RCNews July 21

Annabelle and Stella Hoog, Shawnee, Ks.  Granddaughters of Gino and Paula (Zeller) Corte, Gladstone, Missouri. 
Parents of Annabelle and Stella, Reggie and Nunzia Hoog of Shawnee, Ks attended the parade and rodeo in McCracken.
 
Guests of Priscella Jacobs rodeo weekend were Neal, Amy and Tessa, Jaden and Jenna Jacobs and Gylmore.
 
Bill and Sharon Lovitt attended the all-school reunion in Rozel last Friday. Gary Patterson, coach of TCU was the guest speaker.
 
Those who gave memorials to the Alumni, if you would like them listed in the paper please contact Sandra, Kerri or Shirley.
 
A few things to do while waiting out this miserably, hot and dry weather. Don’t hurry; park in the shade; give kids a  nap and take one yourself; read a good book;  if you get the urge to exercise, lie down at once; never run, seldom walk and stroll if you must! Remember our military men and women in Afghanistan and Iraq, serving on our behalf. Recently the high in Baghdad was 117*
 
There are two interesting articles on Monday’s editorial page of the Hutch News. ‘Asking for more” talks about the Kansas State Board of Education request for an additional $525 million. It never hurts to ask and by doing so it sends the message to state lawmakers that their cuts to education are causing hardship to Kansas’ school districts. Base state aid has fallen from $4,400 a pupil in the 2008-2009 school years to the current $3,780 for the coming year. The message the state board sent to lawmakers was simple: Education has cinched up the proverbial belt notch this year; but the education budget needs to return to its past levels.
 
‘Our broken escalator’ by Nicholas Kristoff, a columnist for the NYTimes News Service, talks about his ‘old’ high school in Yamhill, Oregon. Last year there were only 167 school days (180 is typical) and the staff has been reduced by 9%. All freshman and junior varsity sports will have to pay $125 per student to participate; their school newspaper has been eliminated; business classes are gone, a music teacher has been eliminated and class sizes have grown with more than 40 students in freshman Spanish.  Western Kansas schools can identify with Yamhill as it too is a rural, blue-collar area dependent on farming; school has always been an escalator to opportunity. We, nation-build in Afghanistan and scrimp at home. As the former Harvard president once observed, ‘If you think education is expensive, try ignorance’.
 
Birthdays:  July 21, Jerry Higgins, Anthony Mills; July 22, Brett Gilbert, Rick Keady, Michele Moran, Matthew Stull, Ron Casey, Trace Brackney; July 23, Larry Hinman, Marilyn Mills, Shiloh Tomlinson, Melanie Petz; July 24, Misty Irvin, Chandler Allen; July 25, Dave Derr, Jim Casey, Lauren Shapiro; July 26, Scott Irvin; July 27, Furlen Irvin, Marge Elias, Whitney Taylor, Katlyn Morgan, Clayton Kershner, Jessica Jones.
 
Anniversaries:  July 21, Jim and Karin Casey, Edgar and Carolyn Schadel; July 24, Mike and Susan Keith; July 27, Kent and Judy Bible.
 
Those renewing memberships in the Jail/Museum are:  Arline Rues, John and Janice Stull, John and Sharon Irvin, Lucy Vogle, Mary M. McCormick, Galen and Lynn Oelkers, Kayla Weskamp, Chuck Higgins, Leigh Barrett, Alicia Rues, Reba Baker, Justin Coen, Tony and Tomi Rues, Shelby Bowers, Emma Rues, Kate Rues, Will Rues, Ness County Historical Society, Fred and Mary Anne Taylor, Shelly Oelkers.
 
Memorials were given for Cory Stull from John and Janice Stull; John and Ethel Oelkers, Frank and Merle Hardwick and Erman Oelkers from Galen and Lynn Oelkers; Gloyd Vogle from Lucy Vogle and Mary McCormick; Vic Higgins, Leon Higgins, Margaret Hair from Chuck Higgins; Elmore Ryan and Glenn Ryan from Leigh Barrett and Alicia Rues; Erman Oelkers from Shelly Oelkers.
 
Donations to the museum were received from Ben and Nancy Anderson, Tony and Tomi Rues.
 
