DERBY, Kan. (AP) — An investigation is underway after construction workers found what appear to be human remains inside an old coffin in Derby, southeast of Wichita.
Workers doing renovations inside a building near the 100 Block of North Market Street Monday morning made the discovery. Police say it appears the coffin and bones had been there for years.
The Sedgwick County coroner is expected to have more information soon. Anyone with information is urged to call police.
Most Deserving
A father of five won a large stuffed animal in a raffle. All the way
home he agonized about which child should receive the toy. When he
arrived, he called the kids together.
“I have decided this gift should go to the most deserving,” he said.
“Who is the most obedient?” he asked. “Who never talks back to mommy?
Who does everything she says?”
Five small voices cried in unison. “You do, Daddy!”
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BY JOHN P. TRETBAR
An ugly legal battle comes to a head for SandRidge Energy this week, but Bloomberg reports the company is probably bound for the auction block. Once the leading oil producer and wastewater disposer in Kansas, SandRidge is trying to reverse a 40% slide in its stock price while it fights off efforts by activist investor Carl Icahn to replace the board of directors. Both sides want to sell the company, whose market value cascaded from $11 billion in 2008 to about $550 million last week. SandRidge has drilling rights on more than a half-million acres across Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.
Kansas operators filed 29 new drilling permits last week, 16 east of Wichita, 13 out west including one new permit in Ellis County. 726 permits for drilling at new locations have been filed so far this year.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reports ten newly-completed wells for the week, 654 so far this year. Operators completed one well in eastern Kansas, and nine west of Wichita, including two in Barton County and one in Stafford County.
Baker Hughes reported 1,059 active drilling rigs Friday, up one oil rig but down four seeking natural gas. The count in Texas dropped by four rigs. Both New Mexico and North Dakota saw increases of three rigs. Canada reported 139 active rigs, up 27 for the week. Independent Oil & Gas Service reported a 20% increase in the active rig counts across Kansas: 13 east of Wichita, up two, and 28 in the western half of the state, up five for the week. Operators report drilling underway on one Barton County lease. They’re moving in completion tools at five sites in Barton County and five in Ellis County.
Operators filed 138 new drilling permits across Kansas during the month of May, including three in Barton County, six in Ellis County, one in Russell County and four in Stafford County. Independent Oil & Gas Service reports Kansas operators completed 130 wells last month, four of them in Barton County, four in Ellis County and four in Stafford County. Out of 74 completed wells west of Wichita last month, 31 were dry holes.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court will decide if a petition drive aimed at repealing recent tax increases can move forward. Petitioners hope to repeal the measure, part of a package passed in March that raises taxes on some oil and gas production, motor fuels and tobacco, to pay for teacher pay raises.
The fracking-sand boom continues across Texas, with new sand plants selling out soon after they’re announced and months before they begin production. The Houston Chronicle reports Alpine Silica plans to break ground soon, hoping to produce another three million tons of sand per year.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported another big jump in production last week to 10.9 million barrels of crude per day, another weekly record. That’s an increase of 100,000 barrels per day.
North Dakota came just a few hundred barrels short of an all time production record in April, and shattered the record for production of natural gas. But Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms says natural gas flaring has returned to historic highs not seen since 2014, and some oil wells may need to restrict production. The state produced more than 1.2 million barrels of crude per day in April, an increase of 5.4%. Current policy requires operators to burn off no more than 15 percent of the natural gas produced at oil wells. Operators flared 16 percent statewide.
After a three-month review of more than 10,000 public comments, regulators in North Dakota have given final approval to Meridian energy Group to build a new refinery. The company may still need air-quality permits to operate once construction is done on the project near Roosevelt National Park. Company officials say they will now proceed detailed design, engineering, procurement, and construction.
Wild West Festival Spotlight 2018 is made possible by support from: State Glass, Paul’s Lawn & Tree Service, Coldwell Banker Executive Realty, Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau, Patty Baconrind Appraising, and Diamond R Jewelry.
Salina-based Mahan takes the Wild West Festival stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 7.
MAHAN the Band- This band came together as naturally as possible. Howard and Landon met while in college at Kansas Wesleyan University. Instantly, as they began to play music together in school groups and various jam sessions, they knew they had something that would be special. One night they heard live music coming from just down the street, and that is when they met Tim King. After jamming together for months in a garage with a rotating cast of local musicians, they decided to form MAHAN.
