Location of proposed Towneplace Suites hotel by Marriott
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
The investment group, Hays Extended Stay Hotel Partners LP based in Liberty, Missouri, is asking for two Community Improvement Districts (CIDs) from the city of Hays to benefit a planned new development project north of I-70.
The group has purchased a parcel of property in the vicinity of Home Depot with the intent of constructing a Towneplace Suites hotel by Marriott immediately north of IHOP and Hampton Inn.
Two separate CID petitions have been submitted, according to Assistant City Manager Jacob Wood.
The first request seeks to impose a 1% CID sales tax on the hotel property only. A second petition seeks to impose an additional 1% CID sales tax on the hotel property and the JT Travel Plaza property which is under construction. The developer of the convenience store project is not asking for any incentives and will not benefit from any incentives requested.
Proceeds from both CIDs will go to reimburse Hays Extended Stay Hotel Partners LP for the $9.6 million estimated costs associated with construction of the hotel.
Wood said Hays Extended Stay Hotel Partners LP has already submitted the necessary paperwork to the Ellis County Economic Development Coalition including petitions to create the two CIDs, an application for economic development incentives, a cost benefit analysis and the required application fee. A term sheet will be reviewed by the city commission as required by the city’s economic development policy.
If approved, the total sales tax at the Travel Plaza would be 10.5%, and the total sales tax at the hotel would be 16.5%.
Each CID district would impose a 1% tax for 22 years. According to city of Hays Finance Director Kim Rupp, it’s estimated the CID districts could generate $2.1 million in revenues.
Commissioners will review the request during their Thu., Oct. 20 work session. The entire agenda may be seen here.
Lincoln County house explosion and fire on Wednesday morning-photo courtesy KWCH
LINCOLN COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities and first responders were on the scene of a Wednesday morning rural house explosion and fire on 290th Road south of Beverly, according to Fire Chief Jon Ahlquist.
One person was injured according to Lincoln County Emergency Management.
An emergency medical team flew the injured person for treatment, according Ahlquist.
“The residence is gone,” he said.
The Kansas State Fire Marshal’s office is assisting with the investigation.
Name of the victim was not released.
Beverly is approximately 36 miles northwest of Salina on K-18 Highway between Lincoln and Tescott.
Check Hays Post for more information as it becomes available.
TOPEKA, Kan. – TMP-Marian (35-2) is the No. 1 seed in the Lakin 3A sub-state volleyball tournament Saturday and will open with Southwestern Heights (2-28) at 2 p.m. Saturday in Lakin.
Hugoton and Cimarron are the other two teams on the Monarchs half of the bracket.
Hays High (14-17) is the No. 3 seed and will open with McPherson (23-16) in the second match of the day Saturday at their own 4A Division I sub-state. Top-seeded Ulysses (24-12) plays Buhler (6-29) in the first match at 2 p.m.
Kansas FFA state officers and FFA advisor attend the 89th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Ind. From left: Grace Luebcke, Kansas FFA Secretary from the Marysville FFA Chapter; Clara Wicoff, Kansas FFA Vice President from the Iola FFA Chapter; Katelyn Bohnenblust, Kansas FFA Treasurer from the Clay Center FFA Chapter; State FFA Advisor Kurt Dillon; and Nick Becker, National FFA Secretary.
KDA
MANHATTAN–More than 65,000 FFA members, alumni and guests are gathered in Indianapolis, Ind., for the 89th National FFA Convention & Expo, which runs through October 22. Kansas FFA members join their peers from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to live out the year’s motto “Transform Purpose to Action.” Kansans are encouraged to virtually join the opening convention session beginning Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. CDT, www.ffa.org/convention.
“FFA members transform their purpose into action by making their voices heard and by educating others on the importance of agriculture and growing our resources every day,” said Taylor McNeel, a student at Southern Arkansas University who is serving as 2015-16 National FFA President. “During the convention and expo, we can learn from one another how we can continue to grow leaders, strengthen agriculture and build our communities.”
During the week Kansas FFA members will participate in service projects, share their musical talents in the national band, chorus and talent, compete in national career development events, interview for chapter and proficiency awards, experience motivational speakers and fulfilling workshops, and interact with industry leaders at the Expo.
Among those in attendance will be Bethany Schifferdecker of Girard, Kan. Schifferdecker is representing the Kansas FFA Association as the 2016 National FFA Officer candidate. Schifferdecker served as State FFA Vice President in 2014–2015. She is the daughter of Mark and Nancy Schifferdecker. Additionally, Kurt Dillon is beginning his term on the National FFA Board of Directors. Dillon is the agricultural education program consultant and Kansas FFA advisor for the Kansas State Department of Education and works in partnership with the Kansas Department of Agriculture to enhance and support agricultural education including FFA.
