NEW YORK (AP) — The Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon, a Labor Day television tradition for decades, is ending.
MDA said Friday that “the new realities of television viewing and philanthropic giving” make it the right time to end the annual event, memorably hosted for most of its life by Jerry Lewis.
Celebrities including Frank Sinatra, John Lennon and Michael Jackson to Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez have performed on the telethon, first hosted by Lewis and Dean Martin in 1956. It moved to Labor Day in 1966.
The telethon ran 21 and a half hours in 2010, Lewis’ last year as host, and had dwindled to a two-hour show the last two years.
OLATHE – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 5 p.m. on Friday in Johnson County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2014 Harley Davidson driven by Fraser I. Muir, 37, Overland Park, was coming off the ramp from Kansas 7 northbound onto Kansas10 westbound.
The driver lost control of the motorcycle and it ended on its side.
Muir was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.
Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute.
Freedom of speech took a hit this week when New York City’s transit authority voted to ban all political and public-issue advertising on its buses and subways.
A group called the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) sponsored the message that triggered the decision.
“Killing Jews is worship that draws us closer to Allah,” reads the AFDI ad (a quote attributed to Hamas MTV). A young man is pictured wearing a scarf around his head and face. Under the photo is the statement: “That’s His Jihad. What’s yours?”
Prior to the vote, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) did all it could to ban the controversial ad while keeping the forum open for other ads with political and religious viewpoints.
But last week, U.S. District Judge John Koeltl ruled that MTA must allow the offending ad, rejecting the city’s concern that the message could be read as a call to violence against Jews.
“There is no evidence that seeing one of these advertisements on the back of a bus would be sufficient to trigger a violent reaction,” said Judge Koeltl. “Therefore, these ads — offensive as they may be — are still entitled to First Amendment protection.”
The judge relied, in part, on the fact that this and other provocative AFDI ads have been running on public transportation in other cities without incident.
Unless it incites imminent violence or is likely to do so, speech that offends or is viewed as hateful is protected speech under the First Amendment.
Other cities have tried other arguments to stop AFDI ads, mostly to no avail.
Last month, for example, a Pennsylvania federal district court ordered Philadelphia’s transit system to accept a different AFDI ad, this one reading “Islamic Jew-Hatred: It’s in the Quran.” The ad pictures Adolf Hitler meeting with an Arab leader.
In upholding the right of AFDI to run the ad, the court rejected as unconstitutional Philadelphia’s policy of prohibiting ads that “disparage or ridicule” of any person or group on the basis (among other traits) of religious belief.
Judges in these cases may be sympathetic to city officials trying to promote tolerance and civility by banning ads from AFDI, an organization infamous for mean-spirited attacks on Islam and Muslims.
But judges also know that the First Amendment is intended to bar government from determining whose speech is acceptable — and whose speech is not. After all, what is “hate speech” for some may be political or religious conviction for others.
Unfortunately for the cause of free speech, Philadelphia’s transit authority responded like the MTA in New York by banning all political or public-issue advertising.
While the First Amendment bars city officials from practicing viewpoint discrimination on city buses and subways (allowing some political or religious views, but not others), the First Amendment permits them to impose content-based restrictions (banning all religious and political views).
By contrast, San Francisco’s transit authority avoided a legal battle and kept buses and subways open to free speech by allowing the AFDI ads to go up. At the same time, however, city officials countered the speech by condemning the posters as “racist and offensive” and promising that all proceeds from the AFDI ads will go to San Francisco’s Human Rights Commission.
Free speech is sometimes painful, often offensive and always messy. But consider the alternative.
In Moscow this week, government officials are cleansing the city of swastikas or any other symbols of Nazism in preparation for Victory Day, the celebration of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Germany.
Fearful of government censors, booksellers have removed any book that has offending images on the cover, including the Pulitzer-Prize winning Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust by cartoonist Art Spiegelman.
Government censorship, of course, is the law of the land in Russia where it is a criminal offense to “offend people’s religious feeling or question the national dignity of peoples.”
Such is daily life in Moscow, Tehran, Beijing and many other cities with offense-free zones enforced by the state. Those who dare dissent either live in fear of arrest or languish in prison.
So the next time you see a poster that offends, remember that in a free society messages of hate are also signs of freedom.
Charles C. Haynes is vice president of the Washington-based Newseum Institute and executive director of the Religious Freedom Center. [email protected]
Pine tree needles litter the new walk/bike path on the north side of 41st Street.
By Becky Kiser Hays Post
Vehicles, bicycles and dog walkers could be seen utilizing the just re-opened 41st Street late this afternoon in west Hays.
The reconstruction project between the US-183 By-pass and Hall Street is “substantially complete,” according to news release from the city of Hays Friday.
