HAVEN, Kan. (AP) — Students at Haven High School will have to look at each other while dancing next school year.
The south-central Kansas school district says a type of dancing known as grinding will be banned at school functions. During a grinding dance, the students dance back-to-front with the person in back making a grinding motion.
School board member Bobbie Rohling says the dancing is “X-rated” and too much of it is occurring at school dances.
The Hutchinson News reports several other Kansas schools have banned the dance in recent years, including Inman, Goddard and McPherson.
Photo by Andy Marso Senate President Susan Wagle joins Gov. Sam Brownback and House Speaker Ray Merrick during a joint caucus of House and Senate Republicans on Thursday at the Capitol.
Note: Early Friday, the Kansas House approved the second part of a plan for raising taxes to help erase the stat budget deficit. The Kansas Senate will determine whether the plan for raising sales and cigarette taxes will clear the Republican-dominated Legislature and go to Gov. Brownback.
By Andy Marso
Addressing a rare joint caucus of the House and Senate Republican supermajorities, Gov. Sam Brownback pleaded with his partisan colleagues Thursday to pass a tax increase that he can accept to fill what’s left of an $800 million structural deficit in the state budget. Thursday was Day 112 of the traditionally 90-day session.
Lawmakers set a record every day the session continues. Brownback and administration officials said if a tax plan to fund the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 is not on the books by Monday, he will have to make unilateral budget cuts.
“It’s just time to do it,” Brownback said. “Push the green light and move forward, because we’ve just got to get this done. I plead with you to do that.”
The governor told Republicans that their best two options were to either find a way to pass the tax plan that squeaked through the Senate on Sunday or take up and pass a plan he introduced the week before that.
Neither chamber has considered the governor’s plan, but the House rejected something close to it last week. It also defeated the Senate-passed plan 95-20 on Thursday, even after House leaders kept the voting rolls open for hours over two days and employed the governor’s help in trying to sway votes.
Brownback choked up Thursday as he talked about calling House members from the hospital, where he was visiting his newborn granddaughter, to try to convince them to vote for the plan. “It was hard,” he said.
Department of Administration Secretary Jim Clark and Budget Director Shawn Sullivan also attended the caucus to communicate the urgency of the situation. Clark, whose agency is responsible for entering all the new payment data when the fiscal year changes, said it would need to start no later than Monday to get everything in place by July 1. Sullivan said that means if the Legislature does not quickly come to agreement on a tax plan, the governor’s office will have to find a way to shoehorn the budget legislators already passed into a tax structure that is still about $400 million short.
He said that could mean line-item vetoes of expenditures in that budget bill, and he specifically singled out the state’s six public universities. Sullivan said the governor also could approve the budget bill in its entirety and then immediately make across-the-board spending cuts that would affect state hospitals and state agencies that deal with health and disability issues. He said only “horrible” options were available to the administration if lawmakers don’t pass a tax bill.
Senate President Susan Wagle echoed Brownback’s plea, saying Republicans must prove they can govern. “It’s a crisis,” she said. “Time is short, and we have not served Kansans well.” But House Republicans, both conservatives and moderates, said Brownback’s speech didn’t sway them. “Not one iota,” said Rep. Pete DeGraaf, a Republican from Mulvane. DeGraaf said he remains dead-set against new taxes. He said the Legislature still has time to make budget cuts and can do so better than the governor’s office.
After the caucus, DeGraaf was huddled with a couple other legislators who believe government is ripe for cuts. Rep. Don Hineman, a Republican from Dighton, said the governor did not do enough to appeal to moderate Republicans who want to revisit the 2012 income tax cuts that Brownback championed, which they say are to blame for the budget crisis.
Brownback has threatened to veto substantial changes to the tax cuts, including any attempt to reinstate tax on the profits of more than 3330,000 Kansas business owners and farmers.
“I didn’t detect any change in his stance on what would be acceptable and what would be unacceptable to him in a tax plan,” Hineman said. Hineman told reporters moderates were readying their own tax offering, but it would be “premature” to unveil it and subject it to scrutiny Thursday afternoon.
