William Hall is a new math teacher at Fort Scott High School, whose hometown is Manhattan, KS.
Hall earned a bachelor of science degree in secondary math education from Kansas State University and has previously taught math at Hugoton High School.
His family consists of his father, brother, and sister, who still live in Manhattan, another brother in Las Vegas, and another brother in Sydney, Australia.
” I’ve always been interested in working with students,” he said. And his students inspire him, he said.
Hall is looking forward to getting to know the students at Fort Scott High School, he said.
His greatest challenge in teaching math is working with technology.
“I am what you would call ‘technology challenged,” he said.
Post 25 is raffling a Taurus G2C 9 mm pistol with two 10 rounds magazines. The money generated on this raffle will support 1 full scholarship for a Boys/Girls State/Cadet Law Program delegate PLUS will cover half the costs of a 2nd scholarship.
Tickets are $10 each or 3 for $25. Only 100 tickets will be sold.
Winner must be legally able to own a pistol and is responsible for the cost of any background checks.
Reply to this email with your phone number and I’ll put a member with tickets in touch with you.
I can also make arrangements to purchase raffle tickets for those persons who live out of town but wish to support Post 25 programs.
We have an opportunity to purchase T-shirts with the Post 25 Legion logo and you can add on the back of the T-shirt your branch of service, name, office held such as Chaplain. Cost per T-shirt is $20 and can be ordered in sizes Small – 2 XL. T-shirts will ordered through a Fort Scott supplier.
These T-shirts are red are the baseball shirts worn by Fort Scott Post 25 baseball team. The shirts can also be worn on to support RED shirt Fridays as well. RED stands for Remember Everyone Deployed.
In order to order T-shirts, there is a minimum order of 12.
If you wish to order a T-shirt, just reply to this email with your name, T-shirt size and lettering on the back, if any.
Photos of the Taurus and the T-shirts are attached.
Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have,
Cost: $200 per team, includes green fees, golf cart & lunch
Deadline to enter: September 6, 2019
Why: To help the Friends of Tri-Valley Foundation to support programs for our neighbors with intellectual/developmental disabilities in Allen, Bourbon, Neosho and Woodson Counties.
For more information, contact Tricia at 620-431-7401, ext. 230,
Hayden Travis, 24, starts teaching second grade at Winfield Scott Elementary School in Fort Scott this year.
She was raised in Uniontown, and her mom, sixth-grade West Bourbon Elementary School teacher Bonnie Rathbun, was her inspiration.
“My mom has been a teacher for many years, and I have grown up watching her give 110% to her students every year,” Travis said. “I was inspired by her dedication, passion, and drive to help students be successful.”
Travis previously taught 8th-grade earth science for two years in the Shawnee Mission School District in the Kansas City area.
She graduated from Pittsburg State University in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree.
Her family includes husband: Zach Travis, mother: Bonnie Rathbun, father: Randy Rathbun, sister: Taylor Graber, and brother: Chad Parks.
In her spare time she likes spending time with family, playing and watching sports, enjoying outdoor activities, staying active, and crafting, she said.
Watching students grow from the beginning to the end of the school year is the best part of teaching for Travis.
“Ultimately my goal is to help mold students into successful and independent individuals who can achieve any goal they desire,” she said.
What are the greatest challenges in teaching for you?
“One of the greatest challenges in teaching for me is finding a balance between my professional and home life,” she said.
Submitted by Valetta Cannon, Fort Scott Public Library
Youth Librarian and Assistant Director
“The Fort Scott Public Library staff wants to send out an enormous thank you to the businesses, organizations, and individuals who helped to make this year’s summer reading program a huge success, including the following: The City of Fort Scott, Casey’s General Store, Daylight Donuts, Domino’s Pizza, Family Video, Fort Cinema, Fort Scott Aquatic Center, Fort Scott Community College, Fort Scott Middle School VIPs, FSHS Thespian Troupe, G & W Cash Saver, The Keyhole, The Lowell Milken Center, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, and Wendy’s, all of Fort Scott.
