Fort Scott, Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce

Grand Opening/Ribbon Cutting of Boiler Room Brewhaus June 2

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GRAND OPENING AND RIBBON-CUTTING OF THE BOILER ROOM BREWHAUS
Saturday, June 2, 2018
1:45pm

FORT SCOTT – The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce announces a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to celebrate the Grand Re-opening of The Boiler Room Brewhaus in their new location of 10 S. National Ave. The ceremony will take place this Saturday, June 2, 2018, at 1:45 pm, just prior to the official opening of the business at 2 pm.

Tickets to the Grand Re-opening event are not required but are free and may be obtained through The Boiler Room Brewhaus Facebook page. Those with tickets will have reserved seating. Attendees must be 21-years-old to sample or purchase alcoholic beverages; soda, tea, and water will also be available. Minors are allowed but must have adult supervision.

The Chamber invites members and the community to attend and congratulate the Ritter’s on the re-opening and expansion of the Brewhaus. The owner of the building known as the former “Downtowner Motel”, Josh Jones, is also to be commended for investing in upgrades to the property located in the Historic District.

For questions or more information email the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce at [email protected].

Bourbon County

Kids Summer Food Programs in Bourbon County Begin

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Children of all ages came to the Keyhole Wednesday for the free sack lunch.

Communities in Bourbon County have taken advantage of the government’s opportunities to feed children and youth for free this summer.

Fort Scott

The Kansas Food Bank Federal Summer Meal Program provides free shelf-stable food for area youngsters up to 18 years old at the Keyhole Youth Center, 1002 S. Main, across from Fort Scott High School.

The program started May 29 and serves lunch from noon to 1 p.m. and will continue until July 29.

A look at what is inside the free sack lunch offering at the Keyhole Youth Center.
Fresh fruits are provided with the free sack lunch by The Beacon.
On Wednesday, May 30, Diana Spencer and Joyce Gobl helped serve the free sack lunches at the Keyhole.

Community groups volunteer their time to help serve the meals: Mondays the First Methodist Church serves, Tuesday-Fort Scott Church of the Nazarene, Wednesday-Pioneer Kiwanis, Thursday-City of Fort Scott, Friday-First Presbyterian Church and Community Christian Church.

On May 29, the first day of the food program there were 28 children who were served, according to Bethany Hartford, Keyhole director.

Hartford coordinates the meal program with Dona Bauer.

Uniontown

Uniontown’s Food Service Director Michelle DeMott is facilitating the Summer Food Service Program for USD 235. It is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The food is free to children birth to 18 years old, DeMott said.

“It is no cost, regardless of any financial standard,” she said.

Their program offers cooked breakfasts and lunches Monday through Friday and starts next Monday, June 4.

Breakfast is from 8:30 to 9 a.m. and includes such menu items as biscuits and gravy, breakfast pizza, waffles, cereals, donuts, cheese, and yogurt, plus milk and juice. Each day features a different menu.

Lunch is from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and includes the standard American diet offerings of hot dogs, spaghetti, tacos, hamburgers, and sandwiches.

The school has a summer school program, of which the food service is a part. But other children in the community may come for the food at breakfast and lunch, she said.

Additionally, the Uniontown High School weight-lift program and the volleyball practice students come to the meals, DeMott said.

The meals are provided at West Bourbon Elementary School, located at 602 Fifth Street.

Bronson and Redfield

Bronson and Redfield communities will also have meals available at the same time at the Bronson Community Center, 503 Clay, and the Marmaton Community Church, 102 Cedar in Redfield.

“We will have activities for the kids between breakfast and lunch at these sites,” DeMott said. “For those who would like to stay”

Community members volunteer to facilitate activities for the youth in these communities, she said.

“Some had parents not at home and who didn’t want to go home,” DeMott said.

 

 

 

Government, Kansas

DCF Announces New Child Welfare Grants and Contract

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Grants and contracts, effective July 2019, improves Kansas foster care services

 

TOPEKA – Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel is pleased to announce the new child welfare grants and contract Request for Proposals (RFPs). DCF posted the RFP’s today, May 31, and they include substantial changes from the current child welfare contracts. DCF developed the improved child welfare grants and contract to address known issues within the Kansas foster care system after receiving input from the public, legislators and stakeholders.