The Rues family has donated articles about Al Rues, coach at MHS, while he was a student athlete at Kansas State University to the museum.  The Wildcats came in second at the Big Six meet in Lincoln, Nebraska. Al is pictured leading the one-milers in the final turn and across the finish line.  Al marked up the only first for the Wildcats on February 27, 1943, at the Big Six indoor meet at Kansas City, Missouri.  He ran the mile in 4 minutes and 22.7 seconds.
 
Stop by Smokey Hill Traders and enjoy the window display.  It was built and assembled by the North boys, Dalton, Carson, Clay, Logan and Brandon North.  The carnival rides created are a ferris wheel, roller coaster and swing ride.  They also have a farm operation with bulls, farm animals, trucks, corrals.  There is even a McCloy Cattle Truck.
 
Dean Birdsong sent by e-mail the family of Thomas Randolf Neal and his wife Sarah Ann Hayes Neal.  The printed copies will be placed in the genealogy books at the Jail/Museum.  There are a lot of good farm pictures included in the collection.  T
 
It was fun to see Trace Brackney ride a bull at the rodeo.
 
We hope you have had the opportunity to sit on the new benches on Main Street.  They are in front of the John Zeller building, Davis building, Smokey Hill Traders, Fire building, Library, Boondocks and Jail/Museum.  More are planned to be placed by the Beautification Committee.  The new flowers under the wheat sculpture at the Library are so pretty as are those in front of the Davis building. 
 
Check out the display honoring the 75th anniversary of McCracken Public Library.  The librarians and assistant librarians through the years are pictured.  They still need a picture of Cynthia Hayes and Julie Elias.  There is a history of the library also.   Here is an item from the McCracken History Vol. 1:  The women of McCracken went to the polls Monday and voted over the free library proposition.  The library tax will be entered in the budget in August and the tax money should be available in 1936.
 
The former parishioners of St. Mary's Catholic Church in McCracken, welcome Father Pascal Klein to Rush County. 
 
Shawn Baus had cancer surgery on Wednesday.  It was a three and one half hour surgery.  On Tuesday he will get the report and they will decide on treatment at that time. Shawn, Lisa and family were here on Saturday for the rodeo and Shawn got to see his friends and classmates.  He would enjoy your cards and good wishes.  His address is 1212 South 5th Street East, Louisburg, KS 66053.
 
Bryan Bergquist is a member of the Trego County Free Fair Board.  Their fair is August 2-8.
 
Kansas History Note:
 
In the election of 1876, there were the following parties - The Prohibition Party, The National Greenback-Labor Party, The Democratic Party and the Republican Party.  The Republican nominee was elected.  He was George T. Anthony.  Rutherford B. Hayes was elected President of the United Sates.
 
McCracken History Notes
July 1911
The City Council last Monday night let the contract to Howard Pryor for the construction of a new city hall and jail. The building is to be constructed of stone and will be 25 feet front by a depth of 36 feet with cement floor throughout the entire building.  A partition will be cut off of the building to be used for jail purposes, filled with a steel cage, and the building is thought when completed to be indestructible and a safe proposition against fire.  (In January 1901 it was announced that "The new city building was formally accepted by the city council on Tuesday.  It is located on lot 6 bock 43 and designated as a place of council meetings and police room").  The 1906 plat map shows the building next to the street and the jail at the back of the lot near the alley.  These buildings must have been torn down to build the new facilities which house our Jail/Museum today.
 
July 1941
Mable Ree and Arietta Foster are taking in the rodeo at Cheyenne, Wyoming this week.
 
July 1961
Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Bryan, Auburn, Nebraska, on the birth of a son, Scott Howard, born July 8, 1961 at the Rush County Hospital weighing four pounds and nine ounces.
 
An overflow of 1961 wheat at the McCracken elevator during the recent harvest necessitated piling the grain on the ground.  The workers are now spending time hauling the grain away.
 
July 1981
Duane Guy is the house manager for the musical "Texas", a drama of the Texas panhandle in the magnificent Palo Duro Canyon.  This is the 18th season that the drama plays nightly.  Duane is the son-in-law of Oliver Pearson.
 
Participating in the ladies day golf tournament Tuesday in Ness City were Lucille and Cheryl Lamer, Mildred Rein, Frances Janke, Doneta Parsons, Rose Grumbein, Lucy Vogle, Rose Showalter, Twila Higgins, Sonja Conner, Phyllis Higgins and Ruth Tanck.