“I think there is pressure for the House to accept the (Senate’s) tax plan,” he said. “I’m not convinced that’s the only option available. I’m hoping for something better.” As Hineman finished talking with reporters,
Rep. Russ Jennings, a moderate Republican from Lakin, tapped him on the shoulder to alert him to a meeting that was starting elsewhere in the Capitol, presumably a work session on the moderates’ tax plan.
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
Elmer F. Timson Jr. 96, died Wednesday, June 10, 2015 at his home in Atwood, KS. Elmer was born November 21, 1918 in Buchanan County, IA to Elmer Sr. and Edith (Strain) Timson. He married Lorene Kuhn of Lamont, IA on September 13, 1941 she preceded him in death in 1999. Elmer farmed jointly with his father west of Winthrop, IA until 1957 when he moved to Murdo, SD where he went into banking. During life, Elmer extended careers to include Real Estate sales as well as farm management. He spent the last few years of his retirement living near his son Tony Timson in Atwood, KS where the two enjoyed woodworking together.
Elmer was preceded in death by his wife, Lorene; infant daughter, Carmen; his parents, Elmer Sr. and Edith (Strain); two sisters, Leona Smith and Lorraine Peck Reiling.
He is survived by three children; Carolyn (Wayne) Shouldis of White River, SD., Pat (Boyd) Carpenter of Overland Park, KS., Tony (Ila) Timson of Atwood, KS., nine grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren.
Graveside services will be 2:00 p.m. Saturday, June 13, 2015 at Fairview Cemetery, Winthrop, IA.
Memorials may be made in Elmer’s name to the Diabetes Foundation in care of Baalmann Mortuary, 109 N 2nd St. Atwood, KS 67730 Online condolences www.baalmannmortuary.com.
Lila Lee Gilpin, 84, Hays, died Thursday, June 11, 2015 at the Hays Medical Center.
She was born March 2, 1931 on the family farm in Barton County, Kansas the daughter of Chester A. and Florence Helen (Thorpe) Smith. On January 13, 1951 she married her husband of 57 years, Carl G. Gilpin in Great Bend. He died on December 24, 2008.
She was a homemaker and a member of the First United Methodist Church, Hays, the Methodist Women’s Circle, and Suppers Eight. She attended business college in Denver, loved to play bridge and dominoes, and enjoyed traveling and spending time with her family. She enjoyed attending church meetings and volunteering at Hays Medical Center.
Survivors include two daughters, Gayle L. Ernst and husband Greg of Ellis, Kansas and Carla K. Stiles and husband Mike of Hill City, Kansas, a brother Peter Dale “Bob” Smith and wife Fritzie of Great Bend, 10 grandchildren, Shane Buchholz (Aimee Erhart) of Glendale, AZ, Charles Martin (Tan Yi) of Phoeniz, AZ, Lucas Ernst of Ellis, Tyler (Chasity) Watson of Ellis, Shannon Denning and Zachary Bird of Glendale, Cortnie Bird of Brooklyn, NY, Jessie (Dylan) Pohlman of Maize, KS, Missy (Justin) Balthazor of Plainville, and Tabitha (Jason) Haskett of Eudora, KS, fourteen great grandchildren, Jordyn (David) Berry of Wakeeney, Andria Buchholz of Hays, Trinten Houser and Matthew Ernst of Ellis, Haven Watson of Ellis, Ryann and Teagan Redinger and Finnley and Abrahm Pohlman of Maize, Tate Balthazor of Plainville, and Kimble, Kaitlyn, Karter, and Kora Haskett of Eudora, two great great grandchildren, Wyatt and Roe Berry of Wakeeney, and daughter Linda’s significant other, Tom Kasanek.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, a daughter Linda L. Bird in 2008, and a brother Chester L. Smith and his wife Willa.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 am on Monday, June 15, 2015 at the First United Methodist Church, 305 W. 7th Street, Hays. Inurnment will be at a later date in the Mt. Hope Cemetery in Ellis. Visitation will be from 9:30 am until service time on Monday at the church.
