Community News
Helen Isabel Young Ashcraft 1921-2011
Helen Isabel Young Ashcraft, 89, Kingfisher, Okla., died Saturday, May 7, 2011 at Cimarron Nursing Center where she had been living for the last few years. She was born August 31, 1921 to William Blaine and Bessie O’Conner Young in Chanute. Helen graduated high school in 1939. She joined the cadet program and graduated from Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Fort Scott on Oct. 22, 1945. She was then transferred to Fitzsimons Army Hospital in ...
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Death notice
Wayne Wilkins, 68, Erie, died at the St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin.  Funeral service will be 10:30 a.m., Saturday, May 14 at the First Christian Church in Erie.  Burial will follow in the East Hill Cemetery at Erie.  The family will receive friends at the Pierce-Carson-Wall Funeral Home in Erie from 6 to 8 Friday.  Memorials are suggested to the Wayne Wilkins Memorial Fund and these may be left at or mailed to the funeral home P...
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Erie senior’s project flag table
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter ERIE — Erie High School senior Jakob Hendrix spent a good deal of his senior year designing and building a unique American flag table. The table is made out of three different types of wood — cherry for the red stripes, birch for the white stripes and stars, and walnut for the blue union. “It’s very unique because it is 100 percent to scale,” said Hendrix’s teacher Eric Craft. “The width of the stripes, the...
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City considers renewable energy sources ordinance, water tower repair
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter At the city commission meeting Monday night Director of Utilities Larry Gates led a discussion of net metering, in order to move toward creating an electricity policy for members of the community who would like to own renewable energy sources for personal use. “Really we are trying to allow people to build renewable resources within our community, whether that is a small wind turbine or a solar panel on thei...
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Humboldt journalism earns 15th sweepstakes
Humboldt High School’s journalism students received their 15th sweepstakes state championship at the Kansas Scholastic Press Association’s State competition at the University of Kansas on Saturday. With 15 state championships, HHS journalists have the most sweepstakes wins of any other school in the state. The next closest school is Kapaun Mt. Carmel of Wichita with 10 championships. HHS journalists entered 33 entries in the competition and ...
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Building pond fills in former city pool
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter The Parks Advisory Board has devised a plan to fill the old Chanute public pool with minimal cost to the city. A project to create a walking and bike trail beginning at Katy Park brought along the idea of building a second pond to compliment the pond that currently is at the end of the trail, and created the perfect scenario for filling the old pool. “This is where I think we’re brilliant: we needed fil...
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Court sets bonds in Labette drug case
PARSONS — Three people, arrested Wednesday after the discovery of a large amount of marijuana and cash, made first appearances Friday afternoon on drug charges. Robert Michael Tang, 25, Linda Huong Lo, 27, and Jason Hunter Reinier, 24, are charged in Labette County District Court with distribution of marijuana, failing to affix a drug tax stamp to marijuana and possession/use of drug paraphernalia, all felonies. The most serious of the charg...
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CHS Journalism earns second at State
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter The Chanute High School newspaper and yearbook classes made their way to Lawrence on Saturday for the State Journalism competition held on the University of Kansas campus. The team managed to bring home a second place finish to trump last year’s third place. “I thought it went pretty well, just little things could have been better,” CHS senior and Editor-in-Chief of the Comet Amy Weilert said. “If we’d...
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Alice Faye Fitzmorris Walsh and William “Bill” John Walsh
Alice Faye Fitzmorris Walsh, Austin, Texas, died at her home Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009. Alice was born Dec. 2, 1921 in Fredonia. She graduated from Fredonia High School, then business prep school in Wichita. Later she was employed as a TWA Hostess where she met her pilot husband, William J. Walsh. They were married April 19, 1947 at Sacred Heart Church in Fredonia. The couple had three children, Bill, Diane, and Kathleen, and three grandchildren...
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Cleto Demetrio Coronado 1929-2011
Cleto Demetrio Coronado, 82, Humboldt, died Friday, May 6, 2011 at his home. Cleto was born April 26, 1929 in Deerfield, to Catarino and Francisca Trevino Coronado. His family moved to Mexico when he was in the third grade. He spent much time at el rancho “El Almagre” near Sierra Mojada, Coahuila in Mexico. He began working at Monarch Cement in the 1950s and married Celia Melendez in Jimenez, Chihuahua on April 30, 1960. They made their home i...
