Douglas Graydon Egger, age 88, of Hays, formerly of Ellis passed away Thursday, March 23, 2017 at the Good Samaritan Society in Ellis. He was born April 27, 1928 in Hays, Kansas to Ernest Edward and Ida Phyllis (Loflin) Egger. He graduated from Ellis High School in 1947. He married Betty Armbruster on February 13, 1954. She preceded him in death on April 9, 1996. On November 29, 1997 he married Rose Mary Rupp at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Ellis, KS.
Doug was a retired Farmer and Stockman. He was a US Army veteran serving in the Korean War. He was a member of Christ Lutheran Church of Ellis, lifetime member of the Ellis VFW, former Golden Belt CO-OP board member, and a member of the Sunflower Polka Club. He enjoyed auctions, antiquing, his family and family events.
He is survived by his wife, Rose Mary Egger of Hays; two daughters, Renee Rupp and husband Dave of Hays, Raimy Hester and husband Keith of Hutchinson; a step son, Kevin O’Rourke of Hays; five grandchildren, Travis Rupp and wife Kristin of Hays, Jeff Rupp and wife Deanna of Hays, Dallas Rupp of Hays, Brooke Hothan of Lawrence and Megan Hester of Hutchinson as well as eight great grandchildren, Brynlee, Bennett, Colten, Veya, Allie, Addison, Brantley and Ridge.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a step son, Sean O’Rourke.
Funeral services will be 10:30 AM on Monday, March 27, 2017 at Christ Lutheran Church in Ellis. Burial will follow in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Ellis with military honors.
Visitation will be Sunday 5 PM – 8 PM with a prayer service at 7 PM all at Keithley Funeral Chapel 400 E 17th Ellis, KS 67637. Visitation on Monday will be at 10 AM until service time at the church.
Memorial contributions are suggested to Christ Lutheran Church or The Special Olympics.
Condolences may be left by guestbook at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or emailed to [email protected]
STOCKTON–The FFA students at Stockton High School spent one day of their spring break helping their neighbors, according to the group’s Facebook page.
On Thursday, March 23, Stockton FFA members along with FFA Alumni members and the Neil Brown family spent the day from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. working on fence damaged by recent wildfires for the Carsten and Brown families.
Tasks included replacing burnt wood posts with steel posts, taking out posts, and rolling up lots of wire in preparation for the installation of new fence!
Lunch was sponsored by Bellerive Construction and the Stockton FFA Alumni at 183 Lanes.
Stockton High School FFA members spent part of their spring break helping repair wildfire damage in Rooks County.
Stockton FFA Participants:
Kennedy Chesney, Elizabeth Lowry, Laura King, Annabelle Kester, Macy Odle, Katy Kriley, Bryce Graf, Trevor Miller, Trey Kuhlmann, Kieran Graf, Kody Odle, Joel Green, Jacob Eck, and (not in photo) Payton Keller.
Stockton FFA Alumni Participants:
Bob Atkisson, Cathy Atkisson, and Dan Atkisson.
By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN FHSU University Relations and Marketing
Some Fort Hays State University students and faculty in the agriculture department hit the jackpot over spring break. And they didn’t have far to go to claim their prize.
In fact, they didn’t even leave campus to punch their winning ticket in FHSU’s inaugural bull sale on the university farm Monday.
Sparked by a $30,000 winning bid on the very first animal sold, the Round Up sale totaled more than $230,000. FHSU will receive a percentage of that total, with the rest going to the Mann Ranch.
Most of the 60 bulls sold were Red Angus and SimAngus from the Mann Ranch, located about 45 miles east of Wichita in the Flint Hills. Several were Stabilizer bulls from the FHSU farm. The event was part of an initiative through a partnership between Mann Ranch and Fort Hays State.
Fort Hays State students fed and cared for the bulls at the university farm for several months leading up to the sale.
While organizers thought the sale’s signature animal, the 1,700-pound Red Angus named Mann Wideload 800 55C, was well worth the amount he brought, they were cautiously optimistic.
