Area News

Arcadia Area News

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On Friday, Julie Watt and her friend, Nicole Johnson from Woodstock, CT along with Julie’s Dad, Tom Watt and her uncles, Bill and Delton Watt visited Mae Watt and took her to lunch at the NuGrille in Ft. Scott. Julie and Nichola spent a few days visiting with Tom & Phyllis Watt in Lees Summit, MO. and with Carla and Duane Bowers in Liberty, MO. Many of the WAtt family members spent Saturday evening in Tom’s home visiting with the ladies from Ct.

A recent ad on KOAM TV showed Scott Ball, Arcadia, while announcing the Special Olympic Kansas Polar Plunge to be January 11, 2012.

Old time friends from Arcadia school days were pleased to meet with Mitchell Miles at the time he attended the funeral of Ruth Holland in Liberal, MO. in December.

Following the funeral and burial of Ava Mae Adams in the Arma Methodist Church and burial in Old Arcadia Cemetery on Wednesday, January 4, 2012, the ladies of Arma Church and Arcadia Christian Church prepared and served dinner to family, relatives and close friends. The ladies included Norma Lockwood, Emma Louise Aloe, Betty Brunk, Mildred Nicoletti, Patty Peterson, Lilly Coonrod, Carol Kessleor, Muriel Stroud, Deloris Bierbrodt, Among the many at the services and dinner included Juanita McWillliams and son Richard & Judy McWilliams from Joplin, MO. who are cousins to the deceased.
At dinner they were seated with other relatives

January 9, Sunday Arcadia Christian Church services and dinner were well attended this week . Landon Younge presented first a solo accompanying himself on his guitar, then he and Pastor Charles Cable sang a chorus. The audience responded with applause. Among other special guests at the dinner hour were Cable’s daughter, Cherri Walrod and family from Eudora, Kansas. Leora Younge had many of her family present for this special day. Christie Parrish gave a birthday offering for her Great Nephew’s first birthday, Kylee Wilsons.

While attending Kathreen Kunstel’s visitation in the Bedene Funeral Parlor in Arma, Helen Sisney was pleased to greet her son, Steve Sisney from Hiatville, KS and her granddaughter Courtney Sisney, rural Arma. Courtney works in the Arma Care Center where Kathreen once lived. Long time friend to Kathreen, also present to greet family members, was Rose Shular Campbell from Pittsburg.

Brandy & Michelle Mellon went to Arkansas to visit friends and family members during the Christmas Holiday. Back home, they took their neighbor, Darren Sliger, to SS and Church dinnner on January 8.

Sarah and Erin Shead, daughters of Cindy and Ralph Shead, came from California to spend a few days during the holidays with them in Carl Junction , Mo. and in Dewey, OK with their Grandfather, R.H. Geurin and their Aunt and Uncle, Mr. and Mrs. David Geurin and daughters. They attended the Shead celebration on Wednesday, December 28,with their brother, Matt & Ashley Shead of Joplin.

Other guests in the Arcadia celebration were Charles Corporon, Rose Campbell, Hayley, Mark, Katy & Benjamin Shead, Maria & Clayton Whitson. Jesse Hudson.

Presbyterian Village in Ft. Scott has issued an invitation to friends to attend National Pie Day. On January 23, they will serve Coffee and the choice of two delicious homemade pies on Monday Jan 23 , 2012. Call to make reservations before Jan. 20–620-223-5550. What a kind and gentle offer. Thank you!

Bourbon County

County Commission Meeting – January 9th

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Joanne Long clarified that the approximately $1.5 million spent on healthcare for county employees included about $800,000 of employee contributions. So the total amount spent on health care per county employee is around $7,000–not $15,000 as was previously suggested.

There was some discussion about the need to purchase a used truck. A suitable truck has been located, but it was slightly more expensive than expected. Marty said that the cost of used trucks is very high that this one represented one of the best deals he could find. They are going to check to see if the truck is still available.

The crusher has been moved to the new quarry. The county is working on making sure the brakes are good and all the equipment is ready to begin operation. People are coming in to train county employees on the new equipment. There was some concern that there were some maintenance issues with the loaders so it was discussed the need to have a backhoe available as a backup plan if the loaders were down when the training was taking place.

There was a firm coming in to discuss the possibility of building a new jail at 9:45. (I wasn’t able to stay for that part of the meeting.)

There was also a planned discussion of the new sewer district, planned for later in the morning.

