Longtime program recycles newspapers, magazines, miscellaneous papers

The Osage City Kiwanis has had a continuous paper recycling project for many years that originally involved only a last Saturday of the month paper pickup around the city. That service has been discontinued.

As a replacement for the Saturday service, Kiwanis maintains two recycle bins located at the city’s recycle center at Ninth and Main streets, at the city’s maintenance building.

Additional pick-ups are made at other locations as needed. Also, at USD 420 schools, the Key Club, Builders Club and K-Kids collect papers from their respective schools on the last Friday of each month which Kiwanis picks up.

The club’s recycling project has become a weekly activity in conjunction with the city’s recycle program. The city began a recycling project of its own by providing bins for miscellaneous recycle items, located near the maintenance building. Kiwanis has two of these bins for miscellaneous papers, magazines and shredded paper, and is responsible for emptying these bins at 7:30 a.m. Mondays and Fridays.

The bins are available seven days a week, 24 hours a day. On average, Kiwanis collects 60-80 tons of recycled miscellaneous paper each year.

People are encouraged to use these two bins for miscellaneous papers and magazines, which doesn’t include hard backed books and/or books with wire or plastic bindings unless detached from their covers or bindings before being put in the bins.

Other recycle items such as plastic goods, cardboard, glass, metal should be placed in their respective bins. Used paper products such as soiled tissues and paper napkins are also not included.

Shredded paper should be placed in a container such as a plastic bag that can be tied at the top. Papers and magazines may be put in paper sacks, bundled in twine or plastic bags or loosely placed in the bins.

The Emporia Community Foundation is now accepting grant applications for the 2019 grant cycle. The ECF grants committee makes grants for innovative projects and programs that are responsive to changing community needs in the areas of health, social service, education, recreation, and cultural affairs.

The 2019 grant period will begin with applications being accepted during the month of September. Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1, 2018. Recipients will be announced in December and disbursements will be made in January 2019.

Due to a rained out park, the Carbondale Fall Festival has been postponed to Oct. 6, 2018. The event had been scheduled for last Saturday, but the rain made navigating the park impracticable that day. Organizers are still accepting vendors, and volunteers are still needed for the new date. Currently, the same schedule of activities is planned, but more could be added.

For more information, contact Mary Vawter Burgett at 785-836-7887 or [email protected].

New picnic shelter

The weather is nice! Have you had time to enjoy the new picnic shelter located just to the west of Overbrook Lake dam behind Casey’s? Thanks goes to the Rotary Club and Parks and Rec for sponsoring this new shelter.

Trunk or Treat

The United Methodist Church is sponsoring Trunk or Treat again this year on Oct. 31, at City Lake. Any other organizations that would like to participate is asked to contact Jessica Frye at [email protected]

City Lake remains on blue green algae warning

As of Aug. 13, 2018, KDHE has placed Overbrook City Lake, not the Kids’ Pond, in warning status for blue-green algae. Check the KDHE website http://www.kdheks.gov/algae-illness/ for more information.

Don’t overlook Overbrook T-shirts

The Betterment Committee has replenished their supply of “Don’t Overlook Overbrook” T-shirts, All sizes are available for children and adults, from small to 2XL, at Overbrook City Hall. The cost is $20 and all proceeds go toward renewing Overbrook’s mural. Stop by and get yours soon.

Overbrook Police Department

School began on Monday, Aug. 20, and boy it was crazy with students and parents. Remember with back to school comes kids walking both to and from school and activities. Remember to slow down and use caution and be mindful of those who are walking or on bicycles.

Here’s some other things to remember: Seventh Street, which runs east and west is a one-way street. Each year we have folks who don’t realize this until it’s too late – one way traveling west. Also, our maintenance department has been working hard putting up new school zone lights on U.S. Highway 56 and crossing stripes at Seventh and Maple streets.

Let’s all be safe as we all drive to work or school. The school zone runs from 7-8 a.m. and then again 3-4 p.m. And, fines are doubled statewide in school zones.

Voices of the Wind People, an outdoor drama, will be performed Friday and Saturday evenings, Sept. 14 and 15, 2018, at the Old Riverbed Amphitheater, Council Grove, Kan.

The pageant, written by Ron Parks, provides a historically accurate snapshot of what it was like when the Native American and Euro-American cultures collided in Council Grove on the Santa Fe Trail.

Sharon Haun, pageant organizer, said, “The performance will take you back in time to the mid-1850s and give you a front row seat to hear both sides of the story between Chief Allegawaho, the Kanza (Kaw) Chief, and Seth Hays, Council Grove’s first Euro-American resident.”

This drama was first produced 26 years ago, and is performed every two years.

