Charles Ray Whitham of Leoti Kansas, 87, died Monday, April 25 2016, at Scott County Hospital in Scott City, Kansas. He was born March 21, 1929 in Liberal Kansas, the son of Ray Charles Whitham and Mabel Marie Garvin Whitham.
He was a 1947 graduate of Scott Community High School and a 1952 graduate of the University of Kansas. Charles served in the USAF as a pilot from 1953 to 1962 where he rose to the rank of Captain. He and his family returned to Kansas to begin a long and varied career in agriculture with his company, Western Seed & Supply in Leoti, KS.
Charles was an active community member and served in many capacities in the Leoti Chamber of Commerce, Rotary International, Wichita County School Board, and the Wichita Co. Hospital Board. He was also a proud member of the University of Kansas Alumni Association, and represented his wholesale bean business as a Lifetime Member of the Rocky Mountain Bean Dealers Association and President of the Kansas Seed Dealers Association.
Charles is survived by his wife, Waneta Joann Conine Whitham, whom he married on May 24, 1954 and enjoyed 61 years of marriage. Other survivors include: their children, Kendall Whitham Sirkis (Robert), Dothan, AL, Julie Whitham Diehl, Larkspur, CO, Bradley Charles Whitham (Diane), Leoti, KS and Shawn Whitham Peters, Dothan, AL; eleven grandchildren: Matt Diehl (Kelly), Audrey Diehl Critz (Jeremy), David Sirkis (Lauren), Jeffrey Sirkis, Rubie Peters, Aaron Peters, Greta Peters, Savannah Peters, Teneille Whitham, Anna Leigh Whitham and Dane Whitham. He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers, Bruce Whitham, Frank Whitham, sister, Corinne Whitham Krebs and two infant grandsons, Kaleb Stoner Peters and Bradley Dale Whitham.
Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 30, 2016 at the Leoti United Methodist Church, 111 South Wyoming, Leoti, KS, with Reverend Brad Kirk and Reverend Paul McNall presiding. A military graveside service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Scott County Cemetery in Scott City, KS.
Should friends care to make a donation in his name, the family asks that memorials be made to the Wichita Co. Volunteer EMT Service, Wichita Co. Fire Department, or the Wichita Co. Amusement Association.
Visitation will be held from 2:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Thursday and 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Friday at Price & Sons Funeral Home in Leoti, Kansas.
Security camera picture of the suspect’s vehicle- photo Dodge City Police
FORD COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities in Ford County are investigating a shooting at Dodge City Community College.
Just after 5:30 p.m. on Monday, police responded to the Community College parking lot for a report of shots fired, according to a media release.
A witness called 911 to report seeing a male exit a white Mitsubishi Eclipse and shoot at a red car with Arkansas plates.
When officers arrived neither vehicle was on the scene.
The witness said they heard the shot and saw a male driver from the white car holding a gun. The red car fled from the scene and the white car followed at a high rate of speed.
Officers recovered one 45-caliber shell casing from the scene and video surveillance from the college.
Officers located a red vehicle with Arkansas plates at the college that had a bullet hole on the driver’s side.
None of the three victims in the vehicle were injured.
The suspects are described as Hispanic males in their late teens or early twenties. The identity of the suspects is unknown at this time. Included is a photograph of the suspect vehicle. The vehicle may have stickers near the taillights. If anyone has information regarding this case please contact the DCPD at 620-225-8126 or call Crime stoppers at 620-227-7867.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are investigating lighting as the possible cause of a suburban Kansas City house fire.
The Overland Park Fire Department said in a news release that the fire started shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday. The release says neighbors reported that they believed the home was for sale and vacant. No one was hurt.
Firefighters evacuated residents from neighboring homes while they worked to extinguish the blaze. The neighbors told firefighters that there were possible lighting strikes in the area before the fire.
WICHITA — John Douglas, operator at Rural Water District No. 2, Trego County, has been recognized by the Kansas Rural Water Association as Rural Water Operator of the Year. The award was presented recently during the association’s 49th annual conference and exhibition at Century II Convention Center, Wichita. The conference was attended by nearly 2,400 people from more than 300 cities and 200 rural water districts.
Douglas is a lifelong Kansan who grew up in south-central Kansas. With the exception of approximately three years in construction, he has spent his entire career in the water business. For the last nine years, he has worked for RWD No. 2, Trego County. Douglas has a Class II Water Operator’s Certification issued by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
RWD No. 2, Trego County, serves residents in a part of the state with either no available water or poor water quality. Douglas oversees the daily operations of the system which produces as much as 500,000 gallons per day for approximately 1,000 customers and several wholesale customers. This district has nearly 1,000 miles of pipeline stretching into three counties.