Bourbon County

Map Of Properties In Tax ForeClosure Sale

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The map below shows properties that are on the list for the Bourbon County Tax Sale. Properties are being redeemed by their owners so some of the properties on the list may have already been redeemed. The Bourbon County website has a list that is more up-to-date. Also it is possible that some of the properties didn’t get geo-encoded correctly so they may not show up as expected. The locations are probably close, but not all of the mapping information is accurate so it probably wouldn’t be wise to use this map as a basis for bidding or not bidding on a piece of property.

There area lot of properties to show, so you may need to zoom in to view the details. Clicking on a red marker will give you the address of the property and give you a link to see just that property on a map.

If you are reading this in an email, you may want to click on the link for “View Larger Map” to see the details or visit FortScott.Biz directly.


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Business

Boeing Plans to Close Wichita Plant

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Boeing has announced plans to close their Wichita plant which will cut over 2,000 jobs. According to Senator Moran, less than a year ago Boeing had pledged to add 7,500 jobs to the Kansas location as part of the tanker contract they were awarded.

City officials from Wichita helped Boeing in their efforts to win the tanker contract based on the new jobs it would create, so they feel a bit betrayed that the aviation/defense company chose to not only move the tanker jobs to Oklahoma City and San Antonio, but also shutdown the rest of their Kansas operations.

Officials were also disappointed that Boeing didn’t talk to them about the changes before making the announcement so they weren’t able to offer any incentive for the corporation to stay.

 

Area News

Arcadia Area News

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Carole Garrison had a fine time with her family when she went with her son and wife, Gary & Nancy Golladay, Joplin; their son, Larry Golladay of China to Ft. Worth, Texas where they spent the Christmas Holiday in the home of her Granddaughter Angela and John Lane and family.

The Arcadia Christian Church had guest preacher, song leader and pianist on New Year’s day. Due to illness of the regular and the assistants chosen for these tasks on this special day, all were pleased to hear Jeff King in the pulpit, and at the piano and his wife Angela King and baby Malynne leading the singing. In the audience were other family members, Mary Lee,and Makayla King. The group from Tulsa, Oklahoma were guests of John and Vera Parrish in Pittsburg and seated with them were other relatives, Janet Vanleeuwen, St. Paul, KS Christie and Wayne Parrish. Angela is the daughter of Walter Parrish former member of this church, now living in Texas.

The first Sunday Church dinner had already been postpone to the 2nd Sunday of January.

Two former members of the Arcadia Christian Church have died recently. Ruth Holland, 86, of Liberal, Mo was buried Tuesday, December 27, 2011 from the Liberal Christian Church and put to rest in Worsley Cemetery in Bronaugh, MO. The officiating Minister was her grandson, Curt Holland from Tennessee. Among the many friends who filled the church were Mary V. Shead, Arcadia, Ralph Shead, Carl Junction,, close friends to Ruth.

The other member is Ava Mae Adams who died in her home on New year’s Eve, 2011 with cose friends and a cousin Louise Holland at her side. She just recently came home from Ft. Scott Hospital. Funeral services will be Wednesday, January 4, 2012 in Arma Methodist Church.

Bill Dobbins formerly of Arcadia, fractured a hip in a fall at his home. Surgery to repair the break failed and the hip was replced at Via Christie hospital on December 27. He is recovering well. Recent visitors, all former Arcadia residents, were Charles Corporon, former teacher Rose Campbell, both of Pittsburg and Bill’s two brothers, Perry & Dan both of Ft. Scott.

Santa’s visit was a huge success. Approximately 150 children attended. Cookies and hot chocolate were enjoyed by all. A big thank you to everyone who helped make it possible. Bill Bridgewater has been known as Santa in Arcadia for many years.

Paw Prints will be at Arcadia Community Center for spay & neutering on Tuesday, January 31.

Because the married children of the Paul Shead family were visiting their in-laws during the Christmas holiday in far away places such as Tulsa, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, thata family gathered in the Arcadia home of Mary V. Shead on Wednesday, December 28 for a dinner prepared by the ladies mainly at the Garland Shead Farm. As the families were arriving in Arcadia, a train was stalled on the two entrances to the town. Many of them returned to the mile corner, at Jewell Center they went East to Ohio Street and came into Arcadia at Bell Crossing.

After a fine dinner and gift exchange, many of the folks took a long walk remembering what businesses were on what street–a tour of memory lane. They went from the old Shead Service Station to the State Line greeting former friends from bygone days.

