Stories from Friday, December 4, 2009

The Kansas Farm Service Agency (FSA) recently issued a statement reminding Kansas farmers and ranchers that the deadline for eligible voters to return ballots to their local FSA offices is Dec. 7 for the election of local county FSA committee members...

Battlefield Dispatches #191 "Swept like a Tornado" During & after the Battle of Mine Creek, the Confederate "Army of Missouri" commanded by Major General Sterling Price continued to be pursued over the rolling prairie of southeastern Kansas and was brought to bay on the south side of the Little Osage River, just east of the present town of Fulton. ...

Amidst all the craziness of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it is important to remember what the true meaning of the Christmas season is -- the birth of Jesus. We have entered the season of 24-hour Christmas music, countdowns of shopping days remaining, and the coordinating of holiday gatherings. No one is immune to the stress of the holiday season...

I cannot imagine hearing the diagnosis "Unclean." The priest would declare it, should he observe a raw patch of flesh or white bumps or red marks or discolored hair on his patient. The prescription? Immediate isolation. There would be no soothing ointments or salves, not even an affectionate good-bye from one's family. ...

WILLARD, Mo. -- Broken Arrow, the largest school in Oklahoma, swept Fort Scott High's basketball teams on the first night of the Willard Four-State Classic here Thursday night. Fort Scott's girls lost to Broken Arrow, which also calls its teams the Tigers, 43-31. Fort Scott's boys fell 63-31...

"Play 48" has been a motto for the Fort Scott Community College football team since it started the 2009 football campaign. Only four quarters remain to put the finishing touches on something that no Greyhound football team has been able to do since 1970: Win a national championship...

A variety of holiday music will be performed during Homes for the Holidays activities this weekend. Music will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday with Sandy Hemphill and the Eugene Ware Elementary School Choir, followed by a performance by Jerry Elliott on the pipe organ at 11 a.m. John Bennett will give two consecutive performances on the classical guitar at 1:30 and 2:15 p.m. Local harpist Connie Wollenhaupt will perform at 3:30 p.m...

It will certainly be a busy weekend in Fort Scott as many other activities are happening in addition to the Homes for the Holidays Tour. In conjunction with the Homes for the Holidays Tours, Friday evening will feature a special home called A Work in Progress. ...

The 2009 Homes for the Holiday Tours will feature a contrast of old and new, both with religious ties. The home of Jim Pitts and Cynthia McFarlin will stand out a bit during the tour from the inside. Like the other homes on the tour, theirs is a Victorian home which they believe was built around 1895 but the inside displays a much more contemporary feel...

Two local houses built more than a century ago will be part of the 30th Annual Homes for the Holidays Tour that begins Friday and continues through Sunday. Don Miller's turn-of-the-century home, 924 S. Judson St., was built in 1905 by Martin Miller, a former school superintendent, postmaster, and head of the local Democratic Party who was also involved in the insurance and investment business...

Marcel Normand, a retired social science instructor from Fort Scott Community College, has recently published an informal biography of a priest who completely changed his life and that of his family. The book, entitled, "Father John Reinkemeye: God's Humble Servant", tells the story of this uncommon priest who wanted to be a farmer, but God had other plans. ...