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morningsun.net Covering Pittsburg and southeast Kansas since 1887 75¢
THE MORNING SUN
thursday, february 17, 2011
WEATHER
MOSTLY CLOUDY BUT WARM
After patchy fog early, skies will be mostly cloudy, but
high temperatures will be near 69. Lows will be around
47. | COMPLETE LOCAL AND REGIONAL FORECAST, PAGE 2A
PATRICK’S PEOPLE
< CHANGE FOR THE BETTER
The recent resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
was a good thing for her homeland, says a Pittsburg State
international student from Cairo. | PAGE 7A
QUICKREAD
DEAT HS
■ Dorothy Lee
Brous-Umphenour-Evans,
Afton, Okla.
OBITUARIES, PAGE 8A
Vol. 123, No. 41
©2011 The Morning Sun
INDEX
Nation/World ................ 2A
State/Local................... 3A
State ........................... 4A
Local ............................ 5A
Opinion ......................... 6A
Neighbors ..................... 7A
Obituaries ..................... 8A
Sports .......................... 1B
Comics ......................... XX
Entertainment .............. 4B
Classified...................... 6B
LOCAL NEW S
Westar work forces
closing of Atkinson
Atkinson Road will be
closed from Broadway
Avenue to Joplin Street
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today
to allow crews from Westar
Energy to perform power
line maintenance.
Detours will be estab-
lished at 29th St. from
Broadway Ave. to Joplin St.
— THE MORNING SUN
NATION/WORL D
Borders files for
Chapter 11
NEW YORK — Borders
was slow to get the message
as the big-box retailer lost
book,musicandvideosales
to the Internet and other
competition. The result: It
filed for Chapter 11 bank-
ruptcy Wednesday, and will
close nearly a third of its
stores.| PAGE2A
Only in today’s Morning Sun:
Gov. joins coalition
for tanker contract
A coalition of governors
aiming to bring an Air Force
tanker project to the United
States has added a member.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback
joined Washington Gov. Chris
Gregoire as co-chair of the
U.S. Tanker Coalition — a
group of governors across
the county trying to lobby the
contract award to the Boeing
Company.
See Page 3A.
FIRST IN
PRINT
Stronger liquor availability discussed
BY MATTHEW CLARK
THE MORNING SUN
A Kansas Senate panel continued
hearing testimony on Wednesday
regardingabillthatwouldallowgrocery
and convenience stores to sell liquor
and stronger beer.
On Wednesday, the Senate Federal
andStateAffairsCommitteeheardargu-
ments from opponents of the bill that
said the measure could force mom and
pop liquor stores out of business. This
followed testimony Tuesday from pro-
ponents of the measure who claimed
that rural grocery stores and conve-
nience stores could create new jobs.
The bill would allow more stores
the ability to sell wine, liquor and “full-
strength” beer beginning Jan. 1, 2012
and would phase in liquor sales at gro-
cery and convenience stores by 2015.
Presently, the state does allow those
stores to sell “cereal malt beverages”
or “weak” beer. Kansas is one of only
five states that regulates sales based on
brewing strength. Missouri does allow
for stronger beer and wine to be sold at
grocery and convenience stores.
Opponents said Wednesday that the
cost for the state to implement the bill
could well outweigh any benefits.
“We’ve tried to focus on the eco-
nomic problems with the legislation,”
said Spencer Duncan, spokesman for
Keep Kansans in Business, a coalition
of liquor stores against the measure. “It
will cost the state $1.3 million to imple-
ment the system.
“The State of Missouri has seen addi-
tionalcostsdealingwithincreasedDUIs,
selling to minors and things like that.”
Trade associations for Kansas gro-
SEK COULD SEE BENEFIT
One convenience-store owner said the
new law could keep local customers
from crossing over into Missouri to
buy iiquor. See Page 5A.
Cars’ bath time
W A RM E R W E A THE R E NCOURA GE S CA R WASH ES
BY ANDREW NASH
THE MORNING SUN
J
erry Wagner drove his
red Dodge Durango
into the automatic
car wash at Majestic Car
Wash on Wednesday and
let the machine do all the
work of cleaning his car.
“I think it was very
necessary. I live on a
country road, and not
only do I have sand
and stuff on my car, but
whatever they treat the
road with, too,” Wagner
said.
He wasn’t the only one,
as car washes seemed to
be the popular place to
be on Wednesday. After
the winter storms that
have ravaged the area
the last few weeks, many
drivers took advantage
of the spring-like tem-
peratures to remove the
dirty build-up from their
vehicles.
The City of Pittsburg,
on the other hand, is
waiting just a little bit
before they can get into
their brand-new heavy
vehicle maintenance
building. The building,
which will provide bays
to power-wash trucks
and equipment, is not
quite open.
But city work crews
have kept busy anyway,
as the city does have
outdoor cleaning stations
on existing properties.
That’s important for the
city, especially when
dealing with equipment
such as salt spreaders.
“Salt is like anything
else,” said Bill Beasley,
Pittsburg public works
director. “If you allow
it to sit on steel, it can
cause the metal to start
to rust. Especially if it’s
not treated. Against
bare metal, it can cause
deterioration. Most of
our cars are treated.
Our equipment is better
protected than it used to
be.”’
But not everyone has
access to city cleaning
The automatic car wash at Majestic Car Wash in Pittsburg sprays suds on the car of Jerry Wagner, rural Weir, on
Wednesday afternoon. SEAN STEFFEN/THE MORNING SUN
Now that snow has melted off,
the washing process begins
E.J. Torbett, Pittsburg, points the spray washer from Oasis Car Wash at his vehicle’s
tires while getting a car wash on Wednesday afternoon. SEAN STEFFEN/THE MORNING SUN
County
looks
at new
graders
BY MATTHEW CLARK
THE MORNING SUN
GIRARD — Crawford
County Commissioners may
be faced with trying to replace,
or rebuild a pair of its road
graders.
G r e g
H i t e ,
supervi-
sor of the
county’s
Road and Bridge maintenance
department, said that having
the machines rebuilt would
be considerably cheaper than
outright replacement.
According to figures from
Foley Equipment, it would cost
the county $125,000 to rebuild
one of the machines while it
could cost nearly $230,000 to
replace one.
The two graders in question
haveover12,000hoursofoper-
ation and are both located in
the county’s 1st District. They
were both built in 1999.
“This is something that we
do need to look into,” said
Commissioner Bob Kmiec,
who represents the 1st District.
“I really don’t think we can do
more than one at a time.”
The reconstruction of one of
the graders includes complete
engine and radiator replace-
ment as well as rebuilding the
transmission and replacing
the starter, alternator, muffler,
stack, and exhaust manifold.
FIRST IN
PRINT
See COUNTY | PAGE 5A
See LIQUOR | PAGE 5A
See WASH | PAGE 8A
Fires hit
Hepler, but
officials
not fazed
THE MORNING SUN
In September, Hepler was
reeling after reports of a trio of
reported arsons hit the town.
And although the city has
been hit by at least three more
fires since then, law enforce-
ment officials said there is
nothing to worry about.
Last September, a home at
406 N. Elm, as well as another
homeonElmStreetandathird
house on Fourth Street were
the victims of arsons, caus-
ing severe damage to the first
home and minor damage to
the latter. Crawford County
Sheriff Sandy Horton said that
although some interviews
have been made, no suspect
has been arrested and those
fires will remain under inves-
tigation.
Since that time, there was a
“Salt is like anything else.
If you allow it to sit on steel, it can cause
the metal to start to rust.”
BILL BEASLEY
See HEPLER | PAGE 5A
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