This power trio is fueled by Howard Mahan’s attention-demanding guitar style, Tim King’s booming bass lines, and Landon Livingston’s virtuosic percussion abilities. Each is a strong vocalist in their own right, and the blending of vocal styles in this group ensures that everyone in an audience will hear something with which they connect.
This group is in it for the crowd experience, but is a truly dynamic jam band at heart. Playing both cover songs and original music, there is no telling which musical direction it could take once a solo section opens up; every show they play is new and no song is ever played the same way twice. They draw inspiration from great past musicians as well as modern music to blur the lines between genres, though they are a true blues band at heart.
Howard Mahan (Guitar and Vocal)– Originally from Fredonia, KS, Howard has played guitar in blues bands (notably the Buddy Ray Band) since he was 10 years old. After taking some time off from playing in live bands to attend college in Salina and further develop his guitar skills, he brings a wide array of influences from blues, rock, jazz, classical, and folk backgrounds.
Landon Livingston (Percussion and Vocal) – Having played drums and percussion in essentially every style of band known to man, Landon’s incredibly diverse background shapes the sound of the band in total. A true professional, he can switch styles or hold down a groove better than anyone!
Tim King (Bass and Vocal)– Having played guitar professionally for over 40 years, this is Tim’s first gig playing bass. His guitar experience gives him a unique voice on bass. He is never afraid to double guitar parts or follow melody lines within a song. This approach works especially well in the power trio setting to truly hold down the rhythm section. Tim is also a lifetime inductee into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame!
It’ll be just who voters send to Topeka from the 13 districts where in 2016 voters checked Republican Donald Trump for president on the same ballot they voted for a Democrat to represent them in the Kansas House of Representatives.
Oh, and then there are the seven Republicans who were sent to Topeka from districts where Democrat Hillary Clinton was the winner of the presidential vote.
Here are the 13 Democrats in Trump-carried districts: Reps. Adam Lusker, Frontenac, Monica Murnan, Pittsburg, Cindy Neighbor, Shawnee, Tom Burroughs, Kansas City, Debbie Deere, Lansing, Jeff Pittman, Leavenworth, Tim Hodge, N. Newton, Ed Trimmer, Winfield, Tom Sawyer, Wichita, Brandon Whipple, Wichita, Steve Crum, Haysville, Patsy Terrell, Hutchinson (deceased), and Eber Phelps, Hays.
The Republicans in Clinton-carried districts: Tom Cox, Shawnee, Stephanie Clayton, Overland Park, Jan Kessinger, Overland Park, Linda Gallagher, Lenexa, Melissa Rooker, Fairway, Randy Powell, Olathe, and Tom Sloan, Lawrence,
These are the districts where…apparently…votes don’t trickle down on party-line tickets.
We’ve had two years of Trump as president, and while there was party allegiance in most Kansas House districts, we Statehouse habitués wonder what happens this year when the Republican president’s policies start trickling down on Kansas.
Remember two years ago when asked about their presidential preference, many Republicans said, “Donald who?” and then moved away from conservations to make sure they’d shut off their car in the parking lot.
Nobody knew just where Trump would take the country, but for traditional Republican voters, it sounded a little risky.
And Democrats…once they learned Trump’s stance on tax cuts, immigration, international trade and such…started branding everyone with an elephant (and no union bug) on their campaign signs as “Trump supporters.”
Back in 2016, Trump won 91 Kansas House districts, Clinton 34. And in most of those districts, Clinton presidential voters voted for Democrats, Trump voters voted for Republicans for the House.
In his first two years, Trump has clearly divided his traditional Republican Party into conservatives and moderates—as they have been dividing themselves in the Kansas House for the past three or four election cycles.
Now, that division, which used to be “Gov. Sam Brownback” and “Non-Gov. Sam Brownback,” appears to be moving to “Trump” and “Not-Trump” among Republican voters.
That’s going to make the legislative elections interesting this summer and fall.
Governor? Oh, yes, we’ll elect a new governor and there will be a new Secretary of State and Insurance Commissioner and see whether we’ll keep or fire the Attorney General and State Treasurer…but that’s the top of the ticket. Those candidates don’t generally knock on your door unless they’re out of gas.
Kansans know where the work gets done. It’s the Legislature where your taxes, roads, social services, kids’ education and general quality of life are determined. Not the top of the ballot, but at ground-level (third floor actually) in the Statehouse.
So?
