Key Apparel is seeking a motivated person to join our Embellishment Team as a Screen Printer. This position will work with screen printing, digital printing, and embroidery equipment and processes.As part of the Embellishment Team, you are responsible for embellishing uniforms, hats, outerwear, and other accessories.
A Screen Printer should have an eye for detail, be comfortable on their feet and moving product, be able to navigate graphic design software, and be able to create expertly designed prints that fully meet the customer’s expectations. You should have the ability to work efficiently while staying on top of multiple projects. Prior experience is not required, but a willingness and excitement to learn is!
Duties and Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Receiving work order jobs for Screen Printing.
Examining work orders to determine estimated printing times, ink, and material quantities.
Designing screen patterns according to customer specifications.
Selecting screen size, degreasing agents, and emulsion coatings.
Running prints and performing quality checks throughout the printing process.
Troubleshooting problems as they arise.
Drying, folding, and packing completed articles after the run.
Loading screen into printer.
Installing and repositioning screen printing plates and pressure roles.
Calibrating printer before batch is printed.
The ideal candidate must have:
Excellent hand-eye coordination.
Ability to manually operate large machinery.
Ability to work alone for long shifts.
High level of creative and artistic skills. Some graphic design experience is required.
Ability to stand for long periods.
Ability to work with ink and chemicals every day.
Compensation/Benefits:
Key offers competitive compensation, including a highly competitive benefits package.
Please submit your resume to: [email protected], or stop by and pick up an application at our offices located in the Industrial Park at 400 Marble Rd in Ft Scott.
Trump Administration Cuts Critical State
Health Funds, Eliminating Access to Vital Services During Disease Outbreaks
~Grant Terminations Harm Mental Health Programs and Response to Disease Outbreaks~
TOPEKA – Governor Laura Kelly announced Thursday that the Trump administration’s abrupt unilateral termination of more than $33 million in health care and mental health service grants has forced the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to abolish 56 positions in vital health posts, leaving communities without access to critical services. This marks the first large-scale state employment dismissal initiated by the Trump administration’s cuts to congressionally authorized funds.
On Tuesday, March 25, the Trump administration notified KDHE and the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) that six of the grants they administer were immediately terminated as of the previous day, Monday, March 24.
The mission of the grants and employees paid through that funding was to strengthen the state’s epidemiology and laboratory work, monitor and respond to disease outbreak, administer critical programs that provide vaccines for children, and address health disparities for underserved communities and rural Kansans. These actions also eliminated $7.4 million in funding that goes directly to local non-profits in Kansas.
After receiving notification that the grants were terminated, Governor Kelly called upon Attorney General Kobach to bring a case on behalf of Kansas to fight back against federal cuts to vital state health services. The attorney general declined.
“The Trump administration’s abrupt and unilateral funding cuts will have severe and immediate consequences for the health, safety, and quality of life of Kansans across the state, especially in rural areas,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “These cuts come when Kansas is in the midst of fighting two outbreaks — tuberculosis and measles — and has no additional resources to continue this work.”
The governor is committed to pushing back against the Trump administration’s harmful actions that impact Kansans and has directed the Department of Administration to take proactive steps to provide resources to those affected by the separations, including rapid response, outplacement services, and mental health assistance. The Kelly administration will continue to monitor federal actions taken and inform employees, partners, and stakeholders of any relevant developments in a timely manner.
The office hours are listed on the door of 109 S. Main, Tennyson Creek Solar’s new office.
Tennyson Creek Solar, a project of Doral Renewables LLC, has opened an office in downtown Fort Scott, at 109 S. Main Street.
“This move underscores the company’s ongoing investment in the region and its intent to remain a visible, responsive, and long-term partner in the community,” said Cliff Williams, vice president of development at Doral Renewables.
Marlon Merida has been named Local Outreach Coordinator.
“Marlon will serve as a direct link between the project and residents, answering questions, facilitating outreach events, and ensuring Tennyson Creek Solar stays actively engaged with the people of Bourbon County.”
“We’re honored to have someone with deep local ties like Marlon leading our community engagement,” said Williams. “From investing in student-led innovation to opening a local office, we’re here to listen, collaborate, and grow with Bourbon County.”
“He will be staffing the office, welcoming anyone in the community who would like to learn more about the project,” Williams said.
