John Beal
John Beal is a contributor to The Shawnee Dispatch, Bonner Springs Chieftain and Basehor Sentinel. He retired in February 2008 as editor of those newspapers.
Recent stories
- Signs of green show spring is still on its way
- March 17, 2010
- I’m tempted to get some seed catalogs and plan the garden. Actually, we don’t have a garden, per se; what horticulture we practice is done mostly in containers on the deck out back.
- Beal: Spring has sprung
- March 9, 2010
- It’s amazing what a difference a few days make. A few days, that is, when the temperatures begin to rise and you begin to get the feeling that spring will really come again this year.
- Handyman chores need crowning piece
- March 3, 2010
- Just recently the Food Network aired “America’s Worst Cooks,” a video tour de force in which two chefs supposedly whipped teams of culinary incompetents into passable cooks. Next up is “America’s Worst Driver,” which starts later this month on the Travel Channel.
- Beal: ‘Fibber’s closet’ comment recalls old days of radio
- February 24, 2010
- Occasionally my age catches up with me. It happened the latest time just Sunday night.
- State’s right supporters wave fists at Washington
- February 17, 2010
- The Kansas Senate voted last week, 33-7, to stand proudly in the long line of warriors for states’ rights.
- Watching, feeding birds preferred to shoveling the driveway
- February 10, 2010
- I like to stand at the window and watch the birds as they cluster at the feeders in our backyard.
- Beal: Concert worth a whistle
- January 27, 2010
- If I could have whistled I would have done so Saturday night.
- Beal: No big bandage? No fair!
- January 20, 2010
- Most people have come to terms with this truism before they rack up too many miles, so to speak, but it bears repeating: Sometimes life just isn’t fair.
- Even fat, old men are welcome at gyms
- January 13, 2010
- Last summer, after listening for years to my doctor’s urgings to get some exercise and lose some weight, I started walking around my neighborhood.
- Beal: Frigid temperatures force hibernation
- January 6, 2010
- Right about now, global warming doesn’t seem like such a bad deal after all.
Recent photos
Longtime Shawnee civic leader and funeral home director Gene Amos died Friday at age 78. Among his many memberships was with Shawnee’s Peter Smith American Legion Post, where he served as a member of the post’s honor guard, which conducts military observances for deceased veterans.
Actress Claudette Walker portrays Annie Chambers, a legendary madam who operated a bawdy house at Third and Wyandotte in Kansas City, Mo., from 1872-1923. Walker recounted the story of Chambers' life with the assistance of a tableful of flamboyant hats and stoles that she shared with the audience of about 70 persons at Shawnee Town.
Marianne Payette Carter plays to the audience at Shawnee Town during her program, "Americana: Stories Behind Popular Folk Songs." She spoke and performed June 10 as part of the Shawnee Town Speaker Series.
Children reach out to touch the hand of Shriner Dale Schmidt, who drove a small racer in Saturday's Old Shawnee Days Parade.
This old fire truck is a fixture in every Shawnee parade.
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Point of View
Do you do anything to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?
“We are all Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. My family won the best in family floats in Shawnee’s St. Patrick’s Day parade a few years back. We got to have a big trophy for the year. My sons love throwing out candy on the parade route.”
