Each Tuesday morning, the Fort Scott Public Library invites families with toddlers not yet in school to come for a story time at 10 a.m., which includes books, songs, crafts and snacks for the children.

“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for preschoolers and toddlers to get used to sitting down and listening,” youth librarian Valeta Cannon said, adding it also prepares them for learning to read themselves.

Cannon said it gives the children as well as the mothers an opportunity to meet each other and socialize.

Each week, Cannon selects children’s books according to themes the children said were their favorites. In recent weeks those themes have included whales, trains and cowboys. With each theme, “Miss Val” often dresses the part as well as plans crafts, songs and snacks that also fit the topic.

“It’s wonderful,” Cannon said of the time each week, though she admits it can also be a challenge because of how young some of the children are. “I really like it.”

Though the story time started off slowly with the beginning of the school year, in recent weeks Cannon said they have had more than 20 children come with their parents.

“The group keeps growing, which is nice,” Cannon said.

The story time continues each week throughout the school year before being suspended during the summer for the summer reading programs. Cannon said she does not hold to a specific age limit for the weekly gathering, having welcomed children as young as just a couple months old to older students.

During their October meeting, the USD 234 school board members received a report on the plan to create a district-wide curriculum, a project which began with the start of the new school year.

Curriculum director Nicki Traul said it has been more than a decade since the district made an effort to create a curriculum for each of the Fort Scott schools, adding that those plans often fell short of their goal.

“There has been several times in the past that we’ve got started on processes,” Traul said. “I don’t know if we ever hit the ending in the last ten years or so.”

But Traul said they recognize the magnitude of the project and are considering it to be a five-year plan, not one that could be utilized immediately. To achieve that goal, she said they will make sure teachers also understand that goal and are not discouraged by yet another attempt.

In just recent weeks, Traul and Superintendent Bob Beckham met to set goals for the curriculum as well as walk through the schools to witness different teaching methods to be encouraged in the curriculum.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am about that,” Beckham said of the walk-through and plan for school curriculum, which will include a committee, coaches and continued Literacy First training.

Traul said their curriculum will have horizontal goals in each classroom, making sure each grade finishes the school year at the same level, as well as vertical goals so each grade learns what is needed for the curriculum of the next grade.

“We want to make sure that each kid in every grade level is getting the material that they’re supposed to be taught,” Traul said.

Such a curriculum would provide that continuity among the schools as well as accountability between classes as they are held to specific standards.

Beckham also gave an update on the construction included in the $40.8 million school bond issue, saying the contractors have sought input from teachers and found ways to get projects done while remaining within the limits of the budget.

Beckham said the contractors will begin accepting bids for interior and exterior projects with those bids due in mid-November. Work will begin shortly after that decision is made

Beckham added the priority will be the high school, since some of those students have been displaced, but said they hope several areas of work can be done simultaneously by those awarded the bids for the projects.

“We’re all getting antsy,” Beckham said. “They hope to see dirt being moved the first of December.”

For a third year, local and out-of-town athletes competed in the Triyakathon held at Gunn Park Saturday, featuring routes that forced participants to run, kayak and cycle through the park as individuals or members of a team.

“We love doing it,” said Frank Halsey, who helped organize the event as well as create the bike trails at Gunn Park over recent years. “It’s a fun course.”

Halsey admitted they are still trying to find the best time of year to hold the event, going back in forth between the fall, when numerous other activities are going on, and summer when it is hard to rent enough kayaks.

This year, though with a smaller crowd that included about 20 individual participants and approximately eight teams, the participants got to experience the event with near-perfect weather with a backdrop of trees with leaves already changing.

Though Halsey said they had feared the river would be too low for the kayaks, recent rains and the opening of the river to let water in made conditions suitable for the event.

Each individual or team was timed, with the fastest coming in at less than two hours for all three portions, which included 3.8 miles of running, 2.5 miles by kayak and a 6.9 mile bike ride through the trails.

Participants ranged in age from 14 to 73 years. Volunteers from Fort Scott Community College and Christian Heights helped with the event.

A large crowd from the community attended the 2015 Homecoming festivities Friday evening, which included the crowning of the Homecoming King and Queen, the Tigers’ football game against the Independence Bulldogs and performances from the band and dance team as well as young Tigers fans.

