June 19, 2013
 Colleen Surridge/Sun photo
More than eight feet beneath the grassy surface, Adam Coomes holds a six-inch sewer service pipe while his father, Rick Coomes, places cement around the opening of a T-joint on the east side of Garfield School Thursday. The two men, with Coomes Plumbing of St. Paul, were running the new sewer line to the edge of the school property, where the city plans to connect it to a new manhole and other new main lines. The city will begin utility work in preparation for the rebuilding of South 13th Street next week, and Kansas Gas Service and Westar Energy also will relocate utility lines. The city plans to close the street from Main to Grand next week for most of the summer as LaForge and Budd Construction rebuilds it. Asphalt will replace the bricks on the street.
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 Jamie Willey/Sun photo
Irvin and Florence Espeseth listen to a speaker at the Labette County Relay For Life cancer survivor dinner Tuesday night at First Baptist Church. The Parsons couple’s table was decorated with the theme of cancer research. Mrs. Espeseth is the survivor of two types of cancer. The Relay For Life is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. June 7 and run until 6 a.m. the following day.
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 Ray Nolting/Sun photo
Sam Triebel (left) and Larry Grant hammer in a railroad spike as part of the gandy dancers demonstration Saturday at Katy Days. The two were part of a crew of retired railroaders who quickly built a short section of track using 85-pound rail. The total weight of each rail was about 950 pounds. Gandy dancers was a term for railroad workers who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines. The term originated because of the “dancing” movements of the workers.
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 Colleen Surridge/Sun photo
Jay French, his brother, Chris French, and father, Dick French, perform Saturday at this year’s Katy Days at the Seaton Family Pavilion. See story in Local News.
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 Jamie Willey/Sun photo
Danica Hoose, the 2012 Miss Katy Queen, crowns the 2013 winner, Caitlin Sewell, Saturday morning at the Seaton Family Pavilion in Forest Park.
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 Jamie Willey/Sun photo
Squire Simon Billingsly (portrayed by Hunter Goddard) grabs Katie White (portrayed by Katie Hill) in a bar and demands she turn over a deed to valuable land during the opening night of “Tied to the Tracks or A Good Deed Indeed.” The melodrama written by former Parsonian Jerry James also will be presented by a group of local actors at 7 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Saturday in the Labette Community College Thiebaud Theatre. The melodrama is a first-time offering of the annual Katy Days festival, with most events happening Saturday in Forest Park.
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 Chris Bussen (sweeping), David Heitman and Chris Moore (in skid-steer loader) clean up debris after cutting down a dead redbud tree in Forest Park in preparation for Katy Days.
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 Ray Nolting/Sun photo
Parsons firefighters and a Labette Health Ambulance Service crew work to extinguish a house fire at 1414 Appleton Tuesday night. No one was home when the fire started. The cause is under investigation. See story in Local News.
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 Colleen Surridge/Sun photo
Capping off their last day of school, consisting of fun-filled activities, Lincoln School students line up to receive flavored ice treats.
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 Colleen Surridge/Sun photo
Retiring USD 503 Superintendent Linda Proehl addresses the graduates of the Parsons High School Class of 2013 during commencement on Sunday. See story in Local News.
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