Former Phillips County resident Dave Davis passed away Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014, at Hays Medical Center at the age of 48.
He was born October 15, 1966, in Broken Bow, NE to Kenneth & Donna (Schulte) Davis. His parents, Donna, of Manhattan, KS and Kenneth, of Grand Junction, CO, both survive.
Other survivors include his grandmother, Eugenia Schulte of Omaha, NE; guardians Kenneth & Diane Stockman of Kirwin, KS; brothers, Daryl Davis and Dana Davis, both of Grand Junction, CO, and Doug Davis of Kensington, KS; and sisters, Shelley Davis of Aurora, CO, Jamie Opat of Wichita, KS and Melissa Johnson of Kirwin, KS.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, Oct. 25, at 2:00 p.m. in the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, Phillipsburg, with Pastor Joel Hiesterman officiating. Burial will follow in the Greenwood Cemetery, Phillips County.
The casket will remain closed. Friends may sign the book Thursday from 5 – 9 p.m. and again Friday from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. at the funeral home.
Memorial contributions may be given to Tiger Tots or the Hays Area Children’s Center.
Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, Phillipsburg, is in charge of arrangements.
Two Kansas City, Kan., teens are facing federal drug charges after an incident that occurred earlier this month in northwest Kansas.
In a news release, the office of U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom announced Wednesday that Ramiro Madrigal, 19, and Armando Rodriguez, Jr., 19, both of Kansas City, were charged with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and one count each of traveling from Nevada to Kansas in furtherance of drug trafficking.
The crimes are alleged to have occurred Oct. 15 in Thomas County.
If convicted, they face a penalty of not less than 10 years and a fine up to $4 million on each of the first two counts and a maximum penalty of five years and a fine up to $250,000 on the third count. The Kansas Highway Patrol investigated, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Furst is prosecuting.
O’Loughlin students and staff get ready for their “Pinwheels for Peace” photo Wednesday afternoon.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
O’Loughlin Elementary School was awash in orange Wednesday.
The students and staff weren’t celebrating an early Halloween — they were celebrating “Kansas Kindness Day” by wearing orange in support of October’s National Bullying Prevention Month.
“We wanted to flip (the theme),” said Principal Nancy Harman, “and concentrate on the ‘being kind’ aspect.”
The students also made “Pinwheels for Peace” — brightly decorated paper wheels attached to pencils. They had planned to “plant” the 400 or so pinwheels in the school’s front lawn following an afternoon school assembly, but light rain and wind forced the postponement until Thursday, just in time for parent-teacher conferences.
Pinwheels for Peace
Special guests at the all-school assembly included Fort Hays State University baseball players, along with mascot Victor E. Tiger. The players talked about the importance of teamwork and helping each other out, especially when someone makes an error.
Pitcher Giles Fox, a junior from Ashland, asked the students to think about making a mistake — “Let’s say you messed up. What do you want your friends to do when you make a mistake? Do you want them to blame you?”
“NO!” the crowd answered loudly as Victor E. Tiger shook his head.
“Me neither,” Fox agreed. “Do you want them to support you, to say ‘You’ll get it next time’?” Fox asked.
“YES!” said the students with enthusiasm as Victor nodded his head vigorously.
“Right,” agreed Fox again. “That’s what we do on the (FHSU) baseball team.
“We all want support. That’s what being a good teammate is all about about … picking someone up when they make a mistake, telling them they’ll get it next time, and saying ‘I’m going to do all I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.’ ”
USD 489 Superintendent Dean Katt issues a “kindness” challenge.
USD 489 Superintendent Dean Katt challenged the assembled group to “perform two random acts of kindness each day, from here on out. Soon, it will become a lifelong habit.” He also urged everyone to “keep a smile on your face.”
“We are so fortunate to have these people join us,” Harman said. “They really support our students.”
FHSU Singers are “Happy”
The assembly kicked off with an a Capella version of Pharrell Williams’ hit song “Happy” sung by an all-male quintet from the FHSU singers along with Choral Director Dr. Terry Crull.
Six classes were made even happier as they accepted awards of fresh oranges and orange juice boxes for 100 percent classroom participation in the Pinwheels for Peace project.
In a videotaped message, Hays mayor Henry Schwaller, who attended Wilson Elementary School, read his official Decree of Kindness Day in Hays.
Hays Mayor Henry Schwaller reads his “Kansas Kindness Day” proclamation in a videotaped message. O’Loughlin Elementary School principal Nancy Harman, right, shows the decree to students.
Schwaller told the O’Loughlin students that “people who are different from us make our lives better. They give us new experiences, new thoughts, new ideas. It’s important to be kind to everyone and treat them with respect.”
