




Shelly Bradley, owner of The After Affect Salon, said the business will have an “18 and on-our-own party” to celebrate the relocation of her business to a newly constructed building.
“We hope to be open in August (at the new site),” she said. “August will be the salon’s 18th anniversary, and we want to have a party to celebrate.”
“My husband, Zach, had tried to talk me into buying or building a new salon, to invest in our own property, and have our own parking.”
The current salon is located in the Historic Downtown Fort Scott district at 14 E. Wall, and parking can be competitive at times.
The new shop is being built and is located at 1416 E. Wall.

“My Grandma Martha Cook offered to sell a lot next to her house to me. The time was right. God’s timing is perfect, and everything fell into place.”
The new 40-foot-by-40-foot building will have parking for 13 cars.
This will be needed with the additional services she will be offering in the shop: red light therapy, and tanning services, including stand-up, lay-down, and automated. All will have their private work room and additionally, two bathrooms, a utility room/kitchen/storage room, a room for retail products, and a waiting room. In addition, there will be a designated nail technician room.
“I feel so blessed with our amazing clientele that has made this a possibility and can’t wait to offer more for our community,” she said. “I am blessed that my husband has the talent and patience to help me build my dream. And I’m excited to be next door to my Grandma’s house.”
Those working on the build are Gieger Plumbing, KTK Electric, and Thomas Concrete and Construction, all of Fort Scott. She has been working with the City of Fort Scott on an economic development grant.
Bradley started the business in 2007, and Debi Fritter started offering services with her in 2010.
Riley Findley will be the new nail technician, and Debi’s daughter, Dani, will help in the tanning area.

Hercules Hobby, a store that sells sports cards, autographed memorabilia, helmets, Pokemon, and Magic The Gathering cards, opened in Fort Scott on June 13.
The store is located at 20 Scott Avenue.
“I had 25 kids in here on our soft opening,” said Phil Jackson, owner of the store. “Some kids play tournaments with Pokémon and MTG cards. There may be tournaments possible at a later date.”
“I have been a collector my entire life; my grandpa, who passed away, was a collector,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about a brick and mortar store for a while—something fun for kids to do on the weekend.”
“My grandfather will be in the soul of this store,” he said.
Hours of operation currently are 4-8 p.m. on Fridays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
Other days and times to be determined at a later date.
“It’s something we don’t have around here,” Jackson said. “I bought and sold items at shops in Kansas City. There is none like this in our area.”

He hired the manager, Levi Qualls, following a conversation at Faith Church, where they both attend.
“Levi shares the same love of this hobby that I do,” Jackson said.
For more information, contact Jackson at 515-512-3883.
This new business is under Jacksons Enterprise LLC.

Sixteen years ago, Mirna and Lupe Santana moved to Kansas from Georgia. Lupe had family in Parsons who owned a Mexican restaurant, and they decided to venture into that business, so Lupe began looking in other towns in the area.
In Fort Scott, they discovered that a Mexican restaurant had recently relocated from the downtown area, and they believed this would be an ideal location.
In 2010, they moved into 20 S. Main, Mirna said. By 2015, they were looking for a different location because of the condition of the building.
“We moved into 24 N. Main in 2015,” she said. “And we are celebrating 15 years in Fort Scott.”
“We enjoy when we see people happy and thankful they had a great meal,” she said. “That makes us feel proud.”
Mirna has her father living in their home, and Lupe has his mom and dad in town, and that requires a lot of time, she said. They enjoy having their parents so near, but it is a challenge, because “We think about the business 24/7,” she said.
But despite this challenge, “We hope to keep La Hacienda open for another 15 years. We just want to work.” And they are thankful to own their own business.
Her mom and dad were in the food business as well.
“My daddy used to be a baker and my mama used to put a table out on the street and sell food, and I helped her,” she said.
One of their son helps care for her father, and another son, nephew, uncle, and daughter-in-law work with them in the restaurant.
Last month, the restaurant reopened on Sundays after a year-long break.
“We invite you to come and try, we cook with lots of love,” Mirna said.

