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For jarhead.

Hey, does anyone know if the county courthouse and the county road department has changed their hours? I saw a county rock truck driving east out of Elk Falls with a load of rock today around 3:30 p.m., so wondered if the county had changed their days and hours. Of course, maybe there was an emergency that the road crew had to take care of today, so that would explain why I saw that truck. Just wondering if anyone knows.

Here's to a wonderful 2012 to all my Elk County Forum friends. May we all have a safe time and live each day to its fullest.

Can someone explain to me what this request from Commissioner Ritz is all about? I got this from the Prairie Star, 12-7-11, online edition. Taken from the minutes that were published.

The commissioners asked the County
Clerk to get them details on how retired
employees are to submit their insurance
payments for reimbursement.


My question is...do we pay for retired employees to have insurance or do we reimburse retired employees for their insurance? I am certainly confused on this.

Then there is this...County Counseling
Motion was made by Commissioner
Hendricks and seconded by Commissioner
Ritz to seek a County Counselor
as needed. Motion carried. The money
would come from the County Attorney's
budget. After further discussion Commissioner
Hendricks moved to rescind her motion
and Commissioner Ritz seconded the
motion. Motion passed. Commissioner
Hendricks moved and Commissioner Ritz
seconded the motion to authorize Commissioner
Liebau to seek someone to give
legal advice for some County issues. Current
issues would include trash and the Enterprise
Zone.


It appears that the county attorney is not acting as the county counselor, so Commissioner Liebau is being given permission to seek advice. Is he going to get that advice from his son, who is an attorney? Wouldn't that be some kind of a problem if he does? Maybe an ethical issue? (If he does seek his son's advice). And just what is the "Enterprise Zone"?

John F. Petersen, 74, of Emporia, Kansas, died on November 26, 2011 at his home in Emporia.

John was born on November 29, 1936 in Emporia, the son of Earl H. and Virginia F. Kyle Petersen. He married Roberta A. Roberts on August 21, 1955 in Emporia. She died on November 6, 2006 in Emporia.

Surviving family members include: son, Steven J. Petersen of Dothan, Alabama; Daughters, Danita Rees, Sheryl Swift, and Brenda Stock of Emporia; and Laurie Ryan of Eureka, Kansas; grandchildren, Stephanie Thomas of Topeka, Kansas, Joshua Rees of Emporia, Nicki Moree of Emporia, Christopher Swift of Emporia, Dustin Ryan of Iola, Kansas, Emilie Ryan of Eureka, Ginny Samples of Emporia, Nevik Stock of Emporia, and Brice Stock of Emporia; great-grandchildren, Logan Thomas, Katelynn Thomas, Cade Thomas, Landon Moree, and Isabella Samples.

He is preceded in death by his parents; wife; sisters, Gayla M. Dieker, Faye E. Litke; and brothers, Lynn D. Petersen and Howard K. Petersen.

John was a banker for many years, and during those years he worked for Citizens National Bank, Emporia; West America Securities, Emporia; Lyon County State Bank, Emporia; First National Bank in Clinton, Arkansas; Emprise Bank, Eureka; R.T.C. in Kansas City, Kansas; Piqua State Bank, Piqua, Kansas; Admire Bank, Emporia; Howard State Band, Howard; Burden State Bank, Burden; Quad County State Bank, Viburnum, Missouri; Farmers State Bank, Oakley, Kansas; First State Bank of Sharon, Aneta, North Dakota; Douglas National Bank, Kansas City, Missouri; Alva State Bank and Trust, Alva, Oklahoma; and Stone County National Bank, Crane, Missouri.

He served in the United States Army in Kitzingen, Germany. He was a member of the Emporia Masonic Lodge #12 A.F. & A.M., Scottish Rite, and the Arab Temple. John was active in the United Way, Kiwanis, and the Chamber of Commerce in Emporia and Howard. He served on the Emporia Board of Education from 1981 to 1984.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 P.M., Thursday, December 1, 2011 at Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home, Emporia. The service will be conducted by Pastor Lee Hoskins of Emporia. Burial will follow in Evergreen Cemetery, Emporia. The visitation will be held from 6:30 to 7:30, Wednesday evening, November 30, 2011 at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions to Hand in Hand Hospice or Shriners Hospitals for Children Travel Fund may be sent in care of the funeral home.

(taken from the Roberts-Blue-Barnett  Funeral Home web site)

In this week's Prairie Star, Robin Rivers reported a story on the Sheriff's Office finding a stranded hunter who was also a handicapped person. I hope you take the time to read the article. It is a well written article. It is the kind of articles that I would like to see in the paper.

