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Category Archives: Fort Scott
Eclectica Opens At National And Wall
Becky Cowlishaw loves to buy and sell items, and she like auctions.
“Years ago I managed the Kress Tea Room and Pie Pantry from 2007-2008 and then the Village Shops,” she said.
“I’ve collected for a long time.”
On Oct. 1, Cowlishaw opened her shop she calls Eclectica by Rebecca Kaye at 2 S. National Avenue.
In this shop can be found antiques, home decor, jewelry, collectibles and some $1 items, she said.
Johnny Walker, John Cowlishaw, Josh Jones, Linda Wilson, Matt Lybarger, Vonda Ngigi, and John Walters also bring items to sell on consignment in her store.
“I don’t operate by booth space and I’m not looking for more consigners,” she said.
Cowlishaw believes her specialty is staging merchandise or decorative design.
“I really like making the colors come together, using odds and ends and making it work,” she said.
Cowlishaw has another passion.
In addition to Eclectica, Cowlishaw purchased the old First Christian Church, at 101 S. Judson, and renamed it Bethesda Christian House of Mercy.
She is the senior pastor at the church, while her son Jerrod Cowlishaw is the associate pastor.
“I live at Bethesda and soon will open a women’s ministry,” she said.
Cowlishaw can be reached by phone at 620-215-3158.
Pictured are some current items in Electica.
Fall Extravaganza Photos
Shoppers descended on Fort Scott Middle School November 20 for the VIP Fall Extravaganza annual fundraising event which benefits students.
“Our 9th annual Fall Extravaganza went very well,” said Stephanie George, VIP president. ” We made $1,400 (in vendor booth rental). Overall, vendors seemed pleased with the turnout. I saw lots of customers with shopping bags and baked goods, so hopefully they were able to get a lot of their holiday gifts and treats taken care of at our event.”
Free Dance Lessons
Free 1800s dance lessons will be taught on Saturday, December 2, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Grand Hall on the grounds of Fort Scott National Historic Site.
“The city of Fort Scott is hosting a number of holiday events this day as well as the Candlelight Tour on Friday and Saturday evening at Fort Scott National Historic Site so come spend the day in Fort Scott,” said Dee Young, organizer of the dance lessons, and volunteer at the fort.
“Come join us for some fun and exercise while we learn some new dances and practice some old ones. For the beginner as well as anyone who just loves dancing 1800s period dances. Street clothes are fine. No partner is needed. If you care not to dance just come and enjoy watching. See you on December 2!”
The lessons are taught by volunteers at the fort.
Agenda And Minutes-Fort Scott City Commission
The following is the link to the Fort Scott City Commission Agenda Packet for the meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21 in the commission room at city hall, 123 S. Main.
Robotic Milking Comes To Foster Dairy
Braving the dropping temperatures, around 250 visitors took advantage of the Foster Dairy Farm Open House Saturday.
The Foster family was showcasing their transition from milking their cows in a 12-cow parlor to milking them robotically. Since September 2016 their cows have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week access to being voluntarily milked.
“An interesting fact is the Kansas Department of Agriculture gave me statistics adjusted for 2017 about our farm,” David Foster said.
“The Bourbon County dairy industry has a direct economic benefit effect to our county of $11.5 million and provides 25 jobs,” Foster said. “The dairy industry provides 1.2 percent of the gross revenues for the county. We are doing quite a bit from our little farm.”
Lynda and Gary Foster and their eldest son David and his wife, Addi Foster are the owners of the dairy farm located southwest of Fort Scott at 1037 Hwy. 39.
In addition to tours of the facility, a meal was provided tour attendees, along with door prizes. Sponsors helping with the tour were Producer’s Cooperative of Girard who cooked the burgers, brats and hot dogs that were served, DFA/Midwest Dairy, UMB Bank, Seneca Dairy Supply, Uniontown FFA, Fort Scott FFA and Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce.
See more about the Foster Dairy on its Facebook page.
Walking/Biking Benefits Presented Along With Plans For Sidewalks/Trails
Walking or biking instead of driving a vehicle is a quality of life issue, according to information from representatives of the PedNet Coalition, Columbia, Mo. and the Healthy Bourbon County Action Team.
