BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

CHERRYVALE — More than 100 volunteers — many from Kansas, others from as far away as California — have converged on the muddy banks of the Verdigris River northwest of Cherryvale this week to literally roll back centuries of history.

The Kansas State Historical Society and the Kansas Anthropological Association are co-sponsoring an archeology training program on property owned by Phil Eastep of rural Cherryvale. The event marks the first-ever on-site archeology training project in southeast Kansas, and it also is the first professional archeological dig to take place on southeast Kansas soil in more than 30 years.

“What we collect and gather from this archeology training program field school will really shed a large amount of light on the history of this region,” said John Tomasic, an archeologist with the Kansas State Historical Society.

The volunteers, which range from nurses to custodians to college students, to electrical engineers to even teenage kids, are joining forces with professional archeologists to discover civilizations that roamed the Verdigris River valley in the region’s pre-historic era.
Read more

Capt. Patrick C. Gordon of the U.S. Air Force, remains a patient in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany following a severe foot injury he sustained in a vehicle accident on May 19.

Gordon spent his early years in Caney where his father taught music at Caney Valley High School and Field Kindley High School in Coffeyville.
Read more

BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

COFFEYVILLE — It was just a handshake . . . but one that will be felt for a lifetime for a Coffeyville Community College football player and a Coffeyville firefighter.

On Wednesday afternoon, CCC sophomore linebacker Gary Henderson, Jr. of St. Louis, Mo., was at the Coffeyville Fire Station to offer his personal thanks to local firefighter Derek Messner after Messner assisted lifeguards at the Coffeyville Aquatic Center for saving Henderson’s life one week earlier.

“I’m just glad you were there,” said Henderson after shaking hands with Messner.

It was the first time the two men had formally met, even though a set of circumstances forced their paths to cross on the afternoon of June 2.

Here’s the story . . .

Messner and his son, Ty, were enjoying the sun and warmth of the Coffeyville Aquatic Center that afternoon as were Henderson and a group of friends from CCC.

Messner, who was off duty that afternoon, and his son were in the shallow end of the aquatic center pool while Henderson and friends were jumping off the diving boards in the deeper end.
Read more

The race for the position of Montgomery County Commissioner, District 1, has drawn three candidates.

Noon Thursday (June 10) was the deadline for residents to officially file for election to the commission position.

The position is now held by commissioner Tony Fowler of Independence. Fowler said this week that he would not seek re-election.

In his place will be one of three candidates, all of whom are Republicans.  They include Mike Seller of Independence, Tim Myers of Cherryvale and Leon Rau of rural Liberty.

The three men will square off in a primary election on Tuesday, Aug. 3 with the winner advancing to the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 2.  Because no Democrat Party candidates filed for the position, the candidate who wins the primary election will be the presumed winner in the general election.