Bourbon County

County Commission Meeting Feb 13th

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The commissioners discussed the best time to plant fescue on some county land and the reclamation project at the old quarry.  There was also some discussion about moving the scale.  The county is getting the old crusher ready to go to the company where it was traded in on the new one.

The commissioners wanted to clarify that the East side of Cedar Creek Lake is still open and you can drive in there. The West side is closed to traffic now, but you can walk in to go fishing. The restrooms are also being removed from the West side. The decision was made by the rural water department because of the vandalism that was taking place.

The commissioners are still waiting for a list of properties and what day they will be sold from Dan Meara for the tax sale.

Joanne Long asked the commissioners about a money transfer from the general fund to the sewer fund, but they decided to hold off until they had more information.

In January Commissioner Coleman was voted in as chairman. Evidently Commissioner Jingles Endicott had made a motion to make Commissioner Allen Warren the new Chairman and the motion had been seconded by Commissioner Coleman. After some discussion Commissioner Warren convinced then Chairman Endicott to not vote for his own motion and the two of them voted Commissioner Coleman in as the new Chairman.

Business

Jukebox Barber Shop

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Jake “Jukebox” Johnson was born in Fort Scott, but raised in Iola. He was attending FSCC when he decided to stop by Boone’s Barber Shop to ask about careers as a barber. Encouraged by what he learned, Mr. Johnson enrolled in Wichita’s Old Town Barber College. After graduating 11 1/2 months later he took a job at Boone’s Barber Shop.

Now he is starting his own business with the Jukebox Barber Shop at 15 E. Wall Street where he offers $10 haircuts and $10 shaves. On a recent visit a record player in the corner was playing Johnny Cash and there were a number of guitars on display on the wall.

Mr. Johnson said the guitars are for sale. He also has strings, picks and other supplies that he said are hard to find in Fort Scott. He also offers guitar lessons. His goal with the guitar, lessons and supplies isn’t to make a large profit–he just wants to get more people interested in music.

The Jukebox Barber Shop is open from 8 to 7 Tuesday through Friday and 8 to 1 on Saturday. The telephone number for voice and text is 620-224-7798. The shops website is: http://jukeboxsbarbershop.com/

 

 

 

 

Bourbon County

County Commission Meeting Feb 10th

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Carter Stegall from Running Foxes Petroleum can to discuss buying right of way to put in pipeline. They need to drill under a road and wanted to know what issues there were with going under roads. Marty Pearson said that they would be responsible to fill in any settling the happens afterwards. Commissioner Warren suggested a type of mix that had a good history of not sinking.

There was a discussion of what type of permits would be needed and if a bond was needed

The water district has voted to close Cedar Creek Lake to vehicles and take the bathroom out because of too much vandalism.  It will still be open for fishing, but people will have to walk down to the lake and the dock will be removed.. The plan is to move the bathroom to Elm Creek Lake.

Ron Center from the landfill came to discuss a request to the state about going 10 foot higher in the landfill. There are some changes that need to be made to meet the state requirements. Mr. Center has a flat fee bid for $1000 to do the work that is required.

The Commissioners were asked if the press release detailing the status of the tax sale had been created and they said they were waiting on Dan Meara.

They were also asked about the status of the request for a listing of the people who had overpaid and underpaid as determined by the audit. Joanne Long said that this information had been emailed to Fort Scott Biz, and the Commissioners indicated that the Treasurer was going to start sending out refund checks for the approximately $800 that had been overpaid. They pointed out that $300 was the Treasurer’s overpayment.

The commissioners voted to go into executive session for 30 minutes to discuss non-elected employees.

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.


View Larger Map

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 Local News