March 2015 – Page 44 – Hays Post Archive

Law enforcement to help spark the start of Special Olympics tourney

Posted on March 18, 2015March 18, 2015

HPD's Special Olympics torch. — HPD’s Special Olympics torch.

By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post

Thousands of people from Hays and across the state will fill Gross Memorial Coliseum for opening ceremonies of the 40th annual Special Olympics of Kansas State Basketball and Cheerleading Tournament at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Hays Assistant Police Chief Brian Dawson said the ceremony includes the Parade of Athletes and will culminate with law enforcement officers assisting the athletes with the Torch Run and lighting of the Special Olympics cauldron.

Dawson said local law enforcement has long been involved with SOKS, and it is always an honor to be a part of the opening ceremonies.

“For the families and their athletes, it’s something they look forward to all year long, traveling to Hays and participating and competing,” Dawson said. “It’s really a neat event, and I really encourage people to come out and support the athletes in their endeavors.”

The tournament runs through Saturday, March 21. The opening ceremonies will be streamed LIVE online at HaysPost.com.

A schedule of games and events can be found at HERE.

KFIX Rock News: Stevie Nicks To Be Honored For Her Support Of U.S. Troops

Posted on March 18, 2015March 18, 2015

Stevie Nicks has been a strong supporter of American troops over the years, and now she’s being honored for her efforts.

The Fleetwood Mac singer will receive the Outstanding Achievement Award at the 2015 USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore 33rd Annual Awards Dinner on March 24.

The event salutes Medal of Honor recipients, as well as celebrities and citizens who have shown their dedication to U.S. troops.

And Nicks has certainly done her share in service to injured soldiers. She holds the record for the most hours spent over a five-year period visiting combat-wounded service members as part of USO-Metro’s celebrity handshake tours.

Stevie also has donated hundreds of music-filled iPods to veterans recovering at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda National Naval Medical Center. She was so affected by her hospital visits that it inspired her to write the song “Soldier’s Angel,” which was released in 2011.

In addition to receiving her award, Nicks will be presenting the USO-Metro’s Col. John Gioia Patriot Award to poet and essayist Seema Reza. Other honorees include Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and author-filmmaker Sebastian Junger.

The awards dinner will take place at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia, where attendees will include senior government and military leaders, celebrities and community leaders.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Cover photo credit: Bumperke

Transfer of personal belongings can create celebration or challenge

Posted on March 18, 2015

Almost everyone has personal belongings such as wedding photographs, a baseball glove, holiday ornaments, a beloved doll or a yellow pie plate that contain meaning for them and for other members of their family. These heirlooms and personal possessions are known as non-titled property because they do not have a legal title which establishes rules of ownership.

When doing estate planning, families too often talk about the house or the investments but they may forget to discuss household goods and personal possessions. Research done at the University of Minnesota with families and attorneys revealed it is often the non-titled property that creates the greatest challenges for families when estates are divided — not the property or the money.

An Extension program called “Who Gets Grandma’s Yellow Pie Plate” will be offered twice this month in Ellis County to help families explore the opportunities and challenges of dealing with personal belongings. The first presentation will be Monday, March 23 at noon at the Extension Office meeting room, 601 Main Street in Hays. Contact the Ellis County Extension Office, 785-628-9430 to pre-register.

The program will be repeated on Tuesday, March 24 at 7:00 pm at the Ellis Public Library Community Room in Ellis. Register for this session at the Ellis Recreation Commission, 785-726-3718. Linda Beech, County Extension Agent, will be the speaker for both sessions.

Planning to pass on belongings that have special meaning, like grandma’s yellow pie plate, can be a challenge or a celebration of family memories. The following tips will help you make decisions that are right for your family.

1. Recognize that decisions about personal belongings are often more challenging than decisions about titled property. Assuming such decisions are unimportant or trivial can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts.

