Stories from Friday, August 2, 2013

In an effort once again to keep local shoppers in Kansas and buying locally, as well as save them money, the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce is bringing back a sales tax holiday this weekend. Nearly 20 businesses will offer an 8.65 percent discount on all purchases starting Friday and continuing through Sunday. ...

Loretta George/Tribune photo Members of Pioneer Kiwanis help refurbish the park benches at Skubitz Plaza on Wednesday morning. Dona Bauer, left, and Jeanne Randles scraped and then painted frames on ten benches. The City of Fort Scott later placed new treated boards to the frame. Bauer noticed the benches were in need of repainting and approached the Pioneer Kiwanis and the city about providing this community service. The city supplied the paint and brushes...

Loretta George/Tribune photo Of the 1,800 students in the USD 234 Fort Scott School District, 400 had enrolled by mid-day on Thursday, Susan Brown, USD 234 clerk and business manager said. Enrollment continues today from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the middle school, 1105 E. 12th St. Parents may also enroll their child in fall sports with Buck Run Community Center...

The Fort Scott Board of Trustees, after their first in-depth look at the proposed budget for 2013-2014, approved a published budget number of $2.962 million in local source funding for that period. As FSCC President Dr. Clayton Tatro explained at Monday night's meeting, the published number is the highest number the budget can go. But the final budget number for local funding can be lower...

In a way, it was by accident that Mayson Lane, 14, of Fort Scott, began playing the violin. He was a fifth-grader playing trumpet in the school band when he broke his left wrist. It was too difficult to hold the trumpet, so he tried the lighter-weight violin...

Violent events in Kansas during the Civil War era will be the focus of a reading and discussion event today at the Fort Scott National Historic Site. The site is inviting the public to "Quantrill's Raid and Order No. 11," an event scheduled to start at 2 p.m. today in the site's Grand Hall. The performance is part of the Shared Stories of the Civil War script series, a reader's theater project the historic site has been involved with in recent years...

A pair of ducks got a well-deserved drink from a puddle on a road inside Gunn Park Friday afternoon. The two birds were among a group of several ducks that enjoyed a quick snack in the grass on the roadside and then crossed the road for watery refreshment...

With roads in the western part of the county severely rutted and some debris-strewn because of 7 inches of rain in a short period of time on July 29, the county decided to seek state help. The severe storm that caused flash flooding also produced a small EF1 tornado that struck near the intersection of Indian and 20th roads near Bourbon State Lake...

Local authorities are investigating a one-vehicle fatality accident that occurred shortly after 5 p.m. Friday near 245th Street and Valley Road. The driver, who had been driving east on Valley Road, swerved and lost control of the vehicle, a Japanese micro-truck, leaving the road and rolling multiple times...