Author D.K. Hewett (we knew him as "Kent") will feature his work at the eighth annual Echoes of the Trail Cowboy Gathering and Western celebration this weekend. Hewett said he was born and raised in Fort Scott and was probably one of the first to leave the area to compete in rodeo.
Hewett and other Fort Scott Community College rodeo students were the first to start a rodeo club at the school in 1967-68 and he worked at the school as director of community relations in the 1980's. Those and other western experiences have inspired much of Hewett's work that will be featured at a booth during the Echoes gathering lasting throughout the weekend.
"Horse Prayers-A Spiritual Trail," written by Hewett in 2003, examines the mystical connection of God, horse, and man. Offering nearly 70 prayers for horsemen's daily situations, the book invites the reader to explore his own spiritual linkage, according to information on the author's website. The prayers span topics such as breeding, selling, riding, training, competition, crisis, injury, death and others. Insights on man's relationship with the horse reveal how our horses' lives parallel our own, Hewett said.
"The connection to horses becomes the connection to ourselves, and personal prayer becomes the spiritual trail," he stated.
Hewett is primarily a cowboy and feature writer, he said. In the past, Hewett said, he has worked on the staff for the American Quarter Horse Journal and has owned three rodeo newspapers. Currently Hewett writes and markets his book and writes a column called "Sidetrails" five days a week. He is also a freelance writer frequently for major horse publications, he also said.
"I also train horses and still compete in team roping." Hewett said. "I come to Fort Scott pretty regularly to visit my father (Don Hewett)."
The Echoes of the Trail Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Celebration of the West at FSCC will feature many other western artists, poets, songwriters and storytellers, organizers said.
Joyce Sinn is going to try something new.
The former school teacher and Fort Scott Democrat has joined the race to unseat incumbent Rep. Andrew Howell, R-Fort Scott, in the state's 4th District, which includes much of Bourbon and Linn counties. Sinn, according to records provided by the Kansas Secretary of State's Office, filed by petition to square off aginst fellow Democrat Roy Miller in the Aug. 3 primary election. The winner of that contest has a chance to face Howell, who has held office for nearly a decade, on Nov. 2.
"Having recently retired from teaching, I feel I have the time to give something back to the region that has supported me and my family for so many years," Sinn said in a statement. "What I lack in experience I hope to compensate for with hard work and dedication."
"The 4th District needs and deserves representation that is moderate and responsive, yet innovative. I simply want to offer the voters another choice," Sinn also said.
Sinn is a longtime Bourbon County resident. She attended public schools in Hammond and Fort Scott, earned a teaching degree at Emporia State University and has completed master's degree-level classes at the University of Kansas.
In addition to spending more that 20 years working in Fort Scott classrooms, she worked as a teacher in Leavenworth and Kansas City, a statement said. She and her husband, Dudley Quick, have four children and seven grandchildren.
In addition to her teaching career, she has been active in the Fort Scott Chapter of the Kansas National Education Association. She has served as president and a negotiator for the organization, which bargains with the USD 234 Board of Education during contract negotiations.
Sinn faces Miller, Prescott, in the primary election. Miller is no novice to the political process. Miller, who unsuccessfully challenged Howell in 2002 for the same post, has described himself as a moderate Democrat who supports the 1999 $13 billion highway and transportation plan. He also has said he opposes abortion and supports the right of Kansans to own and keep weapons.
Howell, a former Fort Scott Police officer who now owns an agricultural marketing and consulting business, is unopposed on the Republican ticket. Howell was first elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1994. He has successfully held onto his seat in each subsequent election.
