ABILENE -The Drug Enforcement Unit of the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office along with the Abilene Police Department, have completed a two week long investigation of prostitution in Abilene, with the arrest of one woman and more arrest are expected.
According to a news release, 39-year-old Ginger Ann Burleson was arrested on July 30th after she agreed to perform a sex act on an undercover officer in exchange for controlled substances.
After the controlled substances were exchanged, Burleson was arrested and also found to be in possession of methamphetamine.
She was booked into the Dickinson County Jail on requested charges of conspiracy to sell sexual relations, selling sexual relations, possession of methamphetamine, possession of a schedule II controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Gene Policinski is senior vice president of the First Amendment Center
There’s no doubt that a huge number of Americans are unable to name the five freedoms protected by the First Amendment — national survey results each year since 1997 sadly leave little doubt about that circumstance.
On a more positive note, when reminded of the core freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition, our fellow citizens line up behind them in large numbers.
But when it comes to how those freedoms apply in everyday life? Well, it’s not that there’s less support. Rather, less agreement.
About a month ago, the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center published the results of its annual State of the First Amendment survey and the findings of a follow-up survey that focused on issues around display of the Confederate battle flag. The former was taken before a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows Texas officials to ban display of the flag on state license plates, and before the killings in Charleston, S.C., by an apparent racist who had posed for a photo displaying the flag. The latter survey was taken after both had occurred.
In sum, the two survey results showed a shift in how the public viewed the Texas auto tag ban — swinging from opposed to support. And the second survey found that while a majority of white and Hispanic respondents did not attach the same racist meaning to the flag as did black respondents, all three groups favored taking down the battle flag from public monuments and government buildings, and approved of private companies removing flag-related items from store offerings.
Some interesting reactions to the reporting of those results have come this way via email, and it is worth sharing a few.
In one email, noted as a “Letter to the Editor,” in which the writer complained that the reporting, citing this column, “seems to be saying that as long as a majority believes then the First Amendment does not apply.” Well, that’s hardly the case. Freedom of speech means that you and I and others get to say what we will regardless of majority opinion — including, if we wish, public and vigorous display of the Confederate battle flag.
What the First Amendment does not mean is legal insulation for some from decisions by elected officials on how public funds are expended, or from a reversal of earlier decisions. The First Amendment protects our right to speak, but doesn’t silence others who are just as free to disagree, criticize, and oppose.
This email writer also claimed desecration of cemeteries, violence, and even murder of pro-Confederate flag areas and supporters — saying the purported perpetrators “know how this First Amendment thing works these days.” Even if such things have occurred, no one has repealed laws against such criminal actions, before or after decisions to remove “that flag” from public display. Illegal acts were never protected by the First Amendment.
Another writer, who says she lives “Up North,” wrote that she’s now getting her concealed gun permit to join “the overwhelming silent majority that is pretty close to rising up to all this politically correct garbage.” Unable to get a proper flag, she said she settled for “a Confederate towel and it’s pinned to my clothesline.” After a few ugly slams at “welfare cheats, illegals, foreigners and fake causes,” blacks, President Obama and “bedwetting” liberals and Republicans she does not like, she says the nation is “turning to Communism and socialism!”
Whew — a lot of negative territory in relatively few words. But that’s free speech — even hateful remarks are protected. And one theory about the First Amendment is that by permitting such thoughts to be voiced publicly, without fear of government action, we’re less likely to rely on our Second Amendment right to express ourselves — in most cases.
Another writer — who began by advising me to “get a life and grow up dude” — followed that greeting by addressing his note to “just another history/revisionist liberal who only ‘feels good’ when trying to suppress others.”
On a more serious note, he suggested I have “little understanding of what this country’s founders believed in when writing our Constitution.” And a cartoon attached to the email noted, “We can remove flags and symbols all day … but it’s the hate in people’s hearts that needs to be removed.”
And what of the Founders’ intentions in protecting our freedom of expression? The First Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights were written as restraint on government, not to provide government endorsement of any point of view, faith, or political party — even after such support, if we are to be honest, was tacitly or directly given for years, or even decades.
Our core freedoms were put in place to counter what those in the Founders’ generation called “the tyranny of the majority” — not just superior numbers on this issue or that, but an entrenched majority that could control public policy over time — effectively denying a minority from ever being an effective force.
