June 29, 2002
Arma man harvests record Tom
By TED KADAU JR.
Morning Sun Managing Editor
Arma resident
Jason Hay received word
earlier this month from officials at the Kansas Department of Wildlife &
Parks that the gobbler he harvested in May is the new Kansas non-typical
record Tom.
ARMA --
Jason Hay has been turkey hunting
for years, but his 2002 gobbler will literally go down in the record books
as an unforgettable one.
On June 15, the 22-year-old Arma resident received word from officials
at the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks that the Tom he harvested
in mid-May is the new Kansas non-typical record.
The non-typical designation means that a bird has more than one beard.
Along with a letter of congratulations from the KDW&P, Hay also received
a certificate designating his bird as the new state record and his trophy
is listed on the department's web site.
Hay's turkey weighed in at more than 21 pounds and has an astonishing
eight beards. The bird scored a 149 1/8. Hay, a Northeast High School graduate
who now attends Pittsburg State University, harvested the Tom on private
property near Arma with a shotgun.
"He got the certificate on his birthday, on June 15. It was really a
good birthday present," Hay's grandmother, Phyllis Hay, Arma, noted.
Ironically, Hay's bird topped the previous state record held by Jody
Dalton, who lives in Franklin. Dalton's bird, which was scored at 144 7/8,
had held the record since 1991.
Incidentally, the Missouri non-typical record scored in at 193 1/8 and
the national record is 194. Some nationally ranked birds have reportedly
sported as many as nine and 10 beards.
Hay has been hunting turkeys since he was about 15 or 16, but noted that
he almost dressed out his trophy bird before a friend mentioned that he
might want to call KDW&P officials.
Hay sat in the rain for several hours and had stalked the bird for a
couple days before finally getting his shot.
"He was pretty happy with getting the turkey," Phyllis Hay said.
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Wednesday, July 10, 2002
Article in the Prosveta Newspaper (Slovenian Newspaper)
Meet the 2002 Miss SNPJ Pageant Contestants
Imperial, Pa.- On behalf of the SNPJ Fraternal Department, I welcome eight
contestants to the 2002 Miss SNPJ Pageant: Stacey Butcher, Lodge 643, Amanda
Fordyce, Loge 5, Kristy Mackin, Loade A01, Karina Pivik, Lodge 357, Courtney
Pabian, Lodge 138,
Jessi Fields, Lodge 225,
Lauren Mackin, Lodge A01, and Caralynn Fejka, Lodge 153.
The 46th Miss SNPJ Pageant is scheduled the weekend of July 13-14 at the
SNPJ Recreation Center. These dates coincide with Slovenefest XXI.
During the pageant competition, an independent panel of judges will award
points in he following categories: 25 points for appearance in an evening
gown, 25 points for personality and communication skills, 20 points for
talent and 10 points for community service. An additional 30 points
will be awarded by the SNPJ Executive Committee for activity within SNPJ.
The Miss Fraternalism title will be selected by the pageant contestants.
We wish all the contestants the best of luck. We look forward to seeing
you all perform and anxiously await the crowning of the new Miss SNPJ.
A write-up about each candidate appeared in the Prosveta. The
following is the article about Jessi Fields.
Jessi Fields graduated from Northeast High
School in Arma, Kansas. She was a Kansas Honors scholar, a Kansas ACT
Scholar, a Watkins-Berger Scholar from the University of Kansas, a member
of the 2002 Academic All-State Team by the Topeka Capital Journal, Kansas
State Dean's Scholar and a Pittsburg State Dean's Scholar. She received
several recognitions as a Robert C. Byrd Scholarship recipient, and was the
only recipient from her school every honored with this award. She received
a recognition from the Kansas Board of Regents, the National Honors Society
Certificate of MErit, and a Certificate of Achievement from the University
of Kansas. She was chosen to be a member of the Pittsburg State University
Honors College, with a University Scholarship. In addition, she was
selected to be a member of the University of Kansas Honors Program, with
a Watkins-Berger/Summerfield Scholarship. She appeared on the All-A
Honor Roll for all four years of high school, and was recognized to be on
the National Honor Roll. She is listed in Who's Who Among American
High School Students for the past several years.
Jessi's high school activities extend beyond the academic realm. She
has been involved with Relay for Life for the past four years and has volunteered
for March of Dimes and the United Way. She helps her grandmother deliver
Meals on Wheels and volunteers to help raise money for several of her school's
athletic teams.
