The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office daily reports can best be viewed on a computer.
They can be reached at (620) 223-2380.
Click here, then click below to enlarge the image:
Bourbon County Commission Agenda July 10
Agenda
Bourbon County Commission Room
2nd Floor, County Courthouse
210 S. National Avenue
Fort Scott, KS 66701
Tuesdays starting at 9:00
Date: July 10th, 2018
1st District-Lynne Oharah Minutes: Approved: _______________
2nd District-Jeff Fischer Corrected: _______________
3rd District-Nick Ruhl Adjourned at: _______________
County Clerk-Kendell Mason
9:00-9:45-Jim Harris
9:45-10:00-Ben Cole
10:00-10:15-Patty Love
11:00-12:00-Justin Meeks
12:00-1:30-Commissioners gone to lunch
1:30-Lora Holdridge-Staff in her office-Executive Session
Justifications for Executive Session:
Personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel
Consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship
Matters relating to employer-employee negotiations whether or not in consultation with the representative(s) of the body or agency
Confidential data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual proprietorships
Preliminary discussions relating to the acquisition of real property
Matters relating to the security of a public body or agency, public building or facility or the information system of a public body or agency, if the discussion of such matters at an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such public body, agency, building, facility or information system
Obituary Of John Foulk
John Dewane Foulk, age 83, a resident of Ft. Scott, Kansas, passed away Saturday, July 7, 2018, at the Mercy Hospital in Joplin, Missouri.
He was born October 5, 1934, Arcadia, Kansas, the son of John Foulk and Mae Swafford Foulk.
John graduated from the Bible Baptist Seminary in Arlington, Texas. He married Minnie Walker and the couple lived for many years in Reno, Nevada, where they owned and operated several wedding chapels. Following Minnie’s death, he married Addie Jeffrey on March 25, 2001, in Reno. They later moved to Ft. Scott. John was currently serving as pastor of the Brethren/New Beginnings Church.
John enjoyed visiting with people and loved to share the gospel message.
Survivors include his son, Matthew Foulk, of Ft. Scott and several step-children and step-grandchildren who he considered as his own. Also surviving are two brothers, Larry Foulk of Wichita, Kansas and Bradley Foulk, of Sun City, Arizona and a sister, Dianna Coates, of Mulberry, Kansas. In addition to his wives, he was preceded in death by a brother Donald O. Foulk.
Pastor Larry Stevicks will conduct funeral services at 1:00 P.M. Friday, July 13th at the Brethren/New Beginnings Church located at 1421 S. Margrave in Ft. Scott.
Following services, there will be cremation. The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 P.M. Thursday at the Cheney Witt Chapel.
Memorials are suggested to the Brethren/New Beginnings Church 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.
Obituary Of Lloyd Howser
Lloyd L. Howser, age 75, a resident of rural Ft. Scott, Kansas, passed away Thursday, July 5, 2018, at the Mercy Hospital in Ft. Scott.
He was born December 4, 1942, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the son of Charles N. Howser and Virginia Maxon Howser. Lloyd grew up in California. He later served with the United States Army during the Vietnam War where he was in charge of NCO Clubs. Following his military service, Lloyd worked for the Corp of Engineers in California for eighteen years where he served as park manager.
While in California, Lloyd served as a 4-H leader.
Following his retirement, he relocated to Ft. Scott where he worked for Mercy Hospital for over fifteen years. While at Mercy, Lloyd worked as a physical therapy tech and later a pharmacy tech. In addition to working at the hospital, Lloyd maintained his own farm and cattle operation.
Lloyd said he was happiest when he was on his tractor. Lloyd had served as President of the Ft. Scott Farm Bureau and was a past member of the First Christian Church of Ft. Scott.
Survivors include his wife, Judy, of the home; two sons, Charles Howser and Michael DelChiaro, both of Ft. Scott and five grandchildren, Nathan Howser and wife, Allison, Chase, Hayes and Brock Howser and Bella DelChiaro. Also surviving are two sisters, Mary Ann Dykstra and Jeannette Lovejoy. He was preceded in death by his parents.
