GOODLAND, Kan. – The TMP-Marian baseball team split their doubleheader in Goodland Thursday. The Cowboys scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh and won the first game 3-2. The Monarchs came back to win game two 6-4.
Ricky Hockett allowed three runs (one earned) on six hits over 6 1/3 innings and suffered the loss in the opener.
TMP scored two in the top of the seventh to break a 2-2 tie in the second game then held on as the Cowboys got two in the bottom of the inning. Chase Werth and Chase Romme both had two hits. Creighton Renz drove in two.
Ryan Ruder gave up two unearned runs on four hits and struck out 12 over over six innings and picked up the win. Jared Vitztum allowed two runs in the seventh but gets the save.
JUNCTION CITY, Kan. – The Hays High boys golf team finished fourth at Thursday’s Junction City Invitational the Rolling Meadows Golf Course. The Indians shot a 327 and were one shot behind third place Junction City and 17 back of first place Manhattan.
Allen Zollinger led the Indians with a 77 and tied for fourth.
HHS Results Allen Zollinger 77 T-4thmedalist
Payton Ruder 83 T-15th place
Tradgon McCrae 83 T-15th place
Peyton Kieffer 84 T- 21st place 327 4th place team
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Seven children who were taken to perform for occupiers during the armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge earlier this year have been placed in the temporary custody of Kansas child welfare officials.
The Kansas City Star reports that a judge made the placement Wednesday after finding probable cause that the children of Odalis Sharp had been abused.
Sharp told The Star as she left the hearing that she didn’t abuse her children.
According to testimony from a 2 ½ hour hearing, five of her children bolted Friday as she climbed in the shower. They removed guns from the house before getting a ride from a neighbor to the Shawnee County sheriff’s office.
A child welfare worker says the children reported that their mother spanked them with a rod.
HAYS, Kan. – The Hays High girls’ soccer team moved to 8-5 overall and 5-1 in the Western Athletic Conference with a 3-1 win over Dodge City Thursday at the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex.
Jacqui Paderes scored two first half goals and Sydney Sulzman put the match away with a goal in the 70th minute. Sulzman scored off a beautiful pass from Lieacha Cook.
The Indians are off until next Thursday when they host Salina Central on Senior Day at the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex.
SALINA-Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating an online loan scam.
A woman from Salina in her 40s was researching consolidation loans online this week and found the website ‘cashnetpayday,’ according to Salina Police Captain Mike Sweeney.
She filled out an application on the site, and received a telephone call a short time later from a man with a foreign accent identifying himself as “Jack Brown.”
The caller told the woman she qualified for a $12,000 loan, but in order to receive the money, she first needed to pay some fees.
He then instructed her to pay the fees using several iTunes gift cards. The woman purchased $350 worth of gift cards at Walgreens and a total of $700 worth of gift cards at CVS Pharmacy.
She then contacted “Jack” and provided him with the access codes to the gift cards.
Sweeney said that after not receiving the loan, the woman contacted “Jack” and was told an additional $1,200 in iTunes cards was needed to process the loan.
When she refused to provide the money, the man then claimed that only an additional $600 would be needed. The woman again refused to provide the money and contacted police.
Total loss in the case is $1,050, according to Sweeney.
Photo by Susie Fagan Senate Vice President Jeff King –
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A top Republican in the Kansas Senate says he made a mistake in supporting Gov. Sam Brownback’s 2012 income tax cuts and will not seek re-election because of the state’s political climate.
Sen. Vice President Jeff King of Independence was the only member of Senate leadership to vote this week against a budget that will require Brownback to make more cuts in order to balance.
The Wichita Eagle reports King played a major role in reforming the state’s pension system during the governor’s first term. He strongly objected to the Legislature’s decision to delay a $96 million payment to the pension fund to help fix the current budget.
He says blindly following the status quo is not governing, but rather political cowardice that can’t be rewarded.
HUTCHINSON -Another blow for the defense in the case against a Kansas teen charged with two counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated arson.
The defense for Samuel Vonachen, 16, accused of setting a fire to his family’s Hutchinson home that killed his mother and sister, wanted the video interview officers did with the defendant, where he allegedly confessed to the crimes, suppressed.
