Obituary - Donald L. Elkins

Donald L. Elkins, age 50, a resident of Ft. Scott, Kansas, passed away Sunday, March 19, 2023, at the Via Christi Emergency Room in Ft. Scott. He was born April 12, 1972, in Rock Hill, South Carolina, the son of Donald Wayne Elkins and Sherry Lynne Hunt Elkins. At an early age, the family moved to California. Donald grew up and attended school in Taft, California. 

Following high school, he went to work in the oil fields of southern California where he continued to work for many years. In 2015, he relocated to Ft. Scott in order to be closer to his family. While living in Ft. Scott, he was employed by RSC Construction. He married his longtime companion, Trina Royal. She preceded him in death on April 2, 2021.

Survivors include his children, Samantha Elkins, of Nevada, Missouri, Brandon Elkins of Portland, Oregon, Britney Elkins, of Ft. Scott, Kansas, Jessica Perkins of Emerald Isle, North Carolina and Justin Perkins of Bakersfield, California. Also surviving are several grandchildren and two sisters, Melissa Gurule and Teresa Salazar both of Ft. Scott and numerous nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 P.M. Sunday, March 26th at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Burial will follow in the Oak Grove Cemetery. 

Memorials are suggested to the Donald Elkins Memorial Fund and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347, Ft. Scott, KS 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com

Obituary - Pamela S. Moore

Pamela S. Moore, age 73, of Raymore, Missouri passed away March 16, 2023 surrounded by her loving family at Menorah Medical Center, Overland Park, Kansas.

A visitation will be from 5:00-6:00 p.m. Thursday, March 23, 2023 at Cullen Funeral Home, 612 W. Foxwood Dr., Raymore, Missouri followed by a funeral service at 6:00 p.m. A private family graveside will be in Wills Cemetery, Peculiar, Missouri.

Pam was born in Russell, Kansas on October 11, 1949, the daughter of Eugene Steinle and Elnora Miller. After graduating high school in Russell, Kansas she went on to further her education receiving a bachelor's degree at Kansas State University. She was joined in marriage with her loving husband, Bradford “Brad” K. Moore on June 12, 1971. 

Together, they were blessed with two children, Ashley and Bryson. In life Pam loved to substitute teach and Pam was the recipient of Blue Valley Schools' Friend of Education Award in 1989. She also enjoyed gardening and bird watching. She was a member of Christ Church Anglican in Overland Park, Kansas.

Pam was preceded in death by her parents, Eugene and Elnora Steinle; brother, David Steinle; and sister, Kay Noonburg.

She is survived by her loving husband of 51 years, Brad K. Moore; daughter, Ashley Moore; and son, Bryson Moore (Whitney).

In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to Harvesters - The Community Food Network 3801 Topping Ave., Kansas City, Missouri 64129

Arrangements: Cullen Funeral Home, Raymore, Missouri 816.322.5278

Missing teenager in Cass County

Please be on the lookout for this missing teenager, Emily Layton. She was last seen near Fairground Drive on 3/19/23 @ 11:30pm in Pleasant Hill. 

She was last known to be wearing a red hoodie and black and white pajama pants. 

If seen or located please contact the department at 816-540-9109.

Update: Emily has been found safe

Butler Bears Varsity Baseball gets the win over Diamond

The Butler Bears Varsity Baseball team weathered a scare by Diamond in the fifth inning where the bears coughed up three runs, but Butler Bears Varsity still won 10-4 on Monday. Jacob Atkinson and Matthew Navarro powered the big inning with RBIs.

Butler Bears Varsity secured the victory thanks to seven runs in the second inning. Brandon Hammett, Maddox Fennewald, Jake Chandler, Eli Cox, Zayn Carson, and Bryson Cash each had RBIs in the big inning.

Diamond got things started in the first inning when Brayden Clement singled on a 3-2 count, scoring one run.

Butler Bears Varsity pulled away for good with seven runs in the second inning. In the second Hammett drew a walk, scoring one run, Fennewald drew a walk, scoring one run, Chandler drew a walk, scoring one run, Cox drew a walk, scoring one run, and an error scored one run for Butler Bears Varsity.

Fennewald led the Butler Bears to victory on the mound. The righthander went four innings, allowing four runs on five hits and striking out six. Carson and Chandler entered the game out of the bullpen and helped to close out the game in relief.

Atkinson went on the hill for Diamond. Atkinson went one and one-third innings, allowing seven runs on one hit and striking out three. #9 and Adam Brown entered the game as a relief, throwing three and two-thirds innings and one inning respectively.

Hammett, Cox, and Peyton Jackson each collected one hit to lead Butler Bears Varsity. Atkinson went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead Diamond in hits.

Clinton Fire Department Promotions

Congratulations to Clinton Probationary Firefighter, Matthew Montaleone, for successfully completing our Probationary Firefighter Training Program.

Firefighter Montaleone is assigned as the firefighter on B Shift where his main role will be to carry out fire suppression and medical assignments given by his shift Captain.

Firefighter Montaleone will now enter into the departments step up driver/operator program. Congratulations Matthew!

