FORT SCOTT — Winners of the Gordon Parks Celebration “Family, Home
and Roots” poetry contest, sponsored by Helen Townsend and Trabar Associates, have been chosen. Fifteen
entries were received and the winner of First Place was Zian Butler Perez, Manassas, VA
with the poem titled “An Ode to White Rice, Ketchup, and Heuvo Frito.” Second Place was Delvyn Thomas,
Wichita, KS with the poem “Tea Time.” by Kelly Hams Pearson, Parkville, MO. Third Place was Andrew Hall,
Shawnee, KS with the poem, “I am You, Kansas.”
There were three Honorable Mentions named: “Circle.” by Kristin Chambers,
Waverly, KS, “We are Family Playground.” by Daliludeen Ahmedou, (Nevada,
MO) “Breaking” by Lynne Schmidt, Norway, ME and
Hanamo, Flo Au, (Hong Kong)
First, Second, and Third place winners received cash prizes of $200, $75,
and $50 respectively.
The contest was open to any non-professional photographer and was
inspired by Gordon Parks and his love for his family and upbringing.
Poets were invited to capture the essence of the theme.
Judges for the photo contest was Kansas Poet Laureate, Traci Brimhall, Poet
and Author, Annette Hope-Billings and Poet, Cash Hollistah. The poetry exhibit
will be on display on the Gordon Parks Museum facebook page
facebook.com/fsccgpmuseum/ and the museum’s website
gordonparkscenter.org.
What’s Happening in Fort Scott
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Healthcare in Bourbon County: Amberwell
Ascension Via Christi is stopping their emergency department services in Fort Scott at the end of this year.
But a new healthcare system is coming to replace the services.
At this week’s special City of Fort Scott Commission meeting, Mayor Matthew Wells said “It is public knowledge at this point that Amberwell is the company that we are partnering with, their home office is in Atchison, Kansas.”
The city approved $600,000 for its part in the new E.R. services in a Memorandum of Understanding.
Other entities
At a special Bourbon County Commission meeting this week the commissioners approved $500,000 towards the new E.R. services.
“The administration and Board of Trustees at Fort Scott Community College recognize the importance and need for there to be an active emergency room in the county,” Dr. Jason Kegler, President of Fort Scott Community Colleges said. “We understand the benefit this provides to our guests, students and staff. The college remains mindful of the financial responsibility we have to the citizens of this county. We will have internal discussions about how best for us to partner with other entities to ensure the continued presence of an emergency room in this county.”
Because of public school finance laws USD 234 is unable to help financially, Destry Brown, Superintendent said. “We do support it, but we can’t help with it financially.”
About Amberwell
Amberwell Health has a mission to sustain and strengthen rural healthcare, through affiliation with clinically integrated organizations that share services, expertise, and group savings while retaining local operational management, according to its website.
As of January 2022, Amberwell had 650 employees serving across seven locations in six communities in northeast Kansas, according to the website.
Problems in healthcare
“Kansas has 104 rural hospitals – and more than 80% of them are losing money, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, a nonprofit think-tank,” Mayor Wells said. “More than half are deemed to be at risk of closing this year.”
“The biggest problems for rural hospitals (are) a combined high percentage of Medicare and Medicaid patients and payments from private insurance companies that, like those from government programs, don’t cover the cost of providing services, Wells said.
“Under the new federal program, we could qualify for a subsidy of approximately $2.2 million a year plus a 3% increase in Medicare payments by becoming a federally designated Rural Emergency Hospital. However, we must be a functioning rural hospital that meets these conditions. To qualify, this organization we are partnering with will provide these services.”
“The Kansas Hospital Association (https://www.kha-net.org/) estimates that Kansas would have received an additional $6.2 billion in federal funding if it had expanded Medicaid when the opportunity arose in 2014,” Wells said. “I ask you to start pressing the state legislature to make this happen, for our community, for our people.”
“We are so thankful that Ascension has helped provide the E.R. to date, but they too have been subsidized with free rent and free utilities by Legacy Health,” Wells said.
Amberwell will also receive this benefit, he said.
“On top of the E.R., this is one of the greatest needs: primary care doctors for us citizens,” Wells said. “We are also told that Amberwell has the ability, because of the way it has set itself up to create single-payer systems, that allow people to pay directly for services without having to have insurance. Many of the businesses showed extreme interest in this model, and one said it would save them a lot of money.”
Kansas Legal Services Secures Justice for Local Resident in Case of Fraud
Kansas Legal Services – A History of Pro Bono Advocacy
Kansas Legal Services (KLS), a statewide non-profit corporation, is devoted to helping low-income Kansans meet their basic needs through the provision of important legal and mediation services. Last year, KLS served more than 18,500 persons in all 105 counties
through two mediation offices and 11 legal services offices across the state.