On Thursday, Judge Trish Rose denied the motion.
In her written opinion, the judge said that the defendant was advised of his rights and signed a written waiver. She says while the interview occurred in the evening, the same day of the early morning fire, the defendant did not appear groggy or ill.
“He was able to communicate fluently and the interview didn’t exceed a reasonable length of time,” Judge Rose said.
She also says that police didn’t employ unfair or coercive tactics during that interview. She says based on what she saw from the video of the interview, the defendant’s statements were voluntary.
The case centers on Vonachen allegedly spreading gas through the downstairs of his family’s home, then setting it on fire on Sept. 26, 2013.
The case is still pending a jury trial.
He was 14 at the time and the state has charged him as an adult for those crimes.
From left: FHSU instructors Misty Schartz and Jessica Heronemus; Kyle Staab; Emily Breit, chair of the Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting; and professor Charles Gnizak
By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN FHSU University Relations and Marketing
Denis Miller knows he’s getting some of the best the area has to offer when he hires a Fort Hays State University graduate. Now, he can boast of having one of the state’s best working for him.
Miller, a partner of Mapes and Miller Accounting Firm and an FHSU alum, was back at his alma mater earlier this week to help honor Kyle Staab for scoring the highest score in the state on the Uniform CPA Examination for the 2015 July/August testing window. The certified public accountant exam is comprised of four separate sections that must be passed within an 18-month window.
It’s the third time in five years that a Fort Hays State graduate has recorded the best CPA exam score in Kansas during their particular testing window.
“I was elated and very proud that Kyle had the top score in Kansas,” said Dr. Mark Bannister, dean of the College of Business and Entrepreneurship. “I think this continues to show that we have some very bright students who are provided with an excellent accounting education by our faculty.”
Miller, who returned home to his native Phillips County after graduating from FHSU more than 20 years ago, said “we always go to Fort Hays State first,” when hiring accountants for one of his four locations in northwest Kansas – Phillipsburg, Norton, Stockton and Quinter.
“We’ve always known that Fort Hays State has a very quality accounting program,” said Miller, who works out of the Phillipsburg office and proudly states that all but four of the 15 current accountants working for Mapes and Miller are Fort Hays State graduates.
One of those is Staab, who wasn’t even pursuing an accounting career when he graduated in spring 2012.
Staab, a 2006 graduate of Hays High School and the middle sibling of three, decided not to follow his older brother to Kansas State University and stayed close to home for college.
“I thought it was more affordable,” he said of his decision, “and I knew (FHSU) had a really good finance program.”
Yes, he said finance program.
Staab had no aspirations of becoming an accountant and only added the accounting emphasis to his curriculum his senior year because “I thought the accounting classes would complement the finance part, make my resumé look better. I thought it would set me apart when looking for jobs.”
Even after his graduation from Fort Hays State, Staab was still looking for a job at a financial institution.
Then, he got a call from Miller.
“When we first called him up about working here, we asked if he’d be interested in coming to Phillipsburg,” Miller said. “And he asked, ‘Where is Phillipsburg?’ ”
Staab laughs at the ribbing, explaining that “in high school, we never played Phillipsburg in sports. I’d heard of it and knew generally where it was. But we weren’t planning to stay close to home.”
However, Staab and his wife, Jenna — who also grew up in Hays — checked out the opportunity in Phillipsburg and found the entire package to their liking.
“It was an adjustment not being able to go to Walmart (in Hays) any time of day,” he said. “But we’ve certainly enjoyed it here in Phillipsburg, especially with kids. It’s nice to experience a small place where you feel safe wherever you go.”
The entire package was a good fit for the young couple, although the accounting track was a new idea for Staab, who didn’t immediately respond when Miller told him to take the CPA test.
“Denis encouraged me for a while to take the test,” Staab said, “but I kind of put it off.”
Staab took the first of the four-part test in 2014 and was surprised when he scored a 93. The grade on his second test was even better (a 98), and he scored in the 90s on the next two tests as well.
His average of 94 just missed the cutoff of 95.5 and making the top-10 national list. Nonetheless, it was the best in Kansas during that testing period.
“I certainly wasn’t expecting that,” Staab said.