The production of “Voices of the Wind People” is accomplished completely by volunteer staff and performers.

Approximately 30 members of the Kaw Nation will travel to Council Grove to portray their ancestors in the pageant. They will enact village scenes and perform dramatic roles and traditional dances.

Scranton is busy planning its Fall Heritage Celebration, which will be the weekend of Sept. 21-22, 2018, starting Friday night with a co-rec all night softball tourney. The schedule for the celebration is:

Friday, Sept. 21

• 7 p.m. – Co-rec all night softball tourney $225 per team, T-shirts available for $10.

Saturday, Sept. 22

• 7-11 a.m. – Lions Club Breakfast, eggs “cooked to order”, sausage, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, coffee. Breakfast at the Hulsopple Community Center (in city park), 300 E. Boone St., Scranton. Freewill donation accepted.
• 8 a.m. – 5K walk run, $25 includes T-shirt if registered by Sept. 8; $30 if afterward.
• 11 a.m. – Kubb Tournament $30 per team of 2 -3 players; T-shirts available for $10.

For registration of any events and shirt order contact Tim Nedeau at 785-806-0322 or [email protected] For more information about the Lions Club breakfast, contact Paul Schmidt at 785-793-2149.

By Mary Lou Peter
K-State Research and Extension

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Perhaps you know someone who was prescribed a powerful pain medication after knee surgery. Perhaps it helped in those first days out of the hospital. Perhaps your friend or relative healed well and quit taking the medication – or not.

“Without a doubt, Kansas has been adversely affected by the opioid epidemic,” said Erin Yelland, Kansas State University assistant professor and extension specialist in adult development and aging. “Although we are not experiencing as many deaths due to heroin as in other states, we are flooded with an exorbitantly high number of prescription opioids.”

Approximately 115 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose and more are at risk, Yelland said. Like many of us, some were prescribed opioids initially as a pain management tool. Because of the risk of misuse and addiction, K-State Research and Extension educators are providing Kansans and others information about opioids.

Opioids are a class of drugs that include powerful legal prescription pain relievers that can be an important part of medical treatment, but carry the risk of addiction and overdose. The illegal drug heroin is also an opioid. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from 1999 to 2015, the amount of prescription opioids dispensed in the United States nearly quadrupled, although there has been no verifiable change in the amount of pain Americans report.

“Many people are not aware that the medication they’ve been prescribed for knee pain or back pain is a highly addictive opioid,” said Yelland. She’s written a fact sheet and is featured in a video on the topic.

Kansas is ranked No. 18 in opioid prescriptions in the U.S., with 2,579,058 opioid prescriptions dispensed in 2017, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. That amounted to 88.5 prescriptions per 100 Kansans, compared with the national average of 66.5 per 100 people.

What’s more fun on a fall Saturday afternoon than drinking samples of fine brewed beer? The Osage City Chamber of Commerce will present its annual Festival of Beer on Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018. The festival is expected to offer dozens of varieties of craft and imported beers, including some Kansas brews, for local beer aficionados to sample.

The ale fest event will be at the Jones Park pavilion, 517 S. First St., Osage City, with the first suds samples to be poured at 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. Food vendors will also be available. The event will also feature the Bryton Stoll Band for the evening’s live entertainment.

Advance tickets are $25 if purchased by Sept. 26; $30 at the gate. Tickets are available at Jerry’s Thriftway, Osage City, and Mulready’s, Emporia, or online at brownpaperticket.com. Must be 21 to attend.

Proceeds benefit the Osage City Chamber of Commerce and its community projects.

Carbondale is gearing up for its annual fall festival, returning this year to the second Saturday in September. The 2018 Carbondale Fall Festival is this Saturday, Sept 8.

All activities will be in the new side of City Park., with vendors, a car show on Kansas Avenue, special parade for youth, variety of bounce houses, slides, and obstacle courses appropriate for toddlers to adults. Farmers market vendors will have a bonus sale opportunity at the festival, along with assorted foods and crafts. The Osage County Sheriff’s Office will have an information table and gifts for children and adults. The Carbondale Lions Club will fire up its funnel cake stand at 5 p.m., with all proceeds going to Santa Fe Trail High School Scholarship Fund.

Find your best viewing location for the 6:15 p.m. parade right in the park; as this year the parade will stage at Jones Park Fike Field, travel east on Lawrence, south on Kansas right by the park, and return to Fike Field going west on Main Street to Wilson Street. Following the parade, everyone can enjoy live music by the talented Delta Haze Band.

For more information, contact Lion Mary Vawter Burgett at 785-836-7887 or [email protected]. Come to Carbondale’s City Park Saturday, Sept. 8, and have a small town good time.