Finally, the group posed for a picture, dressed in their orange and holding their pinwheels high. The photo will be displayed in O’Loughlin along with the mayoral proclamation.
The Pinwheels for Peace Project was created in 2005 by two art teachers in Florida. Their goal was to give their students a chance to express their feelings through a visual representation.
The Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development and North Central Kansas Technical College are coming together to offer a new career path for area workers.
According to Aaron White, Executive Director of the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development statistics show there is a need for skilled tradesman – welders, machinists, electricians and sheet metal fabricators – nationwide.
In an effort to fill the local need for production welders, the two organizations formed a partnership to create a short-term introductory welding program called Welding Employment Training.
White said the class consists of 45 hours of mostly hands-on class work, taught by an instructor from NCK Tech.
“We’re not trying to crank out certified welders through the program,” he said. “We’re giving people a basic understanding – ‘boot camp for welding,’ we are calling it.”
The class consists of three full Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then two Tuesday/Thursday evening combinations.
There already is interest from employers in a 12-county area looking to fill openings.
White said one Ellis County business needing qualified welders is looking to fill 10 to 20 positions.
The November class is full, White said, noting efforts already are underway to fill the January class. Interested applicants can contact the KansasWorks office at (785) 625-5654 or stop by the office at 332 E. Eighth to register.
A grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation is helping to pay for the course, so it is provided free of charge for participants.
DALLAS- The dog in Texas being monitored for Ebola passed his first test.
According to a media release from the city of Dallas, samples from Bentley were sent to a lab to be tested for Ebola. The test results show that Bentley has tested negative for the virus. Specimen collection will be conducted again before the end of the 21-day quarantine period. Bentley will be monitored for a full 21-day period, similar to people exposed to the Ebola virus.
The City of Dallas Animal Services is overseeing Bentley’s care in partnership with the Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas A&M University and the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Nina Pham, Bentley’s owner, continues to be cared for at the National Institutes of Health, NIH, in Maryland. The City of Dallas and DAS are communicating daily updates to Nina on the testing throughout the process.
The Hays City Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday to hear input on a proposed taxing district at the Hays Mall.
DP Management is proposing a 1 percent sale tax increase on sales generated at the mall property to fund approximately $3 million in improvements, including interior and exterior renovations. The plan also would lead to the demolition of the former Montana Mike’s restaurant and bank drive-through, which would create room for three additional outlots with Vine Street frontage.
The commission said in a recent meeting that a vote will not be made on the proposal until all five commissioners are in attendance. Mayor Henry Schwaller is expected to be absent at Thursday’s meeting, scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
Americans usually celebrate brilliant political careers. Long-tenured Representatives and Senators get buildings named after them at universities, hospitals or Washington. Storied legislators take victory laps during their final campaigns, unless they happen to be running for their political lives. One particular candidate in Kansas seems to be running for his life while treating it like a victory lap.
At that unfortunate crossroads, we find Senator Pat Roberts.
Chapman Rackaway is a Professor of Political Science at Fort Hays State University.
You could forgive the Senator if he followed Chad Taylor’s lead, asking to withdraw from the race. Pat Roberts has been a juggernaut in Kansas politics since he first ran for Congress in 1980 and cruised to re-election for seven more terms. Roberts’ victory margins never dipped below 60 percent. In 1996, Roberts sought the Senate seat vacated by Nancy Kassebaum, winning again. Roberts won as the sole Senate candidate who did not sign Americans for Limited Terms’ pledge to serve only two terms, saying he planned to serve no more than two anyway.
After that second term, Roberts ran again in 2008, again earning 60 percent of the vote, and looked to be unbeatable. But after three terms, at age 78, one had to wonder if Roberts’ heart was in another long campaign and time to take a victory lap was near. Enter Dr. Milton Wolf.
Wolf should have been the latest of a series of easily-defeated pretenders to the throne. Wolf had never before run for elective office, his claim to fame being distantly related to President Obama. Wolf looked like another Tea Party hopeful ginned up by ambitious consultants and overoptimistic pollsters. But that primary would change everything: voters expressed frustration with incumbents at the polls. Roberts won by his smallest margin ever: seven points. After a career of charging to 60 percent wins, Roberts failed to earn a majority.
A pillar of electoral strength was suddenly imperiled, and a career that would be honored may end ignominiously. Greg Orman has conducted the kind of campaign we expect from Pat Roberts: aggressive, measured, and on-message. Orman appeals to Democrats who helped him discourage Taylor as well as moderate and unaffiliated voters who were frustrated with Roberts. While he has fed Roberts’ message as a Democrat in disguise lately, Orman maintains a lead and likely wins.
