Life after the Walnut Valley

Sorry i've not posted much the last few days. Still recovering from the Walnut Valley Festival I suppose. I stayed up there a lot and didn't sleep much. All that music needs listening to. :)
Ive also had some computer troubles but I think Its ok now. Got a new machine. Hopefully it will last a long time. I got four years out of the old one and it was used and abused heavily.

I was reading about some canoe trails in Texas. It was pretty interesting, and there is a group trying to create more trails there. Now it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you are paddling down a river, it's not real hard to know which way to go and its highly unlikely that you would make a wrong turn in your canoe. (there are some places where you could, but ...)
The thing it does is promote river use in that area. There are trails like this in many other places - Minnesota has hundreds of miles of them - Louisiana and other states. I think there are even some in Kansas.
Does not seem like it would be too hard to do that here.

There is a lot that could be done, but just need some people willing to get involved.
Car show is this weekend. I think im going to be out of town, but it should be good.

Shooting at Walmart

Sorry Im a bit late with this. Here is the police report on the shooting in the Walmart parking lot over the weekend. There's more cop stuff below.

On 09-18-2010 at about 4:11pm, officers of the Arkansas City Police Department responded to the report of gunshots in the parking lot of Wal-Mart.  Upon officers arrival they found Justin
Tong and Sean Rethmeier in the parking lot, both suffering gunshot wounds.  Justin Tong had been struck in the right side of his torso, and was transported to the South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center by Arkansas City Fire and EMS.  Tong was later transported to Wesley Medical Center by helicopter.  Tong underwent surgery in Wichita and is expected to recover from the injury.  Rethmeier had been struck in the left hand and was taken to South Central Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and later released.

Shooting

Ark City Police are investigating a shooting at Walmart in Arkansas City.
TV Channel 12 is saying Sean Wallace said the shooting may have been accidental, but they are still investigating.
One person was taken to a Wichita hospital.

Bulldogs

Packed house tonight at the opening of Bulldog Stadium.
The first game is not going so well though as the Bulldogs trail Goddard 32-0 late in the third quarter.
Im headed back to the walnut valley festival.

Thursday at the Walnut Valley Festival

Walnut Valley Festival got off to a good start Thursday. Crowd was not huge Thursday, but then, it usually isnt, so its hard to tell anything based on that.
They had quiet the storm Wednesday night, but seemed ok Thursday. The "infield" at stage one is muddy, but should be dried out sometime tomorrow - Friday.
Top left is Betse Ellis, fiddle player for the Wilders, and that is all i have to say about lady fiddle players.
Next is the Wilders playing hot. Followed by Small Potatoes,  and at the bottom is the group, the Wiyos. One of their members was not able to get to the show, so they brought a dummy in to replace him. They are always a fun band.
Ill be posting more photos and such. Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.

Here is a link to a story I wrote for a website for a more general audience.

City Comission / Bulldog Stadium

City commission worksession is today at 5:30 p.m.
Also tomorrow, 6:30 p.m., there will be a dedication ceremony at the new Bulldog Stadium, . and the first game to be played there will follow at 7 p.m.
On tonight's agenda with the city commission:
Adopting a policy tto have potential city board appointees fill out a "form of interest" .. Remember people objected to the word "application"  last time.
Approving an agreement with the schools to use the City Police drug dog for random drug sweeps. Schools do this already, but are currently hiring an out of town operation to do it.
Warrant checks for 2008. These are checks the city has written that people or businesses have not cashed.
Rezoning at 836 E. Kansas from residential to industrial
Preliminary plat of Meadows Edge subdvision.

Walnut Valley fesival is rolling. Hope the weather cooperates.
Still having technical difficulties. CHeck back to see if the live blog is happening. At this point it is 50-50 ... my laptop has some sort of electrical problem which makes it shut off without warning, which would be a major pain if that were to happen in a live blog. so ... we shall see.

Shanna Seyfarth goes for a kill in the Cowley volleyball match with Labette Monday evening. Cowley rolled to an easy 3-0 win and was never challenged.
Cowley has another home match Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Cowley athletes named players of the week

Helping the No. 9-ranked Cowley College volleyball team go 5-0 on the week and defeat nationally ranked Iowa Lakes (No. 16) and No. 1-ranked Parkland College, sophomore middle hitter Lindsey Chandler was named the KJCCC Verizon Wireless Division II Volleyball Player of the Week.

