Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Melissa Dixon was appointed to a position on the Travel Industry Association of Kansas Board of Directors in April.
TIAK’s purpose is to speak with one voice for the travel industry in Kansas, promoting and supporting all components of the travel industry and travel development field.
— Hays CVB
By DAN MARGOLIES
More than 1,300 phone calls between public defenders and inmates awaiting trial at the Leavenworth detention facility were improperly recorded over a two-year period, according to newly disclosed information in a civil lawsuit.
The blockbuster revelation comes as the Federal Public Defender’s office and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Kansas seek to resolve a long-running and contentious dispute over audio and video recording of attorney-client meetings and phone calls at the prison.
The stakes are enormous: If it’s found that prosecutors impermissibly listened in on privileged attorney-client calls, that could result in those clients’ charges or convictions being thrown out.
The latest disclosure emerged last week in a lawsuit against the detention facility’s operator, CoreCivic, formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America, and the contractor responsible for its phone system, Securus Technologies Inc. The lawsuit was filed in 2016 by two attorneys, David Johnson and Adam Crane, who alleged their phone calls and meetings with clients were impermissibly recorded.
Crane no longer is a plaintiff, but Johnson last week moved to have the suit certified as a class action on behalf of all attorneys whose conversations or meetings were recorded at Leavenworth. In his motion, he said that, based on records obtained during discovery, 1,338 phone calls placed by detainees to their public defender attorneys had been recorded between 2011 and 2013.
The disclosure came as news to the Kansas Federal Public Defenders’ office, which, in turn, moved for a protective order in separate, ongoing litigation over the recordings at Leavenworth. That litigation, which prompted the judge to appoint a special master to investigate the issue, seeks a complete accounting of the recordings and the extent to which inmates’ Sixth Amendment right to counsel may have been violated.
In its motion, the public defender’s office says that “well before 2011,” it had asked to have its phone numbers placed on a list of attorney numbers not to be recorded, in accordance with CoreCivic (CCA) protocol. CoreCivic operates the Leavenworth Detention Center on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service.
“Having complied with CCA protocol,” the motion states, “we understood that CCA phone calls from our clients would not be recorded.”
The public defender’s office says its motion serves to notify the U.S. Attorney’s office, the U.S. Marshals Service, CoreCivic and Securus that its attorneys’ phone calls to the detention facility, “regardless of any recorded preamble, is constitutionally and statutorily protected as attorney-client communication and as attorney work-product. Any access to, review of, or production to any other person or entity violates those protections.”
A spokeswoman for CoreCivic said the company does not comment on active litigation. An attorney for Securus did not return a phone call seeking comment. Melody Brannon, who heads the Kansas Federal Public Defender’s office, declined to comment.
As part of his investigation, the special master, David R. Cohen, had found that some 200 attorney phone calls had been recorded at Leavenworth — and those phone calls included not just those involving public defenders but other criminal defense attorneys as well.
Cohen, asked about the discrepancy between the 200 phone calls he uncovered and the more than 1,300 uncovered in the proposed class-action lawsuit, said they almost certainly referred to “different universes of calls.”
“I examined about 49,000 phone calls that the government produced to me, which it had obtained in connection with their investigation into the (Core Civic) drug conspiracy case,” Cohen said, referring to the case in which the disclosures that attorney-client calls had been recorded first surfaced.
“I suspect (the class-action lawsuit) is referring to all of the calls that Securus recorded during some time period, not just the ones the government gave me in connection with their drug conspiracy investigation.”
Cohen said the larger number suggested that “the issue of the government having access to or possibly listening to calls between inmates and their attorneys may be more widespread than my numbers reflected, because I was only looking at a specific case and a limited collection of calls.”
It’s unclear whether this latest revelation about the extent to which attorney-client calls were recorded at Leavenworth will have an effect on negotiations between the U.S. Attorney’s office and the Federal Public Defender’s office to resolve the issue.
Last month, the U.S. Attorney for Kansas, Stephen McAllister, said that his office was prepared to work out an agreement with the public defender’s office. His announcement came midway through a hearing in which the the public defender’s office asked the judge to find McAllister’s office in contempt after it ceased cooperating with Cohen’s investigation.
