Stories from Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Helen Maloney, 92, former Iola, Kan., resident, died Monday, April 6, 2009, at Mercy Health Care in Fort Scott, Kan. Helen was born July 9, 1916, in the farm home of her parents near Colony, Kan. Her parents were Joseph and May (Irwin) Gregory. She graduated from Colony High School in 1935 and then taught rural school for one year at Indian Creek. She moved to Wichita where she worked as a nanny for a doctor...

Richard Roy McKinnis, age 77, of Warrensburg, Mo., passed away Monday, April 6, 2009, at the Missouri Veterans Home of Warrensburg. He was born on July 2, 1931, the youngest of six children, in Fort Scott, Kan., and the son of Roy and Ruth (Kirker) McKinnis. His parents owned and operated a farm. He attended high school in Uniontown, Kan., where he played baseball, football and basketball...

A local graphic design business owner's creative talents paid off for him at a recent awards contest in Joplin, Mo. Darren Crays, owner of Designing Edge Graphics, 708 E. 10th St., won two American Advertising Federation (ADDY) awards during the organization's annual district design contest two months ago in Joplin...

CHEROKEE -- Pleasanton's boys finished in second place here Tuesday at the Southeast varsity meet. Northeast-Arma was the team winner with 112 points followed by Pleasanton's 77. Riverton and Pittsburg Colgan tied for third with 59 points each. Pleasanton's girls finished in fifth place. Columbus won the meet with 71 points followed by Colgan with 68 and Northeast with 65. Erie was fourth with 62 points and Pleasanton had 55. Nine schools competed in this meet...

OSWEGO -- Uniontown's girls scored 132 points and won their season-opening meet here Tuesday while Eagle boys finished third behind Wyandotte (Okla.) and Chetopa. "We scored points in all the events we entered," Unionown head coach Jackie Hall said. "Coach Law and myself are very pleased with the outcome. We know we can just get better and better."...

SPRING HILL -- Ben Bristley finished second in No. 2 singles here Tuesday at a four-team round-robin tournament. Bristley, 3-8 on the season, lost his first match, 8-6, to Spring Hill's Marius Reuters but came back for victories of 8-4 over Baldwin's Adam DeHoan and 8-3 over Lansing's Sam Richards...

IOLA -- Fort Scott High School's varsity golf team opened the season with a second-place finish and four individual medals at the Iola Invitational here Tuesday. Although the Tigers finished only behind rival Chanute, the defending Southeast Kansas League champion, Fort Scott head coach Ken Klassen described it as a "rough outing." The margin may have been why he chose those words as Chanute shot 324 as a team -- Blue Comets took three of the top four spots -- while the Tigers shot 343...

Shortly after 6 p.m. Friday, April 3, Fort Scott Police officers responded to a call at 1705 E. Oak in reference to someone threatening others with a shotgun, according to FSPD Lt. Travis Shelton. After speaking with the three victims -- Aarika Hawkins, Teresa Thompson and Chelsie Deal -- officers arrested Joielle M. McClellan on charges of aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, battery and criminal threat...

At 12:45 a.m. Wednesday, Kansas Highway Patrol officers responded to an injury accident which took place about one-half mile north of Fort Scott on U.S. Highway 54 and 215th Street. According to KHP, a 2006 semi truck driven by James Vineyard of Tucson, Ariz., was traveling westbound on Highway 54 when a 1999 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by Bobby Wisdom of Fort Scott made a left-hand turn onto U.S. ...

The sound of children's laughter pierces the warm spring air. A bright sun glares down from a clear blue sky. Blades of green grass sway in the light breeze. This is the setting Fort Scott Kiwanis members are hoping for this weekend as they plan the club's annual Easter event...

The Youth Activities Team made its first of many presentations this week at Tuesday evening's Fort Scott City Commission meeting. "Our goal was to create the excitement again," YAT member Clayton Tatro said. Diana Mitchell approached the commissioners first informing them that YAT members would be presenting an update on Ellis Park...

Because of a concern for the safety of school children who attend Eugene Ware Elementary School, the Fort Scott Police Department in conjunction with school personnel is launching an active campaign to enforce proper pickup and drop-off procedures at the school...

Nearly 40 students from Fort Scott High School recently celebrated their academic successes. On Thursday, March 26, FSHS conducted its annual Plus 5 Dinner in honor of the 37 students who were able to raise their third-quarter grades. Because it is often difficult for high school students to raise their grades during the third quarter, the FSHS adminsitration organized the celebration event more than a decade ago to give the students an incentive, according to a FSHS press release...