A Caney native will be honored by the State of Missouri in October with the 2010 Defender of Distinction Award.
Don Catlett is a lead trial attorney with the Columbia Central Capital Office of the Missouri State Public Defender System. The award, which will be presented at the Annual Meeting of The Missouri Bar Association, is awarded each year to a public defender who exemplifies the ideal of public defense.

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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

A recommendation from Mayor Dale McBride to appoint Caney resident Nancy Moore to a vacant position on the Caney Valley Recreation Commission was rejected by city councilors on Monday.

The city by-laws require the mayor to issue a recommendation for any vacant position on city boards and commissions with the council granting concurrence to that recommendation. Councilors cannot make their own recommendations, except when it deals with a vacant position on the city council itself.
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INDEPENDENCE — Montgomery County commissioners heard a request from a county resident to create a position of finance director.

Andy Taylor, editor of the Montgomery County Chronicle, spoke to commissioners during their annual budget hearing on Monday morning. Only one other county resident, Adolph Wildgrube of Independence, expressed comments during the public hearing.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

CANEY — Almost a half century of daily diaries — whose author recorded everything from the price of milk to the daily weather — have been pulled away from a once-certain doom in a landfill.

It happened about one year ago in Caney, where city crews were making stops on their daily trash collection circuit.

They noticed a normal looking box sitting next to some trash cans filled with a week’s worth of food scraps, old newspapers and a few dirty diapers.

But when a trash collector attempted to throw the box into the trash truck, one of the diaries somehow fell from the box and hit the ground — as if saying “look at me.”
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A Montgomery County native has become a partner in a Cherryvale dental clinic.

Molly Brown, D.D.S., assumed dentistry duties on Aug. 9 with Phil Eastep, D.M.D. at Eastep’s downtown Cherryvale clinic. Brown, an Independence native, recently graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City with her dental degree and has a bachelor’s degree from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan.

She is a graduate of Independence High School.

Eastep, who has maintained a local dental clinic for more than 30 years, said he was not leaving the clinic.

“The only change we have made is answering the phone, “Doctors Eastep and Brown’,” he joked.

The clinic has instituted Friday morning office hours. Brown and Eastep will see patients on the usual 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday schedule, but Brown will also see patients from 8 a.m. to noon on Fridays.

Brown said she was influenced to go into the dentistry field after receiving dental braces from Eastep when she was a youngster.

“That was my decision to go into dentistry,” she said.

Eastep said he was elated to have a Montgomery County native like Brown return to her roots.

“For almost 30 years, I never had anyone express an interest in going into the dental field,” he said. “I think it’s great that Molly decided to come back to Montgomery County.”

USD 445 schools welcomed more than one dozen new faces when schools began this morning (Thursday).

Among the new teachers in USD 445 are:
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

U.S. Senator and Republican gubernatorial candidate Sam Brownback cited the Age to Age Learning program at Windsor Place as a unique innovation in Kansas education during an address on Tuesday.

Speaking at a campaign function in Emporia, Brownback pointed to the Age to Age program as an example of how public schools can partner with private enterprise to develop innovative programs.
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UPDATE: A temporary business license has been issued to John Matthews to operate his used furniture business in Caney. The license will expire in October.

BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

CANEY — A Caney man’s desire in being a gracious father may prohibit him from operating a used furniture store in the downtown business district.

John Matthews, who owns a used furniture business at 127 W. Fourth, has been prohibited from selling used furniture from his property after his 19-year-old son recently moved into the first floor of the two-story commercial building.

So, what’s wrong with that?

The City of Caney’s zoning policy prohibits persons from living on the first floors of properties that are designated B-1, which is primarily most of the commercial properties in the downtown Caney business district.

Interpretations of the zoning policy has allowed people to live on the second floors of commercial properties that are zoned B-1 but not on the first floor.
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INDEPENDENCE — Independence Community College trustees are expected to meet at 6 p.m., Monday, Aug. 23, to interview six ICC patrons who are seeking appointment to a vacant trustee position.

The vacant trustee seat was held by trustee Tim Emert of Independence before his resignation in June. Emert, an Independence attorney and former state senator, has been appointed to serve on the Kansas Board of Regents.

The six persons who have expressed interest in the position are Hoite Caston, David Wallis, Jedidah Newkirk, Phillip Chappuie, Tom Tyler and Dale Roberts.