As Roberts considered running again, a ‘mailed-in’ campaign strategy would have made sense. Chad Taylor was no intimidating presence. Independents like Orman rarely compete, let alone win. Roberts may have thought he had an easy road to a fourth term. Putting an old friend in to manage the campaign — rather than a bare-knuckle DC professional of the kind sent in recently to rescue Roberts – was a sign Roberts was not bracing for a fight. Roberts’ disinterest in a recent debate and an inability to say anything nice about Orman when prompted seconded that view. Roberts’ lack of fire in the job itself, exemplified by the news of chronic meeting absences, suggest that the Senator is not invested in fighting for his seat, even as he inches ever closer to defeat.
Ironically, one of Roberts’ great strengths throughout his career has now hurt him. Roberts did his best to stay above internal state GOP fights. By remaining above the fray Roberts kept both wings of the party from turning on him — for a while. Having never chosen a side he now finds himself without allies, at arms length with both wings of his party. Roberts has had to call in favors from the national GOP and DC-based allies, but every one of those favors is a reminder of Roberts’s Beltway connections and long tenure in the Senate: reminders of Orman’s message.
Having to tussle with Wolf and Orman has transformed the race from Roberts’ victory lap into a mad scramble that may cost him the opportunity for that lap at the end of this term, if not the seat itself. Sometimes, the trick is knowing when you’ve stayed at a party too long.
Chapman Rackaway is a Professor of Political Science at Fort Hays State University.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — For the second time in two days, a motorcyclist has died in an accident in Topeka.
Topeka police say the latest accident occurred Wednesday night when the motorcycle and another vehicle collided. The motorcycle driver was alive when emergency responders arrived but died later at a hospital.
The victim’s name and more information about the accident have not been released.
KSNT reports the accident occurred 24 hours after 53-year-old Michael Munoz of Topeka was killed when his motorcycle was hit from behind by a vehicle. The driver of the car was arrested and booked overnight on charges of manslaughter while driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident and several other charges.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Billy Butler hit a tiebreaking single, Salvador Perez and Omar Infante drove in two runs each with big hits in a five-run sixth inning, and the Kansas City Royals beat the San Francisco Giants 7-2 Wednesday night to even the World Series at one game apiece.
A night after the Giants opened with a 7-1 victory for their seventh straight Series win, Gregor Blanco led off the game with a home run against hard-throwing rookie Yordano Ventura. Brandon Belt tied the score 2-all with an RBI double in the fourth.
Butler’s single off Jean Machi drove in his second run of the night and put the Royals ahead 3-2. Perez lined a two-run double to the left-center wall for a three-run lead, and Infante homered into the left-field bullpen off Hunter Strickland.
Lorenzo Cain scores the go-ahead run in the 6th inning in Game 4 of the World Series Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium. (Photo: Kansas City Royals, Chris Vleisides)
Game 3 is Friday night in San Francisco.
Alcides Escobar’s RBI double in the bottom of the first off Jake Peavy and Butler’s run-scoring single in the second put the Royals ahead 2-1 for their first lead of the Series.
After Infante’s homer, Strickland started screaming and got into a confrontation with Perez as he crossed the plate. The dugouts emptied, but no punches were thrown and Hunter was replaced by Jeremy Affeldt.
Ventura allowed two runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings and didn’t get a decision for the third straight start in the postseason. Kelvin Herrera, one of Kansas City’s 100 mph-throwing relievers, escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the sixth and was in line for the win.
Peavy settled down after Escobar’s hit, retiring 10 in a row on 28 pitches before Lorenzo Cain’s soft single to center leading off the sixth. He walked Eric Hosmer, and Machi came in and left a fastball up to Butler, who lined it into left for the go-ahead run.
San Francisco tied a World Series record by using five pitchers in the sixth.
After the ceremonial first pitch from retired Royals star George Brett, Blanco drove Ventura’s eighth pitch, a 98 mph fastball, into the Kansas City bullpen for his first home run since Sept. 22. It was the 10th home run by the opening batter of a Series game, the first since Boston’s Johnny Damon in 2004.
Escobar reached on an infield hit leading off the bottom half, a hard one-hopper that popped out of the glove of shortstop Brandon Crawford, who tried for a backhand stop.
Omar Infante cirlces the bases after hitting a 2-run homer in the Royals 5-run 6th inning Wednesday in in Game 4 of the World Series. (Photo: Kansas City Royals, Chris Vleisides)
Escobar was caught stealing second by catcher Buster Posey, but Cain doubled with two outs, Hosmer walked and Butler bounced a single past the outstretched glove of a diving Crawford, ending Kansas City’s 0-for-17 slide with runners in scoring position dating to Game 2 of the AL Championship Series against Baltimore.
