|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
…
What’s Happening in Fort Scott March 11
“The Learning Tree” Trail Project Selected For National Humanities Alliance Foundation Initiative
The Gordon Parks Museum has become a part of a National Humanities Alliance Foundation’s initiative, Fort Scott’s Gordon Parks Museum Director Kirk Sharp told the Chamber members attending last week’s coffee.
The National Humanities Alliance (NHA) is a nationwide coalition of organizations advocating for the humanities on campuses, in communities, and in Washington D.C., which was founded in 1981.
“We received word on January 10th that The Learning Tree Film Scene and Sign Trail is being considered to be selected and would make a compelling profile on the NEH for All (NHA’s initiative) website,” Sharp said in an interview with fortscott.biz. “Further discussion soon followed.”
To learn more about The National Humanities Alliance Foundation’s initiative, NEH for All, view the profile website https://nehforall.org/projects/gordon-parks-fort-scott.
“This means everything to the museum, as this is an excellent opportunity to help further our outreach of this project nationwide and to keep the legacy of The Learning Tree film and Gordon Parks alive,” Sharp said. “This will also help tremendously to bring more visitors from across the nation, to not only to visit the trail and the Gordon Parks Museum but to spend time in Fort Scott and possibly visit other great attractions within our community.”
“The Learning Tree Film Scene and Sign Trail project is just one of six profiles selected in the state of Kansas and is one of the 260 profiles thus far, selected nationwide, that the (organization) spotlights as exemplary projects,” he said. “We are very honored, thankful, and thrilled that the National Humanities Alliance Foundation selected our Learning Tree Film Scene and Sign Trail as one of the spotlight projects across the nation.”
“With funding from Humanities Kansas, the state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Gordon Parks Museum set out in 2019 to create The Learning Tree Film Scene and Sign Trail. Based on Gordon Parks’ semi-autobiographical novel about growing up in Fort Scott, The Learning Tree was also the first major motion picture directed by an African American. This historic sign trail celebrates Parks and commemorates the filming of The Learning Tree in the city,” according to the website.
A Noble Sacrifice by Patty LaRoche
Lent is upon us, reminding me of my time in Catholic School when we would stand beside our desk and announce what we were giving up. My friends’ answers— “Candy,” “My bicycle,” “Ice cream,” “Bonanza” —paled in comparison to mine. Naturally, no one was dim-witted enough to say “Nothing,” especially when it was a spiritual opportunity to one-up each other. And yes, I was competitive like that. I apologize. Probably because of jealousy, my noble sacrifice never received the acclamations it deserved, even though mine seriously eclipsed everyone else’s. I would give up the one thing I craved, the one snack upon which I was dependent for happiness: salt on ice cubes. Had my classmates not eaten for 40 days, their sacrifice wouldn’t come close to mine. They, unlike me, had no idea what withdrawals were all about. For the entire Lenten season, it was all I could do not to sneak an ice cube since the entire procedure took such little effort. Five simple steps to Paradise: (1). Remove the ice tray from the freezer. (2). Pull the silver lever to loosen the cubes. (3). Place the ice into one of those colored aluminum cups. (4.) Add salt granules. (5). Lick away. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. The first year I proudly broadcast my answer in class, not-a-little-agitated Sister looked at me like I was a whack-a-doodle, told me this wasn’t a joke and had me sit down. (Are you understanding my embarrassment here? I mean, who’s going to double-cross God by fibbing when grace points are involved?) Even I had standards…well, sort of. Anyway, I went home and told my poor mother what happened, hoping for some consoling words. “Well, Patty Ann, I’m sure Sister _________ didn’t mean it to embarrass you.” (Not the first time I had heard those words from Mom, I assure you.) Anyway, a friend recently sent me Pope Francis’s suggestions for other Lenten sacrifices that are just as noble as my salt-on-ice cubes offering: Fast from hurting words and say kind words. Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude. Fast from anger and be filled with patience. Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope. Fast from worries and have trust in God. Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity. Fast from pressures and be prayerful. Fast from bitterness and fill your hearts with joy. Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others. Fast from grudges and be reconciled. Fast from words and be silent so you can listen. I wish I would have thought of Pope Francis’s idea when I was in fourth grade. It would have saved me a lot of embarrassment. Then again, in all honesty, at that age, these wouldn’t have been as difficult to forego as my ice cubes were. Now, however, well, that’s a different story.
