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PITTSBURG —
10. New projects unveiled for U.S. Highway 69
In the first five months of 2011, there was relatively little progress made on transportation projects throughout the state, and on U.S. Highway 69 in particular.
Projects had not yet been assigned to be funded by T-WORKS, the 10-year transportation program that had been passed in 2010. But on a sweltering June day in Fort Scott, Gov. Sam Brownback unveiled the T-WORKS projects for Southeast Kansas, which included good news for local leaders.
Chief among the eight projects, worth $190 million in this region, was a project to build a four-lane upgradeable expressway along U.S. 69 from Fort Scott to Arma worth $47 million. The words upgradeable expressway meant that the upgrade, which will be built sometime in the next 10 years, will be similar to U.S. 69 from Arma to Frontenac, but with right-of-way purchased for future interchanges.
But that’s not the only plan considered for U.S. 69. KDOT has received approval from local leaders to pursue what is being called the Arma Connection. Once the Fort Scott-to-Arma portion is completed, that would leave a six-mile stretch around Arma as the only two-lane portion of U.S. 69 between Kansas City and Pittsburg.
After a quick study in the latter half of the year, the Arma Connection was determined to cost roughly $18 million and would be along the current alignment, either with a median or with a middle turn lane. This plan is unfunded, and KDOT officials assured local leaders that the ultimate goal of a bypass from north of Arma to south of Pittsburg would not be delayed or discarded.
Finally, in a small move, the speed limit along U.S. 69 from Johnson County to Fort Scott was increased to 75 mph in late June.
9. 772nd platoon deploys, 414th Military Police Company returns
Local members of the military had an active 2011.
In March, there was a positive surprise, as SFC Jesse Vogel of the Army Reserve 414th Military Police Company returned from duty in Afghanistan to surprise his children at St. Mary’s Elementary School for lunch.
There was further good news in May with the announcement that Public Enemy No. 1 Osama bin Laden had been killed after a raid by U.S. Navy SEALS in Pakistan.
One of the sweetest surprises of the year belonged to Pfc. Travis Buck. Buck had been on tour in the Republic of Djibouti for six months as part of the Kansas National Guard’s 35th Military Police Company, based in Topeka. Buck surprised his girlfriend, Chelsea Holman, by appearing at Harry’s Cafe while Holman and her parents were having breakfast and proposing on the spot. She said yes.
10. New projects unveiled for U.S. Highway 69
In the first five months of 2011, there was relatively little progress made on transportation projects throughout the state, and on U.S. Highway 69 in particular.
Projects had not yet been assigned to be funded by T-WORKS, the 10-year transportation program that had been passed in 2010. But on a sweltering June day in Fort Scott, Gov. Sam Brownback unveiled the T-WORKS projects for Southeast Kansas, which included good news for local leaders.
Chief among the eight projects, worth $190 million in this region, was a project to build a four-lane upgradeable expressway along U.S. 69 from Fort Scott to Arma worth $47 million. The words upgradeable expressway meant that the upgrade, which will be built sometime in the next 10 years, will be similar to U.S. 69 from Arma to Frontenac, but with right-of-way purchased for future interchanges.
But that’s not the only plan considered for U.S. 69. KDOT has received approval from local leaders to pursue what is being called the Arma Connection. Once the Fort Scott-to-Arma portion is completed, that would leave a six-mile stretch around Arma as the only two-lane portion of U.S. 69 between Kansas City and Pittsburg.
After a quick study in the latter half of the year, the Arma Connection was determined to cost roughly $18 million and would be along the current alignment, either with a median or with a middle turn lane. This plan is unfunded, and KDOT officials assured local leaders that the ultimate goal of a bypass from north of Arma to south of Pittsburg would not be delayed or discarded.
Finally, in a small move, the speed limit along U.S. 69 from Johnson County to Fort Scott was increased to 75 mph in late June.
9. 772nd platoon deploys, 414th Military Police Company returns
Local members of the military had an active 2011.
In March, there was a positive surprise, as SFC Jesse Vogel of the Army Reserve 414th Military Police Company returned from duty in Afghanistan to surprise his children at St. Mary’s Elementary School for lunch.
There was further good news in May with the announcement that Public Enemy No. 1 Osama bin Laden had been killed after a raid by U.S. Navy SEALS in Pakistan.
One of the sweetest surprises of the year belonged to Pfc. Travis Buck. Buck had been on tour in the Republic of Djibouti for six months as part of the Kansas National Guard’s 35th Military Police Company, based in Topeka. Buck surprised his girlfriend, Chelsea Holman, by appearing at Harry’s Cafe while Holman and her parents were having breakfast and proposing on the spot. She said yes.
But while much of the news throughout the year was positive, that doesn’t mean it all was. Another group from Pittsburg deployed for Afghanistan, this time a platoon of the 772nd Engineering Mobility Augmentation Company, which joined a platoon from across the state to be a part of an Agribusiness Development Team in the Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan.
The platoon from Pittsburg would provide security while the other platoon would work with the Afghanis to develop agricultural systems.
Last, but not least, was the removal of all U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq after a war that began in March 2003. Numerous soldiers from southeast Kansas served overseas, and one local soldier, Cpl. Ricky Bennett from Girard, gave his life in a helicopter attack in 2006.
8. Longtime public servants announce retirements
Two longtime local public servants announced plans in 2011 to retire from their positions.
After 45 years of service with the City of Pittsburg, interim City Manager John Van Gorden announced on Sept. 16 that he would retire from his current position, effective Oct. 1, 2012.
He started with the City of Pittsburg on Feb. 22, 1967 as a laborer, and held various positions, including director of public works, director of parks and recreation and assistant city manager. Van Gorden was in his fourth stint as interim city manager, a job he began four years ago with the departure of former City Manager Allen Gill.
