Albert Taney Coberly, 91, died on Friday, November 16, 2018 at Lane County Hospital in Dighton. He was born on November 28, 1926 at Glenville, West Virginia the son of Taney Albert & Clara Benidicta (Fox) Coberly. He married Merlyn Dawn Thomas on November 28, 1948 in Dighton. She died on November 5, 2017.
Albert graduated from Meta, Missouri High School in 1944. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and after his discharge was in the Navy Reserves for 4 years. He moved to Lane County after his discharge and was a salesman of insurance, magazines, sewing machines and other things and also was a farmer. He was a member of the United Methodist Church of Dighton where he served as a Sunday School teacher and lay minister. He also was a member of American Legion Post # 190, V.F.W., Masonic Lodge and Odd Fellows. He was preceded in death by his Parents, Wife, Brother- Arthur Coberly, Sister- Margarite Dole & 2 Grandchildren- Gaylene Kerschen & Jason Kerschen.
Survivors include his Daughter- Nora & Tom Kerschen of Dighton, Son- Tom & Edie Coberly of Wamego, 7 Grandchildren, 16 Great-Grandchildren & 1 Great-Great-Grandson.
Funeral Service will be at 10:30 AM Tuesday at the United Methodist Church with Rev Berniece Ludlum officiating. Burial will be in Dighton Memorial Cemetery with military honors by the United States Navy Honor Guard and American Legion Post # 190. Memorials are suggested to the United Methodist Church in care of Boomhower Funeral Home. Friends may call from Noon to 8:00 PM Monday at Boomhower Funeral Home in Dighton. Condolences may be posted at www.garnandfuneralhomes.com
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kids being treated at a children’s hospital in Kansas got a site to brighten their day — “superheroes” rappelling down the outside wall of the hospital.
The superheroes were actually six Wichita firefighters who rappelled down Wesley Healthcare hospital on Thursday. They were dressed as Batman, Captain America, the Hulk, Spider-man, Thor and the Green Lantern.
The hospital said in a statement that Wichita firefighters are always finding ways to give back to the community. The hospital called it a “great day” for kids, who were allowed to take their minds off their hospital stays for a while.
WICHITA — Newman University, 3100 McCormick in Wichita announced early Friday the campus was closed due to a report of an unsubstantiated threat, according to a text message sent to students.
An investigation revealed that there was actually no threat made, according to Newman Director of Security Mo Floyd. “Prior to determining this, we decided it was in everyone’s best interest to close the campus for the day. This threat was just a campus rumor that got out of hand.”
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WICHITA — Newman University, 3100 McCormick in Wichita announced early Friday the campus was closed due to a report of an unsubstantiated threat, according to a text message sent to students.
Newman University campus closed Friday, Nov. 16. There will be no day classes, no practices, and no student activities on campus today.
Both campaigns deny sending out post-Election Day mailer to provisional voters
By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT Hays Post
After spending more than a week in the lead in the race for the 111th House District, Republican Barb Wasinger will have to wait a few more days — and hope that a recount goes her way — as she aims to unseat incumbent Democratic Rep. Eber Phelps.
After nearly all the ballots were counted on election night, Wasinger led Phelps by just 40 votes, but there were still more than 200 advanced and provisional ballots left to count.
Maskus
Following Thursday’s election canvass at the Ellis County Administrative Center, Wasinger held a 32-vote lead vote lead over Phelps, prompting him to call for a recount. The official vote total had Wasinger with 4,342 votes to 4,310 for Phelps. There were 15 write-in votes.
After the canvass board certified the vote Thursday, Wasinger said, “I’m glad to hear it’s certified and we’ll wait for the recount.”
The final determine in the race will come a full two weeks after Election Day.
“Probably the same way it’s felt since last Tuesday,” Wasinger said with laugh, describing how it feels to have to wait another five days to determine a winner. “It hasn’t changed much. It’s still just waiting for the official final results.”
In front of a large crowd of people Thursday, the canvass board — made up of County Commissioner Marcy McClelland, Sheriff Ed Harbin and Mike Morley — went through the process of opening the ballots, handing them off to the election board to be counted and eventually certifying the results.
