DODGE CITY – The Hays High Indians girls golf team placed 5th at the Dodge City Invitational Thursday at Mariah Hills Golf Course in Dodge City.
Hays combined to shot a 393 as a team, 34 shots back of first place Kapaun Mt. Carmel. Maize was second with a 387 and Garden City pkaced third one shot back at 388.
Katie Brungardt was the Indians highest finisher, placing second with an 82. Emily McGuire finished in a tie for 18th with a 97. Talyn Kleweno finished 28th and Emily George was 37th.
Kapaun Mt. Carmel’s Emma Whitaker turned in a two-under 70, a new tournament record and took home the individual title.
Chance Pitcock (left) and Eric Stumon (right) wearing S.A.P. hoodies in Golden, Colorado. Their brand has helped contribute the funding needed to start a nonprofit organization dedicated to suicide awareness and prevention.
By RICKY KERR Hays Post
Saturday is World Suicide Prevention Day, and one local organization is working to help those affected by suicide.
“Come As You Are” is the theme for Saturday’s community event at the Fox Pavilion in Hays. Organized by the Scott Alan Project, the night is dedicated to raising awareness about suicide and depression.
The Scott Alan Project was formed in remembrance of founder Chance Pitcock’s uncle, Scott Alan Pitcock.
“When I was younger, my dad’s brother committed suicide and it had a huge impact on me and my family,” Pitcock said. “A lot of people go through depression and have suicidal thoughts or know someone who has.”
Pitcock explained that the organization is focused on uniting the community.
” ‘Come As You Are’ is about everybody coming out no matter who you are. You don’t have to dress up nice or be somebody you aren’t. Just come and be comfortable. It’s about us uniting,” he said.
The organization began to come together when 21-year-old Pitcock teamed up with Fort Hays State University graphic design student Eric Stumon. He asked Stumon to design a tattoo in dedication to his deceased uncle.
“Chance had the idea for a tattoo,” Stumon said. “Once we had it on paper, it was just really appealing to the eye, and it really inspired us to turn it into a movement.”
“We started selling the clothing and telling the story to more and more people, and we were surprised by how many people could relate, or had been impacted by suicide or depression,” Pitcock said. “Eric and I decided to start putting the money we made toward a non-profit organization that could host events, help the community, and bring even more people together.
“Suicide and depression is something that isn’t talked about often, and we wanted to change that,” he added.
Stumon was able to connect with Pitcock off of the strength of the message of the movement.
“One of my best friends was reported as a suicide, one of my best friends at Hays High,” Stumon said. “It’s kind of hard for people to tell those stories, and this helps. You aren’t alone.”
Stumon said his passion has built for the project after hearing stories from others who have connected with the movement.
“We put the logo on some hoodies and people were intrigued with it so we kind of kept going. We were amazed by how many could relate, or had been impacted in some way by suicide or depression,” he said.
The two began printing the design on T-shirts, and after launching the website scottalanproject.com, they began selling the shirts to raise the funding needed to start a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
They are now poised to host their first event tomorrow, continuing to spread their message.
The “Come As You Are” event will feature keynote speaker Maxandra Desrosiers, who will share her personal story.
“Maxandras story has always moved me, so it will definitely inspire anybody in the room,” Pitcock said.
The event will also feature a performance from Texas rock band STOMPDRAG. Mike Krug, STOMPDRAG lead singer, played in a band with Scott Alan Pitcock before his passing.
S.A.P. clothing will be available at the event.
Pitcock said the event wouldn’t have been possible without the help of sponsorships from the local Wendy’s, Wolf Furniture, Bon-a-pet-treat and Radke Implement.
All proceeds will go toward the formation of a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, student scholarships, and hosting future events.
Tickets are available at a discount on the Scott Alan Project website using the discount code SEPT10. Tickets will also be sold at the door. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the event kicks off at 7 p.m.
Emilio Gonzales, age 83, passed away at the Wichita County Long Term Care in Leoti, Kansas on Wednesday, September 7, 2016. He was born on May 22, 1933 in New Braufels, Texas, the son of Timoteo and Camilla Rozalas Gonzales. He was a resident of Leoti, Kansas since the early 1950’s moving from Texas. He was a farmer.