2. Recognize that inheritance decisions can have powerful consequences — emotional as well as economic. Decisions about personal property involve dealing with emotional and potential financial value connected to objects accumulated over a lifetime and across generations of family members.

3. Plan ahead. When decisions are made prior to death, the decisions can reflect the owner’s wishes, and special memories and stories may be shared. Planning ahead versus waiting until a crisis or death offers more choices and a chance for thoughtful communication.

4. Consider how to deal with conflicts before they arise. Issues of power and control do not disappear in inheritance decisions. Unresolved conflicts among parents, adult children, siblings, and others are often at the heart of what goes wrong with inheritance decisions. Listen for feelings and emotions, watch for blaming, and determine if you can agree to disagree if conflicts arise.

5. Remember that different perceptions of what’s “fair” are normal and should be expected. Those involved need to uncover the unwritten rules and assumptions about fairness that exist among family members.

6. Consider all options. Being fair does not always mean being equal. In fact, dividing personal items equally is sometimes impossible.

7. Ask others for input. Individuals who have input and agree on how decisions are made are more likely to be satisfied with the outcomes of those decisions.

8. Discuss what those involved want to accomplish. This will help reduce mistaken assumptions, misunderstood intentions, and makes choosing distribution options easier.

9. Ask others to identify items that have special meaning to them. This will help minimize inaccurate assumptions about who should get what. Not everyone will find the same items meaningful.

10. Put wishes in writing. By creating a separate listing mentioned in a will, for example, the property owner will reduce the dilemmas and decisions for estate executors and surviving family members.

Plan to attend one of the Extension programs on “Who Gets Grandma’s Yellow Pie Plate” on March 23 in Hays and March 24 in Ellis to learn more.

Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent and Family and Consumer Sciences.

International scholar to speak about the activity, culture of gaming

Posted on March 18, 2015March 17, 2015

Mia Consalvo, Concordia University in Montreal — Mia Consalvo, Concordia University, Montreal

FHSU University Relations

Mia Consalvo, professor and Canada research chair of Game Studies and Design at Concordia University in Montreal, will talk at Fort Hays State University about the activity and culture of gaming.

Consalvo’s conversation, “Real Games, Real Players? Reconsidering Who and What ‘Counts’ (and Why) in Game Studies,” draws from a decade of studies done on videogame players.

There are three opportunities to see Consalvo: 9 to 10 a.m. in the Memorial Union’s Stouffer Lounge, noon to 1 p.m. at Forsyth Library and 3 to 4 p.m. in the Memorial Union’s Trails Room, all on Tuesday, March 24. Refreshments will be served, and a signup sheet will be available for anyone who needs class credit.

“Gaming has become an important social and technical force in society,” said Dr. Gordon Carlson, director of the Institute for New Media Studies and assistant professor of communication studies.

“Learning about this important topic is necessary in order to understand how it can be used here at FHSU, in academia across the country and as an element of our daily lives. Dr. Consalvo is an expert in this area, and the entire Tiger community will benefit from the chance to work with such an outstanding scholar.”

This event is sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Institute for New Media Studies and the Communication Studies Department.

FHSU women’s golf finishes ninth at own Arizona tournament

Posted on March 18, 2015

FHSU Athletics

Fort Hays State hosted its first tournament of the spring season in Arizona, the FHSU Spring Thaw, at Dobson Ranch Golf Course in Mesa. The Tigers finished ninth out of 12 teams that competed in the tournament.

FHSU finished with a team score of 736. Minnesota State won the tournament with 313 each day for a total of 626. The Mavericks won by 14 strokes over Lindenwood and topped Western New Mexico by 23 strokes.

Samantha Hobson led FHSU with rounds of 89 and 84 to finish in a tie for 34th. Quillen Eichhorn led FHSU on the first day with an 88, but followed with a 92 to finish in a tie for 47th. Abby Schmidtberger had a rough first round of 103, but improved 17 strokes on the second day with an 86 to finish in 56th. MeganDeWerff tied for 58th, shooting two rounds of 97. Sage Alquist competed and shot rounds of 98 and 97, along with Hadley Tharp, who shot rounds of 104 and 103.