The board began the process with the advanced ballots. According to Ellis County Clerk and Election Officer Donna Maskus, there were 62 advanced ballots submitted.
Eleven of the 62 were rejected for various reasons including being postmarked after election day, having no postmark or having a non-matching signature. One person chose not to vote. Fifty-one ballots were counted.
Maskus and John Bird
Hays attorney John Bird served as a representative for the Phelps campaign and raised issue with the ballots not counted because there was no postmark or that were postmarked after Election Day. He said state statute says the envelope must be postmarked or contain another marking.
Maskus said she worked with the local postmaster to make sure that the ballots received were postmarked. Two ballots were not counted because of a lack of postmark.
That would not be the only issue raised by Bird, who said he had asked several questions of Maskus in the days leading up to the election canvass.
Jonathan Ehrlich, a representative for the Kansas House Republican Campaign Committee, also asked questions of Maskus and the canvass board throughout the process.
While the advanced ballots were being tabulated by the election board, the canvass board went through the same process of opening provisional ballots and placing them in a ballot box to be transferred to the election board.
Maskus said in all there were 212 provisional ballots cast in Ellis County.
Harbin, McClelland and Morley
Of those, 66 were not counted. Forty-two were not counted because the voter was registered in another county, 23 were not registered at all and one was returned in the wrong envelope.
Bird said he wanted to know, of the people who filled out a provisional ballot, whose ballot would be counted.
“We know who all the provisionals were and there are many people in the audience who cast provisional ballots, and they’d like to know if their vote’s getting counted,” Bird said. “I was asking specifically about one, who’s a family member.”
He asked the canvass board to have Maskus tell people in the audience whether their vote was being counted or not.
Front of mailer
One person in the audience said he received a document in the mail stating if he wanted his provisional ballot counted he could provide the necessary information at Thursday’s meeting.
The mailer in question did not come from the County Clerk’s office, although it lists the county office as the return address and Maskus’ name is listed.
It is unclear who is responsible for the mailer or how many voters received it. Ellis County Democratic Party Chairman Henry Schwaller and Republican Party Chair Dustin Roths both confirmed Thursday they were not responsible for the mailer.
Bird, as a representative of the Phelps campaign, acquired a list of voters who submitted provisional ballots from the County Clerk’s office but denied sending out the mailer — although he said he agreed with its message.
“I fully support it,” Bird said. “The fact of the matter is, is that’s why these people are here, is because they want to know if their vote’s being counted.”
Back of mailer. Editor’s Note: Photo has been altered to obscure voter’s name and address. Click to expand.
Wasinger said Friday her campaign did not receive a list of voters who submitted provisional ballots.
Anyone who submitted a provisional ballot is given information on how to contact the clerk’s office and remedy the problem. They had to do so by 4 p.m. on the day of the canvass.
Maskus did talk with two people about their ballots at the meeting.
According to Maskus, 145 provisional ballots were counted.
After about two hours, all the votes were tallied and presented to the canvassing board and Wasinger had a 32-vote lead.
McClelland conferred with Morley and Harbin and they suggested that, because the margin was less than one-half of one percent that a recount be held.
Ehrlich said only a candidate can call for a recount. But Bird pointed out that state statue does allow for the board of canvassers to request a recount.
According to KSA 25-3107, if the majority of the board determines that “there are manifest errors appearing on the face of the poll books of any election board, which might make a difference in the result of any election.”
Bird argued there were errors in the process that should lead the board to hold off on certifying the results and to call for a recount.
Ehrlich said if the board doesn’t find “manifest error” then it should certify the results.
Bird also submitted a request to Maskus, on behalf of Phelps, to go forward with a full hand recount.
After more discussion between McClelland, Morley and Harbin, they elected to certify the results and allow the requested recount to go forward.
Maskus said this is the first recount in Ellis County in over 40 years.
The clerk’s office has five days to complete the recount.
TOPEKA (AP) — Could Kansas soon join the growing list of states allowing medical marijuana?
