TUESDAY, Dec. 21 — Members of the Kansas Army National Guard’s 226th Engineering Company, which includes a unit formerly of Cherryvale, is back in the United States after a one-year deployment to Afghanistan.  Welcome home ceremony being planned. More details later.  Guard members arrived this morning in Wisconsin.

BY ANDY TAYLOR

COFFEYVILLE — City commissioners Monday sparred over an emergency measure — which was approved on a 4-1 vote — that would decrease the commission’s quorum number from four to three.

Mayor Alec Hendryx made the suggested change in the commission’s quorum after a situation on Dec. 14 in which two of the five city commissioners did not attend a regularly scheduled meeting. Hendryx could not attend the Dec. 14 meeting because of a previous work commitment, and commissioner Jim Taylor, Sr., said he would skip any commission meeting whereby any other commission member was not attendance.

By having two of the five members of the commission not in attendance at the Dec. 14 meeting, the commission was unable to reach a quorum, and the meeting had to be postponed until Monday night when all five commission members could be present.

By decreasing the quorum from four to three, the commission will be able to still conduct business if two commissioners could not be in attendance, the mayor said.

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The Montgomery County Chronicle has been alerted to a scam whereby a person claiming to be an advertising representative for a company called Premiere Impressions is soliciting advertisements for for a “Montgomery County newspaper” for the holiday season.   This appears to be a scam.   Area businesses should be reminded that the Montgomery County Chronicle solicits advertisements through its advertising director, Emalee Mikel, either face to face or by a telephone call whereby she makes her identity known.  In no way is Premiere Impressions a representative for the Montgomery County Chronicle.  Be cautious about providing information to a firm called Premiere Impressions.

CANEY — A Niotaze man, William E. Wright, 46, died Sunday night around 6 p.m., following a one-vehicle accident two miles west of Caney on Bronco Road.

The Kansas Highway Patrol said Wright’s 1998 Dodge Ram left the roadway for an unknown reason as it traveled eastbound, and struck a tree. Wright was the only occupant in the vehicle.

Wright’s body was removed to the David W. Barnes Funeral Home.

The winners of the Cherryvale Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 Christmas light contest have been announced.

The winners are:

• First place:  David Hammond, 300 S. Olive

• Second place: Judy Hugo, 1010 E. Eighth

• Third place: Carol Staton, 1127 E. Fifth

• Honorable mention: Sharon Wadman, 1015 E. Main, and Cliff Colwell, 1025 E. Third.

BY ANDY TAYLOR

A Coffeyville native has been chosen to lead one of the most-heralded media organizations in the United States.

Last Friday, Mark Hamrick, the Associated Press business editor for broadcast, was elected president of the National Press Club, which is based in Washington, D.C. Hamrick will assume his leadership duties on Jan. 29, which, also is the 150th anniversary of Kansas’ statehood. His inauguration as president of the National Press Club will be based on the theme “We’re Not In Kansas Anymore” and include two Montgomery County natives as emcees: Independence native and television broadcaster Bill Kurtis and Coffeyville native and film/TV director Chuck Bowman.

Hamrick graduated from Field Kindley High School in 1978, where, at the time, he was an aspiring young journalist as a staff writer for the Tornado Times newspaper. His father, Dan Hamrick, was the editor of the Coffeyville Journal during the mid-1970s.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR

State Rep. Jeff King, R-Independence, will have a new title in January: state senator.

The Independence lawyer was selected as the state senator-designee to replace State Sen. Derek Schmidt, who will assume the mantle of Kansas Attorney General on Jan. 10.

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BY RUDY TAYLOR
rudy@taylornews.org

TYRO — A new face at the Tyro Christian Church has everybody wondering, “Could this possibly be the young minister who someday will replace David Bycroft?”

That comment brings a laugh from Nathan Boldt, 28, who is spending one year as an associate minister and intern at the church which has grown to become one of the largest churches in the area.

“I really don’t know about that,” Boldt says. “Right now, I’m just interested in learning everything I can from Dave Bycroft and other congregational leaders. They have a track record that everybody knows about — and I’m here to learn and serve.”
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

Construction on the U.S. 169 highway realignment project from U.S. 166 north to the Coffeyville Airport Industrial Park is ahead of schedule by more than four months, a Kansas Department of Transportation official reports.
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