Catholic Fish Fry Each Friday until April 8
The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office Daily Reports March 11
The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office Daily Reports March 9
Increase Healthier Food Options
Time is running out to take the HBCAT Food Pantry Survey!!! Please take two minutes and fill out the short survey RIGHT NOW!!! This will inform our work with food pantries!! Please share!!
Do you donate to a food pantry? Do you want more information? Guide our work to increase access to healthier options!! It only less than two minutes!! The #HBCAT and #BCBSKSPathways Healthy Choices at Bourbon County Food Pantries survey is open today!! PLUS Enter for a chance to win a Fitbit!! https://forms.gle/QR7SdJG4UmF4dEuq6
Submitted by
Jody Hoener
The Healthy Bourbon County Action Team, Inc.
President and CEO
Ascension Via Christi Clinic in Fort Scott expands services to include echocardiograms, ultrasound
Ascension Via Christi Clinic in Fort Scott is now offering ultrasound and echocardiogram services, making it possible for patients to receive these services in the best possible place: Close to home and family.
“We continue to invest in and grow our outpatient services in both Fort Scott and Pittsburg,” says Drew Talbott,
president of Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Pittsburg, under whose umbrella the Fort Scott ER and associated clinic
and diagnostic services operate. “Physicians and specialists in both geographic markets will have access to the
diagnostic imaging they need to provide seamless, well-coordinated care, which is particularly important for heart care
patients and expectant mothers.”
The newly added imaging services, which require a physician referral, are being provided every Thursday at Ascension
Via Christi’s Fort Scott clinic.
Josh Seaver, who lives in Fort Scott and has served as an sonography technologist at Ascension Via Christi Hospital in
Pittsburg for 2.5 years, says he is excited to play a role in making these services more readily accessible to his
neighbors.
“As someone who commutes to work daily, I am happy to eliminate patients’ need to drive to either Pittsburg or Joplin
whenever possible,” says Seaver. “Having the services available is a benefit to them and to me as it is one less day on
the road.”
###
About Ascension Via Christi
In Kansas, Ascension Via Christi operates seven hospitals and 75 other sites of care and employs nearly 6,400 associates. Across the state,
Ascension Via Christi provided nearly $89 million in community benefit and care of persons living in poverty in fiscal year 2021. Serving Kansas for
more than 135 years, Ascension is a faith-based healthcare organization committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with
special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. Ascension is the leading non-profit and Catholic health system in the U.S.,
operating more than 2,600 sites of care – including 145 hospitals and more than 40 senior living facilities – in 19 states and the District of Columbia.
Visit www.ascension.org.
Gugnani Earns a Perfect ACT Score
A Fort Scott High School senior has scored a perfect score of 36 on the American College Test. The test is a standardized one used for college admissions in the United States.
Shekhar Gugnani, 18, took the ACT in February of 2021.
“Shekhar is the first student in Fort Scott High School history to achieve a perfect score of 36 on the ACT,” Fort Scott High SchoolJr. and Sr. Counselor Josh Messer said. “He has also taken one of the most rigorous course loads possible while in high school. He has taken numerous classes through Fort Scott Community College during his high school career.”
“Shekhar is also a National Merit Scholarship Finalist, Messer said. “This distinction is based on his scores on the PSAT test he took as a Junior. To be a finalist, he is in the top 7,500 of students to take the test in the nation. He will find out if he is a National Merit Scholarship recipient later this month.”
He is the son of Sonia and Dr. P.K. Gugnani.
The following is from a fortscott.biz interview with Gugnani:
What did you do to prepare for the ACT?
“It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I started taking a lot of practice tests, focusing more on evaluating my weaknesses and trying to increase my score. After taking a practice test, I would sit down, look at what I missed, and then try to learn the concepts so I wouldn’t miss a similar question. It took a lot of rigorous training and holding myself accountable for every mistake, but in the end, it was all worth it.”
