BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

INDEPENDENCE — An ongoing dispute over the property tax valuation for Montgomery County’s single-largest property owners reached a negotiated settlement on Monday — at least for the short-term.

County commissioners voted unanimously to sign an agreement with Coffeyville Resources LLC for the property tax valuation of the company’s refinery property in Coffeyville. The valuation will remain at $160 million for fiscal 2010, which is the same amount that the valuation has been since 2007.

The settlement will only be for one year, and Coffeyville Resources agreed to not appeal the valuation agreement.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

Voters across the nation will go to the polls next Tuesday, Nov. 2, to decide the fate of many local, state and national races.

In Kansas, polls open at 7 p.m., and close at 7 p.m.

The mid-term elections, so named because they are in the middle of a president’s four-year term, could change the face of national politics as Democrats face a battle with Republicans over control of the U.S. Congress. Currently, the Democrat Party is the majority in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

FORT RILEY — A Montgomery County unit of the U.S. Army Reserves went to the battlefield recently . . . but it was a battle fought in the kitchen, not the foxholes or the trenches.

The U.S. Army Reserves’ 1011th Quartermaster Company, which is based in Independence, was among the four national finalists in the Army Reserve division for the prestigious Philip A. Connelly Award, which recognizes excellence in Army food service. The Independence-based company faced three other Reserve units in the Connelly competition, which was held at Fort Riley, Kan., on Oct. 13-16.

The local unit is still awaiting the tabulation of the results from the food competition. Should the 1011th unit be given first-place honors, then the unit will receive its national award in Chicago, Ill., in December, followed by attendance at a 15-day culinary arts school.

The U.S. Army Reserves — as well as the active U.S. Army and the National Guard — has put more emphasis on quality food service as a way to keep morale high, said First Sgt. Pete Tucker of the 1011th Quartermaster Company.

Gone are the days of the typical Army cook portrayed in movies — sweating away over a kettle of peeled potatoes while serving punishment on “kitchen patrol” or putting in time as a green private. Today, the Army puts emphasis on food quality, as well as sanitation, dining facilities, command and support, Tucker said.
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The Montgomery County Chronicle publishes death notices on this website at no charge to the family of the deceased. Complete obituary can be found in the print edition of the Montgomery County Chronicle. Complete obituaries are printed at $20, which is billed to the funeral home handling the funeral and burial arrangements.

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