Jack Danforth Mock, Plainville, passed away on Friday, November 22, 2024, at the Rooks County Health Center in Plainville at the age of 94. 

He was born on November 13, 1930, in Turkville, Kansas to the late Albert and Charlotte (Stein) Mock. On July 25, 1948, Jack was united in marriage to Betty (Burkholder) in Plainville. Jack and Betty were married for 69 years, and from that union, they were blessed with five children.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan.—A 20-year-old man from Lansing, Kansas, has been convicted on a charge stemming from the fentanyl overdose death of a teen who used Snapchat to obtain the drug.

During a plea hearing on Nov. 22, 2024, Torin Michael Baughman pleaded guilty to a single count of Distribution of a Controlled Substance Causing Death – to wit, fentanyl. The court accepted the plea and found him guilty. The charge relates to the January 17, 2023, death of N.C.B. (DOB: x/x/2007), a 15-year-old Leavenworth County teen.

The other weekend, I watched two deer wander out of a creek bed and meander through a meadow until they caught a scent they didn't like and took off running. After a few strides, it was difficult to pick out their tan hides against the khaki grasses as they ran toward the tree line in the distance.