Headlines

With the correct spelling of the word “podium,” Jalia Creighton became the 2021 Stockton Grade School Spelling Champion on Wednesday, January 20th. Jalia, as well as Cheyenne Hoeting, Pierce Gray and Bodye Stithem will now represent Stockton at the Rooks County Spelling Bee to be held in Palco.

Stockton Electric Department Supervisor Jeff Scott was at the regular meeting of the Stockton City Commission, which was held on Tuesday, January 19. Scott was present to ask the commissioners to move ahead with the purchase of a four-wheel drive pickup in the amount of $30,000.

Beginning on Friday, January 29, until the end of the winter activities regular season this school year, a maximum of four spectators per participant will be permitted to attend events with appropriate social distancing required.

With cases of COVID-19 still on the rise, Rooks County has received its first doses of the COVID vaccine that are not earmarked for health care workers.

(Information from Lisa Herman for the Norton Telegram) Larry and Diana Enfield, longtime owners of Enfield Funeral Home, recently announced they have sold the funeral home to Brad and Daphne Plumer, of Stockton, and Adam and Alyssa (Thomson) Gobber, of Oberlin.

After Rooks County Commission Chairman John Ruder opened the January 11th meeting on Monday morning in the Rooks County Courtroom, treasurer Kim Northup held the official swearing in of the elected officers.

Rooks County continues to see new COVID-19 cases throughout the county. The absenteeism rate is decreasing and is at 1.1% above the baseline from 2019-2020. The positive testing rate has decreased to 27.2% this week. We continue to monitor numbers closely.

STOCKTON HIGH SCHOOL music students Emil Benavides (vocal) and Isaac Reed (band) were honored at the KMEA Virtual Northwest District Mini-Convention II on Saturday, December 12th as being four-year participants.

Emily Roy of Palco was among one of the 357 students who qualified for one of the honors of President’s, Dean’s List and Honor Roll for the fall 2020 semester at MidAmerica Nazarene University. Roy was named to the Dean’s List, which ranges from 3.5 to 3.99 GPA.