News
Chanute man sentenced 30 months for selling meth
Charles Garber, 57, Chanute, who was convicted in December 2012 of the sale of methamphetamine, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison. Garber’s court appointed defense attorney, Steven Staker, unsuccessfully presented motions for acquittal and a new trial on the grounds of insufficient evidence. The charge of sale of methamphetamine arose from a controlled buy that was made by a confidential informant, Danny Fox, on Nov. 22, 2010. Th...
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Sequestration impacts loom over mass transit
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter Neosho County residents reliant on mass transit may have trouble ahead with possible cuts to Southeast Kansas Community Action Program (SEK-CAP) due to federal sequestration. For disabled residents such as Bob Erickson of Chanute, whose diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy left him wheelchair-bound and unable to drive due to weakened nerves in his back and hands, SEK-CAP’s transportation program enables him to attend ...
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Erie High School hosts famous play about Holocaust rescuer
Joshua Vail Tribune Reporter Erie High School’s personalized learning program will be hosting a famous performance next week. Life in a Jar, a play based on the life of Irena Sendler, a catholic polish woman who rescued Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942-43, will be performed 7 p.m. March 14 at the Erie High School auditorium. According to the project’s website, the title comes from the fact that Sendler rescued children from the ...
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SkyWatch Weather Tour stops in Chanute
The first stop of the KOAM-TV and FOX 14 SkyWatch Weather Tour is Tuesday, March 12 at NCCC Gymnasium on the campus of Neosho County Community College. The tour is hosted by the stations’ chief meteorologist, Doug Heady, and features severe weather video and safety precautions. A weather expo featuring services, vendors and products to help keep people safe during severe weather begins at 5 p.m. The weather show begins at 7 p.m. with repre...
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During Red Cross Month, honor everday heroes who help communities
During Red Cross Month, the American Red Cross recognizes the nation’s Everyday Heroes who give of themselves and in some way help their community. Mindy Kimrey and Aaron Phillips are Service Center Managers of the American Red Cross Service Centers in southeast Kansas. “We thank our heroes during Red Cross Month – our volunteers, blood donors, financial supporters, and the news media that helps us to get the word out. When they answer a call...
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Applications roll in as Recreation Commission discusses new superintendent
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter The Chanute Recreation Commission (CRC) found itself inundated with resumes for its vacant superintendent position with more than 24 applicants. During Wednesday’s CRC work session, the commission spent most of the meeting in executive session to narrow down the number of applicants to fill the position left vacant after the CRC did not renew the contract of former Superintendent Mark Schoelmehl in January. “We go...
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CHS students to perform 1940s classic 
Connie Woodard USD 413 public relations The oddities among the characters in the classic Arsenic and Old Lace are giving students at Chanute High School a chance to test the range of their talents and have fun with this dark drama to be performed Friday and Saturday nights in the CHS auditorium. The play, written by Joseph Kesselring and opened in New York in 1941, and was later made into a film starring Cary Grant. It has been described as a...
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Search continues for suspect Shields Investigators are still looking for Brian Shields, wanted on charges of first degree (felony) murder and aggravated burglary
Search continues for suspect Shields Investigators are still looking for Brian Shields, wanted on charges of first degree (felony) murder and aggravated burglary. Please forward any information to the Chanute Police Department at (620) 431-5768 Michelle Voorhees, facing identical charges, was arrested Feb. 14. She had her first appearance in court and a status hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. March 26 in Chanute. Bideau to hold Town Hall...
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NCCC production opens Friday
Joshua Vail Tribune Reporter “The Triumph of Love,” a Neosho County Community College theatre production and the third in the season, opens Friday at the Memorial Auditorium. The play runs Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for general admission, free for current NCCC students, faculty and staff. Emily Kasprzak, NCCC theatre instructor and director, said “The Triumph of Love” is a French Restoration comedy o...
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Four Seasons tribute band at Iola Bowlus
IOLA — For the last four years, The Unexpected Boys have amazed audiences and garnered international acclaim as the top Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons tribute act in the world. On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. the group will take the stage at Bowlus Fine Arts Center. The quartet has headlined in such cities and venues as The Atlantis Hotel and Resort in Dubai, Formula One Singapore, The Pentagon, Yankee Stadium. They have also opened for Diana ...