Douglas is overseeing a $1.5 million project that includes construction of two new wells and new elevated storage. These improvements will allow the district to serve more customers as the district recently started approving of new services after a moratorium on the sale of meters over recent years.
Other municipal and rural water and wastewater operators were recognized during the conference. The conference training program included 58 seminars on all aspects of water and wastewater utility operations and management and 345 exhibits of products and services for municipal water and wastewater utilities. Special guest speakers included Kent Evans, program director of USDA Rural Development’s Water Programs Division of the Rural Utilities Services Water and Environmental Programs, Washington, D.C., and Rex Buchanan, interim director of the Kansas Geological Society.
The Kansas Rural Water Association provides training and technical assistance to cities and rural water districts and also supports a variety of other community programs, from GPS mapping to the popular KAN STEP self-help program through the Department of Commerce. See www.krwa.net to learn more about the association.
Today A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 10am, then a slight chance of showers between 10am and 1pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 63. Breezy, with a west northwest wind around 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
TonightPartly cloudy, with a low around 39. Northwest wind 13 to 17 mph.
Thursday Partly sunny, with a high near 63. North wind 10 to 14 mph.
Thursday Night A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 45. East northeast wind around 11 mph.
Friday Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a high near 57. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Friday NightShowers and thunderstorms. Low around 46. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
SaturdayA 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 59.
Photo by KHI News Service File Photo Sen. Laura Kelly, a Democrat from Topeka, says she and other legislators “are not interested in another short-term patch” for the state’s budget situation. –
An effort to roll back a controversial business tax exemption is among the budget-balancing proposals that lawmakers will take up in the final weeks of the 2016 legislative session.
Several key Republicans, including many self-described conservatives who voted for Gov. Sam Brownback’s income tax cuts in 2012, are openly supporting bills to either reduce or eliminate the exemption as legislators return Wednesday to wrap up the session.
A trio of Senate conservatives, Jim Denning and Greg Smith, both from Overland Park, and Jeff King, from Independence, are sponsoring a bill that would partially roll back the exemption.
And Sen. Forrest Knox, a conservative Republican from Altoona, said recently that he too “is open” to either modifying or repealing the exemption. During a recent meeting with constituents,
Knox said he voted for the tax cuts believing that owners of limited liability companies and sole proprietorships still would be required to pay some taxes on their pass-through or non-salary income.
“That was my understanding, but it turned out that wasn’t the law,” Knox said. In fact, the law exempted more than 330,000 business owners and farmers from state income taxes, reducing collections by approximately $250 million a year.
Opposition on two fronts
An effort to repeal the business exemption spearheaded by Rep. Mark Hutton, a Wichita Republican, failed in the closing weeks of the 2015 session. With more support from conservative Republicans,
it appeared this year’s repeal bill stood a better chance. But that might not be the case. For varying reasons, opposition remains strong.
Brownback and many of the Legislature’s conservative Republican leaders are opposed to making any changes in the tax cut law, which they insist is making Kansas more attractive to businesses and job creators.
Last week Brownback dispelled rumors that he was open to a partial rollback of the business exemption, telling the Wichita Eagle that he believes a “tax increase” of any kind would worsen the economic trends depressing key segments of the Kansas economy. “We’ve got a global commodity falloff,” Brownback said.
“You’ve got slow growth rates in the country.
And to exacerbate that with a tax increase I don’t think is the right way to go.” Facing opposition from the governor and legislative leaders, the lawmakers pushing the bills to modify or repeal the exemption will need support from Democrats and moderate Republicans.
But getting them on board also is proving difficult. Sen. Laura Kelly, from Topeka, is the top Democrat on the Senate’s budget-writing committee.
She rejects out of hand a bill scheduled for a hearing at 9 a.m. Thursday in the Senate Committee on Assessment and Taxation that would partially roll back the exemption. Senate Bill 508 — from Denning, Smith and King — would re-impose the tax, but only on 70 percent of a business owner’s pass-through income.
Kelly also doesn’t support a House bill that as currently written would repeal the exemption and use the proceeds to reduce the sales tax on food. She said even if it is repurposed to help balance the budget,
it wouldn’t generate enough revenue to fix the problem. “There are a number of legislators who are not interested in another short-term patch,” Kelly said.