The “mom and pop” restaurant is open Monday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The restaurant also does catering.

La Prima is the number one requested dish in Fort Scott, she said.
“It’s whatever meat you want, over a bed of rice with cheese sauce, served with tortillas,” she said.

Need a blade upgraded? Charley McKay can do it.
About two years ago, McKay moved to Fort Scott from Hutchinson and found he needed something to do with his time.
His son-in-law, Kale Nelson, had some chainsaw blades that needed sharpening, so McKay worked on them.
Nelson then told some of his friends about the service, and this turned into a new business, called Sharpen It.
He can sharpen “about anything with a blade”, McKay said. “Knives, chainsaws, lawnmowers, Dado… about anything, I have a sharpener for it.”
Before he retired in 2001, he was a refrigeration and air conditioning serviceman in Hutchinson. “Then I worked as a bus driver for Nickerson School District for 14 years before I moved here.”
Most people bring the items that need to be sharpened to his workshop at 738 Osbun, on Fort Scott’s northwest side of town.
“If I have to pick it up, I charge about $1, depending on how far I have to go,” he said.
His sharpening prices: $4-12 for knives, $6-12 for chainsaws, and $5 a piece for lawnmower blades.
“I always make sure that I charge a little cheaper than what’s normal,” he said.
“It might be a day or two out before I get to it,” he said.
However, he said he provides the added service of cleaning the blades before sharpening.
This week is McKay’s vacation, but you can text him at 620.960.6059 and leave a message with your phone number for him to call back.


Katy Shead, Fort Scott, has been selected as a finalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program.
Katy homeschooled through Veritas Scholars Academy (VSA), which is an online school based in Lancaster, PA. On May 30th, she graduated as valedictorian in her class of 115 other students from all over the world.

Her most difficult class was chemistry, she said. “But it was also the most interesting.”
Despite it not being easy, she has chosen it as a major.
Katy will major in chemistry at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan (student population 1400-1800 students) beginning this fall. She will minor in Greek and Classical Education, she said.
Her goal with this education plan:
“I want to read the Greek Bible on my own, and I want to teach chemistry, or something, science or math at a classical school, especially online.”
“I want to study the Greeks and Romans and the original texts, not just the stuff that people wrote about them,” she said.
Katy has had a classical education.
Classical education has three different stages of learning, she said.
“First is grammar and lots of memorization, foundational knowledge. Second is logic, around middle school age, which is how you make a coherent argument with clear and logical thinking, recognizing fallacies. To connect ‘Oh, this happened in this year and it did affect this.’ The third stage is taking the connections in the logic stage, and using information you already have, and communicating it.”
Katy used this education, this past year, to come up with her own research statement and defended it in a paper and a presentation.
A person in Scotland with expertise in the field and a PhD read her paper and asked questions. A professor guided the process and graded it.
Her research statement was Imago Dei Impact on the Church’s Perception of Autism.
“It was about the inherent value that God gave humans when He created them in His image. The paper argues that if the church recognizes autistic people’s intrinsic value, then they’ll be empowered to love them as they should,” she said. “The point of the paper is that sometimes the autistic members are viewed as charity cases.”
Other awards she has received during her high school years: Dean’s List at VSA from 2021 to 2024, a national award at the 2023 Classical Learning Test, Summa Cum Laude on the 2023 National Latin Exam, inducted into the 202Highest Honors Class at VSA, and Cum Honore Maximo Egregio in 2021, a National Latin Exam she took, earning a perfect score.
During high school, Katy has been a student mentor, an independent tutor of maths and sciences, a literature club co-chair, and a volunteer at K-7 Kanakuk Camp, Missouri. She also worked with special needs people at Heartland Therapeutic Riding, Kansas, and Camp Barnabas, Missouri. She also volunteered at her grandparents’ annual Shead Farm Festival near Garland.
She is the daughter of Haley and Mark Shead.
About National Merit Scholars
16,000 semifinalists competed in the 70th annual National Merit
Scholarship Program, according to an NMS press release. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award,
Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a scholarship application, providing information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received, according to the press release. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

“It’s to house our out-of-town artists,” she said. “Our artist’s respite, while here teaching a workshop and doing art shows. It will help our artists have a space close to stay (near their business) and hopefully attract more artists to Fort Scott with a place to stay as well as show their work.”




