Bourbon County

Correction and Clarification

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Executive sessions

Back in October, we looked at whether or not an executive session was illegal. Part of the argument was that attorney client privilege can only be used when no one other than the client is present.  The County Attorney gave me a copy of Attorney General Opinion 92-56. The opinion relates to KPERS, but it does establish that the “client” can include any employee or elected official off the county.

With regard to whether KPERS staff or investment managers may be present in an executive session called pursuant to K.S.A. 75 – 4319(b)(2), K.S.A. 60-426 addresses the attorney client privilege and subsection (c) of that statute recognizes that this privilege may extend to staff or officials of a corporate client. K.S.A. 74-4903 creates the KPERS as “a body corporate. . . .” Thus, KPERS staff meet the definition of client. Such staff may therefore be permissibly present during an executive session without destroying the attorney-client privilege.

So the executive session was legal from the standpoint of falling within attorney/client privilege and our suggestion that the County Treasurer  wasn’t allowed in the meeting was based on a misunderstanding of whether Attorney Dan Meara was representing the Commissioners or the County. Since he is representing the County, any County employee or official can be present.

Special thanks to County Attorney Terri Johnson for taking the time to explain this and point out the section of the Attorney General’s Opinion.

Unpaid Taxes

On November 15th, we looked at some of the other forms of unpaid taxes in the county. I had a few people point out that some of the businesses listed with unpaid taxes have been sold and are owned by different owners now. So don’t stop supporting someone just because the business name is on the list. It might be the previous owners who didn’t remit their sales tax to the state.

Pool

Pool Update

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Construction crews are making good progress on the pool. The first concrete was poured early this week. The black sheets in the photographs are a type of protective membrane that goes below the concrete and helps protect the pool from cracking.

City workers said that everything looks to be on schedule for opening the pool and Buck Run addition in Spring of 2012. Weather could delay the pouring of additional concrete, but once it is poured the rest of the construction should be able to go forward with little impact from the winter weather.

Fort Scott

Christmas Parade 2011

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There was a good turn out for the Christmas Parade Tuesday night. The event featured a number of floats followed by the lighting of the downtown Christmas tree and a living Nativity presentation by Bethel Church.

A number of organizations were setup offering hot chocolate and downtown stores stayed open late to provide shopping opportunities for the crowd.

 

Area News

Arcadia Area News

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The Free Holiday Supper will be served at 5:00 PM, Saturday, December 10 in Arcadia Community Center. Open Door Mission and Christian Church are the Hosts. Please take a non-perishable food item to fill Christmas Baskets for Holiday Giving. There will be door prizes and music by Janelle Bunny.

The Bearcat Cafe in Arcadia is open Tuesday thru Saturday 7AM-5PM.

Lynetta Fisher was pleased to hear the birthday song dedicated to her Sunday morning as she gave her offering. Among those present were her brothers Zack & Nick Younge in Arcadia Christian Church.

Walter & Donnette Parrish came from Houston, Texas to visit his parents, John & Vera Parrish in Pittsburg and other family relatives for Thanksgiving Holiday.

Bill, Delton Jr, Tom and Allen Watt sons and two grandsons, Douglas & Joseph Watt visited Mae Watt for Thanksgiving Day . Bill’s Great Grandson, Michael was recently married in St. Louis.

Cause for a great Thanksgiving Holiday when Landen Walrod shot a 10 point Buck. Sunday November 27, Charles & Willa Cable celebrated Thanksgiving with Bob & Lori Cable,Sam and Nate in Lamar, Mo. Guests were Seth Cable & friend Paige from Pittsburg.Then Thanksgiving Day, Charles & Willa celebrated with Cherri & Paul Walrod family from Eudora and Mable Tacilet from Ft. Scott.

Arcadia residents want to send a thank-you to Senator Jerry Moran, Republican from Kansas who is working to help save Arcadia Post Office and other small towns’ mail service.

The day Class # 10 met in Arcadia Christian Church bungalow, November 16, 2011, Arcadia welcomed the first snow of the season.By the time to return home, it had all disappeared. Members are asking folks to please save the UPC’s from Best Choice groceries. It is to raise funds in order to help the JOY and Class #10 do for others especially during this season and throughout the year.