McAllister’s office has been at the center of the tapings controversy because, in at least a handful of instances, it has acknowledged that prosecutors listened in on some of the taped calls.
U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson, who appointed Cohen as special master, directed him to look at whether CoreCivic had turned over privileged recordings of attorney-client meetings and calls to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
The U.S. Attorney’s office and the public defender’s office have been at loggerheads since the initial revelations of the tapings surfaced nearly two years ago. The U.S. Attorney’s office wants Cohen’s investigation limited to editing out and retaining privileged attorney-client matters. The public defender’s office wants him to examine whether CoreCivic routinely recorded attorney-client meetings and turned them over to prosecutors.
Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies
Verna Mae Clanton, age 62, of WaKeeney, passed away Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at Trego County Lemke Memorial Hospital, WaKeeney. She was born October 6, 1955, in Hays, Kansas, to Vern LeRoy and Azilee Alberta (Moler) Williams.
Verna was a graduate of Hays High School with the class of 1973. On July 3, 1973, she was united in marriage to Bobby Lee Clanton, in Hays. They enjoyed 38 years of marriage together. Bobby preceded her in death on October 30, 2011. Verna loved the outdoors. She always looked forward to fishing and camping trips with family and friends. Verna was a caregiver to many. Her duties as a C.N.A. were done from the heart, as she truly cared for the patients, treating them like family. She cherished time with family, especially her grandchildren.
Left to mourn her passing are her mother, Azilee; a son, Robert Eugene (Lisa) Clanton of Oxford, Nebraska; three daughters, Angela Marie Hafliger of Ingalls, Kansas, Cynthia Mae (Kirk) Knouf of Quinter, Kansas, and Jamie Lee Poage of Catharine, Kansas; eleven grandchildren, Abigail Hafliger, Caleb Knouf, Alyssa Hafliger, Austin Clanton, Kaylee Knouf, Emily Clanton, Christapher Poage, Matthew Clanton, Dakota Poage, Tommie Poage, and Phillip Poage; sister, Shirley (Jim) Black, of Bakersfield, California; and mother-in-law, Ann Clanton of Rathdrum, Idaho. Verna was preceded in death by her father; her husband; mother-in-law, Lois McIntyre; and father-in-law, Tommie Clanton.
Funeral service will be 11:00 a.m., Monday, June 11, 2018 at Schmitt Funeral Home, WaKeeney. Burial will be in the WaKeeney City Cemetery.
Visitation will be Sunday evening, from 5 to 7 at the funeral home.
Memorial contributions are suggested to the Trego Hospital Endowment Foundation. Checks made to the foundation may be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 North 12th, WaKeeney, KS 67672.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.schmittfuneral.com.
RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a an alleged scam.
Just after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, police filed a report for theft by deception in the 3700 block of Peach Tree Cir. in Manhattan, according to the Riley County Police Activity report. A 44-year-old Manhattan told police an unknown suspect was scammed her out of money by impersonating the IRS.
The estimated total loss associated with this case is approximately $32,000.00.
Police ask that anyone with information contact RCPD or the Manhattan Riley County Crime Stoppers. Using the Crime Stoppers service can allow you to remain anonymous and could qualify you for a cash reward of up to $1,000.00.
Seven former members of the Hays Larks were drafted in the MLB First Year Player Draft which wrapped up earlier this week. Devlin Granberg, Jax Biggers, Aaron Fletcher, Stephen Yancey, Keegan Curtis and Daniel James were selected during the second and third day of the 40-round draft.
Granberg was the highest selection, going in the sixth round (190th overall) to the Boston Red Sox. The Dallas Baptist senior was a member of the 2016 team before leaving to join the Junior College National Team at the NBC World Series. Granberg was named the Joe Carter Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year after posting a Dallas Baptist record .443 batting average and winning his second consecutive MVC batting title.
Jax Biggers, who was also on the 2016 team and also left to join the JUCO National Team, was an eighth round pick (239th overall) by the Texas Rangers.
Aaron Fletcher, who played for the 2015 Larks, was chosen by the Washington Nationals in the 14th round (431st overall). Fletcher is a left-handed pitcher out of the University of Houston.
