~located at 111 E. Main, Mankato, Kansas 66956
Price 50¢
Established 1890, Volume 111, Issue No. 47
USPS, NO. 274-940
II
Thursday, March 13, 2003
I I L
welll sets Woman finds anhydrous
can-up container; escapes injury
ell spring city-wide clean up
• ~. ;et lbr April 28. determined her injuries were not seri-
; event was announced at the ous and she was released that day.
•-~ ~ ouncil meeting last week. In The jug was checked by a certified
pn, Bill Loomis mayor was di-
meth lab i nvestigator w~o confi rmed it
"~ itopursue'the possibility of sell-
had contained anhydro~ ammonia.
tuction items no longer needed.
~tine business was conducted.
ts included:
High School FFA Chapter
rang the "Welcome to Jewell"
April as
month was adopted.
rental space will become
after March 31 at the Corn-
Bohnert handed out a fi-
:port on the Day Care Center.
notice for the park improve-
been published.
playground equipment
be given to the City
they will come and get it.
will repair the
and transmission on the Ford
truck.
and school elections will be
tity Center April 1.
Apartment board of
it was approved to
new refrigerators. Bills
.~wed and approved for pay-
will be invested in a
• deposit.
was given for the man-
¢acuum sweeper
pumps, as needed
new heating-cooling units.
ers present at the meetings were
and Carl Knarr.
Rock students
rocket project
by students on the
ligh School physics team,
tional competition.
rocket project, so far, is one of
qualified out of 883 teams
class are Justin
onte Manning, Erin Garman,
augh and Robyn Konen and
Bob Curtis entered
Lynette Bartley reads to fourth, fifth and sixth grade students at Mankato Elementary during"Read for America" day
at the school. Members of the community and high school students came throughout the day to read to students.
Students participate in
'Read Across America'
Mankato Elementa~ School stu-
dents celebrated Read Across America
Day Friday when high School students
from FBLA, NHS, StuCo, FCCLA and
FFA organizations and community
members came to help celebrate read-
ing.
Each class in kindergarten to third
grade chose an author to highlight. All
books read in class that day were by
their chosen author. Kindergarten
chose Marc Brown; first, Jan Brett;
second, Don Freeman; and third, Wil-
liam Steig. Students participated in lem and resolution foreaclachapt~ff., A
activities centered around their autll~,,,xeading celebration party was held to-
Upper elementary sttidents were ward the end of tile day. Students ate
divided into mixed grade level groups cake and had the opportunity to share
to listen as the story unfolded as each
new reader came to visit.
Groups read Cockroach Cooties by
Laurence Yep, Stick & Whittle by Sid
Hite and The Year Down Yonder by
Richard Peck.
information about the author or book
as well as the activities.
Read Across America is a national
program sponsored by NEA and cel-
ebrated each year in conjunction with
Fourth, fifth and sixth grade groups Dr. Seuss's birthday. This is the sec-
concentrated on activities centered ond year Mankato Elementary hascel-
around plot, character, setting, prob- ebrated Read Across America.
Business people express concerns
about electrical demand charges
on electricity was ,lacing demand es on the bust- the housing
nesses.
Elaine Peters, Randall, escaped se-
rious injury when she opened a water
jug she found in a roadway near her
home.
According to the Jeweil County
Sheriff's Department report, the ther-
mal j.ug had contained anhydrous am-
monia.
The jug appeared new and the
Peters took it home. When Elaine
opened the jug to wash it, she smelled
it to determine what, if anything, it had
contained. She couldn't smell any-
thing, but it caused a burning in her
nose, lungs and eyes and caused breath-
ing problems. Elaine was able to call
Archie Thompson at Randall Co-op
who summoned Jewell County EMS.
She was transported to Mitchell County
Hospital where was examined. It was
Sheriff Kim Ost said, "If anyone
should see items m the ditches, such as
coolers, jugs, mugs from a quick shop,
do not pick them ag. 'Notify the local
sheriff's departments•and let them
handleit."
"This was a learning experience,"
Peters said. "I want everyone to be
aware they must not pick up coolers,
water jugs or even bottles out of a ditch
or any other place. Had the jug been
full of this gas, it could have exploded.
We must make people, especially kids,
aware of this dangerous situation."
The Cloud, Jewell and Mitchell
County Sheriff"s Departnw|~ts warn
residents to be aware of a potcmial
serious situation. There have been ~ev-
eral incidents where individuals have
found various containers in the.ditches
along public roads. These could be hot
or cold insulated containers or any
type of ice chest, plastic gas ctm[amcr,
propane tanks with grecH valve.,~ or
anything that will hold liquid. These
containers could possibly contain an-
hydrous ammonia.
Individuals who manufacture meth
put anhydrous ammonia in abo~lt any-
thing they can find.
Authorities request anyone who
observes suspicious materials ~r extra
road traffic in the area to notil'y them.
Anyone with questions is urged to otto-
tact the sheriff's department.
White Rock board approves
play ground equipment
White Rock USD 104 board mem-
bers gave approval for school superin-
tendent Bill Walker to proceed with
the next step in getting new playground
equipment for the White Rock Elemen-
tary, east attendance center and a
smaller playground unit for the middle
school yard at Esbon. This action tran-
spired at Monday's afternoon meeting
held at Burr Oak.
The regular meeting time was
changed because of a scheduling prob-
lem. Board members attending were
Lorie Yelken, chairman; Ken Garman,
Wanda Frasier, James Reed, Lesa
Peroutek and Ray Mizner. Others
present were Walker, Therese Frost,
clerk; Amanda Anderson and Gloria
Garman-Schlaefli.
Transfers approved were from
supplemental, $5,000 to food service
and $12.000 to transportation.
Amanda Anderson, representing
Parents as Teachers, spoke to the board
'Life's
about the services offered in Jewell
County: This new program in the
county is to help all children birth to
age 3, learn, grow and develop, to
realize their full potential. There are
presently 17 families and 19 children
in the county in the program and this
includes five in the White Rock Dis-
trict, five in the Jewell-Randall Dis-
trict and nine in the Mankato District.
Anderson would like donations of toys
and books for the program. The pro-
gram is funded in part by agovernment
grant and in p~m matching funds
provided by the three school districts.
She thanked the school board for their
funding. An interlocal cooperative
agreement was signed with Parents as
Teachers for the 2002-2003 school
year.
Walker reported several items:
• A school food service consultant
visit netted a "good review."
oA grant from Smokey Hill was
used to purchase Accelerated Reading
• A letter read a
sibility of the district helping x~i~h tt~e
expense of the physics class trilx
Ideas Were presented ~m l'utttre
projects and improvemcms. "lopics
discussed were new stage ,:uriaius at
both attendance centers, aa added
speaker system, repair of temtis cOtil't
at Esbon, playground equipmci~l, v~ck
parking area near bus barn, mctd c,~;v-
ering on the awnings. I~md>,c~q~m~, in
front of high school building, sidewalk
repair. The consensus oft he board was
to advance with the playgrotmd equip-
ment for both attendance cct~
