News

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The Pancake Day festivities will be taking place in just a couple weeks, and one of the big events of the day is the annual breakfast.

Attendees to the breakfast will be in for a special treat as Annika Wooton will be putting on a speed-painting presentation to commemorate the annual tradition. As Wooton tells it, art has been part of her life for a long time.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Super Bowl Sunday will have an extra special element for the Liberal community with the return of John Earle as a guest speaker.

Earle said it was an easy decision to come back to the area.

“I remember talking with Pastor Rex Petty last year, and we had such a good time speaking in the schools and visiting with all the FCA individuals who helped put this on, and many of the donors who brought me in,” Earle said. “We’d left it at more or less, if they wanted to bring me back, that’s great, if not, that’s also fine. I had a great time. This year, they were going to bring in one of my good friends, Steve Grant, who’s been there a few times, but he had a prior engagement, so Pastor Rex called me up and asked if I would want to come back, and I decided I would. I’ll do some schools, but my main ministry is working in prisons, and when everything was getting organized, I said, ‘When I’m there, try to get me in a couple of jails and places like that.’ So we’re going to do schools in the morning, and we’re going to be doing jails in the afternoons. I’ll also be doing a church service at Faith Tabernacle Church Sunday, Feb. 8, and then that afternoon, before the Super Bowl, I’ll do two jails, and then Monday through Thursday, the schedule is going to be schools in the morning and jails in the afternoon. I think one of one or two of the other days, we’re also going to be doing some FCA rallies at night. It’s going to be a packed week.”

ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Feb. 10, immunization advocates from across the Sunflower State will be in Topeka as part of talking to state leaders about the importance of vaccinating.

The Immunize Kansas Coalition, along with its partners and community advocates, will take part in the coalition’s Advocacy Day, and IKC Policy Team Chair Shelby Ostrom said the group will educate lawmakers and others on the importance of vaccinations.

“We talk  to them about the types of vaccinations that are important and hone in on the importance of vaccinating for a variety of diseases,” she said. “This year, it’s particularly important with some of the changes that are going on at the federal level to support vaccination as it currently is.”

Ostrom and IKC Chair-Elect Anne Zajic will conduct a training the morning of Feb. 10 with  advocates.

Special to the Leader & Times

All are invited to attend a 100th birthday party for Charles Forward from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Lone Star Friends Church between Liberal and Hugoton. The church is located at 2698 State Hwy 51.

The family hopes to see many of Charles’ friends and family there. Those who can’t attend are encouraged to mail greetings to Charles Forward, 2701 Highway 51, Hugoton, KS 67951.

This month, one of Hugoton’s long-time residents, Forward, will observe his 100th birthday.

Charles was born Feb. 10, 1926, south of Goddard, in Sedgwick County. The family moved near Feterita in March 1930, and except for the time around his service in the military, Stevens County has been home.