Kansas agricultural education programs have seen growth over the last several years. Building from last year’s successful launch of five new agriculture education programs at Bluestem, Emporia, North Lyon County, Southern Lyon County and Sylvan-Lucas Unified, KDA would like to formally recognize Wichita Southeast, Stanton County, Pratt Skyline, Shawnee Mission South, Brewster and Independence for understanding the importance of school-based agricultural education and initiating programs in their schools this academic year.
The Kansas FFA Association was chartered by the National FFA Organization in 1928 and has a current membership of 9,059 members in 186 chapters. FFA is found in both rural and urban areas with chapters located in or near the cities of Garden City, Hays, Hutchinson, Lawrence, Manhattan, Newton, Olathe, Pittsburg, Salina, and Topeka. FFA members can be found in 91 of the 105 counties across Kansas.
“The Kansas Department of Agriculture is committed to helping grow agriculture in Kansas, and a trained workforce and young people interested in a career in agriculture are critical to economic growth in our state,” said Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Jackie McClaskey. “Agricultural education with a combination of classroom instruction, supervised agricultural experience, experiential learning, leadership and skill development through FFA is key to development of the skills which are desired and essential for the future of the agriculture industry, our state’s largest employer.”
For more information about the Kansas FFA Association, go to www.ksffa.org. For more information about the National FFA Organization and the 2016 National FFA Convention, go to www.ffa.org.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A retired Kansas guidance counselor who underwent a quadruple amputation after a cellphone store shooting had to take questions from the man charged with attacking her.
The Wichita Eagle reports that 27-year-old James Michael Phillips is representing himself during his trial. He’s charged with attempted first-degree murder, attempted capital murder and seven other felonies.
Prosecutors said Julie Dombo refused to go in the back of a Derby AT&T store during an August 2015 robbery attempt out of fear she would be tied up, raped and killed. After she was shot in the arm and chest, doctors were forced to amputate her limbs.
She testified that she thought she was going to “lie there on the floor and bleed to death.” The trial is expected to last about a week.
PAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Larned and Great Bend are investigating report of a text message scam.
Several concerned residents on Tuesday reported a text message they received allegedly from Farmers Bank and Trust alerting them to contact “740-400-0063,” according to the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Department and Great Bend police.
The number asked individuals to re-activate their card.
Authorities alerted residents not to call the number and give any information. They believed it was a scam.
Farmers Bank and Trust is aware of the alert message being sent and confirmed to deputies it is not being sent from them.
Fort Hays State University Alumni Association is celebrating their 100 year anniversary this year. Mike Cooper visits with the Alumni Association executive director, Debra Prideaux about 100 years of alumni activities at FHSU.
The Residence Hall Association at Fort Hays State University will host its annual Halloween Safe Trick-or-Treat event from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, in McMindes Hall on the FHSU campus.
Local children can participate in a fun and safe environment, featuring activities in addition to trick-or-treating in designated rooms.
“The Residence Hall Association loves bridging the gap between on-campus living and the local community by engaging local families in the residence halls,” said Maryke Taute, assistant director of student residential life.
By RANDY GONZALES FHSU University Relations and Marketing
As a former football coach, John Vincent puts together a game plan when he does historical research. Vincent, who is deep into the research of a local legend, gave a presentation Saturday at the 10th annual Smoky Hill Trail Association’s conference, this year in Hays.
Vincent, who was the head coach at Fort Hays State University from 1985-89, said there is a correlation between preparing for an opponent and organizing a research topic.
“When you are developing a game plan you try to prepare contingencies for unexpected things that might come up,” Vincent said.
That preparation has helped Vincent and his team in the research of Elizabeth Polly, the famed “Blue Light Lady.” As the story goes, Polly assisted her husband, Ephraim Polly, who was a hospital steward at Fort Hays, during a cholera outbreak at the Army post in 1867. Mrs. Polly died during the outbreak, and is believed to have been buried atop or at the base of Sentinel Hill, about a mile from now Historic Fort Hays. There are accounts that Polly visited that hill in the evenings after working at the fort during the day and she requested to be buried there.
There have since been sightings of a ghostly figure dressed in blue walking the fields in the surrounding area of the hill. That spectral image is thought by some to be Polly. Vincent finds four accounts credible of Polly sightings, accounts that put together a time, place, date and name of the person who saw the apparition.
“The legend of Elizabeth Polly was popularized in the 1970s by a fellow by the name of Bob Maxwell,” Vincent told those assembled at FHSU’s Black and Gold Room in the Memorial Union. “He was a folklorist.”
Maxwell, who had a career in law enforcement that included stints as Ellis County Sheriff and Hays Chief of Police, graduated from Fort Hays State and later served as Dean of Students in 1966 at the university. He also was an assistant professor in the English Department. A noted local historian, Maxwell researched Elizabeth Polly.
