· 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
Thursday evening is the annual Holiday Open House where Fort Scott Merchants stay open from 5-8 p.m. for residents to get a jump start on holiday shopping.
Veterans will be honored at several community schools.
Friday there are several Veteran’s Day activities:
Uniontown High School will honor locals vets with coffee and donuts at the school at 8 a.m. followed by a school assembly to say “thank you”.
Winfield Scott Elementary School students will be performing for vets at 9 a.m.
Fort Scott High School students will present a ceremony in the high school gym at 11:15 a.m.
St. Mary’s Catholic School students will gather at the school’s flagpole to sing, pray and honor vets at 1 p.m.
Fort Scott Community College will host a Veteran’s Day fundraiser at the Ellis Fine Arts Center at 3 p.m. The food fundraiser will be a free-will donation to benefit Wreaths Across America for soldiers graves at Fort Scott National Cemetery during the Christimas season. The event is in conjunction with the induction ceremony of Phi Theta Kappa.
On Thursday, November 16 Eugene Ware Elementary School students will present a patriotic performance at 6:30 p.m. at the Ellis Fine Arts Center at Fort Scott Community College. Veterans are invited to attend.
For other events, this weekend, click on the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce link below.
Fort Scott Library Teen Advisory Group, front from left are Joshua Kobernat, Kayla Kobernat, Jadelynne Russell; back row: Zachary Beerbower, Daniel Watson, and Dominic Cannon.
Submitted by Valetta Cannon, Fort Scott Public Library Youth Librarian, and Assistant Director
Fort Scott Public LibraryTeen Advisory Group events for November:
November 8, 4-6 p.m., the teens will have their monthly games and snacks night in the library’s event room.
November 15, 4:15 – 5 p.m., the teens will create and share (if they want) creative writing short stories or poems. This will be the first teen creative writing night, in celebration of National Novel Writing Month.
November 29, 4:15 – 5 p.m. the teens will meet with at Common Ground Coffee for free treats while discussing this month’s Book Club story, “The Watsons go to Birmingham” by Christopher Paul Curtis.
What: Dinner & relaxed reading: tips and activities to help your child enjoy books
Featured Book: The Napping House
When: Tuesday, November 14, 2017, 6:00-7:00pm
Where: Fort Scott Preschool Center, 409 S. Judson, West entrance
Who: Special Guest, Youth Librarian & Assistant Director, Valetta Cannon
*Giveaways & door prizes!
*We will be wearing our pajamas and invite and encourage you all to do the same! We are providing dinner and story time. If you take care of baths before this adventure, the only evening task remaining for you is to tuck them in when you get home! We look forward to a great adventure in reading with you and yours! Please RSVP by Friday, November 10th to let us know how many we need to prepare food for. Thanks & see you there!!
Groundbreaking for new memorial benches in Riverfront Park was Oct. 26. From left: Chad Brown, City of Fort Scott public works director; Deb Needleman, City of Fort Scott human resources manager; JoLynne Mitchell, City of Fort Scott mayor; Allen Warren, Riverfront Authority board member; Becky Davied, Mercy director of home health and hospice; and Chris Welch, Mercy home health and hospice community relations coordinator.
Mercy Hospice is celebrating its fifth year anniversary with a special thank you to the community and all those who have allowed the hospice care team into their lives.
To commemorate the anniversary, Mercy Hospice is giving back to the community by placing a pair of memorial benches on a paver patio at the Riverfront Park just north of Fort Scott.
“We hope that this can be a place where families can gather to remember their loved ones,” said Chris Welch, Mercy Home Health and Hospice community relations coordinator.
To launch the project, a groundbreaking ceremony was held on Thursday, Oct. 26.
“This wouldn’t be possible without cooperation from the City of Fort Scott, the Riverfront Authority and partial funding by the Fort Scott Area Community Foundation,” Welch added.
Penny Pollack Barnes with daughter, Caroline, at Gunn Park last year. Pollack is taking over coordination duties from Frank Halsey, founder of the annual TriYakAthon, a multi-sport contest. Submitted photo.
Penny Pollack Barnes commented to Frank Halsey, organizer of the annual TriYakAthon at Gunn Park, that he ought to think about getting someone to help organize the event. This comment was in July at the annual bike race that Halsey initiated, called the Marmaton Masacre.
Halsey took her up on the offer.
Since August, Pollack has been helping to get sponsors for the event and getting t-shirts orders, she said.
“Frank does so much for the trails,” Pollack said. “He’s doing the dirty work. I’m doing logistics.”
Currently, Halsey is getting the trails marked for the event that starts at 8 a.m. this Saturday, Oct. 14.
Over the last several years, Halsey mapped out, then built the trails and continually maintains them. He is an avid mountain biker.
Pollack is a runner and has been involved with some of the events that Halsey has organized on the trails.
“I like the multi-sport aspect of the TriYakAthon,” Pollack said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Registration starts at 8 a.m. for the 5th Annual TriYakAthon and the contest start time is 10 a.m.
There are 4 miles of running, 2.5 miles of Marmaton River kayaking, and 6.5 miles of cross-country mountain biking in the TriYakAthon.
Competitors can go solo for $35 or be part of a relay team for $60. Online registration deadline is Thursday, Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. To register, check out their Facebook page.
This year the proceeds from the event will go to a multi-sensory playground at Ellis Park, 1182 E. 12th Street, south of the middle school.
“It will be a special park that kids with disabilities will be able to use,” Pollack said.
The multi-sport event for the TriYakAthon involves running, kayaking and mountain biking. Photo taken from the event Facebook page.
Non-professional Bourbon County photographers of all ages are invited to submit a photo as part of the Gordon Parks Celebration, by Wednesday, Oct. 4.
