Part cultural icon and part invasive nuisance, tumbleweeds have an intriguing and tangled history. You know, tumbleweeds — those twisted balls of dead foliage rolling across the open range and roads.
If you’re driving any distance this spring, you’ll see them rolling across the highways. Traveling on Highway 24 last weekend I nailed a two-footer while bumping a few others out of my path.
Tumbleweeds first gained notoriety when the Sons of the Pioneers romanticized them in song back in the late ‘30s. I remember seeing my first ones in the early ‘50s. In the early spring, summer and fall when winds howled across roads in my native Sheridan County, tumbleweeds raced across the flatland. Incidentally, I recall singing along with the Pioneers and I still remember the song well.
This plant is as much a symbol of the old Wild West as Wyatt Earp, cattle rustlers, the coyote and the rattlesnake. The image of the lonely rider and the ghostly shape of the tumbleweed bounding in silence across the endless plains has inspired a certain misty-eyed nostalgia even in folks who have never journeyed west of Kansas City – except to travel through our state to ski in Colorado.
In truth, this weed is a blasted nuisance. Even its Latin name (Salsola pestifer) identifies it as a menace.
The tumbleweed is also known as the Russian thistle. This plant was brought to the continent in the 1870s as a contaminant in shipments of flax seed imported to western Canada. By the turn of the century, the weed had a foothold from coast to coast.
The tumbleweed can survive and grow almost anywhere. It remains one of the hardiest plants in the United States. Unfortunately, no one has found a good use for this thorny weed.
The tumbleweed can cause problems for farmers and ranchers. This nuisance weed clogs irrigation ditches, catches and accumulates litter, disrupts traffic, causes fires, poses a health threat to some livestock and even breaks down fences on windy days.
In Kansas and other western states, thousands of man hours are spent each year clearing tumbleweeds from irrigation ditches and railroad tracks. In the spring the weeds are fought with herbicides and in the fall the dried plants are sometimes burned.
Fighting tumbleweeds is a constant battle. Nearly every breezy day they bound across the prairie and every spring they sprout by the millions.
Although tumbleweeds have been in this country for nearly 150 years, no one has found a reason to cultivate this plant. One thing is certain; this nuisance weed is here to stay unless our plant scientists can find a use or method to eradicate the tumbling, tumbling tumbleweed.
So why not romanticize ‘em?
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
Ten journalists were killed in a series of attacks Monday in Afghanistan. The week prior, 14 journalists from Turkey’s leading opposition newspaper, Cumhuriyet, were given lengthy jail terms after a show trial based on trumped-up charges. Nine Turkish journalists who worked for Zaman, Turkey’s most widely-read newspaper until it was shuttered by the government, now face life sentences simply for writing columns critical of the government.
And already this year, at least 26 journalists worldwide have been killed — some in conflict areas but many targeted for murder — according to tallies by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders.
For Americans, that ought to bring sobering perspective — and a refocusing — after the recent burst of media and presidential handwringing over a barbed routine by comedian Michelle Wolf at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, where such remarks are as predictable as they are forgettable.
President Trump jumped to Twitter to decry Wolf’s jokes, calling her performance a “very big, boring bust.” He had refused to attend the dinner for the second consecutive year.
In a tweet defending Wolf, late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel did the best job of putting to rest the tempest in a D.C. teapot: “Dear ‘the media’ — @michelleisawolf was FUNNY. Hire a juggler next year.”
With the media and White House’s attention hovering on the flap over the White House Correspondents Dinner, it was left to newly-minted Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to respond to the deadly attack on journalists in Afghanistan. He called the free press “the cornerstone of democracy” and delivered a reminder of threats to journalists worldwide. He also said that the “vibrant media landscape that has developed in Afghanistan will endure, in large part due to those journalists and media professionals who tragically died in today’s attack.”
Nine journalists were killed and at least five more were wounded April 30 in suicide bombings in Kabul, the capital, and one was killed in a shooting in a rural province. Multiple reports noted that the Kabul attack was the deadliest targeting journalists since January 2015, when terrorists opened fire at the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people, eight of whom were staff members.