Memorials are suggested to Hospice of Hays Medical Center, in care of the Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home. Condolences may be left for the family at www.haysmemorial.com.
Danny L. McMillin, 68, Hays, died Thursday, June 11, 2015 at his home.
He was born June 15, 1946 in Garden City, Kansas the son of Horace Frank and Florence Lorene (Marsh) McMillin.
On September 15, 1990 he married Cathy Joan Hardiek in Lenora, Kansas. He served 21 years with the Kansas National Guard and was a Sergeant First Class with the U.S. Army 170th Maintenance Company during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He worked as a gas and electric service man for Midwest Energy for 31 years. He was previously a carpenter, police officer, EMT, and volunteer fireman.
He was a member of Celebration Community Church and the Hays VFW Post #9076. He loved golf and golfing with his friends and was a member of the Fort Hays Municipal Golf Course. He was a special friend to many, was a person of service, had a tremendous love of family, was selfless and forgiving, and loved to share his smile with those around him.
Survivors include his wife, three daughters Jolena McMillin Wipf and husband LeRoy, Kimberly McMillin Schriner and husband Michael, and Tamira McMillin Quattlebaum and husband Michael, a son Patric Shane Linden, five grandchildren Aaron Schriner and wife Ashley, Taylor Quattlebaum, Gabriel Schriner, Michael Quattlebaum, and Alexandra Quattlebaum, and two great grandchildren, Caden and Kiley Schriner, two brothers, Harry Joe “Joe” McMillin and Horace “Frank” McMillin, and two sisters, Connie Joan McGuire and Patty Jean Tomblinson.
He was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters, Mildred Marie Poe and Judy Ann Shearer.
A celebration of Danny’s life will be at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, June 15, 2015 at the Celebration Community Church, 5790 230th Avenue. Inurnment with military honors by the Hays VFW Honor Guard will be at 2:00 pm in the Kansas Veterans Cemetery, WaKeeney.
Visitation will be from 5:00 pm until 7:00 on Sunday at the Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home and from 9:30 am until service time on Monday at the church. Memorials are suggested to the Cancer Council of Ellis County or to the Fort Hays Municipal Golf Course, in care of the funeral home. Condolences may be left for the family at www.haysmemorial.com.
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A 36-year-old Kansas woman has pleaded guilty in an accident that killed a passenger on a motorcycle.
Jaime Carter, of Tonganoxie, pleaded guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence of drugs, aggravated battery and driving with a suspended license.
Authorities say Carter hit a motorcycle in southern Leavenworth County in May 2014, killing 49-year-old Mary Steuber. Her husband, Kristopher, who was driving the motorcycle suffered serious injuries, including a broken neck and losing part of his left leg.
The Leavenworth Times reports a toxicology report found several drugs in Carter’s system.
Wednesday’s hearing was scheduled to determine if Carter was competent to stand trial, but her attorney said Carter wanted instead to withdraw an earlier not guilty plea and plead guilty.
LONDON (AP) – It can be a fun game, deciding who should play you in the movie of your life.
Motley Crue doesn’t play that game.
Bassist Nikki Sixx says they are not getting involved in casting for the movie based on their autobiography “The Dirt,” except to say they want unknown actors to play them.
Sixx says it’s hard to see an actor he already knows trying to play someone else that he also knows.
Besides, Motley Crue are too busy doing their worldwide farewell tour. Sixx says when it’s all over, he’s going to take up crocheting.
Tourmate Alice Cooper jokes he’s trying to make crochet “more violent” by using sharper needles.
Hays City Commissioners and city staff are getting a lot of comments and questions about the new Bike Hays program.
Numerous signs and street markings for bicycle traffic have been appearing across town this week. Some residents are excited and have been looking forward to the changes–others, not so much.
