Funeral services for lifelong Sherman County resident Dale Stephens, 82, will be held Friday, September 16, at 10:30 AM MT at Harvest Evangelical Free Church in Goodland.
Interment will be at Goodland Cemetery.
Friends may share respects Thursday from 5:00-7:00 PM MT Koons Chapel in Goodland.
Memorials to Pleasant Home Church (for children’s activities) or Evangelical Free Church (for children’s activities) may be left at or mailed to Koons Funeral Home, 211 North Main, Goodland, KS 67735-1555.
The Ellis County Commission will consider a pair of conditional use permits at Monday’s meeting.
Midwest Energy has an application for a communication tower at Grants Villa Road and 250th Avenue. The permit has been reviewed and approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The second permit is for a wedding venue and reception hall on Buckeye Road. The Planning and Zoning Commission did not approve the permit request.
The county commission can either approve or disapprove the conditional use permit or sent it back to the Planning and Zoning Commission for more discussion.
The commission will also consider purchasing a new Ford pickup for the sheriff’s department, consider hiring three new jailer positions and continue the discussion on a petition to vacate Randall Lane south of Hays.
Monday’s meeting starts at 5 p.m. with the Public Building Commission at the County Administrative Center.
The Kansas Department of Transportation expects to begin work this week on a multi-season project to repair the east and westbound bridges on I-70 in Ellis County near exit 172 at Walker.
Workers will begin installing temporary crossovers in preparation for the bridge deck replacements and concrete patching and overlays that are planned for next year. East and westbound traffic will be reduced to one lane through the construction zone and minor delays not exceeding 5 minutes should be expected. KDOT urges all motorists to be alert, obey the warning signs and “Give ‘em a Brake!” when approaching and driving through work zones.
Work on this phase is expected to be completed by the end of October, weather permitting.
Bridges Inc. is the primary contractor for the project with a total contract cost of approximately $2 million.
AgeeThe Hays Public Library is hosting a meet and greet reception for Jim Agee, the new library director, on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the library’s Schmidt Gallery. Light refreshments will be served. All are invited to attend.
The library will close at 6 p.m. for the reception, except for the main entrance and the gallery.
Douglas Kent Huscher, age 73, of Stockton, passed away Wednesday, August 31, 2016 in Stockton. He was born June 20, 1943 in Colorado Springs, Colorado to Walter and Mona (Clark) Huscher. He married Sondra McCall on December 11, 1992 in Goodland, Kansas.
Douglas was a Telecommunications Instructor at NWKAVTS in Goodland, Kansas and also worked for Rural telephone in Lenora, Kansas in management, sales and as a communications technician. He was a US Air Force veteran attaining the rank of A1C E-4. He was a gifted artist, painter and a devoted mentor. He enjoyed gardening, fishing and rock hounding and spending time with his grandchildren.
He is survived by his wife, Sondra of Stockton; a daughter, Krista; two step daughters, Alana Delgado of Hill City and Laura Burton and husband Derrick of Stockton as well as three step grandchildren, Axel Ginn, Makayla Burton and Holden Burton.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, David Huscher.
Private family services will be held at a later date. Arrangements in care of Brock’s-Keithley Funeral Chapel and Crematory 2509 Vine Hays, KS 67601.
Memorials are suggested to the Stockton, Kansas VFW.
Condolences may be left by guest book at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or emailed to [email protected].
William Irven Pederson, 77, of McDonald, died Saturday, Sept 10, 2016, at his home in McDonald. He was born Jan 19, 1939 in Padroni, CO to Irven E. and Beulah Edna (Emanuel) Pederson. He was married on April 28, 1960 to Joyce I. Riley in Fort Morgan, CO. He was a resident of McDonald since 1972. He retired from the Rawlins County Shop.
He is preceded in death by his parents; one daughter; two grandchildren, one son in-law; four brothers and four sisters.
He is survived by his wife, Joyce; children, William (Penney) Pederson, of Atwood, Sandy (Scott) Zeigler, of Oberlin, Tammy (Jeff) Bates, of Fort Hood, TX, Caroline (Brent) Ginther, of Menlo and Loretta (Cliff) Rucker, of McDonald: sister, Jean McCain, of Vinita, OK; 15 grandchildren and 5 Great grandchildren.