We’re going to see just what Kansans want in the way of representation in the state where they live. We’re going to see how Republicans campaign on state issues, not national issues that may trickle down into everyday life in Kansas. Count on Democrats to campaign on local issues too, of course, but with the parting shot that Kansans probably need a representative to “protect” them from—or at least slow down—whatever Trump might do in his next tweet.
Or, maybe those cross-party elections were just the result of candidates getting to know their voters, knowing what’s important to them, and working to make it happen.
That’d be nice…
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com
Every Western movie worth watching features at least one full-blown bar room brawl. Such tumultuous scenes are chock full of good guys, bad guys, flying fists and whiskey bottles.
Smack-dab in the middle of all this mayhem there’s always one unlucky cowpoke crawling under the tables toward the swinging doors and safety. After dodging falling bodies, busted-up furniture and shattering glass he crawls into the dirt street where he checks himself for holes, stands up, dusts himself off and skedaddles down an alley.
And so it is with many of us veterans who toil in the word vineyard. Like the cowpoke, some of us have escaped into the street of social media with our finely-honed writing skills intact.
I’d say that’s one heck’uva accomplishment, although one rarely recognized or valued. With each passing day it seems less and less emphasis is placed on the written word, grammar and punctuation.
We’re all too busy. Not enough time.
Include greetings or salutations in Facebook, texts or e-mails?
What are they?
Where’s the personal touch?
Whatever happened to etiquette in written communication?
Writing is the art of second thought. What first springs to mind is seldom good enough.
The skill of writing lies not in a ready gush of words, but in sifting through them carefully. Sometimes this process is swift. Other times it takes a bit longer.
A letter, e-mail or text should be clear, precise, succinct and expressive. Few can decipher one or two letters, hacked-up phrases and excessive punctuation.
Choose the best word to say what you want to convey. Never settle for meaningless exclamation points, bold-faced or underlined words.
Select strong sentences. Use the active tense. Avoid passive tense and words that end in ing. Whenever possible, pick short, one-syllable words.
Write with small words – good ones – that say all you want to say, quite as well as the big ones.
As I discovered many years ago when I read Joseph A. Ecclesine in Printer’s Ink,
There is not much, in all truth that small words will not say – and say quite well.
Small words can be crisp, brief, and terse – to the point like a knife. They dance, twist, turn, sing. Like sparks in the night they light the way for the eyes of those who read.
They are the graceful notes of prose. You know what they say the way you know a day is bright and fair – at first sight…Small words are gay. And they can catch large thoughts and hold them up for all to see, like rare stones in rings of gold, or joy in the eyes of a child.
Some make you feel, as well as see: the cold, deep, dark of night…the hot, salt sting of tears.
In case you didn’t realize it, Ecclesine’s words above were all one syllable – no punctuation, except periods.
Vary the length of your sentences. This will give your paragraphs rhythm. Short sentences are likely to be clearer than long ones and easier to read.
Keep an average sentence to a length of 12 words. Good luck.
Write (well).
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
Thomas More Prep-Marian
TMP-Marian is pleased to announce that Chelsie Niehaus has accepted the position of High School English Teacher. She begins her role in preparation for the 2018-2019 school year.
Niehaus grew up in Augusta, Kansas, located east of Wichita. She attended college at Kansas Wesleyan University, in Salina, Kansas, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary English Education. For the past five years she has been working in Hill City, Kansas.
“I prefer the students take ownership of their learning in the classroom. To achieve this, I do a lot of engaging activities such as project based learning and skits or plays,” stated Niehaus. This philosophy should aid the students and push their minds to the creative limit while Niehaus teaches them Freshman English.
“Mrs. Niehaus has five strong years of English Language Arts experience. Additionally, it’s obvious to anyone who meets her that she will be an exceptional builder of relationships with students. That will fit perfectly with TMP-Marian’s vision to find God in the friendships and relationships with each other,” stated Chad Meitner, TMP-Marian Principal.
Located in Hays, Kan., Thomas More Prep-Marian is a Catholic school serving grades 7-12. Students come from Hays, the surrounding region, and from countries around the world. The school was founded by the Capuchin Franciscans as Hays Catholic College in 1908 and ultimately became Thomas More Prep-Marian in 1981. The school continues to serve young people in the traditions of spiritual growth, academic excellence, and leadership formation.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man on theft charges.
On Sunday, a 2005 black Crown Victoria was stolen from the Kwik Shop in the 100 block of SE 37th Street in Topeka, according to Lt. Aaron Jones.
