News
Powers a fixture at Thayer Senior Citizen Center
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter THAYER – To celebrate her 88th birthday, the Thayer Senior Citizen Center held a birthday party Thursday afternoon for longtime manager Margaret Powers. Powers has run the center for the past 22 years, seeing everything from the fire that destroyed the old meeting place, a church in Thayer, to the construction of a new building in 1991. “I worked two years before that. We moved in here in August of ‘91, w...
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Taylor closing out five years as assistant superintendent
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter Assistant Superintendent for Chanute Public Schools Kathryn Taylor will retire this year after five years in the district and 34 years working in education. Prior to working for USD 413 Taylor worked in Dodge City for nine years, some of which as Principal of Dodge City Middle School, and then Director of Secondary Education. She came back to Chanute, which is her hometown, five years ago, and plans on rema...
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Longtime USD 413 educators retiring
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter Seven teachers will retire from USD 413 this year. Several have spent the majority of their career in the district. Their knowledge and experience is invaluable, and they will be truly missed. Bob Cross will retire after 41 years at Royster Middle School. Marilyn Hurt currently teaches at Chanute Elementary School and has been with the district for 35 years. David Olson teaches at RMS and has been in the di...
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New store has coffee and computer needs covered
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter Is it a computer repair shop with coffee, or a coffee shop that also does computer repair? Either way Total Tech at 121 E. Main is a place to relax, have some coffee, and either browse on a computer or get one fixed. Owners Josh and Susan Woolley wanted to open a computer repair shop initially. They found the store front on Main and decided it was too big for just a computer repair shop. So they turned the s...
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Erie family collecting donations for victims of Joplin tornado
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter ERIE —  A fundraising effort by Erie residents Byron and Kyle Shultz took a quick turnaround after Sunday’s tornado in Joplin. Kyle had begun a drive to take donations to Alabama after hearing of the record breaking destruction caused after a series of tornadoes there. Kyle reported on Thursday that the donations collected will be re-routed to Joplin. The plan is to collect goods with plans to deliver th...
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Donation deadline today at 9:30 a.m. at Armory
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter Donations have been pouring into the Joplin tornado relief program set up in the Chanute Armory Building. Throughout this week, volunteers have made three trips to Joplin and will make one last trip to the Joplin American Red Cross this morning. Volunteers will arrive in the Armory Building around 7 a.m. and begin loading the truck around 8 a.m., and will continue to accept donations until the truck depar...
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Apartment destroyed one day after move
Tribune staff The family of Chanute High School graduate Blake Morgan was in Joplin Saturday to move the Missouri Southern University student to a different apartment in the city. One day later, her third floor apartment at 20th and Connecticut and all of her belongings were gone. Ironically, the building where she moved from was still standing. “She lost everything,” Chanute resident Carolyn Morgan said of her daughter. On Sunday Blake w...
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Rural Erie farm damaged by high winds
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter ERIE — After several parts of the Midwest have been battered by intense rounds of storms early this week, one hit very close to home. Tuesday night Mark and Liz O’Daniel’s property, just outside of Erie, was ravaged by intense winds. What used to be the O’Daniel’s pole barn now lays in a heap of wood and nails around their property. The roof landed across U.S. 59 highway, and parts of it still hang in the wi...
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Committee to weigh both sides of local government ordinance
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter City Commissioners on Monday evening rescinded the certified local government resolution passed in November of last year and tabled the proposed certified local government ordinance until a research committee can be formed. The committee, whose members have yet to be appointed, will come back to the City Commission with information portraying both the potential benefits and disadvantages of creating a certi...
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Bakers lose belongings in tornado
Tribune staff Former Chanute residents Brenda and Dennis Baker have been preparing to move into a new home in Joplin. As of Sunday evening, their new home is standing, but the rental home they were living in is not. Both homes are in the vicinity of the damaged St. John’s Hospital. Kay Patton, Chanute, Brenda’s sister, said the Bakers had moved to Joplin about a year ago to retire. They were closing on the new house and were making preparat...