Right-handed pitcher Stephen Yancey, who also played in 2016, was selected in the 20th round (600th overall) by the Tampa Bay Rays. Yancey played collegiately at Texas Wesleyan.
Keegan Curtis, who played in 2015 and 2016, was taken by the New York Yankees in the 22nd round (667th overall). Curtis played collegiately at the University of Louisiana-Monroe.
Daniel James, a pitcher out of UT-Arlington who played for the Larks in 2016, was picked by the Kansas City Royals in the 26th round (782nd overall).
Right-handed pitcher Jake Norton, who was a member of the 2017 Larks, was chosen in the 32nd round (957th overall) by the Miami Marlins. Norton played collegiately at Stephen F Austin.
Calvin D. Kruse, age 92, passed away on Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at the Scott County Hospital in Scott City, Kansas. He was born on February 13, 1926 in Frederick, Kansas, the son of Walter and Sadie Janssen Kruse. A Scott City resident since 1947 moving from Loraine, Kansas. He was a successful farmer.
He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Scott City, Kansas and was an avid Bowler and Golfer. Calvin was a US Navy Veteran of World War II.
Survivors include his Two Nieces – Ann & Otis Sisson of Blue Springs, Missouri, Carole Bailey & Robert Sutherland of Flippin, Arkansas, Companion – Betty LaToush of Scott City, Kansas and Numerous Cousins & Close Friends.
Calvin was preceded in death by his Parents and One Sister – Twila Kruse-Sutherland.
Funeral Services will be held at the First Baptist Church in Scott City, Kansas at 10:30 a.m. Monday, June 11, 2018 with Rev. Kyle Evans presiding.
Memorials in lieu of flowers may made to the First Baptist Church in care of Price & Sons Funeral Homes.
Interment will be in the Scott County Cemetery in Scott City, Kansas
Visitation will be from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Saturday and 1:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m Sunday at Price & Sons Funeral Home in Scott City.
HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State head volleyball coach Jessica Wood-Atkins announced the signing of Breann Becker for the 2018 season. A junior setter, Becker transfers to FHSU from Neosho County (Kan.) Community College, where she was an NJCAA All-America Second Team selection in 2017.
Becker helped Neosho County to a 28-12 record as a sophomore in 2018, recording 1,158 assists for the season. She averaged 7.82 assists per set, while adding 2.72 digs per set (403 total) for the season. She led the team in service aces with 38 and managed to eclipse 100 kills for the season, finishing with 105. She had double-double performances in 23 games for assists and digs. She had a season-high 58 assists in the team’s final game of the season, while her season best in digs for a match was 24 during a game when she also had 35 assists. She was just shy of a triple-double against Fort Scott Community College on September 25 when she finished with a season-high eight kills to go with 29 assists and 12 digs.
Becker also had a solid freshman campaign in 2016 when she recorded 658 assists (5.62/set), 238 digs (2.03/set), 64 kills, and 20 service aces. She had seven double-doubles in assists and digs that season.
Becker was a two-time All-KJCCC and All-District selection, earning first team honors for both in 2017 and second team honors for both in 2016.
A native of Pratt, Kansas, Becker attended Pratt High School where she enjoyed an impressive prep sports career. She was an all-state selection in three sports – volleyball, basketball, and softball.
By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
Beginning this fall, students at Fort Hays State University no longer will purchase their books on campus, instead they will order them online.
In an email this week, Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Joey Linn announced the university will launch a new online bookstore and the on-campus store will be converted to a “spirit store” that will sell FHSU merchandise.
According to the announcement, all book orders will be done online through Akademos, and they will be shipped to the individual student. The Tiger Spirit Shop will offer an in-store pickup option for course materials.
On the KAYS Morning Show Thursday, Linn said said the move will allow students to save money.
Akademos is a virtual bookstore that provides textbooks and course materials to more than 120 colleges and universities.
The new on campus Tiger Spirit Shop will sell FHSU merchandise and school supplies. The spirit shop will be managed by indiCo, a network of campus stores.
The university plans on providing more information on the changes in the future and anyone with questions can contact Edie McCracken at the Memorial Union at 785-628-5305 or [email protected].
The Hays Police Department responded to 8 animal calls and conducted 39 traffic stops Wed., June 6, 2018, according to the HPD Activity Log.
