The Hays Police Department will conduct training from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at 204 W. Sixth.
Police officers will be training with special tactical equipment. This training is being done with great care and safety.
As a homeowner, you may see law enforcement officers move through your area. There is no need to be alarmed. The officers are merely conducting a realistic training exercise and there is no danger to the community.
If you have any questions or concerns, contact the on-site supervisor (Team Commander Tim Greenwood or Team Leader Aaron Larson, or Chief Don Scheibler at (785) 625-1030.
Winter is the perfect time to start planning that garden for this Summer. Holly Dickman offers some advice on what we can be doing now to get ready for that Summer garden.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Several Kansas lawmakers are seeking to weaken a law that will allow concealed guns on state college campuses starting this summer.
A bill introduced Tuesday would permanently exempt several types of health care facilities and colleges from the law that allows guns in public buildings. That exemption will otherwise expire July 1.
One of the bill’s backers, Overland Park Republican Rep. Stephanie Clayton, says lawmakers have heard from constituents who want campus carry stopped.
But Rep. John Whitmer says the bill is “dead on arrival” and possibly won’t even get a committee hearing.
Governor Sam Brownback signed the original measure. He has said through a spokeswoman that he supports the Second Amendment, but will give “due consideration to any bill that reaches his desk.”
Property owners are responsible for any tree limb cleanup following the weekend ice storm.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
“We were lucky, and we got moisture, which is nice.”
Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty was breathing a sigh of relief Tuesday morning following Sunday’s ice storm.
Although 7,539 Midwest Energy customers remained without power at 1 p.m. today, all Hays customers were online. There were 9 rural customers east of Hays still without electricity .
The major streets in Hays were treated with brine Friday by Public Works employees in anticipation of the weekend storm.
“Brine is just a salt/water mixture that creates a layer that helps prevent anything from freezing on the street,” Dougherty explained.
“Brine is an application that works very good if it doesn’t get too cold and we don’t get a lot of rain with it that washes the brine off. We put a lot of brine down, saturating the streets. As soon as it started icing, the crews were out putting down a granular salt/sand mixture down.
“We were lucky in that a lot of the moisture came down as rain (1.13″) overnight Sunday into Monday morning. That prevented temperatures from getting as cold as predicted (by the National Weather Service.) At 4:30 a.m. Sunday, it was raining pretty heavily and 34 degrees. If the rain had stopped earlier, we probably would have had just a solid sheet of thick ice on all the roads. Monday morning, the residential streets were a little slick but the arterials were all open.”
One-half inch of ice did coat sidewalks and trees.
City crews are picking up tree limbs on city right-of-way and city property only.
Some big limbs came down, but Dougherty said the city is picking up only what is in the city right-of-way or on city property.
“We typically only pick up tree limbs in residential areas when it becomes a matter of concern to the health and welfare of the residents.
“When we had the windstorm (July 13) and there were lots of limbs blocking curbs and blocking streets, and others that were about to fall on passersby, and the sheer volume would take private haulers months to get rid of, that’s when the city gets involved.”
Dougherty knows there was some tree damage around town, but called it “very minimal and very localized, from what it could be.”
He encouraged residents to call the Parks Department at (785) 628-7375 for a list of qualified private tree removal specialists in Hays.
Tree limbs can also be taken to the Ellis County Landfill at no charge.
SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating a suspect for aggravated battery after a weekend altercation.
Just before 6 p.m. on Sunday, police were sent to Salina Regional Health Center after a woman being treated for a cut to her head and a broken finger told hospital staff she had been assaulted by an acquaintance, according to Police Sergeant James Feldman.
Officers located the acquaintance Travis Lawson, 38, Salina, at a motel in the 2400 Block of South 9th Street in Salina.
He tried to avoid officers by climbing out a window. He was captured and booked into the Saline County jail on requested charges of aggravated domestic battery and obstruction.
Lenora resident Daniel Ray Pakkebier passed away Jan. 15, 2017 at the Norton County Hospital in Norton at the age of 56. He was born May 26, 1960 in Phillipsburg, the son of Henry & Marie (VanDerVeen) Pakkebier. He was a farmer.
Survivors include his wife Jeanette of the home; his mother, Marie of Densmore; 3 brothers: Larry, Kenneth & Harvey of Densmore; his sister, Sandra VanKooten of Phillipsburg; his mother-in-law, Sandra Portenier of Phillipsburg and several nieces and nephews.
Cremation was chosen. A memorial service will be held Friday, Jan. 20 at 2:30 p.m. in the Luctor Christian Reformed Church with Pastor Aaron Rust officiating. Inurnment will follow in the Prairie View Cemetery.
Friends may sign the book from 9:00 to 9:00 Thursday at the funeral home with the family receiving friends from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Memorial contributions may be made to the CU Foundation (Lung Cancer Colorado Fund).
Online condolences: www.olliffboeve.com.
Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
The Ellis County Commission met in a short meeting Monday and signed a proclamation designating Jan. 22 through the 28 as Ellis County Schools Choice Week.
Commission Chair Barb Wasinger said Ellis County is fortunate to have a number of quality educational opportunities.
“We have amazing public schools. We have amazing religious schools,” Wasinger said, “and there are so many people in Ellis County that are homeschooling and so I wanted to celebrate that.”
The commission also approved a resolution waiving the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles standards for 2017. The resolution allows the county to Kansas Municipal Accounting Guidelines.
County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes said the county has passed similar resolutions in the past.
The commission also approved the department head evaluation process.
The commission also thanked the county employees for their work in dealing with the ice storm that impacted the region this past weekend.
“I’m deeply grateful for all the people that go out there when we’re all huddled up in out houses,” Wasinger said. “It’s not easy and I appreciate the sacrifices that you make.”
