Melissa Lynn Hays-Mitchell, 48, left our world unexpectedly on Dec 21, 2021.
Melissa was born on July 4, 1973, to James Hays and Joann Sipe Hays in Fort Scott, Kansas.
She graduated from Fort Scott High School in 1991, and continued her education at Pittsburg State University, earning her bachelor’s degree in social work.
She was preceded in death by both of her parents.
Melissa’s beloved spouse, Dean Zimmerman also left our world on December 21, 2021. Continued prayers for both families are appreciated.
She was previously married to Jerald Mitchell (Fort Scott) for 18 years, they raised three children together. Dayton, Dawson, and Katelynn Mitchell were always their mother’s world. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers while they navigate through this difficult time.
Left behind are her three children: Dayton Hays (Jessica Powers) Mitchell, Dawson James Mitchell, and Katelynn (Taylor Harrison) Mitchell. She also leaves behind a brother Jason Hays, and sister Sheila Hixon (Robert Hixon).
Besides her own children, Melissa’s pride and joy lay with her grandchildren. This Mimi never missed a beat and will be missed by them all: Bryant, Bentley, Kinsley, Hayden, Brayden, Kase, and Dylynn. She also leaves behind several nieces and nephews.
As a caring mother, wife, and grandmother, Melissa never knew a stranger and lived on her own terms. Her funny wit, intelligent comments, and unique personality are what those who knew her will miss the most. She was one of a kind, unapologetically being herself when it came to what she believed in.
A celebration of Melissa’s life will be at Buck Run Community Center on Saturday, January 8, 2022, at noon. Please feel free to stop by and share your memories of Melissa with her family and close friends.
Joy Miller, RD, LD Family and Consumer Science Extension Agent Adult Development and Aging Family Resource Management K-State Research and Extension Southwind Extension District 210 S. National Fort Scott, KS 66701 Office: 620-223-3720 Fax: 620-223-0332 [email protected]
Stay Strong, Stay Healthy, A Strength Building Program
You can start on the road to better health with the Stay Strong, Stay Healthy program,an eight-week course of one-hour, twice-weekly classes.
The evidence-based programis built on simple, strength-building exercises that will improve balance, health, andstate of mind.
No, it’s not difficult or complicated weight-lifting. You’ll start at a level that’s right foryou. No one is too inactive to participate. Building strength promotes quality of life andindependence, especially for adults over age 60.
The class meets at Buck Run Community Center in the large meeting room Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 a.m.
Registration and first class will be January 11.
The fee is $20 for the eight-week series. For more information, contact Joy Miller at 620-223-3720 or [email protected].
The Fort Scott City Commission will meet on Wednesday, January 5th, 2022, at 4:30 p.m. in the City Hall Commission Meeting Room at 123 S. Main Street, Fort Scott, Kansas to hold a work session regarding Public Weeks/streets.
The work session will also be available on the City’s YouTube channel.
Carol Jean Carter, 77, of Fort Scott Kansas passed away on January 1, 2022, in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Carol was born in Fort Scott, Kansas on April 3, 1944, to George and Sophia Sinn in Fort Scott Kansas.
Carol was raised on a small farm outside of Fort Scott. She graduated from Fort Scott High school and was married, living in Wichita, Kansas, where she started her family, raising her three children. She lived in Indiana for a few years but moved back to Wichita. Her dream, however, was always to move back home to Fort Scott to be closer to her church and family which she fulfilled in the fall of 2000. She bought a small piece of land, built a house and small barn for her grandchildren to play in when visiting. Carol enjoyed spending time with her grandkids, gardening, and was an avid quilter. In 2014 she was diagnosed with dementia and ultimately moved to Minnesota and then Illinois to be closer to family.
Carol is survived by her three children Sheryl (Dale) Toews; Tim (Michelle) Carter; and Darren (Michele) Carter; a brother Delbert Sinn; a sister Joyce Sinn; seven grandchildren, Blake and Chelsea Toews, Kara and Keith Carter, Cole, Mackenzie, and Tyler Carter; and former spouse, Earl Carter.
She is preceded in death by her parents, and three brothers, Don, Dick, and Kenny Sinn.
Ministers Larry Bahr and Jeff Fischer will officiate funeral services for Carol at 10:00 a.m. Friday, January 7, 2022, at the Apostolic Christian Church with burial following at the Evergreen Cemetery, under the direction of the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home.
The family will receive friends Thursday evening January 6, 2022, from 5:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. at the funeral home.
Condolences may be submitted to the online guestbook at konantz-cheney.com.
The City of Fort Scott Public Works Department will be picking up discarded Christmas trees at no charge for City residents again this year. The pickup dates will occur on Friday, January 7th, 2022, Friday, January 14th, 2022, Friday, January 21st, 2022, and Friday, January 28th, 2022.