Bill Dobbins, Frontenac, fell in his home on Saturday, Nov 26. He is now in Via Christi Hospital, Pittsburg facing surgery for a broken hip. His friend, Charles Corporon, went to see about him when Bill did not answer his phone. EMS and Police soon had the patient in the hospital.

Ora Lee Phoebe Foster Morey, 80, died Wednesday, Nov 23, 2011 in Via Christi Hospital in Pittsburg. She was born in Arcadia to Richard & Anna Mae (Bennett) Foster and was married to Jerome Morey in 1956. She attended Arcadia Grade School and a graduate of Pittsburh High School. Many of us old timers remember her well as a little girl in Arcadia.

Ron Wolf of rural Garland suffered a heart attack last week and was rushed to a KC Hospital.

During Thanksgiving week, Shirley Applegarth of Tulsa and her sister, Mildred Beitzel and daughter Linda & Mike Chase were house guests of Mary V. Shead. They flew back to their homes in Washington State the weekend after attending a large family reunion dinner held in the Farm home of Vickie & Larry Shead. Those signing the register on Thanksgiving Day numbered seventy-three. Many of the cousins and little ones stayed until after church the following Sunday.

On a recent week, Ralph & Cindy Shead, Phil & Susan Casey and Emily, and Doug Reed went to Atlanta, Georgia to attend the National Missionary Convention as delegates on behalf of LATM, Joplin.

Fort Scott

Lyons Twin Mansion Restaurant

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The Lyons Twin Mansions started out as a single mansion catering to bed and breakfast clients, but has evolved into a boutique hotel.  Pat Lyons said that the younger generation of customers prefer the freedom of choosing when, what and if they eat. The traditional approach of making one big breakfast for all the guests didn’t work well with the changes in the market. This required a shift away from serving a family style breakfast to a restaurant oriented service and led to the opening of a restaurant in the South mansion.

See below to enter the Lyon’s Twin Mansion Month of Brunch Giveaway!


Not only does this provide guests with an experience more in line with the needs of todays visitors, but it also provides locals with a wonderful place to eat breakfast and lunch in a unique historic setting.

The restaurant is open for walk in service 9 to 2 Tuesday through Friday and 8 to 2 on the weekends and there is no need to make reservations. The full-service lounge is open from 5 to 8pm on Thursdays and Fridays and while there is no kitchen service during those hours, customers are welcome to carry in food.

The kitchen is run by Nate Lyons and Pete Collins while Marianne Avett serves the tables. The setting is designed to be quiet and relaxing and every item on the menu is priced below $10 (sunrise menu, midday menu). Miss Pat said that the goal was to provide great food at a reasonable price and to get people to come and enjoy a comfortable environment that encourages visitors to stay and visit.

The back room of the restaurant has a pool table setup and ready for a game. Across the hall from the main dining area in the library is a large screen television that Miss Pat says the kids enjoy when parents want to stay and talk for awhile.

For business people, the large tables and quiet environment in the dining area make it an idea place to talk with clients or just get out of the office for a meeting. For larger groups or when more privacy is necessary, there are meeting areas available. Miss Pat said, “Our meeting space is free if you dine with us.” Additionally both mansions have wireless internet access, large screens, digital projectors, and phone conference equipment available for use.

The Lyons Mansions also offers free tours and Miss Pat said that it is a great place for locals to bring visiting out of towners who are interested in hearing about some of the history in the area.

The Lyon’s Twin Mansion Restaurant is offering a special give away to subscribers of FortScott.Biz. They are offering a “Month of Brunch.” The winner will be chosen from subscribers to FortScott.Biz and will be given coupons for a weekly brunch meal at the restaurant for the month (taxes not included). So make sure you signup by clicking here if you don’t already get our emails.

We’ll draw a winner in a week. Be sure to watch your emails because you’ll have 48 hours to respond before we select a new winner.