The 18 in attendance were Charles Corporon and Rose Campbell, Pittsburg; Matt & Ashley Shead , Joplin, MO. Clayton & Maria Whitson,
Tulsa, OK; Mark, Haley, Katy, Benjamin Shead; Jesse Hudson, Fort Scott, KS Sarah Shead, Erin Shead; Downey, California; Ralph & Cindy Shead, Carl Junction, MO., Larry & Vickie Shead, Garland, KS

Bourbon County

County Commission Meeting – 12/30

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Matt Harris on Indian Road has a spot right in front of his house where the water is running over the road when we get a lot of rain. He is concerned that the way the water is flowing is coming up around his house.

There was some discussion about the vacation policy for the people working on road & bridge crews. Too many employees are taking vacation all at the same time–particularly at the end of the year. Marty is also concerned that some employees are wearing improper footwear.

Allen Warren made a motion to go into executive session with Marty to discuss non-elected personnel issues (not related to vacation or attire).

At 10 am, the budget amendment hearing started. Employee benefits and road and bridge are expected to exceed the budget. The proposal was to adjust the budget to meet the expected expense. In order to avoid a budget violation the Commissioners will move some money from the general account where they had more income than expected to the accounts where they spent more. Exceeding the budget without amendment would put the county in violation of state law.

All objections were heard and a motion was made an passed to accept the amendment to the budget.

There was some discussion about the increase in employee benefits and if there was a plan to keep the cost of insurance from continuing to climb. The amended budget for health insurance in 2011 totals $1,557,560. With 100 paid county employees this works out to over $15,000 per employee. Some employees do not take county insurance, so the actual cost per employee is higher. (It was unclear if this figure includes the amounts that employees contribute to cover their families.)

The commissioners expressed concern that since they have not given raises for the past four years, health insurance is one of the main reasons people will work for the county. Chairman Endicott said, it is hard to get people to apply for jobs as it is.

The Commissioners were asked if there was a long term plan for dealing with the increasing costs of employee benefits. They said there wasn’t. They were also asked if the plan was to just raise the mill levy as needed to cover the increased costs of employee benefits. The Commissioners asked if there were any suggestions for dealing with other increases such as gas prices pointing out that other costs were going up as well.

There was some discussion about capping the amount that the county spends on employee benefits.

This is the first payroll that the county has done direct deposit. Employees that work in the court house will get the receipts for their payroll check in the office, but the ones that don’t work in the court house will get it in the mail.

The County Attorney (Terri Johnson) clarified that the attorney that the AG office did get the first letter requesting that they look into allegations against the County Treasurer. The letter that they didn’t receive was the second letter where the AG’s office had requested additional information from the County Attorney.

Dan Meara has yet to provide the list of people who have property that could be sold, but will be held off because it wasn’t published correctly. The Commissioners asked the Clerk’s office to request the lists from Dan Meara for the meeting on January 6th.

FortScott.biz has previously requested a copy of the list showing which property owners overpaid and which underpaid on their taxes. This information is not in the Commissioner’s hands so they could not provide it. FortScott.Biz took the position that the data belonged to the county and that the whether the physical bits reside shouldn’t matter and if it was simply a matter of requesting the data from Terry Sercer, it should be subject to a Kansas Open Records Act Request.

Terri Johnson (County Attorney) has contacted the Attorney Generals office to find out if there is any reason not to release the data and if it is indeed subject to KORA. She said that she thinks that list doesn’t actually belong to the County, but that they can request it. She suggested that the Commissioners need to request that information eventually in order to refund people who overpaid. She also pointed out that if the information is published the community needs to be careful not to vilify citizens who may have underpaid even though they were acting in good faith and paying what they had been told they owed.

Area News

Arcadia Area News

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The Christmas Eve Communion Service was well attended this week in the Arcadia Open Door Mission. Pastor Roy Widmar led the singing of Christmas Songs and prayer time. He then spoke of the true meaning of Christmas after Linda Bridgewater sang a solo. Two couples then held the Bread and Communion Trays and the congregation went forward to partake at the same time. All were invited to attend Christmas Sunday morning services in Arcadia Christian Church.

A good number of regular and also guests were present in the Christmas Morning services in Arcadia Christian Church led by Pastor Charles Cable assisted at prayer time by Dave Bridgewater. Clay Carrington led the singing with Cable at the piano. Carol Bridgewater read the Christmas Story from the Book of Luke. Guest Landon Younge sang a special song accompanying himself on his guitar. Linda Bridgewater favored us with a solo “WHAT CHILD IS THIS?” Christi Parrish read the Christmas Story from the book of Matthew. Vera Parrish read an original Christmas poem written by John Parrish. They were pleased to have as their guests their daughter, Janet & Mark Van Leeuwen from St. Paul, Kansas and their daughter Tara Van Leeuwen, a beautician from Florida. Wayne & Christie Parrish gave Christmas wrapped gifts to the Ladies. Among other guests present were Charles Corporon & Rose Campbell from Pittsburg and Larry & Vicki Shead, Garland. It was announced the usual First Sunday dinner, Jan 1, 2012 will be held on January 5, due to the holiday.

