Stories from Friday, February 29, 2008

100 YEARS AGO (1908) Items from Feb. 29, Leap Year: Lee Newbolt has resigned his position at the Perkins and Smith Restaurant. In the future he will write life insurance in the National Life Company. The weather for the past day or two has been so chilly that Gene Cross has closed up his stand at the corner of Main and First streets. Gene will wait for more moderate weather to continue operations...

For several of the carriers who deliver The Fort Scott Tribune, being a carrier encompassed much more than just delivering the newspapers. Many of the carriers have made it a habit to help their customers in various ways, which has helped to forge friendships between some of the carriers and their customers...

ARKANSAS CITY -- Fort Scott Community College's basketball teams were swept by Cowley Wednesday night in a Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division doubleheader. Cowley men (16-1 East, 27-2 overall), leaders in the division and eighth-ranked in the nation, took a 73-56 win. Cowley's women (13-4, 18-11) scored a 66-39 victory and are within a game of Labette, Independence and Coffeyville, all tied for the division lead at 14-3 with one game remaining in conference play...

Fort Scott Community College's baseball team finally got its season underway Wednesday with a sweep of the Evangel (Mo.) junior varsity at Springfield. Thursday, a walk-off home run gave Crowder a 3-2 win over the Greyhounds at Neosho, Mo. Fort Scott will host Des Moines Area (Iowa) and Longview (Mo.) in a series of games this weekend...

HUMBOLDT -- The top seed in the Humboldt Class 2A Sub-State Tournament, Pittsburg Colgan, brought Uniontown's season to an end here Thursday night with a 51-28 decision. Monica Soper led the Panthers (15-6) with 11 points while Lisa Elmer added 10. Breanna Esslinger and Jayme Shank scored eight points each for fifth-seeded Uniontown (5-16). Katie Spainhoward led the Eagles in rebounds with seven. Smith dished three assists while Spainhoward and Taylor Rathbun each had three steals...

The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce has announced the recent appointment of Nevada, Mo., native Vicki Pritchett as its new president and chief executive officer. Pritchett, who now lives in Bourbon County, comes to the chamber from KRPS Public Radio in Pittsburg, where she served for six years as the director of development. She previously served as director of Main Street Nevada, and also as managing editor of the Nevada Daily Mail, the Vernon County Times and the Vernon County Record...

GARNETT -- Afton Gray's hot hand helped give Fort Scott High's girls a comfortable lead in the first half of an Anderson County Class 4A Sub-State Tournament game here Thursday night. Jolee Sharp's steady hand helped put away the third-seeded Burlington Panthers as the Tigers took a 52-35 victory to advance to the finals for the second time in three years...

The Bourbon County Chapter of the American Red Cross will soon offer classes designed to teach people about proper first aid procedures. The local agency will offer a four-hour first aid class to the public at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the local Red Cross office, 116 S. ...

Floyd Alexander Gibson Thursday pleaded guilty to charges he molested two 15-year-old girls last September. Gibson pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent liberties with a child, a severity level five person felony. Gibson, of Fort Scott, committed the crimes against the two girls who were 15 years old when the incidents happened sometime between Sept. 1 and Sept. 3, 2007...

Mary Josephine "Jo" Sheehy, age 94, resident of 1015 E. 16th St., Fort Scott, Kansas, died early Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008 at Mercy Health Center. She was born Sept. 21, 1913 in Richards, Mo., the daughter of Walter Smith and NOra Baggerly Smith. She married Ed Sheehy on May 7, 1931 in Fort Scott. He preceded her in death on March 1, 1991. Josephine loved her family dearly. She worked as a CNA at Mercy Hospital for over 25 years, most of that time in the nursery...

Robert Kenneth "Jack" Sharp, age 82, a resident of Fort Scott, died Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008 in the Mercy Health Center emergency room. He was born Aug. 31, 1925 in Fort Scott, the son of A. Earl Sharp and Eunice Elizabeth Lyle Sharp. Jack supported himself working on farms from the age of 11...

Crystal Joann Casteel, a girl, was born at 5:48 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008 at Mercy Health Center to parents Leeroy and Connie (Hartman) Casteel, Mindenmines, Mo. She weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 18 inches long at birth. Maternal grandparents are Eddie and Janet Hartman, Mindenmines, Mo; John and the late Betty Pryor, Pittsburg; and Jack and the late Linda Hartman, Pittsburg. ...

Police report Sheriff's report KHP...

All scores from all eight Clas 4A Sub-State basketball tournaments. Includes a list of all State tournament qualifiers at the top for easy reference. Updated Saturday night at 11:20 p.m.