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Presbyterian Village Wants Christmas Carolers!
Flags At Half-Staff to Honor Firefighter
Governor Laura Kelly Directs Flags be Flown at Half-staff to Honor Baxter Springs Firefighter Lt. Malachi Brown
TOPEKA – In accordance with Executive Order #20-30, Governor Laura Kelly has ordered flags throughout the State of Kansas to be flown at half-staff from sunup to sundown on Sunday, November 21, 2021 in honor of Baxter Springs Firefighter Lt. Malachi Brown.
Lt. Brown was injured while battling a structure fire on October 15, 2021, and succumbed to his injuries on November 10, 2021.
“My thoughts are with Lt. Brown’s wife, children, loved ones, and the entire Baxter Springs community during this incredibly difficult time,” Governor Kelly said. “Lt. Brown lived in service to his community – and lost his life supporting his fellow firefighters. His bravery and compassion will not be forgotten.”
To receive email alerts when the governor orders flags to half-staff, please visit: https://governor.kansas.gov/newsroom/kansas-flag-honor.
Holiday Art Show: Dec. 3-4
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Starlite FCE Minutes November 18, 2021
The November meeting of Starlite FCE was held on November 18th at the Yeager building on the Bourbon County Fairgrounds. The meeting was called to order by President Glenda Miller. Deb Lust led the club in reciting the Flag Salute and the Club Collect.
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved. Eleven members were in attendance. They reported that they had recycled fifty-five pounds and had volunteered forty-seven hours.
Doris Ericson presented the Treasurers report. She reported that she had written a check to purchase a wreath for “Wreaths Across America” and had books printed for the 2022 club year. There was no Council report.
Glenda announced that she had delivered the bags for the Veterans, baskets to the VFW, and had taken stickers and buttons to UHS and West Bourbon Elementary to educate them on Veterans. Letha and Glenda reported that we had received several thank you from Veterans for the gift bags. The club also wrote a Christmas card to be sent to the VA hospital in Topeka.
Glenda gave a report on the Regional Meeting that was held in Parsons. Bourbon County had received a reward for 100% reporting, Starlite received a 60-year gold seal, Clarice Russell received her 30-year membership award and Doris Ericson was named the Heart of FCE recipient for the Southeast Kansas district and will advance to the State level.
Megan Brillhart was recognized for having a November birthday.
Glenda also gave the club highlights from the Family Consumer Science newsletter, which included the introduction of the Southwind Districts’ new agent Clara Wicoff, scam awareness updates, and reminded us that now is the time for Medicare enrollment if you have questions contact Joy Miller.
New Business consisted of sending a Memorial gift for past member Maybelle Mertz. Letha Johnson moved we send a gift, Terri Williams seconded the motion, motion carried. Other new business consisted of the Christmas party. Deb lust moved that we make donations to Preferred Living instead of exchanging Christmas gifts, Claudia Wheeler seconded the motion, motion carried. The Date of December the 7th was selected for the Christmas potluck. It will be held at noon at the Yeager building. It was decided to also have a sweater contest. At the Christmas party, the club will be putting together gift bags for Tri-Valley.
Glenda Miller presented the club with Tuff Turkey Teasers to enjoy.
Deb Lust moved that the meeting be adjourned, Doris Ericson seconded the motion, meeting adjourned. After the meeting member enjoyed refreshments of Apple Cake, mints, and nuts provided by Doris Ericson and Deb Lust.
Prepared by
Terri Williams
Redfield Receives USDA Grant for Community Center
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Acting State Director for Rural Development Kansas Dan Fischer today announced that USDA is investing $803,700 toward 11 community facility projects, serving 29,333 Kansans.
The Kansas projects are:
- The City of Laharpe will receive a $46,400 grant to purchase and install a heating and air conditioning system for the city hall, library and community center. The current system is old, unreliable and has many service calls for repairs. At times, those repairs have caused the cancellation of activities.