Bourbon County

Commission Meeting – November 28th

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The Commissioners and Marty discussed the roads. There was some discussion with the County Attorney about an antenna to be mounted on a water tower and how to handle the electrical meter.

Lawsuit Summons

The commissioners were served some papers regarding a civil suit with the sewer district. The County Attorney said that the lawsuit revolves around actions taken by the commissioners under 1927A 01.

Generator

At 10am Allen Warren moved $46,079 to purchase a generate from Cummings. The generator will be used to power the rock conveyers at the quarry. Chairman Endicott seconded it. A second motion was made to finance the purchase at a rate of 4% through Citizen’s Bank. Barry tractor offered a rate of 3.99%, but the Commissioners decided that with such a small difference, they should keep the note local.

Vacation

There was some discussion about the county vacation schedule. Since New Years day falls on a Sunday, the County should be closed Monday, January 2nd.  Instead New Years Day was listed as being taken on December 27th — the day after Christmas.

Tax Sale and Convenience Store

Marty Rivers with Eagle Fuels wants to buy the convenience stores at either end of town. He asked to visit with the commissioners about the taxes. He talked to the people who had the first mortgage and Tom Hill. He wondered if he paid a lump sum payment if some of the taxes could be dropped.  Commissioner Warren said that the only way the Commissioners could drop some of the property taxes or interest is if the bankruptcy court works out an agreement with the commissioners.

One of the pieces of property is 2191 Soldier Rd. It has unpaid taxes back to 2006. Mr. Rivers asked if he could pay part of the taxes to keep them from going to the tax sale. He was informed that the current tax sale only covers property that is delinquent from 2007 and prior so if he were to pay the taxes through 2007, the properties would be pulled off the tax sale. It was mentioned that only homestead properties can be partially redeemed and once a non-homestead property was delinquent and sold to the county, the entire amount of due taxes must be paid to keep it off of the sale.

Mr. Rivers was told that from a procedural standpoint, paying through 2007 would buy him some time before the properties that were delinquent from 2008 could be sold.

Mr. Rivers bought the gas station near Frontenac and leased it out to a local person who has been running it. He hopes to do the same thing with the stations in Fort Scott.

County Attorney’s Parking Spot

Keith Jeffers wants to take County Attorney Terri Johnson’s parking spot and put in a storage shed. The shed will be paid for by a grant for emergency preparedness.  He is working on getting a grant to put in a generator. The Commissioner’s approved to buy the building and put it on Terri Johnson’s parking lot. They plan to assign her a different spot.

Dump Account

James Maine and Kimberly Alexander want to setup an account at the dump. They have a contract to do demolition on several trailers at the KOA camp from Jeff Michael. They want to be able take the debris to the dump and use the money from selling the scrap metal to pay the dump fees. The commissioners decided to give them a small amount of credit with the dump so they can proceed.

Business

Hairbow Center

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In 2008 Kristi Banwart started making hair bows for her daughter and even sold a few of them at craft shows. She soon found that there was a big need for quality ribbons and other supplies for her projects. Eventually she purchased a large supply of good ribbon, but it was much more than she could use on her own. After listing for sale online, she found there were a lot of people looking for the same thing and the ribbon sold quickly.

There are probably thousands of hairbow makers across the US, who have run into the same problems locating good ribbon making supplies. Most people just stop at this point and make do with what they can get, but Kristi’s entrepreneurial streak kicked in. She began researching global suppliers and looking for manufacturers who could make high quality ribbon.

Finally she sat down with her husband, Trent, and asked, “How much do we have on our home equity line of credit?” And that is how Hairbow Center was started.

With the line of credit, the Banwarts were able to order a shipping container full of high quality grosgrain ribbon, hair clips, and all the other supplies that you need to make hair bows.

As the first container crossed the ocean on its way to Fort Scott, Trent mentally calculated how long it would take to sell the inventory based the bulk products they were splitting up and selling. The answer was measured in decades.

When it arrived, the inventory filled their garage. With an online webstore to sell the product, sales exploded. People all over the world discovered that www.hairbowcenter.com in Fort Scott Kansas was the place to go for quality ribbon and quick shipments.

