Memorial Weekend is the big kick-off for the summer camping season around the country, and our Webster State Park at Webster Reservoir is ready! The Webster staff is constantly improving and doing necessary maintenance at the Park throughout the year. Even though some of these projects tend to go unnoticed, they are still essential to campers, fishermen, boaters, and everyone who loves the outdoors! Some of these small projects and repairs include the replacement of breakers, repairing toilet flush valves, changing out the water heaters in the shower house, repairing broken waterlines, or trimming trees along the roads and campgrounds to make room for the campers and RVs.

The Wall That Heals, the three-quarter-scale traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. was on display in Great Bend from Thursday, May 11th through Sunday, May 14th.

The Rooks County Department heads and elected officials met with the commissioners at the start of their weekly meeting on Tuesday, May 9th, to discuss the County’s sick leave policy and how it will be used. They touched on the gray areas in the policy about doctor notes. The policy states that if an employee is absent three days in a row due to illness, a doctor’s note is required. They also stated that doctor’s notes are required for surgery, recovery, extended therapy/ care visits, etc., so the department heads and officials can plan work days around the approved medical procedures and therapy schedules. They discussed allowing sick leave when a family member is sick and the employee needs to be home to take care of them. The consensus was that the employees should inform the department heads about taking sick leave to tend to other family members, noting that communication is the key to using the policy as written. The commissioners stated that the department heads should know when someone is abusing it and must stay on top of it.

The Stockton High School Graduating Class of 2023 has closed another chapter in their Book of Life with the commencement exercises held on Saturday, May 13th. After many years together, the young men and women will go their separate ways as they look toward their future while taking the memories they made during their grade and high school years.

It’s city-wide garage sale time! Stockton is once again participating in the annual Highway 24 Garage Sale. The three-day event runs from Friday through Sunday, June 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.

The Stockton USD 271 Board of Education members held a short meeting on Monday, May 8th, before several executive sessions were held to discuss resignations, classified staff, student matters, certified staff, and supplementals. The business side of the meeting contained the written reports from high school principal Lindsay Cravens and grade school principal Stacey Green, which were given to the board members.

To assist in combatting the rising cost of higher education, Kansas Grain and Feed Association’s (KGFA) scholarship program awarded nearly $30,000 in total to 19 of the state’s graduating high school seniors for the 2023-24 academic year.

Three Rooks County were among five injured in an accident just after 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 3, in Thomas County.

Cindy McDowell of Stockton creates works of art from vintage jewelry. She created her first piece after her grandmother passed away, with Mc-Dowell using pieces of her grandmother’s jewelry to make a peacock. After her mother died, she repeated the effort and fashioned an elaborate Christmas tree, making a lovely memory piece to commemorate her mother.

At the regular meeting of the Rooks County Commission on Tuesday, May 2nd, clerk Laura Montgomery recommended the following for the sick leave usage within the County. Montgomery recommended continuing the $50.00 a day payout at the end of the year for accumulated sick leave with the employees able to carry over 720 hours and changing or adding that the employees are paid one-fourth of the accumulated sick leave they have at the regular hourly rate at their retirement.