The two cited benefits in a non-motorized transportation plan report presented to the Fort Scott City Commission and then the Uniontown City Council Tuesday evening.
Other benefits cited by Abby St. George, PedNet technical assistant officer, are improved health and health care costs, reduced transportation costs and boosting economic development.
St. George and Jody Hoener, Mercy Clinic Quality and Community Benefit Liaison, presented the report.
Half of the children who live within one-half mile, a 10-minute walk or less from school, are driven, according to Safe Routes to School
National Partnership, and presented in the report to the City of Fort Scott.
Here is an excerpt from the report:
“Many adult residents are also making trips in their automobiles that could be made by foot or bicycle. For example, of trips that are less than one mile, over two-thirds are taken by private automobile (League of American Bicyclists, 2010). The automobile is a wonderful device that allows us to travel to destinations our great-grandparents may have never thought possible, but its overuse, especially for short distances, is leading to severe health consequences.Obesity truly has become an epidemic in the United States,” according to the report.
Summarizing the Fort Scott Non-Motorized Transportation Plan improvement costs: sidewalk priority projects are estimated to be $1,731,842; U.S. Hwy 69 Trail Priority Project -$1,964,444; on-street priority projects -$330,300; with total costs estimated to be $4,026,586.
Uniontown’s Non-Motorized Transportation Plan is basically one sidewalk that leads from the two schools to the convenience store.
Costs for an ADA accessible sidewalk from the schools on the east side of Uniontown to Union Station convenience store on the west side of town are estimated to be just over $50,000.
Crosswalk improvements for the sidewalk are estimated to be $44,000, with a total cost of the recommendations-$97,420.
A grant through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas allowed The City of Fort Scott and The Healthy Bourbon County Action Team to develop a Fort Scott Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.
Healthy Bourbon County Action Team’s goal is to, “engage key stakeholders in areas where our community members spend most of their time–where they eat, work and play. The focus on physical activity, healthy eating, and tobacco cessation directly affect outcomes of our identified community health needs, ”according to the report.
The governing bodies will now need to find funding avenues for the recommended non-motorized transportation projects, but PedNet provided them with four and one-half pages of federal, state, local, non-profit and private funding opportunities.
St. George noted that with the plans completed, it could add points to a grant application.
To see the breakdown and details of the recommendations:
Walmart Pick Up Sign
The white word “Pickup” stands out on the orange wall of Wal-Mart on South Main Street.
“This is to let people know we have pickup now,” Joyce Earp, a manager at Wal-Mart, said. “You can order online and come in and pick it up the same day, if it’s in the store.”
The pickup location is in the back of the store with a “Site to Store” sign, she said.
Some Wal-Mart stores have the ability for customers to order online and Wal-Mart will deliver, but the Fort Scott store doesn’t yet, Earp said.
Bourbon County Commission To Attend Jail Project Meeting
The agenda for the Bourbon County Commission November 17.
The commission meets on the 2nd floor of the county courthouse, 210 S. National Avenue.
Tuesdays starting at 9:00
Date: November 17th, 2017
1st District-Lynne Oharah Minutes: Approved: _______________
2nd District-Jeff Fischer Corrected: _______________
3rd District-Nick Ruhl Adjourned at: _______________
County Clerk-Kendell Mason
10:00-Commissioners will attend a jail project meeting.
Justifications for Executive Session:
· Personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel
· Consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship
· Matters relating to employer-employee negotiations whether or not in consultation with the representative(s) of the body or agency
· Confidential data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual proprietorships
· Preliminary discussions relating to the acquisition of real property
· Matters relating to the security of a public body or agency, public building or facility or the information system of a public body or agency, if the discussion of such matters at an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such public body, agency, building, facility or information system
Sugarfoot and Peaches Fire
The Fort Scott Fire Department received a call November 10 at 2:49 p.m. of a fire at Sugarfoot and Peaches BBQ, 1601 E. Wall.
A total of four fire trucks and 10 people worked to contain the fire, Dave Bruner, Fort Scott Fire Marshall said.
Helping also were Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Scott Police Department, and Mercy Hospital Emergency Medical Services.