Trent didn’t have to worry about his garage being stuck with the original inventory, but it wasn’t long before the garage couldn’t fit all the product they needed to inventory.

Eventually they built a warehouse on the East side of Fort Scott. They now have 7 employees working out of the 6,500 square foot, high efficiency facility where they ship an average of 100 orders each day and maintain an inventory of over 3,000 items.

The Hairbow Center is now creating ribbon with custom printed designs and even a custom line of specialty ruffled ribbon. So some of the products shipped from their warehouse aren’t available anywhere else in the world except Fort Scott.

Rural Kansas isn’t usually the first place businesses think of to build a large online business, but Haribow Center is finding a lot of advantages in Bourbon County. Land, electricity, construction and labor are all relatively inexpensive. By selling on the Internet, the Banwarts are able to stay a part of the community they love while tapping into a global demand for their products.

Area News

Arcadia Area News

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Patrons of the Arcadia Post Office are asked to sign a petition in City Hall in regard to the possible Post Office closing. The feasibility study will be over in early December by the U.S. Postal authorities. Shortly after that a decision will be made.

The announcement was made Sunday that a Community Holiday Dinner will be sponsored by Open Door Mission and Christian Church on December 10, in Arcadia Community Center, 5:00 PM.

Friends are asked for non perishable foods for the needy in Arcadia, In exchange for the gift, a ticket will be given for a drawing at the end of the event.

The Fort Scott Presbyterian Village invited area folks to attend HEALTHY CHOICE FOR DIABETICS DURING THE HOLIDAYS in their Village featuring Ann Ludlum who is the Agent for Southwind Extension District. I was sorry I had a meeting that day and unable to attend.

A former Arcadian and a member of this church has put together a spiral book all about THE ARCADIA CHRISTIAN CHURCH from the beginning to the present. I was pleased to receive from him a copy autographed by him and delivered to me by his parents, Vera and John Parrish, now living in Pittsburg. Walter now lives in Texas. Much of the history in the issue was written by my late father, G. W. Corporon. This is one of the things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving Holiday season.

Ralph & Cindy Shead returned to their home in Carl Junction, MO. after spending from November l7-20 attending the National Missionary Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.

OUR GANG will be meeting December 3 next month due to the busy holiday later in the month. Plans are for Soup and sandwiches. There will be Potato and Vegetable Soup and Chili. There may be Oyster Stew. Finger food and desserts. Those who care to participate, please take a wrapped gift to exchange

Stuart and Ashley and Elizabeth Semple enjoyed a Sunday dinner in Springfield, MO with his parents. In his place leading the singing in Arcadia Christian Church were Clay Carrington and Vera Parrish. Before sermon time, pastor Cable led all in singing a song he learned when teaching children as a Bible Student. It is entitled I’M IN GOD ARMY. All went through the motions. Vera read an original Thanksgiving poem written by husband John Parrish. Mae Watt sent greetings to all and a birthday offering for her son Bill Watt. The birthday song was dedicated to Bill.

A bulletin was passed to each person asking for a list of things to be thankful for and spend some time in prayer, praising and thanking God. May he bless you.

The first Monday in November, Larry Shead attended a meeting in Pratt, Kansas on behalf of Fort Scott Community College.. Enroute home he drove in heavy rain, so it took about 5 hours. About 2 miles from his farm home he missed hitting two opossums but hit a raccoon that ran out in front of him.. He had just had his car repaired from a recent hit by a deer.

On a recent weekend, Patty & Gary Peterson attended a Festival in the Apostolic Church on a hill in Seneca, MO. They had a very fine time and won three cakes.

Fort Scott

Mercy Day – June 2000

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Over a decade ago Mercy had a picnic in the park. I recently found a bunch of photographs I had taken of the event and thought some people in Fort Scott, might enjoy seeing them.

Click on any of the small images below to the larger image. Clicking on the larger image will take you to the next photo in the list. If you recognize someone, please consider emailing them a link or sharing it with them on Facebook.  Also don’t hesitate to leave a message in the comments on this post or the individual pictures.

 

 

 

Bourbon County Local News