(The following article is taken from the minutes of the January 28th Rooks County Health Center Board of Directors regular meeting.)

Any community member or organization wishing to claim a Main Street planter has until May 1st to do so. Once spoken for, you

Once again, the Rooks County Health Department has confirmed its second presumptive-positive case of COVID-19 in Rooks County. The case was identified Tuesday, April 7, with testing sent to QUEST Diagnostic on April 6, 2020. QUEST Diagnostic, which is approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to perform COVID- 19 testing, found presumptive-positive results. These results will be verified by the CDC lab and will be treated as positive pending confirmation.The case is in Rooks County and the patient is currently doing in-home isolation, following the guidance of the CDC. The case is not travel related. Rooks County Health Department continues to work with the local partners and providers and KDHE to identify and contact people who may have come into contact with the individual while infectious and will monitor them for fever and respiratory symptoms. No further information about the patient will be released.

With Rooks County getting its first presumptive-positive cases of COVID-19 within the past 10 days, people should be reminded of ways the Center For Disease Control recommends you protect yourself and others during the pandemic.

In an effort to protect the health of Kansans and prevent the spread of COVID- 19, Governor Laura Kelly, with the support of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT), is suspending sales of general nonresident turkey permits effective immediately. The suspension is made possible via Executive Order No. 20-21, signed Friday, April 10, by Governor Kelly.

A Natoma man escaped serious injury Wednesday, April 8th, in Rooks County. Patrick W. Hageman, age 59, Natoma, was north bound on County Road 25 at 6:50 a.m. in a 2001 Freightliner semi truck when he missed a gear and rolled down a hill on the driver side and coming to rest on the driver side.

The Stockton Fire Department was called to 1290 15 Road to help with a control burn at Joe Swaney’s that got out of control on Monday, April 6th at 2:45 p.m. Then on Tuesday, April 7th, the Fire Department was called to assist at the Jay Peace residence in Plainville to help with a grass fire that destroyed some out buildings. The probable cause of the fire was from a solar light battery malfunction. The last call for the week came on Thursday, April 9th when the Stockton Fire Department was dispatched to 1655 26 Road to aid in a vehicle fire at the June Brookhouser residence.

The pretty young lady in last week’s Sentinel turning 75, was none other than Stockton’s Carol Serefko.

The Rooks County Commission met for its regular weekly meeting at the 4-H building at the Rooks County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, March 31st. The first order of business was an update from health nurse Lori Eichman on the coronavirus pandemic. Eichman has worked with Dr. Jen Brull on press releases for the community to be used if Rooks County ever has a positive case. She noted that even though Rooks County has protocols in place, Kansas Governor Kelly’s protocols supersede all county and city regulations, although if Rooks County’s protocols are for a longer time period than the state’s, the County’s regulations will be in force until the end of the time period specified. A Zoom meeting with the Kansas Association of Commissioners (KAC), and a KDHE conference call were set up for later in the afternoon to receive updates.