Rylee Werth will sing the national anthem at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association meeting.
By Becky Kiser
Hays Post
Rylee Werth has won another national contest and will sing the national anthem during the 2014 Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.
Many area residents became aware of the 11-year-old’s vocal talent when she sang the national anthem with country great Neal McCoy during the July 4th Wild West Festival in Hays.
Werth lives with her family on a farm in Trego County and attends sixth grade at St. Mary Elementary School in Ellis.
She’ll sing the national anthem at the general opening session of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association February 4 and during the convention’s Cowboys Night at the Opry February 6.
Three weeks ago, Werth sang the national anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas after winning a national contest.
Werth tells Mike Koerner, Eagle Community TV, she started singing the Star Spangled Banner at area events, county fairs and rodeos several years ago:
Click here to watch Werth sing at this summer’s Trego County Fair. (Video courtesy Cristi Werth)
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court is letting a life prison sentence stand for an inmate who claimed he was improperly forced to stand trial as an adult in a gang-related killing.
The ruling issued Friday upholds a Sedgwick County judge’s decision to leave intact Sashada Makthepharak’s life sentence. Makthepharak was convicted in a May 2001 shooting in a Wichita area home. He was 16 at the time.
In appealing the sentence, Makthepharak argued that the sentencing judge failed to follow a state law that dictates when juveniles should be tried as adults. But the Kansas Supreme Court found that the judge’s reasoning was valid. The sentencing judge had noted Makthepharak’s “long history with the court system” and the seriousness of the offense.
NEW YORK (AP) — Kansas State is on a seven-game winning streak and the Wildcats have been on the roll because of defense.
“It’s a team defense,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said after the Wildcats cruised to a 72-41 victory over Tulane on Saturday night in the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival at Barclays Center. “We have a system and the kids have bought into it. Most important the four freshmen have. Usually what they struggle with is defense and they’ve done a good job of helping us become a good team.”
It was a senior who led the way offensively Saturday as New York native Shane Southwell matched his career high with 19 points but the Wildcats (9-3) continued their fine defensive play of late.
In the first six games of the winning streak they held opponents to 52.8 points on 38.0 percent shooting from the field and those numbers improved Saturday.
Tulane (7-7), which had won its last two games, had plenty of trouble with Kansas State, finishing with a season low in points (the previous was 52 in a loss to Texas State) and shooting percentage (28.6 percent on 12 of 42).
“Obviously any win is good and to win by that margin surprises a little bit,” Weber said. “We challenged our guys to be locked up from the start and control the tempo from the get-go.”
Nigel Johnson, one of the four freshmen, added 13 points for the Wildcats, including seven in a 12-1 run that gave Kansas State a 55-29 lead with 9:50 to play. Southwell was 5 of 9 from 3-point range and the Wildcats finished 12 of 27 from beyond the arc (44.4 percent).
“He’s one of our smartest players and he’s starting to make some shots that’s a real positive,” Weber said. “If he starts making shots and we play our defense the way we have we can be competitive in our league.”
The Wildcats host George Washington on Tuesday and then open play in the Big 12 at home against No. 7 Oklahoma State.
“I told them, ‘Now it’s for real,” Weber said.
Jonathan Stark had 10 points for Tulane while leading scorer Louis Dabney, who came in averaging 19.9 points per game, finished with nine on 3-of-10 shooting.
“It was physical out there early,” Tulane coach Ed Conroy said. “We need to find ways to fight through different styles of play so we can execute at a high level. I thought we did get frustrated, not all five guys but one or two at a time. Our communication was poor.”
The Green Wave had a horrendous first half and trailed 28-10 after 20 minutes.
Tulane led 3-0 on a 3-pointer by Jay Hook with 17:50 to play. The Green Wave missed their next 12 shots, finally ending the drought on Dabney’s basket down low with 6:23 left that brought them within 19-5.
“You don’t get too frustrated,” Hook said of the first half. “We tried to execute. We didn’t get frustrated but we didn’t execute.”
The Wildcats didn’t exactly tear up the building with their shooting on the way to the 18-point halftime lead. They were 11 of 32 from the field (34.4 percent), including making 6 of 16 3-point attempts, but that looked pretty good next to Tulane’s 13.0 percent (3 of 23) and the Green Wave also missed four of six free throws.
This was Kansas State’s first game in the borough of Brooklyn since the Wildcats’ 60-59 loss to LIU on Dec. 2, 1950.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Court of Appeal has ruled that the state’s top water regulator doesn’t have power to reduce a landowner’s water rights once a permit has been issue.
This month’s decision could limit the state’s ability to conserve water resources in the dwindling Ogallala Aquifer.
Appeals Court
In the ruling, the appeals court also found that the chief engineer of the Division of Water Resources may require farm irrigators to install costly metering equipment on their wells to ensure compliance with their permits.
