Ball  & Claw Auction in downtown Oswego is back to serving as an auction house this time for the Ross Auction Service.
This Saturday, March 21, at 5:45 p.m. you can bid on a variety of guns, anvils, antiques, furniture, collectibles and mounts.
Cody Ross became an auctioneer in July of last year. His wife, Jamie, helps with the auction service. Cody is the son of Larry and Phyllis (Fulkerson) Ross of Oswego.
Ross also takes consignment auctions the first and third Thursday of every month at 5 p.m. at the old “Center Creek Feed” building located on highway 171, between Webb City and Carl Junction in Missouri. He handles antiques, collectibles, furniture and tools, etc.
To consign, contact Ross at 620-529-4416; “we take almost anything,” he said.
The Assembly of God youth will be offering refreshments.
Ball & Claw Auction is located at 717 Fourth St. in Oswego in the former theater building. The Ball & Claw Auction is well known for its antique furniture and collectibles throughout the United States.
The Rosses invite you to come out to their auction this Saturday and get acquainted. Watch for next auction date in this newspaper.

Industrial park is the hope of replacing the plant’s activity

For the first time since World War II, the making of military ammunition has stopped. The Kansas Army Ammunition Plant officially closed with a brief ceremony last week during which an olive drab cover was placed over the installation’s red flag. About 75 people attended the event in the basement of the facility’s buildings located between Parsons and Oswego.
The shuttering of the KAAP was a part of the most recent congressional plan to close and reconfigure military bases.
“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” said Ruby Redmond, 85, who worked in personnel at the plant from 1951 until retiring in 1994.
The plant actually made its last bomb — a sensor-fused weapon that is capable of hitting multiple targets and dropped from aircraft — in December. The facility started producing munitions in 1942, when more than 7,000 employees built bombs and artillery rounds bound for Europe and the Pacific.
Redmond said the plant was its own city when she worked there, with thousands of employees working around the clock to build ammunition for the Korean and Vietnam wars.
“We pulled in people. We needed people,” she said.
The plant had 1,300 workers after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, but less than 300 when production stopped in December. Wages at the plant averaged more than $40,000, nearly twice the median salary in Labette County, one of the state’s lowest in per capita income.
Pentagon officials targeted the plant for closure in 2005 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process. Production was transferred to ammunition plants in Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Local officials did not fight the closure and had even started working toward converting the plant to industrial purposes before it made the BRAC list. An Army spokesman said Wednesday that the plant was the first of its installations from the 2005 BRAC to be deactivated, nearly a year ahead of schedule.
The Army expects to transfer the land to the new owners by the end of this year.
Day & Zimmermann Inc., which has run the plant for the Army since 1970, is buying 4,000 acres and two production lines with the hope of eventually landing a new munitions contract.
Great Plains Development Authority, created by local officials, will own about 3,000 acres. It plans to create an industrial park with highway and rail access and already has received some federal and state aid for the work.
“It’s not going to happen tomorrow, and it’s not going to happen in a year. But it’s going to start right now,” said Ann Charles, a former newspaper publisher and deputy director of the authority.
The ammunition plant was the only casualty in Kansas during the 2005 BRAC process. The state overall saw significant gains in military activity, including the return of the 1st Infantry Division to Fort Riley after 10 years in Germany.

The Labette County High School men’s basketball team had its season come to a close on Saturday by losing to the Girard Trojans, 45-41, in the finale of the class 4A sub-state tournament in Chanute.

More details of the game will be printed in the March 11 edition of the Labette Avenue.

