Jayne Prockish and Sally Lowry were at the Stockton City Commission meeting held on Tuesday, May 5th to update the commissioners on the plans for the beautification of Main Street. Lowry walked the commissioners through the proposed plan, which would include black metal benches, self-watering planters, perennial flowers and bushes, metal fencing and ground planters. Plans are to also check to see about painting the streetlights and flagpoles black for a more cohesive look. The commisers voted to approve a match of $3,500.0 for the grant Lowry will write for the purchase of the planters, fencing, etc. As schedules permit, City will remove the tree stumps from the sidewalk and concrete over several of the open areas that had been cut out for the trees in preparation for the project.

No, they can’t open the doors to the public just yet to show those blockbuster movies, but the Nova Theatre can sell you some of its delicious buttery popcorn, pop and candy concessions for a family movie night at home! And that is just what they are doing this Friday, May 15th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The Stockton High School Alumni banquet and reunion that was scheduled for Sunday, May 24th has been cancelled for this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And along with the cancellation of the reunion, the Stockton VFW Post #8873 has cancelled all Memorial Day services for Monday, May 25th. The Ash Rock Memorial Service has also been cancelled for this year.

The Stockton City-Wide Cleanup Week has been set for Monday, May 18th through Friday, May 22nd. Regular trash routes will be run as normally scheduled, while additional city trucks will be following the regular routes to pick up FURNITURE, TREE BRANCHES, APPLIANCES (Freon must be drained from refrigerators), YARD WASTE and TIRES (limit of 5 tires).

The Sentinel continues to ask senior kids and their parents to please bring in an 8 x 10 photo to be displayed in our window at the Stockton Sentinel. We need several more to have all 21 graduating seniors. Please, let’s keep the tradition alive and get your pictures in today. Call 425-6354 to make arrangements.

The residences from Elm to Pine Street in Stockton were without water for about five hours on Wednesday, April 29th when the City worked on a broken water main on the corner of North Elm and Main Street. The City had been aware of the leak since water had been seeping into the storm drain, but when the City opened up the area after informing KDOT of the repair work, they found two breaks approximately 85 inches apart. One break was a hole in the line and the other a sheer break. The work on the line took five hours, which was three hours longer than anticipated, to fix. All the repairs have now been made. The hole was filled on Thursday, April 30th, and concrete was poured when weather permits.

The Beach Family Foundation, Derby, has awarded Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas (DSNWK) a $21,150 grant. This will allow DSNWK to begin the multi-step process of installing access control technology systems within 10 of 16 residential homes in Hays, Russell, Victoria, Atwood, Hill City, and Norton.

At the Rooks County Commission meeting held on Thursday, April 30th through Zoom, the commissioners received a COVID-19 update from health nurse Lori Eichman. At the time of the meeting, Eichman reported that there were only six positive cases in Rooks County, with three already recovered. Eichman had been notified by KDHE that the organization had set up COVID-19 test areas around the state, and there had been one set up at Webster Lake. After Governor Kelly’s speech set for later in the day, Eichman said she, Dr. Jen Brull and emergency management director Butch Post will begin discussions about re-opening businesses, etc. Eichman said it sounds like a threephase plan divided into 14-day increments for the re-opening. There will be no information yet concerning non-essential businesses and when they could open up again. Eichman said at the health office, they were going to start taking appointments, but will keep the doors locked for now and make changes as they are mandated.

As predicted, the State of Kansas saw a decrease in total tax collections when compared to April of Fiscal Year 2019. These reductions are largely due to announced tax date extensions, which gave relief to Kansans while moving collections into the Fiscal Year 2021, according to a media release from the Kansas Department of Revenue.