Fort Hays State University has been selected for the fourth year as a member of the leadership team of NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education’s Lead Initiative on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement.
FHSU has been identified as a Lead Advisory Institution (LAI) for 2015-16, serving as a mentor, supporter and resource for Lead institutions. LAIs assist the NASPA staff in creating and executing strategy, publications and online learning content for the Lead Initiative.
Brett Bruner, director of transition and student conduct and chair of the division of student affairs’ community engagement committee, serves as FHSU’s LAI representative to NASPA.
The Ellis County Extension Office will offer a program on Medicare Basics on Friday, Sept. 25, at noon at the Extension Office meeting room, 601 Main in Hays.
The free educational program will cover Medicare eligibility, how and when to apply and what is covered by the various parts. Tips for choosing a Part D drug plan during the fall open season will also be addressed.
Anyone interested in learning more about Medicare would benefit from this program, particularly those who are nearing age 65 or who help aging parents with insurance and financial matters.
The guest speaker will be Jamie Rathbun, Midway Extension District FCS Agent, and a trained counselor with the Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansas (SHICK) program.
Pre-register at the Ellis County Extension Office, 785-628-9430, to ensure adequate materials.
John Richard Schrock is a professor at Emporia State University.
Among the new college textbooks that just came out for general biology, two contain a new diagram that shows that the authors know nothing about where our meat comes from.
Under the title of “Ecological Pyramids” the book shows a field of corn supporting 10 people. To the side of this, they show the same field of corn feeding cattle that in turn produce enough meat to feed one person.
The simple-minded message is that if we eat corn rather than meat, the earth can support ten times more people. This “10 percent rule” is a general concept we use in describing energy loss in food chains in nature. Unfortunately, the authors who designed this simplistic graphic knew nothing about growing corn or cattle ranching. The conclusions that students are to draw about the ten-fold benefit of everyone going vegetarian are biologically wrong. And the problems are many.
• Humans consume only the small portion of highly nutritious corn kernels (plant embryos) from the total biomass the plants produce. Cattle are not picky vegetarians. They feed on stalks and leaves as well.
• There is an efficiency difference between eating plant and animal tissues. Meat-eating is more efficient. Animal tissues are made of chemicals similar to what we need. But plant cellulose is indigestible by humans. Humans have to eat more vegetable matter biomass to get the calories and nutrients we need.
• Cattle forage heavily on grass, not corn; this is where most of their biomass comes from.
• A cow’s stomach is a rumen designed for fermentation of plant roughage. Their primary food source is grass and hay, etc. Feed lot operations that are used for some, but not all, beef cattle are finishing up the animal for the addition of fat marbling in the meat to attain a higher meat grade. The corn kernels that constitute the only food for humans does not constitute the totality of the animal’s biomass. The textbook mathematics is pseudoscience.
• Drive through the Flint Hills and across parts of western Kansas where road cuts reveal the soil is only a few inches thick. No crop land there. Humans can either eat the grass, the grasshoppers or the beef. Take such lands out of cattle production and you decrease the world’s food supply—period. I work each summer in China and the meat available there is grown by animals that feed on peripheral “edges” that cannot be farmed, animals that never see a feedlot, and from pigs that mostly recycle food wastes. End these sources of meat and there is no cropland saved to feed more people.
• Wolves and other carnivores may eat nothing but meat, but humans are omnivores. Our prehistory, our teeth, and our nutritional requirements show that we have evolved to eat both plant and animal tissues. But the textbook shows a single person eating nothing but meat, a strawman argument that does not exist in the real world.
Why are textbooks only now beginning to run these incorrect examples? The number of persons with rural farm experiences nationwide has dropped from nearly 40 percent at World War II to well under one percent today. But it is not just a case of a city scientist writing about something he doesn’t know about. College training has likewise shifted away from field experiences working with plants and animals, and toward biochemistry and molecular biology.