Kanyapak Sethasomponbe from Minnesota State won the tournament as an individual, shooting two rounds of 75 (6-over par total).

FHSU softball splits with Metro State

Posted on March 18, 2015

FHSU Athletics

Fort Hays State split its midweek doubleheader with Metro State on Tuesday, taking the first game in extra innings, 3-0, before falling in the finale, 6-0. The Tigers (10-11, 4-4 MIAA) remain in the Denver area on Wednesday (March 18) for a doubleheader with Colorado Mines in Golden, Colo. The first game is set to begin at Noon MT.

Fort Hays State 3, Metro State 0 (8 innings)
Paxton Duran threw a complete game shutout and hit the game winning three-run home run in extras to help Fort Hays State pick up a win in extra innings over Metro State.

Duran (5-5) threw all eight innings for the win, scattering six hits and walking five runners while striking out nine. She also was 1-for-4 at the plate with her first home run of the season.

Erin Elmore and Samantha Villarreal were each 2-for-4 on the day, with Villarreal and Amanda Vaupel (1-for-3) hitting doubles.

The Tigers looked to strike in the top of the second behind Vaupel’s leadoff double, but after moving her to third with two outs, FHSU couldn’t push the senior home and the game remained scoreless.

Metro State matched the Tigers’ threats in its half of the second, moving Kaylynn Harmon to third with two outs before Duran got her third strikeout of the inning to retire the side.

FHSU put runners in scoring position with two outs in the fourth but again were held off the scoreboard, keeping the score intact.

Courtney Dobson looked to get things going for FHSU in the fifth with a leadoff single, but could only find her way to second after three quick outs followed.

The Tigers again threated in the sixth with a leadoff single from Villarreal , but nothing happened over the final two offensive opportunities for the Tigers.

Scoreless through seven, FSHU and MSU headed to extras where Elmore led off the top half of the eighth with a single – moving to second on a throwing error. After Adara Erickson pinch ran for Elmore, Erickson was thrown out at third trying to advance on Tori Beltz’s single into center field, but the Tigers weren’t done. Next up, Villarreal doubled down the left field line to push Beltz to third, putting both runners in scoring position

With two outs in the inning, Duran helped her own cause by driving a 1-0 pitch over the left center wall for a three-run blast, scoring Beltz and Villarreal and helping the Tigers take a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth.

MSU saw two runners reach base in the eighth behind a single and fielder’s choice (though neither runner moved past first), but a line out and a strikeout from Duran – her ninth of the day – ended the game.

Metro State 6, Fort Hays State 0
Fort Hays State was no-hit in the finale on Saturday, failing to put a baserunner on until the seventh inning in a 6-0 loss.

Kelsey Kimminau (4-6) started the game and through four innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on eight hits with two strikeouts. Sarah Cochran tossed the final two innings with one hit allowed.

MSU took a 1-0 lead in the second as Chelsea Brew doubled with two outs before coming around to score on an FHSU error.

The Roadrunners extended their lead in the third, using RBI singles from Carissa Terry and Sarena Espinoza and Brew to take a 5-0 lead.

In the fifth, Metro State furthered the lead to 6-0 after an RBI triple from Terry, but that was it for the Roadrunners as FHSU regrouped and shut down the home team over the final two innings.

Offensively, FHSU’s only baserunner was Kylie Strand in the seventh after she drew a leadoff walk, eventually moving to second on Erin Elmore’s groundout.

Partly sunny, chance of overnight rain

Posted on March 18, 2015March 18, 2015

Finally have some good news for drought-stricken southwest Kansas. Beneficial rainfall is expected Thursday.

