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Flood of ’86 Remembered: Author John Freed at Hedgehog INK on Oct. 3
John Freed was a graphic arts and photography instructor at Fort Scott Community College in October 1986, when the levy on Mill Creek burst.
Mill Creek feeds into the Marmaton River in the current Riverfront Park area.
On October 3, 1986, after nearly 20 inches of rain in 3 days, the Marmaton River crested at 52.5 feet, breaking the previous record set in 1915, according to information on the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce website.
The Fort Scott Cattle Sales Company released 250 head of cattle from their pens, according to the website. These cattle swam in the water, and three ended up on the roof of a home in Belltown, the area east of the cattle sales company.
The area between the Marmaton River Bridge on North National Avenue and U.S. Highway 54 was covered with several feet of fast-moving water.
Freed started taking photos of the historic event on the afternoon of October 3.
This was the beginning of his publication of the book, which is mostly a photo album with stories and poems from residents about the historic event, entitled the ’86 Flood. We Booked It Just For You.
He sponsored a photo contest for the book and over 1,500 photos were submitted by community members.
The stories of the flood were from local Fort Scott students and a few adults.
“Kids wrote the stories,” Freed said. “The superintendent of the schools made it mandatory that elementary, middle, and high school kids had to write an article for the book. The Catholic school students contributed as well. Fort Scott Community College students sent a few articles.”
“A few Panamanian students attending FSCC saw a bunch of Kansas National Guard helicopters that brought flood victims to the college because it was higher ground,” he said. “They thought America was being invaded. They wrote some stories. Theirs are written in Spanish, translated by the college Spanish instructor.”
“I resigned from FSCC and started my print shop a short time after the flood,” he said. The print shop was located on Main Street, in a space now occupied by Papa Don’s Pizza.
The book was a long-term project.
“I designed it, put it together,” he said. “It took weeks and I had considerable help from volunteers,” Freed said.
Freed judged the photos, and local English teachers judged the stories, and prizes were awarded to students for their contributions to the book.
The book was published in 1987.
In commemoration of the flood stories, he is promoting the book again at an author’s event at Hedgehog INK Bookstore at 16 S. Main Street on Oct. 3 from 2-4 p.m. There will be copies of the book for sale for $8.95, the original cost of the book in 1987, the year it was published.
“I want to encourage people that wrote in the book, to come a get a copy, if they don’t have one,” Freed said.
KS Hearing for Proposed Seed Law on Oct. 19
MANHATTAN, Kansas — A public hearing will be conducted at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 19, 2023, to consider the adoption of proposed regulations that govern the administration of the Kansas Seed Law. The hearing will be held in person at the Kansas Department of Agriculture at 1320 Research Park Dr. in Manhattan, as well as via video conferencing system.
KDA is proposing four new regulations along with amendments to two existing regulations, all of which implement revisions and offer clarification to the Kansas Seed Law. The new regulations define terms, set guidelines about analysis to determine violations, establish a list of restricted weed seeds, establish a list of prohibited weed seeds, and clarify rules for seed labels.
For the most part, these changes implement revisions that were made to the Kansas Seed Law during the 2022 legislative session and also make minor clarifications. The only change imposed by these regulations that has the potential to have a practical effect on the agricultural seed industry is the addition of Caucasian bluestem and yellow bluestem seeds to the list of restricted weed seeds. This addition is proposed to help safeguard the agricultural industry from the threat of invasive weeds which is part of the agency’s mission to protect plant health.
KDA welcomes public input on any portion of the proposed regulations — especially the addition of the new species, including those species of Old World Bluestem — to the list of restricted weed seeds. Input can be shared on the public comment portion of the KDA website at agriculture.ks.gov/
Public comment will also be possible at the public hearing both for in-person and online participants. Anyone desiring to participate via video conference must pre-register at the Public Comment webpage to be provided with a video link.
Any individual with a disability may request accommodation to participate in the public hearing and may request a copy of the regulations in an accessible format. Persons who require special accommodations must make their needs known at least five working days prior to the hearing. For more information, including special accommodations or a copy of the regulations, please contact Ronda Hutton at 785-564-6715 or [email protected].
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WHAT: Public hearing on proposed Kansas Seed Law regulations
WHEN: Thursday, October 19, 2023, at 10:00 a.m.