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Ewen Motor receives help to relocate to Parsons
PARSONS — An Erie used vehicle dealership will get $5,000 from the city of Parsons to relocate to the east side of Flynn Industrial Park near North 16th Street. The Parsons City Commission approved an economic development incentive package for Ewen Motor Co. on a 4-1 vote during its Monday evening meeting. Ewen will move its dealership from 306 S. Grant in Erie to land near Kansas Tire and Wheel Co. Ewen Motor owners Scott and Gloria Ewen req...
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School board approves evaluation protocol pilot
Joshua Vail Tribune Reporter At its March regular meeting, the USD 413 Board of Education approved the use of Kansas Educator Evaluation Protocol for the next school year. All school districts in Kansas are required to pilot an educator evaluation protocol in the 2013-2014 school year that includes student performance as a metric. Superintendent James Hardy went over KEEP with the school board at the last meeting. “It will be a smooth transi...
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CHS senior earns prestigious appointment to West Point
By Connie Woodard and Josh Vail After years of hard work and keeping his goal in the cross hairs of his high school education at Chanute High School, senior Jack Martin received the letter in the mail he’d hoped would come. The priority package arrived that contained the announcement that he’d been appointed to the Military Academy at West Point after graduation. The letter — one of the first 500 mailed out — advised him that “on behalf of the...
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Safari Museum on hunt for new building
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum needs more space and officials are on the hunt for another location, said Museum Curator Jacquelyn Borgeson. The museum is currently housed in the depot building on Lincoln, which it shares with the Chanute Public Library. In the meantime, Chanute residents can see many previously undisplayed artifacts on the first Tuesday of every month from 8 to 10 a.m. during a new event...
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Prelim set in unlawful sexual relations case
The preliminary hearing for the case of Thomas Becker, charged with three counts of unlawful sexual relations while an employee of the Neosho County Jail, has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. April 19 in Chanute. District Judge Leo Gensweider held a phone conference with the Kansas Attorney General’s office Tuesday. The attorney general’s office is prosecuting the case to avoid any conflict of interest, as Becker is a former employee of Neosho Co...
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Car wash seeking more than $75,000 from city
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter Attorneys representing the City of Chanute and the South Town Car Wash meet today as part of a federal lawsuit filed by the car wash seeking more than $75,000. The lawsuit includes costs, punitive damages and further relief after the City of Chanute imposed the strictest water restrictions on only the car wash and no other businesses in town. Attorneys for the car wash owner, Cody Mummert, say this could cause him...
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Local woman celebrates 100th birthday
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter Chanute resident Dorothy Raney celebrated her 100th birthday during a ceremony that brought together four generations of Raney family members on Sunday. More than 50 friends and relatives from as far south as Oklahoma attended Raney’s birthday party at the Guest House Estates III residential care center in rural Chanute. “For people to turn out is great. You don’t do this very often and it is one of those things ...
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Fredonia teen injured in one-vehicle accident
An injury crash occurred at about 10:15 a.m. Saturday on K-39 less than half a mile west of Kingman Road. The Kansas Highway Patrol reported Moses S. Rose, 19, of Fredonia was eastbound on K-39, driving a 1992 Dodge Dakota, when he dropped off the side of the road. Rose overcorrected and ended up in the ditch. He was transported to Fredonia Regional Hospital for possible injuries. His passenger, Justin A. Reding, 15, of Fredonia was not inju...
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Student artists celebrated at Art Gallery reopening
The Chanute Art Gallery held a reception for student artists at its reopening Sunday. Chanute Elementary, Royster Middle School, St. Patrick’s Catholic School and the Chanute Homeschool Co-op were represented, as well as crayons, markers, watercolors, ceramics and several other media. March is Youth Art month nationwide, and the Chanute Art Gallery has done student-centric events in March in the past. The gallery will have its grand re-open...
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Ohio couple travel through blizzard for second visit to Safari Museum
Joshua Vail Tribune Reporter Andrew and Kristina Tonn came to visit the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum at a bad time. The Columbus, Ohio couple drove through a blizzard to spend the first half of the week in Chanute. They visited the museum once about three years ago in April of 2010. The Tonns are expecting their first child in April, and wanted their last vacation for a while to be in Chanute. Andrew Tonn said that he has done a lot of...
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