KLS has served Pittsburg and the surrounding area for over 30 years. The office serves nine counties — Allen, Bourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Labette, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson, and Woodson. Between 2020 and 2022, KLS attorneys and paralegals served
1,623 clients in matters pertaining to housing, collections, income maintenance, child support, and protection from domestic violence.
KLS attorneys assist people who live in households with annual incomes at or below 125% of the federal poverty guidelines – $14,713 for an individual; $30,313 for a family of four. Clients represent diverse ethnicities and age groups, residing in rural, suburban, and urban locales.
Clients include the working poor, veterans, homeowners and renters, families with children, farmers, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Women account for 70% of clients.
Case particulars
The client was a 60-year-old woman who lives in senior housing in Montgomery County. She owns a home in her community that she is unable to live in due to its condition. She really needed to sell it before it deteriorated further. In 2021, she was approached by an
individual who she thought was going to help her sell her home. He had her sign what she believed to be a listing agreement. The document was never retained. After signing, the client was paid $20.
The individual then filed an Affidavit and Memorandum of Real Estate Purchase Agreement with the Mongomery County Register of Deeds. The filed affidavit stated that a Wyoming LLC now had a contractual interest in the client’s real estate and that the
cloud on client’s house title could not be cleared without a release from the Wyoming LLC. The affidavit also said that copies of all the various agreements could be obtained by contacting the Wyoming LLC. The Wyoming LLC was in good standing in Wyoming
but was not registered as an out of state business with the Kansas Secretary of State.
The client had heard nothing in two years despite her efforts. She contacted a local realtor who told her he could not help her sell her house until problems caused by the filing of the affidavit had been released.
It was at this point when she contacted KLS in late summer of 2023. Senior Attorney Dennis Depew became involved.
After talking with the client, Depew went to the Montgomery County Register of Deeds, where he obtained a copy of the affidavit that had been filed regarding the client’s house.
The Register of Deeds reported that there had been other such affidavits filed connected with the Wyoming LLC.
Once Depew had the affidavit, he had enough information to contact the Wyoming LLC
and investigate further. The LLC manager responded quickly and offered immediately to release the LLC’s interest in the real estate. Depew also sought out the individual who had filed the affidavit and, after considerable effort, they signed the release and the matter
was resolved.
To say that this situation raises red flags for property owners in Southeast Kansas is an understatement. The client thought she was signing a listing agreement, but instead
signed a sales contract to the individual for the sum of $20, who then assigned an interest in the sales contract to the Wyoming LLC, who isn’t licensed to do business in Kansas.
The entire situation has SCAM written all over it. How many other Kansans are unaware that the title to their homes is or could be clouded by schemes like this?
If you suspect that you could have been a victim of a similar scheme, please call thePittsburg KLS office at 620-232-1330. Other helpful information may be obtained by going to the Kansas Real Estate Commission website at krec.ks.gov and/or the Consumer
Protection Division of the Kansas Attorney General’s website at ag.ks.gov/in-your- corner-kansas.
The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office Daily Reports Oct. 13
Bourbon County Road 215th Closed on Oct. 13
Please post or announce the following road closure from Public Works:
215th from Valley to Wagon will be closed today, October 13 from 10 to 3 for road repair.
Submitted by
Becky Robertson
Bourbon County Public Works
FS Water Warning Update
Water Warning Update: the City of Fort Scott Water Utility Department opened the valve at Rock Creek five turns today. This was due to the level of water in the Marmaton River. As of today the river is at 8’4” deep which is much lower than the 9 1/2’ depth we need. At this time the valves at Cedar Creek and Rock Creek are the only ones open, the valve at Lake fort Scott remains closed. We would ask citizens to continue doing what you are doing to conserve water because it has been working and it is appreciated.
We are not sounding an alarm, just wanted to update our citizens on what the water situation is. We continue to need rain and hope it will come but for now we are ok with the levels we have at the three water sources and are monitoring them daily.
Submitted by
Brad Matkin
City Manager
City of Fort Scott
The Danger of Little Foxes by Patty LaRoche
Author: A Little Faith Lift…Finding Joy Beyond Rejection
www.alittlefaithlift.com
AWSA (Advanced Writers & Speakers Assoc.)
Air bags hurt. A lot. Trust me, I know.
Last week, I totaled an Excursion with six of my relatives in the vehicle. I missed a turn after entering a cloud of gravel and dirt on a country road near my son’s ranch and ended up in a deep ditch.
