Cindy Dean is the new Chamber president for this year. She is a graduate of OHS in 1991. Married to Jeff Dean and they have three children:
Gwyneth, age 9; Easton, seven; and Anna Grace, four years old. Dean is the treasurer/secretary at USD 504.

The Home Place of Oswego is having an open house this Friday. “Oswego Chamber is really happy we get to help with this, Dean said. We are hoping some other businesses in Oswego will have open houses also,” she said.

“I am so excited about the new happenings that are coming up in the Chamber. We are planning the first Friday Chamber Coffees. Our first one will be at Vail’s Automotive on Friday, May 2 from 7:30 - 8 a.m. , she said.”

The first Friday Coffees will be an exciting fresh start of the year. “Chamber is thrilled to get something like this started. This will get the businesses of Oswego together once a month to visit and just to get to know our businesses better,” she said.

The Oswego Chamber of Commerce held their monthly board meting on Wednesday, April 9 at City Hall.

Those present were President Cindy Dean, Lori Brake, Rena Russell and Pastor Paul Wiand. Absent were Kevin Sheddrick, Matt George, Matt Vail, Ron Geifer, Terry Robison and Linda K. Rife.

Around 15 attended the Chamber Annual Meeting on March 27.

The Spring Garage Sale is set for May 3 and will also include downtown businesses who might want to have a sidewalk sale that day. If they are a chamber member, the garage sale fee will be waived. The businesses interested need to contact Misha George at the Labette Bank to get on the map.

Pastor Paul Wiand will take the free membership to Daniel Venturi of Bicycle Bones Classic Bicycles.

Next meeting will be held Wednesday, May 14, noon, at City Hall. President Dean will call all board members and remind them and see if they would rather go somewhere and eat while they have the meeting. The board also approved to open the monthly meetings to all chamber members and interested businesses.

By Rena Russell
Labette Avenue

School board members heard about the recent approval of a charter school grant at Monday’s USD 504 Board of Education meeting.

Supt. Terry Karlin explained that Service Valley School will receive $170,000 for two years plus $60,000 up front for training. It is a project that is agriculture based with integrated technology components. Each class involved will be age appropriate, and there may be individual projects. The idea is to teach students about agriculture heritage and work ethics. They will be responsible to various work related issues that are involved in caring and feeding animals and tending to garden plots.

USD 504 applied for the charter school last fall. The project will begin next school year.

Ray Huff will be the charter coordinator. The charter schooll will include traveling to Kansas State University for one week’s training, followed by one week’s training to Kansas State Extension at Olathe. The coordinator and principal will attend a charter school convention in New Orleans and Huff will receive coordinator training in Boston.

Service Valley will be the third charter school of this type in the country. The two others are in Minnesota
and Newton.

The state allows a charter school to be more relaxed in terms of how to use their staff and many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. They will have more flexibility for control at the school level. “The charter school will be for Service Valley students only and they will still have their core subjects for accreditation and the No Child Left Behind mandate,” Supt. Karlin said.

“It will instruct students how to work and earn the respect for it,” Karlin said.

Items that will be added include a high-quality greenhouse; wind turbine electric generator; portable
chicken coops and nine garden plots for vegetation and flowers.

The BOE would like to acquire additional land to raise bucket calves and maybe goats. Right now the Service Valley property has seven acres that are constricted with sewage lagoons, Karlin said.

Complete obituaries and death notices for the following were printed in the April 16 edition of the Labette Avenue:

Ida Belle Zwahlen

OSWEGO—Ida Belle Zwahlen, 79, of Oswego, Kan., died Friday, April 11, 2008, at the Oswego Hospital.

Graveside services were held Monday, April 14, at the McKee Cemetery in Hallowell, Kan., with Rev. Paul Wiand officiating.

Memorials are suggested to the Oswego United Methodist Church of the Oswego Community Hospital and may be sent in care of the funeral home.

Murdock Funeral Home of Oswego was in charge of arrangements.

Walter C. Bryant

LAWRENCE—Funeral services for Walter C. Bryant, 88, were held at Saturday, April 12, 2008, at Warren-McElwain Mortuary, Lawrence. Burial followed in Memorial Park Cemetery. He moved to Lawrence in 1954. Mr. Bryant died Tuesday, April 8, 2008, at Brandon Woods Retirement Community.

Memorial contributions may be sent to the Heart of America Hospice or First United Methodist Church and sent in care of the mortuary.

Online condolences may sent to www.warrenmcelwain.com Subject: Bryant.