The Public Works Department asks that you place the tree at the curbside off the street and call City Hall at 223-0550 with your address and name to schedule the pickup.
The discarded trees will be used to enhance fish and wildlife habitat in the City-owned water structure properties.
Governor Laura Kelly Announces the Release of the Cybersecurity Task Force Final Report
TOPEKA – Governor Laura Kelly announced today the release of the Cybersecurity Task Force’s final report. In the Task Force’s report of forty-one recommendations, they identified seventeen as critical. These critical recommendations are essential to the implementation of other recommendations, or in the absence of resources, these critical recommendations should be implemented for greatest impact.
“These cyber security recommendations put Kansas on a path to be proactive in securing our data while also growing our workforce,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “Thanks to the Task Force for your hard work and diligence these last five months. It’s never been more important to strengthen our cybersecurity.”
The Task Force began meeting regularly in August and delivered its first report, an interim report, in early October. The final report, submitted in early December, is the result of several more months of meeting with stakeholders from across and outside of Kansas to help identify both the gaps and capabilities in Kansas’ cybersecurity posture.
“Important to us was to provide the Governor with actionable recommendations that can increase the cybersecurity posture of Kansas and grow its cybersecurity workforce,” said co-chairs Mike Mayta and Jeff Maxon. “After meeting with stakeholders, we feel confident in the potential that Kansas possesses. Countless efforts are happening locally and at a regional level, and our recommendations aim to bring those efforts together and scale them so they can strengthen Kansas as a whole.”
In addition to meeting with stakeholders, the Task Force solicited public feedback to help determine new recommendations for inclusion in the final report as well as any refining of the recommendations first published in the interim report.
The final report includes five new recommendations while consolidating and streamlining others, taking the report from forty-five to forty-one recommendations. Recommendations are organized by subject areas such as Cybersecurity Governance and Strategy and Incident Response Exercises and Training while also giving some recommendations priority distinction of critical or high. The Task Force identified these critical and high priority recommendations as ones that are critical to the implementation of others while also having significant impacts on cybersecurity.
Ed and Susan Townly with their daughters from left Cheyanne Griffin, Dani Townly, and Ella Townly. The family is pictured in the 11 N. Main storefront before the holidays.
Ed Townly has purchased the County Cupboard Store, 12 N. Main from the Renard family on Dec. 28, 2021.
Last month, Townly, from Olathe, had purchased the Books and Grannie’s Book Store, just across the street at 11 N. Main.
Barb Albright, a realtor with H & H Agency, handled both the acquisitions.
Townly said that he doesn’t have definite plans for that store, nor the newly purchased one as yet.
The Townly’s have two businesses in the K.C. area and a daughter still in school, but they are looking forward to moving to Fort Scott, when their youngest daughter graduates, and she is currently in the eighth grade, he said in a prior interview.
The County Cupboard store was owned by Judy and John Renard for decades and was an anchor business in the historic downtown area, selling home decor, jewelry, clothing, cards, old fashion candy, and other accessories.
John died in 2019 and Judy in 2021.
Judy Renard, owner of the County Cupboard.
History of the Building
The building at 12-14 North Main was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, U.S. Dept. of Interior, National Park Service, in 2009. The building is approximately 5,000 square feet on the first floor and 2,000 square feet on the second, according to Barb Albright, the realtor.
It is part of the Fort Scott Downtown Historic District comprised of 9.5 blocks with irregular boundaries, according to the application for registration.
12-14 N. Main Street building was Liepman’s Clothing House, from 1895 until 1930, according to the application.
“Reportedly, this was not the Liepman family’s first business location in Fort Scott and this was not their first building on this property,” according to the national registration application. “In 1895, the family decided to build a more substantial building. In 1909 the property was recorded as the Liepman Block with M. Leipman & Brother (brothers Morres and Joseph Leipman), clothing occupying the storefront. Liepman’s Clothing Store operated until circa 1930.
By 1938, the A & P Grocery was located at this address.”
A marker on the outside of the building at 12 S. Main. Taken from Waymaker website.
Following the A & P Grocery store, it was a western clothing shop then the Renards purchased it in the 1980s.
“This is a rectangular two-story brick commercial building with a flat roof and parapet,” according to the national registration application. “It has a recessed central entrance flanked by display windows. The three-bay second-floor facade is well preserved with a smooth-cut stone belt course under the windows, ornamented pilasters between the window bays, and an ornamented belt course above the window bays. Central paired windows are flanked by a bank of three windows. The windows have 111 double-hung sashes with transoms. There is a brick panel at the eave with the name, “Liepman’s Clothing House,” spelled out in raised letters. A corbelled and molded brick cornice ornaments the parapet. Reportedly, the original display windows and entrance were altered about 1938. There is a shed-roofed shingled awning supported on posts. Aluminum storm windows have been installed on the second-floor windows.”
