Several retail shops in Big Creek Crossing have reopened after a partial roof collapse over the weekend forced the Hays shopping center to close on Sunday, according to the shopping center’s Facebook page.

The building is open, but work continues in several locations cleaning water damage that occurred from the hole created in the roof and the sprinkler system that was damaged by falling debris.

BCC Management has declined to comment further on the incident.

Stores that have reopened include:

Riddles
CJ Banks
Foxy Nails
Tradehome
JCPenny
AMC Theaters
GNC
Bath & Body Works
Christopher & Banks
Maurices
Rue 21
Stage
Buckle
G&L Tire & Automotive
Famous Footwear
Snow Cone Express

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

A 31-year-old Salina man will be sentenced next month after pleading guilty in the stabbing of a 20-year-old at the former HOME Party Club.

Trevar Lamont Johnson, 31, Salina, was arrested on suspicion of attempted second-degree murder, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of drug paraphernalia, and criminal possession of a weapon by a felon in connection with the stabbing of a 20-year-old man in the early morning hours on April 19, 2015.

Officers from the Hays Police Department were dispatched to the alley behind the former HOME Party Club, 229 W. 10th, to the report of a stabbing. When officers arrived, they found a 20-year-old man had been stabbed in the chest. Officers determined the incident occurred during a brief altercation inside the nightclub.

According to Ellis County Attorney Tom Drees, Johnson pleaded guilty last week to aggravated battery/great bodily harm and possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute — both are level four felonies. He also pleaded guilty to felony drug paraphernalia possession.

Drees said Johnson’s trail was scheduled to begin April 19.

The plea agreement calls for 76 month in prison, according to Drees.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 9.

The Hays Police Department responded to 6 animal calls and 13 traffic stops Tuesday, April 19, 2016, according to the HPD Activity Log.

Suspicious Activity–800 block Walnut St, Hays; 12:23 AM
Mental Health Call–1100 block Vine St, Hays; 12:57 AM
Disorderly Conduct–800 block Ash St, Hays; 2 AM; 2:12 AM
Drug Offenses–3200 block Vine St, Hays; 3:35 AM
Found/Lost Property–500 block W 7th St, Hays; 10:11 AM
Abandoned Vehicle–100 block E 6th St, Hays; 10:24 AM
Probation/Parole Violation–1000 block Fort St, Hays; 10:53 AM
Suspicious Person–3400 block Vine St, Hays; 11 AM
Found/Lost Property–1900 block 40 Hwy, Ellis County; 11:35 AM
Theft (general)–1900 block Vine St, Hays; 4/14; 4/15
Abandoned Vehicle–4600 block Hoover Dr, Hays; 1:24 PM
Parking Complaint–2200 block Gen Custer Rd, Hays; 2:02 PM
Theft (general)–100 block W 12th St, Hays; 2:36 PM
Animal At Large–1000 block Reservation Rd, Hays; 3:18 PM
Civil Dispute–200 block E 19th St, Hays; 3:27 PM
Criminal Damage to Property–400 block W 7th St, Hays; 4/18 5 PM; 4/19 7:10 AM
Welfare Check–1400 block E 19th St, Hays; 5:11 PM
Criminal Damage to Property–300 block W 7th St, Hays; 5:47 PM
Suspicious Activity–200 block W 6th St, Hays; 6:45 PM
Battery – Domestic–500 block W 37th St, Hays; 9:20 PM; 9:28 PM

Submitted

LINDSBORG— Three new exhibits open at the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery on Sunday, May 1, 2016 with a reception that day from 2 to 4 p.m. and exhibition discussions beginning at 2:30. Featured exhibits include Kansas Clay Connections 2; works by Hays artist Gordon Sherman; and block prints by Birger Sandzén contemporary Helen West Heller.

Kansas Clay Connections 2 will feature ceramics by over 100 artists with some connection to the Sunflower State. The exhibition has been organized by Kansas native Marko Fields, now of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Larry Peters of Topeka in curatorial partnership with the Sandzén Gallery. Historically significant potters and ceramicists will be shown alongside those still active in the field. Many of the artists have taught throughout the state, while others produced work on a full time basis.

Innocence and Science features the work by Hays, Kansas, artist Gordon Sherman. Sherman is a professor of drawing and printmaking at Fort Hays State University. In addition to teaching, he has participated in over 350 regional, national, and international exhibits since 1976. He has been recognized with over 100 awards and juror recognitions. Regarding the work in the show he writes, “Mysteriousness and appointed iconography has always been a foundation of my visual development. My imagery contains unexpected eloquent gestures that reveal a fleeting moment of time or spontaneity, a strong sense of place that demands close attention. Manipulation of this “vocabulary” reveals my concern for human relationship to the environment and potential harmful vestiges of culture’s growth and decay with a topographical measurement of the journey.”