“You’re pretty nervous with an inaugural sale; you just want everything to run smoothly,” said Larry Garten, a veterinarian in the Kansas City area who is a consultant for Mann Ranch. “Did I think that was a $30,000 bull? Yes, the quality was there. Did I think he would bring $30,000 at an inaugural sale? Probably not.”
Don Benjamin, interim chair of FHSU’s Department of Agriculture, agreed.
“We were hoping around $15,000 to $18,000 on our number one bull,” Benjamin said, a smile still plastered on his face at the conclusion of the sale. “That sets the tone for the sale. If your first one goes like that, $8,000 doesn’t sound like so much.”
Indeed.
Nine other bulls brought at least $5,000 each to help raise the sale average to nearly $3,900 each.
Potential buyers from five different states, and even one from Canada, got in on the bidding — both in person and online.
DVAuction out of Norfolk, Neb., was in charge of the sale and featured real-time bidding and proxy bidding. Those present were able to view the cattle — which had been videoed beforehand — on three large monitors set up in the front of the showroom of the beef barn on the university farm. The same videos were available for online bidders.
“That’s what these bull sales have evolved to, where they are videoed, and people can evaluate them on their own time in their pens ahead of the sale,” Garten said. “They have time to study those bulls weeks ahead of time on video, so by the time the auction comes around, you know just what you’re looking for.”
Numerous sponsors were solicited to help with in-kind donations, including a lunch just prior to the start of the auction.
It was a nervous and exciting time for the agriculture department as students and faculty glanced at each other as a half dozen bidders carried the bid up past $25,000. The final duel featured bidders from Canada and Hobart, Okla., with the Oklahoma buyer claiming the highest bid — and becoming the new owner of Wideload.
As the bidding moved past $20,000, Benjamin couldn’t wipe the smile from his face, especially as the bidding kept climbing.
“We would have been pleased with $20,000,” Benjamin said. “To have a bull sell for that much ($30,000) is very pleasing.”
It was an invaluable experience for numerous other students, in addition to those who cared for the animals.
Judging teams from FHSU and area high schools came through to practice their skills by visiting the university farm and viewing the bulls. About 10 FHSU students helped care for the animals from start to finish, ranging from feeding and watering to preparing them for the video process by DVAuction.
“We were able to put together a number of classes for our judging team,” Benjamin said. “Some high school FFA teams and college teams came through, too, and were able to see a quality class. That’s been a huge benefit. That probably involved another 150 additional students.”
In addition, “the exposure for the university is great,” said Mike Stoppel, manager of the university farm’s beef unit. “Don has brought a lot of prospective freshmen by the farm, and they’re able to see the kinds of things we are doing in the unit. It helps with exposure and recruitment.”
All in all, the sale was deemed a huge success and still has those close to the project shaking their heads as to the degree of success.
“With Mike’s contacts and the people he knows in the industry, it was a perfect storm,” Garten said.
Thane Barker, a senior animal science major from Lebo, said he is pleased to be a part of the resurgence of several programs on the university farm.
Barker had grown up showing sheep, so he decided to get involved with the beef unit at FHSU to widen his experience.
“I like the hands-on, applied aspect at Fort Hays State,” he said. “I thought the best part of all this was the marketing aspect, letting people know what we’re doing here.”
Garten said that while the bull sale “was kind of a trial,” he plans to continue his association with FHSU.
“I’m going to keep working with Mike,” Garten said. “I could not be more pleased with the professional job that was done with everyone involved with Fort Hays State. Our goal is to make that cow herd out there for Fort Hays State a top-notch cow herd through the influence of my herd.”
Final numbers still are being calculated from the sale to determine how much FHSU will receive.
“Let’s put it this way,” Benjamin said. “It’s been well worth our effort. This definitely will be a shot in the arm for our beef unit and some of our other units as well.”
And he wasn’t just talking about the monetary benefits.
“What the students learned from all this was invaluable,” Benjamin said. “With all the planning of the sale and taking care of the animals, learning about feed bunk management, how to torch and clip the bulls themselves. It’s an experience they’ll never forget.”