The photo must be inspired by Park’s poem “Homecoming” and entitled “What Makes Fort Scott Special to Me”, according to a press release from the Gordon Parks Museum.
Monetary prizes of first place, $100; second place, $75 and third place, $50. All photos submitted will be on exhibit during the 14th Annual Gordon Parks Celebration, Oct. 12-14.
Photos must be submitted via email to gordonparksphotocontest@gmail.com. The file size has a limit of 2MB and must be in JPEG format. Name, address, email and phone number along with the title of their submitted photo must accompany the photo. If under 10 years of age, please include parents information.
It is the photographer’s responsibility to make sure permission is granted to use the photos subject’s image.
The audience listens to leaders of the group, Live Local BB, on Thursday.
Live Local BB is a grass-roots organization that had a public introductory meeting Thursday at Sharkey’s Pub and Grub.
BB stands for Bourbon County and Live Local BB encourages growth of local businesses in the county.
“We want to educate the community on how it benefits the community to live locally,” Geoff Southwell told the group of interested people. “Use local whenever possible. Money stays in the community. It’s creating and maintaining wealth and jobs”
Board member Geoff Southwell addresses a group of interested people Thursday at the initial public meeting of Live Local BB. Board member Melissa Wise listens in the background.
The group’s board members are Cindy Bartelsmeyer, Richard Goldston, Bryan Holt, Dave Lipe, Chris Maycumber, Andy Norris, Angie Simons, Southwell, Rebecca Sutterby and Melissa Wise.
Live Local BB Board Members Rebecca Sutterby, left, and Melissa Wise, facing away, sign in interested attendees at the initial public meeting of the organization.
Live Local BB board members from left: Andy Norris, Dave Lipe, Bryan Holt, Chris Maycumber and Richard Goldston listen as Geoff Southwell addresses the attendees at the initial meeting.
Fort Scott City and Chamber of Commerce officials “have jumped on board with us,” Southwell said.
The City of Fort Scott presented a $500 check to the group Thursday evening at the initial meeting.
To get the word out, the 65 businesses who have joined so far are encouraged to tell about their business on the local radio station.
“There will be 2 to 3 radio spots a day for the first twelve months,” Southwell said. “Talk in microphone, they will edit that. KMDO brings it together and it’s good. Volunteers are needed to get the word out.”
The group also has a Facebook page, Live Local BB.
Live Local BB is a grass-roots organization just formed in Fort Scott to encourage residents to buy from local businesses.
If all goes as anticipated, the recently moved John Deere Tech Program at Fort Scott Community College should have all parts of the facility completed in December.
The facility is located at 2223 S. Horton, formerly the Kansas National Guard Armory.
“They are building a bigger shop for big machinery,” Kent Aikin, one of the program’s two instructors, said Wednesday. A second instructor is Dale Griffiths, hired around one month ago.
The building being constructed is just to the east of the current tech program facility. The general contractor for the project is Tri-State Building, Pittsburg.
The current building is used for instruction on smaller machines and classrooms, Aikin said. The instructor’s offices are housed in this building as well.
The auditorium of the current facility is used for instruction on smaller engines.
“John Deere sends us three to six machines every year, for training purposes,” Aikin said.
Renovation of the current building started a month ago with the addition of new air lines and electrical lines.
Even though all is not completed in the facility, classes began in August with 13 first-year students and 10 second-year students.
Three first-year John Deere Tech Program students work on lessons in a classroom Wednesday.
Students who fulfill all requirements for the program have options of electrical, hydraulic or service advisor certification.
The program’s students must be sponsored by a John Deere dealership, and go through an interview process, Aikin said.
Aikin and Griffiths help the students through the whole process.
“We help locate a dealership to sponsor them,” Aikin said.
“There is a high demand for these jobs,” Aikin said. “The job prospects are good. I’d say over 90 percent have a job waiting for them.”
The move from Frontenac to the repurposed facility on the FSCC campus was precipitated by the selling of the building they were leasing, FSCC Director of Public Relations Heather Browne said.
Students have more accessibility for living in the dorms now, Browne said.
They also have easier accessibility for completing their general education classes, Griffiths said.
An open house for any interested students will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, November 2 and 8 a.m. to noon, Friday, November 3.
Following completion of the new part of the facility in December, a grand opening for the public will be in February, Aikin said.
A whole power-train for a John Deere 8300 tractor is used in instruction during the tech program.
Fort Scott Community College’s Ellis Arts Center is the venue for the 14th annual Gordon Parks Celebration. The Gordon Parks Museum is located in the arts center.
As part of the annual Gordon Parks Celebration
scheduled for October 12-14, at Fort Scott Community College, there will be a “Parks Poetry Out Loud” contest this year. Participants will pick one of seven selected poems written by Gordon Parks and will present it in front of an audience at noon on Friday, October 13 in the Gordon Parks Museum in the Ellis Fine Arts Center on campus.
“I have wanted to do this for years,” said Jill Warford, Gordon Parks Museum Director. “We hope a lot of people take part in the poetry contest, it will be a lot of fun.”
There is no fee to enter and participants will be judged on how they present the poem through voice, diction, and interpretation. Cash prizes will be awarded: first place will win $100; second, $75 and third, $50.
“You don’t have to register to enter,” Warford said. “Just show up.”
It is open to anyone and both students and adults alike, are encouraged to take part, she said. The seven poems are available on the Gordon Parks Museum website: gordonparkscenter.org .
Select poems from the website, then print them out for use, she said.
On Saturday afternoon, the utility pole in front of the library fell into National. Police said it was not hit by a car and the base had just rotted away. The street was blocked with police vehicles and cones while public works employees made sure the wires were not hot.
