Patricia J. “Pat” Staab, 80, died Friday, November 13, 2015, at Via Christi Village, Hays.
She was born December 5, 1934 in Catharine, Kansas to Felix and Florine (Werth) Giebler. She graduated from Girls Catholic High in 1953. She was a bookkeeper at S&W Supply from 1952 to 1954. She started “Pat’s Noodles” in 1978 which is a family venture that continues today.
She was a member of the Christian Mothers Altar Society at St. Catherine’s Catholic Church, Daughters of Isabella of Hays, and the VFW Auxiliary of Hays. She attended perpetual adoration and sang with the Senior Gospel Group of Hays.
She married Norman A. Leikam on October 2, 1954. He preceded her in death October 23, 1965 (Vietnam). She married Marion F. Staab on May 10, 1969. He preceded her in death July 2, 2015.
Survivors include a daughter Deborah (Leikam) Letourneau and husband Don of Portland, Oregon, sons Steve Leikam and wife Suzanne of Hays, Mike Leikam and wife Angela of Overland Park, and Aaron Staab of Catharine. Seven grandchildren, Matthew Leikam, Brianna (Letourneau) McCoy and her husband Brandon, Connor Letourneau, Alexis Leikam, Jacob Leikam, Makenzie Staab and Corey Breit. One brother, Gerald Giebler of Maize and Nadine Thomasson of Hays.
She is preceded in death by her husbands, her parents and her brother Lawrence Giebler.
Funeral mass will be 10 AM Monday, November 23, 2015 at St. Catherine Catholic Church in Catharine. Burial will be in St. Catherine Cemetery, Catharine.
Visitation will be Sunday 5PM – 8PM with a Daughters of Isabella rosary at 6:30 PM followed by a parish vigil at Brock’s-Keithley Funeral Chapel & Crematory, 2509 Vine, Hays.
Visitation Monday will be at the church from 9 AM until service time.
Memorials are suggested to Thomas More Prep-Marian, St. Catherine Catholic Church or for masses.
Condolences may be left by guest book at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or emailed to [email protected].
SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a shooting in Salina.
Police reported no one was hurt after a shot from a small caliber gun was fired into a Salina home in the 500 Block of Washington Street just after 6p.m. on Wednesday.
The occupants of the home told police a white car left the area immediately after the gunshot was fired.
A Kansas City Council committee approved three anti-smoking measures on Wednesday. CREDIT MARIUS MELLEBYE / CREATIVE COMMONS-FLICKR
A Kansas City Council committee on Wednesday approved three anti-smoking measures that critics said wrongly include electronic cigarettes and premium cigars.
Taken together, the three ordinances raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco products and e-cigarettes from 18 to 21 and add e-cigarettes, also known as vapes, to the city’s ban on indoor smoking, including in so-called vape shops that sell them.
Supporters expect the full council to follow the committee’s lead when it meets Thursday afternoon, given that nine of the 13 council members are co-sponsors of the three ordinances.
The council vote could be the first of a one-two punch, since elected officials in Wyandotte County are scheduled to consider raising the legal age of sale of tobacco products to 21 when they meet Thursday evening.
“I feel for the folks on both sides of this,” Kansas City Councilwoman Heather Hall said, explaining that her support for the measures come from her experiences as a staff member with the American Cancer Society.
Proponents argue that keeping cigarettes out of the hands of youngsters for as long as possible pays health dividends far down the road. They cite research showing that nearly 90 percent of smokers picked up the habit by age 20 and that the still-developing brain of young adults is particularly vulnerable to tobacco addiction.
Lumping vapes with cigarettes
Vapes are even finding their way into classrooms, according to testimony Wednesday, since unwitting teachers can easily mistake them for pens. Students can take a drag when the teacher is not looking.
But Doug Cox, owner of a midtown vape shop, told committee members that it was ignorant to lump in e-cigarettes with traditional cigarettes, especially when it comes to clean indoor air ordinances. Vapes merely emit water vapor, he said.
“Uneducated votes are going to doom our country,” Cox said after the committee meeting.
He said the indoor smoking ban would prohibit customers from sampling vapes in his store.
Like Cox, Candi McCann argued that vapes are a great smoking cessation tool, providing a less harmful way to deliver nicotine. McCann is a regional manager for Vapor World, which has four stores in the area.
Including vapes in the ordinances, she said, infringes on the right of adults to engage in a legal activity and of business owners to control what goes on in their establishments.
Including cigars
Curt Diebel, owner of Diebel’s Sportsmens Gallery on the Country Club Plaza, unsuccessfully urged the committee to exempt high-end cigars from the prohibition on selling tobacco products to people under the age of 21.