Confusion seems to be rampant, whether it’s a “conversation at the local donut shop or talk on social media,” Vice-Mayor Shaun Musil said Thursday night. “Bike Hays is a good thing. It’s just going to take time.”
Musil said he keeps a bunch of the Bike Hays Biking Guide pamphlets with him so he can hand them out when he gets questions from residents.
The commission was given an update about the program by Assistant Hays City Manager Paul Briseno during their Thursday night meeting.
“Bicycles have always been allowed on the city streets (along with motorists), regardless of the new system,” Briseno reminded the audience, which included cable TV and Internet viewers watching the meeting live.
The on-street system is about half-way done–roughly nine miles–which includes the bike lanes and sharrows throughout the community, Briseno reported.
The levee west of Main Street is complete, while the levee section east of Main is scheduled to be finished next week.
The desire for a bike system by a majority of Hays residents was first noted in the 1995 city comprehensive plan and, most recently, in the 2012 comprehensive plan.
The entire system, about 21 miles when it’s completed, has been engineered and overseen by the Kansas Department of Transportation, according to Briseno.
“So therefore, the bike lanes as well as the sharrows are strategically placed according to national standards,” he said.
Local social media, including Hays Post, has been abuzz recently with complaints that the bike markings are “in the middle of the street.”
“When you see the sharrow markings on the road–the bike with arrows–both motorists and bicyclists should know that’s an designated area both will be utilizing…What we’re trying to do is provide a safe route for bicyclists to use and to encourage motorists to understand you can expect to see more bikes in these areas,” Briseno said.
“The system was set up to create a process for bicyclists to get from Point A to Point B with the least amount of stop signs.”
Commissioner James Meier, who just assumed his seat in late April, questioned what it cost the city to implement Bike Hays. “We’ve created a long-term liability. That’s why I ask.”
Briseno told him $600,000 was paid by KDOT–60% of the roughly $1 million project. The remaining 40%–$400,000–plus engineering costs, were paid by Hays.
“About half of the $400,000 came from the Special Parks fund, which is created by alcohol purchase taxes in Hays and can only be used for (special) park projects. The other half was paid by Stormwater funds utilized to protect the cap of the (Big Creek dike) levee by placing the (concrete) path on there.”
Bike lane on downtown Main Street
The pavement markings, created with a special paint which includes bits of ground glass for light refraction, are guaranteed for one year, according to Briseno. The city is responsible for upkeep the next 10 years.
“I have budgeted in future years roughly $50,000 in the Special Parks fund to touch up the markings or should citizens come before the commission and ask for more markings or more lanes,” he said.
Bike lane sign installed Wednesday on east 13th Street
Meier told commissioners he “turned onto 13th Street from Douglas and drove to Vine. I think I saw three Bike Lane signs.”
“It may be a little overkill,” said City Manager Toby Dougherty, “but this is very new for us…and we’re doing it all at once, so we felt like it was a good idea to make sure (Bike Hays) routes are well-marked with signs.”
Kansas Workforce One will be able to help more high school students in the coming year. Employers will be able to hear more about it at 10 a.m. June 23 at the Hays Welcome Center when Youth Vision Coordinator Ginny Prickett discuss upcoming changes.
The Workforce Investment Act program previously served only out-of-school youth, but staff investigated ways to also serve in-school youth, leading to a grant application to the Dane G. Hansen Foundation.
The Logan-based foundation, which primarily focuses upon 26 counties in north-central Kansas, offers funding help for agencies that fund opportunities and incentives for residents to remain in rural areas.
Prickett said Workforce received the grant without any issues.
“Our director wrote to the Dane Hansen Foundation. She had this idea for this program to provide career services in high schools. We serve … 62 counties and Dane Hansen was so impressed with the proposal and with what we do that they agreed to fund for all 62 counties, even though they are normally focused on 26 counties,” she said.