Just after 3 p.m. Monday, the Topeka Police Department found the vehicle near Croix and S Topeka Blvd. A man and woman were in the car and led officers on a pursuit through the Likens Foster Neighborhood before going south on S Topeka Blvd.
The suspect then pulled into a Topeka motel and fled on foot. Officers located Jesse L. McCormick, 25, of Topeka.
He was given medical treatment for heat related issues, and transported to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections for suspicion of Theft (Motor Vehicle), and Felony Attempt to Flee and Elude.
McCormick has previous convictions for theft and obstruction, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
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By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN
Kansas will no longer be allowed to block people from registering to vote if they don’t provide documents such as birth certificates or passports to prove their citizenship.
On Monday, a federal judge ruled that doing so violates the U.S. Constitution and the 1993 National Voter Registration Act.
“It’s a 100 percent win,” said Mark Johnson, a Kansas City attorney who represented one of the plaintiffs, Parker Bednasek. “We got everything we asked for. Can’t say that very often.”
The requirement that would-be voters show more documentation was part of a 2011 law championed by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Kobach announced through a spokeswoman Monday night that he will appeal Chief District Judge Julie Robinson’s ruling to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Her ruling is unlikely to survive on appeal,” spokeswoman Danedri Herbert wrote in an email. “Her conclusion is incorrect, and it is inconsistent with precedents of the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The email called Robinson’s conclusion “extreme” and the first of its kind.
But Johnson and plaintiff lawyers with the ACLU disagree, and are confident the decision will stand.
“Tens of thousands of Kansans whose registrations were blocked under this law will be able to vote in the 2018 election,” ACLU attorney Dale Ho said. “And I think anyone who cares about our democracy should be happy about that.”
The decision means Kobach needs to make sure voters who haven’t provided citizenship documents have been informed they can vote. His office will also need to ensure county election officials know the law was struck down and that election websites are updated to reflect it.
Under the National Voter Registration Act, voter applicants swear their citizenship under penalty of perjury, which comes with potential prison, fines and deportation.
Kansas is one of just two states that has required documentary proof of citizenship. The other is Arizona.
Alabama and Georgia have similar laws on the books, and Kobach, who led President Donald Trump’s now defunct election integrity commission, had wanted the White House and Congress to push more states in that direction through changes to federal law.
Kansas suspended or cancelled more than 30,000 voter applications lacking citizenship documents. Kobach argued the documentation was necessary because voter fraud is a widespread problem in the U.S. and Kansas — with many thousands of non-citizens likely already on the voter rolls in his state.
To win his case he had to show proof of that fraud. Kobach said his office had evidence of more than 40 suspected non-citizens who registered to vote since 2000, and 11 who voted.
But he contended that was just “the tip of the iceberg.” His witnesses offered estimates of higher numbers based on statistical extrapolations and surveys that the court ultimately rejected. The plaintiffs brought in experts on statistics and elections from Harvard and other universities who said Kobach’s evidence relied on bad methodology.
Robinson’s ruling also chastises the secretary of state and gubernatorial hopeful for running afoul of rules for submitting evidence and other trial procedures. She reprimanded Kobach several times a day throughout the trial in March and a dramatic contempt hearing that followed.
In April, the judge found Kobach in contempt for violating her orders to notify people who had registered to vote without providing citizenship papers that they could cast ballots while the lawsuit was pending. Kobach’s office faces tens of thousands of dollars in ACLU court fees for losing that contempt ruling, which he is also appealing.
Monday’s decision orders the secretary personally to attend six hours of extra legal training after “repeated and flagrant violations of discovery and disclosure rules.”
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.
GOVE COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 11p.m. Monday in Gove County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Ford F250 driven by Tristan Ash Coleman, 19, Albany, Mo., was eastbound on Interstate 70 seven miles east of Oakley.
The driver lost control of the pickup. It entered the median and the driver overcorrected back onto the eastbound lane. The pickup entered the median a second time and rolled into the westbound lanes.
Coleman was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Baalmann Funeral Home in Oakley.
The driver’s mother Melinda A. Coleman, 56, Albany, Mo., was a passenger in the pickup. She was transported to Logan County Hospital.
Both were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Bartolo Colon earned his 244th win, passing Hall of Famer Juan Marichal for the most by a pitcher born in the Dominican Republic, and the Texas Rangers beat the skidding Kansas City Royals 6-3 on Monday night.
Adrian Beltre hit a three-run homer for the Rangers, who won their third straight game. The 45-year-old Colon (4-4) allowed three runs and nine hits in six innings to break a tie with Marichal on the career wins chart.