More often than not, he said, his customers are coming in to mark a special occasion – including celebrating that they can buy a cigar on their 18th birthday.
Cigars and cigarettes are not comparable items, Diebel said, arguing that they use different types of tobacco.
“It is just a different product,” he said. “It is not the same.”
But Dr. Bridget McCandless, CEO of the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, told the committee that while they might be different from cigarettes, cigars carry an exceptionally high risk for oropharyngeal cancer.
She also disagreed with the contention that vapes are smoking-cessation devices, arguing that evidence suggests e-cigarettes are gateways to cigarettes for youngsters.
McCandless appeared before the committee as a leader of the Tobacco 21 | KC initiative, launched last month to make 21 the legal age of sale of tobacco products in municipalities around the region. The initiative is part of Healthy KC, a broader community-health effort spearheaded in part by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.
Gathering momentum
Leaders of Tobacco 21 have been active in coordinating what could be back-to-back favorable votes in Kansas City and Wyandotte County on Thursday. A legislative committee in Wyandotte County has already approved the ordinance.
The indoor smoking ban in Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, already includes e-cigarettes.
The proposed Tobacco 21 ordinances in Kansas City, Missouri and Wyandotte County both include fines for violations. The Kansas City ordinance says violators could face a fine of up to $1,000 and imprisonment for as long as six months.
Kansas City’s Tobacco 21 initiative is part of a nationwide effort pushed by the Ohio-based Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation. Its founder and president is Dr. Rob Crane, a family physician and professor at Ohio State University.
The foundation says more than 100 municipalities nationwide have increased the legal age of sale of tobacco products to 21, including New York. Hawaii has a statewide enactment.
The majority of communities that have taken action are in Massachusetts and New Jersey.
Having two large municipalities enact the ordinance nearly simultaneously would be a first for Tobacco 21, Crane said in an interview. It would be significant in helping the movement gain a greater foothold in the Midwest, he said.
The Kansas City-area initiative is also notable for the leadership of the business community, Crane said.
Actions to curb smoking are more likely to be effective on the local level, he said, arguing that the tobacco lobby has widespread influence in state legislatures around the country.
“You have to go to your neighbors. You have to go to the city council person who lives down the street from you, who are in the PTA with you,” Crane said. “They listen and they understand.”
Mike Sherry is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
Take stock of what has happened to Kansas tax policy, and then ask the question, “Who benefitted?” Here’s a hint: It wasn’t middle class or low income Kansans.
Big changes in Kansas tax policy began in 2012 when Governor Brownback signed sweeping tax cuts into law. Income tax rates were lowered across the board and individuals who receive their income through “business” sources were exempted entirely from paying state income taxes.
Duane Goossen
Yes, in that action, income tax rates went down for everyone, but at the same time, lawmakers also raised the sales tax and took away credits that helped low income Kansans. Even with the offsetting sales tax increase, the income tax cuts proved so costly that they triggered a severe budget crisis.
In the first year, general fund revenue dropped $701 million, more than 11 percent, jerking the state budget badly out of balance. Lawmakers covered the ballooning gap between expenses and rapidly falling income by using up all of the state’s financial reserves.
With the bank account emptied, lawmakers tried to close the gap by cutting programs, including school funding. And they transferred unimaginably large sums of money from the highway fund and from virtually every other fund in the state treasury that had cash. Despite these irresponsible actions, they fell far short. At that point, even the most conservative lawmakers decided to raise taxes.
Sales tax rates rose again. Lawmakers hiked cigarette taxes sharply, and eliminated most income tax deductions. Property taxes continued to go up, largely because school districts tried to survive reductions in state aid.
What’s the net result of all those tax changes? For the 20 percent of Kansans who earn the least, below $23,000 a year, average taxes actually went up by $197 a year. For the next 20 percent, net taxes also jumped higher. Middle income Kansans essentially broke even. But the top 20 percent of Kansas earners came out far ahead, and the top 1 percent, those who earn more than $500,000 a year, picked up an average tax break of about $25,000. All these figures come from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, a group that has developed probably the best model for measuring these types of changes in any state.
But it doesn’t take a study to tell us what has happened. Any Kansan can see it. A sales tax hike takes a far bigger bite out of a small income than a large one. Lower income Kansans spend a much higher proportion of their resources on food and other items subject to sales tax than wealthy Kansans do.
Kansas now has the second highest state sales tax rate on food in the nation. The shift to sales tax has contributed to making our state’s tax system one of the ten most regressive. The poor pay a far higher percentage of their income in taxes than the wealthy, not a statistic of which Kansans can be proud.
Yet even after shifting the burden of state taxes onto middle class and low income Kansans, the budget is still not working. The tax breaks for the wealthiest of Kansans produced such a huge revenue loss that the state budget remains in the red. Just this month, state officials announced yet another downward revision of the future revenue forecast. So more “fixes” are ahead.