Sex Offense–300 block E 5th St, Hays; 9:45 AM
Sex Offense–2200 block–2200 block Canterbury Dr, Hays; 6/5 7:14 PM; 7:21 PM
Credit Card Violations–1300 block Canterbury Dr, Hays; 12:04 PM
Tethering Violation–400 block Santa Fe St, Hays; 2:10 PM
Disturbance – Noise–1100 block Downing Ave, Hays; 2:24 PM
Criminal Trespass–1100 block E 27th St, Hays; 2:25 PM
Suspicious Person–3600 block Vine St, Hays; 3:28 PM
Animal At Large–13th St and Canterbury Dr, Hays; 4:11 PM
Found/Lost Property–700 block Fort St, Hays; 5:07 PM
Found/Lost Property–1300 block E 13th St, Hays; 6:10 PM
Criminal Damage to Property–1300 block Steven Dr, Hays; 6/5 6:30 PM; 6/6 6:30 PM
MV Accident-City Street/Alley; 3300 block Vine St, Hays; 7:46 PM
Suspicious Activity–400 block E 11th St, Hays; 10:26 PM
MANHATTAN — Charles Taber, the vice provost for graduate and professional education and dean of the Graduate School at Stony Brook University, New York, has been named the new provost and executive vice president of Kansas State University.
Taber’s appointment was announced by Richard Myers, university president. He will assume his new duties on Aug. 15.
“Charles Taber is ideally qualified to become the next provost and executive vice president of Kansas State University,” Myers said. “Along with his extensive academic leadership and teaching experience, Dr. Taber brings expertise on two major initiatives facing Kansas State University: strategic enrollment management and budget modernization.”
Taber will play an essential role in the implementation of both initiatives as the university works to stabilize and build enrollment and adopt a new budget model to better address the many funding challenges facing higher education. As the higher education landscape continues to evolve, he will address and identify opportunities to advance K-State’s land-grant mission.
“I am excited to be joining the K-State family, especially because of the strong commitment to community,” Taber said. “It’s easy to see why K-State has been on such a positive trajectory. I am looking forward to working with the leadership team, faculty, staff, and students to tackle our remaining challenges and opportunities. The future is bright at K-State and I am thrilled to be part of it!”
As the university’s chief academic officer, Taber will report directly to Myers, serving as a close advisor and strategic leader on all aspects of university governance and the academic enterprise. He also will serve as the university’s chief executive officer in the president’s absence.
Taber will provide strategic oversight for academic planning, resource allocation and innovation in all academic programs while ensuring excellence and relevance in the design of the curriculum. He will focus on the quality of teaching and learning; providing global perspective and strategic direction to successfully manage operating budgets; and enhance the quality of the student experience at all levels.
Taber has served in his current position since 2013. He joined Stony Brook in 1989 as an instructor of political science, earning a promotion to full professor in 2008. He has served in many administrative positions at the university, including associate dean for postdoctoral affairs, dean of the School of Professional Development and interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. At Stony Brook, he has been involved with graduate enrollment management and addressing budget challenges in higher education.
A leading scholar in the fields of political psychology and computational modeling, Taber has more than 50 scholarly publications. His work has earned millions of dollars in grant funding from the National Science Foundation. His research has contributed to the growing literature on the psychological mechanisms that drive public opinion. In 2000, he received the Paul Lazersfeld outstanding paper award from the American Political Science Association for a paper on the causes of bias in political reasoning, published in the American Journal of Political Science. Along with Milton Lodge, Taber developed an influential theory of unconscious thinking in political behavior. Their 2013 book, “The Rationalizing Voter,” from Cambridge University Press, won the Robert E. Lane Book Award and the Book of the Year Awards from the Experimental Politics and Migration and Citizenship Sections of the American Political Science Association.
His teaching and research interests include diversity in higher education, budgeting in higher education, political psychology, public opinion and international relations. Taber earned his doctorate and master’s degree in political science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor’s degree in political science from East Tennessee State University.
Taber replaces April Mason, who is leaving the university at the end of June after serving as provost and senior vice president since 2010.
