Renetta Saba of Hays passed away Thursday, May 25, 2017 in Hays.
Arrangements are pending with Brock’s-Keithley Funeral Chapel and Crematory 2509 Vine Hays, KS 67601.
Month: May 2017
🎥 Community Connection: David Levering – Sternberg Museum
In this episode of Community Connection, Mike Cooper visits with David Levering of the Sternberg Museum about Summer camps and an upcoming exhibit at the museum.
Safety committee saves Hays USD 489 $100,000 per year
By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The implementation of a safety committee is saving the district more than $100,000 per year in insurance costs.
The district renewed its Kansas Educational Risk Management Pool property/casualty insurance and worker’s compensation insurance at its meeting Monday night.
The quote for property/casualty
insurance for the 2017-2018 school year
was $124,752. The premium last year was $127,200, so the premium is $2,448 less for the upcoming year.
The district paid $143,862 for worker’s compensation insurance last year and will pay $132,674 to United Heartland this year.
The total including fees will for 2017-18 will be $277,426, which is down considerably from the $391,000 the district paid in 2014.
After years of increasing insurance costs, the district formed a safety committee in 2014. That committee has members from all the district’s buildings and departments.
The committee has issued a series of awareness campaigns, including one on slip, trip and fall hazards, said Tracy Kaiser, USD 489 executive director of finance and support services.
At the building level, schools have worked with staff and custodial services to make sure designated walkways are cleared during icy and snowy weather. The schools then encourage staff to use these clear walkways.
“We want our staff members to be aware of how accidents happen,” Kaiser said. “We want them to be aware of the shoes they are wearing and maybe that they need to hold a railing as the walk down stairs.”
Staff members are encouraged to take action quickly if they see unsafe situations to block off an area or clean an area that might have a hazard.
The district also is exploring an accident investigation process, which would help officials identify unsafe practices or areas that might need repair.
The actions of the safety committee are not just meant to make district facilities safer for staff member. Kaiser said officials hope schools are safer for children and visitors as well.
The district hopes to continue to see decreases in its insurance rate. The mod factor, which determines the amount of insurance the district pays, was 1.29 in 2013. It dropped to 1.04 in 2017. If it drops below 1, then the insurance company is paying less in claims than the district is paying in premium.
A drop below a 1 rating will drop insurance premiums significantly further, Kaiser said.
Now That’s Rural: Ken Spurgeon, Home on the Range
By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Home on the Range. That’s the state song of Kansas, but many people may not know the fascinating back story of the disputed authorship of this wonderful song. Now a Kansas film company is making the true story come alive on screen.
Ken Spurgeon is founder and executive director of Lone Chimney Films, the company which is producing a docudrama called Home on the Range. Ken is from Wichita originally. He got a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Wichita State and became a teacher. He now teaches history at Northfield School of the Liberal Arts and at Friends University.
Ken became a Civil War reenactor, wearing period costumes and reenacting the battles of the Civil War. Videographers wanted footage of these battles, and Ken became interested in the filming process.
“I loved the visual elements,” Ken said. “That’s how many of us learn.” The process of bringing a story to life on film fascinated him. After serving as a close-up extra on a film shoot in Virginia, he decided he wanted to write and produce screenplays and documentaries.
Ken and friend Jonathon Goering put together their own film company. Ken remembered the stories of Bleeding Kansas and the fact that a lone chimney is sometimes the only thing which remains from an abandoned farmstead of yesteryear. He named his new enterprise Lone Chimney Films and later got it designated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
In 2005, Lone Chimney Films produced its first documentary, a Civil War story called Touched by Fire. The second documentary was called Bloody Dawn: The Lawrence Massacre. Both films have aired more than 20 times on regional PBS stations across the Midwest and have been shown in more than 200 classrooms.
The third documentary was called The Road to Valhalla about the Kansas-Missouri border war and its after-effects. That film won the Best Documentary award from the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City.
After giving a talk about his films one day, Ken was approached about a new film idea: The true story of the song known as Home on the Range. The more he explored the idea, the more intrigued he became. He visited with Wichita musician Orin Friesen and Kansas writer Sharon Black who had written about the topic.
Home on the Range was highly popular. It was also the subject of a national lawsuit. An Arizona couple claimed to have been the first persons to have written the song and sued for royalties.
