The Prairie Star website (taylornews.org) will carry immediate results of the sales tax election set for Tuesday, Dec. 1, in Chautauqua County. The special election will be for all Chautauqua County residents to decide whether to approve a one-cent sales tax which would fund the building of a new jail and law enforcement center in Sedan.

Because the Prairie Star newspaper will be printed before the polls close on Tuesday evening, it will be impossible the carry the printed results in next Wednesday’s edition.

In addition to the website postings on Tuesday night, printed flyers will be posted in all locations where the newspaper is sold. In Chautauqua County, that would be Floyd’s Supermarket and the One Stop convenience store in Sedan and the Short Stop in Cedar Vale.

The total amount financed would be $2.8 million requiring a yearly payment of $220,000 and the term of the tax would be 20 years, however Russell believes the project would pay out in 12 years. In the event the project is paid for, the sales tax will be dropped immediately.

For details on the election, read this week’s Prairie Star.

The Sedan Pharmacy continues to be open and its full-time pharmacist is in the process of moving to the community.

Doug Bagett, RPh, said he is looking forward to being a full-time resident of the Sedan community and running the store himself.

“I like Sedan and we want all patients and customers to know that we’re here to serve them,” Bagett said.

He is moving to Sedan from Boseman, Mont., but calls Oklahoma his native home, formerly working in Bartlesville and Owasso pharmacies.

Bagett holds an ownership interest in the Sedan Pharmacy and stepped in to take over management following the recent death of Kenny Sherrill who had been the registered pharmacist for several years

Also working as Pharmacy Technicians at Sedan Pharmacy are Grace McMillen, Tracy Ullum and Sherri Beason.

The store is located at 129 E. Main and the telephone number is 620 725-3262.

The Annual Elk Falls Outhouse Tour, held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20 -21, was a thundering success!  Returning visitors and first time skeptics alike descended on Elk Falls from points far and near to take the Tour of Outhouses and vote on their favorites.

A bus tour of 46 from Iowa was among the johnny judges.  There were 14 privies on the ballot this year, a record number and appropriate for the 14th Annual event.

Competition was tough with such a wide variety of entries.  But when the 389 ballots were counted, first place went to Gilligan’s Contemplation Palace, a majestic and unusual structure built entirely of cedar saplings at the end of a long winding path in the woods.  The outhouse is owned by Cecelia Stich.

Second place went to the GREENhouse - a Loo With a View, an environmentally friendly waste management facility built mainly of glass by Steve Fry.  Third place was a little more traditional Read more

By Dorie Tucker
This week marked the official beginning of basketball season in Kansas.  Area high school teams began conditioning and working on skills for competition in the South Central Border League this season and the Sedan Blue Devil teams are no exception.

The Sedan Booster Blue Devil Booster Club will be hosting the “Meet the Blue Devils” event which will coincide with the annual Blue/White scrimmage to be held on Tuesday, Dec. 1, beginning at 6 p.m., at the Sedan High School gymnasium.

Mark your calendar for this special night Read more

By J. Waller
The Sedan Area Chamber of Commerce president Jeannie Walker would like to announce there will be a spaghetti supper to benefit the Sedan Area Chamber of Commerce, Wednesday, Dec. 2 from 4-7 p.m., at the Christian Church located at 204 N. Chautauqua in Sedan.

They will be serving spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, bread and a drink, all for the price of $5 for adults and children 9 and under will be $3.  There will also be a bake sale Read more

The 14th Annual Outhouse Festival will be held during the Elk Falls Annual Fall Open House, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20-21.

Outhouses are being repaired, remodeled, moved and painted all over town as competitors prepare for this year’s contest. Several new outhouse entries, as well as returning favorites, will vie for the prize money and bragging rights.

Elk Konnected will be sponsoring a new entry competing against the Barber Hole, the Laboratory, the Social Movement, and the Loo With a View. Visitors will be the judges when they buy a $1 Outhouse Button, pick up a map and ballot and take the self-guided tour. Read more

On Sunday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m., the Sedan Ministerial Alliance will host the annual Community Thanksgiving Service at First Christian Church, 204 N. Chautauqua.