Garage fire in Nevada

Just after 3pm today B shift was dispatched for a garage on fire. Engine 219 arrived on scene with a crew of 4 to a detached garage fully engulfed and spreading on a second garage.

Engine 212 Rescue 214 and truck 210 responded with 5 total off duty firefighters! Fire was extinguished and overhaul was done.

Thank you to Milo and Compton Junction for Mutual Aid and Vernon County Ambulance and NPD as well!

Courtesy of Nevada Fire Chief Troy Denney 

Obituary - George Washington Osborn, Jr.

George Washington Osborn, Jr., age 88, a resident of Ft. Scott, Kansas, passed away Saturday, March 18, 2023, at the Mercy Hospital in Joplin, Missouri. George was born March 20, 1934, to George W. Osborn and Stella Cauthon Osborn in Bates County, Missouri. He was the sixth of seven children. George grew up on the farm and started farming when he was fourteen years old and proudly continued until he was eighty.

He married the love of his life, Joanne Greer, on November 17, 1954. He started his married life working for a ranch in Adrian, Missouri. In November 1959, they moved to Gardner, Kansas where he rented his own farm across the road from his widowed aunt so that he could take care of her. In those early years, he did what he could to take care of his family including digging graves.

He did so well with the farming and soil conservation that he won several farming awards in Johnson, Miami, and Linn counties. In 1967, he bought his own farm outside of Drexel, Missouri, (on the Kansas side) and moved his family there and started a large hog operation along with the farming. In 1988, he and Joanne moved further south to the Blue Mound, Kansas area where he enjoyed farming row crops and not worrying about pigs and cattle. George was a member of the St. John’s United Methodist Church in Ft. Scott. He enjoyed traveling with his wife, Joanne when the farming schedule allowed.

George was preceded in death by his parents and all of his siblings and his youngest son, Doug.

He is survived by his wife, Joanne, of sixty-eight years, his daughter, Ruth Benson (Randy) of Webb City, Missouri and son, Pete Osborn of Beaver, Ohio. Also surviving are two grandsons, Randall Benson (Stephanie) of Kansas City, Missouri and Jonathan Benson (Kari) of Kailua, Hawaii (USAF) and three great-granddaughters, Kathy, Alyssa and Clara of Kansas City, Missouri.

Rev. Jim Brackett will conduct funeral services at 2:00 P.M. Wednesday, March 22nd at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Burial will follow in the Memory Gardens Cemetery. 

The family will receive friends from 1:00 P.M. until service time at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Memorials are suggested to the American Heart Association and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347, Ft. Scott, KS 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.

Rich Hill Tigers Track Preview by Cody Morris

This week Mid-America Live News had a chance to sit down with Coach Damon Green of the Rich Hill Track Team. Damon is entering his 13th year as part of the Tigers Track Program, and his 8th year heading the program. Tigers Track has a lot to be excited about in the upcoming year. 

Excitement surrounding Tiger Track is nothing new, as Coach reminds us that “Rich Hill has a rich history of track and field going back 25 plus years”, and the success continued last year as well. Damon said that the Tigers had “a great building year with a young team”. And that young team was able to see some success as Damon went on to say “we had a sophomore medal in pole vault at state, and two relays qualify for state on the boys side. We also had our girls 4x400 and 4x800 relays make it to sectionals”. 

The Tigers numbers are outstanding this year as many students are looking to help carry the reputation of the program. The team will see many returning faces as well as some new ones, as coach informs us, “we have a large number of underclassmen this year with a handful of great seniors that have been in the program since JR high. Everyone has a role in the program whether it is a freshman that is a new face and is going to push someone to get better, or a returning state medalist who looks to finish higher than they did last year. We have a really good sophomore group that is really eager to make some major improvement this year and will help make all of our relays better. Our throwers are young, but they are on the verge of showing their potential. We also have a great group of freshmen who are going to push them in the years to come on the boy’s side. We only have one Sr. girl and we only lost one girl from last year, so we have high hopes that our relays will improve over last year’s success.”

Coach Damon continued to speak a little bit about the challenges that may present themselves this year for the Tigers. He talked briefly about just the normal early season muscle weakness that is a common struggle, as well as the fact that they still have one lady who is still recovering from a basketball injury. Damon seems hopeful that if his team can stay healthy, they will give any team in the conference if they can remain healthy. The WEMO Conference that the Tigers are a part of is one of the better track conferences in the state when it comes to class 1 & 2, whoever, the Tigers look to compete in every match. Damon commented,  “I think that we will have a good showing if we stay healthy. In the sport of track and field is the absolute most important thing. On the boy’s side we have multiple returning Conference Champions that hope to repeat. The girls are planning on concentrating on their relays, and hope to improve their finishes from last year. Our district assignments have not been released yet, so not sure how we stack up there yet. Districts are always our main target as far as the season goes, because without a great showing at districts the season is over.”

Excitement is coming in bunches for this Tigers Track team, Damon said, “To be honest I am always excited for track season. Seeing all of the kiddos improve in speed, strength, and attitude is what it’s all about. If we have any success beyond that it’s just a plus. However, every year each athlete writes down to personal and two team goals and turns them in to us coaches, so there might be some bigger goals to reach.”

The Tigers will kick off their track schedule on March 23rd in Butler.