Less visible to Americans is the collapse of the free press in Turkey, following an attempted 2016 government coup. A Turkish court on April 24 sentenced 14 staff members of Cumhuriyet to up to seven years in prison on vague and unsupported charges of terrorism — a verdict that international press and human rights advocates decry as retaliation for the paper’s ongoing criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey is ranked 157th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Border’s 2018 press freedom index, released just weeks ago. The NATO member nation has now jailed more journalists than any other country in the world, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Lest we forget amidst the reports of carnage and corrupted justice systems, the battle for a free press also involves widespread efforts to promulgate “fake news” — either in a direct attempt to fool news consumers, or to discredit real journalism. My colleagues at NewseumED offer lesson plans and tools to fight “flawed” news at www.newseumed.org, and on May 3, World Press Freedom Day, they participated in a panel on media literacy hosted by the U.S. State Department.
On June 4, we invite you to join us — either in person or via live stream — for the annual rededication of the Newseum’s Journalists Memorial. This year, the names of 18 journalists who died in 2017 in the pursuit of news will be engraved on a soaring glass-plated wall. They represent more than 60 reporters killed last year.
As the attacks in Afghanistan, and the murders of journalists from Mexico to Malta, India to Iraq, and many more countries around the world demonstrate all too well, journalists continue to be seen as a threat to political power and to controlled narratives promulgated by dictators, drug lords and terrorists.
Let’s spend much less time fretting about a few moments of dinner commentary and more on condemning those who work relentlessly to kill truth by murdering, jailing or punishing the truth-tellers.
Gene Policinski is president and chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum Institute. He can be reached at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter at @genefac.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A new Kansas law that increases spending on its public schools still falls up to $1.5 billion short of providing adequate funding under the state constitution, attorneys for four local school districts argued Monday in a filing with the state’s highest court.
Attorneys Alan Rupe and John Robb asked the Kansas Supreme Court to declare the school funding system “void” — effectively shutting down schools statewide — unless the Republican-controlled Legislature approves another, even larger spending increase by the end of June.
The new law phases in a $548 million increase in education funding over five years, an amount Attorney General Derek Schmidt described as “massive” in his own filing with the high court. Schmidt, also a Republican, argued that the law complies with a Supreme Court mandate to boost spending on public schools.
The high court ruled in October that Kansas’ current funding of more than $4 billion a year isn’t sufficient for lawmakers to fulfill a duty under the state constitution to provide a suitable education to every child, even with increases approved last year. The four districts sued the state in 2010.
Rupe and Robb argued in their filing that the phased-in increase approved by legislators would barely keep up with inflation after the first year. They also pointed to studies about education funding needs — including one commissioned by the Legislature this year that improving schools might cost nearly $2.1 billion more a year, depending on how ambitious the state was.
“The demands placed on the Kansas Legislature by the people of Kansas cannot be ignored simply because those demands are challenging,” Rupe and Robb said in their filing.
The court has a hearing scheduled for May 22 on the new law and has promised to issue a decision by June 30. Rupe and Robb filed more than 900 pages of documents to buttress their arguments against the law, while Schmidt filed almost 1,300 pages of documents.
Lawmakers ended their annual session Friday, and Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer might have to call them into special session if the court strikes down part or all of the new school funding law.
Schmidt argued in his filing that the new law provides “sustainable, long-term” funding for schools. Also, by phasing in their increase, lawmakers could avoid boosting taxes this year after raising income taxes last year to help balance the state budget.
Told of the arguments by Rupe and Robb, Kansas House Minority Leader Don Hineman called their position “frankly ridiculous” and said trying to achieve it would result in a political upheaval.
“They must occupy a different universe than I do,” said Hineman, a moderate Republican from western Kansas.
Kansas has been in and out of lawsuits over education funding for several decades, and the latest one was filed by districts in Wichita; Kansas City, Kansas; Hutchinson in south-central Kansas, and Dodge City, in western Kansas. They argued initially that not only was the state’s funding inadequate, it was distributed unfairly, hurting poor and minority students.
The court has ruled multiple times in the districts’ favor since 2014, forcing lawmakers to increase state aid to poor districts before ruling last year that Kansas’ overall funding is not adequate.
On Monday, the Wichita Police Department reported the arrest of Maize High School teacher 43-year-old Johnny Yelverton, according to the Sedgwick County Booking report.
Yelverton was booked on two counts of unlawful sexual relations and failure to report child abuse.
WPD Officials were notified of possible sexual relations occurring between the Yelverton and a 17-year-old student, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Yelverton is the Police and Fire Science teacher at Maize High.