“The owner and one other person spotted the fire and called it in,” Bruner said.
John Embry is the owner of Sugarfoot and Peaches.
There were no injuries.
The building experienced extensive smoke damage throughout.
“The cause is undetermined,” Bruner said.
Calls to the business were met with a “Not In Service” message.
2017 Official Election Results
Final results of the 2017 General Election were made with 1,501 out of 11,667 voters making the calls.
Fort Scott City Commission: Robert Nichols, 650; JoLynne Mitchell, 565; Cheryl Adamson, 451. The top three candidates in votes were declared the winners.
Mayor of Bronson: Alan Stewart, 58; Lee Roy Whitcomb, 20.
Mayor of Fulton: No filings; Misty Adams was declared the winner with 11 write-in votes.
Mayor of Mapleton: No filings; Ronald Burton Jr. was declared the winner with 3 votes out of 7 write-in votes.
Mayor of Redfield: Clarence Ed Guss, 20. There were 13 write-in votes.
Mayor of Uniontown: Larry Jurgensen was declared the winner with 19 write-in votes out of 26.
City Council of Bronson: Clearsia Botts, 65; Geraldine Reeder, 61; Michael Stewart, 51; write-in winner is Joshua Marlow, 46; Charlotte Stewart, 43. The top five candidates in votes were declared the winners.
City Council of Fulton: All were write-in candidates: Robert Durbin, 11; Larry Paddock, 11; Stuart Cook, 11; Michael Clooney, 8 and Phillip Gratton, 4.
City of Redfield Council: Kirby Martin, 31; Mike Beerbower, 30; Richard Smith, 25; Clarence Ed Guss, 20; Wilma Graham, 17.
City Council of Mapleton: Both were write-in winners: Homer Wisdom, 3; Mike Blevins, 2.
City of Uniontown Council: Jess Ervin, 12; Amber Kelly, 11.
USD 234 Position 4: David Stewart received 723 over Geoff Southwell with 431.
USD 235 Position 4: Brian Stewart, 243.
USD 234 Position 5: Gary Billionis, 947.
USD 235 Position 5: Mike Mason, 242.
USD 234 Position 6: Jamie Armstrong, 981.
USD 235 Position 6: Tyler Martin, 256.
Southwind Extension District: Terry Williams received 1,170 over Ethan Holly, 783.
Fort Scott Community College Board of Trustees: The top three candidates were declared the winners: John Bartelsmeyer, 1,170; Tina Rockhold, 923; Liz Meyer, 689.
Mercy Fort Scott Receives ‘A’ Grade for Keeping Patients Safe
FORT SCOTT, Kan. (November 1, 2017) – Fall report cards are in and Mercy Hospital Fort Scott earned a grade A for keeping patients safe.
The Leapfrog Group just released its fall 2017 Hospital Safety Grades, which score hospitals on how safe they keep their patients from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. More than 2,600 U.S. general acute-care hospitals were assigned scores and only 832 received an A (32 percent of those surveyed).
“Providing safe care for our community is a high priority for the co-workers at Mercy Hospital Fort Scott,” said President Reta Baker. “The attention to careful hand washing and processes compliance has led our facility into its second year of having a zero percent C-Difficile (C-diff) infection rate. C-diff is an infection often associated with hospital stays. Use of the bar-coding system for medication administration has facilitated a remarkably low error rate.”
“Additionally, the electronic health record has been key to accurate and clear communication across the continuum of care resulting in excellent quality outcomes for our patients. Full credit for our Leapfrog ‘A’ rating goes to the physicians and co-workers who have any part in providing care to our patients.”
“We’re always focused on providing the highest quality care to our patients,” said Dr. Keith Starke, Mercy chief quality officer. “The work done by our co-workers to earn top grades for quality is critical to our patients and noticed by organizations such as Leapfrog that rank hospitals across the country.”
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. It is updated every six months, once in the fall and once in the spring.
Using 30 evidence-based measures of patient safety, The Leapfrog Group calculated a numerical score for all eligible hospitals in the U.S. The numerical score was then converted into one of five letter grades: A, B, C, D or F. Read more about Leapfrog scoring here.