The Stockton Fire Department was called out Sunday, Feb. 10 at noon to aid the Plainville Fire Department in extinguishing a house fire at 335 O Road, the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Galen Thyfault, in rural Plainville. The family was not at home at the time the fire broke out. Fire crews from Bogue, Damar, Palco, Plainville and Stockton were all called to the scene. The two-story home was fully involved when the Stockton crew got there, and the second floor had already collapsed. The home was a total loss.

Sponsored by the Stockton National Bank, and coming to Stockton from their Branson engagement at the Caravelle Theatre were the Liverpool Legends, for a one-night-only performance at Stockton’s historic Nova Theatre on March 13th. This Beatle’s tribute band was sanctioned by the late, great George Harrison’s sister, Louise, and the “Fab Four” had been performing in Branson on a regular basis for the past two years. The group had performed in Stockton in October of 2003 when they headlined under the name of American English. Since then, the band had reorganized with two of the original members still performing, and they were now garnering even more accolades than ever before.

With the closing of Schult Mobile Homes in Plainville announced on Jan. 21, 2008, Chick Selbe of Plainville scheduled a town meeting at the Plainville VFW. Approximately 40 local and surrounding-area people were present for the meeting. Plainville Mayor Shirley Hendrex said since the announcement she had already received two tele phone calls from businesses showing interest in relocating to Plainville. One of those businesses could employ about 150 people.

SPC Kristen Dinkel, who was serving a tour of duty in Iraq as a ground ambulance medic for the Army Reserves, never told her parents, Vicki and Allen Dinkel of Plainville, a lot about what goes on over there because she didn’t want her parents to worry. But when Kristen went above and beyond all odds to save a life, it was noticed and acknowledged by CW3 John Christian Frobenius, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot for the Combat Medical Evacuation on the Army base where Kristen was serving. Word of Kristen’s actions were sent back to her family through an email from Frobenius to Kristen’s older brother, Matt, describing how Kristen had applied three tourniquets while enroute to the hospital in the back of a moving Army ambulance. He said the patient would have certainly bled out if it weren’t for the work Matt’s sister had performed. Frobenius wanted Kristen’s family to know the kind of work she was doing and that they should be very proud of her.

The assembly for the Stockton High School’s “Be An 11” program was held on Dec. 21 to honor all of the students who exhibited the core values of the program. Students were nominated multiple times throughout the first stemester with the following students picked as the weekly winners from a random drawing of all the nominated students. Those students were: Diego Gallaway, Taylor Morgan, Mary-Lynn Griebel, Clayton Becker, Chris Schleicher, Jordann Wiltfong, Alex Henry, Chelsey Kriley, Stefani Fitts, and Brady Page. Winners of the “Be An 11” drawing during the assembly were Nicci Graf, who won a Sony Digital Camera; Cory Post, who won an Ipod Nano; and Stephen Bellerive, who won a $50 Chamber Check. Principal Keith Hall handed out the awards.

A fiery plane crash Saturday night, Dec. 15, near Phillipsburg Municipal Airport, injured two New York men. The pilot of the plane, Darren H. Mesibov, 32, Potsdam, N.Y., was in critical condition at Via Christi Regional Medical Center, St. Francis Campus in Wichita. A passenger, Christopher Calderone, 20, St. James, N.Y., was taken to the same hospital, treated and released. Investigators say the aircraft was enroute from Potsdam to Flagstaff, Ariz., when it suffered engine problems and was forced to make an emergency landing. The pilot contacted air traffic controllers in Denver and was advised the Phillipsburg airport was the closest to their location. The plane, a 1963 Mooney single-engine, missed the airport by about a mile and made a crash landing in a nearby field. The occupants escaped the crashed plane just as it caught fire, according to a press release from the Phillips County Sheriff’s office.

One of the suggestions from the 2006 Children’s Advisory Project for Stockton was to have the area children paint a wall mural on the side of one of the town’s buildings. This was now a reality as the Stockton Area Arts Council (SAAC) was to sponsor the painting of a mural on the west exterior wall of a Cityowned building located at 410 S. First Street. The SAAC was asking the public for ideas and sketches for suggestions.

Rooks County taxpayers were to be digging deeper next year, as the new tax figures for 2007 showed an increase of $543,358 over 2006. Nila Denton’s Nativities were on display at the library during the Christmas season.

The Stockton community was shocked and saddened at the news of the death of Kimberly Michelle (Lowe) Ray, 45, who was killed in a car accident on the Saline River bridge south of Plainville. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, four vehicles were involved in the accident. Snow was falling and the bridge was icy which contributed to the accident.

A ribbon-cutting event was held to celebrate the opening of Main Street Gallery. On hand for the formalities were business people and chamber members: Pastor Vince Williams, Jeff Dean, Connie Conyac, Jayne Prockish, Linda McLaughlin, co-owners Randy and Lin Cross, Kelly Buss, Twila Sander, Christopher Cross, Tracy Buss and Chris Sander.