After holding a soft opening in early November, the Fort Scott National Historic Site officially opened a new Civil War exhibit for the community to visit during the weekly Chamber Coffee hosted at the fort Thursday morning.

“Finally, after a lengthy time, we were able to get these exhibits installed,” fort superintendent Betty Boyko said of the project, which took years of waiting for funding and then planning before it was finally completed in recent months.

Both Boyko and former fort employee Kelley Collins, who was recognized for the time she spent working on the exhibits before leaving the fort in January of this year, said their goal was to update the previous exhibit to be more appealing to a younger generation that is interested in more interaction.

The exhibit follows numerous characters, including a slaveholder, abolitionist, slave, Native American and others throughout the years leading up to the Civil War and throughout the war itself. Videos of these characters’ different perspectives run throughout the exhibit, with some of the characters played by Fort Scott residents.

“There’s enough in the exhibit that every time you come back you’ll find something new,” Collins said.

Bill Fischer was also recognized for his key role in the exhibit, which he said included much planning, hiring different contractors for their construction and for the video and audio, as well as editing of all the information to make sure it was accurate and politically correct.

The exhibit was completed in time for the beginning of the National Park Service’s 100^th anniversary to be celebrated throughout 2016. Some of Fort Scott’s events to coincide with the anniversary include a vintage baseball game, Native Neighbors in October, Picnic in the Park in August and other events throughout the year with the fort as the theme, such as part of the Good Ol’ Days.

During the weekly Chamber Coffee Thursday morning, business and city leaders from the community announced a variety of different events happening over the weekend and into the next week, encouraging members of the community to participate in the events to show support for varying aspects of the city.

• Friday evening at 7 p.m., the Fort Scott High School Thespian Troupe will provide an evening of Improv Comedy at the Common Ground Coffee Co., improvising based on suggestions from their audience. The event will serve as a fundraiser for the troupe for an upcoming competition, asking visitors to make a donation of $5. The Common Ground will also host a trio at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
• Gunn Park will host the first Frozen Five and Dime Run Saturday morning at 9 a.m., with participating runners choosing between five-kilometer, five-mile and 10-mile trails through the park. The $25 entry comes with $15 in Chamber Bucks that can be used at about 40 stores and restaurants in Fort Scott. Similar “Frozen” events may be held in future years, though the weather may not be as warm as this weekend, which has a forecast of warm temperatures.
• The Fort Scott National Cemetery will again host the Wreaths Across America event Saturday morning, as part of a nation-wide effort to place wreaths at each of the headstones in national cemeteries around the United States. While about 800 wreaths were placed at the cemetery in Fort Scott last year, this year’s fundraisers and donations have allowed the purchase of 2,581 wreaths, to be placed around the cemetery Saturday at 11 a.m.
• The USD 234 junior varsity basketball teams will participate in a tournament this weekend, including games on Saturday. Games will also be played at home next Friday, Dec. 18, against Chanute, the final games before Christmas break.

More information on upcoming events, such as other fundraisers and events can be found at the Chamber of Commerce website, fortscott.com, or by visiting local businesses or city of Fort Scott offices.

Submitted by: Amber Toth

We had a great weekend. We went two different directions this weekend. Our younger debaters went to Chanute and everyone brought home wins.

Our more experienced teams went to Lawrence this weekend. We brought home the 3rd place trophy out of 33 schools. In the varsity division, Seth Cross and Zach Humble lost in the semifinals to bring home 3rd. In the open division, Joe Adams and Isabella Province took 3rd after losing in the semifinal round. Jake Province and Suzi Owen took 3rd in the junior varsity division after losing in the semifinals.

Once again, Tiger debate has made a name for itself against the largest programs in the state. This was our last regular season tournament. Regionals is in two weeks. We hope to bring home a regional championship qualifying a four-speaker team to state. Joe Adams/Isabella Provence and Seth Cross/Zach Humble will be our four-man team. Hunter Parker and Breana Mooney will be the alternates.

We have also qualified our maximum number of two speaker teams. Our goal is to have 14 qualified for state in the next two weeks.

I’m so proud of how hard these kids have worked and how much they have grown. It’s a pleasure to coach kids who work hard and are coachable. A great weekend for Tiger Debate.

The Fort Scott National Historic Site’s 34^th Annual Candlelight Tour event brought more than 650 visitors to the site as tickets for the 26 weekend tours were sold out, even after adding an extra tour.

“Overall, I think it was a good event this year,” park ranger and tour guide Galen Ewing said, saying the nice weather through the weekend helped. “This is the first year in a few years that it sold out.”

With “A New Birth of Freedom” as its theme, the tour included five scenes that might have occurred at the fort in the year 1865, just after the ending of the Civil War. Almost 100 volunteers from the fort, Friends of Fort Scott National Historic Site, Fort Scott High School drama club and Fort Scott Middle School Pride acted out the scenes.

More than 700 candles were lit on the grounds of the site as the scenes were acted out by candlelight in different areas and buildings of the fort.

Scenes included soldiers preparing to go out on patrol, the announcement of President Abraham Lincoln’s death, the downsizing of the hospital, the opening of the Freedmen’s School for former slaves and the auctioning off of the fort buildings.

For the past five years, Ewing said the tours have focused on the Civil War years, leading up to the ending of the war this year in honor of the 150^th anniversary of the end of the war. Although a theme has not yet been chosen for next year, Ewing said he is looking forward to it as it is the 35^th annual event.

