Southwest Kansas speller, 14, to trek to Topeka for second bee

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Mar 27, 2000 by Dan Omernik Capital-Journal

Tinley Parks

By DAN OMERNIK

The Capital-Journal

JOHNSON --- A girl who lives on a 75,000-acre farm in the southwest corner of the state will make her second trip to Topeka this week to compete again in The Topeka Capital-Journal All-Kansas Spelling Bee. And she hopes this year's trip will be as successful as the last.

Tinley Parks, 14, daughter of Ed and Tina Parks, who live about 17 miles southeast of Johnson, is the Stanton County spelling champion for the second year in a row. She is in eighth grade at Stanton County Middle School in Johnson.

A year ago, she finished 15th in a field of 100 county champions from across the state.

"We were tickled with that," her father said. "I knew she could spell, and we really enjoyed the trip up there."

He explained that last year's trip was Tinley's first to the capital city. "Topeka is really a pretty town," he said. "Everything was so green and all the trees were flowered out."

Tinley's accomplishment also gave the family an opportunity to visit Tinley's great-aunt, Ann Purcell, who lives in Topeka.

The Parks' corn, milo and wheat farm, about 30 miles from the Colorado border and not that much farther from the Oklahoma line, is nearly 400 miles from Topeka. "The trip is worth it," Ed Parks said.

He admitted that he had to resort to bribery to motivate his daughter. "She has so many things going on that sometimes she doesn't study that hard," he said.

"So last year I told that that I'd reward her with $10 for every word she spelled right" in the state finals."

Tinley survived through seven rounds by spelling peppery, hedgerow, thermostat, adulteration, salamander, apostrophe and elixir. "She had me squirming for a while," her dad joked, obviously pleased about the $70 he owed his daughter.

"That lit her fuse," he remarked. "Now she's working on $20 a word. I don't think we'll go that high, but we are still negotiating."

Tinley slipped last year when she put an "i" in place of the "y" in "scythe" in the eighth round.

The 47th All-Kansas Bee finals this year are scheduled April 1 in the auditorium at Washburn Rural High School.