Following cremation, a graveside service will be held at 10:30 A.M. Saturday, July 14th at the Lath Branch Cemetery. A reception will follow at the Thomas home, 2523 Locust Rd in Ft. Scott. Memorials are suggested to the of University of Kansas Cancer Research 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.
Airport Receives Two Grants To Update
In June, the Fort Scott City Commission approved a Kansas Department of Transportation grant in the amount of $109,600 for the Automated Weather Observation Station upgrades at the airport with the city match of $12,118.
Fort Scott Economic Development Director Rachel Pruitt, along with Fort Scott Airport Director Kenny Howard informed the commission that the city received this and another grant from K.D.O.T.
Howard stated that the A.W.O.S. upgrade is badly needed at the Airport as the current system is about 19 years old, according to the meeting minutes.
“The A.W.O.S. is the on-field reporter of weather, visibility, etc.,” Howard said.
The other grant received from K.D.O.T. is for lighting the runway, Howard said.
The PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicators) and REIL (Runway End Identifier Lights) Grant from KDOT is for runway lighting at the airport in the amount of $177,462. The city match for the grant is $19,718.
The commission discussed the airport 2,100-foot runway extension and how this lighting would be affected, according to the minutes.
Kenny stated that the grant can be delayed if the runway extension occurs within the next two years.
“We are waiting for more grant money for the extension,” Howard said.”The design for the runway extension is not completed yet.”
Pruitt stated that she is applying for another grant for the extension July.
Bourbon County In A Drought Watch
Governor Updates Drought Declarations in Kansas Counties
The Governor’s Drought Team examines continued drought conditions as summer temps climb.
Topeka – While there have been some recent rains, drought conditions for many areas of Kansas continue to worsen. Today Governor Jeff Colyer updated the Drought Declaration for Kansas counties with Executive Order 18-16 (attached). The update includes all 105 counties either in an emergency, warning or watch status. This order places nearly half of Kansas counties in an emergency drought status.
“Kansans need to know no matter where you live in the state, the drought is not over,” said Governor Jeff Colyer. “I’ve heard many concerns from producers and have seen the conditions first hand. We appreciate our federal partners at the Natural Resources Conservation Service as well as the Kansas Association of Conservation Districts— when we asked them to identify additional sources of assistance they responded quickly to help producers address these extreme drought conditions.”
The updated drought declaration has 50 counties in emergency status, 27 in warning status while 28 counties are in watch status. This action was recommended by Tracy Streeter, Director of the Kansas Water Office (KWO) and Chair of the Governor’s Drought Response Team.
“With reported livestock water shortages, low flows at some of our reservoirs and monthly outlooks favoring persistent drought we know it’s imperative to monitor conditions closely,” said Tracy Streeter. “Some areas of Kansas are behind more than 15 inches in moisture for the year and outlooks favor above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation in July.”
Counties in the emergency stage are eligible for emergency use of water from certain state fishing lakes due to the KWO Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Kansas Department of Wildlife (KDWPT). They also become eligible for water in some Federal reservoirs.
Individuals and communities need to contact KWO for a water supply request prior to any withdrawals from lakes. They will, in turn, be referred to the appropriate office to obtain the necessary permit to withdraw the water.
This Executive Order and any authorized upgrade shall remain in effect for those counties so identified until rescinded by Executive Order or superseded by a subsequent Executive Order revising the drought stage status of the affected counties. Effective immediately:
- Declare a Drought Emergency, Warning or Drought Watch for the counties identified below;
- Authorize and direct all agencies under the jurisdiction of the Governor to implement the appropriate watch or warning level-drought response actions assigned in the Operations Plan of the Governor’s Drought Response Team.
The Governor’s Drought Response Team will continue to watch the situation closely and work to minimize the effects the drought has on Kansans.
For more detailed information about current conditions, see the Kansas Climate Summary and Drought Report on the Kansas Water Office website at www.kwo.ks.gov.