Dica Hartsock

MIAMI, Okla.—Dica Eunice (Donoho) Hartsock, 87, of Miami, Okla., died April 12, 2008, at her home.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, at the Thomas Funeral Home, Welch, with interment at Welch Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Good Shepherd Hospice can be sent in care of the funeral home.

Services are under the direction of Jim Thomas, Thomas Funeral Home, Welch.

Elmer Vernon Koger

WELCH, Okla.—Elmer Vernon Koger, 87, of Welch, Okla., died Sunday, April 13, 2008, at Rosewood Terrace, Vinita, Okla.

There will be a visitation from 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, April 16, at the Thomas Funeral Home, Welch, Okla. Services will be at 2 p.m., Thursday at the Thomas Funeral Home, Welch, with Minister Brad Canham officiating. Interment will be at Williams Timberhill Cemetery, east of Welch.

Services are under the direction of Jim Thomas, Thomas Funeral Home, Welch.

Click on the audio play button to hear the April 10 edition of “Off  the Cuff” by Rudy Taylor.

 

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Brittany and Brad with incoming District 6110 president, Ron Petersen. (Courtesy photo)
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The last weekend in March, Brittany Atherton, daughter of Ryan and Michelle Willis, and Brad Feagan, son of Teri and Reggie Feagan, joined 163 other students from around the four state area and around the world at Heart of the Hills for a leadership experience.
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The Oswego juniors were chosen to attend Rotary Youth Leadership Award camp near Tahlequah, Okla.
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The 4-day camp focused on advancing the leadership skills the students have already demonstrated. They participated in activities such as climbing a rock wall, ringing the bell as they jumped off the tower, and going over a vertical wall about 12 feet high.
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See this week’s Labette Avenue for the complete story.

Former County Attorney John Bullard introduced his replacement at Monday’s county commissioner meeting.
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The Labette County Republican Central Committee met last Monday night in Parsons to determine who would be recommended to the governor following the resignation of John Bullard who has accepted the county attorney’s position in neighboring Cherokee County.
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Hillary Haas the new county attorney for Labette County was sworn in last Friday, April 3, as Gov. Kathleen Sebelius made the appointment.
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Haas was given the oath of office by Labette County Clerk Linda Schreppel last Friday afternoon at the District Courtroom in Parsons.
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She told the Republican officials she planned to run for election to a full four-year term in November.
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Haas said she planned no big changes in the way the county attorney’s office is managed, noting that Jennifer Brunetti will continue to help with courtroom duties.
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“I am excited about getting the nomination and I forward to working as county attorney,” Haas commented.

The last two Saturdays Troop 39 Boy Scouts and their leaders worked to clean limbs downed by last December’s ice storm from Tibbetts Cemetary. Pictured: Justin Yardley, Colton Richards, Caleb Hays, Clint Rea, Mark Carter, Wayne Adams. (Not present for picture: Tyler Goodnight)
(Photo by Jane Rea)

The Oswego Golf Course is having a spring membership drive. There is a discount for first-time members. The greens and restrooms are improved. Several tournaments and events are planned for the season.
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The Ladies League Kick-off is scheduled for April 16. The scramble starts at 5:30 p.m. For information, contact Dee Brown or Kay Glendenning.
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An Annual Memorial Day Tournament is scheduled for May 25 and 26.
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For your convenience, two locations are available to pay your dues: The Oswego Golf Course Clubhouse or City Hall from 8-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Automatic withdrawal from your checking account is available for monthly payments.
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Additional information is available at (620) 795-4767 or City (620) 795-4433. You may e-mail city@oswegokansas.com.

A new event at the fair this year will be Team Derby. The Labette County Fair Board approved it Wednesday, March 26, monthly meeting at Oswego.
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Cost will be $400 per team. There will be four cars and drivers per team. Cars will be two-old style and two-’80 and newer models. No more than two old style cars per team. If the team wants to run all ‘80 and newer cars they can.
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Two teams compete against each other with the winning team going to the finals. There will be a minimum of eight teams for this event. They said they already have five teams interested. Entry deadline will be June 1, 2008. Any team entering after this deadline will pay an extra $100.
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The Team Derby will be held on Friday night with a payout of $8,000 for eight teams. If more teams compete, the pay-out will increase. Saturday night will be Compacts and ‘80 and newer cars.
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Rollover cages must be installed in all cars this year. May 1 is the deadline for Derby sponsorship to allow for publication.
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See the Labette Avenue, April 2 edition for the complete story.