St. Joseph News-Press from St. Joseph, Missouri • 48

Page 8 Community Friday, February 26, 1009 3 osmiums Seetin seels to broaden tax base As a commissioner, Me Seetin said he would work to broaden the tax base and cut the mill levy because it's too high. He agrees with the master plan for downtown and riverfront development, but said every plan should include room for expansion, particularly a long-range plan to sustain growth for the future. Mr Seetin also said he's a strong supporter of local growth as opposed to soliciting outside investors. He said he believes local investors should benefit from the community first Mr. Seetin said he's always felt strongly about representing the citizens of Atchison.

In 1990, the city inspector and the city attorney were working against citizens, Mr. Seetin said, so he tried to make a citizen's arrest to bring them to justice. According to state statutes, Mr. Seetin said both city employees were endangering the public by allowing certain building conditions to exist He maintains they were conducting improper building inspection and failed to enforce building codes. Me Seetin subsequently was arrested and charged with battery He was formally restrained from entering City HalL To this day he feels strongly about his decision because it was based on providing safety to Atchison citizens.

"As a city commissioner, I will work within the system, and I feel just as strongly about community growth and safety as I ever did," he said. "I probably won't agree with everyone all the time, but I will listen to both sides of the issue and try to give my unbiased opinion, whether it's popular with everyone or not." MARY MEYEMAtchlBon Life Kathorln and Charlie) Stlnson Mloct from th offering of foods Wodnosday at tfom Soup and Sermon Lunchoon. Froo-wlII donations buy lunch during Lont from noon to 1 p.m. ovary Wodnoaday at tha Mathodlst Church, SOI Kansas Avs. Each week thoro Is a dlf forant spoakar and soup.

Survivors include: a grand-1 daughter Kitty Hanney, Eagle Lake, and two greatgrandchildren. Pern McCoy Pern McCoy 93, Nortonville, died Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1999, at Village Villa Nursing Home in Nortonville. Mass of Christian burial will be at 10:30 a.m. today at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Nortonville, with the Rev.

Thomas Cawley, officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery OTrimble Funeral Home, Nortonville, is In charge of arrangements. Mr. McCoy worked as a concrete contractor for Small Company and the City of Topeka Engineering Department until he retired in 1971. He was born July 30, 1906, in Valley Falls, the son of Carl and Mary Miller McCoy.

He attended Nortonville grade schools, including Ellerman School. He had lived in Topeka most of his working years and made his home in Nortonville since 1987. Mr. McCoy was a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Nortonville.

He enjoyed doing yard work. He married Margaret Cunningham on Nov. 30, 1981, in Topeka. She died June 3, 1998. He was also preceded in death by a brother, Barney McCoy.

Survivors include: a sister, Hazel Sowles, Nortonville; and a number of nieces, nephews and cousins. Louise Fergerson Louise I. Fergerson, 56, Severance, died Wednesday, Feb. 24, 1999, at her home. Services will be at 11 a.m.

Saturday at Harman-Rohde Funeral Home, Troy. Burial will be in Oak Hill Cemetery, Severance. Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. Friday at the Funeral Home. Mrs.

Fergerson worked for the Doniphan County special education program in Bende-na for eight years. She was born July 31, 1942, in Brookfield, the daughter of Arnold and Iva Morris. Mrs. Fergerson was a past member of the parent advisory committee for the Doniphan County Special Education Program. She married Richard H.

Fergerson on Oct. 16, 1962, in St. Joseph. He survives of the home. She was preceded in death by her parents and a sister, Ilah J.

Fanning. Additional survivors include five daughters, Diana Proctor, Savannah, Melody Noah and Connie Fergerson, St Joseph, Ruth Was-son, Troy, and Tina Cunningham, Hiawatha; a son, Carl Smith, St. Joseph; a stepdaughter, Cherri Nocks, Kansas City, a stepson, Richard Fergerson, Kansas City, two brothers, Jim Morris, Falls City, and Fred Morris, St. Joseph; a sister, Emma Putman, St. Joseph; 13 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Willie D. Roper Willie D. Roper, 79, Atchison, died Wednesday, Feb. 24, 1999, at the Atchison Hospital. Services will be at 11 a.m.

