourth part of the Dare to Dream series,” Carpenter said. “We will have some of the past keynote speakers and panelists available for table discussion. This will be a time for any questions to be answered from the audience.”
“Any questions you may have you will be able to ask some of the women leaders of Bourbon County. We want you to be SUCCESSFUL! There will be more time for social networking and building relationships,” according to its Facebook page.
Past speakers who will be available for a round table open discussion are Erin Vann, Hwy. 3; Dacia Clark, PSU Small Business Development Center; Katie Casper, Union State Bank; Angela Simon, Bids and Dibs; Rebecca Williams, The Butcher Block; Kelly Perry, Perry’s Pork Rinds; Lindsay Madison, The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce and Rachel Carpenter and Jody Hoener of the HBCAT.
Please note there is one registration per person to help us with registration.
Melissa Wise, the keynote speaker, is the owner of Wise Tax and Accounting and has over 20 years of experience with accounting, payroll, and taxes.
Melissa Wise. Submitted photo.
Registration is required for childcare.
There will be a taco bar catered by La Hacienda, and Margaritas available for purchase.
Dinner and networking from 5-5:30 p.m. with the program starting at 5:30 p.m.
Funding for this event is being provided by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas as part of Bourbon County Pathways to a Healthy Kansas grant and the USDA Rural Business Development Grant, according to its Facebook page.
“Through this grant, we are partnered with Pittsburg State University Small Business Development Center to organize this event,” she said.
“We will be giving away a PSU gift basket and a tablet as door prizes,” Carpenter said.
Moe’s Bread is moving to the old Boiler Room Brewhaus at Wall and National Avenue.
Moe and David McCurry are the owners of Moe’s Bread, 20 W. Wall and have been selling many kinds of breakfast, lunch, and snacks at this site for three years.
Moe’s Bread is moving from this site on Wall Street to around the corner east on National Avenue.
But on April 4 they are opening their business in a new location on National Avenue to be able to offer more.
“Moe’s Bread will be closed March 31st to April 3rd to move to 2 South National,” Moe said on the business Facebook page. “We hope to see you on Monday, April 4th.”
Moe McCurdy with grandson Keeghan Bishop in Moe’s Bread Store on March 29.
Today, Wednesday, March 30 from 10 a.m. until they run out of food, everything in the current storefront will be sold for half off the original price.
2 S. National Avenue is at the corner of Wall and National Avenue, the former Downtowner Hotel, and most recently the Boiler Room Brew Haus.
“The reason we’re moving is … to add a soup and salad bar and we needed more room in the kitchen,” she said in an interview.
A peak in the front windows of the new Moe’s Bread, shows the salad bars.
“We have hot breakfasts in the morning, including biscuits and gravy sausage rolls, breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches, croissants, cinnamon rolls, muffins of all flavors and we have muffin top donuts,” Moe said.
For lunch they offer deli sandwiches “and you can call in and have those delivered or you can pick them up any time of the day that we’re open,” she said.
They also offer all kinds of bread: wheat bread, white bread, French bread, Italian bread, sourdough, and fruit bread: pumpkin, banana, apple, cinnamon, chocolate chip, and muffins: blueberry and raspberry.
“We make pies, we make any kind of dessert you’d like,” she said. “Unfortunately, we do not decorate cakes at this moment but we look forward to doing that in the future at our new address.”
Contact info for the store number is 620-768-8009.
“They’re welcome to leave a message,” she said. “We do check our phone every morning.”
Hours of operation currently are 4:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
“When we move on April 4th we will be open 4:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, those are subject to change,” she said.
Amber Ericson holds her granddaughter Journee Ericson in front of some of the pre-owned appliances THRAMS sells in Bronson. At right is Helen Bolling, Amber’s mom, and a business partner.
THRAMS Antiques has ventured into providing pre-owned appliances from a source in the Kansas City area.
While owner, Amber Ericson, was in K.C. purchasing antiques and unique furniture, she ran into an appliance repairman at the marketplace, she said.
Some of the pre-owned appliances offered at THRAMS from their Facebook page.
“He buys from apartment complexes when they redo the apartments,” she said. “That’s what we are buying.”
“He refurbishes them and sells them,” Ericson said. “I go up to K.C. once a month and get more. I’ve already sold 40. If they don’t work you can bring them back.”
Clothes washers including top, front, stackable units, gas stoves and dryers, refrigerators, air conditioners, and deep freezers are sole at the store.
“We thought we would try it,” Ericson said. She started the venture in August 2021.
Ericson opened THRAMS next door to her parent’s business Bronson Locker, a butcher store, at 504 Clay Street in the small town 20 miles west of Fort Scott just off Highway 54.
THRAMS Antiques, 504 Clay Street, Bronson. March 2022.
The storefront next to Bronson Locker was unused space, and owned by the Bollings, Amber’s parents.
“It was a pile-up room,” Helen Bolling, Ericson’s mom and part-owner of the store said. “Amber started picking up a few things and it grew.”
The space is now packed with unique furniture and antiques.
“Antique hall trees and wardrobes are our best sellers,” Bolling said.
“Divans, appliances, wardrobes, hall trees we sell as quickly as we can get them,” Ericson said.