Special music will be provided by members of local churches. The sermon will be given by Fr. Marcus Cunningham, rector of Epiphany Episcopal Church.

A freewill offering will be taken to benefit the emergency fund. Non-perishable food items will be collected for the food pantry.

A public forum will be held at the Sedan Farm Bureau to present the jail proposal with a question and answer session on Nov. 24.

There will be three sessions at 6 p.m., 7 p.m., and 8 p.m. Each session will start promptly at the times offered.

Citizens are encouraged to attend and arrive promptly to hear the information presented before the question and answer sessions.

Have you ever wanted to see the inside of the Chautauqua County Jail? Read more

The play production at Sedan High School scheduled for this Friday, Nov. 13, has been postponed to Dec. 4.  Organizers say the postponement is due to illness causing recent absences.  More details will follow in the Prairie Star.

Elk County will receive $96,262 in federal funds to pay for security cameras in local schools, according to Byrdee Miller, Emergency Preparedness Manager for Elk County.

A total of $16 million will be distributed nationwide and Elk County was the only recipient in the state of Kansas to receive the School Safety funds.

The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) announced the grants to 128 local law enforcement agencies and municipalities to enhance school safety in 38 states. The grants were awarded Read more

Chautauqua County HomeTown Prosperity (HTP) begins its second year charting a course based on research gathered last year from community meetings, surveys and focus groups.

HTP will be rolling out the following community projects in coming months:

Leadership:  Lana Hawkins and Linda Robinette have just returned from leadership training in Wichita and will begin recruiting a working Read more

The soon-to-be-released SKT Telephone book will feature this photo on its cover following the announcement that Zack Fry of Howard had won the competition of submitted photos. Fry, who works for Mark Hall at Small Planet on Line, said he shot the picture west of Elk Falls on a country road. This isn’t the first photo by Fry to win a phone book cover competition — he took a picture of the falls near Elk Falls while he was still in high school and it became the cover art.

West Elk Play Productions, under the direction of Sedan resident Cristine Warring, will present the play “Scaramouche” on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13 and 14, at 7 p.m. each evening in the West Elk High School Auditorium.

The public is invited to attend the presentation about the French Revolution that includes sword fights, love triangles, nobility verses commoners, and a scoundrel named Scaramouche.

Admission to the play will be $4 for adults and $2 for children ages 6-12. Set designers for the play are Dean Baum and Linda Shilts-Baum.

WEHS students in the cast are Read more

A local team of working cowboys will be heading to the national championship rodeo sponsored by the Working Ranch Cowboys Association, Nov. 12-15 in Amarillo, Texas.

From the Howard area is Bruce Beeman who lives at rural Howard and works for the Still Ranch located between Longton and Howard.

From the Latham area are team members Zack Blair, Gene Calvin and Keven Schouten, representing the Lazy B Ranch near Atlanta.

Another cowboy, Cliff Hall, resides near Bronson, Kan.

Together, they comprise the Broken H Ranch and Lazy B Bar C Ranch team.
The Broken H Ranch is located near Bronson and the Lazy B is located near Latham and Atlanta.

“We will be entering all events,” said Beeson. “We hit lots of ranch rodeos each year, probably 20 or 25 of them — and we all work as cowboys every day on area ranches.”

Three teams from Kansas qualified for the WRCA national event. Other teams will come from Strong City and the Hamilton-Emporia areas.

Another team from this region Read more

The 16th Annual Ol’ Time Chautauqua Hills Cowboy Poet Gathering is set for Saturday night, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m., at the Gregg Theater in Sedan.   This year’s show will feature the story telling and singing of Jim Hoy and cowgirl Marty Sheets.
The audience will experience an art form that has found its way back into the mainstream of American consciousness: cowboy poetry and western music. What guests will see and hear is something that is one of a kind.

Those attending will hear Read more