“Tennyson Creek Solar has received necessary approvals from Bourbon County to proceed with the project which will generate over $94.4 million in property taxes in total for all taxing districts over the life of the project,” he said.
“Donation agreements are also in place with Uniontown USD 235, Fort Scott USD 234, Fort Scott Community College, and CORE Community of Bourbon County,” he said.
Marlon Meridain in the Tennyson Creek Solar Office in Fort Scott. Submitted photo.
“Coming from Southeast Kansas, I feel I’m very grateful to help with something that will bring many benefits to the community. I’m looking forward to meeting and working with community members,” said Merida, Local Outreach Coordinator, in a press release.
Merida earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in communication from Pittsburg State University. He was a staff assistant for U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, Republican from Kansas, in 2024.
“Marlon recently attended the SunPowered Student Challenge, where he supported the Uniontown (High School) Lightspeed Eagles as they took top honors for their solar home project, ‘Curb Appeal’. His presence reflects Tennyson Creek Solar’s broader commitment to educational initiatives and youth development,” according to the press release.
“With these initiatives, Tennyson Creek Solar is not only building energy infrastructure, it’s building lasting relationships. From supporting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics , STEM, education to fostering transparent communication, the company continues to make strategic investments that aim to benefit Bourbon County for generations,” according to the press release.
Office hours are Mondays from 1-5 p.m., Wednesdays from 1-4 p.m., and Thursdays from 1-4 p.m.
About Tennyson Creek Solar+Storage, according to its website
The Tennyson Creek solar and storage project is being developed in southeastern Kansas. Once operational, it will generate 300 megawatts (MW) of clean and renewable electricity. This project will have a battery storage component of approximately 800 megawatt-hours (MWh) to enhance energy security and reliability. The Tennyson Creek project is within the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) transmission system.
The new office of Tennyson Creek Solar is located at 109 S. Main, north of Crooner’s Restaurant.
To view prior press releases from Tennyson Creek Solar and Doral Renewables:
The Bourbon County Zoning Advisory Committee will hold public forums to inform residents of the proposal to add zoning in the County and to hear input from citizens. The first forum will be held on Wednesday, May 14th, at the Uniontown Community Center. Additional forums will be held on Tuesday, May 20th, at the Fulton Community Center and on Wednesday, May 21st, at Memorial Hall in Fort Scott. All forums will begin at 6:00 pm. We need and value your opinion, so every person who wishes to speak will be given 3 minutes to express your thoughts. All Bourbon County residents are encouraged to attend one of the forums; those dates again are May 14th at Uniontown, May 20th at Fulton and May 21st at Fort Scott.
Bourbon County Courthouse
210 S. National Ave
Fort Scott, KS 66701
Phone: 620-223-3800
Fax: 620-223-5832
Bourbon County, Kansas
Brandon Whisenhunt, Chairman
1st District Commissioner
David Beerbower, Vice-Chairman
2nd District Commissioner
Mika Milburn-Kee
3rd District Commissioner
Bourbon County Commission Agenda
Bourbon County Commission Room 210 S National Ave.
May 12, 2025, 5:30 PM
I. Call Meeting to Order
a. Roll Call
b. Pledge of Allegiance
c. Prayer
II. Approval of Agenda
III. Approval of Minutes from 05.05.25
IV. Consent Agenda
a. Approval of 05.09.25 Accounts Payable Totaling $58,537.22
b. Tax Roll Corrections
V. Old Business
a. Policy & Procedures
i. Workers Compensation – Beerbower
ii. Letterhead
iii. Dump Fees for Employees – Milburn
b. Separation of Public Works and Landfill Departments – Beerbower
VI. Public Comments for Items Not on The Agenda
VII. New Business
a. Ealyn Taylor – Animal Control
b. Commissioner Comments
VIII. Adjournment
Future business that has been tabled in past meetings or planned for future meetings:
Public Hearing 05.19.25 5:35PM Vacation of Road
SEK Mental Health Budget
Juvenile Detention Budget
Office Restructuring Cost
Handbook: Personal Improvement Plan, Corrective Action Plan, Formal Written Notice,
Deviation Policy
Mission Statement (June 2nd)
Job Descriptions
Handbook Updated
Economic Development Direction
EXECUTIVE SESSIONS – FORM OF MOTION
____ Pursuant to KSA 75-4319 (b)(1) to discuss personnel matters of individual nonelected personnel to protect their
privacy
____ Pursuant to KSA 75-4319 (b)(2) for consultation with an attorney for the public body of agency which would be
deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship
____ Pursuant to KSA 75-4319 (b)(3) to discuss matters relating to employer/employee negotiations whether or not in
consultation with the representatives of the body or agency
____ Pursuant to KSA 75-4319 (b)(4) to discuss data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations,
partnerships, trust and individual proprietorships
____ Pursuant to KSA 75-4319 (b)(6) for the preliminary discussion of acquisition of real estate
____ Pursuant to KSA 75-4319 (b)(12) to discuss matters relating to security measures, if the discussion of such matters
at an open meeting would jeopardize such security measures
The subject to be discussed during executive session: ________________________________________
State persons to attend
Open session will resume at _____ A.M./P.M. in the commission chambers.
