GREG MORRIS

February is officially here, and in just less than two weeks so too will be the calendar’s biggest day for romance. Valentine’s Day 2023 falls on a Tuesday this year, a day of work for most, so some local organizations are providing an early taste of the fun for couples.

Eileen Ruth Rice, 88, died Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. She was born Sept. 10, 1934 to Elmer and Ida (Gilbreath) Parks. She married Milton Leroy Rice Dec. 22, 1951. He survives. She worked for a short time in 1952 as a Clerk / Typist at Camp Cooke, Calif., keeping records for military personnel recruiting, promotion, transfer, etc.

For several years now, Seward County United Way has provided community members with ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Some of those ways included delivering candy grams to significant others and enjoying meals featuring a little wine and wings. This year, SCUW is again using wine, this time in a...

The preparations for Pancake Day in Liberal are in full swing, and so too are the preparations for this year’s festivities in Olney, England. “What we do in Olney is actually quite different from what goes on in Liberal, because Liberal has that whole weekend of events while we focus everything basically on that day,” David Phillipson, chairman of the Olney Pancake Race Committee, said. “There's a lot of prep that goes on beforehand like setting up the marquee and getting the road closure officially approved for the race for that morning. We also look for help to enforce that road closure, we don't want anyone stepping out in the road and getting injured during the race. We've got some runners who have already applied, and that application process has been open for a little while now, and we have a limit of 25 spots in the main race, which is open to women 18 years old and older,. Before the main race that morning, we'll also have several children's races, and there's roughly 160 children participating in those, which also takes some organizing. This year, we've also sent a special trophy to Liberal to be presented to the winner there. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the song 'Amazing Grace,' so that trophy commemorates that, and we'll have a couple extra awards for our winner as well.”

Seward County Community College student Nicole Piper has written a one-act comedy called “Serial Dates,” and it will be performed at 7 p.m. Feb. 10 and 11. The public is encouraged to watch this show where two serial killers meet on a dating site. The play is written...

TURPIN, Okla.—The Turpin Cardinals celebrated seven seniors on senior night with a 68-50 win over the Boise City Wildcats. Senior Jaxson Hensley led the Cardinals offense, scoring 18, 16 of which came in the second half. Bryson Parker hit three triples and totaled 16, Jhett Huffman scored 13 off the bench, and Kaden Moses added 8.

Seward County Community College has hired Derek Talcott as the Head Women's Soccer Coach. Talcott will be the inaugural women's soccer coach as Seward County will start their first year of competition this fall (2023). Talcott has been the assistant men's soccer coach at Tyler Junior College (TJC) since 2016.

The search for a new police chief for Liberal has been going on for some time and recently, that search was completed. Last week, the City of Liberal announced the hiring of Chet Pinkston, who will officially start in the post Feb. 20. Pinkston has spent the last 32 years as a member of the Wichita Police Department, serving as deputy chief since 2020 and as he tells it, he is no stranger to law enforcement.

Hailey Contreras was a scoring machine early for the Lady Redskins against Hooker, Okla., Tuesday in The Big House, but she also found herself in foul trouble, and the Lady Redskins had to rally in the fourth quarter by scoring 21 points in the period for a 57-47 win. Contreras...

The Seward County Athletic Department is excited to announce Eric Volden as the inaugural Head Esports Coach for the Saints. Volden has served as the Director of Admission at Seward County since 2019 and was the Admissions and Recruiting Coordinator from 2017-2019. With the news that Eric Volden has been...

A Hugoton man was injured in an accident Friday afternoon in Texas County, Okla. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported shortly before 4:30 p.m. Friday, a 2006 Cadillac CTS was traveling northbound on Oklahoma Highway 136 about six and a half miles north of Guymon, Okla. OHP said the vehicle departed...

When Seward County Community College tackled its strategic plan for 2022-2025, setting the foundation with shared values was the first step. We went through a long process, gathering information from our employees, community advisory boards, and Town Hall meetings to determine whether our then-current core values still reflected our overall mission and vision.

GUEST COLUMN, Shannon Francis, Kansas State Representative. Leaders from Liberal and Seward County were at the Capitol this week working for Liberal and Southwest Kansas. City leaders met with Randy Speaker from the Department of Commerce about Rural Housing and attended meetings of the Kansas League of Municipalities. County Commissioners met with numerous leaders about lowering property taxes, State and Federal grants for roads and bridges, and with the Chairman of the House Water Committee about water in Kansas. They also attended meetings of the Kansas Association of Counties and Kansas Legislative Platform Group. I want to give a big shoutout to the International Pancake Day Committee, Mike Brack, and Sally Fuller for the work they did serving pancakes to state leaders. “Pancakes at the Capitol” is one of the most anticipated events of the year at the Capitol. There is no other event like it. Liberal is more than just a place on the map to the many elected officials that make it a point to come every year.