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Cordia VanWinkle-Isaacs 1924-2011
Cordia VanWinkle-Isaacs 1924-2011 Cordia VanWinkle-Isaacs, 87, Chanute, died Friday, May 6, 2011 at her residence in Chanute. Cordia was born at Taney County, Mo., on Jan. 25, 1924, the daughter of Cal and Ora Jackson Strahan. She married Orville Elleck VanWinkle on June 11, 1939. He preceded her in death on April 25, 1971. She is survived by her sons, Orville Eugene VanWinkle, Benedict, Wilbur VanWinkle and wife, Becky, Chanute, and Lar...
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Chanute native appears on TV’s Deadliest Catch
Tribune staff Teresa and Jeff Dimond were surprised to see a familiar face when they watched an episode of Deadliest Catch on the History Channel this week. He is on the crew of the Seabrooke. On the television was Mike Bouray, former Chanute resident and a cousin of Jeff. His a capsule of what was said about Bouray, 55, from Kodiak, Alaska, on the Deadliest Catch website. “A seasoned fisherman with decades of experience, Mike is a longst...
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Bike safety lessons learned
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter The 2nd annual State Farm Bike Rodeo was held at Chanute Elementary School Friday morning. The program was geared toward teaching students bike safety. Jennifer Dietsch, State Farm Agent, was able to get a grant through Safe Kids Kansas in order to provide 50 bike helmets for the event. Each year State Farm hosts the event before school is over for the summer to help educate third graders on bike safety. “...
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Guitarist with Chanute ties starts new band, new label
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter Chanute native and former Puddle of Mudd guitarist Jimmy Allen has had a busy and successful past couple of years. Since 2008, Allen, now living in Los Angeles, has managed to create his own record label, form a new band from the ground up, and just after releasing the first album, managed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 with two singles. Against All Will, Allen’s newest project, released its first album, A...
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Ann Marie Smith 1926-2011
Ann Marie Smith, 85, lifelong resident of Erie, died Tuesday, May 3, 2011 surrounded by her family at the Guest Home Estates in Erie.  She was born April 30, 1926, in Walnut, the daughter of Herbert and Gladys Noland Mudd. As a young girl, she grew up in Walnut where she attended schools and was a graduate of Walnut High School. She and Harold R. Smith were married May 25, 1926, in Walnut. Following marriage, they lived in Wichita before retur...
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Mopar Days at Shields Motors on Thursday
A fantastic collection of older and later model cars will be on hand for Mopar Days at Shield Motors on Thursday, May 12. Mopar Across Kansas will have more than 40 cars on display. Everyone is welcome to come and join the fun. Free hamburgers will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Baby Contest planned at Chanute Healthcare In honor of National Nursing Home Week, Chanute Healthcare will be having a “Baby Contest” on Tuesday, May 10. Are...
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Letha B. Berry 1917-2011
Letha B. Berry, 93, Chanute, formerly of Fredonia and Neodesha, died Thursday, May 5, 2011 at Neosho Regional Medical Center in Chanute. Letha was born June 18, 1917 in Neodesha the daughter of Frank and Rozella Duft Hare.  She attended Neodesha schools.  On Dece. 30, 1933 she married Addison Berry in Fredonia.  He preceded her in death.  Following the death of her husband she moved to Chanute to be closer to her family. She is survived by he...
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Talk of the Town expands
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter Since taking over Talk of the Town in August, new owner Betsy McReynolds has made several changes along with expanding her downtown store. The business, along with adding more in-store prom, bridesmaids and wedding dresses, has made the move to a larger location next door as a way to expand retail. Talk of the Town is an event planning business, specializing in everything from dresses to glassware, to fl...
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Court system discussed
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter The Blue Ribbon Commission, a committee appointed to review all facets of the Kansas judiciary, held two meetings in Chanute on Wednesday. The first meeting was attended by about a dozen stakeholders from the area, those who are part of the judicial system or tied to it. The goal of the commission is to find ways to make the Kansas Judicial System function more efficiently and effectively across the state. ...
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Parsons bust nets 58 lbs. of marijuana, $105,000 in cash
Parsons Sun PARSONS — Law officers found a large cache of drugs and cash Wednesday afternoon in a Parsons home. The find is among the biggest drug busts in recent memory, law officers said. Three people were arrested. Labette County Sheriff William Blundell said officers from the sheriff’s department and Parsons police were surprised at what they found at 3 p.m. Wednesday at 2507 Clark.  “During the course of the search officers located 5...
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