6
STATE
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2006
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 5A
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HISTORY
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Letters from WWI remind author of uncle
BY KRISTIN SULLIVAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEAVENWORTH — It had all the elements of a classic drama — deception, bloodshed, estrangement.
When Lucille Meyer rediscovered the photos and yellowed letters written from her uncle during World War I, she realized their value, both because of their age and because they recalled old memories she had of her family history.
It was a strange story. Meyer's uncle, Pvt. Chester "Chet" Cooper, was an aide to General Pershing in France during the war, she said. Her memories and his letters convey a picture of the war as a dark and confusing event, in which his only solace was the correspondence and memories of home and family.
Meyer, a longtime Leavenworth resident, published a book about her family's history in 2000.
Meyer said she still feels a link to circumstances made distant by the passage of time.
The letters from Cooper began in Camp Logan, Houston, during his training in April 1917. According to his obituary, he was a member of the Fifth Ammunition Train.
The last letter that has been preserved was sent from Paris, a year after he began writing letters from Camp Logan.
Cooper returned shortly afterward, near the end of the war.
As referred to briefly in his final letter, Cooper married a French woman named Violette and brought her back to Kansas.
"He came home in awful bad shape," Meyer said. "He was shell-shocked and gassed."
Violette compelled Cooper to marry her by announcing that she was pregnant, Meyer said. Soon after the newlyweds reached Kansas, it became apparent that there was no baby on the way.
"It was not an unusual situation," Meyer said. "They all wanted American soldiers because they thought life would be so much better here."
Cooper's new wife, who did not speak English, led to conflict in the family.
"It was not a happy marriage." Meyer said. "Grandma was never nice to her."
Nonetheless, Meyer said, the marriage led to the birth of a daughter in 1920.
ECONOMY
Travis Morissa/THE HUTCHINSON NEWS
Robert Smith, left, and Mark Dinkel add a section of drilling pipe as they search for oil on a drilling rig owned by Shields Drilling Co. Inc. near Ransom. The crew was drilling for Palomino Petroleum. Ness County has seen an increase of 56 new wells in the past two years.
Oil boom helps county
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NESS CITY — An observer need only look at one number 56 to see evidence of a resurging oil boom here. That's how many oil wells have been drilled in Ness County in the past two years alone.
"The boom's here," said Don Lahar, a Wichita land broker who is among those who has been buying up parcels here. "When you have $60 oil everyone and their dog is out buying leases. There are a lot of dollars out there in the oil industry. You could get a better value on your money in oil and gas right now as opposed to the stock market."
of deeds in Ness County, said some weeks his office records up to 80 leases. Lahar then obtains information on those buyers and offers $4 to $10 an acre.
The boom is having a marked effect. New businesses are cropping up, landowners are making money, and jobs are being created. Ness County Clerk Renee Kerr credits oil production with a county valuation that skyrocketed by nearly $10 million from 2004 to 2005.
It's not the county's first boom. The oil industry flourished in the 1950s and again in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but it collapsed in the mid-1980s. By 1999, prices had fallen to a low of $8 a barrel.
Mark Horchem, the register
"They're drilling everywhere," said Sherry Frick. The county appraiser. "It's so scattered and not in one spot. Land men are fighting to get the leases."
Today, they hover between $55 and $60.
Locals are celebrating the boom. Rooms at this town's only motel, the Derrick Inn, have been booked. Sunrise Oil Field Service, a pipe and tank battery business, has added three more workers.
Local banker Marlin Pfannenstiel said the boom boosts the economy in all manner of ways, including field workers' purchases of fuel, tires, supplies and groceries.
LEGISLATURF
Adult business signs targeted
BY CARL MANNING THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA — The way Sen. Tim Huelskamp sees it, families should be able to drive down Kansas roadways, enjoy the beauty of the state and not have to look at advertisements for sexually oriented businesses.
The committee took no action on the bill after Tuesday's hearing.
"My concern is Kansas families, when driving down the highways, not be exposed to these signs," Huelskamp (R-Fowler) told the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee.
Under the bill, no sign or other outdoor advertising for a sexually-oriented business could be within a mile of any highway or interstate.
A business within a mile of such roadways could post no more than two signs — one no more than 40 square feet with the name, address, phone number and operating hours, and another noting the premises are off-limits to minors.
Signs already in place could remain for three years after the bill becomes law.
The bill is modeled on a 2004 Missouri law that has been upheld by a U.S. District Court judge, said Jim Jenkins, attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund's Kansas office.
"If it's challenged in Kansas, I feel the federal judge will take notice of the decision in Missouri," Jenkins said.
Also speaking in favor of the bill was Phillip Cosby, of Abilene, who has traveled around Kansas talking to ministers and others about trying to rein in or shut down sexually oriented businesses, which he called "an open sewer to Kansas communities."
He said an adult store near Interstate 70 in his hometown has a 15-by-30-foot sign with "Adult Superstore" in yellow letters.
The effort to restrict signs along highways isn't the only way legislators are trying to deal with sexually oriented businesses in the state.
The House Taxation Committee recently heard testimony for a bill to impose a 10 percent tax on strip clubs, escort services, adult bookstores and similar businesses. The bill was sent to a subcommittee for reworking.
"I didn't send it to a subcommittee to kill it; the committee will vote on it," said Chairman Kenny Wilk (R-Lansing).
The estimated $1 million from the tax on revenues would be used to finance programs for such things as helping sex crime victims and prosecuting those using the Internet to commit sex crimes against children.
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