Stories from Thursday, September 29, 2011

Uniontown High School students (third from left) Brittany Tanner, Amelia Brown and Rachel Henderson conduct the "See You at the Pole" event at UHS early Wednesday morning. The annual event drew approximately 30 students, teachers and patrons who surrounded the school's flag before classes began. It is sponsored by the UHS Fellowship of Christian Athletes...

The Marmaton Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) Project has been working for several years on evaluating the Marmaton River watershed for problem areas, water quality/stream flow data and needed conservation efforts. This watershed is used widely for drinking water and is a part of the drainage area above the also widely used Truman Reservoir...

Oct. 2-8 is National 4-H Week, and the Southwind Extension District in Allen, Bourbon and Neosho counties is celebrating the 4-H youth who have made an impact on the community and are stepping up to the challenges of a complex and changing world. Recent findings from Tufts University's 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development indicate that young people in 4-H are three times more likely to contribute to their communities than youth not participating in 4-H. ...

The management team at The EPOCH Group, also known as Epoch MedPlans, a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield Kansas City, has announced the promotion of Tonya Piatt to a Trainer/Quality Analyst position. Piatt began employment as a health claims examiner with The EPOCH Group on July 5, when the office first opened in Fort Scott...

Local singles can find a date while raising money for a local charity when an old-fashioned auction comes to Fort Scott this weekend. A boxed dinner auction will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Gunn Park's Shelter House No. 6 with all proceeds going to The Beacon, a local food pantry...

Donald Keith James, 48, 3026 N. Marion Ave., Joplin, Mo., was arrested by the Fort Scott Police Department at 8:52 a.m. Tuesday for theft and released at 10:50 a.m. the same day on a $1,250 bond.

Megan and Robert Binford, Rich Hill, Mo., are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter Keigan Paige Binford on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011, at 12:28 p.m. at Nevada Regional Hospital, Nevada, Mo. Keigan weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20 inches in length...

Kaylee and Kale Johnson, Fort Scott, are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter Kenley Shae Johnson on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011, at 2:52 p.m. at Mercy Health Center, Fort Scott. Kenley weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces. Maternal grandparents are Jeanne and Rick Stramel, Carthage, Mo...

Lena (Tucker) Ritz Morrow, 98, of Parsons, Kan., died at 2:22 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011, at Elmhaven East Nursing Home. She had been in failing health. She was born Sept. 6, 1913, in Fort Scott, Kan., to Henry and Lenita (Morrison) Tucker. As a young girl, she grew up and attended school in Fort Scott...

100 YEARS AGO (1911) Attorney W.F. Jackson, Sher Perkins and Beatley Harris have long heard of game hogs, but they have discovered a new species -- the fish hog. They are advocates of an open season for this class of game from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. Yesterday morning they had spent some time on Paint Creek fishing, with good results, each landing a good string of bass and crappie. ...

On the opening weekend for Fort Scott Community College's debate and forensics squad, the Greyhounds traveled to Hutchinson to compete at the "Debate on the Plains" tournament, touted by many as one of the toughest of the year. Many of the top squads from last year's nationals made up the field of the 23 colleges in attendance...

The Fort Scott Chapter of Kansans for Life will sponsor the annual Life Chain on Sunday, Oct. 2. Thousands of people across America will join together that day in a visual solidarity statement that the killing of unborn children is wrong, a news release said...

Area youth who are 8 to 12 years of age will have a unique opportunity at this year's Gordon Parks Celebration of Culture and Diversity. A new event, titled "Who Is the Next Gordon Parks?," has been added for the 8th annual celebration. The workshop will include four hands-on sessions in which participants will learn about photography, filmmaking, acting, directing and writing...

The Shirley Yeager Friends of Animals Foundation is seeking a variety of necessary donations to open its new facility. Recently re-named the Lee Weast Animal Shelter, many items have already been provided, but a large amount of other needs remain, a news release said...

Two Prescott women want to educate the public about service dogs and the federal law regarding the specially trained canines. Denise Hemken and her niece, Alissa Hinz, both own service dogs, which are defined according to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Some dogs are trained in programs and others by their owners...

PITTSBURG -- Fort Scott High School's golf team finished fourth at a tournament here Tuesday. The Tigers shot 496 to finish two shots up on fifth-place Parsons. Karley Stark was the 10th-place medalist as she shot 53 on the front nine and 54 on the back for a total of 107...

NEVADA -- Fort Scott High School's tennis team played the best-of-nine dual format against Nevada here Tuesday with the home team winning six matches. Fort Scott's junior varsity won four of five matches played. "We don't play the dual format except for this one match each season and it's good to see how the girls play when playing both singles and doubles." Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said. "We opened with doubles and then came back and played the singles matches...

MOUND CITY -- Jayhawk-Linn defeated Uniontown's volleyball team in three games here Tuesday night, taking the lead in the Three Rivers League. The Eagles (6-1 TRL, 18-5 overall) took the other two matches in the quadrangular from Chetopa and Marmaton Valley...

Running out to a 12-1 lead in the first game of a Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division match with Coffeyville at Arnold Arena Wednesday night, it appeared that the Greyhounds would enjoy a cakewalk over the visiting Red Ravens. But once the Greyhounds lost their momentum they found it difficult to recapture and the Ravens slugged their way to a 5-game victory, 13-25, 27-25, 25-21, 29-31, 15-9...