Good job, Elk County Sheriff's Office. I can only guess how relieved that hunter and his family were that you were able to find him safe and sound. Again, good job. (As my neighbor, Derek Decker, would say.)

I saw this on yahoo news today and thought of Steve. Hope you all enjoy.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/tree-climbing-goats-1316026287-slideshow/

Tom R. Russell, age 54, a resident of Howard, Kansas passed away Saturday, September 10, 2011 at Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice Center in Wichita, Kansas. He was born on July 18, 1957 in Wiesbaden, Germany, the son of Weldon and M. Betty (Criger) Russell. He was a graduate of West Elk High School class of 1975.

Tom worked many years as a truck driver hauling cattle. On August 1, 1997. Tom was united in marriage to Angela Blanton in Houston, Texas, and she survives at their home.

He is also survived by his mother,  M. Betty Russell of Howard, Kansas; three sons, C. Reid Russell of Howard, Kansas, Dustin Russell of Ponca City, Oklahoma, and Preston Jones of Aline, Oklahoma; one daughter,  Monica Ann Fouch of Valley Center, Kansas; one stepson, Garrett Perry of Hardin, Texas; and five grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his father, Weldon Russell.

Cremation has taken place and a memorial services will be held at 2:00 PM Saturday, September 17, 2011 at Countryside – Zimmerman Funeral Home, 206 E. Washington, Howard, Kansas. Family suggests memorial contributions be made to Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice or charity of choice and may be left with the funeral home. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.countrysidefh.com. Arrangements are under the direction of Countryside - Zimmerman Funeral Home in Howard, Kansas.

(taken from the Countryside-Zimmerman website.)

The Tulsa news is reporting that people shooting machine guns at a gun range close to Muskogee started a wild fire that sent lots and lots of smoke into the city of Tulsa.

This got me to wondering. If you are in a firefight while in Iraq or Afghanistan and you are using a machine gun and it starts a fire, what do you do? Do you try to put the fire out? Do you not worry about it because maybe it will burn up the enemy? What is the responsibility of the military in a war zone?

I know to those of you who have fought in wars think this is a stupid questions, but I think about things like this. I have never been in a firefight of any kind and have never served in the military, so someone tell me what the thought is when this happens.

I noticed an Elk County deputy parked in the plant parking lot today. Apparently his wife works there and I guess he stopped to have lunch. Since I couldn't figure out why he was there, I called the Elk County Sheriff's Office to see why he was parked there. (Understand that the plant parking lot is not a public parking lot.) I thought it was odd that he would drive over just to have lunch with his wife. What I learned was that he was on county business in Independence and was continuing on to Caney for some more county business. The plant was on his way and how nice it was that he came to share lunch with his wife.

We have a lot of relatives that come out to the plant to have lunch with the employees, but they usually go to the cafeteria to eat. We do have some of the best food in the area.

Anyway, that got me to thinking. Would you, as a taxpayer, consider that to be a misuse of public funds? Do you think it is a benefit that the law enforcement officers get to take a vehicle home every night?

Now, I already know the answers to these questions. I just want to see what you have to say. Let me know your opinions.

(Here is a hint. On the part about taking vehicles home by law enforcement officers, we have laws about that.)

Is anyone watching the President tonight? Here is my question...Have you ever seen so many pretty ties in one room at the same time? Oh my gosh. Pretty ties. Polka dots. Stripes. Pastels. Solids. Godish browns. All bright and flashy. All wide ties.

I can't hear what the president is saying for the beautiful ties and the red suits the ladies are wearing.

Interesting reading in the Prairie Star this evening which shows the list of delinquent property taxes in Elk and Chautauqua Counties.

It looks as if Chautauqua County has more people who owe back taxes than Elk County does, but I didn't count each one.

It is also interesting who is on that list. Just sayin.

What happens now or what is the next step when schools have citizens who owe money for school lunches, for school books, for school fees, and these citizens do not pay these bills? What does a school do or what does the school board do?

For example...parents have not paid for school fees, school lunches, etc., for several years and the bill amounts to a couple or three thousand dollars. What does the school do next?

When several families do not pay these bills, then the school districts are really hurting.

Does the school board take the parents or individuals, (as the case may be), to small claims court? Does the school maybe try to garnish the wages of these parents in order to collect what is owed? Or does the school just shove it all under the rug and cut their losses?

Do we taxpayers now have to pay higher taxes because the school can't get these folks to pay up? (I'm not talking about a few hundred dollars, I am talking $3,000 owed by one family).