The case involved one of the largest family-owned farming corporations in the state, Clawson Land Partnership. Together with a closely affiliated group, Clawson Farm Partnership, the group operates in several counties in western Kansas and the panhandle areas of Oklahoma and Texas.
Hays Police Officers arrested a man who was attempting to break into a home. According to Assistant Chief of Police Brian Dawson the incident happened just before 4:00 am on Thursday, December 26.
Dawson says a resident in the 400 block of E. 20th Street heard a person trying to get in through the house’s back door. The suspect then kicked in the back window. The resident scared the subject away, who fled the scene on foot.
A short time later, officers arrested 32 year old Barry Tonroy on charges of Aggravated Burglary & Criminal Damage. Update: Officers have stated the suspect had left numerous tracks and his cell phone at the scene of the crime, which led to the arrest.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas officials are expecting policymakers to take a wait-and-see approach to taxes during the 2014 session, content to let the changes take hold and build on anecdotal evidence of economic growth.
Gov. Sam Brownback and the Republican-controlled Legislature focused during the 2012 and 2013 sessions on eliminating income taxes for some 200,000 businesses and adjusting the rates for individual income taxpayers.
Brownback and his supporters say the early signs are good, but it will take time to know for certain.
Democrats say the cuts will result in Kansas having a budget shortfall within five years. Current legislative research projections suggest that’s true and the impact will be front and center when Brownback seeks a second term in 2014.
Listen to Mike Cooper interviewing Suzanne Bollig, from the Sleep and Neurodiagnostic Institute at HaysMed, by clicking the link above and then clicking the play button
HONOLULU (AP) — Kansas City and San Francisco will have plenty of clout in Honolulu if they don’t make it to New Jersey for the Super Bowl.
The NFL revealed Friday that the Chiefs and 49ers each had eight players voted into the Pro Bowl
The Chiefs on NFL’s Pro Bowl Roster:
Branden Albert (Tackle) – 1st Nomination
Eric Berry (Safety) – 3rd Nomination
Jamaal Charles (Running Back) – 3rd Nomination
Brandon Flowers (Cornerback) – 1st Nomination
Tamba Hali (Linebacker) – 3rd Nomination
Justin Houston (Linebacker) – 2nd Nomination
Dexter McCluster (Punt Returner) – 1st Nomination
Dontari Poe (Defensive Tackle) – 1st Nomination
Denver quarterback Peyton Manning was selected to his 13th Pro Bowl after garnering the most votes among fans, 1.43 million. New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees was second among fans with 1.2 million votes. The NFL combines votes from fans, players and coaches to determine 86 of 88 Pro Bowl players. Voting ended Thursday.
NFL greats Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders will divvy up the players in a two-day draft before the Jan. 26 game.
A teenage driver was injured in a Saturday morning rollover accident in Ellis County.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol Nineteen-year-old Elizabeth A. Fossum of Oakley was driving a 2009 Ford passenger car westbound on Interstate 70, a mile west of Ellis at 2:10 a.m.
She overcorrected going into the median, rolling vehicle three times before coming to rest in the median on its wheels facing northwest. She was transported to Hays Medical Center. She was wearing a seat belt.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that states with widespread seasonal flu activity jumped from four to 10 last week, including Kansas. Click the map for a closer look.
HHS DECA students Allyson Flax, Trysta Knapp and Rylie Rowland take a break while volunteering at the Ronald McDonald Houses in Wichita.
By Becky Kiser
Hays Post
Hays High School DECA members, 34 of them and sponsor Shaina Prough, recently made a trip to a place they hope they never have to utilize.
HHS DECA has been associated for 14 years with the Ronald McDonald Houses in Wichita.
This year’s event was organized by Trysta Knapp, a junior, and her project partners Rylie Rowland and Allyson Flax.
“Every single year, HHS DECA goes down for a work day to clean up the RMH, bake goodies for the families living there, and help out in any way possible,” says Knapp.” Everyone there is wonderful and it’s a great experience to go back every single time.”
Half of the DECA group went to the Mid-Town House across the street from Grace-Med. The other half went to the Sleepy Hollow House located near the Wesley Medical Center parking lot. Four students went to the the Ronald McDonald Family Room inside Wesley.
They stayed busy dusting, vacuuming, cleaning windows, spot cleaning floors and other house work, baking goodies, and sorting donated food items.
“It’s always nice to go there and see how all of the staff is doing and hear the different stories of the families that have stayed there. It’s nice to work together with my DECA Chapter and see all of us become leaders and grow in our character,” says Knapp.
The DECA students do even more than donate their time. Throughout the year, HHS DECA collects aluminum can pull tabs donated by area residents and businesses. “We then take the pull tabs to someone who gives us money in return. We’ve been able to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, ” says Knapp.
This year the students were able to contribute more than $1,300 cash.
Last year, DECA collected 1.5 million pull tabs with the help of the community.