She along with four other colleagues — located in Hutchinson, Colby and Dodge City — cover the 62 counties. Prickett is in charge of 17 counties, including Ellis County.
The program will allow students to receive the National Career Readiness Certificate, an examination from ACT.
“We can proctor that into the schools and pay for it. So that is been exciting to be able to take it to them, whereas usually people have to come here to our workforce centers to take that exam,” Prickett said.
There are several different workshops that the schools can choose from including job search, career success, youth financial literacy, and resume building, among others.
One of the more requested workshops is the career success workshop. It specifically speaks about soft skills that might seem like common sense to some — but are becoming increasingly sought-after by employers.
“Why is it important to be dependable as an employee? Why is it important to show up on time? How can you get along with your coworkers,” Prickett said of the workshop topics.
Another beneficial workshop is one on social media. Students go over how to correctly use social media and how it can affect you.
Interaction with the employers is important and Workforce’s summer goal is to reach out to more and educate them on the services being provided at schools.
Employers will also receive a survey to fill out, allowing the business to share what they are seeing currently in their field. If they are seeing specific skills that are lacking, then they pass that on to Workforce to allow the agency to improve services. On the back of the survey, the businesses will be able to express how involved they want to be with the high schools.
“It’s an important part of the process improving the workforce we need to have the employers involved as well,” Prickett said. “We want to have this information so when we go back into the schools in the fall, we can share this with the schools and say we talked to these employers in your area, here are some of the things that they are saying, here are some of the things they seeing with the workforce.”
Prickett invites employers to the June 23 presentation and said more could be scheduled, depending upon the turnout.
Hays City Commissioners look through the 2014 budget audit report.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Finance Director Kim Rupp somewhat jokingly referred to the 2014 City of Hays audit as “his report card” and called the process “aggressive.”
Melissa Romme, CPA, and a partner at Adams, Brown, Beran and Ball in Hays, called it “very thorough.”
Rome, with Ken Beran alongside, presented the 2014 audit during Thursday’s Hays City Commission meeting.
“Each year we try to switch up what we look at. We don’t look at the same thing year after year and try not to ask the same questions. We try to rotate the different procedures that we do,” Rome explained.
“We came in with a lot of questions and looked at different areas. A lot of it centered around the airport FAA grants,” she said.
In 2014, Hays received a $920,133 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to rehabilitate the Hays Regional Airport terminal. The city paid the remaining cost of $445,496, which came from the Airport Improvement, Airport Operating and City Commission Financial Policies funds.
As required by Kansas statute, the city of Hays hires an outside firm to conduct an annual audit of city finances. The audit represents an unbiased opinion of business practices and the financial soundness of all city funds.
“We can happily report we have no citations for you this year,” Beran told commissioners. “We found no problems with your audit this year.
“Our job as auditors is to recommend things we see that can maybe improve your system. We do a number of audits and we believe you have a topnotch system,” he added.
“I’m looking at your auditor’s results and there’s no irregularities or weaknesses,” commented mayor Eber Phelps.
“That’s a real tribute to Kim and everybody involved,” he added.
The 2014 Hays budget is available on the city website.
Jacob Campbell had three hits including a triple and Cam Roegner pitched six solid innings to lead the Hays Larks to an 8-2 win over the Haysville Aviators Thursday night in Haysville. The Larks take the final two games of their first road series of the summer and improve to 6-6 overall and 3-4 in the Jayhawk League. After a 6-0 start, the Aviators have dropped three of four and are now 7-3 and 4-3 in league play.
The Larks struck for four in the first inning then add three in the fifth. Evan Gruener tripled, driving in two and Jacob Campbell singled in the four-run first. Singles from Allan Beer and Corky Welch drove in runs in the fifth.
Cam Roegner (1-0) went six innings allowing two runs on six hits, and picks up the win. The Bradley product struck out five and walking just one.
The Larks are back home Friday to open a three-game weekend series with the Bethany (OK) Bulls. 7 pm start with free admission courtesy of the Heartland Catbackers.