During this latest appointment, he was tasked with finishing $40 million in city improvement projects, including construction of a new police station, new fire station, intersection replacements at Fourth and Rouse and Fourth and Walnut, as well as storm sewer replacements across the city.
Crawford County Sheriff Sandy Horton announced Aug. 1 that he will not seek re-election for a fifth term in 2012, and will retire at the end of his current term in January 2013. By that time, he will have served as sheriff for 16 years, longer than anyone since the first sheriff was elected in 1867.
Horton has served with the Sheriff’s Department a total of 29 years, starting as a dispatcher/jailer, then was promoted to deputy sheriff, chief deputy and undersheriff. He became sheriff in 1995.
Also leaving was Craig Hull, director of the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau, who announced Aug. 8 that he had accepted a position as assistant director of the Joplin Sports Authority.
Hull had been with the CVB since November 2005. During that time, the area hosted baseball tournaments, the Kansas Shrine Bowl twice, an NJCAA football championship game and numerous meetings for statewide and regional organizations.
One of his first goals was to raise the transient guest tax in Crawford County; tax set on hotel room occupancy was previously 2 percent, and raised an average of $72,000 to $75,000 per year. In 2007, the Crawford County Commission voted to raise the tax to 4 percent, and it now brings in approximately $160,000 per year.
7. Pitt State master plan unveiled, approved
In the past several years, the Pittsburg State footprint has expanded greatly, with the new Student Recreation Center, Bryant Student Health Center, new dormitories and more.
But in 2011, Pitt State officials worked at developing a road map for expansion for the next 10 years. In March, a draft of the proposed master plan for the university was unveiled, and by May, the master plan was approved by the Kansas Board of Regents.
The master plan, as developed by consultants GouldEvans, assumed a growth of 1-2 percent in enrollment each year, largely guided by growth at the Kansas Technology Center, which was expected to grow by 5-7 percent each year.
With those as the assumptions, the master plan came up with a number of new buildings and about a half dozen building expansions, not to mention a further growth of the borders of campus. The largest theme of the new master plan is an improved walking trail between the Oval and the Kansas Technology Center
Among the changes include expansions to McPherson Hall, Kelce Hall and the Overman Student Center, renovations to Axe Library and the Kansas Polymer Research Center, and a new athletic complex with multiple baseball, softball and soccer fields to the east of the Student Recreation Center.
That move was primarily to set up what could become the “new quad.” New buildings planned for the east side of campus include the long-anticipated Fine and Performing Arts Center, new buildings for the KTC (called KTC-2 and KTC-3), and an expansion of the Weede Physical Education Building being called the Events Center.
Lastly, the master plan includes a small expansion to the north, including the property between PSU’s current borders and Carlton Street. The master plan indicates this area would be used as both parking and a potential site for future student housing facilities.
6. Crawford County general elections won by very slim margins
Drama hit Crawford County general election on April 5, with one election finally determined by the flip of a coin. In several other elections, winners edged ahead and won by very slim margins.
Megan Fry was two votes behind Randy Flora for a seat on the Frontenac USD 249 Board of Education. Crawford County Commissioners canvassed the election, verifying provisional ballots that brought the matter to a tie with 296 votes for each candidate.
The commissioners then determined that the election should be settled with a coin flip. Fry, who was designated as tails, won the flip and the seat on April 8.
The third seat on the Arma City Council was also a close election, with Karl Wicker originally leading by one vote over Dick Cleland. But after provisional votes were counted, Cleland picked up two more votes on Wicker and won with 129 votes to Wicker’s 128.
Lewis Buckley and Steve Kossman, candidates for the third seat on the Cherokee City Council, were separated by three votes before provisional ballots were included. Buckley won with 61 votes over Kossman’s 59.
After provisional ballets were counted in the Girard City Council race, Michael West edged closer to Melody Cherry, his opponent for the fourth council seat, but not close enough. Cherry won with 61 votes over West’s 57 votes.
Tight margins may be more rare in larger cities with more votes cast, but Michael Gray and Bill Rushton were only two votes apart in their quest for a seat on the Pittsburg County Commission. After canvassing of the election on April 8, Gray, who had been ahead, picked up an extra vote on Rushton, and won by 690 votes to Rushton’s 687 votes.
9. 772nd platoon deploys, 414th Military Police Company returns
Local members of the military had an active 2011.
In March, there was a positive surprise, as SFC Jesse Vogel of the Army Reserve 414th Military Police Company returned from duty in Afghanistan to surprise his children at St. Mary’s Elementary School for lunch.
There was further good news in May with the announcement that Public Enemy No. 1 Osama bin Laden had been killed after a raid by U.S. Navy SEALS in Pakistan.
One of the sweetest surprises of the year belonged to Pfc. Travis Buck. Buck had been on tour in the Republic of Djibouti for six months as part of the Kansas National Guard’s 35th Military Police Company, based in Topeka. Buck surprised his girlfriend, Chelsea Holman, by appearing at Harry’s Cafe while Holman and her parents were having breakfast and proposing on the spot. She said yes.
But while much of the news throughout the year was positive, that doesn’t mean it all was. Another group from Pittsburg deployed for Afghanistan, this time a platoon of the 772nd Engineering Mobility Augmentation Company, which joined a platoon from across the state to be a part of an Agribusiness Development Team in the Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan.
The platoon from Pittsburg would provide security while the other platoon would work with the Afghanis to develop agricultural systems.
Last, but not least, was the removal of all U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq after a war that began in March 2003. Numerous soldiers from southeast Kansas served overseas, and one local soldier, Cpl. Ricky Bennett from Girard, gave his life in a helicopter attack in 2006.
For The Morning Sun's top 5 stories of 2011, log on to www.morningsun.net at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 31.
