Stories from Thursday, May 17, 2007

Fort Scott Community College welcomed new president Clayton Tatro to his first day on the job Monday. Tatro toured the campus with outgoing president Jim Miesner, who is retiring in June. Tatro comes to Fort Scott from Garden City, where he most recently served as dean of Learning Services and chief academic officer at Garden City Community College. ...

A Topeka lawyer updated city commissioners on his efforts in overhauling the city's comprehensive plan. James M. Kaup, a public law attorney, on Tuesday told commissioners the plan has not been completed but could be done by this fall. Since January, when the commission authorized Kaup to begin updating the survey, Kaup and his assistant, Wyndee Lee, have been working with members of the Fort Scott Planning Commission. ...

UNIONTOWN -- In this day and age, it has become increasingly necessary for school officials to discuss better methods of school security. The USD 235 Board of Education did just that on Monday during its regular meeting when members heard a report from Betty Dennis, a nurse at West Bourbon Elementary School, on the school's revised crisis plan...

A four-man crew with a local restoration company was within two days of completing one of their routine projects when the unexpected happened. A massive EF-5 tornado struck the town of Greensburg in Kiowa County at about 9:45 p.m. May 4, destroying about 961 homes and killing 11 people. ...

Second sequel in the popular "Spider Man" franchise throws out a lot of action and special effects, not enough engaging story.

Fort Scott survives first-game marathon on way to Statee

With all the wet weather experienced since the April freezes, area farmers and ranchers are feeling a little "behind" on their work as the month of May continues to pass. Some better planting/haying weather has been in evidence lately. Some more nice days would be good. At least Kansas has no areas of drought showing on the current Drought Monitor -- quite different than the last year or two...

We have seen a great deal of extreme weather the past couple of weeks, including flooding. Waterlogged soils push out oxygen that roots need to survive. Every living cell in a plant must have oxygen or it dies. Some plants have mechanisms to provide oxygen to the roots even under saturated conditions but most of our vegetables and flowers do not. ...

Tribune Staff Report Each year, about 168 Kansas children from birth to 14 years of age are killed or injured as a result of bicycle crashes in traffic, according to a statement from Safe Kids Kansas. About half of those children, or 45 percent, have traumatic brain injuries. Properly fitted bike helmets can reduce the risk of bike-related brain injuries by 88 percent; however, only 15 to 25 percent of cyclists 14 years of age and younger usually wear a helmet, the statement said...

This week the Fort Scott Movie Gallery store is under new management. The new manager, Terry Waggoner, was promoted from the Pittsburg store where he was a senior customer service associate. "I'm really excited about coming to the Fort Scott Store," Waggoner said. "Fort Scott has some really great people and I've already had the chance to meet a lot of them. The staff at this store are great, they really know how to take care of people here."...

100 YEARS AGO (1907) There were two fruit trains through here today on the Frisco going to Kansas City. One train was composed of 23 cars of bananas and seven cars of stock. The other train was made up solidly almost of strawberries. They didn't tarry here more than a few minutes and were hustled on to Kansas City...

Fort Scott residents and "old friends" Bill Danley and Charley Magee have seen and done a lot in their lifetimes. And that's after each spent two years serving their country during World War II. Last week, the longtime Elks Lodge members and former city commissioners were both honored by the Elks as Veterans of the Month for their service to the United States during the war. Both men expressed their appreciation for the honor during an interview with The Fort Scott Tribune on Wednesday...