Stories from Saturday, April 30, 2011

Virginia M. McHenry, 89, a resident of Fort Scott, died Wednesday, April 27, 2011, at the Golden Living Center in Pittsburg, Kan. She was born Aug. 30, 1921, in St. Clair County, Mo., the daughter of Charles Edward Hall and Virgie Thompson Hall. Virginia married Vernie McHenry on May 22, 1941, at Fort Scott. He preceded her in death on April 10, 1979...

Daisy L. Shutters, 92, Nevada, Mo., passed away Friday, April 29, 2011. She was born April 30, 1918, in Joplin, Mo., the daughter of Clyde Douglas Williams and Glady Almeda Petterson Williams. She was married to George Shutters, Nov. 27, 1934, and he preceded her in death March 29, 1983. They spent all but five years of their married life on the farm home south of Nevada...

James William Heath, 83, of El Dorado Springs, Mo., the son of William Clay and Pernia Cathem (McKinley) Heath was born Jan. 20, 1928, in Schell City, Mo., and passed from this life on April 27, 2011, at his home. James attended Stony Point School near ScheIl City and a short time later starting working with Monk Wallen on the railroad. ...

Henry A. Wilson, 66, of Mapleton, Kan., died Friday morning at the Mercy Health Center. Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home.

Page and Virginia Fletchall of Nevada will celebrate their 67th wedding anniversary on Friday, May 6, 2011. Page and Virginia are parents of two children -- Ed Fletchall and Judy Gast, both of Nevada. The couple have five grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and one great-grandson, Brett Hoselton, deceased...

Announcement is made of the engagement and approaching marriage of Jill Cowen and John Cobb III. Jill is the daughter of Bradley and Joyce Cowen of Fort Scott, Kan., and John is the son of Tammy Jones of Blue Springs, Mo., and Victor Cobb of Lee's Summit, Mo...

State and federal decrees from outside Vernon County are rendering Nevada's century-old Habilitation Center complex a ghost town and State Rep. Barney Fisher is unhappy about it, calling it evidence of a trend to privatize every mental health and psychiatric service in the nation...

U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., has announced that she will be co-sponsoring three bills geared toward keeping gas prices from getting out of control. Jenkins recently completed a tour of the Kansas 2nd Congressional District in which she personally felt the effects of rising gas prices. In addition, she said the issue was brought up in many of her meetings...

Beginning today, Fort Scott National Historic Site will no longer charge a fee to enter the park. The public will now be able to visit free of charge. After careful analysis of the administrative costs associated with the collection of entrance fees, it was determined that costs exceeded the amount collected...

Students with the Nevada High School's Students Helping Our Community organization plant a white pine tree in front of the Nevada Housing Authority's Crawford House at 1117 N. West St., in observance of National Arbor Day, April 29. Members of S.H.O.C. ...

Dwayne Crossland, a local farrier, demonstrates how to trim and shoe a horse's hoof for a group of Fort Scott Middle School students in the school parking lot on Friday. Crossland was one of more than 30 area professionals who talked to students about their occupations during the school's career fair, which is held once every three years...

New hours and new exhibits await visitors to the Bushwhacker Museum and Jail which opens for the season on May 4 after a winter-time dusting and cleaning of the expansive exhibits of early-day life in Vernon County. This year because of scheduling constraints the Vernon County Historical Society Board of Directors approved a cutback in days of operation, dropping Tuesday from the daily schedule. ...

NEODESHA, Kan. -- Uniontown's track teams competed in a large meet here Thursday that Eagle head coach Jackie Hall said gave her team a look at some of the competition they'll be facing when they to go the Douglass Class 3A Regional Meet in May. Emily Aikins won two events and three medals for the Eagle girls. She claimed the 100-meter dash in 13.0 seconds and the 200 meters in 27.9. She also took third in long jump...

UNIONTOWN, Kan. -- Uniontown's softball team swept Altoona-Midway in a Three Rivers League doubleheader here Thursday by scores of 11-0 and 9-2. With the sweep, the Eagles improved to 9-1 in league play and 12-2 overall. Uniontown clinched the first game with an 8-run second inning that made it 10-0 at the time. The game was stopped after 5 innings...

PARSONS, Kan. -- Though they finished seventh here Thursday, Fort Scott High School's young golf team continued to show improvement as three players finished with scores under 90 at the Labette County Tournament. "Our young team is definitely more competitive," Fort Scott head coach Ken Klassen said. ...

CHANUTE, Kan. -- Fort Scott High School's tennis team met its goal on improving on a sixth-place finish at last year's Southeast Kansas League Tournament with a third-place finish in the annual event here Thursday. Independence won its 11th consecutive team title and its 22nd since 1989 finishing 4 points ahead of Parsons and 6 points ahead of the Tigers...

FORT SCOTT -- To say Fort Scott High School's softball team hadn't had a good week going into Friday's doubleheader against Coffeyville at Don Hewitt Field here would be an understatement. Tuesday, the Tigers took on the defending Southeast Kansas League champion Labette County at Altamont and were drubbed by the league leaders by 10 runs and 15 runs...