USD 266 officials are cooperating with the investigation.
FINNEY COUNTY — A Kansas man died in an accident just before 5p.m. Monday in Finney County. The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1995 Ford F350 driven by John C. Allen, 76, Sharon Springs, was southbound on VFW road at U.S. 50.
The driver failed to stop at the stop sign.
An eastbound 2000 Chevy pickup driven by Marcus J. Goetz, 25, Garden City collided with the passenger side of the Ford.
Allen and Goetz were transported to St Catherine’s Hospital where Allen died. Allen was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
The United States Postal Service recently released a stamp featuring children’s show legend Mister Rogers.
The photo used for the stamp was taken by a graduate of Thomas More Prep-Marian, Walter Seng.
Seng, 74, who now lives in Arizona and has retired from photography, spent over a decade creating promotional images for Fred Rodger’s “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
Seng, TMP class of 1961, said he made some lifelong friends at TMP and still keeps in touch with some of his classmates.
Walter Seng. Courtesy photo
Seng drew and painted from the time he was young. He learned to paint from his grandfather, but he fell in love with photography at Carnegie Mellon University, when he attended his first black and white photo exhibition.
“The spirit of those images really drove home to my particular personality and my psyche. It picked me. I didn’t pick it,” he said.
Seng attend TMP as a residential student because his uncle was a priest and teacher at the school. However, he was from Pittsburgh, where “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” was filmed, and Seng became connected with the show there.
Seng began taking marketing photos for the show in 1972 and worked with Rogers through the 1980s.
Seng was notified by the USPS about the stamp more than two years before its release March 23. However, he had to keep the release a secret.
The USPS receives more than 20,000 applications each year for new stamp designs and picks only a handful for publication. The photo that was chosen for the stamp features Rogers in a red sweater with one of the puppets from the show, King Friday.
Seng said the photo was one of a number of publicity photos that was taken in about 1985 to showcase Rogers with all the neighborhood puppets and props, including Queen Sara Saturday, X the Owl and Daniel Striped Tiger. All the puppets lived in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, and children were transported there via a trolley. The show aired nationally from 1968 to 2001.
For those with younger children, Daniel Tiger now has his own animated series on PBS.
Rogers was known for starting the show by donning a sweater and putting on his sneakers as he sang, “Won’t You be My Neighbor,” one of many songs Rogers composed for the show. Besides composing for the show, Rogers also voiced most of the puppets. Seng said there was a reason behind the sneakers. When he first starting working on TV, he found sneakers made less noise when he was walking backstage during filming.
Seng said Fred Rogers the man was much like his TV persona — kind and professional. Rumors Rogers was a former marine are not true. He was actually a minister, who found his calling in TV and working with children.
Photo by Walter Seng. Courtesy photo
Rogers also had a sense of humor, which Seng said helped the two work together. Soon after Seng started taking photos for the show, he was set to take a series of photos with Rogers on various emotions, including love and anger.
For the love photo with King Friday and Queen Saturday, he placed a pencil under King Friday’s robe. Rogers came in and laughed and said, “Why King Friday, aren’t we feeling amorous today?”
“It was really what connected us in terms of irony and humor,” Seng said.
Seng described Rogers as a genuinely warm, approachable, considerate, kind person.
“He was quiet in spirit and really strong in intellect,” Seng said. “He was a brilliant person.”
Rogers also had a knack for listening.
“Fred was one of the best listeners on the planet,” Seng said. “When you spoke to him, he wanted you to talk, not him. It was very disarming because people when they are talking to someone, they are thinking about what they are going to say next. Fred thinks about what you are going to say next. It puts it on you to carry a lengthy and well-thought-out conversation with him. He draws out the best in you that way.”
Rogers throughly researched his shows and tackled tough topics for kids, including anger, divorce and death.
Seng said Walters was very responsive to the children who watched the show. A blind girl who listened to the show sent a letter in saying she was concerned Rogers was not feeding his fish. When he fed the fish on the show after that, he talked about it so she would know he was taking care of the fish and sometimes mentioned her name. Rogers also worked with children off screen and frequently visited a nearby school for disabled children.
In addition to getting to work with Rogers, Seng was often brought in to take photographs of visiting celebrities. One of his favorite celebs was Wynton Marsalis, who brought his whole family to the set. Others included Yo-Yo Ma, Big Bird and Peggy Fleming. For the visit from Olympic gold medalist, Seng photographed Fleming and Rogers skating at the Pittsburg Civic Arena.
