Students graduate from DARE at Eisenhower School

After 12 weeks of lessons, 46 Eisenhower 5th graders graduated from Drug Abuse Resistance Education or DARE classes on Monday. All 5th graders in Great Bend attend DARE and the Lincoln ceremony will be at 7 p.m. on Nov. 27 and at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 28 at Jefferson.

Hedging their bets

After approving the gas agreement with Seminole Energy at its last meeting, the Barton County Commission Monday morning approved hedging on a portion of its natural gas purchases for the upcoming winter.

GBHS Hall of FAME

The 2012 Great Bend High School GBHS Hall of Fame inductees have been announced. Honored will be longtime teacher and school administrator Karla (Bender) Leibham and civic leader Bill McKown, who refuses to let paralysis keep him from being active in the community.

43.6 Million to travel for Thanksgiving

The number of Americans going over the river and through the woods to grandmothers house and elsewhere over Thanksgiving is on the rebound, the American Auto Mobile Association reported this week.

Building a playground

We’ve Got The Power

Math. For many, the word can induce a cold sweat as recollections of struggling to understand lessons, humiliation from failing at board work and feeling too embarrassed to ask questions come to mind.

Child Advocacy Center a reality

Four years ago, a place where children could be interviewed and comforted in a non-threatening environment was only a dream for Family Crisis Center Executive Director Laura Patzner and her staff.

St. Rose and St. Catherine to join Centura Health

Catholic Health Initiatives, Englewood, Colo., voted Wednesday to integrate St. Catherine Hospital, Garden City, and St. Rose Ambulatory and Surgery Center, Great Bend, into Denver-based Centura Health, Colorado's largest health care network. The decision follows a unanimous recommendation from the St. Catherine, St. Rose and Centura Health boards of directors, and final approval from CHI.

Uplifting Generosity

Last month, Xi Delta Upsilon sorority in Barton County kicked off their first Bras for a Cause bra drive, uncertain how well it would be received. As it turns out, their cups overfloweth.

Offering hope: Life Giving Center is 'gift to the community'

For the past five years, the Daniel R. Trickey Memorial Life Giving Center has been quietly offering single homeless women, many with children, a place where they can turn their lives around.

Gas prices may have hit bottom

For now, at least, the average retail gasoline prices in Kansas are falling, dropping 4.3 cents per gallon in the past week with an average of $3.21 per gallon as of Sunday. This compares with the national average that has fallen 3.2 cents per gallon in the last week to $3.46, according to gasoline price website KansasGasPrices.com.

Bird, hunter numbers down

Pheasant and quail hunting seasons opened this past Saturday, events that usually lure throngs of camouflage- and blaze orange-clad hunters to Great Bend seeking to bag birds.

Great Bend firm sends help to Sandy victims

Three Great Bend residents who flew to New York last Thursday are scheduled to return home at the end of the week, after helping victims of Hurricane Sandy.

HOT ITEMS: City fire department gets new vehicles

Great Bend Fire Department has purchased a new fire truck and ambulance in recent weeks, Chief Mike Napolitano said.

Allfords named grand marshals of holiday parade

It seems fitting that Bob and Jenny Allford share the stage as grand marshals of the Home for the Holidays Parade.

​Hot ashes and logs start grass fire

Great Bend Fire Department responded to a grass at 11:50 a.m. Sunday in a vacant lot just north of a house 351 North U.S. 281.

Hotel with local ties nominated for listing in National Register

Kansas is among 13 states and territories nominating historic properties to be included on the National Register of Historic Places to The National Park Service. Two of the sites are within an hour's drive of Great Bend. One, the Hotel Roberts, once belonged to the former Great Bend hoteliers Clement C. "Monte" and Ruth "Betty" Parrish.

Relay for Life stages kickoff

Barton County's Relay for Life has undergone a makeover.

Pulse of the Prairie

The Shafer Art Gallery will host an opening reception for the "Pulse of the Prairie" exhibit, featuring the Kansas-inspired works of artists Doloris Pederson and Christina Lamoureaux. The reception will be from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16 in the gallery, located in the Fine Arts Building at Barton Community College. Artist talks and performances will be at 6:15 and 7:30 p.m.