Families and organizations from around Fort Scott opened their homes and buildings for members of the community to visit and tour during the 36^th Annual Homes for the Holiday Tour Saturday and Sunday, as well as the Moonlight and Mistletoe Tour held Friday evening.

“This took almost a year in coordination,” said Rhonda Dunn, president of the Historic Preservation Association, during the Moonlight and Mistletoe Tour Friday. “And I think it is going absolutely great.”

Participants in the tour included buildings such as the Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church, built in 1872, which allowed visitors to see its collection of artwork and stained glass windows. Bethel Community Church, constructed in 1916, was also open as was the Bourbon County Courthouse, which had new exhibits on display.

Families also gave tours of their homes, such as Arlo and Ernestine Eden, who, with some of their seven children, pointed out its antiques and other items collected or passed down through generations of their family. They also told stories of their farmhouse, such as when a tornado tipped it on its side in 1916 and it had to be put upright once again.

Bob and Denise Duncan also opened their home, located on the second floor of what was previously a commercial building on S. National. A Mad Hatter Tea Part was also held at the location Saturday afternoon, with community members of all ages dressing for the occasion.

A new and possibly one-time addition to the tour this year was the E3 Ranch owned by the LaRoche family, which was the highlight of the Moonlight and Mistletoe Tour Friday evening. Interest in the tour led to the 150 tickets being sold out quickly, with more tickets being added and again sold out.

The Moonlight and Mistletoe Tour first visited the home of Loren and Julie Readinger, Jennifer LaRoche’s parents, which was built by her great-great-grandfather in 1927. The Readingers moved into the home just a year ago after remodeling it.

The tour also visted major league baseball player and Fort Scott native Adam and Jennifer LaRoches’ first home – now a guest house, their E3 Ranch house built in just the past few years and a building housing a basketball court, batting cages and further living quarters where a reception was held Friday evening.

Dunn said she had mentioned to Jennifer, her cousin, during the previous Moonlight and Mistletoe event that the HPA would love to one year have the E3 Ranch on their tour. Initially Jennifer said they would rather wait until they lived in the home full-time, but a month later they said they would host the event this year, with Adam expressing an eagerness to help with the fundraiser.

The E3 Ranch — named after a baseball term designating an error by the first baseman, LaRoche’s position — allowed visitors to see LaRoche’s baseball and hunting trophies on display as well as the living areas of the couple and their two children. A live nativity scene was also on their property, with costumed children accepting requests for Christmas carols.

Participants said they were pleased that the homes on the tours throughout the weekend had a lived-in feel to them, instead of merely being on display.

Friday evening, Dunn and the HPA also presented a check to the Chamber of Commerce and the city of Fort Scott to go towards purchasing a new trolley for the city.

Members of the community bundled up and lined Main Street for the annual Christmas Parade through downtown Fort Scott Tuesday evening, ending with the lighting of the mayor’s Christmas tree and an appearance from Santa Claus.

“What a wonderful way to spend the evening with family and friends,” Mayor Cindy Bartelsmeyer said.

Local businesses, churches and other organizations participated in the parade, with the theme Old Fashioned Christmas this year. Representatives from Mercy Hospital, the Lowell Milken Center, SEK Financial, Westar Energy, Shepherd Autogroup and area 4-H teams, Cub Scout groups, schools, churches, fire and police departments participated in the parade.

Prizes were awarded to Medicalodges, Mercy Hospital and the Fort Scott Church of the Nazarene for their floats.

The parade ended at Skubitz Plaza where the tree was lit. Children could then have their photo taken with Santa Claus at Papa Don’s.

In the past eight months, former Fort Scott Community College professor Marcel Normand completed a biography on the life and impact of fellow teacher Lucile James and how she influenced not just the community, but his own family’s lives.

That book, The Lucile James Story: Portrait of a Remarkable Teacher, will be available at the Fort Scott Community College Thursday December 3, for a book signing event.

Normand said he first met James, raised in Pleasanton, when they both started teaching at the Fort Scott High School when he was just 25 years old and she was 52. Their offices were located near each other, they taught on the same floor and they often shared lunch breaks.

“We just kind of hit it off,” Normand said of when they met, saying theater and deciding who would direct the school play that year became the foundation of their friendship that would last for decades.

Normand married his wife in the next year after meeting James, and their families grew close to one another, with the couples often going dancing together over the weekends.

“We had a family friendship,” Normand described the couples’ bond. “It was much more than a school relationship.”

Normand and James would go on to teach at FSCC and, by the early 1970s, Normand said he knew he would write a book about James one day, as he was inspired by her life and teaching method. Normand said she had a flamboyant and fun attitude that seemed to match her red hair, but could also be disciplined and professional in the classroom.

After James’ husband died in 1974, she would spend about every other weekend with Normand’s family, often enough that their three children would begin to consider her a grandmother. Two of those three children would later take English classes from James at FSCC.

In the 1970s, James had heart surgery as a result of heart disease. In 1985, just months after FSCC hosted an appreciation dinner for James, doctors discovered a malignant tumor on her brain, leading to her death later that year.

Normand referred to the book, which took him about 16 months to write, as a 30^th anniversary edition as it was printed about 30 years after James’ death. Normand encourages family, friends and students of James to read the book as well as those who have only heard about her.