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Welder advances to nationals as state champ
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter For the third consecutive year, the Neosho County Community College and Chanute High School welding class has brought home a state title from the State SkillsUSA Welding Fabrication Competition. After two-time champion Josh Tull graduated in 2010, welding instructor Will Jordan decided to send CHS senior Garrett Ross in 2011. Ross finished in first place in the state welding competition at Wichita Area Tech...
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Chanute sends assistance to Joplin
Chanute first-responders traveled to Joplin on Sunday to assist the devastation of the tornado, said Sam Budreau, public information officer. Capt. Mike MIller of the Chanute Police Department and Capt. Kirk Steeves of the Chanute Fire Department headed up the group who planned to return home on Monday night. Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center sent an ambulance and crew in response to an official call for mutual aid, said Patricia Mor...
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Chanute connections told in Joplin disaster
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter Several Chanute residents were in Joplin or had family members there when a three-quarter-mile wide tornado tore through town on Sunday evening. Former Chanute resident Trisha Williams and her husband, Jeff, now live in Joplin. Her family and home is safe, but many nearby lost everything. Williams said, “From our house you look in either direction and it yields no clue to the devastation 10 blocks away.” W...
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Superintendent Parsons retires from Chanute Public Schools
Reception Wednesday at CES  Connie Woodard Special to the Tribune After 40 years in education in southeast Kansas, Superintendent Stephen Parsons is stepping down from a satisfying career with no regrets.  “Every step in my career has been positive and provided a great opportunity for me to grow and learn,” Parsons said. “You get to meet and work with some really great people. I have been blessed to have been given the chance to learn from...
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Uganda experience stimulates return trip
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter Chanute resident Hallea Geiger returned last week from her four-month mission in Tororo, Uganda where she worked at Smile, a school with around 450 children. Geiger and three other girls, including Chanute resident Kayla Ramsey, volunteered their time and worked with the children at Smile six days a week. Geiger and Ramsey spent the morning caring for the babies and in the afternoon the younger children woul...
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Questions answered about Murray Hill nomination
Stu Butcher Tribune editor When the announcement that Murray Hill School had been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places was made, questions have arisen. Rep. Jerry Williams, D-Chanute, approached Jennie Chinn, executive director of Kansas Historical Society. “A high degree of concern is now present in Chanute,” Williams said in an email to Chinn. “This decision comes at the same time the City of Chanute is moving to declare an...
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Italian cooking straight from Sicily kitchen
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter Luigi’s Italian restaurant made its debut in Chanute last week in the downstairs of the Mercantile building at 115 E. Main. The restaurant is owned by Vito Morina, but is a family run business all the way down to the recipes from which the dishes are derived. The Morina family, originally from Sicily, moved to Germany when they were young where their parents owned a restaurant. After learning the family recip...
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Oldest graduate prevailed over Physical Science requirement
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter Long time Chanute resident Elly McCoy proved this spring that it is never too late to receive a college degree. McCoy, who is in her early 80s though she did not wish to say her exact age, is the oldest graduate from Neosho County Community College ever. She beat out Violet Goff who was 81 years old when she earned her degree in 1993. “Her determination and efforts are an inspiration to anyone who wants to...
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Cause of power outage uncertain
The City of Chanute is unclear about what caused a citywide power outage Thursday morning. Larry Gates, director of utilities, said engineers will be on site today to do more extensive investigation. “There are two or three issues we are looking into,” he said. “We were test running the turbine when the VAR control dropped out. It tripped the bus differential (should not have happened), which cleared the bus and locked everything out. Until...
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Pros and cons aired about outlining historic district
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter A public meeting was held Tuesday evening at Central Park Pavilion in order to allow the public to discuss a local ordinance proposed to create a certified local government and outline a historic district. This meeting came after the April 18 City Commission meeting where several citizens aired their concerns about the proposed ordinance. A panel of experts were on hand to answer questions about historic di...
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