Stories from Friday, August 24, 2012

100 YEARS AGO (1912) During this hot weather we've been having, the milk question was never more serious that at the present. Yesterday, the hottest day of the year, some milkmen were delivering their milk at noon, exposing it to the hot sun in the tin cans that are so commonly used. ...

By the summer of 1862, the Guerrilla War in "Missouri" had reached epic destructive proportions where "No quarter was asked none was given!" It was a cruel, brutal barbaric war in which there was no neutrality with civilian homes and farms being destroyed. ...

J. Scott Gander, Fort Scott, a Modern Woodmen of America managing partner, recently attended the Modern Woodmen Leadership Career Institute, held at the firm's home office in Rock Island, Ill. Modern Woodmen's top managers are invited to attend the event where speakers teach those attending to become better leaders, improve results in their regions and inspire those with whom they work, a news release said...

SEK Financial has announced the addition of Mitch Quick. Quick was born and raised in Fort Scott and has spent most of his life here. He is a graduate of Fort Scott High School and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Pittsburg State University...

Because of television replays, much public attention has been given to calls blown by referees and umpires. As a parent of a professional baseball player, it is frustrating when such technology shows the pitch thrown to Adam to be several inches off the plate, yet the umpire calls it a strike. Every hitter knows that if he loses his composure and "shows the umpire up," he will be thrown out of the game...

The Bourbon County Parish of United Methodist Churches will hold its annual picnic at Hiattville United Methodist Church Sunday, August. 26. Visiting will start at 5:30 p.m. and the potluck meal will begin at 6:30 p.m. Table service and drinks will be provided...

John A. George, president and chief engineer of Agricultural Engineering Associates Inc. of Uniontown, was honored with the PEI Professional Engineer of the Year Award on Aug. 1 during awards programs at the American Association of Agricultural and Biological Engineers' Annual International Meeting held at the Anatole Hilton Dallas...

The Fort Scott Planning Commission will meet at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, in the City Commission meeting room at City Hall to make recommendations to fill vacancies on the board. The meeting is open to the public.

The public is invited to share their ideas on the downtown area during a Community Conversation focused on historic downtown scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 28, at life+style, 22 N. Main St. Downtown businesses and building owners are particularly encouraged to attend, and input from the general public is also requested, a news release said. ...

More than 50 people attended Thursday's Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce-Nevada/Vernon County Chamber of Commerce after-hours event at Crooner's Lounge. Under an informal agreement, the chambers have held the mixers since September 2011 in the spring and fall. The turnout for this one was a little down because yesterday was the first day of school in Nevada, but that didn't dampen the spirits of those attending...

On day when tinderbox conditions were creating wildfires around the area, Bourbon County Emergency Manager Keith Jeffers was on the scene. Jeffers has been everywhere the past four and a half years whenever there is a disaster -- whether it's stormy weather or a grass or house fire...

The USD 234 Board of Education joined other local taxing entities when the panel voted not to raise the local mill levy during a special meeting Thursday. The board voted 5-2 to approve a motion to amend the 2012-13 budget to reflect no change in the current mill levy. The district's budget will instead take a $40,200 hit in its supplemental general fund, or local option budget; money that was already budgeted that cannot be spent next year, officials said...

Charles Procyk, age 87, a resident of Fort Scott, died Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012, at the Medicalodges of Fort Scott, Kan. Funeral services will be announced by the McCauley Funeral Home in Youngwood, Pa. Local arrangements are under the direction of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, Fort Scott...

Billy Wayne Kittler, 43, Fort Scott, was arrested at 4:18 p.m. Wednesday by the Bourbon County Sheriff's Office for domestic battery and criminal damage to property and is still being held at this time.

The Board of Zoning Appeals will meet at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, in the City Commission meeting room at City Hall to make recommendations to fill vacancies on the board. The meeting is open to the public.

Baxter Springs sophomore Ali Cure stepped up when her team needed her to Thursday night, picking up three kills in quick fashion in the fifth and deciding game as Fort Scott Community College held off a surging Clarendon (Texas) squad in five sets in their season opener, which was also the first match of the Fort Scott Tournament at Arnold Arena...

The Fort Scott Community College Greyhounds will open the 2012 football season Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Highland in a Kansas Jayhawk Conference Community College contest. Greyhound Head Coach Curtis Horton enters his second season at the helm for the Hounds, sixth season overall, and will look at experience as a key to this year's team success...

When the 2011 season saw his football team go 4-4 after having bad outings in its first two games, most head coaches would look back and feel bad about how things went. But not Curtis Horton, the second-year head coach of Fort Scott Community College's football team. Horton sees last year as a positive experience and a chance for the 2012 team to grow with the experience that was not there a year ago...