Chandler has made great improvements as a middle hitter in just one year. This week she led her team in hitting efficiency at 44% and total blocks at 6.5. She helped the Lady Tigers’ run their winning streak to nine matches in a row and finished the week with 40 kills.

“Lindsey has improved so much and is showing how valuable she is to the team,” Bahner said.

Missing all but the first three games of last season due to injury, Cowley College sophomore Carol Rodrigues has returned to make an impact on the Lady Tiger soccer team. Her solid play has not gone unnoticed as she was recently named the KJCCC Verizon Wireless Women’s Soccer Player of the Week.

Rodrigues, a midfielder from Brasilia, Brazil, scored two goals and added three assists as Cowley went 1-1 last week. She had a goal and an assist in Cowley’s 4-2 loss to MCC-Blue River and finished with a goal and two assists in an 11-0 win over Independence.

“Carol has been a catalyst in our midfield so far this year,” Cowley head coach Dane Straight said. “Her foot skills are allowing her to get out of tight spots and make the defense focus on her and then pass the ball to open teammates to create scoring opportunities.”

Prior to last season’s injury, Rodrigues finished sixth in the nation in assists (18) as a freshman at Cowley as she was named a first-team Jayhawk Conference midfielder.

“She has worked so hard to get back and to see her effort rewarded is great,” Straight said. “She is an extremely dangerous player and I look forward to seeing her back at full strength by the end of the year.”

 

Cowley Volleyball

Cowley College volleyball team beat top-ranked Parkland at a tournament over the weekend. Cowley was ranked No. 1 a couple weeks ago.  Cowley breezed through a tournament with four wins over the weekend.
Cowley is in action tonight, hosting winless Labette at 6:30
See the rest of the story below

Walnut Valley Festival - Land Rush

The Landrush was held over the weekend at the Walnut Valley Festival. I am not camping this year, but I did participate in the landrush last year, which was quiet an experience. It is kind of amazing how well that thing is organized. It seems like utter chaos when it is happening, but it wasnt real hard. You just have to go with it.

Anyways, this week will be the Walnut Valley Festival. This is my favorite event  around here, even if it is in Winfield. :) While I think the rivalry between the towns is basically a good thing, It has no relevance when it comes to music.

I am sure there is some impact on Ark City. There are about 15000 additional people in Winfield this week, so there is bound to be some spillover. I know a lot of people here in town will be going over there. What are your thoughts on the Walnut Valley Festival? Why do you go, or why do you not go?

I will be there as much as possible and will post photos. Send in your walnut valley experiences..
Other stuff
Coming up real soon is the anniversary of the "real" Landrush, the one held in Arkansas City that opened the Oklahoma Territory to white settlers in 1893 - yet another theft from Indians. But ... it is atrocious that we do not have anything planned. Not even the Mayor signing a proclamation or anything.
How ridiculous is that?
Thursday at noon would be the anniversary.. Anyone want to meet and mark the day ?
There were seven landrushes .. here is a list of them from wikipedia

1. April 22, 1889: Land run of 1889 took place at high noon and involved the settlement of the Unassigned Lands (most of modern day Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan, Oklahoma, and Payne counties).
2. September 22, 1891: Land run to settle Iowa, Sac and Fox, Potawatomi, and Shawnee lands.
3. September 23, 1891: Land run to settle Tecumseh, the pre-designated location of the county seat of County B, later renamed as Pottawatomie County.
4. September 28, 1891: Land run to settle Chandler, the pre-designated location of the county seat of County A, later renamed as Lincoln County.
5. April 19, 1892: Land run to settle the Cheyenne and Arapaho lands.
6. September 16, 1893: Cherokee Strip Land Run. The Run of the Cherokee Strip opened nearly 7,000,000 acres (28,000 km²) to settlement on September 16, 1893. The land was purchased from the Cherokees for $7,000,000. It was largest land run in United States history.
7. May 23, 1895: Land run to settle the Kickapoo lands.