A large divan offered at THRAMS, Bronson, from their Facebook page.
The store is open Mondays from
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday-8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesday-8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Thursday-8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday call or text for an appointment at 620-363-1159.
Cole Bowman, 37, Fort Scott, and Scott Morris, 47, Parsons, have launched a new computer application called MyShift in the Apple Appstore.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, businesses have been struggling to fill staff vacancies and operate at their full capacity because of illness, quarantine and other measures taken during the pandemic.
Nine months ago, Bowman began to think of a way to help this situation.
“I came up with the idea on May 24, 2021 while waiting for one of my sales reps at a hotel in Tulsa to go have dinner,” Bowman said. “He was late, so I was looking through the food delivery apps and overheard a hotel worker talking to a customer about how none of the employees they had before the shutdown would come back to work, or had found other jobs, and she must have been the first person on their list that was willing to come back to work for the pay they were offering.”
Bowman said he thought to himself that surely there is an app for that.
“A situation where businesses could look through available workers that they could bring them in to cover a shift, but there wasn’t,” he said.
Bowman enlisted help from Scott Morris.
“I talked to Scott about the idea for the app and he liked it,” he said. “We searched and searched for something that worked like our app and never found anything, so we began our path of figuring out how to build an app in late June. Finally, our app is complete and went live in the Google PlayStore and iOS Appstore this last week,” Bowman said.
New Ways To Work
“Businesses were unable to operate at full capacity after reopening from the pandemic, and people have evolved to find new ways to work without the traditional employment requiring them to commit to a schedule,” Bowman said.
MyShift is starting in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, then within the next few weeks expanding to four more states.
Their plan then is to release nationwide by October 1, 2022, Bowman said.
“This is a web/ mobile app-based platform for businesses to connect with workers to fill shifts on-demand with the transaction being as simple as using a ride-share app,” Bowman said.
How It Works
MyShift allows businesses and workers to connect anywhere, anytime, to fill shifts and have the entire payment transaction handled through the app, according to a press release.
Businesses can list open shifts including details about when, where, description of work, and the amount they will pay for the shift.
“Shifters” will then be able to see the open shifts in their area and can select which one they would like to work.
MyShift. Submitted graphic.
After a Shifter has requested the posted shift, the business is able to review the applied Shifter’s ratings in their profiles and click on the one they would like to work their shift. Then the Shifter shows up to the business at the agreed-upon time and works the shift; upon completion of the shift, the business will then rate the Shifter between 1-5 stars and confirm the payment triggering Myshift to deposit the payment in the Shifter’s account.
Myshift is free for everyone to download, and the business will only pay a fee once they agree to accept the Shifter to work a shift they have posted.
There are no fees to the Shifters, and there are no commitments beyond the shifts they choose to work.
For the business, it allows them to find help on-demand to fill shifts hassle-free.
Business owners will now have a pool of vetted professionals ready to fill their shifts, all without the hassle of recruiting and onboarding, according to the press release.
Shifters have the freedom to work as often as they’d like and get paid each time they complete a shift, allowing the flexibility to earn money without the commitment of traditional employment.
The first target markets for MyShift will be Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma & Texas for the initial startup.
Cole Bowman. Submitted photo.
About the Creators
Bowman is a 2003 Fort Scott High School Graduate and 2007, Pittsburg State University Graduate with a Bachelor in Plastics Engineering.
He has 15 years of professional experience in plastics engineering and is currently the regional sales manager for Sepro Group, a robotics and automation manufacturer based in France.
He and his wife, Wendy Bowman, have four kids Luke, Lily, Nora, and Gage. His parents are John and Cindy Bowman, who own the NuGrille Restaurant.
Scott Morris is a 1993 Labette County High School graduate and earned a BBA in accounting for Pittsburg State University in 2002 and an MBA in 2009 from Friends University.
He has 20 years of experience in plastics manufacturing as vice president and chief financial officer of Charloma, Inc.
His wife, Jeanna Morris, and he have four children: Grant, Hallie, Mason, and Brady.
In his community Morris coaches multiple youth sports, he said.
TOPEKA – Beginning April 1, Evergy Kansas Central residential customers will pay an average of $0.36 more per month to have electricity delivered to their homes. That amounts to $4.32 per year, based on an average monthly usage of 900 kWh. Kansas law allows electric utilities regulated by the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) to recover costs associated with the transmission of electric power through a separate transmission delivery charge (TDC) on customer bills, without approval from the KCC.
The Commission acknowledged the effective date of the increase at its meeting this morning. Generally the KCC has jurisdiction over Evergy’s retail rates and terms of service. However, a regulated electric utility is statutorily authorized to adjust its Transmission Delivery Charge due to changes in cost under K.S.A. 66-1237(c). As such, the Commission has no discretion and must accept Evergy’s proposed change on a subject to refund basis within 30 business days of the application. In accordance with the statutory requirement, these transmission delivery charges are conclusively presumed prudent as filed. If irregularities are later found, the Commission can order changes, including refunds.
Evergy’s application requested $310 million in TDC revenues, an increase of $20.4 million from the prior TDC. That increases the transmission-related portion of a residential customer’s bill from $0.018810 per kWh to $0.019214 per kWh.