The new child welfare grants improve accountability, oversight, fiscal responsibility, quality services, conflicts of interest, are client-centered, focused on needs-based services, competition and innovation. In addition, foster homes, kin, children and families will be more empowered. The grants also emphasize permanency in child-time, preferably with family, if safely possible. With these grants, Secretary Meier-Hummel is also committed to safely reducing the number of children in out-of-home care.

“By listening to Kansans, and by taking a careful look at our systems, we created grants and contracts that we truly believe will have a positive impact on the children and families in this state,” Secretary Meier-Hummel said. “Overall, this is a dramatic change, creating more accountability and oversight. We will be controlling more of the process, monitoring and expecting results for the families we serve.”

Currently, DCF offers four family preservation and four foster care contracts, to two providers statewide. Moving forward, DCF will offer two grants—Family Preservation and Foster Care. Potential providers can bid for both grants, but will only be awarded one grant in each DCF Region. This will eliminate current perceived conflicts of interest. Additionally, a statewide Placement Matching System contract will be released soon. Below are some of the changes included in the RFP’s:

  • Family Preservation
    • A new program focused on keeping children with their families, when safely possible, and safely reducing the number of children coming into out-of-home care.
    • Previously a one-size-fits-all program will now be tailored to the needs of each family
    • The state determines when providers are in the home working with families, and the intensity of services
    • Rates will differ based on the intensity of services needed, and payments will not be made to providers until milestones with the family are met (previously payments were made regardless of progress made)
  • Foster Care
    • Services will be provided to the entire family, not just the child(ren)
    • Grantees will be required to use the Placement Management System.
    • New grant structure will contain costs, allowing negotiation of changes only if there is a substantial change in caseloads.
    • Caseload sizes will not be allowed to exceed 25-30, per case manager, for foster care/reintegration/adoption cases, and 50, per case manager, for aftercare cases.
  • Placement Matching System
    • Currently, each provider has its own system, and the State does not readily have available data. This new contract will require every licensed foster home or residential bed, to be entered into a single statewide system
    • DCF will monitor the system to ensure children’s placement needs are being met, and they are remaining in their home communities, when possible.
    • The system will capture electronic records for the youth that are in the foster care system

 

The grants also include a long list of other substantial changes:

  • Smaller foster care catchment areas, bringing more community providers to the table to serve Kansas children (previously four catchment areas, now eight)
  • The new grant establishes an advisory board—consisting of youth in care, biological families, foster parents and providers—to provide feedback directly to Secretary Meier-Hummel
  • DCF contracting directly with CPA’s
  • DCF establishes rate settings for placements—this includes increased rate setting for relative and kin placements.

 

“These new grants and contracts are essential to enacting major reform in Kansas child welfare. We are building an infrastructure that puts the children and families of Kansas first, while still bringing private providers, innovation and competition to the table,” said Governor Jeff Colyer. “These are our kids, they are Kansans, and they deserve the best care possible. Moving forward, they will receive quality, timely services.”

All of these improvements follow internal reviews of the agency, as well as a formal Request for Information (RFI) process, in which DCF gathered feedback from the public and stakeholders. Through the RFI process, we received 393 submissions, that will be available for review on the DCF Public website by 8 a.m., Friday, June 1.

“It was clear, based on the feedback and the work of the legislative Child Welfare System Task Force, a change in the structure and work in the child welfare contracts was needed,” Secretary Meier-Hummel said. “Quite simply, the public, stakeholders and legislators spoke, and we listened.”

“It has been my pleasure to be a part of the Child Welfare System Task Force. We have had purposeful, albeit difficult conversations, that are essential to cause statewide, systematic changes and break down barriers for Kansas children and youth,” said Senator Barbara Bollier. “It is obvious that Secretary Meier-Hummel and her team have been listening to these conversations, and are taking action to address much-needed issues within the system.”

RFP submissions are due by Monday, Aug. 9. Presentations will begin in October, and the child welfare grants and Placement Management System contract will be awarded no later than December 2018. The new providers will begin serving Kansas children and families on July 1, 2019. You can find the Foster Care and Family Preservation RFP’s here.

