Stories from Friday, February 2, 2007

Rebekah L. Reed Saathoff Barton, age 93, of Nevada, Missouri, died Wednesday, January 31, 2007, at Moore-Few Care Center in Nevada, She was born on February 9, 1913. in Hannon, Mo., to Fred Reed and Anna Genette Gilmartin Reed. She was married to Henry J. Saathoff and he preceded her in death on January 17, 1955...

Kirk Brough Austin, age 89, of Parsons died at 4:10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007, at Parsons Good Samaritan Center, where he had resided since July 2006. He was born May 26, 1917, on a ranch in the Flint Hills near Strong City to Earl and Maude (Brough) Austin. He grew up in Emporia, attending schools there including the former Kansas State Teachers College, now Emporia State University...

CAYTON -- Emersyn Dawn Cayton, a girl, was born at 8:24 a.m. Thursday, February 1, 2007 at Mercy Health Center, Fort Scott, to parents Corey Caldwell and William Cayton, Prescott. She weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces and 18.75 inches long at birth. She joins siblings Caleb and Jeffry. ...

The number of methamphetamine labs seized last year has dropped 73 percent since 2004, thanks in large part to a law passed in 2005 that restricts access to key ingredients in the drug. Kansas Bureau of Investigation officials found a direct link between the decreases and implementation of the Sheriff Matt Samuels Chemical Control Act, passed by the Kansas Legislature in 2005...

A Mound City-based property management company is doing its part to help revitalize portions of the downtown Fort Scott area, one building at a time. Pat Carney, Greg Regehr, and Michael Wunsch, the owners and partners of Fort Scott Properties, LLC, called FSP LLC for short, have chosen an old building on the northwest corner of Wall and Main streets as their first renovation project. ...

Kansas State University Research and Extension's fitness program Walk Kansas is scheduled to begin in Bourbon County on March 10. The low-cost fitness offering, which is in its sixth year, attracted more than 20,000 participants statewide last year, program coordinator Mike Bradshaw said...

Fort Scott Community College Environmental Technology students have been getting their hands wet -- literally. Students preparing for careers in several water, wastewater and conservation-related fields are required to complete on-the-job training as part of their degrees, an FSCC statement said...

In the forthcoming election in April, those running for city offices are: mayor, Jack Payne; councilmen, Ernestine Berkey, Cilly Coonrod, and Jim Kreiger. Be sure you are registered so you will have a part in deciding in who will be running the town of Arcadia for the next two years...

100 YEARS AGO (1907) John Cole, who lives northeast of town, left this morning for Pleasanton to attend the funeral of Dick Blue. These men were both raised in West Virginia and were boys together in the same school. When the Civil War broke out they both enlisted in the Union Army and served from the beginning until the close of the war. ...

FORT SCOTT -- A grand jury on Friday issued 12 indictments stemming from a five-month investigation into allegations of criminal activity by Fort Scott city officials. They also devised a list of recommendations and comments that city officials may find beneficial to improve the functioning of the city...