Stories from Friday, March 14, 2008

For Alex McCord, the first step toward a successful career began in Fort Scott. These days, the former Fort Scott resident and 1991 Fort Scott High School graduate can be seen as one of the stars of the reality television program, "The Real Housewives of New York City," which airs on the Bravo network. The show chronicles the lives of five glamorous Manhattan women as they balance busy schedules and lifestyles in the Big Apple...

Wilbur Earl Toll, 89, died Wednesday, March 12, 2008. He was born Aug. 13, 1918, in Morland, Kan. He worked at Smoky Hill LLC until his retirement in 1983. He was a World War II veteran and was a member of First Covenant Church. He was preceded in death by his parents, Harry and Mattie toll; his wife Marie; four brothers, Lee, Jack, Alan, and Glenn Toll...

Barbara Jeanne Dyer, age 80, passed away March 12, 2008, at Girard Medical Center, Girard, Kan. from complications to pneumonia. She was born on July 2, 1927, in Iola, Kan., the daughter of Lloyd George and Fern Violet Lawless Hillbrant. She attended schools in the Fulton/Mapleton area and later moved to Fort Scott where she lived for many years. ...

Police report...

The Fort Scott Ministerial Alliance will sponsor a Good Friday service for the community from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. on Friday, March 21 at the First Christian Church at 1201 S. Judson St. The Rev. Paul Babcock, pastor of First United Methodist Church, will deliver the sermon, which is open to the public. ...

Fort Scott High School is having a blood drive, sponsored by the Fort Scott High School FFA Club. The blood drive will be from 8 a.m till 2 p.m Friday, April 11 at Fort Scott High School Commons Area. The Community Blood Center, a nonprofit organization, is in charge of the event...

The Mapleton Fire Department would like to invite everyone to come enjoy soup and chili with them on Sunday, March 16, 2008, at the Mapleton Community Center. The menu includes homemade vegetable soup, homemade chili, desserts and drink for a free will donation...

The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce announces the 2008 Spring Town-Wide Garage Sale starting at 7 a.m. on Saturday, April 12. The chamber is currently accepting entries for garage sale listings. Entry forms are available at the chamber office, 231 E. ...

The 2008 season for the Bourbon Area Farmers Market will start on Saturday, May 10, 2008. The Saturday market will start at 7 a.m. and end at 9 a.m.. The Wednesday market will be starting May 14 at 8 a.m. and ending at noon or when the venders sell out of their products...

The Allen County Community College has several upcoming classes. Classes start March 24, 2008 but anyone interested must preenroll prior to March 24. Classes are offered Monday through Thursday and students can earn a Kansas State High School Diploma (GED Testing Monthly), brush up on skills for employment, and take college preparation or english as a second language classes...

Thursday Nite Live FCE met recently at UMB Bank conference room for the monthly meeting. President Joyce Davenport conducted the meeting, Secretary Alice Helton read the minutes of the last meeting and Treasurer Teri Campbell reported the financial status of the unit. There were two guests attending Arlene Koester and Margaret Needham. They were given a friendly welcome and encouraged to attend again...

100 YEARS AGO (1908) The W.C.T.U., at its meeting held yesterday, didn't take such pronounced stands on municipal questions as were forecasted. The ladies did not want so much publicity given their efforts to bring about certain reforms believing that premature publicity only lets the enemy know what the methods of procedure are to be...

The Senior Swingers Monday night dance was well attended in spitee of a lot of sickness reported. The band was all in good shape and the music was good. We had a chair dance, which is a good mixer, and a line dance, which keeps growing. After break time, Lucille Shumaker played a waltz on her harmonica, and the girls tried to do the waltz line dance again. ...

How do you separate myth from fact? Or do you? Most of us know Columbus did not set foot on North America. We also know that there is not one supporting fact that George Washington prayed at Valley Forge, Pa. We also understand that the famous Iwo Jima flag raising was not the real flag raising. The one myth we can now solve is what really happened at "Hell's Bend" and Engine No. 99 in 1885...

Many area organizations are being helped this year because of the generosity of area residents. According to United Way of Bourbon County Executive Secretary Whendi Martin, the local organization recently wrapped up its yearly campaign. This year's campaign raised $96,312, Martin said. Although the original campaign goal was $102,000, Martin said that local residents gave what they could, allowing the United Way to give assistance to 16 different local agencies...

After the failure of the Hume Bank the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation set up an informational Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/ bank/individual/failed/Hume.html. At that Web site the FDIC posted information that depositors, borrowers, creditors, stockholders and the public could access about the failure...