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Starlite Family and Community Education Minutes for Sept.
Starlite FCE Minutes
September,2023
The September meeting of the Starlite FCE was held at the Presbyterian Village Meeting Room. President Glenda Miller called the meeting to order. Joyce Allen led the club in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and the Club Collect. Fourteen members and one guest were in attendance. The members reported that they had volunteered for eleven hours and had recycled 330 pounds.
Doris Ericson presented the Treasurers report. There was no council report. Glenda Miller recognized birthdays of Letha Johnson and Jackie Warren and announced that 911 baskets had been delivered.
Old Business consisted of Fall Follies, which will be held at the Bronson Community Center October 10th at 6:00. Eleven will be attending
New Business for September was planning for the Veterans Day bags for the American Legion, VFW and the Assisted Living facilities. Members are to bring snacks to the next meeting. Dues are also due in September, membership forms were distributed and returned to Doris. Doris Ericson announced that Wreaths Across America will be $17 this year. Joyce Allen moved that we purchase one, Betty Johnson seconded the motion, motion carried.
Letha Johnson moved that the meeting be adjourned, Doris Ericson seconded the motion, meeting adjourned.
After the meeting Claudia Wheeler presented the program of Grandparents raising grandchildren with members discussing their grandparenting experiences.
Refreshment of Fruit Pizza, nuts and M&Ms, mints and water were provided by Claudia Wheeler and Ida Ford.
The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office Daily Reports Oct. 5
CATO’S PIONEER PAST COMES ALIVE
The annual Cato Days will be presented by the Cato Historical Preservation Association on Saturday October 21st from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free.
The annual Cato Days will be held on Saturday October 21st from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Cato, Kansas. This free event is presented by the Cato Historical Preservation Association to promote Cato’s pioneer history.
Cato Days starts with registration at 9 a.m. followed at 9:30 by old time hymns performed by Ralph Carlson and Friends in the historic Cato Christian Church. Ann Rawlins will talk about the history of the church. At 10:45, in the Old Stone School, Anna Portwood Swank, Elizabeth Portwood Thompson and Jamie Thompson will talk about the school and Jerry Lomshek will discuss Cato’s early history and its involvement in Bleeding Kansas and the Civil War. Musical entertainment will be presented outdoors at 11:45, where drinks and ham‘n beans cooked by Bob “Buck” Rowland of Arma will be available. At 12:30 there will be a raffle for a beautiful quilt donated by Sue James of Texas. All proceeds go to the preservation of Cato’s historic buildings. The highlight of the event will be the hayrack wagon ride to various local sites of historical interest at 1 p.m.
Fourth and Fifth graders from local schools will have their own Cato Day on Thursday, October 19th.
Cato is in the northern part of Crawford County off Hwy 69. From Hwy 69, turn west on 720th avenue and follow the signs to Cato. Directions can be found at http://catoschool.com/ . Cato is an open-air museum and its buildings are only open to the public a few times a year so don’t miss this unique opportunity to spend an afternoon of entertainment and enlightenment in historic Cato. The Cato Historical Preservation Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the buildings and history of Cato and the surrounding areas.
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Fort Scott Christian Heights Receives Funds from Tom R. Davis Memorial Endowment Fund
Fort Scott Christian Heights School would like to thank the family of the late Tom W. Davis for choosing the school’s New Building Fund as the recipient of this year’s Tom W. Davis Memorial Endowed Fund disbursement.
Mr. and Mrs. Davis’s grandchildren, Zoey and Zeke Hartman, children of Dr. Grant Hartman and Dr. Heather Davis, are students at Fort Scott Christian Heights.
“We are honored to have a part in continuing his legacy through the mentoring of the youth of our community,” according to a press release from the school.
The Tom W. Davis Memorial Endowed Fund was established in 2015 as part of the Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas.
Tom was a long-time teacher, athletic coach, administrator, and mentor to young people, having started and ended his 40+ year career in Fort Scott.
Tom’s family wants to continue to honor his name with annual awards to organizations and entities that involve children of all ages.
It is the intent of this memorial fund to help further efforts in education, recreation, athletics, and other activities for the benefit of young people.
Tom was always involved in a positive way with kids!
Poplar Road Closed on Oct. 5 from Hwy. 69 to 235th
Please announce or post the following from Public Works:
Poplar Rd will be closed tomorrow, October 5 to thru traffic from HWY. 69 to 235th for bridge repair.
Thank you,
Becky Robertson
Bourbon County Public Works
Murder and Mayhem at the Fort on Halloween Night
Looking for some added Halloween fun?
Tuesday, October 31, 2023, join Fort Scott National Historic Site guides for a special candle lantern walk called the Murder and Mayhem at the Fort Lantern Tour, according to a press release.
