Stories from Saturday, June 20, 2015

The 19th annual Echoes of the Trail Cowboy Gathering poetry contest continues at 10 a.m. today. Activities include a western trade show and silent auction, kids' poetry contest winners recitation, pie contest and auction, western tales and music. There will be a chuck wagon feed at noon and the cowboy poetry contest, which begins at 7 p.m...

June is the most popular month to marry, according to Old Farmer's Almanac. Perhaps because of the mild weather, perhaps because of the abundance of flowers, there appears no definitive answer. Several long-term married couples in the Fort Scott area tied the knot on a June day decades ago, and while June flowers may fade, their marriages have not...

Another round of layoffs in the Mercy Health system won't have a direct impact on Fort Scott, according to a Mercy spokesperson. Mercy has announced a reduction of between 300 and 350 positions -- the majority being "leadership roles" -- in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas. But only one position in Fort Scott will be eliminated. That position, a director of rehab, has been vacant for nearly a year, according to Tina Rockhold, regional marketing and communication manager...

TOPEKA -- Jamie Kutey, daughter of Greg and Jan Kutey and granddaughter of George and Pat Kutey of Fort Scott and Gary and Gloria Schaefer of Fort Myers, Fla., is a member of the Class 5A state champion soccer team at St. Thomas Aquinas in Overland Park...