Many moderate Republicans have similar concerns. Rep. Tom Moxley, a Republican who owns a ranch near Council Grove, favors closing the exemption even though he is among those benefitting from it.
“I am one of those blessed by the governor who does not pay Kansas income tax,” Moxley said.
“But my employees do. How fair is that? It obviously is not fair. It’s nuts.” But like Kelly, Moxley said repealing the exemption would be another in a series of financial Band-Aids.
“The state will still be bankrupt, it will just be slightly less bankrupt,” Moxley said.
“You’ll still be borrowing to pay next year’s bills.” Both Moxley and Kelly said a more comprehensive proposal is needed — one that rolls back the tax cuts and restores balance to the state’s tax system. “We need a broader tax structure,” Moxley said. “We need everybody carrying their weight.”
Election-year politics
Many lawmakers, Kelly said, are not willing to put themselves on the line for a tax increase that doesn’t fix the problem and which if passed would likely be vetoed. In addition, she said,
Democrats and moderate Republicans who voted against the tax cuts aren’t interested in “bailing out” lawmakers who supported them.
She views the current repeal effort as an attempt by tax cut supporters to mollify voters concerned about the toll that persistent revenue shortfalls are taking on education, highways and social programs.
“A number of the proposals that we’re seeing are knee-jerk reactions to the governor’s poor polling,” she said.
“But I think there has been enough damage done over a long enough period of time that people will recognize political showmanship when they see it.”
Kansas started the 2014 budget year, the first full year of the tax cuts, with $700 million in reserves. Revenue shortfalls the following year forced the governor and lawmakers to use all of that cash and resort to a series of revenue transfers that included taking more money from the state highway program to balance the budget.
Lawmakers then ended the 2015 session by passing large increases in sales and cigarette taxes to bolster revenues and stabilize the budget through 2016. But the shortfalls continued. And now the governor and the Legislature must find a way to handle a $290 million projected shortfall.
Repealing the business tax exemption could be a part of the solution.
But Moxley and others believe it is more likely that the Legislature will make quick work of the wrap-up session and force Brownback to balance the budget. If that happens,
Moxley said, he expects the governor will implement the second of three budget-balancing options he proposed last week.
It would take another $185 million from the highway program — forcing a two-year delay in major projects — cut $34 million from state university budgets and delay to 2018 a $99 million payment scheduled to be made this year to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System.
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
FINNEY COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Finney County are investigating a shooting and reported on Tuesday night that a suspect has been identified.
Joey Terrazas-Garcia, 20, Garden City, is wanted for aggravated battery in connection with the shooting.
Just after 4:30 on April 21, officers of the Garden City Police Department were dispatched to the 800 block of Ida Street for a reported shooting, according to a media release.
When Officers arrived on scene they located Victor Irigoyen, 19, in the rear of a residence in the 4100 Block of E Hwy 50.
He had multiple gunshot wounds.
Irigoyen was transported to St Catherine Hospital and then flown to Via Christi in Wichita for additional treatment.
If anybody has any information related to this incident you should call the Garden City Police Department (620) 276-1300, Crime Stoppers (620) 275-7807, or text your tip to Garden City PD, text GCTIP and your tip to Tip411 (847411).
Street Flooding in Olathe on Tuesday -Courtesy photo
Large hail and heavy rain dominated the weather across central and eastern Kansas on Tuesday evening.
Hail as big as grapefruit was reported Kansas and areas from Manhattan to Emporia reported more than 3 inches of rain. Many areas of Sedgwick County including the city of Wichita reported golf ball size hail and over 2,5 inches of rain.
Many areas of the state were under flood watches and warnings on Wednesday morning.
Winds approaching hurricane force raked communities from Nebraska and Missouri to Texas.
Uprooted trees, downed power lines and roof damage were reported in parts of Texas and Oklahoma. No deaths or injuries were reported.
The nation’s midsection is facing another day of foul weather after a series of storms brought huge hail and high winds, but not as many tornadoes as had been feared.
The Nation Weather Service Storm Prediction Center said 60 million people from the
Storm clouds just before a tornado warning in Topeka on Tuesday- photo Shawnee Co. Emergency Management
Gulf Coast to the Midwest east to North Carolina and Virginia should be alert for strong storms on Wednesday. The nastiest weather was predicted for an area from Houston north into part of Iowa.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Johnny Giavotella drove in three runs with his first homer of the season, Mike Trout and Carlos Perez had two-run singles, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 9-4 Tuesday night.