There is no cost to the public.
Tour guides from the 1840s-1860s, will share some of the lesser-told tragedies and macabre events that were far too common in Fort Scott’s 19th century.
“There was violence and tragedy that happened at the fort during the 1840s to the 1860s,” Carl Brenner, FSNHS Chief of Interpretation and Resource Management, said. “The fort was the whole town during this time, and there were 1,000s of soldiers here during the Civil War.”
They will talk, in period costume, about some of those events.
Tour guides are Carl Brenner, Barry Geertsen, and Jessica Nielsen-employees at the Fort, and Matthew Wells, a member of the Friends of Fort Scott National Historic Site.
These four special Halloween lantern tours will start every 30 minutes beginning at 6:30 pm at the visitor center.
Space is limited and required reservations will open Friday, October 13, at 8:30 a.m. Contact the park at 620-223-0310 or visit the website at www.nps.gov/fosc.
Those with reservations, please arrive 10 minutes early to allow time to park and get oriented, according to the press release. Participants are advised to please dress for the weather and conditions, as the entire tour will be outside and on sidewalks.
“We’ve been planning this for several years,” Brenner, said. “But staff turnover precluded us from moving forward. All our pumpkins are in a line now and we can move forward.”
Fort Scott National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service, exhibit areas and visitor center are open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The park grounds are open daily from a half hour before sunrise until a half hour after sunset. To find out more or become involved in activities at the Fort, please contact the park at 620-223-0310 or visit our website at www.nps.gov/fosc.
2023 Kansas Upland Bird Hunting Forecast Now Available
PRATT – Bird hunters – the wait is over! The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Park’s 2023 Kansas Upland Game Bird Forecast is now available online and soon in printed form.
Produced annually by KDWP’s Wildlife Division, the 2023 Kansas Upland Game Bird Forecast is compiled from data collected during the Department’s spring calling surveys for pheasants (crow counts), quail (whistle counts), and prairie chickens (lek counts), as well as late-summer roadside surveys for pheasants and quail.
Here’s a preview of what hunters will find in this year’s Forecast, available online at ksoutdoors.com/Hunting/Upland-Birds and at most KDWP offices.
Quail
Kansas continues to support above-average quail populations with spring densities similar to last year, including significant increases in portions of the western regions of the state this spring.
Rains beginning in early summer and continuing through much of the nesting season greatly improved habitat conditions across the state. Given the high spring densities and improved summer conditions, staff expected to see increased production on the brood surveys this year.
Despite these conditions, brood detections were decreased. This may be attributed, in part, by the abundant habitat available during the survey.
Still, Kansas maintains one of the strongest quail populations in the country and, given the abundant access, harvest will again be among the highest in the country. The best opportunities will be in the central regions of the state into the Flint Hills, with quality hunting opportunities scattered throughout the remaining regions.
Pheasants
Intense drought conditions throughout 2022 reduced pheasant populations and the available nesting cover for 2023. Precipitation across most of the primary range this summer greatly improved habitat conditions for chicks. This should have improved the survival of broods that were hatched and could result in some localized improvements where nesting cover was maintained. However, lack of nesting cover and low populations across most of the state prevented any major improvements in densities this summer.
The High Plains region of the western third of the state saw some areas of improvement but remain low after sharp declines in 2022. The North Central Smoky Hills region remained good last year in spite of the drought but dropped to levels similar to the remaining pheasant regions.
The statewide pheasant index is similar to the previous drought cycle. Recovery from these declines will likely take longer as habitat has declined with the declines in CRP enrollment (again this year, acres enrolled in CRP were released to be used for emergency forage for cattle across most of the state). This will likely impact hunter success in 2023 as well as the amount of nesting cover for pheasants again next year. While hunting opportunities still exist where habitat was maintained, hunters will find challenging conditions and should be prepared to work for birds.
Prairie Chickens
Kansas is home to both greater and lesser prairie chickens. Both species require a landscape of predominately native grass and benefit from a few interspersed grain fields. Greater prairie chickens are found primarily in the tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies that occur in the eastern third and northern half of the state. Greater prairie-chickens have recently expanded in numbers and range in the Northwestern portion of the state while declining in the eastern regions.
Drought conditions are likely to have impacted production some, but prairie chickens are typically less volatile than other upland bird species and production is harder to estimate.
Hunting opportunities will be best in the Smoky Hills Regions this fall where populations have been stable and public access is more abundant.
The Southwest Prairie Chicken Unit, where lesser prairie chickens are found, will remain closed to hunting this year.
Note, all prairie chicken hunters are required to purchase a $2.50 Prairie Chicken Permit, available at gooutdoorskansas.com.
