Jamie Willey/Sun photo Dr. Chirund Lava stands in his office with his wife, Cert. Lava is retiring on June 27 after 37 years of practice in Parsons. See story in Local News.

Verneil Keeling and Andrew Shepard, owner of Shepard Construction, install doors in a renovated area of the Labette County Sheriff's Department in Oswego Monday.

A firefighter sprays water on burning debris at the construction and demolition landfill south of Parsons Wednesday night. Firefighters from several departments responded to the blaze.

Ashlynn White, 9, Mikiya Logan, 11, Chloe Camus, 8, Mykal Logan, 9, and Jamesia Jackson, 11, all of Parsons, make a simultaneous jump into the Parsons Municipal Swimming Pool Tuesday afternoon as spring temperatures gave way to the hotter temperatures of approaching summer.

Labette County Clerk Linda Schreppel will retire June 28.

Billy Millsap (left) and Shawn Hamilton set wood slats in place with their feet, pounded them in place with a rubber mallet and then attached them to the subfloor with long staples using the air-powered devices Wednesday at the Arvon Phillips Community Center. Robert Mundt (not pictured) created expansion joints and also helped build the floor. The crew from Acme Floor Co. of Lenexa pulled their supply boards from the stack laid out in front of them using their feet. The new wood floor should be ready for public use later this month. Acme won the project with a bid of $56,000. The Parsons Recreation Commission also bought new bleachers at a cost of $16,500 from Facil-Serv in Dandridge, Tenn.

Bart Lorenz of the Big Hill area holds a pellet gun steady as Tate Thurman, 8, of Parsons takes aim during Trail Mixx Saturday at Tolen Creek Park. The annual event that features outdoor activities is sponsored by the Wildcat Extension District of Altamont. Lorenz volunteered for the event.

Ray Nolting/Sun photo Gary Charlson sings and plays rhythm guitar for the classic rock band The Crayons Thursday in the Parsons Municipal Auditorium. Steve Davis (right) played lead guitar for the band, which is based in the Kansas City area. Their performance, moved from the Seaton Family Pavilion in Forest Park to the auditorium because of the weather, was the first in the summertime Music in the Park concert series.

Colleen Surridge/Sun photo More than eight feet beneath the grassy surface, Adam Coomes holds a six-inch sewer service pipe while his father, Rick Coomes, places cement around the opening of a T-joint on the east side of Garfield School Thursday. The two men, with Coomes Plumbing of St. Paul, were running the new sewer line to the edge of the school property, where the city plans to connect it to a new manhole and other new main lines. The city will begin utility work in preparation for the rebuilding of South 13th Street next week, and Kansas Gas Service and Westar Energy also will relocate utility lines. The city plans to close the street from Main to Grand next week for most of the summer as LaForge and Budd Construction rebuilds it. Asphalt will replace the bricks on the street.

Ray Nolting/Sun photo Sam Triebel (left) and Larry Grant hammer in a railroad spike as part of the gandy dancers demonstration Saturday at Katy Days. The two were part of a crew of retired railroaders who quickly built a short section of track using 85-pound rail. The total weight of each rail was about 950 pounds. Gandy dancers was a term for railroad workers who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines. The term originated because of the “dancing” movements of the workers.

Jamie Willey/Sun photo Danica Hoose, the 2012 Miss Katy Queen, crowns the 2013 winner, Caitlin Sewell, Saturday morning at the Seaton Family Pavilion in Forest Park.

Jamie Willey/Sun photo Squire Simon Billingsly (portrayed by Hunter Goddard) grabs Katie White (portrayed by Katie Hill) in a bar and demands she turn over a deed to valuable land during the opening night of “Tied to the Tracks or A Good Deed Indeed.” The melodrama written by former Parsonian Jerry James also will be presented by a group of local actors at 7 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Saturday in the Labette Community College Thiebaud Theatre. The melodrama is a first-time offering of the annual Katy Days festival, with most events happening Saturday in Forest Park.

Ray Nolting/Sun photo Parsons firefighters and a Labette Health Ambulance Service crew work to extinguish a house fire at 1414 Appleton Tuesday night. No one was home when the fire started. The cause is under investigation. See story in Local News.

Colleen Surridge/Sun photo Retiring USD 503 Superintendent Linda Proehl addresses the graduates of the Parsons High School Class of 2013 during commencement on Sunday. See story in Local News.

Jamie Willey/Sun photo Labette County High School freshman Justin Sexton sits under the shelter that he and fellow Boy Scouts, along with relatives, built on the playground of Meadow View Grade School with some of his former teachers, Becky Cole (left, seated), Karla Viranda (right, seated), Crystal Stevens (white shirt), Stephanie Dwyer (red shirt) and Amy Eaton (pink shirt), and PTO president Jeremie Hodge. The shelter was Sexton’s community service project that was required for him to earn his Eagle Scout badge. The PTO funded the project. See story in Local News.

Colleen Surridge/Sun photo Haylee Lang returns for a second time to examine a cow’s brain that Labette Community College professor Barthi Sudarsanam had on display in her classroom for third-grade students visiting during the annual LCC science day Tuesday. See story in Local News.

Ray Nolting/Sun photo Labette County High School principal Marty Anderson congratulates graduate Jaieden Winter while Skip Landis, USD 506 superintendent, waits at commencement Saturday morning in Altamont.

Colleen Surridge/Sun photo Labette Community College president George Knox introduces graduate Tyler Davis at Friday night’s 88th annual commencement ceremony. Davis, who earned his degree in mathematics and is a member of the All-Kansas Academic Team, was one of two student speakers at the graduation.

Colleen Surridge/Sun photo Parsons High School seniors Lindsey Drummond, Levi Phelps, James Carson, sophomore Benjamin Brewer and senior Benjah Wicker clean debris and weeds from the flower bed on the south side of Forest Park Friday and add fresh mulch around the plants. The group of PHS students was one of many that volunteered to perform community service work Friday morning around various parts of the city.

Colleen Surridge/Sun photo Labette Community College nursing graduate Brandy Russell addresses her graduating class at Thursday night’s RN pinning ceremony at the Parsons Municipal Auditorium.