Excerpted stories in Crawford County newspaper archives

100 years ago

January 31, 1926

Letters from the city commissioners to Senators Charles Curtis and Arthur Capper and Congressman W. H. Sproul requesting those officials to get behind the post office bill, which includes an appropriation of $115,000 for an addition to the Pittsburg post office, now before Congress, and use every effort possible to secure passage of the bill by the present session of Congress were mailed to Washington last night,

Energetic efforts are being extended, by factions of District 14 of the United Mine Workers of America favoring different towns for location of district headquarters, to influence the voters in the runoff election to be held Tuesday. Pittsburg and Frontenac are the two towns to be voted upon by the miners. Considerable campaigning has been done by numerous groups favoring the proposition of moving the headquarters from Pittsburg to Frontenac. The miners of Clemens No. 18 circulated a petition last week setting forth their views as to why headquarters should be maintained in Pittsburg.

A drive to increase the membership of the Kansas City Southern Athletic Association to a quota of 400 members will be opened Tuesday night when a smoker will be staged in the Chamber of Commerce rooms on West Fourth Street. Only employees of the Kansas City Southern may join. The smoker, for which a program of athletic events, including both wrestling and boxing, has been arranged, will be the first of a series that will continue until the baseball season opens.

A plea for the assistance of the public in obtaining employment for what is declared to be the greatest number of unemployed men during the last five years, was issued today by the Pittsburg Charity & Humane Society. Men from every walk of life are daily asking assistance from the society, and the greater portion of them are men who are skilled laborers who have never before sought help, according to Mrs. Elizabeth Drake, field secretary for the organization.

50 years ago

January 31, 1976

A second letter from the chairman of Pittsburg Bicentennial-Centennial Inc. to state representatives requesting help to avoid the jailing of numerous Pittsburg citizens has been intercepted by The Morning Sun. The first letter published Friday from Edward McNally to Rep. Randall Palmer, R-Pittsburg, said the centennial group had already ordered beer for sale on July 4. However, July 4 falls on Sunday and celebrants would be drinking beer illegally under state law, McNally wrote in his plea for legislation to exempt that one day.

The Department of Nursing at Kansas State College of Pittsburg has been granted national accreditation for a six-year period, George F. Budd, KSCP president, said Friday. The accreditation is by the Board of Review of the Council of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs of the National League for Nursing. National accreditation for nursing programs is voluntary and is considered a mark of excellence, Budd said. It provides means for comparison of schools nationally, he said.

The United Fund organization, now United Way, was established as the official fundraising activity in the city of Pittsburg by a 1964 resolution and is therefore exempt from applying to the city for permission to solicit funds, said City Attorney Charlie Menghini this week. The explanation was in answer to a statement made earlier this week by City Clerk Edna Dolan who said the United Way had never requested for permission to conduct a fund drive in the city.

GIRARD - The Crawford County Treasurer's office received a Special City and County Highway Distribution payment of $57,128.01 Friday from the state. County Treasurer John Kovacic said that 90 per cent ($51,415.21) of the payment will go to the county road and bridge fund and the remaining 10 per cent will be distributed to the county's cities on basis of population.

25 years ago

January 31, 2001

GIRARD - Provided an earlier contract with Frontenac is revoked, the planned Franklin sewer district likely will hook up with the Arma sewer system. Crawford County commissioners Tuesday morning voted for Crawford County Sewer District No. 3, which covers the Franklin area, to hook up with the renovated Arma system. Arma's sewer renovation project is scheduled to start this spring and be completed by December. "It's logical and reasonable being that Arma is right next door," Commissioner Anthony Pichler said.

CHEROKEE - Melinda Adair, Cherokee Village elementary school teacher, received a 2001 Youth Garden Grant from the National Gardening Association. The unique thing about the grant, Adair said, is that the organization doesn't give money. "They give needed materials. I don't even know what I'm getting yet." she said Jan. 24, still waiting for the official notice of her award. "They have you make a wish list, and I put big things, like a rototiller, and small things," Adair added.

FRONTENAC - Frontenac police recently released their department's 2000 case summary report and, although the numbers looked good, Police Chief Carl Flora said, "The Frontenac Police department always sees room for improvement." According to the report, which was recently provided to members of the Frontenac City Council, officers conducted investigations into all reported matters, of which 410 case reports were filed representing 521 crimes. Of those, 60 percent of the crimes were cleared and 68 percent of cases were cleared.

TOPEKA - State government's efforts to avoid the Y2K computer bug helped raise Kansas' performance in information technology list year, a national study concluded. During 1999, state and local governments worked to make sure all computer systems were Y2K-ready. When Jan. 1, 2000, arrived, no major computer glitches occurred in the state. "What Y2K did was bring us together. We had to hold hands," said Don Heiman, chief information technology officer for the executive branch. "We didn't have a lot of money and we came together and shared our resources."