The city of Hays Fire Department will be inspecting and flow testing fire hydrants on Fri., March 24, 2017 in the area from 16th St. to 27th St. between Hall St. and Vine St. This is part of a coordinated effort by the City of Hays to inspect all fire hydrants in the city and flush all water mains annually.
Inspecting fire hydrants ensures that the valves operate properly and that there is no damage or obstructions that will prevent or interfere with the prompt use of fire hydrants in an emergency. Firefighters are also checking the pressure and volume of water mains in each neighborhood for firefighting purposes. The associated flushing of water mains allows chlorine to be distributed throughout the system to eliminate bio-filming in the water mains.
Slight discoloration of the water supply may be encountered although there will be no health risks to the consumer. All reasonable efforts will be taken to minimize the inconvenience to the public. Drivers are asked to avoid driving through water discharging from a fire hydrant during the short flushing period.
For more information please contact the Hays Fire Department at (785) 628-7330.
Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
When the weather is hot outside, what is as refreshing as a cold, half-frozen, flavorful drink? Those are especially good when they are icy. Today we’ll learn about a company that was so excited about the potential of such drinks that they used the name ICEE. Now generations have enjoyed these tasty, refreshing drinks, but they may not know that the founder came from rural Kansas.
Omar Knedlik is the founder of what became the ICEE company. Here is his story. According to the Kansapedia website of the Kansas State Historical Society, Omar Knedlik was born in Barnes, Kansas, in 1916 and grew up on a nearby farm. Barnes is located in Washington County southwest of Marysville.
Omar served in World War II and returned to Kansas. He used his military pay to purchase an ice cream shop. He tried various other business ventures such as hotels and in the late 1950s, bought a Dairy Queen franchise in Coffeyville.
According to legend, he didn’t really have a working soda fountain in his store. Instead, when the weather got hot outside, he improvised by putting bottles of Coke in his freezer and selling them to customers super-cooled and halfway frozen. He noticed that his customers loved the icy drink. He started advertising it as the “coldest drink in town,” and it was a big hit.
Omar Knedlik’s innovative mind went to work. He wondered if he could devise a machine that could create and dispense a similar frozen carbonated beverage on demand. He tinkered with an old ice cream machine until he came up with a device that produced a slushy, icy drink.
Omar took his primitive machine to a company in Texas to refine and produce it. It took him five years to develop a machine which could produce drinks with the slushy consistency that he wanted. He received a patent for it in 1960.
Omar debated what to name the product. A local artist and friend developed the idea of the name ICEE, complete with a logo including snow and icicles hanging on the letters.
The Texas company built and sold about 300 models of the ICEE machine. According to the ICEE Distributors website, the company was soon faced with “an avalanche of sales orders and an overwhelming volume of field service and customer service requests.”
In 1965, the 7-Eleven company bought several ICEE machines and the company took off. The convenience store chain later changed the name of its product to Slurpee. If you have ever heard the sound of a car full of kids enjoying those drinks through straws, you can guess the reason why.
The products have proven immensely popular. Today, there are many variations of the product such as Italian ice and other semi-frozen concoctions in fruit or soda flavors. The ICEE company, now headquartered in California, estimates that 500 million ICEEs are sold each year. In other words, that is half a billion ICEEs – with a B as in, boy, that’s a lot of cold drinks. ICEEs are sold coast-to-coast in the United States and in Canada, Mexico, China, and the Middle East.
ICEE has about 850 employees in the U.S., Mexico and Canada and has more than 100 service centers across the nation.
There are 32 ICEE flavors but the most popular are said to be cherry, blue raspberry, and cola. (Cherry is the best, based on a scientific survey of me and my kids.)
Omar Knedlik was witness to the explosion in the popularity of this product. He eventually moved his family to Joplin, Missouri where he passed away in 1989 at age 73.
Several generations of hot, thirsty families would be grateful for his innovation and creativity which produced this refreshing drink. It’s quite an accomplishment for a farm boy from the rural community of Barnes, Kansas, population 148 people. Now, that’s rural.
