OSWEGO — Labette County commissioners on Friday met with Sontana Johnson for a discussion on the Juneteenth holiday.
Johnson is CEO of Southeast Kansas Juneteenth Foundation, a non-profit that supports and promotes the annual holiday.
The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in 1863, but slaves near Galveston, Texas, didn’t hear about the proclamation until June 19, 1865. So that day has been celebrated as Freedom Day and was made the Juneteenth national holiday in 2021 and a state holiday in October 2023, though the first time the holiday was taken in Kansas was in June 2024. The county adopted the Juneteenth holiday in 2023 when setting holidays for that year.
Last month, commissioners voted to allow employees to take the Juneteenth holiday on Friday, Dec. 26, rather than coming into work the day after Christmas. The thought was to restore the holiday to June 19 in 2026. After a backlash, the commissioners reversed course and returned Juneteenth to the county holiday calendar for the county’s employees and still allowed them to take Dec. 26 as a holiday.
Johnson thanked commissioners for restoring the holiday.
She said given the world today, unity is important for communities, and honoring Freedom Day is part of community support and community building.
“Right now is the time that we all need to come together,” Johnson said.
“I just want you guys to really look into what Juneteenth is really about.”
She asked commissioners if they believe freedom was for all or freedom was only for some. She said the commission is the bridge to bring all nine communities in the county together and make the Juneteenth celebration bigger and better.
“This is something that needs to be really, really talked about. You don’t know where you don’t go. You don’t understand what no one has explained to you,” Johnson said.
She asked commissioners to keep the holiday in the future and not remove it as they did this year temporarily, as Black history is involved in many of the histories of the communities in the county.
“You can’t take us away. You can’t take the people of color away,” Johnson said.
She said she will continue to share the message of Juneteenth and promote unity.
Commission Chairman See COUNTY, Page 8.
Vince Schibi said the commission made a mistake when they removed the holiday. Moving forward, he said the commission will take care of all people in the county regardless of color. He told Johnson he admired her activism.
Johnson said this year’s Juneteenth will have a speaker related to the former Douglass School in Parsons, a building where Black students received an education for 50 years before it was closed down. The speaker, Donald V. Watkins, is the son of former Douglass Principal Levi Watkins Jr., she said.
Grant sought for 24000 Road
Commissioners agreed on Friday to apply for grant funding for a road improvement project on 24000 Road. The project will total $292,986 with the bulk of it paid through a grant, if approved.
The mother and grandfather of an Altamont man who died in a wreck at the curve on 24000 Road have asked for safety improvements. The man died when his car missed the turn and landed in a pond.
Road and Bridge Supervisor Sandy Krider said work would include improving shoulders on a 3.5 miles stretch from Gray Road east to the curve. Signs will be updated and rumble strips added to the road in advance of the curve, as well as guardrail at the curve. Reflective paint on the edgeline and centerline would be added as well.
The grant, if approved, would be from highrisk rural roads funding.
In other matters, the commission: — Agreed to close 10th Street north of 25000 Road from 6 to 10 a.m. on May 24 for the annual Katy Days run. This is the road that dead-ends on the east end of Tolen Creek park.
— Agreed to increase the shift differential pay to $1, a 25-cent increase (deputies, dispatch, jail); and agreed to pay time and a half for those working on holidays (sheriff, jail and dispatch).
— Agreed to pursue a separate fiber connection from Sparklight to the jail, dispatch and sheriff’s office building. Before, the courthouse and the law enforcement center shared a fiber connection. The cost for the change will be $1,700 a month, an increase of $300 a month.
— Approved updates to an office space at 1708 Corning for the new office space for the emergency management office. The county owns the building.
— Approved the purchase of three pickup trucks for the Road and Bridge Department from Mike Carpino Ford at a cost of $153,560.
— Approved payroll totaling $380,538 for January and approved $455,255 in bills for 2025 and $4,102 in bills for 2024.