This is it. The end. I’m not going to be around anymore to nag you about low birth rates, shrinking populations out west, and the inevitability of change and its costs and responsibilities. No more scoffing at ridiculous claims about the sanctity of free enterprise without government interference while watching lobbyists, entrepreneurs, and local boosters line up every year in Topeka to get the legislature to expand, maintain, or create another avenue for private benefit at public expense.
Instead, I want to tell you about the good impressions Kansas has made on me in my 20 years of living and working here. First and foremost it has been my great privilege to personally interact with some remarkably fine people. Many of them have been public figures, and those people have reinforced in me the belief that the crudeness, vitriol, and visceral animosity expressed by so many of the sensation-mongering, babble-first and feel no remorse faces and voices that dominate our public sphere are of no importance. Pay attention to the people who go about their work with seriousness, good will, and knowledge. Ignore the loudmouths, me-firsters, fear-thy neighbor and us-against-them nitwits who are always available to distract and incite.
And your sons and daughters are great! I’ve taught 20 years at a small, public institution that continues its existence in the Kansas soil of its founding over 150 years ago. The greatest share of the kids I’ve taught have been products of the local K-12 educational systems. There are not a lot of class valedictorians, or National Merit Scholars, or kids “born with a silver spoon” in their mouths. We get more of those three types than most people know, but by-and-large we get the kids who ‘hoped’ they’d go to college rather than knew it all their young lives.
Kids today are more distracted and less academically able in some ways, however, they use and understand communication technologies that are making such sweeping changes that a new social and economic revolution is at hand. They are certainly more conscious of and concerned about what is happening to this tiny blue space ship we call Earth than my generation was on the first Earth Day. The Great Recession of a decade ago deeply affected them. Many of these kids are much more vocational and economic security oriented than I, as an academic, would wish they were.
I worry that many are missing this never to be repeated opportunity of having four years to explore as much of the world’s knowledge as possible before taking up the mundane chores of their next forty or forty-five years. Having seen most of them accomplish great things in this transitional period of college life, I have great confidence. If the rest of you have the good sense to make a space for them and give them the room to prosper, this will be the generation that raises the angle of the line marking the future progress of the Sunflower State.
Good luck to you all.
Dr. Mark Peterson has been teaching political science for thirty years and writing for Insight Kansas since 2012. He is retiring and this is his last column.
COLBY—Myrtle L. Kropp, 88, died Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at Prairie Senior Living Complex in Colby.
She was born on Sept. 11, 1929 in Sheridan County, Kansas.
She was a retired cook for the Colby schools.
She was preceded in death by her husband, John, on June 2, 2000.
She is survived by her sons, Raymond J. Kropp of Hammond, Oklahoma, and Charles E. Kropp of Colby; daughters Marilyn L. Thummel of Grainfield, Kansas, and Donna B. Colin of Salina; sister Alice Mizer of Jennings; 11 grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren.
The funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday, June 11 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Colby, officiated by the Rev. Robert Alexander.
Visitation will be from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday, June 10 at the Kersenbrock Funeral Chapel in Colby. The burial will be in Beulah Cemetery in Colby.
Memorials may be made to the NWKS Foundation for Hope. Donations can be made in care of the funeral home.
Condolences can be made at kersenbrockfuneralchapel.com.
KANSAS CITY – A Colorado man was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday after traveling to Kansas City to meet an undercover FBI agent, whom he believed to be a mother with her 7-year-old daughter, for sex, according to the United States Attorney’s office.
Ryan Edward Mausner, 42, of Basalt, Colo., was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City
Tuesday’s indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against Mausner on May 25, 2018.
The federal indictment charges Mausner with one count of attempting to entice a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, and one count of traveling across state lines with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, Mausner was actually communicating (via the Kik messaging application and texts) with an undercover FBI agent, who portrayed a single mother with a 5-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter. Mausner allegedly engaged the undercover agent in several private chat sessions in which he said he wanted to engage in sexual activity with the mother and daughter.
In the course of these chats, the affidavit says, Mausner made numerous sexually suggestive or overtly sexually explicit comments including BDSM terminology about the mother and daughter.
Mausner traveled from Denver, Colo., to Kansas City on May 25, 2018, and arrived at Kansas City International Airport at about 5 p.m.
The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