Visitation will be 5-8:00pm on Tuesday, Sept 13, 2016 at Baalmann Mortuary, Atwood. Funeral services will be 11:00am on Wednesday, Sept 14, 2016 at Immanuel United Methodist Church, Bird City. Burial will follow in the Grace Cemetery, McDonald.
For condolences or information, visit www.baalmannmortuary.com.
Jean Armbruster, age 84, of Ellis passed away Saturday, September 10, 2016 at the Good Samaritan Society, Hays.
Funeral services will be 1:00 PM Wednesday, September 14, 2016 at Keithley Funeral Chapel 400 E. 17th Ellis, KS. Burial will follow in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Ellis.
Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas will host its annual Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, September 27, at 12:00 p.m. The event will take place at the Ellis County Fairgrounds in Hays.
According to Steve Keil, Director of Development, awards will be presented to DSNWK employees for years of service with two receiving the Employee of the Year honors. Recognition will also be made for the achievements made by men and women in DSNWK services. These awards will be for employment and independent living accomplishments, with special awards giving for individual achievement.
DSNWK will also present awards to several community members for their support of people with disabilities through opportunities in employment and other community support.
Nine out of 500 monarch butterfly tags recovered recently in Mexico were from butterflies tagged at the KWEC last year.
FHSU University Relations and Marketing
Nine out of 500 monarch butterfly tags recovered recently in Mexico were from butterflies tagged at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center in 2015.
Individuals of all ages will have the opportunity to tag and release their own monarch butterflies during KWEC’s annual Butterfly Festival from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 17, at the center.
“Of the nine butterflies recovered, one was tagged during the festival last year, while others were from school programs and butterflies captured during evenings in fields,” said Pam Martin, festival coordinator.
“This is an extremely high number of tag recoveries,” said Curtis Wolf, KWEC manager.
Until recently, Martin had seen only four tags recovered in the previous 23 years.
The center, 592 NE K-156 Highway, is on the southeast side of the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area, northeast of Great Bend.
After the butterflies are captured, volunteers will assist in placing adhesive tags with identifying numbers on the underside of the wings. The butterflies are then released. Tagging helps biologists to learn about the monarch’s migration to its wintering grounds in central Mexico.
Nets and tags will be available. Participants will receive information about the tagging process before heading out to the field with a tagging leader.
Wading through sunflowers with a captured monarch butterfly, a monarch tagging participant brings his catch in to be tagged. Tagging is just one of many butterfly-themed activities planned at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center’s butterfly festival Sept. 17.
“We don’t always hit the peak monarch migration, but there are always some monarch butterflies to chase and capture in addition to caterpillars and chrysalises,” said Martin.
“Last year was a good migration year and the numbers were up. The drought had eased, and scientists think that helped the monarchs migrate,” she said.
Other activities will be provided, such as an insect zoo with an exhibit beehive (weather permitting), giant walking stick insects, hissing and peppered cockroaches, and butterflies, caterpillars and chrysalises.
“From making milkweed seed bombs to tagging monarch butterflies, kids and adults will find plenty to do during this free event,” said Wolf.
Kids and adults will be able to play in the mud and make milkweed seed bombs to take home. Milkweed seed bombs are composed of clay, compost, water and native flower seeds. Pre-made milkweed seed bombs will be available to practice slinging into KWEC’s prairie area using giant slingshots.
Free milkweed plants, with growing instructions, will be available to those who would like to encourage monarchs to their yards and gardens.
The festival will include monarch butterfly and caterpillar photo boards, temporary tattoos, games, a butterfly mural, and drinks and refreshments.
Information on butterfly-friendly plants and other attractants will be available. Visitors may also walk through the wildflower and butterfly garden to view examples of such plants.
As a kid growing up in the farm country of central Ohio, my summer income came from the same source as all other farm boys near and far; baling hay! I know I’m aging myself here, but we’re talking pre-round bale days; we’re talking wagon load after wagon load of at least 100 square bales apiece, loaded on wagons pulled behind the baler, taken to the barn, unloaded onto an elevator and stacked into the loft.