When the weather is hot outside, what is so refreshing as a flavorful, half-frozen drink? We commend Omar Knedlik for making a difference by creating this concoction – so cold that it is icy.
SEWARD COUNTY – Officials are working to determine the cause of a large grass fire late Thursday in Seward County.
Just after 5p.m. Seward County Fire Rescue was dispatched area of Road P and Highway 54, according to a media release.
Units were already in the area responding to another fire and were redirected. An immediate need request for mutual aid was transmitted to the Kansas State office of Emergency Management.
Approximately 35 fire units with about 62 firefighters from 9 counties arrived and starting working the fire.
Heavy rain occurred and assisted with extinguishing the fire. Mutual aid companies were released and a majority of them were directed to Perryton Texas to assist with another wildfire.
Seward County has crews continuing to monitor the situation in the river bottom throughout the night and will continue to be on scene throughout the day Friday.
We estimate the fire to have been a mile wide and burned about 4 miles approximately 2,500 acres. Cause is under investigation.
Numerous local farmers assisted with discs as well as Seward County Road and Bridge road graders. Seward County Sheriff’s Office assisted with evacuations. No injuries were reported.
Today A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 65. South southeast wind 14 to 18 mph becoming east northeast in the afternoon.
Tonight A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm, then a slight chance of showers between 8pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38. Windy, with a north wind 20 to 26 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Saturday Mostly sunny, with a high near 61. Breezy, with a north northwest wind 16 to 21 mph decreasing to 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.
Saturday NightPartly cloudy, with a low around 38. North northeast wind 6 to 8 mph becoming east after midnight.
SundayShowers likely after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 64. East wind 7 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Sunday NightShowers likely, mainly before 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
MondayA 20 percent chance of showers before 8am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 65.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Player of the year front-runner Frank Mason III poured in 26 points, Kansas turned on the jets in the second half and the top-seeded Jayhawks soared to a 98-66 blowout of No. 4 seed Purdue on Thursday night in the Midwest Regional semifinals.
Devonte Graham also had 26 points and Josh Jackson had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Jayhawks (31-4), who led by 7 at halftime before their up-and-down pace finally wore down the Boilermakers.
Kansas used two big runs, including an 11-0 charge highlighted by Lagerald Vicks’ 360-degree drunk, to coast into a matchup with No. 3 seed Oregon on Saturday for a spot in the Final Four.
The Ducks survived a nail-biter against Michigan earlier in the night.
Caleb Swanigan had 18 points and seven boards for the Boilermakers (27-8), but the 6-foot-9, 250-pound All-America candidate had to work for all of it.
FINNEY COUNTY – Thursday night’s severe thunderstorm brought rain and strong winds to portions of western Kansas.
Just before 11 p.m., the winds were responsible for a power outage in Garden City. Initial reports indicated the outage was caused by a trampoline blown into the power line. Crews also identified a broken power pole.
Officials restored power overnight.
⚠️ Take Cover! Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Garden City KS, Liberal KS, Ulysses KS until 9:15 PM CDT pic.twitter.com/NW8tDuRA64
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Northwest Missouri used a 21-9 run early in the second half to earn a chance at the NCAA Division II National Championship with a 79-67 victory over Lincoln Memorial.
The Bearcats shot .654 from the field in the second half and .500 from the three-point line as they erased a six-point deficit to make the national title game.
The Bearcats were led by Justin Pitts who scored a game high 30 points and dished out six assists. Zach Schnieder was in double figures with 13 points going 4 of 6 from beyond the arch. Anthony Woods added 11 points while on the glass Chris-Ebou Ndow pulled down a team best seven rebounds.
The Bearcats will face off with Fairmont State on Saturday, March 25 at 2 p.m. in the national championship game from the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls and can be seen across the nation on CBS.
