By Lisa Rodriguez

Kansas is a red state. In western Kansas, it’s deep red. But it’s also one of the most demographically diverse regions in the state. The population in several cities in the southwest corner is almost 50 percent Hispanic.

In Finney County, a small group of young Democrats are working to engage that huge group of potential voters who have long been in the background.

The Finney County Democratic Party had fallen apart about 10 years ago, over a divide between blue-collar Democrats and environmentalists about the expansion of a coal-fired power plant in Holcomb.

Since then, Johnny Dunlap, the 1st Congressional District Chair for the Kansas Democrats, has watched party organization come and go with elections.

As Democrats flounder, demographics change

The first time Dunlap tried to organize Democrats in Finney County was in 2012, but the group stopped meeting after the presidential election.

“In 2014, I went over again and organized them, and they knocked on doors, and made phone calls for (gubernatorial candidate) Paul Davis. … And then the election came and went and it, sort of, fell off – they stopped meeting,” Dunlap said.

At the same time, the Hispanic population has continued to grow steadily. Latinos make up nearly half of the total population in Finney County.

“He’s a Democrat, running in the 39th. For us that’s like … a unicorn.”

– John Doll, Republican candidate for the Kansas Senate 39th District seat

Dunlap is a high school English teacher in Garden City, and he said most of his students speak Spanish at home.

Waves of immigrants have been drawn to the region by its prospering beef industry.

That industry is celebrated each year at Beef Empire Days festival in Garden City. Along the festival’s parade route, you could hear a mix of English and Spanish.

The parade is a required stop on the campaign trail. All of the candidates in Senate District 39 are there, including one of Dunlap’s young recruits: Zach Worf.

“He’s a Democrat, running in the 39th. For us that’s like … a unicorn,” Republican candidate John Doll said.

Doll would know — he used to be one, but that’s another story.

Few Latino office holders

While Democrats are like unicorns around here, Hispanic candidates are even more rare.

But in nearby Dodge City, which resembles Garden City demographically, Johnny Dunlap found one Latino willing to run: 22-year-old Miguel Angel Rodriguez.

Rodriguez grew up in Liberal, and his parents both work for the National Beef Packing Company in Dodge City.

Rodriguez said he’s trying to appeal to a broader audience than just Latinos, but he admits that his candidacy is significant, because it means someone is making an effort on their behalf.

There’s only one Latino office-holder for miles around — the city clerk in Garden City.

“They see a Hispanic going into there with their voice, and growing up in the community and knowing what their hardships are,” Rodriguez said.

Nearly 40 percent of the voting-age population the 38th Senate District — where Rodriguez is running — is Hispanic.

But if finding a Latino to run for office is hard, try getting thousands to vote.

“When you look at the number of registered Hispanic voters, versus the number of registered Hispanic voters who actually voted, there’s a huge drop-off,” Dunlap said.

Registered Latinos often don’t vote

Dunlap crunched the numbers for Ford County, which is in the 38th District. Although voter registration forms don’t ask for race or ethnicity, he used information from the Kansas Democratic Party to determine the number of registered Hispanic voters.

According to his research, in the 2014 general election, just shy of 15 percent of registered Hispanic voters actually voted. That’s compared to 54 percent of all other registered voters.

Garden City restaurant owner Jorge Guzman admits he doesn’t vote.

“The thing of it is, like a lot of people like soccer and they go for a certain team. Well, I don’t like to be disappointed, so I don’t go for any team at all,” he said.

He said he understands the argument that if you don’t vote you can’t complain.

“Well I don’t complain either,” he said.

Guzman’s restaurant, Las Margaritas, is a popular spot in Garden City. His wife is a real estate agent. His family gets along just fine. He said he has no reason to complain.

Guzman’s cousin and business partner, Maria del Rayo, disagrees.

“Yo creo que es la problema de los Latinos que no nos comprometemos en la política … Estamos demasiado preocupados por sobrevivir, porque nos vaya bien, pero no nos unimos y exigimos nuestros derechos en este país.”

“I think that’s the problem with Latinos – that we don’t get involved in politics. We’re too worried about surviving, because we do well, but we won’t unite and demand out rights in this country,” Del Rayo said.

She said Latinos are scared of getting more involved. A lot of immigrants feel like even though they might have proper documentation to vote, they don’t want to become targets, she said.

At Beef Empire Days, the Finney County Democrats were registering voters in Spanish.

Worf, the Democrat in the 39th District, is still trying to get Latino votes, with campaign materials in English and Spanish.