We are sorry to read of the death of a former Arcadian, Weymouth Jones Filkins who was born and raised in Arcadia. a1940 Graduate of Arcadia High School. She and Mel Filkins built the large beautiful home on Haller Hill just west of Arcadia. Later years they moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa. After three month illness, at age 89 she died on December 14. Burial will be later in Pittsburg, Kansas. Condolences to the family..

Keith and Glen Twombly of Pittsburg took Walter Foulk to Independence, MO to visit his niece Fanny Mae Christinson. She has been ill but improving and glad far the visit.

The JOY Sunday School Class gives thanks to all who help save 1000 BEST CHOICE UPC ‘S. This is one of the ways the Class earns the funds they use to help people. Please keep saving for the send-in next December.

After a business trip to Ft. Scott, Charles Corporon and sister, Mary V. Shead traveled to Frontenac to deliver JOY Christmas Cookies to Bill Dobbins in Sunset Manor. There she met a friend from College Days at PSU, Janet Dalton who was a Freshman roommate of another AHS graduate, Velma Eggen Jewell. The visit was short but sweet!

On to Pittsburg, they visited Rose Campbell and the next stop was in the Cafe in Asbury, MO. They enjoyed a fine lunch, then on to Joplin for a visit with Mary V’s High School Class mate & husband, Juanita & Owen McWilliams. The ladies graduated from AHS in 1936. The same year, Juanita was chosen Year Book Queen. She showed her picture to Charles. This led to talk of Good Old School Days.

Nearby, lives Nelson & Eloise Corporon, so the travelers spent a delightful afternoon visiting their brother and sister. .

Ruth Holland, former Arcadian, more recently of Liberal, MO died December 22, 2011 in a Kansas City Hospital. The funeral will be held Tuesday, December 27 in Liberal Christian Church. Her sons are Don Holland of Lamar, MO and Howard & Louise Holland, Liberal, MO.

Larry & Vickie Shead spend Wednesday & Thursday last week ,December 21,22 in Tulsa visiting their family members, Marie & Clayton Whitson and Mitzi & Joel Ray and three little ones, Cademon, Atalie & Ryan. Back home on Christmas Day, they served dinner to his Mother, Mary V. Shead, his Uncle Charles Corporon and their friend Rose Campbell after attending church that morning.

Business, Fort Scott

Espressly For You

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Expressly For You is a coffee shop located 19th street and 69 across from Shepherd’s car dealership. It is owned by Judy and Phil Friedrick and opened for business about 5 1/2 years ago.

Jackie Webster looks out the drive through window.

Expressly For You serves breakfast and lunch with specialty drinks, soups, waffles, cookies, sandwiches and much more.

When I visited I spoke with Jackie Webster who was working the front. She said that most everything they serve is homemade. She said it can take a few minutes to make the drinks or cook a waffle. If customers are in a hurry they can call ahead so it will be ready when they arrive.

The inside of the store is nice decorated, clean and friendly. Having never been in the store, it was quite a bit bigger than I expected.

Expressly For You is open 7 – 2 on Monday through Friday for drive up and in store service. If you want to call ahead, their number is 620-223-1333.

Bourbon County

Refunds For Overpayments?

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According to the audit report by Mr. Sercer, most individuals on the payment plan overpaid their interest by $800. Now that the County is aware of this error, it would seem that they would be required to send refund checks to the individuals who paid too much in interest.

It doesn’t appear that this has happened. The information about who overpaid is not in the report. It would be part of the details of the audit. These details have not been made available because they have not be requested from Mr. Sercer. The Commissioners, who ordered the audit, are hesitant to request the audit details because they feel that the Attorney General’s office may conduct an investigation and the release of the audit details would compromise the investigation.

On the other hand, the county has something of an obligation to quickly give people their money back if they were charged interest they did not owe. Even if this isn’t a legal statute it is surely an ethical requirement. In some situations, it might just be a matter of taking the overpaid interest and applying it to any outstanding tax bill for current years, but in others it may be a matter of issuing someone an $800 check.

Without the audit details, it is impossible to know who needs a refund, but there are some complicated scenarios that may to arise.

