During a Lunch and Learn hosted by Fort Scott Community College Thursday, author and baseball historian Phil Dixon shared some of the history the Kansas City Monarchs have with the city of Fort Scott.

The Kansas City Monarchs, a team of the Negro National League team from 1920 until the 1960s, played games not just among the eight teams in their league, but against teams around the state and even neighboring states in exhibition games.

Dixon, who spent time in the 1980s as a public relations person for the Kansas City Royals, said the Monarchs were a formidable foe that in their early years, winning pennants and even world championships in their league. They also at one time had more than 400 exhibition wins and just three losses.

Between 1922 and 1932, Dixon said he believes the Monarchs played in Fort Scott approximately nine times, with some of the matches being close considering the quality of the Monarchs, some of whom would go on to become major league players and even Hall of Fame members.

“They had some pretty good ball players in this town,” Dixon said of Fort Scott, even bringing up quotations from Monarchs players who said the Fort Scott team they played in 1922 was the best independent ball team they played that season.

During those years, Dixon said attendees often paid a quarter for a ticket, maybe 50 cents if it was a more respected pitcher. Around that time, they also began playing night games for the first time and started taking buses to different cities instead of trains.

Dixon dedicated his discussion Thursday to Monarchs player George Sweatt, who was born in Humboldt and lived much of his life in Iola.

Dixon said it is important for baseball fans to continue to share that passion with younger generations to keep that pastime alive.

Attendees of the event could ask questions and also share information with Dixon about their experiences with games played in Fort Scott in past decades. Dixon also presented a photo of the Monarchs team to Jill Warford and the Gordon Parks Museum.

Submitted by Fort Scott Community College

FSCC Theatre to Stage “The Bald Soprano”

The Fort Scott Community College Theatre Department will present “The Bald Soprano,” Thursday, October 20, through Saturday, October 22.

“The Bald Soprano,” was written by Eugene Ionesco in 1950.

“This play is a significant part of the Absurdist movement in theatre. The original version of the play takes place in London, but we have adapted the script to fit in the United States,” said Lawrence Alford, FSCC Theatre Instructor. “The concept of the production is based around the 2016 presidential election campaigns. The characters in the play will represent four significant groups—the American voter, the American media, Democratic Party and Republican Party.”

While the play has no discernible plot or storyline, it follows a stream of consciousness. The main message of “The Bald Soprano,” is that language cannot be used as a vehicle for change if no one is saying anything and no one is listening. The play expresses the futility of meaningful communication in modern society.

“One of the main reasons why I chose this play is because my students are voting in their first presidential election,” said Alford. “The play will not take a side in the election—it will attempt to show the absurd nature of the presidential campaign process as a whole.”

The production opens on October 20, and runs through October 22. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. Performances will be held at Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center, 2108 S. Horton. General admission tickets may be purchased at the door on the day of the show—prices are $7 for adults, $4 for students and seniors and free for FSCC students.

For more information, call Lawrence Alford at 620-223-2700, ext. 3056.

FSCC to Host Community Appreciation Day

Fort Scott Community College will welcome members of the community to its campus 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Friday, October 28. for its Community Appreciation Day.

The event is designed to thank the community for its continued support of the College. Attendees will receive a free grilled hot dog lunch and a tour of the Gordon Parks Museum. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to meet and talk with FSCC administrative staff.

FSCC’s Community Appreciation Day will take place in front of the Danny & Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center. In case of inclement weather, the event will take place inside the Fine Arts Center. For more information, please call 620-223-2700.

Submitted by Angela Bin

The International Thespian Society announces the participation of Fort Scott High School, Thespian Troupe #7365, in the Trick or Treat So Kids Can Eat program.

Trick or Treat So Kids Can Eat is a national community service program to collect canned and dry goods for local charities and food banks. Theatre students from FSHS will collect food donations on Friday, October 21, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thousands of pounds of food will be collected in one week across the state, giving organizations the ability to help thousands of local people.

The International Thespian Society (ITS) is an honorary organization for high school and middle school theatre students located at more than 4,100 affiliated secondary schools across America, Canada and abroad. The mission of ITS is to honor student achievement in the theatre arts. High school inductees are known as “Thespians” and junior high/middle school inductees are known as “Junior Thespians.” ITS is a division of the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA), a professional organization with approximately 100,000 members nationwide.

Thespians will also partner with other high school clubs including Pride to collect food.  If you would like to donate to the cause and the students miss your home on October 21, please drop your donation by FSHS and address it to Angie Bin, FSHS Thespian Director.

After being postponed a week because of recent heavy rains, the 4^th Annual Tryakathon at Gunn Park was almost delayed again because of wet conditions on the trails. But the night before the Saturday event, organizer Frank Halsey decided it was safe for the participants and the event continued.

“It’s been hectic,” Halsey said of the planning over the last couple weeks, which forced organizers to keep a close eye on the trail and river conditions.

Participants had to face muddy trails as well as a tree downed in the river, but individual competitors and teams still came out to compete in the event that covered 4 miles of running, 2.5 miles of kayaking and 6.5 miles of bike trails.

