Stories from Friday, February 11, 2011

The famed Vienna Boys Choir will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27, at the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center on the Fort Scott Community College campus, 2108 S. Horton. The performance is presented by the Gordon Parks Museum at FSCC and is sponsored by the Bourbon County Arts Council, Key Charitable Trust and UMB Bank. Ticket prices are $30 for adults and $25 for children and students...

To Nadyne Walker, spending a little extra on a carbon monoxide detector turned out to be a lifesaver. At 2 a.m. Feb. 3, community rescue and service organizations responded to a carbon monoxide report from Walker's home. She heard beeping from her carbon monoxide detector and immediately called the Fort Scott Fire Department. They responded to her call and confirmed high levels of carbon monoxide -- an odorless, tasteless gas -- in her home, a news release said...

For a third time, the sentencing of Robert L. Miller has been rescheduled -- this time for 3:30 p.m. Feb. 24 in Bourbon County District Court. Miller, 24, was set to go to trial Oct. 11, 2010 for his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Tynce Joles in December 2009, but that was postponed until Nov. 15, 2010...

A storm spotter training class will be held at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center. Participants are requested to arrive early. The class, which lasts about two hours, will feature many weather pictures and video, as well as information on how to become a well-informed spotter...

Excessive snow and cold over the last couple of weeks has forced area districts to close for a number of days and has left them wondering how they will make up the lost time. USD 234 Superintendent Rick Werling said as of Thursday his district has missed a total of seven days due to bad weather since the school year began, and according to the contract between the district and the Fort Scott Chapter of the Kansas National Education Association, the district does not have to make up the first two snow days. ...

Dr. Kenneth Donald (Don) McCracken, age 80, died Monday, Feb. 7, 2011, at Oakview Rehab and Nursing Center in Calvert City, Ky. He was born Feb. 18, 1930 in Hiattville, to his parents Joseph Andrew McCracken and Nellie Pecle McCracken. He served in the U.S. Army and was a veteran of the Korean War...

KEATING -- Shawn and Sandi Keating, Fort Scott, and siblings Grace, Faith, Shawn, Vincent, Jesse and Andrew, are proud to announce the birth of their son and brother, Connor Christian Keating. Connor was born at 8:53 a.m., on Jan. 20, 2011 at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Mo...

A man died and went to heaven. He was met at the pearly gates by Saint Peter who offered to show him the home God had prepared for him. The man's excitement grew as he and Saint Peter passed a street lined with beautiful mansions, but they did not stop. ...

Fort Scott High's wrestlers had it bad enough going into a Southeast Kansas League wrestling dual with Chanute at the FSHS gymnasium Thursday night. The Tigers were already devastated by the flu. Five wrestlers were either out with the flu or just back from missing matches because of it...

Before returning to Fort Scott in the Spring of 1862, wagon boss R.M. Peck recorded his observations of Humboldt, Kan., and the organization of the "Union" 1st and 2nd Regiments of Indian Home Guards in his journal. Early in the last century, he published his memoir of the Civil War in a series of articles that were published in the National Tribune, which was a newspaper published in Washington, D.C. ...

The Fox College Sports television network will feature the University of Kansas and Lawrence when its new series "My Campus" debuts at 8 p.m. today. Kacie Brown, a 2010 KU journalism graduate from Fort Scott, is a student correspondent on the show. The Fox crew visited Lawrence last fall for a football weekend, filming game-day activities on the KU campus and several locations in Lawrence...