The road is completely open to through traffic.
41st Street now has three driving lane surfaces and a 10-foot multi-purpose path along the north side of 41st.
41st Street pedestrian crossing at Thunderbird Drive
There is also a marked pedestrian cross walk at the Thunderbird Drive intersection.
An additional path north of Hall Street from 41st to 45th Street will be added by the city with help from Ellis County in the near future.
“Total cost for the joint Kansas Department of Transportation/City of Hays project is $3.8 million dollars. The city’s share was $1.1 million with the state paying the remaining $2.7 million,” Assistant Hays City Manager Paul Briseno reported to city commissioners last week.
Cleanup and minor work along the edges of the road will continue for the next few weeks, so motorists are asked to be aware of construction workers and use caution when driving in the area.
The project, done by KDOT contractor APAC-Kansas, began March 24, 2014.
SALINA –Police in Salina are investigating a custody dispute involving a 1-year-old boy.
Police say Jazemean F. Elledge, 22, is alleged to have gone to a home in east Salina unannounced about at approximately 2p.m. to take custody of the child.
Police Captain Mike Sweeney said that Elledge reportedly threatened two women with a butter knife while trying to take the boy. No one was hurt.
Elledge was booked into the Saline County Jail on requested charges of aggravated assault, aggravated child endangerment, criminal threats, criminal trespass, and domestic battery.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a man who gunned down his wife in front of her children.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the court rejected 28-year-old Kishen Woods’ mental health claim. He said he shouldn’t have been found competent to stand trial because he has schizophrenia.
Antonia Woods-Cratic died in November 2011. She was in the process of leaving her husband.
Woods argued that the court-ordered competency evaluation was flawed. He also said that the trial judge should have ordered a second competency hearing after personally observing Woods’ erratic behavior in court.
Justice Dan Biles noted that Woods at first personally objected to any consideration of his mental competency and later told the court he believed he was competent to stand trial.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A woman who pretended to be pregnant has admitted defrauding prospective adoptive parents in Kansas and elsewhere.
Chrystal Marie Rippey, of Marshall, Texas, pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas.
This time the 35-year-old woman entered her guilty plea without a deal in place with federal prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil rejected in January an earlier plea deal in which the parties agreed to a binding 48-month sentence.
Rippey was indicted in February 2014 on charges of mail and wire fraud.
Prosecutors allege Rippey contacted adoption agencies and individuals, pretending she was pregnant and seeking to give up her unborn child for adoption. The indictment contends prospective parents bought her meals and gifts, believing she was willing to let them adopt her baby after birth.
A Hays business closed its doors on April 28, but will reopen soon.
“We are remodeling our current location at 2013 Vine,” according to KS Kollections owner Kathy Schupman. “We are knocking down walls, and will have a new floor. We will open again in June, do not have a specific date, but shooting for the first week in June.”
Reconstruction is scheduled to begin Monday.
Schupman and her husband, John, recently purchased the Paper Mart Party Center. After the remodeling, KS Kollections still will have Kansas-made products, but also will feature Margie Gilpin’s expertise in the paper mart department and other items.
Schupman hopes the “contemporary, shabby, chic” remodel will entice many loyal customers back.
“I am very appreciative. We’ve been open since November 2013. We started out in the Hays City Quality Meats building, and we moved to this location July of 2014,” she said. “We’ve done really well, the community has supported us.”
Schupman said she is excited to be working with Gilpin.
“This looks like a good way to continue to supporting the community, because Paper Mart is a really great business. She has done very well, with having had it for 25 years, but it also brings in some of the people that will see some of the handcrafted items, and they might not have had otherwise.”
Although they will not have many of the furniture pieces, they will continue to carry the wooden handcrafted children’s pieces made by local Irvin Dreher. Some other favorite items staying are the cement lawn ornaments from The Good Life Greenhouse, greeting cards created by Ellis resident Tracy Augustine and candles made in Russell.
The public will also be able to enjoy their family business, Wheatland Food.
“Snaxfun is roasted wheat that comes in seven flavors,” Schupman said. “We manufacture it, package it and sell it all over the United States.”
HUTCHINSON– Detention hearings for the five teens arrested on suspicion of making threats against Hutchinson High School were scheduled on Friday.
The boys face two counts of Solicitation to Commit Murder in the First Degree and Criminal Threat and were formally charged.
Of the five, only Tkoda Bowman, 16, went before juvenile judge Patti Macke-Dick.
Dominic Collins, Jake Eells, Tyler Cabaral, all 16, and Andre Harris, 17, waived their right to a hearing and will continue in custody.
More information in the case was revealed during the hearing including the news that the means to carry out the threat, including two pistols, three antique rifles and a shotgun were discovered at one teen’s home.
