GEARY COUNTY -A Kansas man was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Monday in Geary County District Court.
Michael White, 20, Junction City, had been charged with being the ringleader in two different series of robberies including one by Milford Lake and another in Junction City.
What they were basically doing was ripping off other small time drug participants, according to Steve Opat, Geary County Attorney.
“The problem was that those robbed didn’t have any drugs. So what they ended up doing was taking their personal property, and their money.”
White was convicted of two counts of Aggravated Robbery and one count of Criminal Threat. Opat said both robberies were at gunpoint.
Two other defendants have been convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Robbery.
PRATT – Want to expand your catfishing horizons? Floatline fishing, sometimes called jugline fishing, is a fun and effective method for catching catfish in reservoirs. If you remember the excitement of watching a bobber when you were a kid, floatline fishing is bobber fishing on steroids. Big “bobbers” and big fish.
If you’re interested, start planning now. The floatline fishing season opened July 15 and closes September 15, and it’s allowed on 12 select reservoirs, including Council Grove, Elk City, Fall River, Glen Elder, Hillsdale, John Redmond, Kanopolis, Lovewell, Tuttle Creek, Pomona, Toronto, and Wilson.
Floatline fishing consists of free drifting large floats, each fitted with line, a hook, and weight. Floats drift with the breeze, suspending the baited hook. When the float begins bobbing up and down or moving unnaturally, you’ve got a bite.
Floatline fishing is allowed from sunrise to sunset and anglers are allowed up to eight floatlines, which must be under immediate supervision of the angler at all times, and removed from the water when fishing ceases. Floats must be made only from plastic, wood, or foam and shall be a closed-cell construction, meaning a solid body incapable of containing water. For more information, visit ksoutdoors.com and click “Fishing.”
SALINE COUNTY – A Kansas girl died in an accident just after 5:30p.m. on Monday in Saline County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Dodge Nitro driven by Joslyn A. Geiber, 24, Salina, was northbound on Burma Road and stopped at a stop sign at K140.
Vehicle1 failed to yield right of way entered the roadway and struck a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer driven by Christopher J. Garcia, 33, Salina, that was west bound on Kansas 140.
A 9-year-old passenger Carmen Asebedo, 9, Salina was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected. She was transported to Salina Regional Medical Center where she died.
According to the KHP, she was the only passenger that was not properly restrained.
Garcia and other passengers in the Trailblazer Melissa D. Martin, 28, Alex Z. Garcia, 9. Christian Garcia, 7, Angelina Asebedo, 11, and Damian C. Garcia, 4, all of Salina, were transported to Salina Regional Medical Center.
Geiber was not injured.
SALINE COUNTY – The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating a two-vehicle accident just after 5:30p.m. on Monday in Saline County.
A Dodge Nitro ran a stop sign and hit a Chevrolet Trailblazer at Kansas 140 and Burma Road west of Salina, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.
Several children, passengers in the Chevy, were taken to Salina Regional Health Center for treatment.
Check Hays Post for additional details as they become available.
PHILLIPSBURG – The cowboys may be the stars of the rodeo, but without the horses and bulls, they wouldn’t get very far.
The cowboys’ dance partners in the rodeo arena, the bucking horses and bulls waltz with them to the bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and bull riding, and even though they can’t speak, they have stories to tell.
Rhett Beutler, fourth generation of the famous rodeo family, will bring those animals to Kansas’ Biggest Rodeo in Phillipsburg August 4-6. He talks about his horses and bulls like a proud dad talks about his kids: their accomplishments, quirks, idiosyncrasies, and their lineage. His admiration and respect for them shines through.
Bareback horse Hollywood Hills relaxes in the back pens before a rodeo. The ten year old bay likes to be petted. (Photos by Jennifer Vimmerstedt)
Hollywood Hills is one of those animals headed to Phillipsburg. The bareback horse, a gelding, has been to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR) for the past two years. “He’s a big gentle pet,” Rhett says. “You can walk up to the fence, and he’ll walk over to you, and he’ll lean over and want you to scratch on him and rub on him.” The son of the mare Fairy Tales, he was hauled as a colt with his mama to rodeos “and he got used to being around people, and people rubbing on him at the rodeos when he was a baby.”
Hollywood Hills is a ten year old bay who weighs about 1,300 lbs.
Hollywood Hills’ sister, Wonderland, is another special horse in the Beutler herd. The dark bay mare, a fourteen year old, is out of Fairy Tales as well and a wonderful competitor. “She bucked from day one,” Rhett said, “ever since we started bucking her. You could tell that the first time we bucked her, she would be special. She jumps and kicks every time and never weakens.” Wonderland has been selected for the past ten consecutive years to buck at the WNFR, “and that’s saying something, to have a horse go ten times in a row.” Both Hollywood Hills’ and Wonderlands’ sire was Commotion, one of the most famous sires to come from the Beutler’s ranch north of Elk City, Okla.