On January 15, 1983 he married Elaine M. Hoshstetler in Leoti, Kansas. She survives.
Survivors Include his Wife – Elaine M. Gonzales of Leoti, Kansas, One Step Son – Brian Hogan of Aiken, South Carolina, Two Step Daughters – Diana Hogan of Leoti, Kansas, Carol Hogan of Oregon, Numerous Nieces & Nephews, Ten Grandchildren & Two Great Grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his Parents, One Step Daughter – Cheryl Hogan and 16 Brothers and Sisters.
There will be no services.
Memorials In Lieu Of Flowers may be given to the Emilio Gonzales Memorial Fund % Price & Sons Funeral Home
FHSU Sports Information
LAREDO, Texas – Fort Hays State used about every tick of the clock possible to notch its first win of the season in a 2-1 overtime win at Texas A&M-International on Thursday night (Sept. 8). Derick Gonzalez provided the golden goal with only two possible seconds remaining to avoid a tie in the double overtime thriller.
The 20th-ranked Tigers took the upper hand with a goal by Tobias Patino in the 55th minute. Maurizio Costa earned an assist by blasting a shot off the goalkeeper that rebounded to Patino for the scoring strike.
Misfortune struck FHSU in the 65th minute as the Dustdevils tied the match when FHSU mishandled a ball that went into their own goal.
With the score all square at the end of 90 minutes, the Tigers went to overtime for the second time in their first three games. It looked as though the Tigers were going to have to settle for their second draw of the season, but Mauricio Castorino found Gonzalez about 20 yards out just before the final horn sounded to lift the Tigers to victory. Gonzalez snuck his shot just inside the left post for the winning score.
Alex Rodela picked up the win in goal for the Tigers, now 1-0 on the season, playing all 109:58 of the match. He had four saves on the night. He had a big save with 20 seconds remaining, which triggered the final push for the Tigers just before the clock expired.
The Tigers have a long drive back and Hays and look to rest up for their home opener on Monday night (Sept. 12) against UC-Colorado Springs at 5 pm.
Dr. Jamie Schwandt and his guest discuss how you can dream big, think positive and take action. In this episode, Annette Kennedy talks about her experiences as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate.
The 2016 Medical Legal Investigation of Death program is sponsored by the KU Area Health Education Center West and will be held at the Black and Gold Room in the Memorial Union on the campus of Fort Hays State University, Fort Hays State University, 600 Park.
The purpose of this continuing education course is to enhance the abilities of any health care professional or law enforcement official involved in a death investigation. Knowing information on how to respond to trench cave-ins, recreational and medical marijuana, opioids, identification of an explosive component, and elder and pediatric abuse conditions will allow for the investigation to be handled in the most appropriate and effective manner.
Target Audience: Physicians, Physician Assistants, Advanced Practice Nurses, Nurses, Emergency Medical Services, Social Workers, ACHA-Res. Care, Law Enforcement, Attorneys, Morticians, Death Investigators, Deputy Coroners, and all other Allied Health Professionals
Cost: $135 – Physicians and Law Enforcement; $125 – All others. A $10 late fee will be applied after Sept. 12, 2016
The second annual Grass Kicking Giveaway final drawing was Thursday night at Carrico Implement in Hays.
Sixty finalists filled the showroom at Carrico hoping their name would be drawn out as the grand prize winner.
Dan Wolf from Hays was the grand prize winner, taking home a brand new John Deere Zero Turn Z-Trak mower. Paul Depperschmidt from LaCrosse came in second place, and took home a Honda Walk-Behind mower. Mindy Maske came in third place, and won a Stihl Blower.
Eagle Radio of Hays Operations Director Scott Boomer was the emcee of the drawing.
Sponsors of the event include Carrico Implement, Viaero Wireless, RPM Speedway, Bud Light distributor Western Beverage, Great Clips, Cutting Edge Collision, On the Bricks Liquor in Ellis, Linda’s Fireworks and Eagle Radio of Hays.