Butler is a .429 hitter (15 for 35) against Peavy.
Making his first start since Oct. 11, Ventura showed the heat that made him the starting pitcher with the highest average velocity in the major leagues this year. He reached 100 mph on his first pitch to Posey in the first.
Infante pulled a double with one out in the second and scored with two outs for a 2-1 lead when Peavy left a first-pitch fastball over the plate and Escobar sliced an opposite-field double inside the right-field line.
Pablo Sandoval doubled leading off the fourth, a drive that bounced off the glove of Cain with his back to the plate near the center-field wall. Sandoval, who reached base for his 25th consecutive postseason game, scored when Belt hooked a one-out changeup into right field for another double.
San Francisco put two on with one out in the sixth, and the Royals brought in Herrera, usually their seventh-inning man. He retired Belt on a flyout to left and then, throwing at up to 101 mph, got Michael Morse to ground to shortstop for a forceout.
San Francisco, which opened at home en route to titles in 2010 and 2012, was trying to become the first team to win the first two Series games on the road since the 1999 New York Yankees on the way to their sweep of Atlanta. Forty-two of 53 teams to take 2-0 leads went on to win the title, including nine straight since the 1996 Braves lost to the Yankees in six games.
After a day off, the Series shifts Friday to bayside AT&T Park in San Francisco.
NOTES: Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig held a pregame news conference to honor Pete Frates, the former Boston College baseball captain who is afflicted with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Frates inspired the ice bucket challenge last summer, and Selig presented an inscribed silver ice bucket to his father, John; mother, Nancy; brother, Andrew, and sister, Jennifer. Frates, 29, was diagnosed 2 1/2 years ago. He is paralyzed and was not able to attend. … Commissioner elect Rob Manfred presented a pair of new awards for relief pitchers, named after Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman. Kansas City’s Greg Holland received the AL honor and Atlanta’s Craig Kimbrel was given the NL award.
GREAT BEND — The Barton Community College Foundation presents scholarships each year from funds received through its fundraising events, endowments and annual scholarship gifts.
For the 2014-15 academic year, the foundation selected the following northwest Kansas students for scholarship offers:
Claflin
Emily Girard, Robert Bonomo Memorial Scholarship
Amanda Lewis, Loren and Maxine Pease Scholarship
Colton Zink, Stanley and Elizabeth-Post Kimple Memorial Scholarship
Gorham
James Mermis, Frank J. Dome Memorial Scholarship
Kelli Williams, Marilyn K. Funk Charles Scholarship
Hays
Brittany Newacheck, Loren and Maxine Pease Scholarship
HillCity
Paige Thompson, Melvin O. Nuss Academic Scholarship
Kanopolis
Khrystal Serrien, Clara Barton Nursing Scholarship
La Crosse
Kerri Mitchell, Clara Barton Nursing Scholarship
Rachel Proffitt, Golda Underhill Bailey Memorial Scholarship
Brittany Wilson, Barton County Medical Society Scholarship
Nancy Zortman, Don and Phyllis Whelan Academic Scholarship
Leoti
Jesus Gallegos, American State Bank Scholarship
Lucas
Cathryn Anschutz, Kummer Family Scholarship
Otis
Jennifer Chapman, Quentin Dressler Memorial Scholarship
Dekota Nelson, Yvonne Robbins Women in Leadership & Entrepreneur Studies Scholarship
Quinter
Ryan Tebow, Melvin O. Nuss Academic Scholarship
Jordan Tebow, Melvin O. Nuss Academic Scholarship
Russell
Taylor Pennington, Amos Bayer Memorial Scholarship
Tayton Pennington, Amos Bayer Memorial Scholarship
Timken
Katie Tammen, Ernest Grossardt Memorial Scholarship
WaKeeney
Katie Bretton, Dr. Raymond J. Leiker Scholarship for MLT Studies
Brittany Brock, Mary C. Krause Memorial Scholarship
Wilson
Dreamer Roberson, Clara Barton Nursing Scholarship
Warm into the Weekend, then turning cooler with a slight chance for rain or thunder Monday Night.
Today Areas of fog before 11am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 75. Light and variable wind becoming south southeast around 6 mph in the afternoon. Tonight Partly cloudy, with a low around 53. South southwest wind around 6 mph. Friday Sunny, with a high near 85. Southwest wind around 7 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Friday Night Clear, with a low around 50. Northwest wind 3 to 5 mph. Saturday Sunny, with a high near 80. North northeast wind 5 to 11 mph becoming east southeast in the afternoon. Saturday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 54. Sunday Sunny, with a high near 80.
