BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

CHERRYVALE — At long last, a Cherryvale family walked into their new home last weekend, almost five years after being selected as the recipient family of a Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County project.

Tilly Stewart along with college-aged children Tyler and Megan were all smiles when they moved furniture into their new three bedroom home at 513 E. Eighth. For Tilly Stewart, the five-year wait is worth every moment.

“I’m just so glad to finally start moving in,” she said, fighting back tears that welled in her eyes. “I thought this day would never come.”
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

NOWATA, Okla. — A Tulsa, Okla., man will return to Nowata County District Court on Friday, Aug. 13, after a judge determined last week that enough evidence exists to have the man bound over for jury trial in the vehicle deaths of three area people in May 2009.

Charlie Davis Strong, Jr., of Tulsa, is charged with three counts of second degree murder stemming from a deadly hit-and-run collision with two other vehicles on U.S. 169 highway near Lenapah, Okla., in May 2009. That collision left three people dead, including Gene Hobbs, age 70, of South Coffeyville, Okla.; Kyler Blagg, age 15, of Caney; and Kyler’s mother, Amy Blagg, age 44, also of Caney. The wreck also left several other passengers in the Hobbs and Blagg vehicles injured.

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A full field of candidates will be on the 2010 primary ballot for various county, state and federal offices, the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office reported last Thursday, June 10.

Last Thursday was the deadline for candidates to file necessary paperwork to seek county, state or federal posts.

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(Editor’s note:  Information in the June 17th edition of the Montgomery County Chronicle concerning the race for Montgomery County Commission had incorrect information. The story incorrectly stated that candidate Tim Myers of Cherryvale is a Republican. He is a Democrat Party candidate for that seat.  A corrected version of the story is printed below, and the Chronicle apologizes for the error.    — Andy Taylor, editor)

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, two of which are Republicans and will face each other in the Aug. 3 primary election. The Republican candidates are Mike Seller of Independence and Leon Rau of rural Liberty.

There is one Democrat candidate in the field: Tim Myers of Cherryvale.  Myers will be unopposed in the Aug. 3 primary election and will face either Seller or Rau in the Nov. 2 general election.

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.

City commissioner RJ Warren officially resigned his position Tuesday night, citing increased travel as a result of an out-of-town job.

Warren, who was appointed to his commission seat in September 2008, was not present at Tuesday’s meeting but issued his resignation in the form of a letter.

Warren said in his letter that he intended to continue as city commissioner after he taken his employment with a Kansas City-area firm. However, the travel requirements were much more than he realized, he said in his resignation letter.
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