We left the Red Bull practice event at Adam’s ranch around 8:30 P.M. Dave’s family had flown in from Las Vegas to watch the festivities, all of them serious dirt-bike racers. To be able to watch the professionals perform their stunts was a dream-come-true for them. We loaded up in the car, everyone seat-belted in, with my step-daughter, her husband, their daughter and her husband, and their two children (a one-year-old and three-year-old) buckled in and sharing their thrills from the evening.
Because of a drought in our area, the roads were dry and dusty. Nothing I haven’t seen before. The details aren’t important, except that when we jerked to a halt, On-Star was activated and asked if it needed to call 9-1-1. “Yes” was said in unison. (We later found out that OnStar notified the emergency room that the hysterical cries of the babies was all the answer it needed.)
Cars coming up behind us immediately came to our aid, helping excavate those who had difficulty exiting the vehicle, tending to those who were bleeding or burned by the air bags, offering any help needed. The emergency vehicles were close behind, all providing necessary aid and transportation to the hospital.
Clearly, God had protected us from a much worse fate. Within twenty feet of where we landed was a telephone pole. Had we hit that, or had I jerked the Excursion to make the 90-degree turn, the outcome could have been much more deadly.
When we viewed the vehicle the day after the wreck, Dave, my son-in-law, noticed several triggered safety precautions. The brake lights were still on (serving as a warning to drivers behind us that we wrecked, and the brakes were locked (to keep us from continuing forward, should we be on a cliff.) Seat belts were extended, preventing anyone from buying the vehicle in this unsafe condition.
Sometimes, pain teaches the strongest lesson. When we loaded into the car, Tyler, the passenger in the rear seat, tried to lock down the headrest in front of him but couldn’t. That ended up being a projectile that hit the one-year-old above the eye and left a V-shaped hole in Tyler’s forehead that necessitated eight stitches. It seemed like such a little thing at the time. Another “little thing” I ignored was that a friend at the Red Bull site set a pin on my phone to navigate my way out of Missouri. When my son-in-law said that he knew the way, I never pushed the “pin” button. Had I done so, this accident would not have happened.
In the Bible, Solomon warned of the “little foxes” that spoil the vines, things we dismiss that lead to grave consequences. Drops of water are very small, yet how often they become a raging torrent. The termite is a small insect, but it can destroy a three-story house if ignored. Starting with one cigarette can make you feel cool until you end up with lung cancer. Sneak peeks at pornography are the leading cause of men and women entering sex-trafficking.
Louis of Granada, a Dominican priest of the 16th century, in The Sinner’s Guide advises us to resist small sins “for there is no enemy too weak to harm us if we make no resistance.” A careless sin life we label as small can morph into a lifestyle devoid of God.
Dear readers, it’s never worth the risk.
Boil Water Advisory Rescinded for City of Fulton, Bourbon County
TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has rescinded a boil water advisory for the City of Fulton public water supply system located in Bourbon County. The advisory was issued because of system upgrades leading to multiple line breaks resulting in a loss of pressure in the system. Failure to maintain adequate pressure may result in a loss of chlorine residuals and bacterial contamination.
Public water suppliers in Kansas take all measures necessary to notify customers quickly after a system failure or shutdown. Regardless of whether it’s the supplier or KDHE that announces a boil water advisory, KDHE will issue the rescind order following testing at a certified laboratory.
Laboratory testing samples collected from the City of Fulton indicate no evidence of bacteriological contamination and all other conditions that placed the system at risk of contamination are deemed by KDHE officials to be resolved.
For consumer questions, please contact the water system at: 620-857-4464 or you may call KDHE at 785-296-5514. For consumer information please visit KDHE’s PWS Consumer Information webpage: kdhe.ks.gov/waterdisruption.
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Heartland Creates Solar Farm To Generate Energy For Local Members
Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative, Girard, is a distribution cooperative that has members in Bourbon County.
“What we do is buy wholesale power and distribute it to homes, farms, and businesses over our poles and wires,” said Doug Graham, Communication Specialist for Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. “So we don’t do much in the realm of generating electricity.”
Heartland provides service to around 11,250 meters, with around 1,700 located in Bourbon County, said Graham.
Heartland Adds Solar
“Within the last few years, it became apparent that we could reduce our wholesale power bill by using some locally generated solar energy,” he said. “We worked with our power supplier (KEPCo) to amend our contract so we and other cooperatives would be allowed to generate or otherwise procure up to 15% of our peak power demand, with 5% of that amount specifically allowing for the addition of solar.”
“The way we’ve approached solar has been to work with a company called Today’s Power, Inc. (TPI) to build solar farms on sites very close to our distribution substations,” he said. “We buy the land and lease it to TPI, and then TPI builds, operates, and maintains all the solar equipment.”