Only right-hander Dennis Martinez has more victories among pitchers from Latin America. Martinez, a native of Nicaragua, won 245 games in the majors.
The Royals have lost seven straight and 13 of 14. They’ve dropped 27 of 37 games at Kauffman Stadium, the worst home record in the majors. Kansas City is 2-14 in June, having been outscored 95-35.
Colon was 1-3 with a 9.51 ERA in his five previous starts. Kansas City loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but the portly and popular right-hander affectionately nicknamed Big Sexy got out of the inning when Hunter Dozier grounded into a double play.
Keona Kela tossed a spotless ninth for his 16th save in 16 chances.
Beltre homered in the third off Ian Kennedy, with Elvis Andrus and Nomar Mazara aboard, to give the Rangers a 5-0 advantage. Mazara had three hits.
Kennedy (1-7) is 1-13 in his last 28 home starts. He is winless in 13 starts since an April 7 victory at Cleveland.
The right-hander gave up a home run to Shin-Soo Choo on his fourth pitch, a drive that just cleared the Royals’ right-field bullpen fence. Choo reached base five times, including a double and three walks.
Kennedy yielded five runs on four hits, two of them home runs, and three walks.
Adalberto Mondesi had a run-producing double in the Kansas City third and scored on Mike Moustakas’ sacrifice fly.
Rosel Herrera had a run-scoring triple in the fourth for his first extra-base hit and RBI, trimming the lead to 5-3.
Delino DeShields’ bunt single in the eighth scored Jurickson Profar for the final Texas run.
STRUGGLING
Royals SS Alcides Escobar is in a 3-for-45 drought in his past 12 games.
ROSTER MOVES
Rangers: Andrus was activated after missing 59 games with a broken right elbow. RHP Ricardo Rodriguez was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock, where he had allowed one unearned run in 13 1/3 innings. C Jose Trevino was optioned to Double-A Frisco after hitting a game-ending, two-run single in the ninth on Sunday. RHP Deck McGuire was designated for assignment.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: Whit Merrifield was in the lineup as the designated hitter after leaving in the second inning Sunday with a bruised left knee after fouling a pitch off his leg.
UP NEXT
Rangers: LHP Cole Hamels (3-6, 3.69 ERA) starts Tuesday night at Kansas City.
Royals: RHP Jason Hammel (2-7, 4.89) is winless in his last eight home starts.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Right-hander Kelvin Herrera has been acquired by the Washington Nationals from the Kansas City Royals for three minor leaguers.
The Nationals sent infielder Kelvin Gutierrez, outfielder Blake Perkins and right-hander Yohanse Morel to Kansas City in the deal announced Monday during Washington’s doubleheader against the New York Yankees.
Herrera has 14 saves and a 1.05 ERA this season. He’s allowed three earned runs in 25 2/3 innings while striking out 22 batters and walking two.
He is a two-time AL All-Star who helped Kansas City win the 2015 World Series. He is 23-27 with 57 saves and a 2.75 ERA across 442 games in relief over eight seasons in the majors.
Herrera joins lefty closer Sean Doolittle and eighth-inning righty Ryan Madson in the back of Washington’s bullpen. Brandon Kintzler, the usual seventh-inning man for Washington, went on the disabled list June 10 with a right forearm flexor strain.
By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Thirteen-year-old Reece Leiker has a pretty nice life — what you might expect of a typical American teenager. She eats well. Her parents live in a nice home in Hays. She has nice clothes.
But when Reece was 11, she learned there were people in this world who did not share that life. Something in her heart compelled her to help.
Leiker, now, 13, is selling Pure Roots homemade laundry detergent to raise money to build homes for the poor in Nicaragua.
Leiker has joined forces with her parents. Leiker alone has raised almost $49,000 to build eight homes in the impoverished country. Together, she and her family have built 14 homes in Nicaragua.
Her parents first took up the cause after they attended a seminar in February 2016 by advocate Dani Johnson of King’s Ransom Foundation. According to the nonprofit’s webpage, it helps build homes, assists orphans, provides clean water and rescues children from sex trafficking around the world.
Taryn Leiker, Reece’s mother, said the family had contributed to many causes in the past, but as they researched these charities, they found very little of the money was going directly toward assisting the people they wished to help.
Taryn Leiker said she and her husband, James, were drawn to the Nicaraguan project because 100 percent of their investment is spent helping the needy. They learned there is great need. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere only behind Haiti.