By Andy Taylor
LABETTE AVENUE

A Labette County native and resident will be in Lawrence on Saturday night to accept induction into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame.
Vernon Sandusky of Edna will represent the band Bobby Poe and the Poe-Kats, which is among the inductees for the hall’s class of 2009. Sandusky was one of the original members of the four-man group, which got its start in Coffeyville in 1957.
Bobby Poe and the Poe-Kats made a meteoric rise in the rock n’ roll scene — cutting their teeth in dance halls and bars in Montgomery and Labette counties before getting a contract to perform as the backup group to rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson in 1958.
“Jim Halsey made the call to Bobby Poe that he needed a group to perform for Wanda Jackson,” said Sandusky from his Edna home on Monday night. “Our group was known for being among the originators of the rockabilly sound. So, it was a good move. But, let me tell you: traveling with Wanda Jackson was a pretty big deal for a kid from the sticks. We went all over the country with Wanda. We made a pretty big jump — from the Casa Del in South Coffeyville to playing on stage with Wanda Jackson in California.”
With Bobby Poe and the Poe-Kats on stage, Wanda Jackson belted out a unique sound that put her on course to being a diva of rock n’ roll. “Let’s Have A Party” was her signature song, which her boyfriend, Elvis Presley, encouraged her to record with the Poe-Kats serving as the background musicians.
However, by 1960, Bobby Poe and the Poe-Kats were going in different directions. Big Al Downing went on his own road into country music. Sandusky started a group called The Chartbusters which had Poe as its manager and co-producer. Ironically, The Chartbusters were considered a big hit during the British Invasion era of rock n’ roll. The group had a chart-soaring hit — “She’s The One” — that was a top 40 climber in 1964 and got the group ample airtime on AM radio across the nation. “She’s The One” was recorded for a whopping $45 in a Washington, D.C., studio . . . but that album sold more than 1 million singles — putting the Poe-led Sandusky band in the same level of stardom as Elvis and the Beatles.
The group even performed on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand,” where they temporarily stole the spotlight from other British Invasion groups, such as the Rolling Stones.
However, when the British music wave was over, the Chartbusters were relegated to AM radio’s dust bin. Sandusky went on to become a guitarist for country music star Roy Clark. Poe went on to manage other groups and also entered the world of publishing as the originator of “Bobby Poe’s Pop Music Survey.” Those surveys evolved into an annual convention of country and pop music celebrities, who wined, dined and played golf in benefit tournaments. Those Poe-led conventions and annual parties were a must-go for musicians and celebrities in the music industry before Poe finally retired in 1994.
Poe wanted to live a quiet life when he retired to Grove, Okla., 15 years ago. While he has maintained contact with former musicians and friends in the music industry, he has spent recent months facing the biggest battle of his life: throat cancer.
The reason Sandusky will accept the award at Saturday’s hall induction ceremony on behalf of the band is because Poe will not be in attendance. The one-time musician can no longer carry a tune, let alone speak. His gravelly, gurgling voice is an entire galaxy from the smooth baritone who belted out “Rock and Roll Record Girl” 50 years ago.
And, the throat cancer he now endures is the result of inhaling fumes in smoke-filled concert halls and dance clubs for many years. Poe says he is a victim to second-hand smoke. He never smoked a cigarette during his years as a rock n’ roller. He didn’t need to, he said. Those countless days and nights spent in dance halls, honkytonks, and private clubs turned into months and years. And, the endless cycle of performing in smoky concert halls forced Poe to inhale everyone else’s cigarette smoke.
Poe says he is saddened that he cannot make Saturday’s hall induction ceremony.
“I can’t talk much, and I can’t sing,” he said, his voice breaking. “I’m afraid I would be an embarrassment.”
But an embarrassment is not what the board of directors of the Kansas Music Hall of Fame thought when they named Bobby Poe and the Poe-Kats to be among the Kansas-bred musicians to enshrined into the hall for 2009. Instead, they chose music groups whose style of music opened new doors and new genres.
Ironically, Saturday night’s hall of fame induction also will include the enshrinement of Jim Halsey, the Independence native who signed Bobby Poe and the Poe-Kats to their first big deal as Wanda Jackson’s backup group in 1958. Halsey will be inducted into the hall for his 50-plus years as a country music manager. During his career, Halsey has led such performers as Roy Clark, The Judds, Reba McEntire, Clint Black, James Brown, Roy Orbison and more. Halsey also continues his 35-year management relationship with the Oak Ridge Boys. In his later careers, Halsey has put his work into education by establishing a music and entertainment business program at Oklahoma City University.
Another group with Labette County roots also will be enshrined in the hall on Saturday night. The Sensational Showmen included members from the Parsons and Pittsburg areas and will be in attendance at the induction ceremony.
Also to be honored at the event or inducted into the music hall will be Lee McBee, Lawrence; Danny Cox, Kansas City; The Dinks, Beloit; Shooting Star, Kansas City; Billy Spears, Lawrence; The Young Raiders, Lawrence; and The Serfs, Lawrence/Wichita.

