Stories from Tuesday, February 18, 2014

On Monday, Feb. 24, weather permitting, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) will begin a project to replace two bridges on Kansas Highway 39 southwest of Fort Scott. The bridges are located to the east and west of the junctions with K-3 south of Uniontown and north of Hepler...

The 33rd annual Spring Rodeo at Fort Scott Community College, set to take place March 7-9, will bring hundreds of rodeo students to town for competition at Arnold Arena on the FSCC campus. The local economy should undoubtedly benefit from the influx of out-of-town visitors the rodeo will draw that weekend, including rodeo students, as well as their friends and family members...

Relda Mae Adams, age 92 of Yucaipa, Calif., formerly of Pleasanton, Kan., passed away on Feb. 8, 2014. Funeral service will be held 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17, 2014 at the Schneider Funeral Home and Crematory, Pleasanton Chapel. Burial will be in the Rockville Cemetery. ...

Margaret Pearl Russell Bishard, age 97, resident of Fort Scott, Kan., died Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014, at her home. Funeral arrangements for Margaret Bishard will be announced by the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main.

Marin Vasilasi, age 75, a resident of Fort Scott, Kan., died Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, at the Fort Scott Mercy Hospital. He was born Jan. 1, 1939, in Bucharest, Romania, the son of Mihai Vasilasi and Constantina Olteanu Vasilasi. He married Constantina Bresler on Aug. ...

CPL Nicholas Anthony Gomez, age 24, resident of Overland Park, Kan., died Sunday, Feb, 16, 2014, in Overland Park. He was born October 23, 1989, in Kansas City, Kansas, the son of Nicholas David Gomez and Karin Denise Shellenberger Gomez. CPL Gomez was a graduate of Blue Valley North West High School. He attended the University of Kansas. He loved to hunt, play video games and swing dance. He especially enjoyed all activities associated with the Marines. He attended the Presbyterian Church...

Kay Lynn (Sparks) Stillwagon, age 59 of Rockwall, Texas, passed away Feb. 14, 2014. She was born Aug. 7, 1954, in Pittsburg, Kan., to James and Mary Del (Esch) Sparks. Kay Lynn was married on April 30, 1983, in Willard, Mo., to Richard Stillwagon. She worked in a family practice clinic and as a home health nurse for many years and later owned the Heart of Gold Home Care facility...

Malori Gales and Jessica McAdams each posted double-doubles Saturday afternoon at Arnold Arena but those efforts were not enough as Fort Scott Community College's women went down to Brown Mackie, 81-71, in Region VI Division II play. The Greyhounds haven't won since beating the Missouri Valley junior varsity on January 17 and haven't beaten another junior college since beating Neosho County at Arnold Arena on December 9. ...

Fort Scott Community College's men may need some help to make sure they get a first-round home game in the post-season Region VI Division II Tournament following a 91-80 loss to Brown Mackie at Arnold Arena Saturday afternoon. The Lions (5-2 region, 16-11 overall) completed a season sweep of the series, giving them a tie-breaker advantage. ...

IOLA -- Fort Scott High School's boys and girls basketball make-up games here Monday night seemed to have a lot in common. Both were relatively low-scoring affairs, especially in the third quarter, and both had a low number of fouls. The other thing they had in common was Fort Scott victories. The girls, ranked No. 3 by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, took a 49-37 win over Iola. Tiger boys defeated Iola for the 46th consecutive time by a score of 48-31...

UNIONTOWN -- Uniontown freshman Shalina Harper had a breakout performance in Monday night's 62-29 rout of Crest in Three Rivers League play at West Bourbon Elementary School. Harper, one of the youngest players on a veteran-laden squad, scored 11 points while tallying 4 steals, 2 assists and a rebound...

uring its regular meeting Monday night, unanimously approved a proposed 1,116-hour compacted school calendar. This is the mandatory minimum number of instructional hours teachers can spend with students during the school year. Under the proposed calendar, students will spend seven hours in the classroom as opposed to the current six-hour and 33-minute schedule. With this change, the school year will tentatively start in late August...