Still, printed textbooks are supposed to be reviewed by other scientists before being published. Unfortunately, in the era of online materials that are hugely laden with errors, there is reason to believe that textbook publishers are letting down their guard. Textbook reviewers should have caught this.
Fortunately, well-trained biology teachers can send these textbook samples back to the cooks and not accept them until they are well done.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas and Johnson County Community College are offering a degree program that will allow students to take classes simultaneously at both institutions.
The institutions announced Monday that students enrolled in the Degree Partner Program will take core classes at the community college and upper-level courses for their major at the university. Students will have access to advising and support from both schools.
Officials at both schools said in a news release the program will allow students to take the courses they need at each institution when it works out best for them.
John Boxberger, Highway Maintenance Supervisor, will officially retire from his position with the Kansas Department of Transportation on Oct. 1, with more than 40 years of state service to his credit.
Boxberger began his career with KDOT in 1974 as an Equipment Operator I at the Russell sub-area. His retirement plans include spending time with his grandchildren and enjoying the holidays. Boxberger and his wife, Mary, reside in Russell.
Another first place finish for the TMP-Marian girls golf team. The Monarchs shot a 380 to win the Colby Invitational Monday at the Lake Meadows Golf Course. The Monarchs finish 10 strokes ahead of second place Goodland.
Karee Dinkel brings home individual honors with an 88. Alison Helget finished fourth with a 95. Annaka Applequist shot a 95 to finish sixth. Other scores for TMP-M were Taylor Dinkel at 103, Hannah Michaud 108 and Gracie Wasinger 114.
TEAM SCORES
1. TMP-Marian 380
2. Goodland 390
3. Holcomb 410
4. Colby 416
5. Hugoton 462
6. Cimarron 473
7. Garden City JV 499
INDIVIDUAL SCORES
1. Karee Dinkel—TMP 88
2. Miranda Kern—Colby 89
3. Katie Hays—Goodland 93
4. Alison Helget—TMP 94
5. Logan Perryman—Goodland 95
6. Annaka Applequist—TMP 95
7. Gracen Becker—Holcomb 97
8. Jenna Crampton–Colby 99
9. Dani Mangus—Goodland 100
10. Abbie Neal—Goodland 102
Next action for the Lady Monarchs is Thursday, September 24 at Buffalo Dunes in Garden City hosted by Holcomb.
The Hays High girls golf team shot a 385 and finished fifth at Monday’s Salina South Invitational held at the Salina Municipal Golf Course. The Indians finished 33 shots back of first place Goddard Eisenhower and were eight behind fourth place Salina Central.
Taylor DeBeor led Hays with a 79 and finished in second place. Katie Brungardt shot an 84 to finish seventh.
Complete results below…
HHS Results Taylor DeBoer 79 2nd place medalist
Katie Brungardt 84 7th place medalist
Emily McGuire 101
Emily George 121 385 5th place team
A chance for showers and isolated thunderstorms returns by late this afternoon through the overnight across far west central and southwest Kansas. No severe weather is expected, so the only real threat will be isolated lightning. Increasing clouds in the western sections will hold temperatures down in the upper 70 to lows Today. Farther east, highs will rise to around 90s degrees in central Kansas. High and mid level moisture will continue to feed into the Central Plains from the southwest United States overnight into Wednesday. Most of the area should see variable amounts of rain on Wednesday as scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms continue on and off during the day. Rainfall amounts could easily vary between a tenth and more than three quarters of an inch. Again, severe storms are not likely and lightning will be the main threat. Temperatures are forecast around 10 degrees cooler for Wednesday afternoon.
Today Mostly sunny, with a high near 94. South wind 8 to 16 mph.
Tonight A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 66. South wind 10 to 15 mph.
WednesdayA 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 82. Breezy, with a south wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon.
Wednesday NightA 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. Breezy, with a south wind 13 to 21 mph.
ThursdayA 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 80. South wind 11 to 13 mph.
Thursday NightA 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 8pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 59.
FridayA 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 79.
Friday NightA 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 58.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 35-year-old Cherryvale man has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for possessing and distributing child pornography.