WHERE: Kansas Department of Agriculture
1320 Research Park Dr., Manhattan, Kansas
Or virtual: via video conferencing system
Hearing for Proposed Seed Law Regulations.pdf
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The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office Daily Reports Sept. 29
Bourbon County Approved for Bridge Replacement Over Pawnee Creek and Hwy. 69 at Crawford County Line
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Letter to the Editor: Pete Allen
By the Book!
I have been preaching to city staff for the past 4 years, to do things “by the book”. That means using our written policies, ordinances, and procedures for accomplishing their stated duties with public funds. It is hard to do when the attitude perpetuated by our leaders is to “do whatever we want”.
Our past leaders have “done whatever they wanted” by ignoring ordinances, standards and procedures that have been put into place to protect the well-being, health and welfare of the citizens who fund the city. An example of this are the ordinances and statutes that require funds for user fees for our sewers and water to be used only for the purpose of funding the maintenance, operation, and replacement of those utilities. These ordinances and statutes are law and not up for discussion. Millions of dollars in Fort Scott have been “transferred” from our utility funds to other funds and never replaced. Therefore our utilities are in critical need of additional funding.
Doing it “by the book” was recently impressed upon our current leaders by the Kansas Department of Transportation with their direction on the repair of the water line break at 20th and 69. Our leaders decided they were going to do it their way and KDOT engineers said “NO”, you will do it by the book according to KDOT specifications and using KDOT approved materials! City leaders wanted to patch and repair to open the road to traffic, which is not an option in the state rule book but is an option in the Fort Scott city ordinance. City ordinances do not govern on a state highway.
I applaud KDOT for impressing upon the city that when we are using public funds, we use the book to govern our decisions. The “book” is the only thing that the taxpayers have to insure timely and quality work is being done. The goal of the government is to provide quality at the least possible cost. The “book” was written by experts in their field! Let’s use it!
HYPOCRITES WELCOME by Patty LaRoche
Author: A Little Faith Lift…Finding Joy Beyond Rejection
www.alittlefaithlift.com
AWSA (Advanced Writers & Speakers Assoc.)
I would love to see that invitation on the marquis of every Christian church, wouldn’t you? Zig Ziglar tells of a time he invited a friend to go to church with him. The man answered, “Well, I’d like to go. But the church is so full of hypocrites.” Ziglar replied, “That’s okay. There’s always room for one more.”
Let’s face it. We all are sinners. If we were to appear before the local judge and charged with “talking the talk but not walking the walk,” we all would be behind bars. Even King David, called “a man after God’s own heart,” was confronted by the prophet Nathan about this very thing.
The story cannot be read without being furious at David. He is not content with being an adulterer. Once he finds out his bed-mate Bathsheba is pregnant, he sets in motion plans to lay paternal responsibility on her husband, Uriah. When that fails, David has Uriah killed. Desperate measures for a desperate man, yet he refuses to repent. We pick up the story in 2 Sam. 12:1-6 where God intervenes.
The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
David is clueless as to Nathan’s motive. I can only imagine how the king reacted when Nathan put his finger in the King’s face and announced, “You are the man!” He then reminds David of all God has done for him and explains the repercussions of his actions: This is what the Lord says: “Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.”
All of which came true, and all which contributed to David’s repentance.
Hypocrisy is the #1 excuse for people looking for a reason not to come to church…or to Jesus, yet it is a defense that is terribly flawed. As Josh McDowell and Don Stewart write in their book Answers to Tough Questions Skeptics Ask About the Christian Faith, “Christianity does not stand or fall on the way Christians have acted throughout history or are acting today. Christianity stands or falls on the person of Jesus, and Jesus was not a hypocrite. He lived consistently with what He taught, and at the end of His life He challenged those who had lived with Him night and day, for over three years, to point out any hypocrisy in Him. His disciples were silent, because there was none.”
Every one of us is a hypocrite. That’s because, as the Bible says, we are sinners. The next time someone calls you that, tell them that they are right. But also tell them that the only non-hypocrite to ever live died for your hypocrisy…and wants to do the same for them.
Bourbon County Coalition Meets Oct. 4 at Scottview Apartments
Bourbon County Inter-Agency Coalition will meet Wednesday, October 4, 1:00 p.m., in the Conference Room at the Scottview Apartments, 315 S. Scott.
