Stories from Friday, November 9, 2007

It's not every day that a company celebrates 100 years in business, but that's exactly what one local insurance agency is doing this year. Atkins Insurance Agency, located at 3 E. Wall St., was founded in 1907 by E.G. Atkins, who eventually passed the company on to his sons, Garland and Martin (Marty) Atkins. E.G. Atkins died in 1934. The agency's current offices are in the business' third location in the same building -- the Milrose Building -- since it was founded...

Last week, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment released the new Kansas Oral Health Plan during the Oral Health Kansas Annual Conference in Wichita. The plan lays the groundwork for improving access to dental care statewide, according to a KDHE statement...

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will lead a delegation of Kansas policymakers, business leaders and animal health experts to Mexico City on Nov. 12-15 in an effort to increase trade between Kansas and Mexico and share the state's food safety policies and processes, state officials announced Thursday...

The Family and Community Education (FCE) Council and the Bourbon County Extension office will sponsor the annual Fall Follies at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday starting in Tom Armstrong Hall, Community Christian Church, 1919 S. Horton, Fort Scott. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.  There is no cost to attend and no pre-registration is needed. ...

100 YEARS AGO (1907) Get your meats from us for your Sunday dinner. In doing so, it ensures you a delicious dinner, as our meats are only of the choicest kind.--The Market Square Meat Market, No. 8 East Oak.--Belkham, Griffith, Morrow. Telephone 111...

The Bourbon County Economic Development Council is considering purchasing 50 acres of land south of Fort Scott on U.S. Highway 69 to expand the industrial park, its president told city commissioners at Tuesday's meeting. President Steve Buerge said the council has already put $1,000 down on the property but hasn't purchased the land, which is located off U.S. 69 just south of the Kansas Department of Transportation building...

Local residents can help avoid a potentially dangerous infection by developing good hygiene practices at home, at work and at school. According to Public Health Nurse Alice Maffett of the Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Department, some cases of staphylococcus aureus, better known as staph infection, have developed in Bourbon County. ...