Stories from Saturday, January 12, 2008

Goldie May Andrews, age 80, of Trading Post, Kan., died Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008, at The Residencies, Pleasanton, Kan. Graveside services will be held at 1 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 13, at the Brooklyn Cemetery, in LaCygne, Kan. Visitation will be from noon until the time of service at Coffel-Schneider Chapel, LaCygen, Kan...

Henry Joseph "Sonny" Karle Jr., age 85, died Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008, in Mena, Ark. Services will be held at 2 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 15, at the First Presbyterian Church, in Pleasanton, Kan. Interment will be in Pleasanton Cemetery. Arrangements made by Coffel-Schneider Funeral Home, Pleasanton, Kan. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.coffelschneider.com...

Hi neighbors. Have you decided who you are going to vote for yet? I'll admit I can't make up my mind. I've done the research. Watched the talks, read the Web sites, listened to everyone else's opinions of all the candidates. The bad news is I can't tell what anyone actually WILL do in office simply by what they SAY now they will do then...

The above term, I gather from soaking up the last 16 years worth of TV's "Law and Order," is now used, instead of "suspect," to identify those poor souls whom the police suspect of having committed some crime or other, but about whom, I guess, the law doesn't yet have enough hard evidence to yank them off the street and toss them in the slammer...

Some people refer to this time of the year as the "dark time." After Jan. 1, spring seems months away as we head into the dead of winter. Perhaps it is only natural as we finish out the old year with the flurry of activity and excitement that begins with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's and is followed by shorter days and colder weather with Valentine's Day still six weeks away...

An 11-member group formed in 2006 is continuing to move forward in providing ideas and concepts to increase economic development in Fort Scott. The committee, called Outside-In Economic Development, was created as part of a 2005 community-wide revitalization effort spearheaded by Terry Woodbury, president of Kansas Communities, an organization aimed at reinvigorating smaller towns across the state. ...

Nevada, Mo. -- A 49-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday, Jan. 8, for a felony charge of deceptive business practices and misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Ephran Price, Belton, Mo., was charged with the class D felony and class A misdemeanor after allegedly selling fraudulent advertising space on a binder cover for major telephone directories, to local businesses...

Nevada, Mo. -- With the coming of the new year comes a revitalized emphasis on building a better tomorrow in the Vernon County business community. In its first luncheon meeting of the new year, the Nevada/Vernon County Area Chamber of Commerce challenged its members to think about new ways to spark the flames of economic development in the area, thinking of what existing businesses can do to improve or suggest ways in which the chamber can help to market the community and its members...

On her journey toward changing the world by helping to make a difference, Megan Felt has been met with a pleasant surprise. The Pittsburg resident and former Uniontown student, who now works as the program director for the Lowell Milken Center, 4 S. Main St., Fort Scott, was recently nominated for the BR!CK award, a set of awards determined by Internet voters that have been presented annually to 10 young world-changers and community service leaders between 18 and 25 years of age since 1996...

Nevada, Mo. -- Vernon County citizens have a rare chance to get a first hand look at two rural icons now on display at the Bushwhacker Museum -- a mail hack and doctor's buggy. The RFD (Rural Free Delivery) mail hack was used across the country by rural mail carriers during the turn of the last century. Although the RFD tradition continues today, automobiles have replaced the old horse or mule-drawn mail hacks...

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Local residents in addition to many visitors to Fort Scott are fully aware of Gordon Parks and the legacy that he has left to us all. But many people may not realize that Park's story would not be as widely known without the help of one local woman...

The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety announced they met a monumental goal on Jan. 11 -- reducing traffic fatalities to fewer than 1,000. Fatalities from traffic crashes are down dramatically from 1,257 in 2005, to 1,096 in 2006, and finally 970 for 2007. This is a 24 percent reduction in two years. The last time traffic fatalities were this low was 1993 with 949...

Feed makes up 60 to 70 percent of the cost of running a cow-calf operation. In 2008, the University of Missouri estimates that a beef producer's hay and winter forage accounts for 61 percent of the cow's annual feed costs. "There can be vast differences from farm-to-farm on the hay expense. During the hay feeding season is a good time to see where savings can be made," said Eldon Cole, livestock specialist with University of Missouri Extension...

What do you think of when you hear the words "mental illness?" It seems such a taboo in today's society. Words only spoken behind locked doors, in hushed tones, a topic only to be discussed with those who can truly be trusted. Hello. My name is Megan Stacy. ...

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