Steve Gilliland
The farm boys in our neighborhood were the usual ornery, free-spirited lot, but we all knew how to work hard, and come hayin’time each year we became a necessary commodity to most local farmers. Such was the case with Chester Campbell. “Chet” as he was known, lived across the road from me, and for reasons unknown, didn’t seem to care much for us neighborhood boys. I think the feelings were mutual, but like I said, once his hay was down, we became pretty good kids.
Ohio has groundhogs like Kansas has coyotes; wherever there is ground there are groundhogs. Groundhogs, best known as woodchucks, look like overgrown prairie dogs, short stumpy tail and all, and can easily grow to weigh ten pounds or more. They have two sharp incisor teeth in the front of their mouth, much like a beaver, and eat all types of green plant life. They dig their burrows in fence rows and woodlots where they can easily sneak out into fields of young growing crops and wreak havoc. Like mini combines they choose a row of tender young soybean plants, straddle the row and eat every plant off to the ground for several feet.
We had a dog named “Silly” who was a groundhog slayin’ machine. Silly knew just how and where to grab them, and would shake them till their teeth rattled. One day we heard a huge ruckus coming from the cornfield by the house. Upon investigation, it was Silly who had caught a groundhog, probably sneaking through the cornfield on its way back to the safety of its den. When the fight was over, Silly was victorious as usual, the groundhog was dead and a patch of corn the size of a pickup was flattened from the fray.
Now old man Campbell also had a dog, sort of a cross between a Beagle and a Bassett, named Wimpy. As I remember Wimpy was a good old dog, just not the “sharpest knife in the drawer,” if you know what I mean. This particular day, Campbell’s hay was ready to bale, and, as usual, three of us neighbor boys suddenly became handier to him than sliced bread! The hay field was bordered by a creek on one side and by woods on one end, and those borders were riddled with woodchuck dens.
Empty wagons were pulled behind the baler, and when one was loaded, we stopped long enough to unhook the loaded one, hook up to the empty behind us and go again. In the middle of one such exchange, we heard the most awful wailing, screeching and thrashing imaginable coming from the nearby field edge. The three of us ran to investigate and found Wimpy in the weeds with a big groundhog fastened securely to the end of his snout! Around and around they went, the woodchuck showing no intentions of letting go.
We all knew better than to try and interrupt the festivities barehanded, so we scrambled to find something to end the brawl and save Wimpy’s snout. The back of all the hay wagons had metal “pockets” welded to them into which wooden racks could be inserted to provide something solid to stack the back row of hay bales against. One wagon happened to have just single 2×4’s in those pockets, so someone grabbed one and ran back to the brawl. After taking careful aim amidst the ball of thrashing fur, a well placed wallop across the groundhogs back dropped it to the ground and sent it diving for its burrow minus Wimpy, who raced shrieking toward the house. So ended Wimpys close encounter with the woodchuck, and I sincerely doubt he ever saw one that close again.
Although I’ve not heard of groundhogs in my neck of the woods, they are in Eastern KS and will probably someday make their way here much like the armadillos have. Each time I go to Hutchinson I marvel at the prairie dog “city” there around the mall, and I think to myself that if our commercial food supply was ever cut off and I wanted something different than fish or venison, I’d simply head to the mall with a pellet gun and fill my freezer; I’m sure prairie dog tastes just like chicken!…Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.
Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].
HARVEY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Harvey County are investigating a teen suspect for a social media threat against schools in Newton.
Douglas Kent Huscher, age 73, of Stockton, passed away Wednesday, August 31, 2016 in Stockton. He was born June 20, 1943 in Colorado Springs, Colorado to Walter and Mona (Clark) Huscher. He married Sondra McCall on December 11, 1992 in Goodland, Kansas.
Jean Armbruster, age 84, of Ellis passed away Saturday, September 10, 2016 at the Good Samaritan Society, Hays.
DSNWK
The festival will include monarch butterfly and caterpillar photo boards, temporary tattoos, games, a butterfly mural, and drinks and refreshments.