The USD 506 Foundation has offered the Hartman Gearhiser mini-grant for teachers in the district.
Once again there were more worthy applicants than funds. The Foundation has set aside $3,920.
The 506 Foundation committee rated the six applications and recommended two for funding from the Foundation.
The Foundation is requesting that the Board of Education, as it has in the past, also sponsor two grant proposals. At the Jan. 20 Foundation meeting, the committee was asked to request the Board to fund all four remaining applications.
Grants funded by 506 Foundation:
Grant #1, submitted by Vickie Stockton, amount requested: $620. This grant will be used to buy “leveled reading books” so students can get books at the level they read and be early successful readers.
Grant #2, submitted by District Kindergarten teachers, amount requested: $500. This grant is to purchase a program called “Handwriting Without Tears,”this program is designed to teach manuscript letter formation to beginning writers.
Grants requested to be funded by Board of Education match and approved:
Grant #1, submitted by Melinda Littrel, amount requested: $700. This grant would purchase some hands on science products called K’Nex, that would allow students to construct their own machines.  The simple machine set includes, pulleys, wheels and axles, gears, inclined planes and levers.
Grant #2, submitted by Daria Condon, amount requested: $600. This grant would purchase the Barton Reading and Spelling System that would provide Daria and the other SpEd teachers with another tool to help students that require a different, more explicit form of instruction.  The Gearhiser grant purchased Levels 1 and 2 last year. This would purchase levels 3 and 4.

Even though Labette County received some rain last week, the countywide burn ban will remain in force.
That was the decision made at Monday’s Labette County Commissioners meeting. The commissioners will re-examine the ban next week. They noted that special permission for agricultural burning can be obtained from your area fire chief. He will require you to have a written request before he gives an approval to burn.
Whenever the county activates a burn ban, the cities of Altamont, Chetopa, Edna and Oswego, automatically endorse the same burn ban. The city of Parsons does not automatically follow the endorsement.
IN OTHER ACTION taken at Monday’s meeting:
• The commissioners discussed a proposal to add two more members to the Labette Health Board of Trustees, but took no action at Monday’s meeting.
The county commission appoints members to the board which currently is composed of seven members. The board has suggested adding two more members, one of them required to be a physician.
• Labette County signed a pharmacist-in-charge agreement with Cindy Fager, to be effective April 1, 2009 until March 31, 2010, at a cost of $400 annually. This is the third year Fager has been the pharmacist-in-charge at the Labette County Health Department.
• Larry Cupit, county sanitation officer, presented a county sanitation code update request. The county counselor Fred Johnson will work with Cupit on language changes, etc. and work up a addendum to the present sanitation code. This addendum will have to be approved by the state before the commissioners can approve it. The Labette County Sanitation Code booklet is dated 1994.
•  Commissioners will attend the See-Kan RC&D annual meeting in Coffeyville on Saturday, Feb. 21.

Who do you know who has been a fire chief, taught EMT classes, owned and operated an ambulance service, served as a nurse in a local hospital as well as spent a tour in Viet Nam in the naval reserves and served in Operation Desert Storm with the US Army, built houses, worked in the Sheriff’s Department, become a physician’s assistant, raised nine kids, been run off by his future father-in-law, been a commander of the VFW, coached PeeWee baseball, had five heart attacks, two three-way heart by-passes, had a pacemaker and a couple of stints and still enjoys fishing, playing cards and tinkering in the garage?
This individual is none other than Harvey Fry. He laughingly tells the story about the future father-in-law who ran him off while he was dating his wife, Patty. At the time he was serving in the Naval Reserves. When he worked up the courage to come back and get married, he had no money and was given a free haircut at Jack’s Barber Shop in Oswego. Jack Wilkinson showed his appreciation for his serving in the military by giving him a free haircut. Harvey has never forgotten this.
Harvey talks about arriving in Oswego on a Friday night and going to work with his father-in-law on Monday building houses. The first house they built was Philip Blair’s house.
He worked in the Sheriff’s Department when Carl Cloke was sheriff. He acted as fire chief between 1978 and 1988. He and Patty started the ambulance service in 1979 until 1988. While owning the ambulance service, he taught EMT classes at Labette Community College between 1981 to 1986. Then he became a nurse at the Oswego Hospital between 1983 and 1986. He went to Viet Nam and then was in Desert Storm as a paramedic. He retired from the reserves after 26 years of active duty.
In 1986 he became a physician’s assistant until Jan. 31 when he retired from the clinic of St. John’s -  Oswego. With his medical history, he has seen both sides as a physician and as a patient.
Harvey and his wife, Patty Blair Fry, will be married 40 years on Feb. 21 of this year.  The couple have two of their own children, Jennifer Christine and Harvey IV. They have adopted seven other children. Only one, Allison, 17, is still at home. They have 5 granddaughters.
Harvey said he would enjoy speaking at Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs, service clubs and community organizations to share some of his vast experiences. He was a short-term member of Lions, Rotary and Jaycees. He was Commander of the VFW for two years and has coached PeeWee baseball.
When asked about his association with the clinic and Dr. Bortmes, he became very serious and said, “I have great respect for him; he is a brilliant doctor.” He said, “I have so many friends, wonderful patients after 14 years at the clinic. A lot of these people I knew before I went into medicine. They are more like family. Medicine has been very satisfying. I wish I had realized earlier my love for medicine.”
His health has become an issue, and he wants to relax and enjoy himself. He said, “I want to smell the roses before I start pushing up daisies.”
A retirement reception will be held for Harvey on Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the Oswego Community Center from 4 to 5:30 p.m. It will be a come and go reception. All friends, patients and family are urged to attend this city-sponsored event.

