by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — A Memorial Day Service will be held at Prairie Lawn Cemetery on Monday, May 27, at 10 a.m.

Frank Korte, Past Commander for the American Legion Post #90, will be making the address. Also, don’t forget, to help volunteer to put up flags at the cemetery starting at 8 a.m. (see information here).

The order of the service is as follows:

Sumner Newscow report — The Union Pacific Railroad will be working on the track running north and south through Wellington the week of May 28-31, 2013. This work will consist of a crew removing the track and a second crew installing new track approximately three days later.

This work requires that the crossings at Harvey, 12th Street, 15th Street and Hillside be closed during the week.  Union Pacific has agreed to open Harvey and 15th Street crossings in between the time of removal and replacement.  The crossings at 12th Street and Hillside will be closed during the duration of the project.

This week at the Regent Theater: “Iron Man 3″ (Movie trailer is below).

When: Friday, 7 and 9:45 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m and 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Rated: PG-13, 2 hour, 15 minutes.

Movie Synopsis: Marvel’s “Iron Man 3″ pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle….

Kerwin Spencer

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Sumner County Attorney’s office recently announced four convictions at the district court in Wellington. Those convicted include:

•Kevin Parker for attempted robbery; and two counts of residential burglaries.

•Martin Leonard for aggravated indecent solicitation of a child under 14.

•Gary Washburn for convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery, residential robbery, and felony theft.

•Walter Trusdale, Jr. for conspiracy to commit robbery, residential robbery, and felony theft.

Details of these cases are listed below. 

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Wellington Fire/EMS Chief Tim Hay told the City Council Tuesday that the community has two public tornado shelters, but building or obtaining more could be problematic and costly.

Tornado preparedness is undoubtedly on everyone’s mind after what happened in Moore, Okla. Monday. Hay produced a press release that same day (see here) which actually came out before the tornado hit Moore. Wellington has two public tornado shelters in the basement at Sumner Regional Medical Center and a basement at Sumner County Care Center on the west side of town. 

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Friday will be the start of Memorial Day weekend. Does your yard look presentable?

Obviously, the city of Wellington has deemed that more than 100 properties were not considered adequately maintained as it issued more than 100 weed notices this week to various owners.

Wellington City Manager Gus Collins said at Tuesday’s city council meeting this is about average. Still, it’s a warning that if your yard isn’t being mowed and properly maintained then the city will do it for you. And it will come at a hefty cost. 

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — If you’re looking for ways to help residents of Oklahoma, ravaged by a monstrous tornado Monday, the USA Today website released this information. Also, if you are coordinating a relief effort locally, write something about it in the comment section below.

Here are the following relief organizations are working in the area:

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow —  The Avenue of Flags committee is looking for a few good volunteers to help put up and remove flags from Prairie Lawn Cemetery in Wellington during Memorial Day Weekend.

Volunteers are asked to come to the cemetery entrance at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 25. The committee also needs volunteers to take the flags down on Monday, May 27 at 4 p.m.

Andy McIntire, heading the committee, said there are around 1,200 flags that need to be moved in and out of the cemetery. 

By Tim Hay, Wellington Fire/EMS Chief — There are only two public tornado shelter locations in the city of Wellington.

They are located at Sumner Regional Medical Center at 1323 North A (enter on the southeast side)….

…and Sumner Care Center Nursing Home 1600 West 8th (enter on the west side).

The old junior high located at 311 North A is no longer a public shelter as the building was sold to a private entity.  

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — My son, who is 11-years-old, asked me a few weeks ago if he could play baseball. I was a little surprised. He had never showed interest in playing the game. He hadn’t played since his T-Ball days. He said one of his buddies wanted him to play with him.

I was OK with that, but feared my son may be a step behind with some of his teammates coming in so late to the game.

It didn’t work out for a myriad of reasons. Ultimately, it came down to the fact Quinn is a busy boy, at least during the evening, and baseball got cut from the schedule. 

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Sumner County Attorney Kerwin Spencer said the four Wellington residents charged with distribution of heroin felonies last week could have fact-finding preliminary hearings set in two months — a process expedited by lab tests of the drugs in question before the arrests were made.

Jeffery Redford, 34, of Wellington; Maggie A. Redford, 33, Wellington; William Sirmons, 49, Wellington and Billy Russell, 49, Wellington were all charged with at least one count of selling or distributing heroin, all felonies after an eight month Wellington Police Department investigation.

Spencer said normally a preliminary hearing will not be called for at least three months in felony drug cases due to waiting on lab test results. But because the drugs distributed by the alleged perpetrators were already tested to be heroin, then the legal process can move forward more quickly. A preliminary hearing is set to determine whether there is enough admissible evidence to stand trail.

This week at the Regent Theater: “Olympus has Fallen” (Movie trailer is below).

When: Friday, 7 and 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m and 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Rated: R, 1 hour, 59 minutes.

Movie Synopsis: When the White House (Secret Service Code: “Olympus”) is captured by a terrorist mastermind and the President is kidnapped, disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building.