Stories from Friday, December 17, 2010

The Fort Scott Airport Advisory Board will meet at noon Thursday, Dec. 30. The meeting will be held at City Hall and is open to the public.

Area residents interested in starting their own business are encouraged to attend a free two-hour "How to Start Your Own Business" workshop set for 1-3 p.m. Jan. 6. The workshop will be held in the Greyhound Room of the Administration Building at Fort Scott Community College...

A new study from the Kansas Policy Institute shows that current kindergarten-12th grade employment in Kansas is 6.3 percent higher than in 2000, while enrollment increased just 1.9 percent over the same time period. Data from the Kansas State Department of Education also indicates that Kansas school districts increased non-teaching jobs at a much greater rate than teachers; the number of teachers increased by 4.9 percent while all other employees increased 7.8 percent...

In preparation for its competition with 16 other cities in the Take Charge Challenge, a committee of officials from a variety of Fort Scott entities met Thursday with representatives of the Climate and Energy Project and Westar Energy. The Climate and Energy Project is coordinating the energy efficiency contest, which is sponsored by the Kansas Energy Office in partnership with committees and utilities across the state. Westar Energy is the energy partner...

Students in Kelly Woodring's kindergarten class at Winfield Scott Elementary School decided they did not want to exchange gifts with each other this Christmas. Instead, they all brought food items to be donated to the local animal shelter. "We were just trying to focus on giving rather than getting," Woodring said...

As I downloaded Clay Aiken's version of my favorite Christmas song "Mary, Did You Know," I began to cry as the lyrics came to life. For just a few moments, I was transported to a Bethlehem inn where a tiny baby boy was cradled in His mother's arms. Max Lucado describes the miracle: "He (Jesus) came, not as a flash of light or as an unapproachable conqueror, but as one whose first cries were heard by a peasant girl and a sleepy carpenter. ...

HALL -- Angie and Kevin Hall, Fort Scott; and siblings Kayla, Josh and Braylen, are proud to announce the birth of their daughter and sister, Kenzie Faith Hall. Kenzie was born at 11:45 a.m., Dec. 16, 2010 at Mercy Health Center in Fort Scott. She weighed 6 pounds, 9 1/2 ounces at birth...

Walter Andrew "Andy" Thatcher, 57, of Pleasanton, Kan., died Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 at Shawnee Mission Medical Center. Graveside Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m., Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at the Pleasanton Cemetery, Pleasanton, Kan. Friends may call from 10 a.m. until service time at the Coffel-Schneider Funeral Home, Pleasanton, Kan...

Vera Ann (Matson) Winn, 76, of Pittsburg, died at 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 in the Via Christi Hospital in Pittsburg. She was born March 10, 1934 in Girard, a daughter of E. F. "Pete" and Betsy (Terrill) Matson. She grew up and attended schools in Girard...

Darrel E. Beth, age 62, a resident of rural Fulton, Kan., died Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan. He was born Nov. 16, 1948, at Fort Scott, Kan., the son of Ellis Lee Beth and Catherine Costen Beth...

Ruth Agnes Pigg Wilcher Dugan, 96, passed away Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 15, 2010 at Guest Home Estates in Fort Scott, Kan. She was born Aug. 22, 1914 in Missoula, Mont., to Jesse T. and Flora (Vaughan) Pigg. She moved to Bourbon County in 1921. She graduated from Fort Scott High School, Fort Scott Community College and Pittsburg State University...

During the Civil War, the War Departments of the United and Confederate States were faced with many logistical problems. Logistics is the branch of military science that involves the purchasing, maintaining and transporting of material and personnel. ...