Jered Weaver (3-0) allowed four runs and nine hits over six innings and struck out four. The Angels scored one more run than they totaled in the right-hander’s first three starts this season.
Edinson Volquez (3-1) gave up eight runs and 12 hits in in five innings. The right-hander, facing the Angels for the first time since 2007, was coming off a 4-0 win over Detroit in which he allowed five hits through seven innings.
Mike Moustakas homered and Jarrod Dyson hit a pair of RBI doubles for the defending World Series champions, who had six two-base hits altogether – all against Weaver. The franchise record is 11, set on Aug. 11, 2003 against the Yankees.
RUSSELL, Kan. – The TMP-Marian baseball team got two solid pitching performances from Ricky Hockett and Ryan Ruder in a doubleheader sweep of Russell/Victoria. The Monarchs have won three straight and six of their last seven and improve to 10-4 on the season. TMP will play at Salina-Sacred Heart on May 3.
Game 1: TMP 7, Russell/Victoria 0 Ricky Hockett needed only one run of support as he no hit Russell/Victoria in a 7-0 win in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Tuesday in Russell. With the help of his defense the Monarch senior faced the minimum through six innings. The Broncos had three base runners, two of which were erased, one by a caught stealing and the other was doubled off first base.
The Monarchs got the majority of their offense in the top of the fourth inning, scoring six runs. TMP picked up four hits in the inning. The Broncos helped out by hitting two TMP batters, walking two batters and committing an error.
Game 2: TMP 3, Russell/Victoria 0 Ryan Ruder continued the dominance over Russell/Victoria on the hill in Game 2. Ruder held the Broncos to only three hits in seven innings of play. The first of those hits came with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning.
TMP scored two runs in the fourth inning and then added an insurance run on a Hockett home run in the fifth. Russell drops to 9-5 with the loss and will be on the road in Beloit on May 3.
Fire at the motel during Saturday’s gun battle -photo courtesy WIBW -TV
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The FBI says a man’s body found in charred ruins of a Kansas motel room after a shootout that injured three federal agents is that of the robbery suspect they were trying to arrest.
The FBI said Tuesday the body was identified as 28-year-old Orlando Collins, and the preliminary conclusion of the coroner is that Collins fatally shot himself. Toxicology tests are pending.
The Saturday night shootout at the Country Club Motel in Topeka injured two deputy federal marshals and an FBI agent who were part of a fugitive task force. The FBI says its agent remained hospitalized Tuesday in good condition.
Authorities trying to arrest Collins came under fire as they approached a motel room, from which a fire then erupted.
HAYS, Kan. – Alison Helget and Bailey Lacy combined to strike out 19 as the TMP-Marian softball team swept Goodland 6-1 and 10-0 yesterday.
Alison Helget allowed only one hit and struck out nine in the opener. The Cowgirls only run came in the fourth after two Monarch errors. TMP blew open the one-run game with four in the fifth inning. Helget also had two hits and drove in three.
Bailey Lacy struck out 10 in the second contest. Lacy held Goodland to two hits in the six inning run-rule victory. Meagan Brin drove in three to help the Monarchs to their sixth straight win as they improve to 10-4.
In order to determine the states where the gambling problem is most prevalent, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states across 13 key metrics. The data set ranges from “presence of illegal gambling operations” to “lottery sales per capita” to “percentage of people with gambling disorders.”
Gambling Addiction in Kansas (1=Most Addicted, 25=Avg.):
22nd – Number of Casinos per Capita
23rd – Number of Gaming Machines per Capita
37th – Lottery Sales per Capita
11th – % of Adults with Gambling Disorders
40th – Number of Gambling-Related Arrests per Capita
18th – NCPG (National Council on Problem Gambling) Affiliation
Charles Ray Whitham of Leoti Kansas, 87, died Monday, April 25 2016, at Scott County Hospital in Scott City, Kansas. He was born March 21, 1929 in Liberal Kansas, the son of Ray Charles Whitham and Mabel Marie Garvin Whitham.
WICHITA — John Douglas, operator at Rural Water District No. 2, Trego County, has been recognized by the Kansas Rural Water Association as Rural Water Operator of the Year. The award was presented recently during the association’s 49th annual conference and exhibition at Century II Convention Center, Wichita. The conference was attended by nearly 2,400 people from more than 300 cities and 200 rural water districts.
Americans lose roughly $100 billion gambling each year, and with fans expected to wager more than $100 million on this weekend’s Kentucky Derby, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released an in-depth report on