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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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

A newer, quicker and more secretive method for producing methamphetamine has Montgomery County Sheriff Robert Dierks and other law enforcement on full alert.

The method goes by the street name “Shake and Bake” — so called because of the shaking of methamphetamine ingredients in a two-liter plastic bottle or similar-sized container. That shaking motion literally “bakes” the ingredients within a matter of minutes but also comes with high pressure gas that, when released the wrong way, can create an explosion.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR

COFFEYVILLE — A Coffeyville youth hopes that his hometown’s connection of the famous Icee soft drink will soon became the official beverage of the State of Kansas.

Elijah Jaimez, age 11, has proposed that the Icee soft drink, invented by Coffeyville restaurant owner Omar Knedlik in the early 1960s, will be named the ofifical soft drink of Kansas upon passage by the Kansas Legislature and Gov. Sam Brownback. Jaimez has submitted his proposal to State Rep. Virgil Peck, R-Tyro, and State Sen. Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer, for their consideration and possible advancement to each chamber in the Kansas Legislature.

Jaimez said he developed the idea for an official state drink when he was studying the 50 states as part of a school assignment several weeks ago. He discovered that Delaware has an official drink (milk) as does Nebraska (Kool-aid).

However, Kansas does not have an official drink despite having a list of other “official” symbols, including the state bird (Western meadowlark), state animal (American buffalo), state amphibian (Barred tiger salamander), state flower (Wild native sunflower), state grass (little bluestem), state insect (honeybee), state march (“The Kansas March”), state reptile (ornate box turtle), state soil (Harney silt loam), state song (“Home on the Range”) and state tree (cottonwood).
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