SHAWNEE COUNTY – A Kansas teen died in an accident just before 8 a.m. on Tuesday in Shawnee County.
The Shawnee County Sheriff’s Department reported a Pontiac passenger vehicle driven by Andrew Green, 16, Topeka, was eastbound on Northwest 46th Street between Button and Green Hills, north of Topeka.
The vehicle traveled into the westbound lane and hit a truck head-on.
Green was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver and a passenger in the truck were not transported for treatment.
Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the sheriff’s department.
The crash remains under investigation, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.
NEW YORK (AP) — Even as the election outcome intensifies America’s abortion debate, a comprehensive new survey finds the annual number of abortions in the U.S has dropped to well under 1 million, the lowest level since 1974.
The report, which counted 926,200 abortions in 2014, was released Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group which supports abortion rights. It is the only entity which strives to count all abortions in the U.S.; the latest federal survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lacks data from California, Maryland and New Hampshire.
The total from 2014 represented a drop of 12.5 percent from Guttmacher’s previous survey, which tallied 1.06 million abortions in 2011. The decrease was spread nationwide; in only six states did abortions increase over the three-year span.
WAKEENEY — The Trego County Historical Society will host “Head ‘Em Up and Move ‘Em Out,” a presentation and discussion by Jim Gray for the annual Kansas Day Program. This program will be held on Sunday, January 22, at 2 p.m. at the museum in WaKeeney. Members of the community are invited to attend the free program. The presentation is made possible by the Kansas Humanities Council.
The early days of ranching and trail driving required stamina and determination. The drover of yesteryear had little choice but to face the elements placed before him if he was to get his wild cattle to market. This presentation will explore how today’s massive beef industry owes its beginnings to the men and women who were bold enough to “head ‘em up and move ‘em out.”
Jim Gray is a sixth-generation Kansan who co-founded the COWBOY (Cockeyed Old West Band Of Yahoos) Society to promote and preserve Kansas’s cowboy heritage through the bi-monthly newspaper, Kansas Cowboy. The executive director of the National Drovers Hall of Fame, he is the author of Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier and writes the newspaper column “The Way West.”
“In our modern world we often forget that the food we find on the shelf and in the cooler comes from our farms and ranches,” said Gray. “Beefsteak was once a steer on the hoof, and so it was 150 years ago when cowboys pointed their herds across the open plains to the railroad corrals of the Kansas cattle towns. The method of delivery has changed but the spirit of the cowboy will never change as long as cattle graze and beef is on the menu.”
“Head ‘Em Up and Move ‘Em Out”is part of the Kansas Humanities Council’s Kansas Stories Speakers Bureau, featuring presentations and discussions that examine our shared human experience—our innovations, culture, heritage, and conflicts.
The Kansas Humanities Council conducts and supports community-based programs, serves as a financial resource through an active grant-making program, and encourages Kansans to engage in the civic and cultural life of their communities. For more information about KHC programs contact the Kansas Humanities Council at 785/357-0359 or visit online at www.kansashumanities.org.
For more information about “Head ‘Em Up and Move ‘Em Out”inWaKeeney,contact the Trego County Historical Society at 785-743-2964.
Join Downtown Hays Development Corporation and the Hays Welcome Center at The Golden Griddle, 230 W. Ninth, from 6 to 8 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, to recognize all area first responders for what they do for the community of Hays.
Breakfast is a special thank you for their continued safety and service. This group of hometown heroes make Hays a great place to live. The general public is invited.
If you’d like to stop in and say thank you to first responders, the all-you-can-eat-buffet is $10.69, with 10 percent off for anyone wearing blue. First Responders in uniform or with ID receive their meal free.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveils his official portrait at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in December 2016. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE / FLICKR
By JEREMY BERNFELD
And then there was Agriculture.
Agriculture Secretary is the only post in President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet without a nominee, mystifying many in rural America and spurring worries that agriculture and rural issues will land near the end of the line among the new president’s priorities.
Former Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue is among the latest mentioned as a leading candidate for the post.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, who served for all 8 years of Barack Obama’s presidency, left off last Friday.
The Agriculture Department employs nearly 100,000 people spread out over 29 agencies. It deals with everything from food stamps, to farm loans, to food safety, and administers programs in rural areas, which largely supported president-elect Trump.
“I find it, frankly, astounding that we’ve waited so long to get an Agriculture pick,” says Dan Glickman, a former Agriculture Secretary under President Bill Clinton and a former congressman from Kansas.
The next Agriculture Secretary will be charged with shepherding a new Farm Bill through Congress. Work on the law, which sets both farm and nutrition policy, is slated to begin almost immediately.
Secretary Vilsack criticized the incoming Trump administration for acting slowly and said it will be difficult for the new USDA head to hit the ground running. While recognizing that it’s not yet a crisis, Glickman echoes that sentiment.
“Without leadership from the top there won’t be strategic planning, there won’t be setting new objectives of what’s happening,” Glickman says. “It’s very difficult to deal with Congress when you don’t have political leadership on top.”
The Secretary of Agriculture generally has a wide-ranging portfolio. Many expect the new secretary to be on the front lines of Trump’s trade policy, as agriculture exports generate billions annually. Immigration issues, central to the Trump campaign, are also central to the agriculture industry. Often, rural issues fall to agriculture; Vilsack worked to slow the opioid epidemic, which has an outsized effect in rural areas, for instance.
A cavalcade of names have been put forward as possibilities for Trump’s first Agriculture Secretary. Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has been mentioned by many news outlets as a front runner. As late as Thursday, however, members of the president-elect’s agriculture advisory team were seen at Trump Tower in New York, possibly meeting about the USDA.
Jeremy Bernfeld is the editor of Harvest Public Media, based at KCUR 89.3. Find him on Twitter @JeremyHPM.