Personal Property Change Refund Tax Year Trucks Change Refund Tax Year
2307 245th Street, Fulton (32.54)$ 32.54$ 2023
2307 245th Street, Fulton (26.04)$ -$ 2024
901 S Margrave (69.26)$ -$ 2024
(127.84)$ 32.54$
Tax Roll Corrections for Personal Property, Special Assessments, and Trucks
05.12.25
To view the entire packet, which couldn’t be copy and pasted:
The Kansas Department of Transportation closed K-7 today to through traffic from U.S. 69 south to K-47 at Girard. Local traffic can still access the highway.
The K-7 closure was made to address safety concerns at the intersection of K-39 and K-7, which is undergoing reconstruction. Traffic is following a signed state detour on U.S. 69, K-47, K-3 and U.S. 54.
The intersection reconstruction is the first phase of tied K-7 pavement rehabilitation and widening projects in Bourbon and Crawford counties. KDOT awarded the K-7 construction contracts totaling $20.4 million to APAC-Kansas Inc., Shears Division, Hutchinson.
Check KDOT’s updated traveler information website, www.kandrive.gov, for more highway conditions and construction details. People with questions may contact Construction Manager Warren Ebberts at (620) 901-6549 or Public Information Officer Priscilla Petersen at (620) 902-6433.
The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce invites members and guests to a Chamber Coffee and Ribbon Cutting to celebrate the opening of Producers Cooperative Association, Thursday, May 8th at 8am. The coffee will be held at PCA located at 2187 Hackberry Rd, southwest of the LaRoche Baseball Complex. Coffee, juice, and refreshments will be served, and attendees may register to win a special drawing.
For over 75 years, Producers Cooperative Association has been a full-service agricultural cooperative, serving Southeast Kansas and Southwest Missouri. They work hard to ensure their member-owners’ operations are positioned for optimum success. No matter how large or small, PCA takes pride in supporting the families they call neighbors and owners. From grain marketing to livestock feeds, and fertilizer to bulk fuels and lubricants, PCA has you covered. Visit any of their six locations in Girard, Fort Scott, Liberal and Moundville!
Contact the Chamber of Commerce at (620) 223-3566 for more information. Visit the Events Calendar and category of Chamber Coffees on fortscott.com for upcoming locations.
Thank you to our Chamber Champion members shown below…
Cindi Lipe has given 50 years of her wonderful caring and dedication to the residents in Fort Scott since 1976, here in this building, when it was originally a nursing home.
What better time to celebrate her than during Nurses Week!
Please stop by Guest Home Estates on Friday, May 9th, 1 pm-4 pm to say hello to Cindi!
Guest Home Estates is located at 737 Heylman, Fort Scott.
Several weeks ago, there was a reasonably cordial exchange between David Foster, who opposes zoning, and Mika Milburn, who supports it. County Commissioner Mika made a very good point about zoning that is worth considering:
I understand your fear, but I have fear as well that bourbon county will some day be primarily owned by out of state or even out of county people that do not care nor respect our county and the people that call it home, so many counties in Kansas are zoned and it did not kill them! Although I disagree with you that this will kill our county David I certainly respect your opinion and agree with you on many other things.