An attorney had been dispatched to find the true origin of the song. His travels took him to Smith County, Kansas, where eyewitnesses attested to its having been written by Dr. Brewster Higley in the 1870s. The attorney found that the Smith County Pioneer newspaper had published Higley’s poem in 1874 prior to the Arizonans, proving that Higley was the original author.
Higley had written the poem about his Smith County cabin which was located north of the rural communities of Gaylord, population 141, and Cedar, population 26. Now, that’s rural. The poem was later set to music and modified slightly. Its popularity would spread across the nation.
The fascinating story of the attorney’s discovery of the truth about the song is dramatized in this new docudrama called Home on the Range. It stars Buck Taylor who appeared in Gunsmoke and western actor Rance Howard who is also the father of Hollywood director Ron Howard. Mitch Holthus plays an old-time radio announcer. Orin Friesen served as musical consultant. The film even includes the rock group Kansas singing Home on the Range.
The movie premiered in January 2017 in Wichita, Kansas City, and Smith County. It has been shown at the capitol in Topeka for the governor and state legislators and will be shown at various communities across Kansas and beyond. For more information, go to www.lonechimneyfilms.org.
Home on the Range. It took a lawsuit to prove that this song indeed was first written by a Kansan, and now Ken Spurgeon is making a difference by sharing this history with others. I’m glad this film has found its home – well, you know where.
Sunny, warm Thursday with a chance for thunderstorms
Today Sunny, with a high near 83. South southeast wind 11 to 15 mph.
Tonight A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. Southeast wind 6 to 11 mph becoming north northeast after midnight.
FridayMostly sunny, with a high near 79. Northeast wind 9 to 11 mph.
Friday NightA 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. East wind around 9 mph.
SaturdayA 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 73. Northeast wind 8 to 13 mph.
Saturday NightA 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 52.
SundayMostly sunny, with a high near 75.
Sunday NightMostly clear, with a low around 51.
Memorial DaySunny, with a high near 77.
Severino silences Royals
NEW YORK (AP) – Helped by a great first-inning catch that forced center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury from the game with a concussion and sprained neck, Luis Severino won for the first time in a month and led the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 3-0 on Wednesday night.
On the first pitch of the game, Ellsbury sprinted 107 feet and raised his glove above his head to catch Alcides Escobar’s fly. Ellsbury’s head jarred into the wall as the ball landed in his glove, and he crumpled to the field.
Ellsbury was checked by manager Joe Girardi and head athletic trainer Steve Donohue and remained in the game, then was replaced by Aaron Hicks starting the second.
Didi Gregorius homered against Jason Hammel (1-6) leading off the third inning, Gregorius’ seventh hit in a span of 12 at-bats.
His fastball reaching 99 mph, Severino (3-2) allowed four hits over eight innings, struck out seven, walked one and threw a career-high 114 pitches.
Dellin Betances struck out the side in a perfect ninth for his fourth save.
Kansas forward Mykhailiuk returning for senior season
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – Kansas forward Svi Mykhailiuk is returning for his senior season, ending months of speculation about whether he would remain in the NBA draft with a simple Instagram post on Wednesday.
The 6-foot-8 Mykhailiuk was among the most noteworthy players weighing whether to remain in the draft or return to school. He averaged 9.8 points for the Jayhawks last season, and his ability to shoot from the perimeter made many NBA scouts believe he would be selected in the draft.
But despite performing well in shooting drills during the scouting combine, Mykhailiuk did not get enough reassurance he would be selected and chose to withdraw his name by the deadline Wednesday.
His return gives the Jayhawks arguably the nation’s top backcourt next season and should position Kansas to make another run at the Final Four.
Man sentenced for fatal I-70 drunken-driving crash
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man who admitted driving drunk has been sentenced to more than 16 years in prison for causing a wreck in Topeka that killed a man from Ohio and a woman from Texas.
Fernando De Jesus Osorino was sentenced Friday for two counts of involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol and one count of driving under the influence.
The Kansas Highway Patrol says Osorino was driving east in the westbound lanes of Interstate 70 Feb. 28 when his car collided with a vehicle driven by 27-year-old Corey Jackson, of Newark, Ohio.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports a passenger in Jackson’s car, 24-year-old Coral Lynn Clark, of Fort Worth, Texas, died. Jackson died March 8.