 

Opinion

Make The Most of Opportunities By Patty LaRoche

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Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. (Col. 4:5)

We met in the exercise room. “I’ll only be in here two minutes,” she said as a way of introduction. Two became twenty, during which time I learned the following:

  • She is divorced from an abusive man who pays her only $600 a month in alimony. Her attorneys took most of her life savings.
  • She has fibromyalgia and has battled Lyme’s disease for 20 years.
  • She has been in three car accidents.
  • Her siblings all say she is a hypochondriac.
  • Some of the doctors she has seen have been really mean, especially her urologist.
  • The house she put a bid on won’t be ready for three weeks, all of her possessions are in five storage bins, and that’s what led her to stay in the same 2-Star motel as I am. (Read last week’s article.) She is not happy here for several reasons.
  • Feral cats live by the dumpster and someone feeds them.
  • Geese, which are a protected species but should not be, leave their feces everywhere around the motel.
  • Her room is filthy and filled with cockroaches. (I have seen only one.)
  • The people above her have children who bounce off the bed.
  • Last night she was awakened by a woman screaming. It was “really hard” to go back to sleep.
  • Her previous apartment had mold.
  • Her Labrador/best friend returned neurotic from a week at dog obedience school, refusing to mind and jumping on people. Not what she expected for $1500.00, and since there is so much geese/feral cat feces and people-litter around this motel, she has difficulty finding a place to get him some exercise.
  • She has gained twelve pounds, has a muffin-top, and her hair is falling out.

Twice I interjected some thoughts, like how I probably would have alerted the desk about the screaming and surely there are some dog parks nearby. She ignored the first suggestion and spent five minutes explaining how, in her condition, it is difficult to navigate the dog park.

From that point on, I vowed to keep my thoughts to myself.

Then, looking at her watch, she said she had to scoot because she had a fibro-myalgia massage scheduled but maybe I could go out with her this weekend to a fun bar or movie.

“Rats!” I answered insincerely. “In two days my husband and I will be relocating to the other side of Jacksonville.” She seemed disappointed and said she hoped we could get together sometime.

Lord, please, NOOOOOOOOOOOO! I said to myself.

As a Christian, I know God wastes no opportunities. Pastor Andy Stanley once wrote, “We don’t need to pray for more miracles, we just need to be more sensitive to the opportunities that God brings our way.” Do I believe God had a reason for Ms. Chatterbox and me meeting? Yes. Maybe to tell her Jesus is the answer or maybe just to be a listening ear or maybe to hear someone complain non-stop so I know what I sometimes sound like to God. No doubt to pray for her.

In actuality, I did all of the above…well, except for telling her Jesus is the answer. For that one, as I had vowed, I kept my thoughts to myself.

And with that opportunity, I failed her the greatest.

Obituary

Obituary For Linda Hurd Riley

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Linda June Hurd Riley

Linda June Hurd Riley, age 75, a resident of rural Ft. Scott, Kansas, passed away early Wednesday, May 30, 2018, at the Mercy Hospital in Ft. Scott.

She was born September 5, 1942, in Fort Scott, the daughter of Grant Wesley Wiggans and Osa Lavetta Morrow Wiggans.

Linda first married Willis L. Hurd on September 27, 1958, at Fort Scott. He preceded her in death on December 14, 2011.

Following his death, Linda married Richard Riley on April 6, 2013. Linda and Richard enjoyed six years of marriage.

In earlier years, Linda had worked in the cafeteria of both the Junior and Senior High Schools. She later retired from Smico-Norvell after many years of employment. Linda and Richard attended both the Fort Scott Church of the Nazarene and Diamond Community Church.

Linda enjoyed the fun times spent with her family and friends. She enjoyed nature and liked to spend time outdoors.

Survivors include her husband, Richard, of the home; three grandchildren, Ryan Robison, Charles Robison and Jayden Robison, all of Ft. Scott and a great-granddaughter, Elena Robison. Also surviving are her step-children, Christine Bosley and husband, Gary, of Ft. Scott, Belinda Yockey, of Joplin, Missouri, Nathan Riley of Newark, Ohio and Carol Johnson and husband, Mike, of Lawrence, Kansas; several step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren, a sister, Nancy Kelly, of Springfield, Missouri and numerous nieces and nephews.