She is a lifelong member of Lodge 225 and regularly attends meetings. For
the past two years, Jessi has been unable to attend the Lodge 225 annual
summer picnic due to her attendance to Teens Experience Leadership workshop
and Young Adult Conference. She signs with the Zivio Slovenci singing
group, and was a member of Youth Circle 11 until the Lodge no longer supported
a Circle group. She has been a lifelong member of Lodge 225.
During high school, Jessi was a cheerleader and a member of the volleyball,
cross country, basketball, softball and track and field teams. She
was the first chair alto saxophone for both marching band and jazz band.
She was an active member of the Spanish Club and Publications (year
book and school newspaper) staff. She participated in Scholar's Bowl
and was a member of the National Honors Society.
Even though her high school did not have an official Pep Club, she followed
the school's boys' football, basketball and baseball teams to their victories
and defeats.
She enjoys participating in athletics outside of school as well. She
plays on a summer softball league.
Jessi has been employed at the local hamburger/ice cream restaurant, Dari
Castle, for the past two years. She also serves as a substitute Little
League softball/baseball umpire and T-ball coach. She occasionally
works with a local lawn care company and babysits for friends and family.
In addition, she works in Dr. H. M. Sisk's office, which she finds
beneficial since she is a pre-medicine major at the University of Kansas.
Jessi is the daughter of Debbie Davis and the granddaughter of John Zibert.
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Sunday, July 14, 2002
Good Times Unlimited providing variety of DJ, video services
Business grows out of trip, class
By JACK DIAMOND
Morning Sun Staff Writer
What started out as conversation on the way back from a spring break trip
to Padre Island has become a growing business for four Northeast High School
graduates.
Brett Dalton,
Mike
Sisk ,
Tommy Hartzfeld and
Steve Amershek, graduated from Northeast in 2001 and now attend
Pittsburg State University. But it was that spring break trip and a PSU business
class that got their business, Good Times Unlimited, off the ground.
Good Times provides mobile DJ entertainment and video production, two
distinct services that they hope will dovetail together and lead to more
business.
"We can sell package deals to the high schools in the area," Sisk said.
"The proms, for instance, you can hire us to DJ it, then a lot of schools
have been doing prom video the last few years."
Many people have ideas like that, things that pop into their heads over
dinner, on the golf course, or at the pool. But these four decided to make
do something about it -- partly to fulfill a class assignment.
They were enrolled in the Introduction to Business course at PSU, and
were assigned to do a report on a business. They were making much headway
on that assignment, but they were working up a business plan for what would
become Good Times Unlimited.
They ended up turning in their business plan to both their professor (they
got an A) and a local bank (they got a $7,000 business loan).
Prior to that, they had bought a video camera to take with them on spring
break and had been shooting footage at parties and other events, and then
editing together the highlights. Amershek got the idea to start DJing, and
things developed from there.
So now their Pittsburg basement is loaded with the standard DJ gear (speakers,
lights, a fog machine) and video production stuff (computers, TVs, cameras
and tapes). They also have access to a mini-blimp for aerial shots.
Amershek and Hartzfeld handle the DJ side of the business, while Sisk
and Dalton run the video production unit.
The DJ business is pretty straightforward. Good times has played some
wedding receptions, office parties and youth mixers and is looking for more
jobs.
"You never know when someone out in the crowd might want to hire you,"
Sisk said. "Word of mouth is your best advertisement. I don't care if we're
doing a charity thing for free, we're going to perform like we're getting
paid."
They secret to good DJing -- which is really common sense -- is to take
requests, and play requests.
"The main thing is play what they want to hear, and take requests all
night," Amershek said. He said they take notes on what's working and what's
not, and adjust their playlist accordingly.
Their are several parts to the video production side. Good Times has the
capability of shooting and custom editing videos -- be it sports or school
dances or whatever -- and adding graphics and transitions to package it nicely.
But Sisk thinks their most popular service in the near term will be video
transfer -- putting old 8 mm home movies on VHS, or taking vast amounts of
home VHS footage and editing it.
"There's a lot of jobs out there because people don't know what you can
do," Sisk said. "Š A lot of people have good, creative ideas, stuff that
we haven't even thought about doing."
They are more or less self-taught (manuals aren't much fun or much help,
Sisk says) and they haven't had that much outside help.
"The people who know how to do it don't want to tell you how, and the
people who don't know are just going to get you more lost," Sisk said.
Each of them are 19 years old, and they say they do have trouble getting
some people to take them seriously. But after having sunk about $10,000 worth
of equipment into the project, they aren't just screwing around.
"Our whole business class laughed at us when they found out we were applying
for a business loan," Sisk said. "And then they laughed more when we got
it."