What happens now? Does anyone want to venture a guess on this one?

Just got word from friends in Chautauqua County that Gene Evans passed away yesterday. Gene was a long-time resident of Wauneta, Kansas, and worked as a reserve deputy for several sheriffs in Chautauqua County. That is all I know at this time.

In the Independence Daily Reporter an article about Elk County Sheriff's Office destroying 4,000 marijuana plants made the front page. Good job, sheriff's office. This agency worked from 3:00 a.m. Wednesday until 4 p.m. eradicating these plants that were obviously cultivated and were being tended by someone.

What I find very nice is that we got some news covereage. Maybe, just maybe this will detour someone else from planting anything in our county.

Here's the article word-for-word for those of you who do not get the paper.

MARIJUANA PLANTS DESTROYED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT IN ELK CO. By Allen Smith, Staff Writer, published on Thursday, July 28, 2011, in the Independence Daily Reporter.

Nearly a dozen law enforcement agencies convered on a field about a quarter of a mile west of K-99 in Elk County and set fire to just under 4,000 marijuana plants that were growing there.

Elk County Sheriff Doug Hanks said late Wednesday afternoon his department had received a tip sometime last year abut the plants growing in the field on Turkey Road in Elk County and officers of several agencies have been keeping an eye of the field.

"We have not been lucky enough to catch anyone in the field, but the marijuana has been harvested recently," Hanks said.

In addition to the plants Hanks said some drying tables, some furniture and some "pretty crude shelter" was found at the scene today.

"We took it all out, he said. "We had a big fire burning and got rid of all that marijuana.

"The bad part is we weren't able to make any arrests and we don't know who the stuff belonged to," Hanks said.

He said the extrication of the plants began about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday and concluded around 4 p.m.

Hanks said he did not know how much the marijuana would have been worth on the street.

Besides the Elk County Sheriff's Department, other agencies involved in the bust on Wednesday included: the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency, ICE, Kansas Wildlife and Parks, Greenwood, Cowley and Chautauqua County Sheriff's Departments, Neodesha Police Department, the Kansas National Guard and the Kansas Highway Patrol provided helicopters for the effort.

In addition, Hanks said he had Eagle Med out of Wichita at the scene, along with the Elk County Emergency Medical Service personnel, the Elk County Rural Fire Department and the Elk County Road and Bridge Department provided a truck and front end loader.

Hanks encouraged Elk County residents to be on the lookout for suspicious activity that could be drug related and call his department at (620) 374-2108.

How does one become "hidden" on this forum? When I look at who is looking at the same topic I am, I see "hidden" and the number. I don't know how to become "hidden". Someone tell me how, please. I feel as if I am missing out by not being able to be "hidden" when I am looking at these topics.

Oh, never mind. I really don't care what you all think about my rantings and ravings. I am getting closer to becoming a senior citizen everyday and I think since I am over 50, I can wear purple and red together or mix plaids and stripes and wear two different colored socks and not tie my shoes and not comb my hair if I want to. LOL Oh, yeah, and not answer the phone or the door if I don't like who is on the other end or on the other side of the door. Ms. T taught me that. ROFLMBO

Has anyone on this forum been owned by a Persian cat? My roommate has one. His name is Thomas. He is mostly white with a black tail and his left ear is black. We have had the worst time with eye drainage on him. Persians have such flat faces that their sinuses do a lot of draining. We do our best to wipe his eyes every night, but we still have nasty draining around his eyes and down his little cheeks. Does anyone know anything about what to do for this problem?

My Aunt Cleo Weyrauch, wife of Uncle Bob Weyrauch, passed away May, 29, 2011. (I think I got the date right). Anyway, I don't know what funeral home is going to provide the services, but her service will be at St. John the Evangelist Church, 302 N. Denver, El Dorado, Ks., on Friday, June 3, 2011. Rosary will be said at 10:30 a.m. Mass will begin at 11:00 a.m. Aunt Cleo will be buried in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Moline, Ks.

Dewey Catlin, a retired Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper, formerly of Sedan, Kansas, passed away on May 20th, 2011, I believe. His son, Adam, said that services will be sometime next week in Sedan. I didn't put down the date of death as I actually am not sure if it was the 20th or the 21st. Anyway, Dewey Catlin was stationed in Sedan, Kansas, and worked with the area sheriff's offices for many years. He was in Sedan around the same time that Jim Gaddie was our trooper here in Elk County. When I learn more details will post.

Chris Austin is the son of Eldon Austin and Mary Doane from Eureka, Kansas. Eldon and Mary both grew up in Severy, Kansas.