Photo by Walter Seng. Courtesy photo
The favorite project he did with Rogers was a book titled “Who Am I?” The story was about an African-American girl who wore hearing aids. The book taught children to embrace differences. They shot photographs of the girl playing and jumping rope. Another photo depicted the girl whispering something into a friend’s ear and then him whispering something into her ear.
Seng said Rogers was a good subject.
“He once said to me, ‘Walt, you are the only photographer that I give myself to.’ I said, ‘That is a good compliment. Don’t make me cry. I won’t be able to shoot.'”
Rogers died in of stomach cancer in 2003, but Seng said he thinks he would have appreciated the Postal Service honoring him with a stamp.
Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan dedicated the stamp honoring Fred Rogers where it all began 50 years ago — WQED’s Fred Rogers Studio in Pittsburgh.
“Mister Rogers and his Neighborhood of Make-Believe made the ups and downs of life easier to understand for the youngest members of our society,” said Brennan in a USPS press release. “In ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,’ children learned, in a safe space, how to be a friend and create relationships. He shaped generations with his kindness and compassion. It’s why we honor him today.”
Seng continued to work commercially and artistically after he stopped photographing Fred Rogers.
“I liked photographing people on the street,” he said. “I always had my camera with me.”
Seng, who was an avid biker, said his favorite image is a picture of four bikers under Mount Rushmore.
Photo by Walter Seng. Courtesy photo
“It was a coincidence. It helped me believe in God once again,” he said. “That there could be four guys — a Mexican, an Indian, an Irishman and a Norwegian — just like the faces of the presidents and they were bikers. I thought about doing a shot just like that, but thought it would take months to find the right models and there they were. They were all there. They were friends right there at the base of the mountain waiting for my camera.”
He said the best part of being a photographer was meeting people.
“I could work with a homeless guy sitting by a garbage can and an executive making millions a year and have a rapport with all of those people. That is why I got along with Fred so well. It was not about me, and it was not about him. It was about the process. It was about getting the best out of both of us without wearing it as a label on your chest to do a good job. I loved it. I loved photography.”
Katie Weisenborn, Hays, center, was among the largest class ever to complete requirements for the Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science at Fort Hays State University. Pictured with her at Saturday’s completion ceremony is FHSU President Tisa Mason, left, and KAMS Director Roger Schiefferecke.
By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN FHSU University Relations and Marketing
Thirty-two students were recognized in a high school commencement ceremony Saturday at Fort Hays State University.
They didn’t act like high school seniors who had just been handed a diploma and told to move the tassels on their caps. They didn’t toss their caps in the air and shout phrases like “We’re done!”
That’s because these high school seniors still have finals to take this week – as in college finals.
This marked the largest class to complete requirements for the Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science, a premier high school residential program at FHSU for juniors and seniors.
The eighth annual completion ceremony for KAMS was a going-away affair for the academy’s director, too.
DR. Roger Schiefferecke – who has worked for KAMS for eight years, including the last four as its director – is moving on to take a position at Kansas State University.
“It’s tough to leave,” Schiefferecke said. “I’ve known every student who has come through here. I’m going to miss the great staff and getting work with these brilliant high school kids. But it’s always good to get new blood in here, too.”
While Schiefferecke was honored at the ceremony as “the face of KAMS,” he insisted on focusing the attention on the students.
He told them to enjoy this next week, the last on campus for the majority of the students.
Schifferecke noted that this year’s class had garnered nearly $1.5 million in possible scholarships over four years.
“Be proud of what you’ve accomplished,” he told the students, “and be excited for what is to come.”
FHSU President Tisa Mason called it “a special privilege and honor” that the Kansas Board of Regents selected FHSU to host KAMS, one of only seven of its kind in the country.
“We understand the positive impact these young people have had in becoming actively involved in a myriad of activities around campus. We feel we have 32 students who are our best and our brightest,” Mason said. “We are pleased that six will remain at Fort Hays State to further their education.”
One of those “best and brightest” is Patrick Cook from Derby, who holds a perfect 4.0 grade point average at Fort Hays State. He is set to graduate in 2020 with dual degrees in mathematics and physics.
