Our Past: Oct. 21

Oct. 21, 1980

A three-man delegation of Parsons Lodge No. 8 of the Fraternal Order of Police offered its service to the Parsons Chamber of Commerce in its fight against the city’s increasing vandalism problem. They were Sgt. Don Scantlin and Cpl. Jon Trout of the Parsons police and Tom Shields, a deputy with the sheriff’s department. J.D. Baumgardner, executive vice president of the chamber, said his organization would discuss the offer at its next meeting. He thought it would be accepted.

The Kansas Department of Transportation completed a traffic study of U.S. 59 and the traffic patterns in front of the Labette County Medical Center and concluded that lowering the speed limit from 45 mph to 30 mph and installing a traffic light at the intersection of U.S. 59 and Southern were not warranted. Jerry Lilley, hospital administrator, asked the city to request the study on behalf of hospital trustees, who were concerned about the number of accidents and near accidents near the hospital. 

Oct. 21, 1990

Forty-two sponsors were approved to circulate a petition to remove Labette County Commissioner Joe Renfro from office. Retired Dennis farmer Leslie Carson, Parsons store owner Mike Howerter and Parsons electrician Ralph Trollope had to resubmit the petition because it first was declared invalid by County Counselor Fred Johnson for being three words over the 200-word limit. The new petition was approved.

Labette and Montgomery county commissioners told designers of road improvements near Big Hill Lake that a $740,819 price tag was too high for them to finance. The cost was nearly $141,000 over what had been planned. Montgomery County commissioners were vocal about a project they said had gotten too far out of their hands.

Oct. 21, 2000

Hard-running, 160-pound halfback Jesse Marks carried 15 times for 152 yards and scored four touchdowns, leading the Parsons Vikings to a 49-6 runaway against Columbus in a Class 4A-District 1 and Southeast Kansas League Lower Division high school football game. Fullback Sean Pollmiller carried 11 times for 107 yards, and quarterback Bryan Brinkman scored twice as Parsons evened its district and season records at 1-1 and 4-4 while moving to 2-1 in the division. Kicker Nathan Baker, a two-way line standout, booted five extra points without a miss, threw a two-point conversion pass to Marks and made two spectacular hits on Columbus kickoff returns.