Regardless of preferred upland bird species, upland hunters can be as mobile as needed when utilizing Kansas’ combined 1.7 million acres of lands open to public hunting. KDWP’s Walk-In Hunting Access (WIHA) and iWIHA programs – which account for 1.07 million of those acres open to hunting – occur throughout much of the state’s main pheasant range. Through iWIHA, hunters can reserve hunting access on private lands with limited access. For more information on WIHA and iWIHA, or to view maps of lands open to public hunting, visit ksoutdoors.com.
Pheasant, quail and greater prairie chicken seasons run through Jan. 31, 2024, in Kansas, so there’s plenty of time to plan. In the meantime, grab a license at gooutdoorskansas.com, through KDWP’s mobile app, GoOutdoors Kansas, or a license vendor nearest you (ksoutdoors.com/License-Permits/Locations-to-Buy-License-Permits).
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The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office Daily Reports Oct. 4
Kansas child deaths hit record low in 2021
Kansas child deaths hit record low in 2021, annual report shows
TOPEKA – (Oct. 3, 2023) -– Child deaths hit a record low in 2021, despite an increase in the number of child homicides and fentanyl overdoses, according to a report released today by the State Child Death Review Board of Kansas.
The board’s annual report analyzed the deaths of Kansas children (birth through 17years old) that occurred in calendar year 2021, the most recent year for which data is available.
“Within the three decades that the State Child Death Review Board has been in in existence, more than 12,000 deaths of Kansas children have been examined. The data provided in this report is critical to our understanding of why children are dying,” said Sara Hortenstine, the board’s executive director. “We know that behind each of these statistics are the stories of children who lost their lives too soon, families who are still grieving, and communities that will be impacted forever. We must learn from these difficult circumstances and take action to prevent future deaths of Kansas children.”
Overall, the report showed Kansas had 349 child fatalities in 2021, compared with 365 in 2020. The overall child death rate in 2021 was 49.6 deaths per 100,000 population, both the lowest number and rate of death since the board was created in 1994.
The rate of deaths due to natural causes declined in the last five years, the report revealed. In 2021, 100-plus fewer children died of natural causes compared to 2018. Despite the overall decreasing number of child deaths in Kansas, homicides, weapon-related deaths, and drug-related deaths in children has shown an alarming increase.
Thirty-two children died from homicide in 2021 compared to only 22 child homicides in 2020, a 45% increase. The report also indicates drug-related deaths increased significantly in the past two years. While no children died in 2017, 2018, and 2019 from fentanyl, 20 kids died from fentanyl overdoses in 2020 and 2021.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported nearly 500,000 people of all ages died from overdoses involving both illicit and prescribed use of opioids from 1999-2019. In recent years, both nationally and in Kansas, the data has shown an increase in the use of synthetic opioids like fentanyl. While fentanyl is a prescription drug, it is also manufactured illegally. Frequently it is incorporated into illicitly manufactured pressed pills and mixed with other substances without the knowledge of the end user.
“My office is committed to preventing every preventable death of a child. This report shows a dramatic increase in fentanyl deaths in 2020 and 2021 as compared with previous years. We are using every tool at our disposal to deal with this threat,” Kobach said.
In addition to policy recommendations, the report includes prevention points that families can use to decrease the likelihood of a child’s death.
The board is a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency volunteer board organized by law within the attorney general’s office to examine trends and patterns that identify risk factors in the deaths of children, from birth through 17 years of age. The report is available on the attorney general’s website at https://ag.ks.gov/scdrb.
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What is the Hunter’s Moon Telling Us?
Special Night Sky Program
Saturday, October 28, 2023, Fort Scott National Historic Site will share stories and a closer look at October’s full Hunter’s, or Hunting, Moon. The program will begin just after the moonrise at 6:30 pm and telescope viewing begins just after twilight at 7 pm.
Look up to the same October Hunter’s Moon as it ushers in fall and winter, discussing what it could mean to you and your family as people have done for centuries on the American frontier. Then look closer at the next frontier on our moon and other planets, or last frontier of deep space.
The Kansas Astronomical Observers will join Park Rangers with their telescopes, spotting scopes, and binoculars sharing how you can take a closer look at our moon from your own back yard.
Fort Scott National Historic Site’s, a unit of the National Park Service, exhibit areas and visitor center are open daily from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. The park grounds are open daily from a half hour before sunrise until a half hour after sunset. To find out more or become involved in activities at the Fort, please contact the park at 620-223-0310 or visit our website at www.nps.gov/fosc.
-NPS-
Camber Coffee at Gordon Parks Museum on Oct. 5
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