After completing his FHSU finals this week, Cook will graduate with his classmates from Derby High in two weeks, then move to San Antonio for the summer for an internship with Agility, a government contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense for safety standards.
Cook said he decided to attend KAMS after exhausting the list of physics and math classes at his high school.
He fit in well in both departments at FHSU, where he works as a tutor for both. He also manages another tutoring program that he started himself last semester.
He said he thinks it will be an easy transition into full-time college life after attending classes on campus the past two years.
Meanwhile, Jed Werner from Plainville will make another adjustment when he heads to Manhattan to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering at Kansas State.
However, he said he wouldn’t be where he is today without KAMS.
“In high school I didn’t have great study habits because I’d get bored,” he said. “I liked the challenge here.”
He said he thinks the responsibility he learned while having a little more independence will serve him well as he takes off for college.
“You have to be able to handle the freedom that comes with living on a college campus,” he said. “You have to be pretty mature to be successful in KAMS, make the right choices to study and put the time in.”
Werner has been looking forward to attending KAMS since he was in fourth grade at Plainville Elementary School.
“I found out about KAMS then, and it became a goal of mine, something I was shooting for all through junior high and my first two years of high school,” Werner said.
Werner is the first Plainville student to attend KAMS. He might also be the first race car driver to complete the KAMS curriculum.
He started racing when he was 6 years old, following in the footsteps of his dad, who raced motorcycles when he was younger.
“Mom wouldn’t have let me on a motorcycle, so I got in Go-Kart instead,” Werner said, “and when I was 14, I started racing sprint cars.”
While Werner has experienced success in racing, he said he hasn’t made a lot of profit because of the expense of sprint car racing.
He can continue enjoying racing as a hobby, however, after earning one of the top awards from this year’s Dane G. Hansen Scholarship competition. Werner was one of 10 seniors in a 26-county area in northwest and north central Kansas who received the “Leaders of Tomorrow” scholarship for $10,000, renewable for three additional years.
Plainville High School’s 2018 graduation is set for Saturday, May 19, when Werner will be honored with 42 other PHS seniors.
Werner said he is looking forward to seeing his former classmates again and having a graduation party with family and friends.
But that will have to wait. Semester finals in his FHSU classes will occupy his attention this week.
Members of the KAMS Class of 2018 are listed alphabetically by hometown with their sending high schools and their parents.
HAYS (67601): Xinchen Cai, Hays High School, Jianxin Qi and Rui Cai, Beijing, China.
Yunseo “Leo” Choi, Hays High School, Eun Mee Goh and Jong Ho Choi, Daejeon, South Korea.
Oohyung Jang, Hays High School, Young Soon Lee and Myeong-Wuk Jang, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.
Runsi Jia, Hays High School, Baeyuen Jia and Dongdong Ren, Beijing, China.
Dana Kang, Hays High School, Kyoung Hwa Kwon and Incheol Kang, Pyeongtaek, Korea.
Geon Kim, Hays High School, Mi-sun Yu and Hyung-Whon Kim, Seoul, South Korea.
Gyuree Kim, Hays High School, Youngjuo Shin and Kyungseok Kim, Daegu, Korea.
Minkyu “Matthew” Kim, Hays High School, Juo Youn Kang and Byung Jae Kim, Seoul, South Korea
Junghwan “Jacob” Lee, Hays High School, Hyungsoon Lee and Sunkyu Lee, Daejeon, South Korea.
Jinseo “Jason” Park, Hays High School, Youngwha Jo and Seunggon Park, Seongnam-si, South Korea.
Jinwoo “Harry” Park, Hays High School, Namju Park and Minjeong Kim, Gwangju, South Korea.
Hoyoon Woo, Hays High School, Shin Ju Hyeon and Sang Kyun Woo, Daejeon, South Korea.
Runfan Yang, Hays High School, Juan Lin and Yonghua Yang, Wuhan, China.
Katherine Weisenborn, Hays High School, Gregory Weisenborn and Charlene Nichols, Hays.
Yanzhe “Jenny” Zhang, Hays High School, Huan Xu and Xiaohui Zhang, Beijing, China.
CODELL (67663): Jerad “Jed” Werner, Plainville High School, Russell and Marianne Werner.
DERBY (67037): Patrick Cook, Derby High School, Dennis and Kelly Cook.
DODGE CITY (67801): Amelia Richter, Dodge City High School, Matthew and Sheri Richter.