General Membership Meeting Agenda
October 4, 2023
- Welcome:
- Member Introductions and Announcements:
- Program: Alisha Turner, Kansas Children’s Service League
- Open Forum: November 1 we will hear from Travis Wilcoxsen and Kathy Romero, Angel Care Home Health; and in December we will hear more about Maggie Young’s work with tobacco cessation.
- Adjournment: The next General Membership meeting will be November
FSHS Homecoming Candidates 2023
Ryker Felt and Connor Ball
2nd Row
Carsen Allen, Raveyn Kegler, MaKenzie Robertson, Jersee Wood, Keegan Yarick
Back Row
Jasper Allison, Cal Cosens, Cody Geiger, Casey Gomez, and Jericho Jones. Submitted photo.
Fall Homecoming Candidates at Fort Scott High School is next week
We will be crowning the King and Queen before our Football game with the Chanute Blue Comets and the Fort Scott High School Tigers at 6:30 PM
Obituary of Leola “Tilli” Miller
On September 27th, 2023, Leola “Tilli” Mae Miller, age 78, a resident of Fort Scott, Kansas, moved from the Earth to Heaven while at home after a long and difficult illness. She was surrounded by her family at the time of passing, knowing and feeling the love from each.
Tilli was born on May 21st, 1945, to Theo Melvin Thomas and Ida Louis Hanson in Fort Scott, Kansas. She grew up in the Hiattville area, attending grade school in Hiattville, Kansas, high school in Fort Scott, Kansas and eventually received an Associate of Arts degree from Fort Scott Community College, graduating with honors. This was accomplished while raising her four children, maintaining a job and being a housewife…she was a busy lady.
Although small in stature, she was strong and held the world on her shoulders several times throughout her life, always able to move forward.
She was a wonderful mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, all of whom understood their importance to her in her life. Through hard times and wonderful times, she was able to raise her family and was very proud of her achievements.
She was highly intelligent, quick witted, and sometimes sharp with the tongue and quick with the switch, but she was the rock for her family…always prepared to support them, in any manner they needed.
In most photos she can be seen smiling or talking, she loved to do both. She loved life and lived it – too many memories and stories to tell. She had a passion for any and all animals, country life, and the outdoors. She was an amazing cook and loved to cook for her large family and review recipes in her library of cookbooks and should be considered the Pie Queen of Fort Scott.
She was, and always will be, admired and looked up to with love and appreciation. She will be missed greatly.
Her work effort was realized and admired throughout her life, most notable was employment with Nuss and Farmer Law firm in Fort Scott, the United States Postal service, and finally Mid-Continental Restoration from which she retired.
Although her married life was difficult, she finally met the love of her life, Gordon Lee Miller. They married in Littlefield, Texas on February 5th, 1993. Upon his retirement, they returned to rural Redfield, Kansas to live. He preceded her in death in 2007.
She is survived by a daughter, Trisa Diane Bolden of Fort Scott, three sons – Steven R. Mason and wife Kendell of Fort Scott; Kenneth (Mike) Mason and wife Jennifer of Uniontown, Kansas; Mitchell D. (Mason) Welch of Redfield, Kansas and a stepson, Mitch Miller. Surviving grandchildren are Candace Dietrich and husband Aaron, Tiffany Garrison and husband Chris, Blake Bolden (Cheyanne), Alex Mason and wife Holli, Ashton Nobles and spouse Sydney, Zach Mason and wife Megan, Jordan Mason, Paige Mason, Morgan Gonzales (Tim) and Augustus (Gus) Welch. Her family also consisted of 13 great-grandchildren, Adrianna, Mae, Ireland, Mya, Gwinevere, Lucy, Gunner, Markala, Paxton, Rory, Parker, Owen, and Ryan.
She was preceded in death by her parents Theo Melvin Thomas and Ida Louis (Hanson) Thomas, a brother James Thomas, and a grandson, Jacob Welch.
Funeral services will be conducted at the Cheney Witt Chapel at 10:30 AM Tuesday, October 3, 2023.
Visitation will begin at 9:30 AM until service time.
Burial will be at a later date.
Memorials in her name are suggested to Paws and Claws in Scott and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, PO Box 347, Fort Scott, Kansas 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.
