Opinion
Budgeting with your kids
Sometimes kids say it best, here is one child’s response to the beginning of the well know saying, ‘A penny saved……is not much.’ Mellody Hobson, president of a financial investment firm in Chicago, taught that the best way a child can learn about a budget is through watching their parents’ example. As a parent, you should show your children the effort you put into budgeting by paying bills out in the open or taking them grocery shopping with ...
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Tips to keep annual flowers blooming all summer
For most gardeners, annual flowers have probably been planted for several weeks now. As we head into the heat of summer, annual flowers are picking up blooming speed. To keep the blooms going, a nitrogen fertilizer application and removing spent flowers is a must. Modern annual flowers have been bred to flower early and over a long period of time. Providing nitrogen through the growing season (sidedressing) can help maintain flower display. ...
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Summer off and running at library
Summer is off to a great start at the library. Our kick-off day saw more than 1,300 items borrowed and 332 folks starting one of the summer reading programs. A few programs began last week and this week marks the start of a summer full of activities. In fact, today we hope kids of all ages will join us between 10:30 and 11:30 wearing their oldest clothes.  We have emptied out shelves of odds and ends of wooden objects and are in need of lot...
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Play it safe in the sun
The start of the summer season is a good time to be reminded of the importance of being safe in the sun. Summer’s arrival means it’s time for picnics, trips to the pool, and a spike in the number of sunburns. While a bronzed skin used to be desirable, we now know that exposure to the sun can cause skin cancer. Harmful rays from the sun—and from sunlamps and tanning beds—may also cause eye problems, weaken the immune system, and cause skin spo...
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Sheltered workshop
I dislike the word Sheltered Workshop immensely. It conjures up images of the early 20th century when people were worked to death for low wages in horrible conditions, similar to the modern day sweatshops in Mexico and China. The problem I have with the term is that it was used in the 1980s and 1990s to describe day service programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Some people still use this term to describe the lo...
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Consuming a healthy diet: Where do I stand? 
Everyone is different.¬†Calorie needs depend on your age, gender, and activity level. Ask 10 people what to eat to stay healthy and you will likely get 10 different answers.¬†Often, it is our own limiting beliefs that hold us back from consuming a healthy diet.¬† Today, I’d like to take a look at some common beliefs about the foods we choose and hopefully provide some food for thought.¬† • In order to stay healthy, I have to starve myself. T...
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Lake Paradise theme of annual Safari Gala
The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum is pleased to offer its annual Safari Gala on Saturday, June 9. This year’s theme, “Take Off to Lake Paradise,” is casual with a Polynesian twist. Please join us beginning at 6 p.m. for a delicious feast and enchanting entertainment at 627 S. Westview Dr. in Chanute. Everyone is welcome! C&S Traveling Kitchen is preparing a wonderful dinner of Smoked Bacon Explosion, Cozumel Vegetables, Skewered Fruit ...
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Chamber begins investor of the month
Successful communities can be defined in a number of ways. From quality of life issues such as parks and walking trails to outstanding city services, much goes into making a city vibrant. The one constant in all areas seems to be the involvement of caring, committed people who want to make their community the best place to live, work and do business. Community investors are typically defined as those willing to put financial resources into a ...
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NCCC wraps up outstanding year
May is my second favorite month of the college year, when our students become our graduates and alumni. I still get chills watching them cross the stage, remembering what they were like when they started as new freshmen and seeing how much they have changed. This year was special as we had graduates from a new program at NCCC, Surgical Technology. I can still remember the meetings when a team of us wrote the grant to create that program. I ...
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May 19-June 20 officially ‘tornado season’
There are a variety of severe weather hazards that affect Kansas, including floods, thunderstorms, and tornadoes. Every year lives are threatened or lost, and property is destroyed by severe weather events in the state. Tornadoes pose the greatest severe weather risk to residents of Kansas. 2011 was the third consecutive year in which no violent tornadoes occurred in the state. With 68 tornadoes reported in Kansas last year, while slightly ab...
