Stories from Thursday, May 3, 2012

Fort Scott Community College is excited to offer once again the chance for people to earn credit for traveling. Don Miller, FSCC history instructor, and Karen Keen, a travel agent, have planned a trip to Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C. Travelers will fly from Kansas City to Savannah on Friday, June 8, where they will tour historic Savannah for two days before moving on by bus to Charleston to stay through Tuesday, June 14...

My observation over the past few years is that planting a corn crop is progressively becoming more and more of an "adventure." Seed costs are soaring as it is costing up to $75-plus per acre for corn seed alone. I don't expect my dad ever invested that much total per acre in planting any crop (corn or anything else) in the nearly 50 years prior to his leaving the farm in 1994...

Ears of sweet corn are a popular addition to summer meals. The flavor and quality of freshly picked sweet corn is outstanding. It used to be simple to decide which sweet corn to plant. You simply chose a cultivar and planted when the soil temperature reached 55 degrees...

Before an audience of more than 100, piano students of Carolyn Tucker presented an annual recital April 27 at First Presbyterian Church. Tucker welcomed the guests and Jimmy Tucker offered the invocation. Kaleb Bailey played Buffalo Boy (American traditional)...

Max Nitcher, 88 of Watsonville, was welcomed into the arms of Jesus, Friday, April 27, after an illness. He was born Feb. 21, 1924 in Pomona, Kan. Max grew up in Kansas until the age of 18 when he and his new bride, Ruth, made their way by bus to Salinas, Calif. Shortly thereafter, Max was drafted into the Army Air Force and he proudly served as a staff sergeant and gunner aboard a B29 bomber during World War II...

Robert Alvin "Bob" Gray, 79, was born Oct. 26, 1932, in Fort Scott, Kan., the son of Alvin B and Bertha Opal (Graves) Gray. He passed away April 24, 2012, at his home in Yukon. In 1965, Bob and his family moved to Yukon from Wichita, Kan. He was a flight engineer and flight line mechanic with the United States Air Force during the Korean War era. ...

Mary Louise Foster, 65, resident of Fulton, Kan., died Tuesday, May 2, 2012, at the Prescott Country View Nursing Home. She was born June 20, 1946, in Olean, N.Y., the daughter of Robert and Margaret Storm. She married Wayne Foster on Jan. 25, 1991, at La Junta, Colo.While living in Colorado, Mary had been employed as a nurse's aide. She was of the Lutheran faith. Mary enjoyed gardening, fishing, bowling and horses...

Freda Rae "Freddie" Krull, 66, resident of Fort Scott, died unexpectedly Tuesday, May 1, 2012, at Mercy. She was born May 2, 1945, in Fort Scott, the daughter of Raymond Krull and Mary Frances Byerley Krull. Freddie was a 1963 graduate of Fort Scott High School...

Jana Carpenter and Michael Johnson, Fort Scott, are pleased to announce their engagement. The wedding will be on July 7, 2012, at 3:30 p.m. at Grace Baptist Tabernacle. The bride is a 2004 graduate of Fort Scott High School and has a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Pittsburg State University. The bride is currently employed as a CSR at Landmark National Bank...

Christy May Large, 37, Fort Scott, was arrested by the Bourbon County Sheriff's Office at 10:46 p.m. Tuesday for domestic battery and a Bourbon County warrant for nonsupport of a child. She is still being held at this time with no bond.

Joshua David and Hannah B. Elliott, Fort Scott, and siblings Travin, Jocelyn, Raegan, Leland, Peyton and Elliott are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter and sister Skylar Beth Elliott at 8:14 p.m. May 1, 2012, at Mercy. Skylar Elliott weighed 6 pounds and 8 ounces at birth...

Ryan and Alyssa Petrik, Olathe, Kan., are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter Annabel Ryan Petrik at 4:01 p.m. March 23, 2012, at St. Luke's South Hospital in Overland Park, Kan. Annabel Petrik weighed 8 pounds and 12 ounces at birth. Maternal grandparents are Mark and Doris Hudson, Fort Scott...

Kansas State University's Army ROTC and Air Force ROTC units are recognizing cadets who displayed outstanding leadership, character and academics during the 2011-2012 school year. Cadets, including two from Fort Scott, have received special awards. They include: Benjamin Gettler, sophomore in photography, Army ROTC, Military Order of the World Wars, and Joseph Reichard, junior in history, Army ROTC, David W. Smartt and Marisol Castaneto Army ROTC Scholarship Award...

To the Editor: As we celebrate 100 years of building girls of courage, confidence, and character, I want to take a moment to thank all of our volunteers for their contributions to that important mission. Last year, Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland had a nearly 18 percent increase in its girl membership -- an exciting change that could never have been realized without the help of our volunteers...

100 YEARS AGO (1912) A prominent Fort Scott man who is quite a jokester, and who has a fine war record, and whose anecdotes of bravery have stirred the hearts of hundreds of his listeners, was asked what would he have done had he been a passenger on the ill-fated Titanic. ...

Fort Scott Community College will honor this year's Outstanding Sophomore at 3 p.m. Friday, May 4, in the meeting rooms of the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center. The Outstanding Sophomore will also be speaking at the 4 p.m. graduation ceremony on Friday, May 18...

Fort Scott youngsters may have a chance to have some fun and learn something at the same time. Officials from Young Life, a nationwide nonprofit nondenominational organization, as well as residents and members of First Presbyterian Church's Christian Education Committee, met earlier this week to discuss the idea of bringing the group, meant to introduce youngsters to Christ, to town...

The Fort Scott Good Ol' Days committee is gearing up for the 31st annual community-wide event, planned for May 31-June 2. Admission is free, but some events require a fee. Tickets for Fort Scott Idol, scheduled for 6 p.m., May 31, at Memorial Hall, are now available. Now in its seventh year, Idol attracts singers from all over the area. Applications will be taken through May 21 and contestants can apply online at the fortscottgoodoldays.com website...

The Kansas Historical Society announced that author Debra Goodrich Bisel will present her new book "The Civil War in Kansas: Ten Years of Turmoil" at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 12, at Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site. Following the presentation, Bisel will answer questions and sign copies of her book, which will be available for sale. Light refreshments will be provided...

The Fort Scott Community College choir and orchestra will perform their spring concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 6, in the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center theater. The performance is free and open to the public. For the first half of the event, the FSCC concert choir will perform light classical selections, selected verses of Lewis Carroll texts set to music, a Hebrew folk song and a set of satirical pieces based on famous madrigals. ...

Bourbon County District Judge Mark Ward handed down a sentence Wednesday morning in the case of a 17-year-old charged in a 2011 stabbing death. With attorneys from both sides of the case present, William Goodbody was sentenced to serve the state-recommended 60 months in a juvenile correctional facility with an aftercare term until age 23 for his involvement in the May 21, 2011, killing of 23-year-old James C. ...

The city has once again received a clean audit with no violations of state or federal statute for 2011, Terry Sercer, of Diehl, Banwart, Bolton CPAs, told the Fort Scott City Commission earlier this week. The audit included investigations into the Fort Scott Public Library's records but not into the Fort Scott Housing Authority. Sercer said the report is a statutory basis of financial statements and not generally accepted accounting principles because of the omission of the housing authority...