- The City of Redfield will receive a $38,700 grant to renovate and improve the city hall/community center. The building’s age, along with deferred maintenance, has resulted in a need for significant upgrades. Upgrades to the restroom, water heater, heating and cooling system, and doors and windows will improve energy efficiency and lower operational costs.
- The Unified School District #220, Ashland, will receive a $100,500 grant to renovate Ashland High School restrooms making them Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant.
- The City of Winfield will receive a $125,400 grant to purchase two ambulances for the city’s emergency services. Two of the city’s five ambulances are no longer serviceable due to high mileage and repair costs.
- The City of Girard will receive a $13,400 grant toward the purchase of a law enforcement vehicle and firefighting equipment. The new vehicle will replace an older vehicle with high mileage. The fire equipment is a positive pressure vent fan, a rescue saw, and a ventilation chain saw.
- The City of Goessel will receive a $34,000 grant toward the purchase of a backhoe. Increased repairs to the old backhoe are expected to exceed replacement costs. This equipment is used in maintaining streets, repairing water leaks, sewer leaks and used at the city’s tree dump.
- The Unified School District #380 will receive a $243,000 grant to renovate school buildings and upgrade technology within the communities of Centralia, Frankfort and Vermillion. Renovations will include window replacements, classroom and bathroom remodels, and replacement of an outdated boiler heating system with heating/air conditioning units. Funds will also be used to purchase security cameras, magnetic door holders, a new school bus, and 240 laptops to replace outdated computer equipment.
- The City of Osawatomie will receive a $46,000 grant to purchase radios for the police and fire departments. The current radios are outdated and do not meet mandates by the Federal Communication Commission. The new radios will assist the departments in working side by side with other agencies throughout the state for emergencies or natural disasters.
- The City of Cherryvale will receive a $37,400 grant to purchase a vehicle and equipment for the Fire-Rescue Department’s Code Enforcement within the city. The new vehicle will be designated for Code Enforcement use.
- The Historic Preservation Corporation will receive a $85,800 grant to renovate the interior of the Art and History Center located in Council Grove. The renovations will include the installation of heating and air conditioning, restroom renovations, flooring, custom stage, chair lift, and shelving for displays.
- The City of Kingman will receive a $33,100 grant to purchase and install equipment and update landscaping in Broadway Park. This project will provide handicapped accessible equipment and parking along with other equipment, park benches, lighting, landscaping, and fencing.
Obituary of Kasey Dye
Kasey Allen Dye, age 30, a resident of Neligh, Nebraska, passed away Saturday, November 13, 2021, in Ft. Scott, Kansas where he had been working on a wind farm project.
He was born February 21, 1991, in Urbana, Illinois, the son of Paul Edward Dye and Pamela Kay Adams.
Kasey married Chelsy Grim on February 22, 2021, in Pierce, Nebraska.
Kasey was an accomplished mechanic and had worked for several years for Malta Ready Mix where he helped construct wind turbines throughout the Midwest.
He enjoyed spending time outdoors especially fishing, camping and riding four wheelers. He also loved to barbeque and spend time with his family and friends.
Survivors include his wife, Chelsy, of the home in Neligh, Nebraska; and his children, Owen and Whitley, Hudson, Austin, Riley, Cooper and Max. Also surviving are his parents, Pamela Paulding and Paul Dye (Mary), all of Illinois, brothers, Kevin Paulding, Andrew Dye, Gentury Swyear, Waylon Paulding, Jason Parks and Kevin Parks and sisters, Jessica Goberson, Val Paulding, Ashely Dye and Cheyanne Dye. He was preceded in death by his step-father, Kevin Paulding and a nephew, Clayton.
Following cremation, a celebration of life service will be held at 11:00 A.M. Friday, December 3rd at the KC Hall, 115 S. Second St., Elgin, Nebraska. A time for food and fellowship will follow the service. Private burial will take place at a later date in Illinois. Arrangements in Kansas were handled by the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, Ft. Scott.