County Drought Stage Declarations:
Drought Emergency: Barber, Barton, Butler, Chase, Clark, Clay, Coffey, Comanche, Cowley, Dickinson, Edwards, Ellsworth, Finney, Ford, Geary, Grant, Gray, Greenwood, Hamilton, Harper, Harvey, Haskell, Hodgeman, Kearny, Kingman, Kiowa, Lincoln, Lyon, Marion, McPherson, Meade, Morris, Morton, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Pottawatomie, Pratt, Reno, Rice, Riley, Saline, Sedgwick, Seward, Shawnee, Stafford, Stanton, Stevens, Sumner, Wabaunsee
Drought Warning: Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Brown, Chautauqua, Doniphan, Douglas, Elk, Ellis, Franklin, Greeley, Jackson, Jefferson, Lane, Leavenworth, Montgomery, Nemaha, Neosho, Ness, Rush, Russell, Scott, Trego, Wallace, Wichita, Wilson, Woodson
Drought Watch: Bourbon, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Cloud, Crawford, Decatur, Gove, Graham, Jewell, Johnson, Labette, Linn, Logan, Marshall, Miami, Mitchell, Norton, Osborne, Phillips, Rawlins, Republic, Rooks, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Thomas, Washington, Wyandotte
Note to Editor: The Americans with Disabilities Act, (42 U.S.C. 12101), requires the Kansas Water Office to print the reasonable accommodations messages.
# # #
As the state’s water office, KWO conducts water planning, policy coordination and water marketing as well as facilitates public input throughout the state.
The agency prepares the KANSAS WATER PLAN, a plan for water resources development, management, and conservation.
Chamber Downtown Business Meet and Greet July 10
Join the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce this Tuesday, July 10th
for the Quarterly Downtown Meet & Greet at Papa Don’s 10 N. Main from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.
The Quarterly Downtown Meet & Greet is hosted by the Chamber for downtown business owners, representatives and any community members to attend to network and share ideas on events, promotions and anything related to downtown!
Coffee, juice and light refreshments will be served.
Contact the Chamber at 620-223-3566 with questions
or for more information.
or for more information.
See you there!
Special thanks to Brita Rygmyr, Tom Rygmyr & staff for hosting!
Friday Night Concert
The weekly summer Friday Night Concert at Heritage Park, 1st and Main streets, downtown, was moved indoors July 6 because of the heat. Temperatures were in the 90s.
The Cherry Jammers, a singing group from Cherry Grove Baptist Church, performed in the basement of the First United Methodist Church, Third Street and National Avenue, instead.
Business/Government Collaborations Benefit Work-From-Home Residents
Collaborations between business and government create opportunities for workers to be able to computer work from home in rural areas.
New Wave Broadband, LaHarpe, is one of those businesses.
New Wave Broadband has collaborated with the City of Fort Scott and Consolidated Rural Water District #2 to put broadband antennas on top of water towers to transmit from.
That allows employees to work from home, on their computer.
There is a New Wave antenna on towers four miles west of Fort Scott and also eight miles west at Redfield; east of Fort Scott on 260th and Kansas roads; and there is one coming to a rural area knows as Porterville, southwest of Fort Scott.
In town, there are New Wave antennas on top of towers south of the hospital, at the water treatment plant at Ninth and Burke streets, and at the middle school.
Mercy Hospital gets internet provided from the same company that New Wave does and “We share a communications closet,” David Lee said. “We have separate equipment.”
New Wave Broadband has its beginnings in the La Harpe Telephone Company, according to its’ website http://newwavebb.com
Joyce and Harry Lee, the owners, raised their family in La Harpe, and the family still operates the company today.
La Harpe Telephone was one of the owners of Kansas Cellular, which was sold in 1999 to Alltel.
Today, they are one of the 29 owners of Kansas Fiber Network, a communication system that delivers broadband connectivity to rural Kansas.
“Some people can work from home now, that couldn’t,” David Lee, son of Harry and Joyce Lee, said.
David Lee negotiates contracts and does installations for the business and “everything in between,” he said.
Lucretia Simpson, Marie Guss, and Jillian McAdams are some New Wave customers who work from home on computers, 8-12 hours a day, from a rural location.
Simpson and McAdams live just south of the Fort Scott city limits, Guss lives east of Fort Scott.
Simpson had a satellite set-up prior to New Wave, two years ago.
“After you used it so much, the company slowed it down,” she said.
Now she can work all day and still have data available to enjoy movies with her family, Simpson said.