The exhibition Helen West Heller: The Art of a Prairie Child features more than sixty examples of Heller’s printmaking and illustration work. Although today the artist is largely forgotten, during her lifetime Heller (1872-1955) was well known for her expressive paintings, prints, and poetry, as well as for her depression-era WPA murals and mosaics, and her woodcuts reproduced in the New York Times. The last major showing of the Chicago artist’s career was organized by the Smithsonian Institution’s department of graphic art in 1948, the year following publication of Heller’s book Woodcuts USA (1947).

Lindsborg’s Bethany College holdings of 35 Helen West Heller woodcut prints are the nucleus of the Sandzén Gallery exhibition, but two private collections have loaned additional works to provide a fuller glimpse into the artist’s career. Kent Garlinghouse of New York, whose mother was a close friend of the artist, has loaned 19 prints. Heller’s biographer, Larry Stanfel of Montana, has lent several books which carry illustrations by the prolific artist. Stanfel’s two new books on Heller will be available for purchase at the Gallery during the exhibition, Uncompromising Souls: The Lives of and Work of Artists Helen West Heller and Husband Roger, and, The Complete Poetry of Helen West Heller, generously illustrated with her woodcut art.

In the April 14, 1925, art section of the Chicago Evening Post, a 31-syllable “tanka” poem by Helen West Heller appeared, praising the lithographs of Bethany College professor Birger Sandzén (1871-1954). Heller had just returned from a visit to Lindsborg, where she was invited by Sandzén to show six of her woodcut prints in the college’s annual Midwest Art Exhibition that always accompanies performances of Handel’s Messiah oratorio. The Chicago artist was invited back to show in the spring exhibition of 1926 and for a larger show of her prints and watercolors in 1927.

Heller and Sandzén most likely met as fellow artists in Chicago’s wide-ranging exhibition venues.
The Sandzén Gallery is located at 401 North First Street in Lindsborg. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The Gallery is closed on Mondays. Admission is free, with donations welcome. Docent tours for groups are available by two-week advance appointment with the Gallery.

For more information about Birger Sandzén and the Gallery visit the website www.sandzen.org or telephone (785) 227-2220.

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

Roads and more importantly how to pay for maintenance and upkeep on the county’s infrastructure continue to be on the minds of the Ellis County Commission.

At Monday’s County Commission meeting, interim Public Works Director Curt Hoffman presented the commission with a list of projects that have been highlighted for future construction.

Among the projects are replacing the bridge deck on the bridge that runs over the Saline River on Yocemento Avenue and the bridge on the west end of Ellis on Old U.S. 40.

The county received four bids, with the base bids ranging from $142,805 to $226,593. Kaw Valley Engineering estimated the repair would cost $131,187.

Because of the salt levels in the Saline River, Hoffman said he is concerned about the piers in the water, which will need to be encased to protect them from the water.

Hoffman said something needs to be done with the bridge in Ellis because steel is starting to show, and they have received complaints from residents and from the city of Ellis.

A proposed asphalt overlay, from APAC, would cost $10,000.

Hoffman said once the asphalt overlay is done, they are committed to upgrading the project because the asphalt will speed up the deterioration of the bridge deck. Sealing the overlay will help slow the breakdown and could extend the life of the bridge between seven and eight years.

“The asphalt will allow water to penetrate a little better than concrete,” Hoffman said “You’re going to get moisture in between there, which will accelerate deterioration of the bridge.”

Hoffman said this is going to be a continuous problem. Many of the bridges in the county were built in about the same time period.

“A lot of them have already went past their life expectancy,” Commission Chairman Dean Haselhorst said.

County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes said the county only has the one funding method to pay for the repairs and fixing the bridge on the Yocemento and the bridge in Ellis would drain that fund to about $156,000, leaving the county with not enough money to pay for the other projects.

According to Hoffman, the county has looked at having county staff removing the bridge deck and replacing the guardrail on the Yocemento bridge as ways to save money in the bid process.

The commission asked Hoffman to get updated numbers with potential savings and present it to the commission at their next meeting on May 2.

In other business, Haselhorst said during the public building commission that work on the courthouse, law enforcement center and jail is “99.9999 percent complete.” Mike Wilson, project superintendent with MW Builders said they were waiting on one piece for the security system that would hook the cameras in the courthouse with the jail system. They expect that process to be done early this week.

Wilson said they did have a few leaks in the roof with the rain over the weekend and they had the contractors come and help seal everything up.

The commission also approved accepting KDOT Federal-Aid Funds for $222,204.94 for 2016. The agreement allows the county to exchange the funds for $.90 for every $1.00. The county will get just less than $200,000.

Commissioners also allowed the sheriff’s department to go ahead with the hiring of another jailer.

The commission also notified department heads they intend to sell the Tholen building. Staff has been using the building for storage. The commission informed them they have 90 days to remove items in their for storage.