Stories from Sunday, March 12, 2006

UNIONTOWN, Kan. -- The USD 235 Board of Education will talk school improvement on Monday. During their regular meeting at the U-235 Board of Education office, 402 Fifth St., board members are scheduled to hear from Pittsburg State University Department of Student Services and Leadership Studies Chairman Chris Christman on a long-term educational plan the district began to implement last month...

Nevada, Mo. -- A forum for candidates for Nevada R-5 school board and for the Nevada City Council will be conducted at the Fox Playhouse, Nevada, March 23, 5:30 -7:30 p.m. Rama Adams of the Nevada chapter of Soroptimist International, a group that's co-sponsoring the event in conjunction with the Community Council on the Performing Arts and the Nevada/Vernon County Area Chamber of Commerce, said, "We're soliciting questions from the public at large. ...

Nevada, Mo. -- Small, rural American towns like Nevada and developing countries like Romania face similar economic development challenges like broadband Internet and high quality roads. And when it comes time to attract new business developments they both face the same questions about why anyone would want to locate a business there, Sam Foursha, Nevada economic development director, said...

Tourism in Bourbon and Vernon counties brings with it a need for volunteers. For example, Fort Scott National Historic Site is seeking a visitor center assistant to meet and greet park visitors; a gardener to care for the park herb and flower gardens; and a black powder weapons interpreter to provide demonstrations of black powder weapons...

Nevada, Mo. -- The marketing technique utilized by the Nevada Chamber of Commerce advertises Nevada as genuine, dynamic, unique and affordable. Recently, the Missouri Division of Tourism released their latest tourism attractions in Missouri, with a focus on the historical side of Missouri and its impact on the economic development of the nation...

Nevada, Mo. -- Terry Ramsey, Bushwhacker Museum coordinator, is a member of the state historic preservation board. Ramsey has spent countless hours lobbying and educating Missouri lawmakers about the proposed Missouri Civil War Heritage Foundation's Heritage Trail...

Norman William Floyd, 88, Greenwood, Ind., formerly of Nevada, died Thursday, March 9, 2006, at Community South Hospital in Indianapolis, Ind., following an illness of two months. He was born Feb. 22, 1918, in Nevada, to Norvil David Floyd and Lola Mabel Moore Floyd. He married Lora Mildred Newland on March 26, 1945, in Fort Scott, Kan., and she survives of the home...

Carroll W. Coy, 58, Sheldon, Mo., died Thursday, March 9, 2006, at Barton County Memorial Hospital, Lamar, Mo., following a sudden illness. He was born Oct. 6, 1947,in Sheldon, to Croal Wendell Coy and Muriel Marie Burch Coy. Mr. Coy was born and reared in the Sheldon, area and spent his entire life there. ...

The day is nearly here in my plan for housing purple martins. Information gathered in my quest to establis a martin colony tells me that for this area the Martins will arrive between March 1-15. The home for the colony stands in readiness, and for the next two weeks, I will keep a keen eye out for the first of the migrating birds looking for a new home...

Hi neighbors. Over the last week there has been a show on a station I usually never watch but couldn't resist due to this one series. The station is basically designed for young adults and teens. The show that caught my eye was "I Love Toys." Now who could resist that title? I chose not to listen to the patter as different comedians, actors, scriptwriters, etc. talked about the toys due to what I considered "tasteless" language...

Before and after the Civil War Pvt. Hugh L. Thompson of Companies C & H of the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment lived near Carl Junction, Missouri. In the 1880s he submitted several articles to the National Tribune which described his experiences living near Carl Junction, Missouri as a young man before he was old enough to enlist in the Union Army. ...

I take my hat off to the editor of The Fort Scott Tribune for her gumption in printing the whole of his obituary writer's essay on the death, at age 93, of world-famous photojournalist Gordon Parks, without, for the sake of Fort Scott's civic self-esteem, killing the sentence, "For many years, Parks had carried deep wounds in his heart from his childhood in Fort Scott and from the lack of respect shown to his parents and other hard-working African-Americans who lived, worked, died, and were buried here." TV newscasters said last week that Parks's most powerful work would prove to be the black movie "Shaft." I think, rather, that Parks's most enduring fame was born the moment he realized that his "choice of weapons" (the title of one of his autobiographies) had better be not a gun, but, rather, a camera, a far better and more lethal weapon in his lifelong war against evil. ...