The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) plans to begin a bridge repair project on the U.S. 69 bridge over Wall Street in Fort Scott the week of June 9.
Project activity includes patching and resurfacing the bridge deck.
One-lane traffic will continue through the work zone. Drivers can expect delays of no more than 15 minutes, weather permitting, through the end of December 2025.
KDOT awarded the $1.5 million construction contract to PCI Roads, LLC of St. Michael, Minnesota. People with questions may contact Construction Manager Warren Ebberts at (620) 901-6549.
KDOT urges motorists to stay alert and follow posted signs in all work zones.
For current road conditions, visit kandrive.gov or call 5-1-1. For updates on construction projects in Southeast Kansas, visit ksdot.gov/projects/southeast-

Sandy Haggard is the new Southwind K-State Nutrition, Food Safety, and Health Agent, who has an office out of Iola.
Haggard has been employed in the current Kansas State University Research and Extension, Southwind District since April 14
She felt this job was a good fit.
“I’ve often had a position where I coordinated a program or gave presentations, so I was looking for a position where I could use those skills. Also, at Neosho County Community College, I had been working in the same four counties with older adults who volunteered at non-profits, so I’m able to keep in touch with several of the same contacts. I had attended several K-State Research and Extension programs during the eight years I’ve lived in Kansas, so I was excited to work alongside the agents I’ve known for years. I’m looking forward to giving presentations on nutrition and health and getting to know more people in our four-county area.”
The job is multi-faceted.
Her duties include leading the development, implementation, and evaluation of research-based educational programming related to nutrition, food safety, and health.
This includes nutrition through the life cycle, supplemental nutrition education, food security, consumer and food handler food safety, local food systems, physical activity promotion, and chronic disease prevention.
She will be covering four counties: Allen, Bourbon, Neosho, and Woodson.
In the next year, she hopes to have programs for ServSafe food handling, Dining with Diabetes, Food Preservation, and Basic Nutrition, she said.
She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and Secondary English from Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO, and Adult Education from Prescott College, Prescott, Arizona.
Haggard taught Adult Basic Education/GED Instruction at Northland Pioneer College, Winslow, Arizona.
She taught internationally as a Middle School English teacher at Morrison Academy in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and was a part of the English Faculty at Meiho University, Neipu, Taiwan.
Most recently, she has been the RSVP Director with AmeriCorps Seniors at Neosho County Community College (NCCC) serving Allen, Bourbon, Neosho, and Woodson Counties.
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Local Scouts are working towards a monetary goal to go to camp.
Scouting Troop 114 will sell pancakes for $3 on Saturday, June 7, at the Fort Scott Farmers Market. The market is from 8 a.m. to noon and is located under the Downtown Pavilion on North National Avenue at Skubitz Plaza.

This is the Troop’s final fundraiser before summer camp, which is planned for June 15-21 at Camp Arrowhead, Marshfield, MO.
At the camp, the children work on earning merit badges, making friends, and “making memories,” said Mandi Widder, one of the troop leaders.
The Troop is divided into Troop B, the boys, and Troop G, the girls.
“It’s called Scouting America, it was the Boy Scouts, they changed their name,” Widder said. “Both boys and girls can join who are entering sixth grade through age 18 can join. We meet on Mondays at 6 p.m. at First United Methodist Church. The leaders of the Girls Troop are Jeff Pommier and Amanda Widder, and the leaders of the Boys Troop is Brenda Iverson. Both troops are number 114. The kids are working hard on merit badges and earning their ranks from Scout rank to Eagle rank.”

