At the Rooks County Commission meeting held on Tuesday, November 16th, commissioner John Ruder informed commissioners Greg Balthazor and Tim Berland that the Plainville Community Foundation has a matching grant for Redbud Village if the City of Plainville and the County could match the funds. This matching grant would give Redbud Village operating funds through June 2022. This would also provide money to have a feasibility study, and as well as an architectural feasibility study, done for a possible new facility. These studies would help with the next steps needed for the future direction of Redbud Village, which employees over 40 people. He asked if the ARPA money the County has received could be utilized for the grant as the pandemic has had an impact on the facility as it has around the country. Ruder has visited with economic development director Roger Hrabe, with it also asked if Northwest Kansas Planning and Development would have any input. Hrabe said he would be attending a regional economic development meeting in December and will share ideas and projects other counties are looking at to utilize the ARPA funds.

Governor Laura Kelly congratulated Roger Hrabe, Rooks County Economic Development Director, on receiving the Governor’s Tourism Award on Monday, November 15. The Governor announced the prestigious award during the annual Kansas Tourism Conference in Liberal.

STOCKTON’S THIRD-GRADE CLASSES of Ms. Tricia Hemphill and Mrs. Martha Fleck combined their efforts to construct an amazing paper chain American flag, with the purpose of displaying it during the Veterans Day program which was going to be held at the school. Because the event got cancelled, it was, instead, placed in the front window of the Stockton Sentinel, so it could be enjoyed by passers-by. Many of the students, along with their teachers, recently gathered for a group photo in front of the unique flag. Readers might also notice that, not only did the students spend quite a number of hours making the flag, but they also shared their talents this week, having drawn pictures of what they are thankful for in celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday. The students were assigned a letter of the alphabet, and, in turn, drew what they are thankful for that begins with that particular letter. As you peruse this issue of the Sentinel, please pay special attention to the sponsors of the Thanksgiving greeting ads who made this project possible. Happy Thanksgiving!

This year’s Grand Marshals for Stockton’s Olde Tyme Christmas Parade are Sandi and Mike Rogers, two familiar faces in our community. When they were asked to be this year’s Grand Marshals Sandi said, “We were surprised and honored.”

Please keep this article or the ad found elsewhere in this edition for the Nova Theatre’s Thanksgiving holiday show time schedule! It all starts off on Friday, November 26th with the FREE movie “The Star” to be shown at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

The always highly-anticipated Santa’s ‘Deer Ones will be here before you know it. And with that, the deadline for getting your pictures to us is fast approaching.

“Rudolph Leads You Home To Shop Stockton” this Christmas has Rudolph and all his deer friends kicking off the holiday season with Stockton’s Olde Tyme Christmas this Friday, November 26th. Start the day with the Stockton Fire Department’s free-will Pancake Feed at the City Hall.

Stop in and enjoy cookies and hot chocolate during Funky Junky’s Grand Re-Opening at 412 Main Street in Stockton this Friday, November 26th. The event will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. with half-off everything in the entire store!

Jalen Tucker of Johnson, Kansas, a junior in agricultural economics at Kansas State University, has been awarded the Matthew Kent Stamper Memorial Scholarship through the Arthur Capper Cooperative Center and the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University.

The Kansas Department of Transportation offices in northwest Kansas are committed to keeping the highways cleared whenever inclement weather occurs. In line with workforce shortages across the nation, KDOT does not have enough equipment operators—the agency’s primary snowplow operators—in several areas across Kansas.