Prior to the game, Marcus Stepps and Grace Willis were named the Homecoming King and Queen from among the 10 candidates. Other candidates included Karleigh Arndt, Katie Gorman, Emma Reeves, Cassidy Westhoff, Kaleb DeLaTorre, Josh Hudiburg, Brody Southwell and Wyatt Tourtillott.

“I’m in a lot of shock still,” Willis said after she was crowned, saying she was both surprised and excited when she was first named a candidate a couple weeks before. “But it’s great.”

After accepting the crown, Stepps went on to help the Tigers beat the Bulldogs, even credited with an interception with less than two minutes in the game, which would lead to the final touchdown of the 31-14 final score.

Both teams got off to a slow start, struggling with penalties, but the Tigers struck first with a touchdown with just over six minutes remaining in the first half. A field goal gave them a 10-0 lead at halftime.

While the Bulldogs threatened to come back late in the game, completing a 49-yard touchdown run with less than four minutes to go in the game, the Tigers held on to give them a 5-1 record for the season.

Students and others in the community also provided a chili feed, face-painting, photo booth and other activities during the Homecoming evening. The Fort Scott High School graduating class of 1965, celebrating its 50^th year since graduating, was also recognized.

The Fort Scott Fire Department joined other departments around the nation in Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 4-10, by visiting local public and private schools to inform students of the dangers of a fire in their home.

Chief Paul Ballou said they use the entire month to visit area schools with a fire engine and their Fire Safety House, which simulates a house fire with artificial smoke and a smoke detector going off.

“We really put our focus on fire safety in the home,” Ballou said, saying they want to make sure the children know to leave the house quickly and meet the rest of their family at a predetermined point outside.

The firefighters also teach the children the difference between their own toys and tools which are only to be used by adults, including matches.

The Fire Safety House, which has been in the Fort Scott Fire Department’s possession since they built it around the year 1997, gives the fire department personnel an opportunity to teach the children to stay low, how to climb down a ladder and even what information to tell dispatchers if they have to call 911 in the case of a fire.

Captain Dale Bollinger said the fire house has greatly helped them in training students since it is easier to teach them in a hands-on demonstration than just by telling them. After practicing and hearing the information each year, Bollinger said some of the older students are able to quote it back to them.

When the department completes this month’s fire prevention focus, they would have spoken to approximately 1,200 students, sometimes seeing about 240 a day.

“It’s a big month for us,” Ballou said. “We really enjoy it.”

Bollinger said the community also enjoys the theme and is receptive to it, with schools often planning their schedule around the visits and even including the topic in other teaching periods.

Throughout the rest of this week, the fire department will visit different preschools and next week will make an appearance at Eugene Ware Elementary.

Once again, members of the Fort Scott community and surrounding areas participated in a statewide effort to protest against abortion through the Kansans for Life annual Life Chain event held Sunday afternoon.

This year’s event was led by volunteer director Joe Barr and included scores of participants who formed a line on the east side of Interstate 69, stretching from about National to Jayhawk Road, with participants of all ages and religious denominations holding signs expressing their support for life and against abortion.

“You have a legal right to assemble and to express your conviction peaceably on public property,” a slideshow at First Southern Baptist Church told participants in the event before they took their places by the highway.

The participants took advantage of that right, occasionally receiving positive feedback from drivers in the form of a honk, wave or thumbs up gesture. But they also came prepared to accept negative responses and respond in kindness.

“You have chosen to do the Lord’s work today,” Barr said, saying he realized their event competed with major sporting events such as Nascar and Kansas City Royals and Chiefs games. “This is Christians working together against the scourge of abortion.”

Participants were encouraged to consider the rally as a solemn event in remembrance of the approximately 53 million unborn children aborted since 1973 when the Roe vs. Wade court case legalized abortion.

“We want to stand boldly to say that’s not right,” said Paul Martin, children’s minister at Community Christian Church, during his prayer before the event.

Barr also said if anyone wanted to get involved in the Kansans for Life committee to help plan the event for next year, they should let him know. Those committee members are only required to attend four meetings during the year, bringing new ideas to the table as they plan the Life Chain for 2016.