Today Partly sunny, with a high near 58. East southeast wind around 8 mph.
Tonight A 30 percent chance of rain, mainly after 4am. Cloudy, with a low around 37. East southeast wind 6 to 11 mph.
Thursday Rain likely, mainly between 7am and 9am. Cloudy, with a high near 50. East wind around 7 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Thursday NightA 10 percent chance of rain before 7pm. Cloudy during the early evening, then gradual clearing, with a low around 35. North wind around 7 mph becoming west northwest after midnight.
Friday Sunny, with a high near 70. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon.
Friday NightMostly clear, with a low around 40.
Saturday Sunny, with a high near 75.
Saturday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 40.
Sunday A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 70.

2 homes damaged in Salina fire

Posted on March 18, 2015March 18, 2015

SALINA -Two homes were damaged by fire early Wednesday morning in southwest Salina.

Firefighters responded to the 1900 Block of Hageman just after 2:30 am.

Upon arrival, they found the homes at 1902 and 1908 Hageman involved in fire.

They also found a detached garage in flames and a grass fire in the backyard of one of the homes.

Damage to both homes is extensive. The North Central Kansas Chapter of the Red Cross was called to assist the occupants of the homes. There were no injuries.

Cause of the fire remains under investigation.

City, school candidates to speak at election forum March 24

Posted on March 18, 2015March 17, 2015

FHSU University Relations

The American Democracy Project (ADP) at Fort Hays State University and the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce will conduct an election forum beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, in the Black and Gold Room of the FHSU Memorial Union.

Local candidates Henry Schwaller IV, Scott Simpson, James Meier, Lance Jones, Gregory Schwartz, Sarah Rankin, Leslie Blagrave, Miranda Fox, Jerald Braun, Luke Oborny and Paul Adams will attend.

The forum will begin at 6:30 with Hays City Commission candidates Schwaller, Simpson, Meier and Jones. The candidates will give an opening statement. The moderator, Dr. Lawrence Gould, professor of political science at FHSU, will follow with prepared questions and questions from the public.

Beginning at 8 p.m., USD 489 Board of Education candidates Schwartz, Rankin, Blagrave, Fox, Braun, Oborny and Adams will give opening statements. The moderator, Dr. Deborah Ludwig, dean of Forsyth Library at FHSU, will follow with prepared questions and questions from the public.

The forum will be streamed live at hayspost.com.

Other sponsors for the forum, along with the American Democracy Project and the Hays Chamber, are the FHSU Student Government Association, the Department of Political Science, the College of Education and Technology, the Center For Civic Leadership, and Midwest Energy.

All FHSU students and registered voters within the Hays community are invited to attend this free event.

Additional information is available by contacting the ADP or Morgan Lawrence, Dighton senior and co-coordinator, at (785) 628-5399 or by email at [email protected].

Schwaller seeks sixth term on city commission (VIDEO)

Posted on March 18, 2015March 17, 2015

By Becky Kiser
Hays Post

Hays mayor Henry Schwaller is seeking his sixth term on the Hays City Commission in the April 7 general election.

Schwaller is president of the real estate investment firm Henry Schwaller and Associates and also teaches business management classes at Fort Hays State University.

In November, Schwaller opposed the one-cent sales tax increase at the Hays Mall which goes into effect April 1.

Schwaller said the city should concentrate on bringing new smaller businesses to Hays.

“The city’s economic development policy favors recruiting outside firms to come here. I believe the future of Ellis County and western Kansas is growing firms from within. We have an amazing pool of talent here that graduates both from NCKTech and Fort Hays State University and then they leave. We don’t have enough opportunities for small business growth and development in the community,” Schwaller said.

“As much as I’d like to see a Target or Red Lobster, getting one of those in Hays would be very challenging and quite expensive,” he added.

Economic development incentives are of limited value according to Schwaller and should be specifically targeted.

“They don’t build a stronger community. When you give a company money to come to a community and the incentives expire–they always do–the businesses generally leave. There are some cases where the businesses have stayed in Hays. I can think of one or two but most have vanished.