LAWRENCE — For more than a decade, newspapers across the country have scaled back their staff, laid off journalists and editors, and made drastic changes in the face of economic challenges. A University of Kansas researcher has gathered insight from thousands of journalists affected directly by those changes in a book examining newspapers’ monumental shift.
Scott Reinardy, professor of journalism, has authored “Journalism’s Lost Generation: The Un-doing of U.S. Newspaper Newsrooms.” The book is a culmination of more than 10 years of Reinardy’s research, in which he personally interviewed hundreds of journalists and surveyed more than 5,000 others on the state of journalism. The journalists all work or worked at small to mid-sized publications with circulations of 100,000 or less, which accounts for about 96 percent of American newspapers.
“What have cuts in the newsrooms done to those journalists in terms of burnout and stress as well as the quality of their work?” Reinardy said. “A lot of journalists lost not only a job but a career, and their communities have lost a lot as well.”
The critical analysis allows not only journalists who have lost jobs, but those who remain in newsrooms as well, to determine what ever-shrinking newsrooms and changing job requirements have meant for the quality of their craft.
“The general consensus is, ‘It’s not as good. How could it be?,’” Reinardy said. “When you have diminished quality, you have diminished product, which exacerbates the economic problems newspapers have been experiencing.”
The lost generation of the book’s title in fact can refer to three generations: lifelong journalists who lost a career, those left behind to deal with the changing reality of the business and new professionals just entering the field who are forced to learn to operate in the business in ways totally different than those of their predecessors.
Throughout the book’s chapters, Reinardy examines topics including the collapse of the industry, burnout and job satisfaction, workload, journalism quality, the unique challenges women in journalism face and social responsibility of newspapers.
In the chapters dedicated to burnout, job satisfaction and workload, journalists paint a clear picture of a profession that has pushed many to the point of leaving or planning to leave the field, even if they have survived numerous rounds of layoffs.
“The expectation of job satisfaction has been diminished. Journalists are a dedicated group who want to do well,” Reinardy said. “But when you lay off their colleagues, expect them to do more and don’t compensate them for it, you tell them their work is not important.”
While the interviewed journalists agreed the quality of journalism has suffered, Reinardy asks pointed questions about where communities will turn to for news and services such as holding government accountable. Producing news is expensive and not perfect, he acknowledges, but it contains the system of checks and balances that assure accurate, truthful reporting takes place that is not present in blogging and other alternative forms of reporting.
Women are especially prevalent in the lost generation as their responses made clear they are leaving newsrooms at a faster pace than men, especially those aged 25 to 35. Some cited personal reasons, others cited professional, while many others were victims to layoffs. Regardless of the reason they left, there are fewer women working as editors and reporters, which has resulted in less diverse coverage.
“Certainly that affects the quality of your coverage,” Reinardy said.
“Journalism’s Lost Generation” will appeal to both current and former professional journalists as well as academics, educators and those interested in the state of journalism and the period of upheaval during the last decade plus.
“The hope is there is a general populace out there who will notice, good or bad, that their local newspaper is in trouble,” Reinardy said. “If a hired group of professionals aren’t going to be producing your news, who will? Who’s going to give your community a respected voice?”
A few severe storms will be possible along a cold front this afternoon and early evening.
Today Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 4pm. Areas of fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 85. Light and variable wind becoming north 10 to 15 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Tonight A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 7pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 51. Breezy, with a north wind 17 to 22 mph decreasing to 8 to 13 mph after midnight.
SaturdaySunny, with a high near 72. North northwest wind 7 to 11 mph.
Saturday NightClear, with a low around 55. South southeast wind around 7 mph.
SundaySunny, with a high near 84. Breezy, with a south wind 8 to 13 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon.
Sunday NightMostly clear, with a low around 63.
MondayA 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 84.
Several creeks and rivers, including the Ninnescah and Arkansas, have overflowed their banks.
Crews performed a swift-water rescue Friday in Mulvane. Butler County Emergency Management also says high waters have closed a stretch of Kansas 53 that runs through the town.
Roads are also flooded in a number of other areas. Mulvane USD 263, Clearwater USD 264 and Rose Hill USD 394 closed schools on Friday due to the flooding, according to the school websites.