Saturday at Campbell Chapel AME Church with the Rev. Dr. T.R, Lee officiating. Burial will be in Oak Hill Cemetery Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until time of services Saturday at the church.

Arensberg-Pruett Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Mr. Roper began working as a farmer and lumberjack at an early age. He moved to Atchison in 1953 and became employed at LFM Company and Cooper's Foundry and later at Rockwell International Company, now known as Atchison Casting. He retired from Rockwell as a chipper in 1987.

He was born Feb. 12, 1920, in Rutledge, the son of Cur-ley D. and Ida Betton Roper. He attended school in the Rut-ledge community. Mr.

Roper was a member of Campbell Chapel AME Church where he served as a pastor's steward. He enjoyed fishing, gardening and visiting with his neighbors. He married Mary Alice Perkins on Dec. 24, 1941. She died July 23, 1975.

He married Evelyn Bratton-Clayter on July 6, 1986. She survives at the home. He was preceded in death by four sisters, Ola Mae Merritt, Clara Seymore, Annie Myrtle Pieass and Annie L. Wilkerson; two brothers, John Henry Rodgers and Johnny Ray Rodgers; and a son, William Roper. Additional survivors include a daughter, Mary Russell, Atchison; three sons, Willie L.

Roper, Atchison, Jesse J. Roper, Kansas City, and Bill L. Roper, Grand-view, four stepsons, Frank Kenneth Clayter, Atchison, Marvin Clayter Enid, Roy Clayter, Leavenworth; and Jerry Clayter, Los Angeles, 28 grandchildren; and a number of greatgrandchildren. Katttryn Morsch Kathryn Dietz Morsch, 96, formerly of Atchison, died Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1999, at Trace Haven Nursing Home in Vicks-burg, Miss.

Graveside services will be at 1 p.m. today at Mount Vernon Cemetery, Atchison, with the Rev. David Culver, pastor of the First Christian Church, Atchison, officiating. Becker-Dyer-Stanton Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Mrs.

Morsch was the former owner and operator of the Northside Tavern in Os-kaloosa. She was a native of Lone Star, and the daughter of August Henry and Madglene Gustzler Dietz. She had made her home in Vicksburg, since 1984. Mrs. Morsch was a member of the Eastern Star and the First Christian Church, both of Atchison.

She was preceded in death by her husband, John R. Bre-on, in 1952. She was also preceded in death by a daughter, five brothers and five sisters. KS, Continued front page 1 said. "We all have an obligation and a duty to do what we can for our community," he added.

"I've enjoyed watching people invest, work and grow in the community, and I'd like to help with that" Mr Seetin has owned a construction company in Atchison for the past 25 years and has seen many positive changes throughout the city, he said. Overall, Atchison has improved through the years and employees of the city are more professional than they were in the mid-1980s, he added. Although, Mr. Seetin said he doesn't know exactly what's needed to improve Atchison, he said the traffic system could use a little help, taxes are too high and a new Amelia Earhart Memorial Bridge should be constructed as close to its current location as possible. "It would be economically devastating and impose a hardship on the community," he said if a new bridge were constructed elsewhere.

"I would really like to see the bridge stay where ifs at It's accessible and it lines up with the highways." He also said he has no problem with the police department turning over the task of unlocking vehicles to the private sector. However, Mr Seetin said he would not favor a policy that would forbid police officer from unlocking vehicles when necessary 1 "I don't want it to be so formal that they aren't allowed to do it at all," he said. "Suppose those people aren't availabla They shouldn't have to wait and wait for someone to show up to unlock their cars." Saving Continued from pae 1 enough." Mrs. Tyler has saved almost everything she could get her hands on about the black population in Atchison. She's saved photographs, old advertisements, church bulletins, school programs and letters, all to preserve the history of black Americans in Atchison.

"You see, we don't need Black History Month," Mrs. Tyler stressed. "That's why I gave her (Janet Smith) some of my private collection, because I knew what she was doing and she seemed to be someone who will follow through and keep the history going." So far, Mrs. Tyler has accumulated myriad information and remembers even more. Most of the black-owned businesses were located on Commercial Street she said.

Dr. G. A. Pattern had a thriving doctor's office at 411M Commercial St. Dr.