We also want to thank the Hammond UMC for their generous donation, and the countless people who have donated food, volunteer time, and supplies to our programs.
Thank you to Buck Run Community Center, the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Scott Tribune, fortscott.biz, and KOMB FM for keeping the community informed about events, and to the churches, public and private schools, and daycares in our county for distributing flyers and posters to help promote the program.
As a result of all of your efforts, the library registered a total of 284 kids and 37 teens for this year’s summer reading program, with individual reading goals, met a total of 530 times by our youth.
Approximately 20 adults participated in our adult reading program, receiving goody bags.
Prizes were also awarded for completing literacy-based activities.
Together, we are helping to prevent the summer slide, encouraging patrons of all ages to read, providing educational entertainment for local families, and feeding kids snacks weekly, all at no cost to them.
We hope that through our combined efforts this year, we have helped interest local families in A Universe of Stories, which they can explore at the library every week.“
Lane Murphy’s first rodeo was in 2015, at age 3, in Hume, MO, where he tried his hand at “Mutton Bustin'”, which is riding a sheep to see how long you can stay on.
He liked the challenge and later that summer, at age 4, Lane started riding with the Kansas Junior Bull Riders (KJBR).
Lane will be a second-grade student at Winfield Scott Elementary School this school year.
But like young children everywhere, he knows what he wants to do when he grows up.
Lane has hopes of being a future rodeo star.
“I want to do the same thing I’m doing now (riding in rodeos),” Lane said. “Everything except getting hurt. I want to ride as much as I can. It’s not easy.”
Lane Murphy. Submitted photos.
In 2018 Lane ended the season ranked as the No. 1 rider in Mutton Bustin’ for the JPBR; No. 1 in Mutton Bustin’ for the MJRC, and No. 1 in Mutton Bustin’ for the All Youth Rodeo Association (AYRA). Thus, earning his entry into the 2018 YBR World Championships in Abilene, TX where he finished No. 4 in the World for Mutton Bustin’, and then placing No. 7 in the 2018 National JPBR Championship that took place in Amarillo, TX.
The cowboy recently participated in the Youth Bull Riding (YBR) World Championships in Abilene, TX, where he placed 18th in the world for Calf Riding.
Currently, Lane is ranked No. 3 in Calf Riding with the JPBR, and No. 3 in Calf Riding with the Missouri Junior Bull Riding Circuit (MJRC) for the 2019 rodeo season.
Lane has qualified to ride in the upcoming Junior Professional Bull Riding (JPBR) National Championship in Amarillo, TX during the month of October.
Lane Murphy. Submitted photos.
He has also been invited to ride in the International Miniature Bull Riders Association (IMBA) World Finals taking place in Las Vegas, NV in December 2019.
Every weekend the family attempts to find at least one rodeo to ride in, and even for “close” rodeos, they might have to travel hundreds of miles to rodeos in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
The family is currently seeking additional financial assistance through fundraising to help support his travel expenses to the National JPBR Championship in Amarillo, TX and the IMBA World Finals in Las Vegas, NV.
His family is selling t-shirts in youth and adult sizes, and his parents are accepting donations on his behalf.
Lane is the son of local residents Jaymie and Patrick Murphy who is the owner/operator of Murphy Day Work, and the grandson of life-long Fort Scott residents Pat and Janet Murphy and Jay and Julie Leek.
A photo of the t-shirt the Murphy’s are using as a fundraiser to help get Lane to national and world competitions later this year.
To purchase a t-shirt in support of Lane contact, send his mother Jaymie Murphy a text message at 620-215-5012 to order. Please include name, shirt size, and color. Monetary donations can be sent to 1210 180th Street, Fort Scott, KS 66701.
“Lane also invites you to like and follow his fan page on Facebook to keep up with videos of his rides,” his mom, Jaymie said.
Ashlea Taylor, 29, is a new special education teacher at Winfield Scott Elementary School.
Taylor has taught pre-school children at Head Start 0-5 from September 2016-April 2019.
