Several candidate forums will be held tonight (Tuesday) to educate voters for the April 5 general election. Those forums include:

USD 447 Board of Education forum, 7 p.m., at the Cherryvale Middle-High School Commons Area;

Coffeyville candidates forum from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., at City Hall (see coffeyville.com for alloted times);

and Independence Community College candidate forum at 5:30 p.m., at the Inge Theatre on the ICC campus.

A story will appear in the March 31 edition detailing the names of candidates who will appear on the April 5th general election ballot.

BY ANDY TAYLOR

Fallout from State Rep. Virgil Peck’s joking comment comparing the killing of wild hogs with the killing of illegal immigrants continued Thursday with one of Peck’s fellow conservative lawmakers expressing criticism against him.

Peck, a Tyro resident, is a conservative Republican member of the Kansas House of Representatives whose district includes the towns of Caney, Coffeyville, Liberty, Tyro, Havana and Cherryvale.

Although everyone from Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, another conservative Republican, to the Kansas Democrat Party have denounced Peck’s comments, which were made Monday in a House Appropriations Committee hearing, the sharpest words from within the Kansas Legislature came Thursday from State Sen. Dwayne Umbarger, a Thayer Republican whose senatorial district includes a portion of Peck’s house district.
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BREAKING NEWS: Caden West, the 18-year-old Cherryvale tten who has been reported missing since March 8, has been located in Tulsa, Okla., the Cherryvale Police Department reports.  West was found in Tulsa on Thursday morning after police located him when he posted a comment on a social network page.  He was in custody in the Tulsa Police Department as of 9 a.m., Thursday and was in healthy condition.  Matt Dennis, Cherryvale police chief, said he appreciated the help of all people who searched for West’s whereabouts.

BY ANDY TAYLOR

CANEY — USD 436 Board of Education members required three separate votes to reach a majority agreement whether to extend a job contract to Superintendent Danny Fulton.

Monday’s meeting included the discussion of contract extensions for all school board administrators.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR

chronicle@taylornews.org

State Rep. Virgil Peck, R-Tyro, apologized Tuesday for making a joking comment in a legislative committee in which he compared the killing of wild swine with the shooting and killing of illegal immigrants.

Peck’s comment was made in the House Appropriations Committee, which was taking up consideration of a proposal to control the growing number of feral hogs in Kansas.The issue of illegal immigration was not discussed during the committee’s consideration of the feral hog issue. Peck made the comment openly and in front of the committee, which was captured on audio and placed on news internet sites moments after it was said.

“Looks like to me that if shooting these immigrating feral hogs works maybe we have found a (solution) to our illegal immigration problem,” he said.

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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

COFFEYVILLE — Half of Tuesday’s Coffeyville City Commission became a free-for-all battle between Commissioner Jim Taylor, Sr., and Mayor Alec Hendryx concerning a bevy of arguments that Taylor has presented at previous meetings.

Commissioners deem the end of each commission meeting as a time for “comments for commissioners and staff.”  Tuesday’s comment time consumed more than one hour of often-testy comments hurled between Taylor and Hendryx as well as amped frustration by city manager Jeff Morris.
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Two Logan Park structures that  have become eyesores in recent years will soon be demolished to make way for an outdoor livestock barn, city councilors determined Monday.

City councilors took no formal action at Monday’s work session regarding a plan by the Cherryvale Youth Fair Association to remove the two structures, commonly known as the Girl Scout houses, but were unanimous in their support for the association’s plans to remove the buildings and erect a new livestock barn in their place. Councilors are expected to take formal action on the proposal at their March 21 meeting.
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A public forum to hear from candidates for the USD 447 Board of Education will be held at 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 29 in the Cherryvale Middle-High School Commons Area.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

INDEPENDENCE — A delegation of Independence school district residents, teachers and school board members gathered Tuesday for the first of three meetings designed to address the impending cut of $700,000 in state funds for local schools.

The meeting was convened at the request of Superintendent Chuck Schmidt so that the community can guide the school board on dealing with the $700,000 budget reduction for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years. Another community meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 15 at the Eisenhower School Library; a final meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 29 at the Eisenhower School Library.

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