The four of them think they'll have the last laugh.
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Sunday, April 21, 2002
Kristen Marie Whitehead &
John David Rank
The engagement of Kristen Marie Whitehead of Arma and John David Rank
of Pittsburg has been announced by their parents, Chris and Vicki Whitehead
of Arma and Roger and Diana Rank of Arma.
The bride-elect is a 1999 graduate of Northeast High School and a prospective
May 2003 graduate of Pittsburg State University, where he is majoring in
elementary education.
The future bridegroom is a 1998 graduate of Northeast High School. He
is employed at Millers Professional Imaging and The Joplin Globe.
A wedding date of June 8, 2002, has been set.
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Monday, June 10, 2002
Arma men awarded for rescue
By JOE NOGA
Morning Sun Staff Writer
The Kansas Highway Patrol recognized two local men for their life-saving
efforts at a recent accident just south of Arma.
Capt. Fred Waller, Troop H Commander, presented
Justin Pryor and
Jeremy Pitts
, both of Arma, with Honorary Trooper Awards for pulling Haley Heitman,
also of Arma, out of a burning vehicle.
On Feb. 15, Heitman was driving a 1987 Ford four-door north on
US Highway 69 on the Arma bypass. When she slowed and waited for traffic
to clear before making a left turn onto Third Street in Arma, her car
was struck from behind a northbound 1993 Mercury Sable driven by a 16-year-old
Pittsburg resident.
Upon impact, her car was knocked forward and immediately caught
fire. Pryor and Pitts both witnessed the accident and ran to the scene
to help. Haley, who was not belted in, was laying in the front seat
when the two men arrived. They pulled her from the burning car.
Heitman sustained injuries to her legs, back, shoulders, neck
and head.
Master Trooper David Petrey, who was on routine patrol, drove
up on the accident before it had been reported to the authorities. When
he arrived, Haley's car was engulfed in flames and Haley had been moved
away from the car.
Petrey worked the accident, and as a result of his investigation,
he recommended the two men for an award through the Highway Patrol.
After being submitted to headquarters in Topeka, Col. Dom Brownlee
recognized the men's efforts with an Honorary Trooper Award.
The Honorary Trooper Award recognizes the men's actions that were
performed in a highly meritorious manner under conditions where their
own personal safety was jeopardized in an effort to aid another person.
The award consists of an Honorary Trooper certificate and a letter
from the superintendent.
Thursday, February 21, 2002
The following article appeared in the Morning Sun
telling the story about the rescue.
Arma men credited with saving woman from burning car
By The Morning Sun
Two Arma men pulled a woman from a burning car Friday on U.S. Highway
69 just south of Arma in a two-car crash that landed the two drivers in the
hospital.
Risking their own lives, Jeremy Pitts and Justin Pryor pulled Haley D.
Heitman, 19, Scammon, from her burning car after it was struck from behind
by another vehicle just before 1 p.m. on Friday.
Heitman was taken to Hospital District No. 1 of Crawford County by Crawford
County EMS after the car she was driving, a 1987 Ford 4-door, was smashed
in the rear end.
The second vehicle, a 1993 Mercury Sable, was driven by 16-year-old Zachary
L. Richardson, of Pittsburg. Richardson was also taken to the hospital.
According to hospital policy, no information could be provided on the
condition of either crash victim.
However, Heitman said she was released from the hospital at approximately
10:40 p.m. on Friday.
In an interview, Heitman said she had come to a stop on U.S. 69 and was
waiting for traffic to clear before making a left turn onto Third Street
in Arma. While stopped, the Richardson vehicle struck her car from behind,
causing it to spin around sideways at which point the gas tank caught on fire.
Heitman said she was unable to get out of her vehicle and if it were
not for her fiancé, Pitts, and his friend who just happened to be
near the intersection, she might not have made it out of the car in time.
"They pulled me out and the car went up as soon as I hit the ground,"
she said. "I was maybe a foot away from the car. The fire burned some of
my hair."
According to Heitman, the car was totaled.
"There was nothing left," she said.
Heitman sustained injuries to her legs, back, shoulders, neck and head.
She said that she is on medical leave from work for now and will try to go
back to school on Monday.
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Sunday, March 31, 2002
Lodge members receive emblems
ARMA --
Ray Brown, Arma,
was presented a 25-year emblem March 10 at Arma Masonic Lodge No. 408.
Brown is a past master of Nickerson Masonic Lodge No. 43 and Arma
Masonic Lodge. He is also a member of the Scottish Rite in Fort Scott,
the York Rite in Pittsburg and the Mirza Shrine in Pittsburg. At the
Mirza Shrine, he is a member of the Greeters Unit and Hospital Dads.
