Having spent Halloween at Children's Mercy Hospital. following a severe injury from a horse kicking him in the face, Emery Carpenter, 6, delights in lighting the Christmas tree at his own home. Emery had to undergo surgery to repair his orbital socket around his left eye that was shattered, and repair a deep fracture in his skull that resulted in a small tear in the sack around his brain.

Colleen Surridge/Sun photo Civil rights activist Alveda King, director of African-American outreach for Priests for Life, is accompanied Friday on the Parsons Municipal Auditorium stage by Parsons High School students LaKeisha Love and Matt Thande, who helped her illustrate the value youths should place on intimacy with others and the respect they should have for themselves. King gave her presentation to about 100 students from Coffeyville, Independence, Altamont and Parsons. The public is invited to attend a free presentation by King at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Parsons Municipal Auditorium.

Cody Bevans and Mike Bevans set rebar in place Wednesday in preparation for a concrete retaining wall to be built on the northwest side of Power Flame. An addition at Power Flame will expand the company's lab, allowing hands-on training for service technicians.

Colleen Surridge/Sun photo Adam Ball, 13, cleans leaves from the gutters along the roof of his home at South 13th and Appleton on Tuesday.