Osorino also was ordered to pay $23,788 in restitution.
3rd suspect charged in alleged Kansas bleach attack
HUTCHINSON— A third person has been charged in a case from April where a woman had bleached splashed in her face.
Victoria Keene has been charged by the state with aggravated robbery, aggravated battery, conspiracy for aggravated battery and misdemeanor battery.
Keene, who is still jailed, cried as the judge read the charges for the incident from April 27. She also denied that she was the aggressor, but according to statements made in court, she is the one who started the argument with the victim. She is charged along with Destiny Witt and Jamice Craig.
The victim alleges the incident occurred in the 600 block of East 4th at a local laundry mat. The victim says she was punched, knocked down, had bleach poured on her and her ankle run over by her own vehicle. She was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center for treatment.
The judge also denied Keene’s request for a reduction of her $45,000 bond.
Russell man arrested following chase with Ellis County law enforcement
By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
A 28 year-old Russell man was arrested following a high-speed chase in rural Ellis County on Tuesday that ended in a muddy field.
According to the Ellis County Undersheriff Bruce Hertel, Anthony J. Brock, 28, Russell, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of possession of stolen property and fleeing and eluding law enforcement.
At approximately 9 a.m., officials with Ellis County Public Works contacted the sheriff’s department about road signs that had been shot near where crews are working on a guardrail project in the 1600 block of Toulon Avenue. In the process of completing his investigation, Hertel said the deputy went to a nearby house in the 1500 block of Toulon Avenue.
There the deputy encountered a 2008 BMW, and the driver was acting suspicious, according to Hertel. The deputy attempted to stop the BMW, but the driver fled the scene.
When the deputy ran the plates, the vehicle came back as stolen out of Russell County. The driver led the deputy on a chase reaching more than 100 mph.
He travel eastbound on Airbase Road for 4 miles before turning north on 330th Avenue and went back east on Vineyard Road. There, he came across a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper and a Victoria Police Officer setting a spike strip in the roadway.
The driver, according to Hertel, turned into a field in an attempt to avoid the officers and got stuck in the muddy field. He surrendered to officers, Hertel said.
Hertel said the car was initially loaned to Brock by a Russell resident but was not returned within the agreed-upon time so a stolen vehicle report was filed May 17.
Brock was booked into the Ellis County jail on Wednesday.
TSA screening your larger electronic devices separately
WASHINGTON (AP) -Travelers at some U.S. airports are being asked to place electronic devices bigger than a cellphone in separate bins so that they can be examined more closely.
The Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday that it has been testing the procedure at 10 airports for more than a year, and it may be expanded nationwide.
The TSA says the approach is designed to “de-clutter” carry-on bags to make it easier for screeners to examine their contents.
A TSA spokesman says people enrolled in the Precheck program will still be able to leave their laptops in their bags during screening.
Judge will allow portions of porn videos in Kansas rape trial
HOLTON, Kan. (AP) — A judge says he will allow evidence that a Kansas man watched hours of violent pornography at his upcoming sexual assault trial.
Jacob Ewing is scheduled for trial in June on charges of rape and aggravated criminal sodomy against two women.
Jackson County District Judge Norbert Marek ruled Monday portions of seven video showing acts Ewing “is said to have replicated” will be used as evidence at the trial.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports special prosecutor Jacqie Spradling said in May that evidence showed Ewing viewed an average of four hours of violent pornography per day.
Ewing’s attorney, Kathleen Ambrosio, argued the porn would be highly prejudicial.
Ewing faces trials in August and October in other sexual assault cases. He was acquitted last month of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Deputies, Game Warden and K-9 make Kansas drug bust
PRATT COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities investigating a suspect on drug and weapons charges and have made an arrest.
On Tuesday, the Pratt County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search warrant at 722 S. Pine Street in Pratt, according to a media release.
The search warrant resulted in the collection of illegal drugs, drug paraphernalia and firearms. One subject was arrested and has been charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute
Just after 6:30a.m.Wednesday, Deputies booked 30-year-old Douglas Briggs Taylor on drug charges and is being held without bond, according to the sheriff’s office web site.
Kansas State Game Wardens and a Ford County Sheriff’s Deputy and K-9 partner assisted with the arrest.