Killer Bee, an eleven year old mare, had an unusual beginning. She was in Burwell, Neb., at a rodeo with her mama, Molly Bee, a mare who had gone to the WNFR, when her mama colicked and died. The Beutlers bottle fed Killer Bee till she was eating grain and sweet feed on her own. Killer Bee, a light colored sorrel roan with a bald face, was runner up to the PRCA’s Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year in 2015. Cowboys get bucked off of Killer Bee frequently, but if they stay on, the results are good. “If you can ride her, you’ll win first,” Rhett said. Three cowboys who have made the eight second buzzer on her have made 90 point rides. She started out as a bareback horse, but Rhett switched her to the saddle bronc riding.
The mare Molly Bee had another colt, prior to Killer Bee, and that horse was Molly Brown. Molly Brown, a fourteen year old mare, is a little stripe-faced bay who weighs about 950 lbs. “She’s not as big as some of the other horses, but they’ve won a lot of money on her over the years.” She’s a smooth ride for bareback riders. “She comes out (of the chute), circles to the left, hangs in the front end, and kicks over the top. She gives bareback riders plenty of time to get their timing down and make a nice ride. They drive a long ways to get on her,” Rhett said. “She doesn’t buck many guys off. But if you stub your toe, she’ll buck you off. She doesn’t quit or weaken.”
Killer Bee and Molly Brown are out of Commotion, who was the PRCA’s Bareback Horse of the Year three times (1998-2000), and Bareback Horse of the WNFR in 1997. Commotion, who is 25 years old, was retired in 2006 (after ten consecutive trips to the WNFR) and now is used for breeding mares.
Ninety Proof, (on the left), is one of the Beutler and Son Rodeo Co.’s bulls that may be coming to the Phillipsburg rodeo in August. Weighing 1,800 lbs., he has bucked at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo the last two years.
One of the famous Beutler bulls who will be in Phillipsburg is Ninety-Proof. He has bucked at the WNFR the last two years, with Joe Frost winning the eighth round at the 2015 WNFR on the bull. Ninety Proof is exceptionally large: he weighs 1800 lbs, and has a motley face and short, flat, black horns.
The Beutlers start bucking bulls with a dummy strapped to their backs when they are about two years old. They begin hauling them to rodeos slowly, allowing them to get older and bigger. “We wait, and let them get big and mature before we start putting them on the truck,” Rhett said.
The horses start when they are older. The Beutlers begin bucking them when they are four or five years old, “you ease them into it,” he said. While bulls are often finished with rodeo competition by the age of seven or eight, horses are just getting a good start. Horses often buck till they are fifteen or even eighteen years old.
And it’s impossible to make a horse or bull buck if they don’t want to, Rhett said. “You can’t make them buck. I’ve tried everything in the world, and on some horses, I can’t make them kick over a beer can.”
The animals know when it’s time to head to a rodeo, Rhett said. “They know when it’s time. When you gather them and bring them into the pens, they see all the activity, and there are some running over you, trying to get on the truck. You put their buddy on the truck, and they’re down in the alley, amongst forty head of horses, nickering. They want to be there with their buddy.”
The Beutler ranch, located ten miles north of Elk City, has between 350 and 400 head of horses, including bucking stock, brood mares, saddle horses, and yearlings. Windmills and farm ponds dot the ranch, providing plenty of fresh water.
And when the Phillipsburg rodeo rolls around, those Beutler trucks will be headed north, with horses and bulls on board, ready to go to work.
The Phillipsburg Rodeo is August 4-6, with performances at 8 p.m. nightly. Tickets range in price from $13-16 for adults and $10-11 for children, and are available at the gate and at Heritage Insurance in Phillipsburg. For more information, visit the rodeo’s website at KansasBiggestRodeo.com or call (785) 543.2448.
WICHITA– A former tribal casino employee was sentenced Monday to five years on federal probation for embezzlement, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
Donald M. Collins, 32, Wetmore, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement and theft from an Indian tribal organization. In his plea, he admitted the crime took place while he worked as a Players Club Representative for the Sac and Fox Casino, which is owned by the Sac and Fox Nation of Kansas and Nebraska.
Collins made counterfeit player cards and placed unearned free play on player cards belonging to his friends. Collins and others played the cards. The value of the counterfeit cards, along with winnings generated by the cards, caused a total loss to the casino of $30,766.
Beall commended the Kansas State Gaming Agency and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Metzger for their work on the case.
One of the oldest items in the collection is an autobiography titled, “Nurse and Spy,” published in 1864.-photo courtesy Mark Rountree, Leavenworth Times
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Confederate currency, bone dice and a memoir from a nurse who also was a Union spy are among a 3,000-piece Civil War collection that the University of St. Mary in Leavenworth is adding to its library.
The Bobby D. Lawrence collection was a gift from the Lawrence family of Leavenworth. The collection includes several memoirs, along with more than 2,000 books about the Civil War that will go into the library’s circulation and available for checkout from students and the public.