If the real goal was to shift more resources to the wealthiest Kansans, this policy has worked like gangbusters. But if the goal was to adequately fund state programs with a fair taxation system, it’s a wreck. The state budget is in shambles. Unless we change course, the lowest income Kansans and the Kansas middle class will bear even more of the burden of fixing it.
Duane Goossen is a Senior Fellow at the Kansas Center for Economic Growth and formerly served 12 years as Kansas Budget Director.
Dwight Young- the center’s ex-executive director pictured at a USD 428 School Board meeting.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A mental health center in Great Bend has denied allegations it was aware that its former executive director was a serial sexual predator who had inappropriate contact for almost 30 years with clients and staff.
The Center for Counseling and Consultation filed late Wednesday its response to the federal lawsuit brought against it in September by two women.
The women allege the board allowed its ex-executive director Dwight Young to resign last year following an investigation into sexual harassment complaints brought by several women. The lawsuit contends the board then retaliated against the complainants.
In addition to broadly denying the claims, the center argued it cannot be held liable for acts of its managerial employees that were contrary to its own good-faith efforts to comply with federal law prohibiting employment discrimination.
SALINA -The Salina Regional Health Center board of trustees has authorized a $1 million contribution to the field house project planned for downtown Salina, according to a media release.
Board members approved the measure after discussing merits of the project’s ability to promote health and wellness in the community and provide affordable options for team recreation. The project also promises to make a positive impact on the local economy.
The 2015 Saline County Health Needs Assessment identified childhood obesity as a leading health issue facing the community. The assessment was conducted by representatives of Salina Regional Health Center, Saline County Health Department, Central Kansas Foundation, Salina Surgical Hospital, Salina Area United Way, North Central Kansas Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging and USD 305 Salina Public Schools. Developing healthy lifestyles among youth, such as physical activity and recreation, can improve many health issues faced by society today including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mental health and more.
“At Salina Regional Health Center, we are committed to improving the health of our community. The field house will provide more recreational activities for our youth and help teach them the value of healthy lifestyles,” said Micheal Terry, President and Chief Executive Officer of Salina Regional Health Center.
Hays water users will likely see a 17 percent increase in their January 2016 bills.
Several months ago, the city commission modified the sewer rates to pay for the anticipated $30 million of improvements to the wastewater treatment facility and also to fund a capital maintenance program. At that time, it was pointed out that the water production and distribution system capital maintenance program was also underfunded.
City staff is recommending a one-time 17 percent adjustment in water rates to fund the capital maintenance program. The proposal will be reviewed by city commissioners during their work session this evening.
Other agenda items include rezoning requests of the proposed Blue Sky Acres Addition from Agricultural to Residential
Suburban District and of 1517 Commerce Parkway from Agricultural to Light Industrial District and Annexation.
The Planning Commission earlier denied the rezoning and plat requests of the proposed Blue Sky Acres Addition. The issue now comes to the city commission to either uphold or overturn the Planning Commission denial.
Assistant Public Works Director John Braun will also present proposed updates to the Development Policy.
A fifth academic college became a reality at Fort Hays State University Wednesday when the Kansas Board of Regents unanimously approved the College of Science, Technology and Mathematics.
Dr. Greg Farley, professor of biological sciences, special assistant to the provost and interim chair of the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems Engineering, was named the interim dean by Provost Dr. Graham Glynn.
“The College of Science, Technology and Mathematics combines complementary academic programs to meet the ever-growing national need for science graduates,” said Farley. “Our newest college has a shared mission of contemporary science education, novel educational opportunities, applied research and technical training, and community outreach.”
“Today is a time for celebration, not just because we now have a fifth college and a new department, but more importantly because we came together to embrace a common dream,” said President Mirta M. Martin. “I am pleased to say that dream is now a reality.”
The new college joins the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; the College of Business and Entrepreneurship; the College of Education; and the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences. The university also has the Virtual College and the Graduate School.
The new department approved Wednesday is the Department of Applied Business, which will be in the College of Business and Entrepreneurship.
The changes are part of a seven-month re-engineering process. In addition to the new college and department, several moves were approved. Eight departments were moved into the new college from their current homes:
• The Department of Applied Technology from the College of Education.
• The departments of Chemistry; Computer Science and Information Systems Engineering; Geosciences; Mathematics; and Physics, all from the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
• The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Biological Sciences from the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences.
“The combination of traditional and applied academic areas in a single administrative unit will allow students to directly experience the connections across science disciplines,” said Farley. “This kind of cross-pollination will create a deeper understanding as they gain foundational knowledge and technical skills.”
