Stories from Friday, April 1, 2011

As I mentioned in my first column, I love to cook. Sometimes it works out well and sometimes it doesn't. Recently, through my wife, I have discovered a wonderful meal that is not only healthy but also super simple to make. We call them "Flatout Pizzas" but I'm sure many other people have different names for it...

100 YEARS AGO (1911) The birds in Fort Scott will not be lonely in their treetop nests during the long nights of spring and summer. They will not be the only outdoor sleepers in the city. Already there is a colony of sleeping porch patrons. The following are some of the houses that are fitted with sleeping porches: Dr. ...

To the Editor: I am a lifetime educator of 41 years, many of which have been enjoyed in Fort Scott schools. You can count on three fingers the number of times I have written a letter to the editor, but my heart and mind have been calling me to write now...

Between movies, books and video games, zombies have become something of a pop culture phenomenon lately. Now a student group at Pittsburg State University is bringing the eternal war between humans and the otherworld to life with an outdoor battle of the fittest...

The city of Fort Scott Fire Department will be flushing fire hydrants throughout the city starting today (Friday, April 1). The project will take approximately three weeks to complete. Flushing will begin on the west side of town and move east to the east city limits, a news release said...

As a young wife and mother, Vickie Masters needed a washer and dryer. Her first husband told her she should go out and work for it. And she did. Masters started off putting Dura 80 wall -- a frame -- on windows at Peerless Products Inc. On Thursday -- 37 1/2 years later -- Masters retired as supervisor of the trim, grid and screen area...

The Community Health and Wellness Committee hosted the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce Coffee Thursday to promote the half-cent sales tax increase that would fund the $3.9 million renovation of the city pool and an addition to Buck Run Community Center...

Organizers of the Bourbon County Relay for Life will audition a new event this year focusing on "man's best friend." The organization's first-ever Bark for Life event is scheduled to take place from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 10, at the Bourbon County Fairgrounds. Dog owners throughout the community are invited to bring their pets out to the event for a variety of food, games, contests and other activities involving their canines...

Fort Scott High School seniors Griffin Knopp and Cody Harper have been invited to participate in the Fifth Annual U.S. Army KSEK/KLKC All-Star Basketball Games that will take place Sunday at the St. Mary's-Colgan High School Fieldhouse in Pittsburg...

"Girls," I wrote, "I have lost 13 pounds. I am so excited!" So began the email I sent my two step-daughters before last Christmas. My "more yogurt and less potato chips" diet had paid off -- I finally would be able to squeeze into the swimsuit that had been hidden away for this very occasion, and everyone in my family would ask my secret when they saw me on the beach for our holidays together in Mexico...

During the Civil War the Union soldiers called Missouri the "Land of Misery" because they believed that all Missourians and the entire state was the enemy. This of course was not true because there were hundreds of "Unionists" or "Missourians" who were loyal to the United States, but that made no difference to the Blue Bellied Yankees from Kansas and other northern states such as Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, etc. ...

As we pass through certain seasons of our life -- baby, youth, teenager, adult, middle age, and finally old age, we do, and learn many things. As I passed through each season, I could hardly wait to begin the next. There were so many old, familiar roads, new paths, sunsets to see, harvest moons, the beautiful seasons, spring, winter, fall and summer. ...