Thursday night school sporting events and activities across the region were postponed, rescheduled or cancelled.
Many schools have adjusted start times of high school football games and other activities on Friday.
NEOSHO COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Southeast Kansas are investigating a fatal hit and run crash just before 1p.m. on Thursday in Neosho County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a vehicle was northbound on U.S.169 Highway two miles north of Chanute.
The vehicle traveled left of center and hit the trailer being pulled by a southbound semi.
The collision caused the semi to travel off the roadway to the right and jackknife in the ditch.
The semi driver Bryan Wayne Brodie, 56, Neosho, MO., was pronounced dead at the scene. The other vehicle fled the scene.
Brodie was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
With the announcement Wednesday of the signing of a letter of intent to create a partnership between Hays Medical Center and the Kansas City-based University of Kansas Hospital, a variety of enhanced patient services could come to the area. But, for now, many of the details remain to be worked out between the two groups.
“We now have many, many more meetings to try to figure out what we can do with this, but the potential is just enormous,” said Dr. John Jeter, HaysMed president and CEO.
He noted the University of Kansas Hospital has experience with academic and urban care, while HaysMed has experience in rural care. He said the combination could benefit both hospitals as practitioners learn from one another. Smaller, local hospitals could benefit, as well.
“We’ve got a lot of issues to work through, but I think we’re really hopeful that, eventually, this is going to benefit anybody out here that wants to be involved,” Jeter said.
The partnership, Jeter said, will also allow HaysMed to stay relevant in the light of rapidly changing health care, and will likely create growth for the hospital.
“It allows HaysMed to bring patient care and quality to a level that we could not accomplish by ourselves,” he said.
While details are likely months away, Jeter outlined some of the tenets included with the letter of intent, with a plan to execute the agreement in early 2017.
The partnership will be directed by an operations council made up of both organizations, but CEOs at both organizations will stay in place and staff will remain currently employed by their organizations.
Jeter believes they will continue to do business as HaysMed, but likely will include wording to include the part of the University of Kansas Health System.
“We are proud of our name. We think we have a good reputation. We want to keep it and that is part of the agreement,” Jeter said.
In the short term, he said HaysMed will start to see leading edge developments that happen at an academic medical center come to Hays quicker than they would otherwise.
“I think we should be able to provide more cutting-edge technology, much quicker here in the next couple of years,” Jeter said.
He also said the partnership will assist in physician recruitment and retention and will help grow the HaysMed brand.
In the next two to five years, Jeter said the agreement will likely add to the menu of services available at HaysMed and, with an eye even farther out, he said the partnership will help support rapid changes to the health care system.
“This is probably the best opportunity we have to make sure that this institution continues to remain relevant,” he said.
Just the signing of the agreement, however, brought a lot of excitement about the prospects of the venture.
“Now that this is official, I think everybody is getting excited,” Jeter said.
Before signing the agreement, HaysMed looked at partnerships with other hospital systems, but the University of Kansas Hospital was the best fit.
“One of the things important to our board is that we affiliated with a Kansas-based company,” Jeter said.
The University of Kansas Hospital is a privately owned company that meets that requirement, and he pointed out that the relationship is not with the university the hospital shares its name with.
“This is not the University of Kansas that this relationship is with — it is the University of Kansas Hospital, which is seperate from the university,” Jeter said.
The foundations of the partnership began after the two hospitals worked together on a government award.
Jeter said during that process the hospitals “worked exceptionally well as one team.”
The partnership will create the Univeristy of Kansas Health System and, in the future, Jeter said other hospitals might join the system. But, for now, the focus is on developing the partnership with HaysMed.
The system includes the two hospitals and HaysMed will officially be a part of the system end of day Dec. 31.
“Our goal is to provide the kind of help for communities so they can be and stay healthy,” Jeter said.
Emilio Gonzales, age 83, passed away at the Wichita County Long Term Care in Leoti, Kansas on Wednesday, September 7, 2016. He was born on May 22, 1933 in New Braufels, Texas, the son of Timoteo and Camilla Rozalas Gonzales. He was a resident of Leoti, Kansas since the early 1950’s moving from Texas. He was a farmer.