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Shanna L. Guiot, Publisher Neosho County made a big mistake when it hired Hadco International, an independent assessment firm from Texas, to appraise Ash Grove
Shanna L. Guiot, Publisher Neosho County made a big mistake when it hired Hadco International, an independent assessment firm from Texas, to appraise Ash Grove. The company’s most recent Kansas appraisal was already sitting at the Supreme Court and had triggered lobbyists and legislators to initiate new bills that could impact the entire state’s economy. In 2006, then-governor Kathleen Sebelius signed into law a change in the way business equ...
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Countdown on for summer reading
The countdown is on – just 20 days to go to the biggest day of the year at the library – Summer Reading Program signup! We will begin this year’s sign-up on Tuesday, May 29 at 9:30 a.m. Once again, we will be offering four completely separate reading programs, covering all ages. Dream Big – READ! is this year’s program for those from birth through 5th grade. Those in middle school and high school will have separate programs, but the same the...
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It’s hard to break a bad habit
If you know something’s bad for you, why can’t you just stop? About 70% of smokers say they would like to quit. Drug and alcohol abusers struggle to give up addictions that hurt their bodies and tear apart families and friendships. And many of us have unhealthy excess weight that we could lose if only we would eat right and exercise more. So why don’t we do it? National Institutes of Health scientists have been studying what happens in our br...
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Until that moment, it is still night
A story: A rabbi was once said to have asked his students, “When can we know that the night has ended and the day has begun?” “Is it the moment,” one student answered, “when you can tell the difference between a sheep and a dog.” “No,” the rabbi said. “Is it,” said another, “when you can see the difference between a fig tree and an olive tree?” “Not that, either,” replied the rabbi. “Then when is it?” the students asked. The rabbi answered, “...
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We love our kindergarteners
We love our kindergarteners! USD 413 educators are joyfully preparing for a new school year. Our kindergarten educators and staff are here to make the first days of school enjoyable and memorable for our children! Believing that the education of children is the shared responsibility of educators, family, and community members, there are a few important items that will help make this important transition to kindergarten move forward smoothly s...
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Keeps picking winners, losers on the farm
Jack Hedin Bloomberg News Here’s the first thing to understand about federally subsidized crop insurance: In an era when direct payments to farmers are increasingly difficult to justify, crop-insurance subsidies are becoming the main way in which public policy supports commodity crop farmers. The farm bill negotiations taking place this week in the Senate Agriculture Committee will undoubtedly enshrine insurance subsidies — and fund them — at...
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Safari Film Festival celebrates 10th year
This Friday and Saturday is the museum’s 10th annual Safari Film Festival. Over the years festival participants have enjoyed many wonderful speakers and movies. We continue that tradition with a showing of the award-winning documentary “The Adventure Lovers” Friday evening in the Chanute High School auditorium. Doors open at 6 p.m. Our Saturday 2 p.m. matinee at the Safari Museum¬Æ is the 1930 movie “Across the World with Mr. and Mrs. Johnson...
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Timing critical for brush control
Brush control is a major problem is eastern Kansas. The major species involved are buckbrush, locust, dogwood, hedge, elm, red cedar, brambles, oaks and sumac. The main objective of brush control is to obtain an acceptable population of woody plants on rangeland to increase or maintain an optimum amount of area available for livestock grazing. Other potential benefits include increased forage quality, increased animal production, easier hand...
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First steps to financial wellness 
Taking the first step in anything is hard (like dieting and exercise), and it certainly holds true when it comes to financial health. We hear about the doom and gloom reports of the economy, stock markets and bailouts. Is it time to turn off your TV and replace all the doom and gloom with some bloom and boom?¬† The building blocks to financial well-being are made of focus, control and action. Fear has most people clenched in its grasp. Don’t ...
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Library planning summer reading programs
April may bring spring showers, but it brings lots of planning at the Library. Summer is just around the corner, so we are busy planning four summer reading programs, what new books to buy, and, of course, lots and lots of summer activities for all ages. As usual, we will kick-off these programs on the day after Memorial Day – Tuesday, May 29. This year’s summer themes are “Dream Big: READ!” for the youth; “Own the Night” for teens; and “Bet...
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