New Boutique Comes to Downtown Fort Scott
Susan Townley has been in the boutique business in the Overland Park and Olathe area near Kansas City for over five years.
She and her husband, Ed, own the former Country Cupboard Store at 12 N. Main, which they purchased from the Renard family.
They are been making the space their own since purchasing the building in December 2021 with sanding, painting, new lights, and some new carpet in areas. The antique wooden floors and ceiling tiles are features, along with some glass showcases.
Ed and Susan have done all the work themselves.
The name of the boutique is Be The Light.
“The name Be The Light is based on suicide awareness and on the Bible verse Matthew 5:14-16 which states – 14 ‘You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven,'” Susan said.
Her specialty is Tyler Candles, from Tyler, Texas, her hometown. But they also repurpose furniture and have lots of collectibles and vintage finds for sale.
“Going to Canton, Texas when young, the boutique world is not like anywhere else,” she said. “I wanted to bring it up here.”
“We see Fort Scott being a destination point, and believe the city is heading toward growth,” Susan said.
“We’ve collected three to four years for this move,” she said. They will also sell seasonal items and a little clothing.
“I’m from Texas and we make trips to Texas for markets looking for ideas and inspirations,” she said.
Be The Light will have its’ grand opening on November 2.
Then they will be a part of the Fort Scott Holiday Open House Shopping Event on November 9-11.
Following the Christmas Parade on November 30, they will have a spot for children to visit Santa in the store.
That parade starts the Christmas on the Bricks event weekend, Dec. 1-2.
The boutique will be open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
The Townleys also own 11 N. Main, across the street, that they have rented out.
Be The Light has a Facebook page and an Instagram page.
The phone number is 913.406.2998.
Building Workforce Through Apprenticeship Grants
Governor Kelly Announces Recipients of More than $500K in Registered Apprenticeship Grants
TOPEKA – Governor Laura Kelly today announced a total of $528,478 has been awarded by the Kansas Department of Commerce to eight entities across the state for projects that will attract and retain employees and build the state workforce through registered apprenticeships.
“Last year, I created the Office of Registered Apprenticeship to dramatically scale up our state’s efforts to train Kansas workers with the skills needed to succeed in today’s modern economy,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “Apprenticeships are a win for both workers and businesses, which is why my administration will continue to invest in them.”
The Kansas Office of Registered Apprenticeship received total funding requests of $3.3 million from 16 applicants. Applicants identified a variety of project needs related to registered apprenticeships, such as technical instruction, outreach, staffing, partnerships, and administrative costs. Awardees are required to provide a dollar-for-dollar match, and projects must be completed by September 30, 2024.
“Unions, higher education partners, and other economic development groups have accepted the challenge to modernize the registered apprenticeship ecosystem,” Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland said. “Benefits will be felt throughout the economy, with Kansas workers and their families being the biggest winners.”
Grant awardees include:
- Dodge City Economic Development Council received $45,000 for capacity building and direct business outreach
- Greater Kansas City Laborers Training, Joint Apprenticeship Training Council received $36,000 for a Spanish-speaking instructor
- Ironworkers Joint Apprenticeship & Training Trust in Wichita received $29,956 for training equipment including a forklift trainer
- Kansas Farm Bureau (statewide) received $90,000 for capacity building and direct business outreach
- Kansas State Council of SHRM (statewide) received $62,160 for capacity building and direct business outreach
- Plumbers and Pipefitters Training of Kansas, United Association 441 (UA441) in Wichita received $100,000 for HVAC training equipment, capacity building, and direct business outreach
- Topeka Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 226 (IBEW 226), in partnership with Hutchinson Community College, received $66,885 for training equipment and related technical instruction
- Wichita Electrical Industry Training Fund, IBEW 271 received $98,476 for capacity building and direct business outreach
“Registered apprenticeships give Kansas workers the skills and experience they need to compete in the modern economy,” Director of Apprenticeship and Internship Shonda Anderson said. “These grants will help connect those skilled workers with good-paying jobs in an increasing number of occupations.”
“This investment in our mission will empower us to provide additional training to our current apprentices as well as attract additional apprentices to our program,” UA441 Vice President John Clark said.
To learn more about the Kansas Office of Registered Apprenticeship, click here.
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