Taryn and James initially donated enough money to build six homes in Nicaragua. Each home costs about $5,200. The King’s Ransom Foundation leverages matching Nicaraguan funds to stretch donors’ dollars.
Reece visited Nicaragua with her parents in January 2017.
“It completely changed how I saw things,” she said, “because I saw kids living out of the dump, eating the food that was in there. When I came home, I felt so bad, because I was here eating gourmet food and eating food from the store and not from the dump, so it really changed how I saw that.”
King’s Ransom builds homes that are above the standard required by the Nicaraguan government. They include plumbing, a bathroom and a kitchen. Each home can house five to seven people.
The foundation also tries to establish families with a sustainable income. They might provide chickens, which the family can sell, eat or use to produce eggs.
Taryn said providing chickens can be life-changing for a family. Most poor families in Nicaragua earn $2 per week.
“When one of them would get really sick, they would say this person needs protein,” she said. “An egg can be 75 cents, but it is a full day’s walk to where they can actually purchase an egg. They lose an entire day of an income. (They) walk two ways that takes them an entire day to spend almost 50 percent of what they can earn in an entire week, hoping that is going to bring back the health of someone who has basically gotten to the point they are so malnourished they can’t function.
“It might sound like, ‘So that’s a chicken,’ but the impact that can have is huge for some of these families”
Reece knew she wanted to help, but she had to find a business model that would maximize her return. She wanted to make loom bracelets, but found her return on investment would be low.
A family friend suggested homemade laundry detergent. She had been using a store brand, and was not satisfied with the results. The friend tried the homemade soap and found it worked better and was cheaper.
The ingredients are simple: Borax, Arm & Hammer washing soda and Fels Naptha, a recipe that has been used for more than 120 years.
Reece’s dad had a motor oil stain in a shirt. The homemade laundry soap pulled the stain out in five washes.
The return on investment was also higher. She could make 25 bottles in an hour.
Her homemade detergent is also more eco-friendly because instead of plastic packaging, Reece packages in glass bottles, which she recycles.
“It wasn’t about me,” she said. “It was about how we could best help the poor.”
Reece set her sights high — five homes at a cost of $27,000 within the first year. She reached that goal in seven months, more than her mother used to make in a year.
“It just goes to show that we limit ourselves and anything is truly possible if we are just willing to follow the simple steps that it takes to get somewhere,” Taryn said. “This was not something that we have done and encouraged her to do. We just put things on the table to see what she would do with it.
“We would make a comment and see if she would run with it. This is really who she is coming out. We are just creating an environment in which she just knows there are no limits — that she is capable of anything. We are just coming alongside her in any way we can.”
Reece said she can see God working through Pure Roots. The first week she sold her soap at the Downtown Hays Market, she ran out of bottles. The family prayed about it. Someone donated 100 bottles that were just sitting in a basement.
Reece still sells her detergent Saturday mornings at the market. She also accepts monetary donations for her project. Reece’s project is sponsored by one of her parents’ businesses, so 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the detergent goes to assisting the poor.
One bottle of Pure Roots detergent costs $6, three bottles $15 or five bottles $20. The number of loads one bottle will make depends on the type of wash machine you own. One ounce is required for high-efficiency wash machines and two half ounces for top-load washers with agitators. One bottle should last about 20-25 loads for the high-efficiency or 10 to 15 loads for a top loader.
People interested in buying detergent or donating to Reece’s cause can also reach her on Facebook.
Reece said helping the families in Nicaragua has brought her peace, and she hopes to be a missionary when she is older.
“It really hit me hard that there were people in the world who were not as lucky as me—who didn’t get to eat, who didn’t have Nike tennis shoes, who didn’t have clean water, who didn’t have homes, who didn’t have air conditioning,” she said. “It was really sad, and I knew I needed not to be somebody who just sat around and said, ‘Too bad, somebody will help them eventually.’ I just needed to step up to the plate and do what I knew I needed to do.”
Reece continues to set lofty goals. Combined with her parent’s initial investment, Reece homes to raise a total of $104,000 to build 20 homes in Nicaragua.
Unfortunately, Nicaragua is experiencing political strife right now, and King’s Ransom has had to divert some funds that it would normally invest in housing to feed people. At least $20,000 a week is needed to fund the food relief effort at this time.
The unrest started as protests over tax increases to fund the country’s pension system, but international journalists are reporting escalating violence in recent days.