Removal of the Confederate flag from some publicly funded displays or private shelves does not signify a lessening of free speech. Rather, it demonstrates the power of unrestrained speech to reach even those who do not necessarily agree with the “why” but do approve of the “what” — even if it took 150 years to do it.
But let’s give the emailbag writers their due on an underlying fear they express — the prohibition of private displays of the flag or other symbols some dislike. In a thoughtful dissent on the Texas flag decision, Justice Samuel Alito decried the Supreme Court’s decision on Texas’s auto tag that will preclude free speech on what he properly called personal “little mobile billboards” that no one should mistake for a government-sponsored message.
And let’s all stand guard against legal erosion that would somehow limit the expression of those half-dozen folks I saw over the weekend on southeastern Tennessee roads, flying large battle flags from the rear of pickup trucks. Such overt displays may offend some, or even many, but those in opposition are free to buy their own trucks and flags and take the same highways.
No government subsidy, support or limits, and no Supreme Court justice in sight. That is how real free speech works. Really.
Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute and senior vice president of the Institute’s First Amendment Center. [email protected]
Money will be on the minds of Hays USD 489 Board of Education members at their regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Toepfer Board Room in the Rockwell Administration Center, 323 W. 12th.
The board is set to hear a budget review, as recommended by the district administration, which will be followed by a public hearing.
That hearing will be held 6:30 p.m. Aug. 17 at the same location, giving the public an opportunity to offer input and to have budget questions answered by the board.
Budget information is public and can be found at the Rockwell Center.
Tonight the board will also hear from representatives of HTK Architects about current district facility needs, allowing the board to discuss how to proceed with potential bond issues.
The board meeting is open to the public. Click HERE for a complete agenda, including budget information and a report on district buildings.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Green Bay Packers announced Monday that they’ve signed former Fort Hays State wide receiver Ed Williams.
Williams played three seasons at Fort Hays State after transferring from the University of Toledo. In 2014, he was a first-team All-MIAA selection and earned All-Super Region 3 honors from Don Hansen and Beyond Sports Network after recording 53 receptions for 946 yards (17.8 avg.) and seven touchdowns. For his career, Williams started 13 of 27 games played and registered 86 receptions for 1,617 yards (18.8 avg.) and 14 TDs.
Western Ellis County and Trego County received a smattering of rainfall overnight Sunday, along with some thunder and lightning.
There was a report of about a quarter-inch of rain north of Ellis, but the rain was confined to the western third of the county.
Heavier rain fell in Trego County, where reports ranged from trace to 0.89 inches of rain south of WaKeeney.
Gove County also had a report of a half-inch of precipitation.
There is a chance for more thunderstorms late Monday night or early Tuesday morning. The chance of precipitation and potential thunderstorms continues through Wednesday.
A children’s psychiatric facility in Kansas City, Kan., has agreed to set aside 12 inpatient beds for adults who have been referred to Osawatomie State Hospital but haven’t been admitted due to overcrowding there.
“This will definitely help with the situation at Osawatomie,” said Kyle Kessler, executive director with the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas.
The additional beds at KVC Prairie Ridge Hospital will be available Monday, Kessler said. The adult patients, he said, will at all times stay in a building separate from those that house the facility’s younger patients. “We’ve been working on this for at least six weeks,” Kessler said, referring to the association’s role in coordinating the needs and resources of the Osawatomie hospital, the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, the region’s community mental health centers and KVC. Prior to joining the association,
Kessler was executive vice president for public affairs at KVC Behavioral Health, which, in addition to running children’s inpatient psychiatric facilities in Kansas City and Hays, is one of the state’s two foster care contractors.
Officials at Osawatomie State Hospital suspended new admissions last month — for the first time in state history — when the facility’s census reached 146 patients.
Though Osawatomie State Hospital has a licensed capacity of 206 patients, KDADS officials earlier this year capped admissions there at 146 patients after federal surveyors cited the facility for having too many patients, lacking sufficient staff levels and not doing enough to prevent suicidal patients from hanging themselves.
KDADS expects the hospital to return to its 206-bed capacity in November, when renovation work meant to correct some structural problems that federal inspectors identified is complete.
The hospital’s admissions are limited to patients with serious and persistent mental illnesses who’ve been found to be a danger to themselves or others. Since December, all admissions have been limited to patients whose stays are court-ordered and involuntary.
Osawatomie State Hospital is one of two state-run hospital for Kansans with mental illness. The other is in Larned.
During the moratorium, some community mental health centers and rural sheriff’s departments have not had a place to take people who, previously, would have been voluntarily admitted to the hospital.
