Community News
Our Past
These items were taken from the Sun’s editions 20, 30 and 40 years ago. April 13, 1970 Lowell Huckstead scored the city’s second reported hole-in-one at the Parsons Country Club. The Princess Homes Co. president stroked his tee shot on the 139-yard fourth hole with a six-iron. The ball hooked onto the green about six feet from the cup and rolled in. Huckstead’s ace came during his third tour of the nine-hole layout on April 11. His playing p...
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Carell, Fey make 'Date Night' funny
Steve Carell and Tina Fey are both excellent comedic actors, but their presence in a movie doesn’t ensure quality. “Evan Almighty,” anyone? “Baby Mama”? When these two appear in a film together, one has to wonder if this is going to be something truly memorable and funny or simply another stupid movie done for a paycheck. When said collaboration is directed by Shawn Levy, who has brought us such unfunny fare as “What Happens in Vegas” and “Ju...
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Phillips, Grillot wedding
Diserae Ashley Phillips and Tanner Michael Grillot were married in a March 27 double-ring ceremony in Sasebo, Japan. The bride is the daughter of Darrin Slayton Phillips of Ventura, Calif., and Brandy O’Neal of Redlands, Calif. The groom is the son of Diana and Alan Turner of Overland Park and Robert Grillot of St. Paul. The bride graduated from Buena Vista High School, Corona, Calif., in 2005. She is a corpsman in the U.S. Navy. The groom is ...
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Modicas to celebrate 60th
Jack and Pearl Modica of Walnut will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on Monday. Jack Modica and Pearl Shively were married on April 12, 1950, in the old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Walnut by the Rev. Frank Baumstark. The couple have lived their entire married life on the family farm near Walnut. They have four children, Maggi Modica of Dallas, Shirley Johnson and her husband, Ken, of Parsons, Bill Modica of Beaumont, Texas, an...
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Our Past
These items were taken from the Sun’s editions 20, 30 and 40 years ago. April 10-11, 1970 A vest pocket park in the Wye area of the city would be known as Lopez Park, after the name of the family on whose former land it was being built. Work had begun on the first of two such installations in Parsons, according to Arvon Phillips, city recreation superintendent. Land for Lopez Park was acquired from Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Lopez and Mary Lopez, ...
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Officers honored
Many of us take for granted those who protect this community, so it was good to see a Parsons police officer receive a Veterans of Foreign Wars National Law Enforcement Award for heroism. Officer Brian Harlow received the honor Monday at the Parsons City Commission meeting. The award was for Harlow’s efforts in a house fire last year when he pulled a 3-year-old child from a burning house. Harlow and officer Jeff Essig have been honored with ...
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LCMHS reaches out to students
From Labette Center for Mental Health Services Labette Center for Mental Health Services is putting its funding to use through an outreach program at Parsons High School and Parsons Middle School. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 65.5 percent of high school seniors have used alcohol in the past 12 months, and 32.4 percent have used marijuana. With the outreach program, Mark Mikel, a certified substance abuse counselor, reaches ou...
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Walnut City Council meets
By Charlene Kirkpatrick Sun Correspondent The community is saddened at the death of Ted Noble. His wife Sandy, son Steve and daughters Vickie and Mary have been an asset to the community for many years. ——— Bobby Ledford is a patient at the Veterans Administration hospital in Topeka. We wish him a speedy recovery. ——— The Walnut City Council met at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The citywide cleanup will be May 1 and 2 if agreeable with the trash ser...
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Our Past
These items were taken from the Sun’s editions 20, 30 and 40 years ago. April 9, 1970 Major parties in the strike that had crippled production at the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant east of Parsons since April 1 said, with qualifications, they were ready to resume negotiations for a settlement. No date was set or suggested for resumption of talks. The development represented a slight break in the impasse that had prevailed for more than a week ...
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Our Past
These items were taken from the Sun’s editions 20, 30 and 40 years ago. April 8, 1970 An oral surgeon, Dr. James Lamb, would visit Parsons the following week to make arrangements to begin practice here, the administrator of the Labette County Medical Center, Jerry Lilley, said. Lamb would come here from Kerrville, Texas, and planned to start his practice as soon as possible. He had made tentative arrangements to occupy a suite in the new doc...