Vincent, however, is focusing on the life of Elizabeth Polly and not as much on her ghostly encounters with the public.
“We are not here to state whether she’s a ghost or she’s not,” Vincent said. “My team and I are not ghost hunters. However, the legend of Elizabeth Polly gives rise to a tremendous amount of history.”
Lacking definitive proof that Elizabeth Polly was at the fort in 1867, or even of her existence, Vincent detailed circumstantial evidence to make his case. Vincent showed copies of newspaper articles through the years that mentioned Polly, and he presented evidence of why those articles should be believed.
“They’re not all making this stuff up,” Vincent said. “Does it prove she existed? I think it probably helps.
“If you had to ask me to (draw) a conclusion, there probably was a woman here,” he added. “I don’t know if her first name was Elizabeth. I’m not exactly sure her last name was Polly. But there was some woman (who) filled that role (during the cholera epidemic), and she was more than likely associated with Ephraim Polly in some way.”
One article described Polly as “a curious mixture of superstition and fanciful religion in her mental structure.”
“Was there a woman who filled the role of Elizabeth Polly? That’s what we’re trying to determine,” Vincent said.
There’s even a tale of the outlaw Jesse James coming to Hays in the 1870s to visit Polly’s grave on Sentinel Hill. Vincent’s team of researchers want to tackle that thread of the Elizabeth Polly story next.
“We’re going to continue to try to chase down the people in these stories and add as much detail as possible,” Vincent said.
Also part of the presentation was Ethel Taylor, of Hays, who provided genealogy expertise, and Rob Wasinger, also of Hays, whose grandparents first saw the ghostly image of a lady in a blue dress and bonnet in a field back in 1917.
Vincent has been researching the Polly story since the 1970s. He hopes to put enough material together to publish a book.
“We’re not ready to do that yet,” Vincent said.
Vincent, 70, has been active in retirement. He has gone on about a half-dozen paleontology digs and around another half-dozen archeological surveys. Vincent even has a find named after him.
“I like a variety of things, but I don’t like to be haphazard,” he said.
After serving in Vietnam, Vincent earned his bachelor’s degree in zoology with a minor in chemistry and physics at Fort Hays State and later completed two master’s degrees at the university. He taught for 48 years and coached football in high school and community college as well as Fort Hays State in his career. He still follows the Tigers.
“We try to go to as many games as we possibly can,” Vincent said. “I read everything in the paper about them. They’re doing really well.”
Other presentations at the conference were:
• A talk about “Buffalo Bill” Cody by Dr. Juti Winchester, assistant professor of history at FHSU.
• Dr. Ken Neuhauser, professor of geosciences at FHSU, revealed his findings of a magnetometer survey done at Lookout Station southwest of Hays this summer. In 1867 Indians raided the station and killed three men, who were said to have been buried there. His findings were inconclusive.
• James Drees, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Fort Hays State, gave a talk on Cody’s buffalo shooting contest with Bill Comstock.
• James Leiker, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Fort Hays State, gave a lecture on buffalo soldiers at Fort Hays.
• Dr. Elton Beougher, who taught math at FHSU for 32 years, gave a lecture on galvanized Yankees.
• Ken Weidner gave a presentation on Cheyenne culture.
• Rod Beemer talked about George Armstrong Custer and the Smoky Hill Trail.
Virgil D. Stratton, 68, died Aug. 9, 2016, in West Plains, Mo.
He was born July 6, 1948, in Scott City, the son of George Stratton
and Rita Marie (Lauber) Stratton Nickel.
He served two tours in the Vietnam War. He enjoyed fishing when his health was good.
Survivors include: one son, Matthew Stratton, Wichita; two sisters, Vicki (Stratton) Wright, and husband, Wilbur, Scott City, and Deanna Nickel Russell and husband, Lynn, Brandsville, Mo.; one brother, Darrell Nickel, Sydney, Nebr.; one granddaughter – Mariah Ida May Stratton of Wichita, Kansas, Three Nephews, Four Nieces, Four Great Nephews, Six Great Nieces, One Great Great Nephew and One Great Great Niece.
He was preceded in death by his parents, two nephews, one great-nephew and Two great-nieces.
Graveside service will be Fri., Oct. 21, 1:00 p.m., at the Scott County Cemetery with military rites.
WICHITA–A federal grand jury returned an indictment Tuesday in Wichita against a Kentucky man for an alleged drug crime in Ellis County, Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.
James Ray Lawson, 54, Louisville, Ky., is charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. The crime is alleged to have occurred Sept. 15 in Ellis County.
If convicted, Lawson faces a penalty of not less than 10 years and a fine up to $4 million on the methamphetamine count, and up to five years and a fine up to $250,000 on the marijuana count.
The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberley Rodebaugh is prosecuting.
Defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. The indictments merely contain allegations of criminal conduct.
Office of U.S. Attorney