Librarians and curators say the collection has two significant areas of focus: women in the war and regional materials from Kansas and Missouri.
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government says the fuel economy of the nation’s fleet of cars and trucks likely won’t meet its targets in 2025 because low gas prices have changed the types of vehicles people are buying.
Under standards set in 2012, automakers’ fleets were expected to get an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. But in a report issued Monday, the government says that’s more likely to be between 50 miles per gallon and 52.6 miles per gallon.
A summary of the report — by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the California Air Resources Board — was obtained by The Associated Press.
The report is part of a review that will decide whether to relax the standards or keep them in place. .
TOPEKA – A Kansas woman pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to operate an interstate sex trafficking business, according to acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
Shannon Nelson, 23, Topeka, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy. In her plea, she admitted conspiring with co-defendants to operate a Topeka-based prostitution business. At times, as many as 20 females were working as prostitutes for the organization. The leader of the organization rented houses where some of the prostitutes were allowed to live. The organization used Web sites, social media and cell phones to advertise sexual services and to keep track of prostitutes.
Nelson admitted she worked for co-defendant Frank Boswell as a commercial sex worker. She became a trusted member of Boswell’s organization and lived in one of Boswell’s houses. She posted advertisements for herself and other women on a Web site offering sexual services. She used cell phones to communicate with Boswell and others in the course of operating the prostitution business.
Federal agents encountered her July 15, 2015, at a Motel 6 in Omaha where she and other women had gone to engage in prostitution.
Sentencing is set for Oct. 24. She faces a penalty of up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on each count.
Co-defendant Frank Boswell, 42, Topeka, Kan., is awaiting trial. Co-defendant Rachel Flenniken, 34, Topeka, Kan., is set for sentencing Oct. 17. Co-defendant Sean P. Hall, 46, Topeka, Kan., is set for sentencing Oct. 3.
Beall commended the Topeka Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Kenney for their work on the case.
In brief court appearances Monday, July 18, Holliann Marie Stramel, 24, and Trevor Jay Calvin, 27, plead not guilty to all counts stemming from a hit-and-run incident that resulted in the death of Ellis County resident John J. Befort, 67, on July 18, 2015.
Judge Glenn Braun presided over today’s arraignments that lasted less than 30 minutes, with both defendants declining to have the charges against them read.
Now the case will proceed to a jury trial, to be preceded by a pretrial that will be scheduled within 180 days.
Before the trial commences, Tom Drees, Ellis County attorney, said he intends to file a motion to consolidate the cases and Paul Oller, Calvin’s attorney, said he intends to object to the motion.
Oller also informed the court he intends to file a motion to suppress evidence and a Jackson-Denno motion. That motion calls for a hearing outside the presence of a jury to determine the admissibility of Calvin’s statements to police officers.
Calvin is charged with two counts: Concealing or altering evidence of a crime and impeding or obstructing an officer’s duty.
Stramel is being charged on three counts: Failure to stop and render aid at a fatality accident, concealing or altering evidence of a crime, and vehicular homicide. The first two counts are felonies in Kansas and the third is a Class A misdemeanor.
Under Kansas sentencing guidelines the three counts together carry a punishment of 38 to 129 months in a state penitentiary, fines up to $402,500 and up to a year in county jail.
Former Wichita State guard Fred VanVleet has signed a multi-year contract with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, the Raptors announced Monday afternoon. Per team policy, financial details were not disclosed.
VanVleet will attend training camp with the Toronto this fall where he will compete for a spot on the team’s regular season roster. Preseason games run from Oct. 4-21, 2016.
The 6-foot point guard went undrafted in late June but was offered a spot on Toronto’s in the Las Vegas chapter of the NBA Summer League. In five games, he averaged 6.2 points in 16.0 minutes per game and impressed the team’s decision-makers with some of the same intangibles that brought him success at the collegiate level.
In an efficient stat line reminiscent of his four seasons at Wichita State, VanVleet hit 55 percent of his three-point attempts (6-of-11), banked eight assists, and tallied twice as many steals (6) as turnovers (3), while helping the Raptors to a 4-1 finish.
VanVleet joins Ron Baker — who agreed to a similar contract with the New York Knicks shortly after the draft — as former Shockers under contract heading into the 2016-17 preseason.
A year ago, ex-Shockers Cleanthony Early (New York), Toure’ Murry (Washington) and Nick Wiggins (Minnesota) earned spots on NBA preseason rosters.
WICHITA–A Kansas woman was sentenced Monday to 260 months in federal prison for making a video of herself engaged in a sex act with a child under five years old and uploading the video to the Internet according to acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
Ashley Marie Kelly, 25, Dodge City, pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography. In her plea, she admitted she used a smartphone to record the act and posted the video to her Google Drive account. Google discovered the photographs and sent reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Beall commended the Ford County Sheriff’s Office, the Wichita Police Department, the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart for their work on the case.
Tonight Mostly clear, with a low around 74. South wind 10 to 17 mph.
KDWPT