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Red Cross fundraiser reaches 39 percent of goal
The countywide fundraising campaign to benefit the Labette County Chapter of the American Red Cross has reached 39 percent of its goal of $40,300 with events planned in Mound Valley and Dennis. Parsons 10,415 39% Oswego 1,828 37 Chetopa 2,900 100 Altamont 270 10 Bartlett 0 0 Dennis 40 5 Edna 70 8 Mound Valley 10 1 Total: 15,533 39% Dennis will have a multi-event fundraiser on Saturday, June 5. Mound Valley sixth-, seventh- and eig...
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Our Past
These items were taken from the Sun’s editions 20, 30 and 40 years ago. April 7, 1970 Parsons High School’s two-man golf team won its second title in two meets in Chanute. Louis Rapalino shot 41-36—77 and Jim Overby 44-39—83 for a six-stroke margin over Labette County High School. Rapalino was medalist for the second straight meet on the par-36, nine-hole Chanute Country Club course. Altamont’s Bruce Corey shot 38-40—78 and Mike Coysh 44-44—...
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PACA membership drive begins
The Parsons Area Concert Association has begun its 22nd annual membership campaign now through May14 for the 2010-2011 series. During the campaign, persons may purchase their season subscription and save $5 off an adult membership or $10 off a family membership. Anyone who purchases a new membership before May 7 may attend the Daniel Rodriguez concert, the finale of Parsons Area Concert Association’s 2009-2010 season. The 2010-2011 series li...
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Railroad history
Parsons and area residents have already had a chance to see the Union Pacific Railroad steam locomotive No. 844 after rolled into town Tuesday afternoon, ahead of schedule. But today, area residents and railroad enthusiasts have 12 hours to look the locomotive over, and its supporting train cars. The public availability runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. today in the railroad yard, 2015 Crawford. The steam locomotive will leave the Parsons yard at...
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Our Past
These items were taken from the Sun’s editions 20, 30 and 40 years ago. April 6, 1970 Rebecca Schultz, a member of the freshman class and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Schultz, was crowned Chetopa High School’s 1970 Athletic Queen at an annual athletic banquet. Sponsored by the pep club girls and their sponsor, Marjorie Hubler, the event was given in honor of the boys who had participated in sports and their coaches, Fred Strathe, Hubert G...
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A bad idea
Who would you like to trust with your Social Security number, birth date and other personal information? The Kansas Department of Corrections allows some state prison inmates access to this information as part of their work duties. No, you’re eyes aren’t deceiving you. Kansas and seven other states allow convicted felons (thieves, drug addicts and other thugs) access to citizens’ personal information, a federal audit shows. The work is part ...
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Our Past
These items were taken from the Sun’s editions 20, 30 and 40 years ago. April 3-4, 1970 A $200 increase, plus regular salary increments, was approved for faculty members of Labette Community Junior College by trustees. The college also would pay the full cost of hospitalization insurance, which would amount to an additional $86 per teacher annually. In the past, the school paid half of that insurance cost. Increments under a salary schedule ...
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Couple to celebrate 60th
Sam and Dorothy Ricketts of Erie will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary with a family celebration this weekend. Sam Ricketts and Dorothy Mitchell were married on April 2, 1950. The couple’s children are John and Blenda Ricketts of Ottawa, Lucy and Jim Walters of Erie and Mitch and Becky Ricketts of Manhattan. They also have seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. The two-day anniversary celebration will be hosted by their chil...
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New "Clash" movie as cheesy as original
I know I’m dating myself here, but I was 8 years old when the original “Clash of the Titans” was released. Because of this, that movie holds a special place in my heart. Looking at that film today, we would all agree that it’s extremely cheesy with its poorly-aged Ray Harryhausen special effects and laughably bad lead actor Harry Hamlin. Now the folks at Warner Bros. have decided to remake “Clash of the Titans” as a serious, non-cheesy film. ...
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Our Past
These items were taken from the Sun’s editions 20, 30 and 40 years ago. April 2, 1970 An impasse that brought a production stall at the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant east of Parsons continued. Meanwhile, there were unofficial reports that two more unions were on the verge of taking strike action at the Army-owned facility, formally joining the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers in a work halt that it called at midnight March 31. The OCAW stoppa...
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