That information, and what Judge Macke-Dick called the disturbing use and comparison of the Columbine School Shooting in 1999 on social media, was more then enough to keep Bowman in custody also.
Check the Post for additional details as they become available.
Donna Cooper, Hays, writes her name on the back of her MWE solar panel. (Photo courtesy MWE)
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Donna Cooper, a retired Hays High School science teacher, had a big smile on her face as she signed her name on the back of a solar panel in “her” row at the new Midwest Energy solar array just north of Colby.
Cooper, a longtime advocate of renewable energy, was one of about 100 people who gathered for the April 23 dedication and ribbon cutting on East Memorial Veterans Drive.
It is the first solar farm in Kansas.
“Solar energy has been developing rapidly the last five to ten years,” said Earnie Lehman, MWE president and general manager. “We saw it developing in other states.”
The Midwest Energy solar farm is just north of Colby. It is the first solar array in Kansas.
“In 2010, we became aware of Clean Energy Collective, based in Colorado, which had the concept of community solar collectives, rather than rooftop panels which can be disrupted by trees or in congested areas.
“We began long and intensive talks with CEC to bring community solar to Kansas,” Lehman said.
Hays-based Midwest Energy queried customers in 2011 and 2012 to find out if they would be interested in solar power.
“There was a much higher interest than we expected,” said Pat Parke, MWE vice-president of customer service.
At the ribbon cutting were Rep. Rick Billinger, Goodland; Clean Energy Collective VP for Development Jim Hartman, MWE General Manager Earnie Lehman, Sen. Ralph Ostmeyer, Grinnell; and Rep. Don Hineman, Dighton.
Today there are 3,960 panels on the 6-acre site of the 1-megawatt community solar array. Nearly 60% of the panels have been purchased by Midwest Energy electric customers in western and central Kansas serving residential, commercial, oil, irrigation and agricultural accounts.
“The project was engineered, designed and constructed by Clean Energy Collective,” explained Parke.
“MWE has an agreement to purchase the electricity that is produced here, much like we would buy the electricity that is produced from a wind farm or a coal-fired power plant. It’s called a Purchase Power Agreement.
Midwest Energy solar panel row
“The CEC sells one or more panels to the customer, so the customer takes ownership of the panel(s) but the project is still managed by CEC.
“Midwest Energy’s role is to buy the electricity and then put a credit on that customer’s electric bill monthly. The total output of the entire facility is divided up proportionally depending on how many panels the customer owns. We (MWE) are paying for the electricity by putting the credit on the customer’s bill,” Parke said.
The Colby site was chosen for its ideal solar exposure rating and includes state-of-the-art inverters combined with high efficiency 305-watt solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, according to CEC.
The array features an advanced solar tracking system—the first-ever solar tracking system used in a community-owned solar facility developed by Clean Energy Collective. Four motors tilt the solar panels to follow the sun throughout the day.
Solar panel owners get a credit of 10.5 cents for each kilowatt hour their panels generate on their monthly electric bill. Midwest Energy estimates each panel will deliver roughly $57 a year in credits, for a 6.4 percent rate of return.
Find out more about the Midwest Energy solar garden in Colby with Eagle Communications’ Mike Cooper on Community Connection.
Hays High School Band Director Craig Manteuffel is happy to hand over his baton to the man hired to replace him, Matt Rome.
Rome is a former student of Manteuffel’s and is also a familiar face at HHS as a student-teacher for the band program.
Rome will graduate with a degree in music education from Fort Hays State University in May.
Rome spent Friday shadowing Manteuffel and talking with the students he will teach next school year.
“Matt is ready to go” and is not “your normal just bachelor degree kind of kid just out of student teaching,” Manteuffel said. “He has been teaching these kids, I bring him in and he works with my kids in the summer. … He knows the program, and he knows he can take the program farther than me and that is what I’m wanting him to do.”
Manteuffel said the students were excited after talking with Rome about his plans for the future.
Rome admitted he is a bit nervous following in the footsteps of his former teacher and longtime mentor.
“I have huge, huge shoes to fill, but I am really excited to take a crack at it,” Rome said.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Attorneys for the man charged with killing three people at Jewish sites in suburban Kansas City have filed 21 motions as they prepare for trial.
The Kansas City Star reports attorneys are seeking a change of venue for Frazier Glenn Miller, who is scheduled for trial Aug. 17 for capital murder for the deaths of three deaths in Overland Park last April.
Miller has said he was trying to kill Jews, although all of his victims were Christians. He told The Associated Press this week that he plans to plead guilty. One of the motions asks that Miller be able to do explain his actions during the penalty phase of his trial without being put under oath or cross examination.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon, a Labor Day television tradition for decades, is ending.