HOISINGTON (67544): Seth Colson, Hoisington High School, Curt and Liana Colson.
HOLTON (66436): Nathan Smith, Holton High School, Porter and Terri Smith.
KINGMAN (67068): Danica Kostner, Kingman High School, Adrian and Shondra Kostner.
KINSLEY (67547): Bruce Davies, Kinsley High School, Robert and Melody Davies.
LAWRENCE (66049): Emily Thornton, Free State High School, Joseph Thornton and Brenda Thornton.
LIBERAL (67901): Christian Ermann, Liberal High School, William and Dayna Ermann.
NEWTON (67114): Brennan Wald, Newton High School, Aaron and Brie Wald.
OVERBOOK (66524): Emily Linder, Baldwin High School, Stephen and Laura Linder.
PRAIRIE VILLAGE (66208): Juliana Ames, Shawnee Mission East High School, Kenneth and Carmen Clark and Alan Ames.
TOPEKA (66606): Jada Gardner, Topeka High School, William and Gloria Horn.
TOPEKA (66614): Grant Nichol, Topeka High School, Eric and Shannon Nichol.
WaKEENEY (67672): Jacob Schneider, Trego Community High School, Rebecca Hillman and Rick Schneider.
WICHITA (67212): Alexandra Depew, Wichita Northwest High School, James and Rachelle Depew.
WICHITA (67209): Annie Hinds, Goddard High School, Donald and Misty Hinds and Ron and Jennifer Walker.
Today Partly sunny, with a high near 90. South southeast wind 5 to 11 mph becoming north northwest in the afternoon.
Tonight Mostly clear, with a low around 56. North wind 6 to 11 mph.
Wednesday Sunny, with a high near 88. North northwest wind 6 to 8 mph.
Wednesday Night A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. East northeast wind around 7 mph becoming south southeast after midnight.
Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. South southeast wind 7 to 17 mph.
Thursday NightPartly cloudy, with a low around 66. Breezy.
Friday A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 91.
TOPEKA – The Kansas Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) joins the United States Fire Administration (USFA) in dedicating the week of May 6-12, 2018, as Arson Awareness Week. The purpose for this week is the recognition, awareness and understanding of the crime of arson – one of our nation’s most dangerous and costly threats to people and property.
The theme for this year’s Arson Awareness Week is, “Reducing Arson at Vacant and Abandoned Buildings.” According to USFA, 34 percent of vacant residential building fires in the United States were cause by intentional actions. In Kansas, from 2000-2017, there were 1,031 arson fires in vacant or abandoned buildings within the state of Kansas resulting in major property loss.
“We would like to use this week of arson awareness to focus on the importance of partnering with fire and emergency services departments, law enforcement, public works, insurance companies and the justice system to prevent the crime of arson at vacant and abandoned buildings in Kansas,” Doug Jorgensen, Kansas Fire Marshal, said. “Fires in vacant buildings are more likely to be intentionally set, therefore, spreading to other buildings and structures, causing extremely dangerous, sometimes deadly, situations for firefighters and citizens.”
Arson is the willful, malicious, intentional and/or reckless burning of property. Unsecured and exposed to the elements, abandoned and vacant structures can be extremely treacherous to firefighters, as they lack structural integrity and may contain other hazards. Urban mining removes pipes and wiring, resulting in additional pathways for the spread of smoke and fire.
The best method to keep firefighters safe is to aggressively identify, evaluate and secure vacant and abandoned buildings. In addition, jurisdictions should adopt a policy which limits interior fire attack to incidents where there is a confirmed life hazard. Insurance fraud and arson for profit are criminal methods of obtaining money from a fire loss policy and are common in vacant and abandoned building fires.
Anyone with information on any arson should call 1-800-KS-CRIME or submit an information report online at https://firemarshal.ks.gov/arson.
Game 1: TMP 10, Abilene 0 Game 2: TMP 6, Abilene 5 (8 innings)
HAYS, Kan.-TMP swept a pair of games from Abilene on Monday in Hays. It was a tale of two games. In the first game the Monarchs controlled things from the beginning winning easily , 10-0 in five innings. TMP scored two runs in the first inning, one in the second, five in the third and then two runs in the fifth to complete the the shutout.
Tate Garcia led the charge in game one going three for three with three singles and a walk including a two RBI single to win the game. Chase Werth was equally impressive on the mound giving up only one hit in 4 1/3 innings and picking up the win.