Did you take it more than once?
“Yeah. The first time I took it in high school was as a junior in October 2020, and I scored a 34. I retook the test in February of the following year (2021) because the test was free for all juniors. That was the test that I scored a perfect 36 on.”
What are your future plans?
“I’m still weighing my options on what college I plan to attend, but I know that I want to pursue a career as a doctor. I hope to one day gain admission into medical school, complete residency, and settle down to practice medicine.”
Are there people who have helped you attain this honor?
“Absolutely. I would say my primary influences were definitely my parents since they always pushed me to be the best version of myself. They motivated me to take practice tests, and sometimes they even helped me find my errors or come up with strategies to pace myself on the test (since it is timed). My teachers were also really influential, specifically my previous AP Calculus teacher, Jeff Armstrong. He was always willing to lend a hand wherever he could, and a lot of his trigonometry lessons helped greatly on the exam. I’d also like to thank my brothers, Neil and Raj, as well as my close friends, for always providing moral support throughout all of my endeavors.”
When will you find out about the National Merit Scholarship?
“I was already named one of 15,000 finalists in the program in February; starting this month, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation will designate about half of those people as scholarship winners, receiving $2,500 each. Being a finalist, some colleges will offer their own scholarships just for attaining this status.”
What will that mean to you?
“Regardless of the scholarship, being a finalist is a huge honor to me. It not only solidifies my name in this exemplary academic program, but it gives me a sense of accomplishment, knowing that my hard work has paid off. I came from a small but mighty town, and together with those around me, I was able to rise up and achieve national recognition.”
The Fort Scott Police Department Daily Reports March 9
The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office Daily Reports March 10
Obituary of Clifton Sexton
Clifton Dale Sexton, age 79, of Uniontown, Kansas passed peacefully into the arms of his Savior on Friday, March 4, 2022, with family in attendance, at Via Christi Hospital in Pittsburg, Kansas after a brief illness.
He was born June 28, 1942 in Wild Cherry, Arkansas. The youngest of three boys, they grew up in the White River country of Arkansas farming the land. As times grew hard in the region they moved to Overland Park, Kansas where Cliff finished his high school education.
As Cliff grew up, he married and had four children. He worked with his father and brother in concrete construction and service station work during his younger years. Then a yearning for his roots took hold and his profession took him to a variety of places working as a ranch hand and honing his skills as a professional trap shooter. He is a two-time All American Trap shooter and is enshrined in the Kansas Trap shooter Hall of Fame in Wichita.
Cliff is also a member of the Professional Cowboy Association and a private pilot. Cliff was very involved in civil war reenactments and was a movie set wrangler where he and his horse “Rebel” were extras in several movies, documentaries, and films. Later he worked at the American Royal.
In his later years he wrote poetry and songs based on his experiences. Cliff traveled to a variety of venues to perform his cowboy songs and poems. He has published three volumes of poems and contributed to several publications. Most recently he took his poetry to some of the local nursing homes in SE Kansas and SW Missouri. He loved talking to these folks and taking them back to happier times through his poetry.
Cliff was a Christian gentleman and a faithful member of Dry Ridge Baptist Church in Uniontown, Kansas.
Cliff is survived by a close and loving family.
He is preceded in death by his parents, William Vernon, his mother Zela Elmeta (Faught) Sexton, his brother Vergle Ernestene (Ernest) Sexton.
He is survived by his brother Vernon Eugene (Gene) Sexton of Lenexa, Kansas. Cliff is survived by four children, Donna Sue Sexton of Kansas City, Missouri; Terry Dale Sexton of Peculiar, Missouri; Tami Ann (Sexton) Stewart of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, and Cassie Leigh (Sexton) Todd of Mountain Grove, Missouri. He has four grandchildren and four great- grandchildren. Also, a loving family of cousins, a niece, nephews, and their families.
Cliff was loved and will be missed by all.
Memorial Services will be held 11:00 A.M., Saturday, March 19, 2022, at the Cheney Witt Chapel.
In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to Dry Ridge Baptist Church of Uniontown, Kansas, and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, PO Box 347, 201 S. Main St., Fort Scott, Kansas 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.