In addition to her first husband, Willis, she was preceded in death by a daughter, Barbara Gibbs, a son, Charles “Chuck” Hurd, a great-grandson, Benjamin Robison; four brothers, Earl, Virgil, Don and Robert Wiggans and two sisters, Helen Lunday and Lois Wiggans.

Linda’s niece, Lavetta Simmons, will conduct graveside services at 11:00 A.M. Monday, June 4th at the Clarksburg Cemetery.

The family will receive friends on Monday from 10:00 A.M. until leaving for the cemetery at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Memorials are suggested to Care to Share and may be left in the care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347, Ft. Scott, KS 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.

Fort Scott

Library Hosted Fun At Ellis Center

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The Fort Scott Public Library Reading Program filled the lobby of the Ellis Fine Arts Center on the campus of Fort Scott Community College Wednesday morning.

Music, dance, reading challenges, crafts, snacks and other fun activities helped the children get ready to set reading goals for themselves for the summer.

Following are snapshots of the morning.

Registering for the morning’s events at the Fort Scott Public Library’s Summer Reading Program kick-off.
Upcoming activities for June at the Fort Scott Public Libary were handed out.

 

A coloring table and snacks were enjoyed by these children.
The reading challenge table.
Air guitar props for photographing children.
Oliver Shelton plays in the pool filled with balls Wednesday morning at the library reading program kick-off.
Children pick out prizes given following the activities at the Fort Scott Public Library Reading Program kick-off Wednesday morning at the Ellis Fine Arts Center at Fort Scott Community College.

 

 

Fort Scott, Schools

FSCC Construction Trades/Masonry in National Competition

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Photo courtesy of Stephanie Potter

Fort Scott Community College students Dylan Giager, from left, Alex Garcia and Pittsburg High School students Coltin Oehme and Wil Jameson qualified for the SkillsUSA National competition after sweeping the SkillsUSA state competition in masonry and carpentry.

 FSCC Construction Trades and Masonry take on SkillsUSA Nationals

Fort Scott, Ks.—Fort Scott Community College Construction Trades and Masonry students head out to Louisville, Ky. to compete in the 54th annual SkillsUSA National competition held on June 25th-29th. Students who placed first at the state level competition earned the chance to take on nationals. FSCC took 13 carpentry students, 3 HVAC students, and 3 masonry students to state and 4 students came out on top; Alex Garcia and Coltin Oehme for masonry, Dylan Giager and Wil Jameson for carpentry.

FSCC sophomore Siarra Clark, who came in second at state, but only by a couple points, says “I was raised around concrete and construction so the program at FSCC was fitting. The competition was a great experience and I hope to compete in something like this in the future.” Siarra took 1st in the hands-on portion of the state competition and 2nd in the written portion, making it 2nd overall.

Pittsburg High School (PHS) senior and now FSCC certified mason Coltin Oehme came in 1st overall at the state level, so he will go on to compete at nationals. Oehme not only came in 1st but was the first one done even with making multiple corrections. “If the design isn’t correct and perfect, it’s an automatic loss,” says Oehme. FSCC Masonry instructor, Nacoma Oehme, Coltin’s cousin, says “Coltin did great at state and we’re looking forward to seeing what he does at nationals…he takes a lot of pride in his work, especially since it’s in the family. We come from a long line of masons. Coltin inspires others to look into masonry as a career choice.”

FSCC carpentry students Dylan Giager (FSCC) and Wil Jameson (PHS) will compete on the carpentry side of SkillsUSA. This is FSCC carpentry’s 7th year to nationals under the supervision of instructor Kim Coates. “You never know who is going to bring who,” says Coates, “Wil Jameson is the first high school sophomore to win gold and go to nationals…I was surprised and very excited.” Brady Newman, FSCC student barely came in 2nd behind Dylan Giager by only 2%, winning him a silver medal. Right behind him was Thomas Mayfield with a bronze medal.

Bourbon County Local News