Stories from Friday, January 13, 2012

It starts with you. And me. God has given each of us, individually, another year to make a difference, despite how things in this world are in a colossal mess morally, economically, politically and spiritually. We turn on the news, we read the headlines, and we get discouraged, wondering if THIS will be the year Jesus will return and take us home. After all, it's never been this bad...

Submitted to The Tribune First Southern Baptist Church has announced that it has called Steven Porter as full-time pastor. Porter grew up in Cherryvale, Kan. His mother, Helen, was a teacher and a school psychologist. His father, Tom, owned the pharmacy in Cherryvale for many years and later worked as a pharmacist for St. John's Hospital in Joplin for nearly 25 years...

Both of Fort Scott High School's basketball teams will play first-round games Tuesday as they make their annual trip to the Basehor-Linwood Invitational. The Tigers play host to Girard tonight at the FSHS gymnasium. Those games will not affect the tournament as it was seeded based on records as of Wednesday night...

Bret John Odell, 30, Fort Scott, was arrested by the Fort Scott Police Department at 4:19 p.m. Tuesday for two Bourbon County warrants. He is still being held at this time with no bond. Jeremy Zane Willey, 31, Columbus, Kan., was arrested by the Bourbon County Sheriff's Office at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday for a Bourbon County warrant for a probation violation. He is still being held at this time with no bond...

100 YEARS AGO (1912) The record temperature for Fort Scott since 1905 was reached last night some time after midnight when the government thermometer registered 18 degrees below zero. This was three degrees colder than had been registered here by any previous time this year, 15 having been reached by the mercury one week ago tonight, and again on yesterday morning. ...

During the holiday season, I was reminded of how blessed I am to live in a rural state where family values and community traditions run deep. No tradition runs deeper from generation to generation than the tradition of working on a family farm. However, these rural traditions are under attack in Washington, D.C. ...

An emergency department secretary for St. John's Mercy, her husband, a Joplin firefighter, and their four sons will be among seven families featured on tonight's episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." The show will air at 9 p.m. on ABC and is the 200th and final installment in the reality series...

Following up on the success of last year's toe-tapping extravaganza, the Fort Scott Rotary Club will sponsor its second annual "Dancing with Our Stars." Featuring local celebrities, the event will benefit local charities with performances at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center at Fort Scott Community College, 2108 S. Horton...

Icy road conditions Thursday morning led to a a one-vehicle rollover accident east of Fort Scott that injured two people. Richard Thenikl Jr., 46, and Jolene Emery, 43, both of Carterville, Mo., were hurt when Thenikl, who was driving a 2000 F150 Ford pickup, lost control on the ice. The vehicle left the road and overturned. The crash took place shortly before 8:30 a.m. Thursday on U.S. Highway 54 two miles east of Fort Scott...

No one was injured during a fire which broke out inside the Scottview Apartments building Wednesday night. Fort Scott Fire Department Chief Paul Ballou said the fire originated in a clothes dryer in the laundry room located in the middle of the building's first floor...