The Fort Scott Kids Wrestling Club recently sent teams to meets in Linn County, Fredonia, Kan. and Carl Junction, Mo. The club participated in sub-districts Saturday at Pittsburg. The Linn County Open was held February 18 with 17 Fort Scott wrestlers participating...

The Fort Scott Middle School basketball regular season came to a conclusion recently. The Buffaloes were the best team in the seventh- and eighth-grade standings with a record of 7-1 followed by the Tigers in second at 6-2. They were followed by the Wildcats, Tar Heels and Jayhawks, all tied for third at 5-3. The Sooners were sixth with a 4-4 record while the Longhorns finished 3-5, the Bears 1-7 and the Huskers 0-8...

For the first time ever, Southeast Kansas League coaches gathered and named an All-Southeast Kansas League wrestling team Tuesday. One wrestler was named for each weight class to First Team status and one per class for Honorable Mention. Fort Scott High School had two wrestlers named to the First Team: junior Dakotah Gettler at 171 pounds and senior Garry Wiggans at 275...

Nevada youth wrestlers (from left) Sam Ellifrits, Slade Stiles and Tanner Charles competed at the Liberty Nationals in Kansas City, Feb. 25. Ellifrits placed third in the 190-pound, 12-and-under class. Charles injured his elbow in his first match in the 75-pound, 12-and-under class and was unable to wrestle afterwards. ...

There were seven members of the Nevada Youth Wrestling Club competing in a tournament at Nixa, Mo., on Feb. 25. Two of them brought home medals. True Beisly won his class and Zach Shepherd placed second. Also on Feb. 25, Caleb Shanks wrestled in a tournament in Clinton, Mo. Shanks won his class...

It's been 50 years now. Half a century. And I think my friend John Cater of Kansas City was the first to ask, "Do you remember when you first began to like baseball?" If you read this column much you are aware that, I've loved baseball a long time now. Through thick and thin I've tried to shake it. I'll get mad, but I'll always come back. Hoping, I suppose, to once again recapture the magic the game had before dollar signs changed its face forever...

March doesn't only mean trout fishing in the four state trout parks opens, it also means the start of the paddlefish snagging season. Growing numbers of fishermen are ready to hit the streams where the big spoonbills start their spawning runs. This year snaggers have hit a snag with the lack of water in most streams. ...

Fort Scott Tribune readers know when I'm out sick. The sports page has an entirely different look to it, as I'm sure it did Tuesday and Wednesday when my body decided to rebel against me and take me out of commission. Eight words I dread to hear whenever I get a cough or a runny nose: "I've heard it's going around the high school."...

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Chapman will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on March 18. They have three daughters: Shirley Caskey of Clinton, Evelyn Warden of Peculiar, and Sharon Brenton of Lebanon. For most of their lives, Fred and Iva lived and farmed in the Hume and Metz communities. ...

Ernest Edward Hyatt of Folsom, N.M., and Grace Pauline Carmean of Xenia, Kan., were married at the Bourbon County Courthouse, March 21, l946. Grace and Ernest were going to be different from everyone when they got married. They took a train from Fort Scott to Kansas City, Mo., to be married. ...

Marie Judy and Kenneth Peterson were married March 8, 1946, by the Rev. W. Dunlap, pastor of the First Christian Church. The groom had just returned from serving three years in the Air Force, of which 20 months were spent in China, Burma and India theaters in World War II. The bride was employed in the claims department of the Western Insurance Companies at the time of their marriage...

Devin, Haley and Madelyn Brafford and Kenzi, Emee and Logan Brown announce the upcoming marriage of their parents, Paula Brafford and Obie Brown, of Nevada. The couple will be married on April 21, 2006, at Eureka Springs, Ark. Paula is an emergency medical technician for Barry-Lawrence County Ambulance District in Monett, Mo. She is currently attending classes at Missouri Southern State University, Joplin. Obie is a paramedic for the Vernon County Ambulance District, in Nevada...

Crystal Lea Pieratt and David Marshall Ryan were married Feb. 13, 2006, at Northwoods Wedding Chapel in Nevada. Betty Plush officiated. Pieratt is the daughter of Clifford and Regine Pieratt, Amsterdam, Mo. Grandparents are Philip and Donna Pieratt, Amoret, Mo., and Horst Schnittka and Ingrid Riedel, Berlin, Germany...