It’s something Bannister has almost come to expect, though, considering FHSU’s track record over the past five years. So he knew the drill in planning a reception for Staab.
Fort Hays State didn’t learn about Staab’s accomplishment until late last year.
“Then it was Christmas, then our winter break,” Bannister said. “Then it was tax season for Kyle.”
There was another reason to wait until May for the reception. The Staabs were expecting their second child, who was born April 21. So baby Cora, not even yet 2 weeks old, was able to join older sister, 22-month-old Remy Jo, in helping their dad celebrate this week.
Coincidentally, it’s also the time of year that Bannister’s phone rings in his office, and there are potential employers on the other end.
“For the last several years, when we get to the end of April and early May, I get more and more accounting firms that call and ask, ‘Are you sure you don’t have more graduates? We love Fort Hays State accounting graduates,’ ” Bannister said. “We have alumni scattered from coast to coast in both public practice and in very important internal positions within organizations.”
An alum near and dear to Miller is one of those — his daughter, Heather Miller.
“Our daughter works for KPMG in Dallas,” Miller said of one of the world’s four largest accounting firms known as the Big Four. “And she was amazed at Kyle’s score. They don’t even see scores like that there.
“You can go your entire career and not meet anybody who has scored that high,” Miller added.
Unless, of course, you meet up with a Fort Hays State accounting graduate.
MEADE–Fisheries biologists at the Meade Fish Hatchery have been fooling Mother Nature to get largemouth bass to spawn earlier than normal.
By controlling water temperature and photo-period (day length), along with other biological factors, hatchery staff are able to create an environment where largemouth bass spawn up to two months earlier than they would in the wild. The fry produced have a huge advantage over naturally-spawned bass because they are large enough to feed on small fish through the spring and summer. By fall, these larger bass are more likely to survive their first winter in a Kansas lake.
So far, early-spawn bass have been stocked into select Kansas reservoirs where bass are popular with anglers but natural reproduction and normal stocking practices aren’t maintaining good bass populations. To evaluate the success of the early-spawn program, fisheries staff have conducted creel surveys to determine if catch rates have improved. In addition, DNA testing of adult bass caught in these lakes will tell biologists what percentage of the bass population is made up of early-spawn fish.
A unique quality of the early-spawn program is that genetic records kept on the brood fish allow each bass produced to be traced back to the hatchery. KDWPT biologists are working with bass tournament organizers to obtain samples from bass brought to tournament weigh-ins at select lakes. Recently, staff worked with the East Kansas Bassmasters club during a tournament on Hillsdale Reservoir where early-spawn bass have been stocked since 2012. Fingernail-sized clippings from the upper caudal fin were collected from fish at the weigh-in before the bass were released. The tissue samples will be tested to determine if they came from fish produced at the Meade Fish Hatchery.
In the past five years, more than 10 million largemouth bass have been produced and stocked through the early-spawn procedure. The evaluation efforts will help biologists determine the program’s effectiveness in bolstering bass populations, as well as what changes should be made to improve stocking success.
Hays, Kansas – Dr. William M. Kane, age 88, died Thursday, May 5, 2016 at The Willow House Hays, Kansas. Memorial services will be in mid May at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church Hays, Kansas.
Cline’s Mortuary of Hays, 1919 East 22nd Street, Hays, Kansas 67601 are in charge of arrangements.
SALINA – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are searching for a hit and run suspect in connection with a Thursday morning incident involving a mobile donut vendor.
Just before 7:30a.m. on Thursday, Police officers were sent to the Elmore Center in the 600 block of East Crawford in Salina on a report of a disturbance, according to Captain Mike Sweeney.
A silver Isuzu Amigo SUV had driven into the parking lot and moved toward a table where boxed donuts were being sold by Hurts Donuts of Wichita, according to Sweney.
Several people had to move out of the way before the vehicle bumped into the table.
The vehicle then backed away from the table and drove away from the area.
No one was hurt in the incident and the table was not damaged.
Sweeney said a suspect has been identified and police continue to investigate the case.
Several individuals had reportedly identified the driver of the vehicle as the owner of a local donut shop, who had previously objected to Hurts selling donuts in the Salina area.
No arrests have been made and no citations have been issued.
KDWPT
Hays Post