“We’re very lucky to have what we have but those (economic development) policies don’t build on our strengths; they just create what I think of as a ‘WalMart’ model–a low-cost environment.

“Kansas is not a low-cost environment even with the recent tax cuts from the state. We still have to pay the bills to provide for infrastructure and services.

“I’m not in favor of them. I would use (economic development incentives) in a targeted approach if we could use them in a targeted area–whether it be along Vine Street or downtown–and if there was a specific outcome we could get from them.”

Schwaller is unhappy with the performance of SkyWest, the new air carrier service at the Hays Regional Airport, which recently dropped its early morning flight.

“Our relationship with SkyWest is difficult, to say the least. I think…we’re going to look for another carrier….We’ve been working with the federal government (program) which brought SkyWest here. SkyWest Airlines has basically stepped back and said they’re not going to commit to providing the transportation they promised us when we recruited them.

“I think instead of being baffled by this and worrying about it, it’s time to find another carrier….The current schedule is unacceptable. For this airline to receive millions of dollars in subsidies and not deliver is unacceptable.”

Schwaller’s top issue of concern for the city of Hays is water.

“We have to secure a long-term water source,” he stressed.

Other priorities for Schwaller are infrastructure, streets, parks and upgrading the sewer treatment plant.

He also wants the city to “develop and grow a better economy–more affordable housing, more retail, more restaurants, more entertainment.

“We’ve done well–slow and steady growth the past decade. We need more opportunities for Hays and northwest Kansas. We need to grow it here locally and organically.”

The other candidates for the three open seats on the Hays City Commission are Lance Jones, James Meier and Scott Simpson. The top two candidates with the most votes will receive a four-year term on the commission and the third will serve a two-year term.

Ex-worker files civil rights lawsuit against Kan. hospital

Posted on March 18, 2015March 18, 2015

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A former Topeka hospital employee says in a federal civil rights lawsuit that she was taunted and bullied at work because of her race.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported in a story published Tuesday that Pamela Banks, who is black, filed the lawsuit in a Kansas federal court last month against the St. Francis Health Center. She’s seeking damages and backpay.

St. Francis has declined to answer the newspaper’s questions about the claims.

Banks says she complained to managers about a hostile environment, but that they dismissed the complaints without an investigation.

Banks was an employee of a health services company that placed her in St. Francis in 2012. She says the company removed her from St. Francis in 2014 after St. Francis refused to take action.

Kraft recalls cases of mac and cheese

Posted on March 18, 2015March 18, 2015

NEW YORK (AP) — Kraft Foods is recalling 242,000 cases of original flavor Kraft Macaroni & Cheese because some of the boxes contain small pieces of metal.

The boxes have “best when used by” dates ranging from Sept. 18, 2015 through Oct. 11, 2015 and are marked with the code “C2.” They were sold throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, and in some countries in the Caribbean and South America.

The recall covers 7.25 ounce boxes that were sold individually and in packs of three, four and five.

Kraft Foods Group Inc. says it is aware of eight incidents of consumers finding metal in the boxes, but hasn’t been informed of any injuries. It says consumers shouldn’t eat the macaroni and should return it to the store where it was purchased for a full refund.

Presbyterians approve gay marriage in church constitution

Posted on March 18, 2015

RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has recognized gay marriage for all of its congregations.

The denomination will expand its definition of marriage in the church constitution to say that marriage is a “commitment between two people.”

The top Presbyterian legislative body endorsed the new wording last year. But amending the constitution required approval from the majority of regional bodies, or presbyteries. The key “yes” vote came Tuesday night from the Presbytery of the Palisades in New Jersey.

The amendment caps decades of church debate over same-sex relationships. The denomination has about 1.8 million members and 10,000 congregations.

Church leaders acknowledged theological differences over marriage within the church and are asking for mutual respect as those disagreements play out. The new definition allows local clergy or congregations to opt out of hosting gay weddings.