Two other 25-year members,
Donald LaForte, Pittsburg, and
David
Utermoehlen , Kansas City, Kan., were unable to attend the presentation.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Utermoehlen attended and received their son's emblem.
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Monday, August 5, 2002
Soaring lesson
Editor's note: J.T. Knoll is off this week. He chose this column from Aug.
17, 1998, to appear today as a memorial to Joe Bazin, who died last week
at the age of 82.
"No bird soars too high
If he soars with his own wings."
-- William Blake
"I figured with all that flyin' my number was bound to come up sooner or
later," said Joe Bazin by phone from his apartment in Sedalia, Mo., last
week when I asked why he hasn't flown a plane since his return from WW II.
At the war's end, Bazin had flown 87 missions. Of the 12 men he graduated
from flight school with, only he and two others made it home.
Born and raised in Franklin, Joe was the oldest of four children born to
Joe and Agnes (Knoll) Bazin. Before graduating from Arma High School, he
attended Franklin Grade School for eight years -- which is where the story
of him becoming an aviator begins.
Like many schools in the area, Franklin had an all school picnic at the end
of the year in Pittsburg's Lincoln Park. Picture Joe in 1931, a sixth grader,
standing face to face with a buddy on one of the big, old swings and pumping
hard in alternate leg bends to make it go higher Š and higher Š until they
went too high Š lost their grip Š and went soaring into the fragrant spring
air. "I was pretty shaken up -- tore up a finger pretty bad -- and became
scared of heights," Joe explained. "So I decided to become a pilot Š to overcome
my fear of getting off the ground."
After high school, he took a pilot training course at Kansas State Teachers
College (now Pittsburg State University) -- eventually graduating with a
pilot's license and 32 hours of flying time. The following summer while working
in Des Moines, Iowa, for Beatrice Foods as a summer ice cream truck driver,
he was drafted, but because of his pilot training, was given a 60-day deferment
and allowed to enlist in the Army Air Corp. He graduated as a flight officer
in November and married Irene Macari of Capaldo on Christmas Eve 1942 in
the Air Force chapel at Westover Field, Mass. (Together they would raise
six children before her death in 1975).
His first assignment was looking for submarines off our East Coast. Then
he flew B-24s on patrol off the coast of Britain. He was called back to the
states in early 1943 to train to fly the ultimate bomber, the Boeing B-29
Superfortress. As Bazin said in a 1992 Sedalia, Mo., newspaper article, "It
would fly higher, faster, deliver a larger load over a longer distance and
in greater comfort for the people who flew the plane Š She was quite a lady."
Speaking of ladies, many of them had female names and were decorated with
nose paintings of pin-up girls. The most famous is, of course, the Enola
Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
After completing his training, Bazin was reassigned as assistant operations
and gunnery officer to the 871st Bomb Squadron in Saipan, a strategic island
in the Pacific. When Bob Morgan (the guy who flew the famous Memphis Bell)
was called to the states to sell war bonds, his superior saw in Bazin what
it took to be operations officer and promoted him past several captains --
even though he was still a first lieutenant at the time. His promotion to
captain came soon after.
Why Joe was chosen is likely reflected in the job requirements. An operations
officer oversaw 20 flight crews of 11 men each in his squadron. The kind
of duty that called for a man to be not only a first-class pilot in his own
right, but intelligent, spiritual, a good judge of character and ability,
a mediator, a father figure, a sounding board, a confidence builder and a
leader -- all while maintaining a thick skin to cover the worry and emotional
anguish of his position.
"The operations officer was the s.o.b. nobody liked because he told you who's
going to fly the mission Š who's leadin' Š who's tail," Bazin said. "Those
11-man crews were very close Š like a family. But as their superior, I couldn't
get too close them. I was the one they bitched about." Who did he talk to?
"The chaplain was my confidant. Father Tye from Kansas City. We got really
close."
Paradoxically, the most difficult and the most rewarding part of his job
came with the same duty. When a new crew (with no combat experience) came
in, Joe flew the first mission with them as co-pilot. "I had to assess their
skills and build their confidence. Hell, they were scared kids and I was
the old man (at 24). Sometimes I had to send out crews that weren't really
as ready as I'd have liked them to be because they needed them."
How did it feel when he lost a crew? "It bothered you for an hour or two
-- especially if you were close to them -- but you had to keep goin'. There
was always a new crew comin' in." Then, after a short pause, his voice hitched
ever so slightly, and he said, "I did go to church and pray for 'em, though."
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