Because the event was delayed a week, the event lost some participants as well as gained some, but overall the numbers remained lower than previous years because of the conditions. Halsey said there was still a larger number of competitors than they expected.

Local volunteers such as from Fort Scott Community College also helped put on the event.

Members of the Young Professionals League invested their time and efforts into downtown Fort Scott Tuesday evening by washing windows and sweeping the sidewalks in order to make the vacant storefronts more presentable.

YPL executive board member Jessica Schenkel said she had recently come across records of the YPL doing a similar downtown event in 2008, and decided that would be a good way for the young professionals to get more involved in the community.

“We’re trying to do some more events to get the YPL out into the public eye,” Schenkel said, saying they want to encourage other young professionals to get involved in the organization as well as make sure the rest of the community knows they exist.

The YPL also helps with other community events throughout the year, such as through the high school job fair and a soup kitchen to raise money for the Beacon, this year switching to an enchilada meal for that same goal. On Saturday, a team of YPL members participated in the kickball tournament to help raise money for a new 3D mammogram machine for Mercy Hospital.

The organization’s members also gather for monthly social events as well as hold a meeting the first Friday of each month. This Sunday, members and their families and prospective members are invited to the Fort Wise Pumpkin Patch at 2 p.m. at a discount price.

Throughout the year, YPL members are encouraged to turn in hours of community service they complete in order to keep a record of some of the impact the members have on the city.

During their homecoming event Friday evening, Fort Scott High School crowned the 2016 homecoming king and queen while the football team protected their field against the Coffeyville Golden Tornadoes.

Taylor Engstrom was named the homecoming king while Lauren Hurd was crowned the queen. Other king candidates included Noah Daly, Wyatt DeHaven, Grant Goldston and Mayson Lane. Queen candidates were Alex King, Taylor Krokroskia, Makayla Robertson and Karlee Stanley.

The Fort Scott Tigers then held on for a 35-20 victory over the Golden Tornadoes, scoring 16 points in the third quarter after trailing Coffeyville by one at halftime. A Tigers’ defense that had three interceptions and four sacks held the Tornadoes to just over 200 yards of offense while their own surpassed 400 yards.

The Tigers continue their season with a district game on the road against the Louisburg Wildcats Friday.

During a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday evening, Mercy Hospital offered demonstrations and information to visitors about the new HydroWorx 300 recently added to the hospital’s equipment available to patients and other members of the community.

“Aquatic therapy has been our goal and our target for a lot of years,” said Kirk Sharp of the hospital’s fitness center. “And it’s here.”

Tina Rockhold of public relations at Mercy said it took a long while to reach this point of purchasing the equipment, one of the only ones available in the state outside of those used by professional sports organizations. But with the funds raised in the community, the leadership of board members and the work from the hospital team, the goal became a reality.

Efforts to raise funds for the treadmill began with a golf tournament in June and continued with matching funds and other donation from the community.

The water treadmill provides aquatic therapy for those recovering from injuries as well as those suffering from arthritis and other ailments. It can also serve as an ideal way to exercise because of the added level of resistance in the water.

The treadmill, which cost about $140,000, includes features such as adjustable water depth, heated water, jet-propelled currents, deep-tissue massage hose and underwater video camera. The facilities include a changing room, shower and lockers.

While available first of all to patients and those needing the therapy, the treadmill can also be reserved for $1 a minute by Health for Life members and $1.50 each minute for non-members. Sharp said starting with just five minutes can provide and vigorous workout.

“What an awesome piece of equipment we have,” said Lindsay Madison, executive director of the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce.

For a second year in a row, the Fort Scott High School debate team took first place in the Pittsburg tournament over the weekend, not debating the final round since their only opponents were their fellow team mates.

“All five teams will share a co-championship,” coach Amber Toth explained. “These guys dropped one round to another team the entire weekend.”

Just as in a previous tournament, the Fort Scott students determined the winners based on earlier rounds and coin tosses so they would not have to debate against each other. The five teams and their results include:

• Breana Mooney and Hunter Parker, undefeated but losing two rounds to coin tosses
• Tayton Majors and Sara Al-Shawish, losing one round in the tournament and one coin toss
• Darby Toth and Rebekah Sweyko, undefeated but losing one coin toss
• Seth Cross and Zach Humble, undefeated but lost to own team based on speaker points
• Isabella Provence and Joe Adams, undefeated and winning all coin tosses
• Logan Hall and Darrick Green also competed and came away with a couple wins

The novice division teams also met with success:

• Levi Bin and Mark Adams placed third with a 4-1 record
• Alyssa Elliott and Conner Parker placed 5^th with a 4-1 record
• Madi Toth and Addisyn Guilfoyle finished with a 3-2 record
• Jordan Willard and Aztreia Milton finished with a 3-2 record
• Emma Faith Humble and Caleb Hopkins finished with a 3-2 record
• Addie Smith and Jonie Antonio finished with a 2-3 record
• Connor Mason and Carlee Studyvin finished with a 2-3 record