The election of Democrat Laura Kelly puts a medical marijuana supporter in the governor’s seat, and she recently said she senses “some momentum” among legislators to legalize medical marijuana with strict regulations, The Kansas City Star reported.
Medical marijuana bills have been considered without success for years in Kansas, even though several surrounding states allow recreational or medical marijuana. Missouri voters on Nov. 6 approved a ballot measure allowing for medical marijuana, joining nearly three dozen states.
The election of a supporter “will definitely change the conversation” in Kansas, said Esau Freeman, spokesman for the pro-legalization group Kansas for Change. Freeman said conservatives who may be skeptical or opposed should consider that Kelly is focused on medical, rather than recreational, use.
“We’ve had eight years with a governor who would not even hear of it, and now we have a governor who has indicated, if it falls within the right perimeters, that she would sign a bill,” Freeman said.
Previously, medical marijuana supporters would have had to gather supermajorities in both the House and Senate to override a likely veto from the governor. With support from Kelly likely, advocates now only need simple majorities in both chambers.
Sen. David Haley, a Kansas City Democrat and medical marijuana supporter, believes the Legislature will approve it within the next couple years.
“I believe this issue has support from rural, suburban and urban districts across party lines. I think the governor at the top indicating she would sign it is certainly the icing on the cake,” Haley said.
Proponents can expect opposition from the state’s medical community. The Kansas Medical Society, a physicians group, doesn’t support bypassing approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration to allow medical use. The society’s Rachelle Colombo said legalizing marijuana for medical use makes physicians the gatekeepers, which the organization doesn’t support.
“There isn’t enough evidence to support that it has medical use and it puts physicians in an uncomfortable, and really a risky position of potentially recommending something for which there’s no proof and could actually have some negative outcomes for patients,” Colombo said.
Republican Rep. John Barker of Abilene said he’s not necessarily opposed to medical marijuana. He wants more information, such as how tightly controlled access to marijuana would be and how patients would obtain marijuana, whether it would be through a pharmacy or a shop.
“I would welcome the conversation and base our decision on facts, not fiction, and make sure we have the appropriate controls,” Baker said.
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Information from: The Kansas City Star, https://www.kcstar.com
Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir leaves the court house Friday morning in Great BendBy COLE REIF Great Bend Post
GREAT BEND — Not guilty. Those were the words from the six-member jury Friday morning at the Barton County Courthouse. A three-day trial covering the misdemeanor charge against Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir ended in the not guilty verdict.
The jury took less than 15 minutes to make its decision.
Bellendir was relieved following the conclusion of this trial and thanked everyone while also telling voters, “I promise the electorate of Barton County you will get the whole story before this is done, and it it not pretty.”
In November 2017, an investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation accused the sheriff of “ill-treating a man in handcuffs by speaking to him in a vulgar, insulting, rude or angry manner” while serving an arrest warrant on Aug. 10, 2017, to Nathan Manley of Ellinwood.
The charge against Bellendir had also put his certification as a Kansas law enforcement officer in jeopardy.
BUTLER COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating people receiving “White Lives Matter” fliers on their mailboxes in Harvey, Reno and Butler County.
On Friday, police in Eldorado reported they were able to identify the person responsible for the fliers. They have been interviewed and have not broken any laws.
According to police, “We understand the concern for the content of the fliers. We also would like for the citizens of our city to be educated about our outstanding recycling program which repurposes a large number of items such as plastic, cardboard, and unwanted fliers.
Melissa Pinkney, a Spanish teacher at Thomas More Prep-Marian, ran the annual Sunrise Rotary Grocery Grab on Thursday night at Dillons.
Her father, Mark Bieker, was the winner, but he let Melissa run for both he and his wife and Melissa’s family.
The run is five minutes long. It includes one minute in the meat department with a limit of two items each in that department and five items each in the other departments. Cosmetics and pharmaceuticals were excluded.
Pickney was able to bag a whopping $1,392.60 in groceries. Among her haul were two turkeys for the holidays, a ham, crab legs, prime rib, lobster tails, olive oil, boxes of coffee and plenty of corn dogs for the kids.