Abilene jumped on TMP early with two runs in the top of the first inning in the second game and held that lead until the bottom of the 5th inning when Karl Rack delivered a single up the middle that scored two Monarchs. The Cowboys would regain the lead with a two-out double that scored two. TMP trailed 5-4 going into the bottom of the 7th inning when they loaded the bases with no outs. With the bases still loaded and two outs Garcia drew a walk that scored the game tying run.
The game would go to extra innings where TMP would win it in the bottom of the 8th on a running scoring sacrifice fly from Adam Gottschalk giving them the 6-5 win. The Monarchs improve to 17-1 and will close out their regular season on the road in Colby on Thursday. TMP also secured the top seed in next week’s 3A Regional in Lakin. With that the Monarchs will be the only team in the Regional that will have a first round bye.
ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Fort Hays State junior golfer Hannah Perkins sits in a tie for fifth place after round one of the 2018 NCAA Division II Central Region Championship, hosted by Lindenwood University at the Missouri Bluffs Golf Course (May 7). Perkins fired an opening round 72 (even-par) to sit two shots back of the leaders.
“I was hitting the ball really solid today. I hit 15 greens [in regulation] and made a couple of up-and-downs that were key to my round,” said Perkins. “These greens are so big that hitting the ball on the correct side of the greens is very important.”
Perkins recorded 16 pars in the opening round, the most in the 66-player field. After opening the day with nine-straight pars, the Wichita, Kan. native picked up a birdie on the 372-yard, par-4 10th hole, before giving back a stroke on the 332-yard, par-4 11th hole. Perkins finished the round with seven-straight pars.
“She was just hitting the ball good today,” said head coach Rich Guffey. “I thought the course was set up about as easy as we have seen it. It was very playable.”
“Overall I am very happy with how the day went,” said Perkins. “I think it will be interesting to see where they put the pin placements the next two days.”
Elin Wahlin (Southwestern Oklahoma State) and Josefina Haupt (Lindenwood) are tied for the lead after shooting 70 (2-under) in the first round.
Perkins is tentatively set to tee off at 10:40 a.m. in round two Tuesday morning (May 8).
“I am happy with where I set myself up after today’s opening round,” said Perkins.
“[Hannah] just needs to keep doing what she is doing,” said Guffey.
BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for making a false report involving a child abduction.
Chapman-photo Barton Co.
Just after 5p.m. Friday, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the Big Bend Recreational lake located in the 100 block of S. Washington Street., just south Great Bend, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir.
The initial call came to 911 Dispatch as a possible drowning. Upon arrival Sheriff’s officers contacted Christina Chapman, 35, Great Bend who stated while she was in the water swimming with her daughter, an unknown white male struck her, grabbed her three-year-old child and left in an unknown vehicle. Chapman repeatedly stated she had no idea who had taken her child, according to Bellendir.
Witnesses in the area stated they had not seen any other vehicles in the area nor had they seen a child with Chapman.
Chapman has a previous drug conviction in Barton County, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation was contacted as officers prepared to issue an Amber Alert. The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks was also contacted in the event we needed equipment to search for a drowned child. During the course the investigation Sheriff’s detectives contacted other family members to see if they had information as to who may have abducted the child. During the course that investigation it was discovered Chapman had voluntarily given her child to another family member several hours earlier. Evidently the entire incident was a hoax.
Christina Chapman was arrested for making a false report. She was transported to the Barton County Jail and booked on charges of interference with a law enforcement officer. Chapman was released on a $2500 bond.
PLAINVILLE, Kan. – The TMP-Marian softball team picked up a couple of wins over Plainville Monday. The Monarchs scored five in the first inning then four in the fourth in a 10-0 win in game one. They scored four in the fifth and five in the sixth to pull away for a 17-6 win in the second game.
Bailey Lacy threw a no-hitter in the first game with 14 strikeouts and two walks. She also had two hits including a home run and drove in four.
Lacy allowed five unearned runs in the second game thanks to five Monarch errors. Emily Schulte drove in three while Anna Gottschalk and Brianna Romme both had two RBIs.
The Monarchs have won 13 of their last 14 and sit at 14-4 on the season. They wrap up the regular season at home against Great Bend Tuesday which you can hear on KHAZ beginning at 3:45.