“This has to help,” said Sandy Horton, head of the Kansas Sheriffs’ Association. “It’s not a lot, but 12 beds is 12 beds. This is a positive step, any way you look at it.”
On Tuesday, the Osawatomie hospital had 146 patients with seven discharges scheduled. Fourteen would-be patients were on the hospital’s wait list.
Kessler said the KDADS contract with KVC is for 150 days.
Jason Hooper, president of KVC Health Systems, said Tuesday in a prepared statement that KVC plans to keep the unit open after the contract ends.
“This is a very natural expansion for KVC within our existing facility, and we are looking forward to partnering with community mental health centers to make this a sustainable treatment program even after the renovations to OSH are complete,” he said.
KDADS has long had similar contracts with the inpatient psychiatric units at Via Christi Health in Wichita and Prairie View mental health center in Newton.
Generally, Via Christi and Prairie View have resisted taking involuntary patients. KVC, however, has agreed to take some involuntary patients.
Lynn Davis, who runs Breakthrough House, a Topeka-based program for people with severe and persistent mental illnesses, welcomed news of the additional beds.
“I commend KVC for doing this,” Davis said. “It’s definitely needed and definitely a good thing. There are people out there who for whatever reason need to be in Osawatomie, but they can’t get in. Or if they do get in, it’s only for a couple days, which isn’t enough.”
Earlier this month, a task force charged with critiquing the state’s mental health system filed a 41-page report with KDADS Secretary Kari Bruffett. In the report, the task force said the system is underfunded, inadequate and overly dependent on the state hospitals.
Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s likely to be a Senate showdown over halting federal aid to Planned Parenthood. Conservatives have long targeted the group, which provides health services, family planning and abortions in clinics across the country.
A vote Monday proposes shifting Planned Parenthood money to other health care providers. This latest battle was prompted by a series of videos that have focused attention on the group’s little-noticed practice of providing fetal tissue to researchers.
U.S. Senators Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) are co-sponsoring the legislation.
“Each successive video of senior Planned Parenthood officials discussing the harvesting of tissue remains of aborted babies is more gruesome than the last,” Sen. Moran said. “Human lives are the cost of the organization’s appalling efforts to collect fetal organs and tissues. I have long opposed taxpayer funding for abortion providers, and now it has become even more obvious why our tax dollars should not be permitted to facilitate these disgusting practices. Planned Parenthood is perversely treating unborn children as a commodity to be abused, and there are real concerns that their actions are not only immoral but illegal. I am hopeful the Senate will soon vote on our legislation to deny Planned Parenthood federal funding.”
“The recent comments of high-level Planned Parenthood employees are deeply disturbing and must not be tolerated on any level,” said Roberts. “Any organization that allows such abhorrent behavior should not receive any taxpayer dollars, and I’m proud to cosponsor this legislation that would ensure that no federal funds go to Planned Parenthood. Every life is a precious gift that we have a responsibility to protect.”
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A hitchhiking robot that captured the hearts of fans worldwide met its demise in the U.S.
The Canadian researchers who created hitchBOT as a social experiment say someone in Philadelphia damaged the robot beyond repair on Saturday, ending its brief American tour.
The robot was trying to travel cross-country after successfully hitchhiking across Canada last year and parts of Europe.
It set out from Marblehead, Massachusetts, two weeks ago in July with the goal of reaching San Francisco, but never made it off the East Coast.
The creators were sent an image of the vandalized robot but cannot track its location because the battery is dead.
They say they don’t know who destroyed it or why. But co-creator Frauke Zeller says many children who adored the robot are now heartbroken.
The Hays Monarchs Sr. American Legion will play the Nevada Silver Division state champions then take on the Minnesota Division II state runner-up in their two pool play games at the Central Plains American Legion regional in Le Sueur, Minn.
The Monarchs, who went 4-0 to win the ‘AA’ state tournament in Colby, opens with the Rancho (NV) Post 8 Rams at 9:15 a.m. Thursday. They will then play Moose Lake (MN) at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Single elimination bracket play begins Friday afternoon.
The Monarchs, who beat Iola 8-3 in the state title game Saturday, are 27-7 on the season. They are the third Hays team in the last four years to represent Kansas in the American Legion regional. The Hays Eagles played in the ‘AAA’ regional in 2012 and 2013.
The Hays Police Department responded to 7 animal calls and 7 traffic stops Friday, July 31, 2015, according to the HPD Activity Log.