A special meeting was called Thursday in the commission room of the Parsons Municipal
Building, when the commissioners signed a resolution to issue a burn ban for Labette County.

It will be the standard grassland and cropland ban, which will include
exceptions for prescribe burning for crop survival if the burn has been
SPECIFICALLY APPROVED in wiring by the fire chief or other appropriate
officer. Crop survival is defined as stubble burning in preparation for
second crop planting.

The ban will continue until specifically lifted by the commission, based on
precipitation.

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Red Flag Warning National Weather Service Wichita KS 1047 AM CST Fri Feb 6 2009

…Extreme Fire Danger Can Be Expected Across The Entire Area This Afternoon…

Russell-Lincoln-Barton-Ellsworth-Saline-Rice-Mcpherson-Marion- Chase-Reno-Harvey-Butler-Greenwood-Woodson-Allen-Kingman-Sedgwick- Harper-Sumner-Cowley-Elk-Wilson-Neosho-Chautauqua-Montgomery- Labette- 1047 AM CST Fri Feb 6 2009

A Red Flag Warning Remains In Effect Until 6 PM CST This Afternoon.

South Winds Will Increase To 25 To 35 Mph This Afternoon…With Near Record High Temperatures In The Upper 60s To Near 70. The Gusty Winds And Record Warmth Will Combine With Cured Vegetation To Create Extreme Fire Danger Conditions Across The Area.

A Red Flag Warning Means That Critical Fire Weather Conditions Are Either Occurring Now…Or Will Shortly. A Combination Of Strong Winds…Low Relative Humidity…And Warm Temperatures Will Create Explosive Fire Growth Potential.

Please Advise The Appropriate Officials Or Fire Crews In The Field Of This Red Flag Warning.

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WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT
UNTIL 6 PM CST THIS EVENING
Urgent - Weather Message National Weather Service Wichita KS 1046 AM CST Fri Feb 6 2009

Saline-Mcpherson-Marion-Chase-Reno-Harvey-Butler-Greenwood- Woodson-Allen-Kingman-Sedgwick-Harper-Sumner-Cowley-Elk-Wilson- Neosho-Chautauqua-Montgomery-Labette- Including The Cities Of…Salina…Mcpherson…Marion… Cottonwood Falls…Hutchinson…Newton…El Dorado…Augusta… Eureka…Yates Center…Iola…Kingman…Wichita…Anthony… Harper…Wellington…Winfield…Arkansas City…Howard… Fredonia…Chanute…Erie…Sedan…Coffeyville…Independence… Parsons 1046 AM CST Fri Feb 6 2009

A Wind Advisory Remains In Effect Until 6 PM CST This Evening.

Surface Low Pressure Is Expected To Strengthen Over The Northern Plains This Afternoon. This Will Allow Strong South Winds To Overspread Southeast And South Central Kansas With Speeds Of 25 To 35 Mph Expected. Some Gusts To 45 Mph Will Be Possible At Times.

A Wind Advisory Means That Sustained Winds Of At Least 30 Mph And/Or Wind Gusts Over 45 Mph Are Expected. Winds This Strong Can Make Driving Difficult…Especially For High Profile Vehicles. Use Extra Caution.

Calving season might already here for some, but for others it’s a few weeks out.  To prepare for the year’s calving season, plan to attend a calving management school on Tuesday, February 3rd.  The Neosho County Extension Office is hosting the event at the courthouse in Erie.

Dr. Larry Hollis, K-State Extension Beef Veterinarian, will be the featured speaker. Dr. Hollis will offer management tips such as predicting the time of calving, when to intervene and assist cows/heifers, the three stage of parturition, preparing to pull a calf (do’s & don’ts), as well as calf scour prevention.

An evening meal will be served from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m.  The program will be from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.  Pre-register by calling the Neosho County Extension office by February 2nd at 620-244-3826.

K - State Research and Extension is an equal opportunity
provider and employer.

Keith Martin
CEA, Agriculture
Labette County
(620) 784-5337
rkmartin@ksu.edu