According to U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom, Daniel Hosier was sentenced Monday. He had been found guilty in April.
Prosecutors say Hosier emailed images of child pornography in March 2013, and had explicit images on laptop computers and a smartphone in July 2013.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center wants to hear directly from veterans and their families about their experiences with their services.
The facility has scheduled a town hall from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday in the facility’s auditorium. The agency VA’s regional office in Wichita also will be holding a benefits claim clinic from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Representatives from the Dole VA Medical Center will be available to provide one-on-one assistance to veterans during the town hall. Senior staff and medical experts will be in a move to improve communications with veterans, their families, and other beneficiaries.
Veterans can get help for their benefits claims at the clinic, and the VA says staff will be on hand to finalize their claims as appropriate.
SALINA -A search is underway for a missing Salina teenager.
The family of 16-year-old Chloe Edson says the girl left home sometime between late Sunday night and very early Monday morning.
Edson is believed to the be in the company of 18-year-old Tanner Salazar Chaput. She was reportedly last seen at Chaput’s father’s home early Monday morning.
Edson is 5’6″ to 5’7″ tall and weighs 120 to 130 pounds. She long brown hair and blue eyes.
Anyone with information regarding her disappearance or knows of her whereabouts is asked to call the Salina Police Department at 785-826-7210.
EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) — A threat posted on social media has caused a lockdown at an El Dorado school.
According to Kimberly Webb with El Dorado Public Schools, a student reported a threat to school officials and El Dorado High School was locked down shortly before 1:30 p.m. Monday.
Webb said law enforcement screened all rooms in the high school and students were released on schedule at 3 p.m. No incidents were reported.
Details about the nature of the threat were not available.
According to El Dorado schools superintendent Sue Givens, this incident marks the second threat in 10 days the high school has dealt with. A football game on Sept. 11 was postponed until two days later due to a threat on social media.
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El Dorado –Law enforcement officials in Butler County are investigating a reported threat at El Dorado High School.
The school was temporarily on lock down, according to a report on the school’s facebook page, pending the investigation based on a student report.
There were no incidents to report, according to officials. Law enforcement was screening the high school building.
School was scheduled for dismissal at 3:00 p.m. or shortly thereafter, as classrooms are cleared by law enforcement, according to officials.
Check Hays Post for more information as it becomes available.
LENEXA–EPA has designated September 21-25, 2015, as SepticSmart Week. In recognition of this event, EPA and its state, local and industry partners are working around the country to help raise awareness about the need for proper care and maintenance of septic systems and to encourage homeowners to do their part.
By taking small steps to care for and maintain their septic systems, homeowners will not only be helping to protect public health and the environment, they can also save money and protect property values.
Approximately 20 percent of American households and 33 percent of new construction (both domestic and commercial) are served by septic wastewater systems or other types of onsite wastewater systems. Today’s septic systems and onsite wastewater systems feature advanced technologies enabling them to achieve the same level of wastewater treatment provided by the traditional sewer systems.
Septic systems can be designed as “cluster systems,” enabling them to treat large volumes of wastewater from multiple homes, apartment complexes, or businesses. Because treated effluent from septic systems is reused and recharges the local underground aquifer, they are regarded as “Green Infrastructure.”
As the nation’s population continues to grow and cash-strapped rural and small communities look for viable, low-cost and effective methods of wastewater treatment, septic systems will continue to play a critical role in our nation’s wastewater infrastructure.
For septic systems to effectively treat wastewater to levels that provide adequate protection to public health and valuable water resources, proper system care and maintenance is vital. When homeowners “flush and forget” about their septic systems, it can lead to system back-ups and overflows, which can result in costly repairs, pollution of local waterways, and added risks to public health and the environment.
State and local governments, industry professionals, environmental groups and others are urged to use a free online toolkit of EPA resources to promote the proper care and maintenance of septic systems. Visit: https://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/septic/local-outreach-toolkit.cfm.