Alfred Pyles had his dental and oral surgery office at 507) Commercial which he shared with Dr. Donald Stewart also a physician and surgeon. Dr. Marion Dysart traveled from Atchison to Leavenworth to practice dentistry His office was at 509K Commercial St Mrs. Tyler has a photograph of Dr.

Stewart in front of his home at 841 S. Fourth St, that shows him proudly standing between his Model-T Ford and his Packard. "Oh, there were a lot of them," she said. 'The Ingram family were all blind except for Hattie Jefferson. But she eventually did go blind in Wyoming.

The family went to blind school and ran a broom factory called Atchison-Made Brooms on Commercial Street T. Miles was the first to be a licensed embalmer in town," she added. "There were even six African-Americans working at the post office back then. Now, I don't think there are any" Homer Gaines owned Gaines Smoke House on the corner of Third and Commercial streets from the 1920s through the 1930s, she said. Leon Henderson opened a drugstore on Seventh and Division streets, but be Classified ads are FREE In Learn more about the Bible If you are interested' in learning more about the Bible on your own terms and in your own time, Through the Bible" is on every day at 12:30 and 4 in the afternoon, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m.

Saturday and noon Sunday on 760 AM KCCB. Reader misses hospital's time and temperature service This is a senior citizen here in Atchison, Kansas, and without the telephone time and temperature from the hospital I never know exactly how to dress to go outside. I'm wondering what is the hold up in getting that fixed. Is it part of trying to economize or what? We really do miss it. Atchison Life 734 Kansas Avenue Atchison, KS 66002 Office hours: 8 a.m.

-5 p.m. Monday Friday No paper? Call 1-800-779-6397 after 6 a.m. Submit letters to the editor to Atchison Life at our office, 734 Kansas Atchison, 66002; or fax them to 367-1222. Make sure to Include your name and phone number for verification purposes. Readers can also call "It's history cause his business grew, he moved to larger quarters on the corner of Fifth and Division.

"Aaron Washington had a pharmacy before Mr. Henderson did," Mrs. Tyler recalled. "That was on Ninth and Kearney He moved to Topeka and opened a pharmacy there." Remembering the "good old days," she recalled the Winrow family, who owned a grocery store, a pool hall and dance hall. The businesses closed in 1956, and Mrs.

Tyler, her husband, Roland, and her brother, Howard, opened a grocery store at the same site. There were many more black entrepreneurs in Atchison, she said. The 1950s through the 1970s saw a large decline in black-owned businesses in Atchison she said. Some retired, Mrs. Tyler said, and their children didn't follow in their parents' footsteps so many businesses closed.

"We don't put a special interest on black history period," Mrs. Tyler said of black Atchisonians. "It should be a year-round thing, where it's taught in the schools because we are history all year long. These kids don't know anything about these people." Mrs. Smith's collection of black history in Atchison currently is on display at the Atchison Library Editor's note: Kathy Botts, a hospital spokesperson and a very pleasant one I might add -told us that remodeling efforts forced removal of the time and temperature service.

However, she said a new service will be installed as soon as possible and apologized for any inconvenience. -mgjmmmi. WU Where to call? Editor, Chris Wessel, 367-1133. Reporters: Marilyn Fontenot, 367-5121; Mary Meyers, 367-22SS. Sports, Jeff Bryan, 367-1133.

Design director, George Stanton, 367-1133. Office, Phyllis Bomberger, 367-2255. Fax, 367-1222. How to place an ad? To place a display or classified ad, call 367-2255. Your Turn" Atchison Life's anonymous call-In line set up so you can voice your opinions on current events and let us know how we're doing.

To use "It's Your Turn," call 367-5121 after 5 p.m. on week days end til day on weekends. MO, Savannah, MO, Falls City, NE, Sabetha let Vouw World Wide emeu, i www.ponyexpress.net mm -TOLLFREE l-8KX)-779-(397 EXt8d33- Best Connections Ajansmmym-ztss gm 734 Kansas Avenue, mf! Serving St. Joseph, Atchison, KS, Albany, MO, Chilticothe, MO, Gallatin, PonyExpress.Net CALL 367-2255 A rvivisinn nf tf Tncptih Mpuc-Ptpcc J- 4 i.