Pickney said she scoped out the store before her run. She was looking for items in bulk that her family could store or freeze. Although she had a plan, she found herself picking up some items on impulse. She also intended to hit the cereal aisle and missed that entirely.
“I am smiling and happy now, but I was nervous before,” she said.
Melissa and her husband, Jeff, live in Hays and have three children.
Once the grocery bill was paid, Sunrise Rotary earned about $1,000 on the fundraiser. The money will go toward a new restroom project Sunrise Rotary is working in cooperation with the City of Hays at Ekey Park.
“Our small club, just 18 members, works hard to raise funds for the park and our global mission of eradicating polio from the face of the Earth,” Larry Dreiling, club president, said.
Mandy Scott, Dillons operations assistant manager, said “We take pride in our community and participating in community events like this. We are more than happy to be a part of anything the community wants us to do.”
It was likely the shortest Hays city commission work session on record.
Commissioners spent just three minutes and 1 second on the single agenda item presented Thursday night by Jeff Crispin, director of water resources.
Several older areas of Hays have sanitary sewer lines in need of repair.
Some locations are an easy fix, where protruding taps and large vegetation root balls can be cut out by city workers without having to dig up the sewer.
But 26 other places will require replacement of sections of the line, according to Crispin.
“Other abandonments are caused by pipe collapses, holes or joint offsets can only be fixed by digging down to the failure spot and replacing a section of the line,” Crispin explained. “Basically the area is south of 27th Street and west of Vine Street.”
One abandoned area of sewer line due to a hole in the pipe.
The cleaning of the portions noted by Crispin and subsequent video examinations could not occur.
Crispin presented four bids for the project. The low bid by M&D Excavating of Hays is for $198, 380, which will be considered by commissioners at their meeting next Tuesday.
The commission will meet Nov. 20 due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Vice-Mayor Henry Schwaller was absent from the work session.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an aggravated assault that left a woman in critical condition.
Bryant Douglas, Jr. -photo Wichita Police
On Thursday, the Wichita Police asked for the communities help in locating 35-year-old Bryant Douglas in connection with the weekend shooting.
On Friday, Douglas turned himself in to the Sedgwick County Jail, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Douglas was wanted charges of attempted 1st-degree murder, aggravated domestic battery, felon in possession of a firearm and a Kansas Department of Corrections warrant.
At approximately 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, police responded to a shooting call in the area of Bluff and Vesta in Wichita, according to Davidson.
At the scene, police found a 41-year-old woman who had sustained a single gunshot wound to the head. She was transported to an area hospital for medical treatment and remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Investigators determined the woman was traveling in a vehicle with her boyfriend, Douglas.
When they got into a verbal argument, Douglas struck her multiple times and fired one shot striking the her in the head. Douglas then fled the scene.
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SEDGWICK COUNTY —On Thursday, the Wichita Police Department (WPD) presented an aggravated battery case to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office, leading to an active arrest warrant being issued for 35-year-old Bryant Douglas, Jr. of Wichita
He is wanted on charges of attempted 1st-degree murder, aggravated domestic battery and felon in possession of a firearm, according to officer Charley Davidson.
At approximately 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, police responded to a shooting call in the area of Bluff and Vesta in Wichita, according to Davidson.
At the scene, police found a 41-year-old woman who had sustained a single gunshot wound to the head. She was transported to an area hospital for medical treatment and remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Investigators determined the woman was traveling in a vehicle with her boyfriend, Douglas.
When they got into a verbal argument, Douglas struck her multiple times and fired one shot striking the her in the head. Douglas then fled the scene.
If you know the whereabouts of Douglas, please call 911 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.
Albert Taney Coberly, 91, died on Friday, November 16, 2018 at Lane County Hospital in Dighton. He was born on November 28, 1926 at Glenville, West Virginia the son of Taney Albert & Clara Benidicta (Fox) Coberly. He married Merlyn Dawn Thomas on November 28, 1948 in Dighton. She died on November 5, 2017.