First, if someone has overpaid in the past, how is that money applied to other delinquent taxes? It would seem that their interest would need to be recalculated to keep from penalizing them for money they had been incorrectly charged.

Second, if someone is owed money due to an incorrect calculation by the county, they may be entitled to receive interest on that money. Federal taxes have a provision where the IRS can owe tax payers interest in certain situations and their may be a similar state laws.

The third scenario that may complicate things for the county involves a tax payer who has overpaid on the payment plan, but currently has property in the process of being prepared for sale for other unpaid taxes. If they have money owed them by the county and the property is sold, what happens to the extra money? If the amount was more than what they owed (unlikely), then the county would be in the position of foreclosing on someone who had paid all their taxes.  If it is for less, then the county would be in the postion of foreclosing on someone without telling them how much they actually owed.

Now it is impossible to say if anyone is in any of these situations or not. At this point, Mr. Sercer and his firm are the only ones who have the information, but it seems like it would be in the best interest of the county to make  the details public before that tax sale. Otherwise there is a chance that it will put the county into a very tricky position.

 

 

Area News

Arcadia Area News

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Arcadia friends were happy to hear from Emory and Betty Briggs who live in Nowata, OK. At Thanksgiving time they entertained both Betty’s family and Emory’s family and are making plans for a similar Christmas Holiday dinner.

The Sunday before Christmas, Willa Cable, Patty Peterson and Mary V. Shead visited Mae Watt and served her Communion that afternoon and delivered to her JOY Cookies. Later that evening, the three ladies went to Ft. Scott and enjoyed supper at Wendy’s and toured the city to see beautiful homes decorated for the season.

Jo Robarts of Franklin, Kansas has been assisting postmaster in the Arcadia Post Office during this busy Christmas season. We welcome her to town.

On December 20. Presbyterian Village in Ft. Scott invited friends to an elegant wine & cheese party. It was a fine time for rekindling friendships with tenants to their former neighbors and friends. Family members were invited to join in the music, food and fellowship time.

A Christmas Brunch was hosted by the Joy Makers of the Liberal, MO. Christian Church on Monday, December 12, 2011. Biscuits, Gravy, Egg Casserole, Fruit and Juice were served to seventeen ladies. Louise Holland as Chairman led the games, drawings and gave each lady a special gift. Peggy Worsley, formerly of Arcadia read a poem concerning YES, JESUS LOVE ME. Mary Lee Payne, Arcadia guest, won the Poinesetta Plant. Kay Waring guessed the closest number of mints in a bag. Other guests from Arcadia were Helen Sisney and Mary V. Shead, Judy Rawlings. Local ladies present were Grace Bryant, Leota McClendon, Carolyn Noyes, Ruth Holland, Valorie Worsley, Karen Carpenter, Pat Thomas, Marjorie Jones,, Grace Wolf, Carolyn Clark, Kay Waring. It was a delightful morning to greet and meet new friends.

In Arcadia Christian Church on December 18, special guests came for Morning worship Hour, Hardy Dunn, Pittsburg; Jack & Mary Lee Payne, to honor her sister, Jessie Eggen Dunn as she presented a piano solo consisting of favorite hymns. Following sermon time, Pastor Cable offered a $5.00 Bill to someone who would come forward and give the correct answer to a question. Clay Carrington stepped forward. The question: Have you done anything to earn this $5.00? The answer NO! So he won! All were wished MERRY CHRISTMAS and Happy New Year. Be reminded on Christmass Morning, there will be no SS classes held and Morning Worship will be 10:30 AM in Arcadia Christian Church.

All are welcome to attend this service. Also all have been invited to attend a Communion Service in Open Door Mission on Christmas Eve at 5:30 PM

Fort Scott

FSCC Donations Earn KS Tax Credits

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Kansas has an interesting program to help community colleges raise money. It works like this: You or your business can make a donation to FSCC and earn a 60% tax credit. On top of that, you get the federal deduction for a contribution to a non-profit.

So a contribution of $1,000 would get you $600 back from Kansas. The credit is refundable, so you get the $600 even if you didn’t pay $600 in taxes. If you are at the 25% Federal Tax Bracket, the donation can get you $250 off your Federal income tax. So you can donate $1,000 to FSCC and have it only cost you $150. If you are in a higher tax bracket the savings can be even greater.

It is a great program because it lets people keep their tax money local. For a $150 out of pocket expense, you can keep $850 of tax money in our local community instead of sending it to the state and Federal government.

If you might be interested in this, give Gary Palmer a call at 620-223-2700 ext. 5830.  You can also take a look at this PDF for more details.

 

Bourbon County Local News