Stories from Thursday, April 12, 2012

As we now proceed directly into the planting season of 2012 -- a very busy time on the farm -- there are some USDA program deadlines that remain on the schedule. The extended CRP general sign up ends this Friday, April 13. Reporting wheat, oats, and barley acres for the year can be accomplished by May 31...

What a nice spring we have experienced so far. It's hard to believe how warm it has been and how early things seem to be growing this year. With the exceptionally warm temperatures, what about planting vegetables in April? Hopefully, all of the cool season vegetables that could be planted in March are in the ground and doing well. ...

Ben William Greenfield, 63, resident of Irving, Texas, died Monday, April 9, 2012, at the Elmcroft Hospice Center in Irving. He was born July 27, 1948, in Fort Scott, Kan., the son of Ben C. Greenfield Jr. and Florence Dolores Hord Greenfield. Ben was a purchasing agent with a heating and air conditioning division of a construction business. ...

Elmer H. "Butch" Reed, 63, resident of rural Fort Scott, Kan., died Sunday, April 08, 2012, at his home. He was born Feb. 20, 1949, in Coretta, W.Va., the son of Rufus Elmer Reed and Daisy Louise Hicks Reed. Butch was retired as a truck driver with Mid-Western Distribution...

Mary Louise Kopaska, 74, died at her home in Olathe, Kan., early Tuesday morning, April 10, 2012. She was born Oct. 14, 1937, in Doniphan, Kan. the daughter of Harold Charles and Evelyn Cecilia (Novinski) Boos. She married Raymond Eugene Kopaska April 21, 1956 in Atchison, Kansas, and he survives of the home...

Louise Louderback, 97, formerly of Fort Scott, Kan., died Wednesday, April 11, 2012, in San Antonio, Texas. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home.

The Little Balkans Quilt Guild will meet Monday at 7 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church, sixth and Pine Streets in Pittsburg. The April meeting includes Deb Rowden from Lawrence talking about using cherished clothing to make sample quilts. Representatives from the Crawford County Ambulance Service and the Crawford County Health Department will be presented with donation quilts...

To the Editor: Just a note of thanks to family and friends of my mother Patricia Smith who donated, in memorium, over $1,200 to the Mercy Hospital Foundation for "Fort Scott Dialysis." It was indicated to me by Mercy Health Center Fort Scott that they are due to conduct a feasibility study for a dialysis treatment facility in Fort Scott. ...

100 YEARS AGO (1912) Seldom has there been as an attractive affair as the luncheon which Mrs. C.D. Sample and Mrs. W.D. Witwer gave yesterday afternoon to over 60 guests in compliment to two charming visitors, Mrs. C.S. Jobes of Kansas City, Mo., and Miss Helen Louise Knecht of Dayton, Ohio. ...

The Postal Service on Wednesday issued a reminder that it has a comprehensive business plan providing for financial stability and a return to profitability. The plan requires a reduction of annual costs by $22.5 billion by 2016, a news release said...

RFD-TV's "Best of America by Horseback" co-host Del Shields offered to help Echoes of the Trail by giving a concert at 7 p.m., April 28, in the Round Room of Bailey Hall at Fort Scott Community College, 2108 S. Horton. Shields sings, plays guitar, yodels and writes cowboy poetry and songs. He is a real cowboy and farrier, and for "Best of America by Horseback," Shields has ridden from Mexico to Canada, shoeing horses, preaching the gospel and singing around the campfire...

The local radio station is hosting an all-new event this year -- the 2012 All Hit 103.9 FM Home, Sport, Farm and Garden Show. All Hit 103.9 KOMB/KMDO has taken charge of the annual occasion, which this year will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Arnold Arena on the campus of Fort Scott Community College, 2108 S. Horton...

Southeast Kansas residents are invited to attend the Spring 2012 Regional Summit about Project 17 on Friday in Iola. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, along with other regional senators and residents, are expected to attend the event. "The summit will feature presentations on the efforts being undertaken through Project 17 that focus on economic growth, improved health outcomes, promoting regional leadership and creating a permanent structure to ensure a long-term regional effort," the Project 17 Spring Summit website said.. ...

Woodland Hills Golf Course will be closed to the public on Monday so the greens can be aerated. It will reopen on Tuesday. Questions can be directed to the golf course at (620) 223-5060.

This spring, it won't be unusual to see about 20 kids jumping around on the east side lawn next to Mercy Health for Life on Mondays and Wednesdays. Thanks in large part to additional funding, Mercy Health for Life is offering a kids "Fit Class" for the first time this spring...

City crews spent several hours addressing breaks in two water lines that occurred Tuesday evening. Public Utilities Director Richard Cook said the biggest break took place on Osbun between Sixth and Seventh streets, and the other occurred on Ninth Street between Main Street and Scott Avenue on the south side of Frary Field near Fort Scott High School. Both leaks took several hours to repair...

PARSONS -- Senior Kyle Altic, who injured his knee during the Class 4A State Basketball Tournament in early March, returned to tennis action for the first time since last spring Tuesday and teamed up with Bryce Daly to win the No. 1 singles title at the Labette County Invitational here Tuesday...

PARSONS -- Fort Scott High School's softball team split a Southeast Kansas League doubleheader with Parsons here Tuesday evening. The Tigers won the opener, 9-7, but dropped the second game, 7-6, as the Vikings scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning...

PITTSBURG -- Tucker Horn and Conner Antonetti earned medals here at Pittsburg's invitational meet while Fort Scott High finished seventh in team standings. Horn and Antonetti tied with several other players with scores of 81. Horn (42 front nine, 39 back) won the scorecard playoff and Antonetti (also 42-39) was second-best. This put Horn in seventh place and Antonetti in eighth...

Dale and Betty Hixon traveled to Kansas City International Airport March 28 to meet their brother-in-law, Stan Armstrong, Arlington, Texas, so he could have some time with his dad, Howard Armstrong. Roberta Armstrong and sons came on Saturday so they could be here for the funeral of Howard on Tuesday...