Another move was the Department of Psychology, which went to the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences from the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Other changes resulting from the re-engineering were the names of two of the colleges. Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences was formerly the College of Arts and Sciences. The College of Education was formerly the College of Education and Technology.
“The rationale for dividing the original College of Arts and Sciences centered around the fact that this college had more departments and faculty than those contained in the three other colleges combined,” said President Martin. “Dividing the college will now allow a re-balancing of the academic enterprise around areas of natural affinity.”
HUTCHINSON– A Kansas man, well known to law enforcement, was ordered to prison in two cases after being bound over for trial in a third case on Wednesday.
Jesse Villa, 34, Hutchinson, was bound over on a charge of aggravated assault for allegedly pulling a knife on John Dilorenzo during an altercation on Aug. 27.
Because he was bound over in that case, Judge Joe McCarville found that as a contributing factor in the state’s motion to revoke his corrections in the other two cases.
In one cases, he was convicted of aggravated battery for hitting a man, causing injury during an incident on Jan. 8, 2014.
He was also convicted for violation of the offender registration act from May of 2014.
Judge McCarville ordered the five-year, three-month sentence be executed.
Villa will be arraigned in an aggravated assault case on Dec. 7.
By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
What can you and I do to promote world peace? That may sound like a question in the Miss America pageant, but today we’ll learn about a rural Kansas community which took specific action to help a war-torn community halfway around the globe. That initiative began more than a half-century ago, and the relationship is being renewed again.
Brent and Charlotte Rundell live at Morganville, Kansas. They met at K-State and he went to work for a grain business in Morganville. While eating at the Morganville Cafe, he noticed a wooden picture carving with the words Feves & Morganville inscribed on the bottom. Older friends in his Bible study explained that it came from the time when Morganville adopted a city in France.
Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
After World War II, a Methodist minister in Morganville encouraged the town to reach out to those in need overseas. The citizens of Morganville decided to adopt a European community which had been severely damaged by the war. A local woman named Velma Carson took up the cause.
In 1948, a vote of the citizens was conducted. The community they chose was Feves, France. There was no prior personal connection between the towns, but there was definitely a need.
Feves was a small wine-growing community in northern France, close to the German border. During World War II, an estimated 75 percent of the community was destroyed. Feves schoolmaster Henri Torlotting sent word that the children were literally without cereals or milk. Back in Kansas, the citizens of Morganville wanted to lend a hand but needed resources to help. They decided to raise funds by putting on a pageant.
Velma Carson, the local volunteer, took on the task of writing a pageant which celebrated world peace. On Aug. 27, 1948, the pageant was performed in Morganville.
The original target called for 30 people to be involved in the performance, but by the end, nearly 150 people were involved. Rather than pay admission, people were invited to donate, and more than $1,000 was raised in this manner. Two cases of donated clothing and three barrels of powdered milk were part of the first shipment to Feves, and much more followed. Schoolmaster Torlotting helped distribute the aid.
Ultimately, the city of Feves recovered and sent its thanks back to Kansas. One of its gifts was the wooden picture carving that Brent Rundell saw decades later.
This voluntary action to help people overseas was so inspiring that it was featured on a national radio broadcast and then in a book published in 1955. But as the decades passed, the story was essentially forgotten.
In 2013, K-State journalism instructor Gloria Freeland assigned her students to write histories of rural communities in Clay County, Kansas. Cathy Haney, curator of the Clay County Museum, helped Gloria’s students find information about the Morganville-Feves connection. It caught the eye of Freeland and her husband, Art Vaughan. He created a website at www.morganvillefeves.org to share the remarkable story.
The story’s publication rekindled the relationship between Morganville and Feves. In December 2013, Morganville hosted visitors from Feves: Gerard and Solange Torlotting, now in their 70s, who had been children when the aid arrived from Morganville. Gerard’s uncle was the very same schoolmaster who had helped distribute the aid in Feves.
Gloria Freeland and her family visited Feves six months after the Torlottings visited Kansas and again two years later. In fall 2015, 20 citizens from Feves came to Morganville. Brent and Charlotte Rundell, now the mayor and first lady of Morganville, hosted their international guests.
“It’s pretty special,” Brent said.
How remarkable that this international initiative would begin in a rural community like Morganville, population 197 people. Now, that’s rural.
What can you and I do to promote world peace? Maybe we can reach out to help those who have suffered from war. We commend Brent and Charlotte Rundell, Gloria Freeland and Art Vaughan, Cathy Haney, and all those who are making a difference by revitalizing this international relationship. As Velma Carson said at the time, “This was the one affirmative thing for peace that we’d been looking for.”
Patricia J. “Pat” Staab, 80, died Friday, November 13, 2015, at Via Christi Village, Hays. 