The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on Thursday advanced an expansion bill to the full Senate for a vote. Members of the committee include, from left, Barbara Bollier, Vicki Schmidt and Laura Kelly. JIM MCLEAN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Kansas lawmakers are now a step away from what could be a showdown with Republican Gov. Sam Brownback on the political football issue of Medicaid expansion.
“Hallelujah,” said Sen. Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat, immediately after the committee approved the bill on a voice vote with little debate.
“We finally have enough compassionate, considerate, thoughtful legislators to have had this discussion and to pass this bill out of committee,” Kelly said, referring to legislative leaders elected after the recent defeat of several conservative incumbents by moderate Republicans and Democrats.
Sen. Jake LaTurner, a Pittsburg Republican, voted against advancing the bill, insisting that Kansas lawmakers should wait on the outcome of a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on a GOP bill to replace the Affordable Care Act. Among other things, the federal bill would prohibit states that haven’t already acted from expanding their Medicaid programs.
“I think Washington is going the opposite direction,” LaTurner said. “They’re going to the right and we’re going to the left it seems. This is an enormous entitlement. We’re writing checks that we can’t cash.”
Several members of the committee disagreed, including Kelly.
“We don’t know what the end result in D.C. is going to be,” she said. “So, I think we’re better to play offense here and get Medicaid expanded in the state and then deal with whatever comes down from D.C.”
David Jordan, the director of a pro-expansion coalition that includes several health provider organizations, said pressing ahead with the bill isn’t an exercise in futility.
“I think this is an act of leadership,” Jordan said. “This is Kansas legislators taking steps to protect the interests of Kansans.”
Expanding eligibility for KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, would provide health insurance to an additional 150,000 to 180,000 low-income adults.
Currently, KanCare eligibility is limited to children, pregnant women, people with disabilities and seniors in need of long-term care who have exhausted their financial resources. Parents are eligible only if they earn less than a third of the federal poverty level, or about $9,200 annually for a four-person family.
Single adults without children currently are not eligible no matter their income. Expansion would extend eligibility to all Kansans who earn up to 138 percent of the poverty level, or $16,642 annually for an individual and $33,465 for a family of four.
How much expansion will cost the state depends on changes made to the federal health reform law, which currently obligates the federal government to cover no less than 90 percent of the cost of expansion. Under that formula, expansion would cost the state an additional $67.2 million in its first full year, according to state officials.
The House passed the expansion bill 81-44 in late February. If the Senate approves it without changes, it would go to Brownback, who while opposed to expansion has stopped short of saying that he would veto the bill.
Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of kcur.org, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics in Kansas. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.
HARVEY COUNTY— A Harvey County judge decided Thursday to seal the probable cause affidavit in the murder case against two people on three counts of first-degree murder.
Defendants Jereme Nelson, 35, and Myrta Rangel, 31, are charged with three counts each of capital murder and first-degree murder in the October deaths of 33-year-old Travis Street, 37-year-old Angela May Graevs and 52-year-old Richard Prouty.
The victims’ bodies were found in October outside a rural home near Moundridge. An 18-month-old child was found unharmed.
Judge Joe Dickinson ruled that releasing the affidavit could jeopardize the physical, mental or emotional safety or well-being of the victims and witnesses. Dickinson also said that releasing the information could interfere with prospective law enforcement action, criminal investigation or prosecution.
Nelson in pre-booking photo Harvey Co.
Harvey County Attorney David Yoder is seeking the death penalty in the case.
A preliminary hearing for Rangel is scheduled for Thursday, April 6.
Douglas Graydon Egger, age 88, of Hays, formerly of Ellis passed away Thursday, March 23, 2017 at the Good Samaritan Society in Ellis. He was born April 27, 1928 in Hays, Kansas to Ernest Edward and Ida Phyllis (Loflin) Egger. He graduated from Ellis High School in 1947. He married Betty Armbruster on February 13, 1954. She preceded him in death on April 9, 1996. On November 29, 1997 he married Rose Mary Rupp at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Ellis, KS.
Tonight A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm, then a slight chance of showers between 8pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38. Windy, with a north wind 20 to 26 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