Doll, for his part, said his campaign is focusing on Republicans and independents, including Latinos, though his campaign materials are all in English.

Lisa Rodriguez is a reporter for KCUR.

 

SALINE COUNTY – A Kansas woman died in an accident just before 7p.m. on Friday in Saline County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Chevy Venture Van driven by Misty Marie Miller, 35, Salina, was westbound on Interstate 70 two miles west of Solomon Road.

The van left the roadway, traveled across the median and struck an eastbound semi.

Miller was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Carson Geisendorf Funeral Home.

The semi driver Matthew Edward Palmer, 42, Glenn Heights, TX., and a passenger were not injured.

Miller was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A judge has determined that a Wichita man will stand trial on a charge stemming from a toddler found with a dead octopus lodged in his throat.

KSN-TV reports Matthew Gallagher waived his right to a preliminary hearing Thursday. He was charged with aggravated endangerment of a child after the 2-year-old was found with the small octopus in his throat.

The trial’s scheduled for October 3.

The criminal complaint alleges that Gallagher “unlawfully and recklessly” caused or allowed the 2-year-old boy “to be placed in a situation in which the child’s life, body or health” is at risk.

Police have said the boy’s mother told investigators she returned home from work April 5 and found Gallagher performing CPR on her son. The boy was later released from the hospital.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Officials have denied parole for a man convicted in the 1989 death of a Kansas City, Kansas, police officer.

The Kansas Prisoner Review Board has ruled that 47-year-old Darryl L. Lewis will have to wait three years before he can seek parole again.

Lewis was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Officer Jeff Young, and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Lewis was driving a stolen car and trying to elude arrest when he struck and critically injured Young in November 1988.

Young was in coma until he died on August 1, 1989.

The Kansas City Star reports that the parole board said in its decision that Lewis needs to avoid any disciplinary reports.

NEW YORK (AP) — Cable and telecom industry groups want a federal appeals court to reconsider its ruling on net neutrality.

The Wireless Association, an industry trade group also known as CTIA, and other groups are petitioning for the case to be reheard by all of the court’s judges.

Last month, a three-judge panel from the court upheld the government’s “net neutrality” rules, preserving regulations that force internet providers to treat all online traffic equally.

The 2-1 ruling was a huge victory for the Obama administration and the consumer groups and internet companies that have pushed net neutrality for years.

The Federal Communications Commission’s rules block internet service providers from favoring their own services and disadvantaging others; blocking other sites and apps; and creating “fast lanes” for services that pay for the privilege.

PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — A man has been ordered to stand trial in the 2014 shooting death of a Pittsburg State University student.

The Pittsburg Morning Sun reports (https://j.mp/2aAWsCZ ) that Bryan Bridges was ordered Thursday to stand trial for the murder of Taylor Thomas, a 20-year-old junior when he was killed in October 2014. Authorities say he was killed during a robbery.

District Court Judge Kurtis I. Loy bound Bridges over for trial on several charges, including first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping. The trial has been scheduled to begin Nov. 28.

Three other men have entered pleas in the case.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on a judge’s ruling on Kansas’ two-tiered voting system (all times local):

4:30 p.m. A county judge has ruled that Kansas must count potentially thousands of votes in state and local races from people who’ve registered without providing citizenship documents.

Shawnee County District Judge Larry Hendricks issued a temporary order Friday to block a rule from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The order came four days before Tuesday’s primary election.

The rule applies to people registering to vote at state motor vehicle offices without documenting their U.S. citizenship as required by a 2013 state law.

A federal judge ruled in May that federal law allowed them to vote in federal races, but Kobach’s rule said their votes in state and local contests would not be counted.

___

2 p.m.

A Kansas judge will consider whether to allow election officials to toss out potentially thousands of votes in state and local races from people who’ve registered without meeting a requirement to document their U.S. citizenship.

Shawnee County District Judge Larry Hendricks was having a hearing Friday on a request from the American Civil Liberties Union to block an administrative rule from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The hearing comes only four days before Tuesday’s primary election.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of three prospective voters earlier this month, a week after a state board allowed Kobach to impose the rule temporarily — through the November election — without a public hearing. It applies to people who register to vote at state motor vehicle offices without providing proof of their U.S. citizenship as required by a 2013 state law.

The affected voters are to receive provisional ballots to be reviewed later, and county election officials are directed to count only their votes for federal offices, not state and local ones. Ahead of the primary, about 17,600 people registered at motor vehicle offices without providing citizenship papers, and the rule could apply to 50,000 people in November.