Simpson paid for a wireless router.
“Our phone, tv, tablets are wireless, except my computer for work. It’s plugged in,” she said.
Guss switched companies “because it was accessible and they have faster internet speeds than where we had.” she said. “We were looking for download speeds so I could produce more at my job.”
The prior company would lose their signal frequently and take one to four hours to get it corrected, she said.
“I would have to work later in the day when the internet came back up,” Guss said.
Since signing onto New Wave in October 2017, the internet has not been working twice “and two hours at the most.” she said.
“David Lee is very good to respond and give an estimated time when it will be back up.”
McAdams moved to her current location about a year ago and tried another company. Weather conditions caused the internet go down, she said.
She then purchased a router from New Wave.
“We hard wired it into my computer and the phones are connected wirelessly,” McAdams said.
“New Wave has the best customer service I’ve ever had,” she said.
The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office Daily Reports July 6
The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office daily reports can best be viewed on a computer.
The office can be reached at (620) 223-2380.
Click here, then click on the image to enlarge:
The Fort Scott Police Department Daily Reports July 3-5
The Fort Scott Police Department daily reports can best be viewed on a computer.
The FSPD is located at 1604 S. National, Fort Scott, KS 66701 and can be reached at 620-223-1700.
Click below, then click on the image to enlarge:
Woe, by Patty LaRoche
A psychiatry professor was teaching the introductory lesson on emotional extremes to his college class. Starting with the basics, the professor asked a student from Arkansas, “What is the opposite of joy?” and the student immediately replied, “Sadness.” The teacher moved on to a young lady from Oklahoma and asked, “And the opposite of depression?” to which she responded, “Elation.” Then, turning to a young man from Texas, the professor said, “And you, friend, what is the opposite of woe?” In the blink of an eye the young Texan replied, “Sir, I believe that would be `giddy-up.”
(I hope you are smiling.) In reality, spelled “Whoa” or “Woe,” both are warnings. In the Bible, “Woe” in Greek is “ouai” and is a judgment that typically signifies impending doom and/or the wrath of God. It is worse than using the middle name of your child to get his/her attention. In Jesus’ day, those three letters caused knees to shake and sweat to pool on more than one forehead, which is why Jesus used “Woe” with the legalistic Pharisees.
In Matthew, chapter 23 alone, he recites the warning word eight times. Seven of them read like this: But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. One refers to them as blind guides. Each “Woe” carries with it its own description of ungodly behavior. So, what did the religious Pharisees do to invoke such anger from Jesus? Let me count the ways.
Okay, I can’t. There are too many. Most, however, share one theme: the Pharisees are prideful. They humble the multitudes while elevating their own status. If there were a Hall of Fame in Jesus’ day, they would have duked it out to have their names inscribed on the plaque. Their self-importance causes them to demand attention and submission, a behavior despised by Jesus whose very words “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God” points to their sin.
For goodness sakes, Jesus stands nose-to-nose with these leaders on an almost-daily basis, yet they fail to recognize Truth when they smell it. Even when Jesus repeatedly traps them in their own game of “Trick the Rabbi,” the majority sulk instead of opening their hearts to hear what he was trying to teach them about their pride.
The message is just as relevant today. We are equally guilty. All we have to do connect on social media where we are afforded the perfect place for a relatively new term: “humblebrag.” You know what I’m talking about.
“Closet-cleaning day ahead. Losing those 40 pounds has forced me to donate all of my XL sizes.”
“Some days I feel so guilty about my parenting skills, but then my sweet little prince brings me iced tea by the pool and I know there is hope.”
“Just bought several more acres but dread the taxes that will follow. Are you with me?”
Hidden within the humble words are subtle (?) ways to boast. Jesus might have a “Woe” or two for these people, don’t you think? But before I find too much comfort in writing about someone else’s pride, I should stop giddy-upping on my high horse and admit I deserve a thunderous “Woe” admonition for criticizing anyone for their pride (like I just did with my social media quotes).
If I truly were pride-less, I would know that in pointing to others’ arrogance, I am elevating myself as just a little more righteous, a little more Pharisee-like (and a lot less Christ-like), probably giving new meaning to the phrase, “Oh, woe is me!”