At a high level, I believe Mika is saying that there is a way to do zoning that is good for the long-term interests of Bourbon County. This is a perfectly reasonable position, and I completely agree with her. Zoning done perfectly and administered perfectly could potentially have some benefits for the county over not being zoned.
However, we shouldn’t be comparing a utopian execution of zoning with no-zoning. We should be comparing the zoning we will actually get with the lack of county zoning we have today. What makes it difficult is that it is hard to predict exactly what we will get, and it is impossible to say how it will actually be used by current and future commissioners. So, while Mika may be optimistic about her goals for zoning from the commission she sits on, residents should be weighing the risks and rewards of zoning under both the current and future commissioners. It is less of a question of whether good things could come from the decisions made by the best commissioners and more a question of the harm that might result under the worst commissioners in the future. People will evaluate these risks in different ways and will likely come to different conclusions.
So that is thinking about the way zoning might be administered in the future, but what about the way it is enacted today? In other words, what type of zoning are we likely to actually get? Well, let’s look at the current zoning advisory board. This board consists of Brian Wade, Christine Farbo, Brian Ashworth II, James L. Banworth Jr., Mary Pemberton, Jason Yaunt, Amanda Spicer, Pete Owensby, and Mike Houston. They are meeting in the commission room at the courthouse on Thursdays at 5 p.m. starting April 17th and running for 5 weeks. Hop on over to the county’s YouTube channel where all the county meetings are streamed and archived, to see how the process is going. What’s that? You say you can’t find any of the meetings? Are you sure you looked hard enough? Does that seem strange?
Even though the advisory board meetings under previous commissioners were streamed, the current commissioners have inexplicably broken with this tradition and made the peculiar decision to leave the streaming turned off for these meetings. It isn’t just past commissions that make these types of meetings accessible to the public. A similar advisory board at the city streams their meetings in order to maintain transparency. The commissioners have also decided to forgo taking minutes at the meetings, so there is no official record of what is discussed.
Multiple requests by citizens asking the commissioners to stream these meetings have been denied. In a recent poll, every participating voter except one asked that the meetings be streamed. The sole exception was a vote by Commissioner Beerbower, who voted that the meetings should not be streamed.
Since the evidence suggests that the commissioners think their goals are better served by making these advisory meetings less transparent to the broad population than what has been done in the past, how likely is it that those goals are in the best interest of the broad population of Bourbon County?
That isn’t a rhetorical question. Apparently, Mika feels confident that this process will produce zoning that will be used in a way that will be better than no zoning in the county. This isn’t an unreasonable position, and I’m sure she is not alone. Others may see the downsides of zoning outweighing any potential benefits. The important thing is to look at the process, ask yourself the above question, and then let your commissioner know what you think.
Mark Shead
Additional note: After the meeting ended on Wednesday, Brian Wade indicated that he was unhappy with this piece because it wasn’t the truth. He was walking out the door, so I may not have caught everything, but it seemed he felt that the decision to not make the meetings available in the way that past commissioners have done with past advisory commission meetings was made by the advisory committee, not the commissioners. I would suggest that, since the advisory committee is appointed and directed by the commissioners, the decision is ultimately that of the commissioners, and if the commissioners wanted to make sure the meeting was conducted with the same level of transparency as similar meetings, they could have done so. However, it is worth noting that Mr. Wade felt the committee had the option to make the meetings accessible but chose not to. He mentioned several times that he didn’t want people to be able to see the meetings unless they came in person.
The Southeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging has received disappointing news that the Kansas Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program will not begin at its typical time.
Older Kansans anticipate the KSFMNP. It typically begins on June 1st, and individuals 60 and older who meet income guidelines receive ten $5 vouchers to purchase fresh fruits, vegetables, and honey at farmers markets.
“We already have people that are calling to see when they can pick up the vouchers,” said Kathy Brennon, Executive Director of Southeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging. “It is a great opportunity for older Kansans to eat healthy as well as promoting our local farmers markets. There is no confirmed start date, but any delay could be detrimental because the participants might miss out of the peak growing times. The number of vouchers we have to distribute has been cut in half of what we received in previous years. We were not told why the number of vouchers was reduced.”
SEKAAA is the assigned Distribution Agency for Bourbon, Neosho, Labette, Crawford, and Allen counties.