Another Historic Downtown Building Gets Some Attention
The Fort Scott downtown area is seeing new life.
Already approximately one dozen buildings have been purchased by new buyers and are being or have been renovated in the last few years.
Judy and Jerry Witt, who sold their suburban home and moved downtown to an apartment at 9 Main Street, have also purchased a building in the back of their living space, located at 20 N. Scott Avenue.
The purchased building has 1,812 square feet on each floor and was built in 1880 as a harness shop, Jerry said.
“Harnesses were put on horses to pull wagons,” he said.
“It’s the small building north of the Courtland Hotel,” Judy Witt said. “It was formerly owned by Jim Shoemaker and before that, it was a coffee shop.”
“I wanted to preserve it,” Jerry Witt said. “I wanted to see renovations on Scott Avenue.”
“It was basically in good shape,” Jerry said. “We finished the downstairs area; redid the bathroom and put new cabinets in.”
“The upstairs has a commercial kitchen,” he said. “Three sinks, a double oven, and a range.”
“We hope to have an area for a small business on the lower level,” Judy said. “And an apartment upstairs.”
“The idea is someone could start a business downstairs and live upstairs,” he said.
“I’d like to see something like an ice cream shop or popcorn,” he said. “To serve the visitors to the fort (Fort Scott National Historic Site).”
The building will be for rent, when the reno is completed, which should be the end of the year, he said.
Jerry and Judy moved downtown last year.
“We have a front door on Main Street and a back one on Old Fort Boulevard,” he said. “I talk to a lot of visitors to the fort and find out where they are from.”
Old Fort Boulevard is directly in front of the national historic site.
Jerry said he is enjoying living downtown.
“We are part of everything going on,” he said. “And it’s close to restaurants. There is always something happening. It’s beautiful and peaceful at night.”
“I have my rental office in the front room of my condo,” he said. “It’s the only one-story building on Main Street.”
The Witts own three businesses on North Main Street that currently house Audette Davis’s beauty shop, Mary Eastwood’s upholstery shop, and Stacy Gooderl’s healthy living store, he said.
This week Mid-Continental Restoration Co. of Fort Scott was working on the front side of the building at 20 North Scott Avenue.
“They are doing siding, awnings, painting, and bringing the brick back to life,” Judy said.
The Fort Scott Police Department Daily Reports Nov. 17-18
A Lifetime of Appreciation by Patty LaRoche
It is no surprise that most people go to their grave wondering if they made a difference, if they contributed, if they mattered.
Last week on Veteran’s Day, we celebrated a group who don’t have to ask that question. Their contributions are immeasurable, for their fight for FREEDOM –the freedom for which they sacrificed–IS NEVER FREE. It comes at a great price, the price these heroes paid.
Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC, understood their importance. It was he who wrote the following: “It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the organizer, who gave us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, and who allows the protestor to burn the flag.”
The t-shirt worn by the man in the picture above is the same one we bought for our son, Adam’s, birthday this month. We were celebrating alongside the Afghanistan family who moved to Fort Scott last week.
Even they were touched by the shirt, for they knew first-hand about the sacrifices made over the past 20 years in an attempt to bring freedom to their country.
I am in a bi-weekly Bible study Zoom call with a group of Vietnam vets and their wives. In our last meeting, one of the ex-soldiers shared about the memorial services he and his wife are organizing for the families of Vietnam vets who never had a proper burial. We all listened in awe as he revealed the impact these services were having on loved ones.
Dale, the army veteran who leads us, spoke of Stan, the Vietnam soldier with whom this Zoom group platooned and who wrote of his experience in that war.
Helicopters dropped his group of U.S. soldiers off in a jungle, not knowing it was a bunker complex set up by the North Vietnamese. A round of bullets rang out. The first shot hit Stan’s chin. On the second stream, Stan felt a hot flash and was knocked on his back. He couldn’t find his M-16 machine gun but saw the men on both sides of him were dead. His right knee was shot out and his lung punctured. His arm was hanging by the skin at the top of his shoulder, most of the bone missing. Stan scooted on his back to try and find cover. A fellow soldier grabbed him under the armpits and dragged him to a nearby medic.