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–1700 block Agnes Dr, Hays; 5:49 AM
MV Accident-Personal Injury–3700 block Vine St, Hays; 6:12 AM
Suspicious Activity–300 block E 22nd St, Hays; 7/17 9 PM; 7/31 6 AM
Contempt of Court/Fail to Pay–3000 block New Way, Hays; 6/22 5 PM
Contempt of Court/Fail to Pay–3000 block New Way, Hays; 6/14 5 PM
Animal At Large–600 block E 5th St, Hays; 9:50 AM
Civil Dispute–3700 block Fairway Dr, Hays; 11:22 AM
Animal At Large–2400 block Main St Terr, Hays; 11:41 AM
Criminal Threat–1300 block Lawrence Dr, Hays; 7/29 3 PM; 3:05 PM
Found/Lost Property–Hays; 2:07 PM
Parking Complaint–3300 block Skyline Dr, Hays; 2:13 PM; 2:34 PM
Civil Dispute–100 block E 15th St, Hays; 2:35 PM
Warrant Service (Fail to Appear)–1100 block E 13th St, Hays; 2:38 PM
Found/Lost Property–2700 block Vine St, Hays; 2:41 PM
Criminal Damage to Property–300 block W 13th St, Hays; 4:24 PM
Harassment, Telephone/FAX–1700 block Donald Dr, Hays; 4:52 PM
Bicycle – Lost,Found,Stolen–2900 block Skyline Dr, Hays; 5:19 PM
Abandoned Vehicle–400 block W 5th St, Hays; 5:34 PM
Abandoned Vehicle–1500 block Canterbury Dr, Hays; 7:56 PM
Assist – Other (not MV)–Hays; 8:25 PM
Intoxicated Subject–400 block Milner St, Hays; 8:53 PM
Aggravated Battery–3300 block Thunderbird Dr, Hays; 9:05 PM; 9:35 PM
The Hays Police Department responded to 6 animal calls and 19 traffic stops Saturday, August 1, 2015, according to the HPD Activity Log.
Drug Offenses–600 block Vine St, Hays; 12:01 AM
Assist – Other (not MV)–Hays; 1:15 AM
Disorderly Conduct–2500 block Vine St, Hays; 2:08 AM
Arson–700 block Walnut St, Hays; 2:41 AM
Civil Transport–2200 block Canterbury Dr, Hays; 4:13 AM
Disorderly Conduct–2500 block Indian Trl, Hays; 4:43 AM
Animal Call–300 block W 23rd St, Hays; 8:45 AM
Animal At Large–2700 block Willow St, Hays; 9:32 AM
Found/Lost Property–400 block E 7th St, Hays; 11 AM
Animal At Large–1300 block E 21st St, Hays; 12:41 PM
Lost Animals ONLY–100 block E 5th St, Hays; 1:11 PM
Animal At Large–1200 block Hall St, Hays; 1:48 PM
Disturbance – Fight–200 block W 6th St, Hays; 2:55 PM
Juvenile Complaint–20th and Walnut, Hays; 4:27 PM
Battery – simple–200 block E 28th St, Hays; 11:10 PM
Assist – Other (not MV)–4300 block Vine St, Hays; 11:14 PM
The Hays Police Department responded to 7 animal calls and 11 traffic stops Sunday, August 2, 2015, according to the HPD Activity Log.
Suspicious Vehicle–4300 block Vine St, Hays; 12:06 AM
Contempt of Court/Fail to Pay–300 block W 7th St, Hays; 1:21 AM
Warrant Service (Fail to Appear)–500 block E 16th St, Hays; 3:12 AM
Driving Under the Influence–500 block E 8th St, Hays; 3:13 AM
Suspicious Activity–200 block W 4th St, Hays; 5:47 AM
Disturbance – General–4300 block Vine St, Hays; 6:18 AM
Found/Lost Property–1600 block E 27th St, Hays; 7:32 AM
Animal Call–700 block E 6th St, Hays; 10:29 AM
Drug Offenses–27th St. and Canal Blvd., Hays; 11:25 AM
Animal Call–500 block E 8th St, Hays; 12:52 PM
Theft (general)–4300 block Vine St, Hays; 4:26 PM
Harassment, Telephone/FAX; 200 block E 14th St, Hays; 1 AM; 10:20 AM
Disturbance – General–400 block W 19th St, Hays; 10:48 PM