Her hometown is Phoenix, Arizona and she graduated from Pittsburg State University.
In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and spending time with friends and family, she said.
Is there someone who inspired you to teach?
“I have two aunts who are educators and I have always loved kids. Several family members have seen me with children and suggested it is where I belong.”
What is the best part of teaching for you?
“Learning each child’s individual way of learning and watching them experience breakthroughs in moments of doubt. “
The Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce sponsors a weekly free concert at Heritage Park, First and Main Street, each Friday evening.
“This Friday’s show will feature The Workman Bluegrass Band,” Ralph Carlson, event coordinator, said. ” The group has been a very popular group with our fans fo several years. In addition to Bluegrass, they will perform Classic country, gospel, and traditional songs.”
The concert starts at 7 pm. Come early and bring a lawn chair as seating is limited.
“I am really pleased to get this outstanding group of musicians for this show,” Carlson said.
DeLynn Abati holding the cake she used to announce that she would be returning to school and selling cakes to pay for it. Submitted photos.
This is part of a series that highlights young entrepreneurs, under 30 years of age, in Bourbon County. If you would like to nominate a young entrepreneur, submit to [email protected] the name and email/phone number of the person, along with why you are nominating them and your name.
Delynn Abati, 26, first dabbed in cake creating, that has become her livelihood, when she became engaged.
“When my husband and I got engaged, my parents sat us down and gave us a choice: they would give us a set amount of money to pay for our wedding OR we could pay for the wedding ourselves and they would give us a bigger gift on our wedding day,” Abati said.
Tony and Delynn Abati on their wedding day, cutting the cake she made herself for the wedding. Submitted photos.
“We decided we’d give the second option a try,” she said. “As I planned our wedding, I saved money wherever I could, somehow we managed to do that without sacrificing anything we really wanted.”
“I decided I’d use that year to learn how to make my own wedding cake,” she said. “It wasn’t a perfect cake. There are some birthday cakes that I do now that look better than our wedding cake looked, but it was cool to be able to say I did it myself.”
She was married in 2018.
Once the wedding was over, she never stopped making cakes.
Out of that challenge by her parents, came For Goodness Cakes, offering custom cakes, cupcakes, cake truffles, cake pops, and French Macarons.
Delynn Drake holds a cupcake, one of several items she creates. Submitted photo.
“I started selling cakes originally, as a way to gain funds to go back to school,” Abati said. “The more cakes I did, however, the more I just wanted to do cakes… So I made a business of it.”
Submitted photos.
The business was technically formed on January 1, 2019.
“I did cakes informally for about six months before I started calling it a business,” Abati said. “I wanted to make sure I had a good chance of at least breaking even before I threw everything I had into this business.”
Abati works from home at her bakery business.
“I work out of my home for now,” she said. “I do not have any plans of moving my operation any time soon but that option is also always in the back of my mind.”
She loves creating and working from home.
“I have always loved creating so it’s great to be able to use my hands to create new things every day,” Abati said. “The part that I love about owning my own business is that I get to create my own hours. I am a night owl so most days of the week you’ll find me baking in my kitchen or making cake videos in my living room at 2 a.m. People think I’m crazy but I come alive at about 8 p.m. every evening. It’s great to be able to do something I love, at such a peaceful time of day.”
Abati is the only paid employee of her home business.
“It’s just me right now.,” she said. “My husband, Tony Abati; mom, Amy Drake, and mother-in-law, Sandy Abati, are always willing to help and have jumped in several times to help me deliver, set up, or sometimes even finish decorating things. I’m lucky to have them! I couldn’t do it 100% on my own.”
Recently, Abati started offering new products and services.
“Thursday, August 15th, I released a lot of new changes to FGC,” she said. “The most exciting of which, in my opinion, is the fact that I am now offering French Macarons and I am introducing a cake cutting service. The rest of the changes are listed in a Facebook and Instagram post on my page @ForGoodnessCakesFS.”
Abati’s contact info:
Call or text: 6207041315 (texts preferred for orders)