After surgery and I.C.U., he was told that shrapnel had taken half of his liver. The soldier’s personal belongings—including his New Testament Bible—were brought to his hospital bed. The second bullet had penetrated his pocket-sized Bible which he carried in his jacket pocket. Its tip was lodged at 2 Corinthians 5:7: For we walk by faith, not by sight. That Bible had saved his life…literally.
Today, Groveport Heritage Museum displays that Bible. Look at that t-shirt again. We never will know the hidden stories of what our military men and women went through to protect us.
Let’s make it a habit to show our appreciation…not just on Veteran’s Day but every day.
The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office Daily Reports Nov. 19
FS Golf Course Advisory Board Meets Nov. 22
The Golf Course Advisory Board will meet on Monday, November 22nd, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. at Woodland Hills Golf Course, 2414 S. Horton. The meeting will take place in the clubhouse. This meeting is open to the public.
KDHE Amends Travel & Exposure Related Quarantine List
KDHE Amends Travel & Exposure Related Quarantine List
TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has amended its travel quarantine list to remove the state of Alaska and the countries of Estonia, Isle of Man, Latvia, Lithuania and Serbia. The countries of Austria, Cayman Islands, Croatia and Gibraltar have been added to the travel quarantine list. An unvaccinated individual should quarantine if they meet the following criteria:
- Traveled between Oct. 7 and Nov. 18 to Alaska.
- Traveled on or after Oct. 22 to Barbados and Georgia.
- Traveled between Oct. 22 and Nov. 18 to Latvia and Serbia.
- Traveled on or after Nov. 4 to Faroe Islands and Slovenia.
- Traveled between Nov. 4 and Nov. 18 to Estonia, Isle of Man and Lithuania.
- Traveled on or after Nov. 18 to Austria, Cayman Islands, Croatia and Gibraltar.
- Attendance at any out-of-state or in-state mass gatherings of 500 or more where individuals do not socially distance (6 feet) and wear a mask.
- Been on a cruise ship or river cruise on or after March 15, 2020.
The travel and mass gathering quarantine period is seven days with a negative test result or 10 days without testing, with release from quarantine on Day 8 and Day 11, respectively. Further information on quarantine periods can be found on KDHE’s website.
For those traveling internationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is requiring testing within three days of flights into the U.S. For further information on this and other requirements, visit their website.
For those who are fully vaccinated (meaning it has been greater than two weeks since they completed their vaccinations) they are not required to quarantine regarding travel or mass gatherings if they meet all of the following criteria:
- Are fully vaccinated (i.e., ≥2 weeks following receipt of the second dose in a 2- dose series, or ≥2 weeks following receipt of one dose of a single-dose vaccine).
- Have remained asymptomatic since the travel.
Persons who do not meet the above criteria should continue to follow current quarantine guidance for travel or mass gatherings.
Additionally, people with previous COVID-19 disease are not required to quarantine following travel if they meet all of the following criteria:
- Have evidence of a previous infection supported by a positive PCR or antigen test
- Are within 6 months following infection. If an investigation was done documenting the date that symptoms resolved, or the date isolation measures were discontinued for asymptomatic patients, then the 6-month period can start from that end date. If those dates are not available, then the period will start from the date of the positive laboratory test. A serology or antibody test may not be substituted for a laboratory report of a viral diagnostic test.
- Have remained asymptomatic since the travel
Persons who do not meet all three of the above criteria should continue to follow current quarantine guidance for travel.
The travel quarantine list is determined using a formula to evaluate new cases over a two-week period, then adjusted for population size to provide a case rate per 100,000 population. This provides a number that can then be compared to the rate in Kansas. Locations with significantly higher rates — approximately 3x higher — are added to the list.
For more information on COVID-19, please visit the KDHE website at kdhe.ks.gov/coronavirus.