“We have long-term agreements with TPI to purchase the electricity generated by the solar farms at a set rate, which reduces how much energy we have to buy off the market,” Graham said. “This is especially beneficial during peak times when electricity is most expensive.”
In May 2021 Heartland built two 1-MW solar farms, one at Greenbush and the other at Urbana.
“The solar farm has a direct benefit to Heartland members in that it helps keep rates stable by reducing our wholesale power cost,” Graham said. “Having it be a clean and locally generated source of energy is a nice bonus.”
After they came online, the solar farms proved very effective at reducing costs, he said.
“We decided to pursue two slightly smaller (750 kW) solar arrays near our Devon and Linn substations,” he said. “The Devon array came online in the spring of 2023, while the Linn array is still in development. We have no other solar projects in development.”
The one in Bourbon County is located at 135th St. and Range Rd., just east of Heartland’s Devon distribution substation.
The 750 kW solar array powers around 130 homes.
These arrays are relatively small in utility terms, with a footprint of around seven acres for each, he said.
“The energy generated at each solar farm is used right away by the members on those substations,” he said. “It’s all local. In fact, we’re not allowed to push energy back onto the transmission grid, which is why it’s very important that we size our solar systems just right to match what our members served on those substations can actually use.”
“These solar farms are part of a larger statewide initiative called the Kansas Cooperative Sun Power Program, a partnership between TPI and 11 other Kansas co-ops. Joining forces with the other cooperatives helped everyone secure better pricing,” Graham said.
Solar Has Saved On Wholesale Power Bill
“So far this year, our three solar farms have saved us roughly 2.5% off of our wholesale power bill versus what we would have had to pay if we didn’t have solar in place to reduce the peak demand,” he said. “It’s a small thing we can do to help control costs while staying within the parameters of our contract with our power supplier. In a way, it’s a lot like what we ask our members to do on peak days in the summer: make small adjustments to your usage and save a little bit on your bill, which in turn adds up to significant savings for the co-op as a whole. That helps keep rates from climbing as fast as everything else these days.”
Is There a Sound Issue?
For neighbors the sound of the arrays is minimal.
“There’s a bit of a hum from the inverters that turn the DC power generated by the solar panels into AC power that can be used in homes, but it’s not very loud,” he said. “You could carry on a conversation at normal volume right next to the inverters. We haven’t had any complaints whatsoever.”
Help Identify Areas of Need for High Speed Internet
Governor Kelly Invites Public Input on Volume 2
of Broadband Plan
TOPEKA – Governor Laura Kelly today announced the release of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Initial Proposal Volume 2. As part of the planning process, the public is invited to submit their comments on the planning document. Together with the BEAD 5-Year Action Plan, Volumes 1 and 2 will help identify areas of need for high-speed internet buildout across the state and outline requirements for applicants to access grant funding.
“Our vision for Kansas is one where every resident, regardless of their location, has access to affordable, reliable internet,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “The Volume 2 planning document sets a clear path to achieving that goal. I encourage all Kansans to be involved in the public comment process.”
Volume 2 outlines defined objectives for broadband infrastructure projects, transparent subgrantee selection processes, and the active participation of eligible entities, all aimed at providing affordable broadband service options to residents.
Additional components of Volume 2 include:
- Plans for equipping the workforce with the necessary skills and resources to support broadband infrastructure development
- Initiatives to promote the inclusion of Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) and Women Business Enterprises (WBEs) in broadband projects
- Strategies for identifying and mitigating cost-related barriers to broadband deployment
- Consideration of the environmental impact of broadband projects and efforts to minimize their carbon footprint
- An outline of the regulatory approach to be taken by eligible entities in support of broadband infrastructure development
“As we continue to support and invest in broadband infrastructure, we’re not just connecting people; we’re creating opportunities,” said Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland. “High-speed broadband promotes access to telehealth, remote work, distance learning and entrepreneurship, which enrich our communities and create pathways to prosperity for Kansans.”
The BEAD program, established by the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, has allocated more than $451 million to Kansas for the development of broadband networks.
The Kansas Office of Broadband Development remains committed to its mission of closing the digital divide and looks forward to continued collaboration with stakeholders to bring high-speed broadband connectivity to all communities across the state.
“This planning document is key to guiding a historic level of investment into broadband infrastructure,” Kansas Office of Broadband Director Jade Piros de Carvalho said. “Our office is committed to an open and fair granting process that ensures the best use of public funds.”
Public comments on Volume 2 can be submitted online here until November 12, 2023.
Learn more about the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Plan here.