Jeremy Gill, a recent graduate of Fort Hays State University with master’s in history, will speak about aspects of his master’s thesis, “Cavalry to Campfires: The Politics of Preservation in Frontier Historical Park,” on Monday, Jan. 28, during the Ellis County Historical Society annual meeting. There will be a membership business meeting at 7 p.m. followed by Gill’s presentation at 7:45 p.m.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for membership and sponsorship renewals. Membership cards will be available during registration.
Both the meeting and presentation are free and open to the public.
Located at 100 W. Seventh, the Ellis County Historical Society, founded in 1972, collects, preserves, and exhibits items and documents that illustrate the history of Ellis County.
TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) held the 2019 Harmful Algal Bloom Meeting this week at Washburn University in Topeka. The meeting, which included all Kansas agencies which work on harmful algal blooms, discussed health, monitoring and responses due to harmful algal blooms in area water sources.
“At this year’s meeting we have expanded from our recreational stakeholders to include the public water supply operators and other agencies to find the best ways to address issues as they arise,” said Megan Maksimowicz, an environmental specialist at KDHE’s Bureau of Water.
“We want to make sure that we stay on top of all public health and safety issues connected to HABs. We have not had any toxins above the EPA’s health advisory level from HABs in a public water supply system, but we continue to come up with the best ways to prevent this and to monitor these situations.”
Presentation topics included recreation and reservoir research, animal health, testing and monitoring, nutrient reduction and practices, in-lake mitigation strategies, public water supply monitoring, and planning and response, among other discussions. The meeting, hosted by KDHE’s Bureau of Water, has been held annually every winter to engage stakeholders on this challenging issue affecting lakes in Kansas.
RILEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating an injury accident that occurred just before 7a.m. Saturday in Riley County.
A 2004 Dodge Nissan driven by Justin Pate, 22, Manhattan, struck a pedestrian identified as 47-year-old Curt Bilinger of Manhattan near the 1000 Block of Westloop Place, according to a media release.
Bilinger was transported to Via Christi for treatment of his injuries.
PRATT – Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Commissioners drew names for Commission Big Game permits at their Jan. 17, 2019 public meeting. The Commission Big Game Permit program allows conservation organizations a chance to draw one of seven big game permits, which can then be sold to raise funds for conservation projects. One-hundred-seventy-six applications were received for the 2019 permits.
Eligible applicants include local chapters of nonprofit organizations based or operating in Kansas that actively promote wildlife conservation and the hunting and fishing heritage. Organizations may receive just one Commission Big Game Permit in a three-year period.
One elk, one antelope or up to seven deer permits are issued each year, depending on applicant preference. The permits are either-species/either-sex and are valid statewide during any season with legal equipment for that season; they do not count against other big game permits the license holder is eligible for.
Once the permit is sold, the cost of the permit, plus 15 percent of the total sale price, is subtracted and kept by the organization, while the remainder is remitted to the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism with a proposal for a conservation project. When the project is approved, the money is returned to the organization to complete the project.
All organizations drawn this year selected deer permits, so seven Commissioner Big Game Deer Permits are available from the following conservation groups:
National Wild Turkey Federation – Arkansas Valley Limbhangers Chapter, Jared McJunkin, Director of Conservation Operations, 5632 Legends View Dr., Wamego KS 66547, [email protected], 785-456-9735
Friends of NRA – Caldwell #KS-41 Chapter, Brad Dreier, Sr. Field Rep, 5856 S Lowell Blvd, Ste 32-313, Littleton CO 80123, [email protected], 720-232-7601
Pheasants Forever – Solomon Valley Chapter #450, Chris Blackledge, Regional Rep., 503 Ravine Dr., Council Grove KS 66846, [email protected], 620-767-2121
Pheasants Forever – Flint Hills Chapter #739, Chris Blackledge, Regional Rep., 503 Ravine Dr., Council Grove KS 66846, [email protected], 620-767-2121
Quail Forever – Neosho Valley Chapter #3165, Chris Blackledge, Regional Rep., 503 Ravine Dr., Council Grove KS 66846, [email protected], 620-767-2121
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A male police officer was charged Friday with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a female officer during what was described as a deadly game with a revolver.
24-year-old Katlyn Alix -photo courtesy St. Louis PD
Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced the charge against Nathaniel Hendren, 29, in the death of 24-year-old Katlyn Alix, as they allegedly played a game in which a revolver’s cylinder was emptied, one bullet put back and the two colleagues took turns pointing at each other and pulling the trigger.
Alix was with two male officers at an apartment when she was killed just before 1 a.m. Thursday . A probable cause statement from police, provided by Gardner’s office, offered a chilling account of the dangerous game that led to her death.
The probable cause statement said Alix and Hendren were playing with guns when Hendren produced a revolver.
“The defendant emptied the cylinder of the revolver and then put one cartridge back into the cylinder,” the statement said. He allegedly spun the cylinder, pointed the gun away and pulled the trigger.
Click to enlarge
The gun did not fire. The statement said Alix took the gun, pointed it at Hendren and pulled the trigger. Again, it didn’t fire.
Hendren “took the gun back and pointed it at the victim (and) pulled the trigger causing the gun to discharge,” the statement said. “The victim was struck in the chest.”
The other male officer told investigators he warned Hendren and Alix not to play with guns and reminded them they were police officers. He was about to leave when he heard the fatal shot, the statement said.
The male officers drove Alix to a hospital where she died. Hendren also is charged with armed criminal action.
The two men were on-duty at the time of the shooting. Police Chief John Hayden has declined to answer questions about why the officers had gathered at the apartment, which was home to one of the men.
St. Louis police said the charges were the result of a promise Hayden made to Alix’s family to conduct a “thorough and competent investigation.”
Alix, a military veteran who was married, was not working but met the men at the apartment.
Police immediately launched an internal investigation and placed both officers on paid leave. Gardner also began her own investigation on Thursday and enlisted the Missouri State Highway Patrol to conduct it.
Alix was a patrol officer who had graduated from the St. Louis Police Academy in January 2017.
MANHATTAN — The Kansas Department of Agriculture is sponsoring a Livestock Mortality Workshop in Garden City on March 20 for cattle, swine and dairy owners to learn about options for managing large-scale mortality in their herds. The workshop will feature a keynote presentation by Gary Flory of G.A. Flory Consulting, a nationally recognized expert in agricultural and environmental challenges as part of animal disease and natural disaster response.
The Livestock Mortality Workshop will take place in the Grandstand Meeting Room at the Finney County Fairgrounds at 417 Lake Ave. in Garden City on Wednesday, March 20, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The workshop is free of charge and lunch will be provided, but registration is requested.
In addition to the keynote speaker, participants will receive information related to biosecurity, secure food supply planning and Animal Health Commissioner Justin Smith will also provide an update on Kansas’ disease response planning efforts. Other presentations will cover a variety of topics related to options for managing catastrophic mortality, including above-ground burial, the evolution of composting as a viable disposal option, and managing daily mortality during an outbreak.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two officers who fatally shot a Wichita man after he shot and killed a police dog will not face criminal charges.
K9 Rooster -photo courtesy Wichita Police
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said Friday the officers shot 25-year-old Kevin Perry in March 2017 because they thought Perry was going to shoot them.
The officers and K-9 Rooster went to Perry’s home in south Wichita after a report that Perry was holding his girlfriend hostage.
Rooster’s handler sent the dog to stop Perry from going back into his home. Bennett says when Rooster grabbed Perry’s leg, Perry reached for a handgun and officers fired because they thought he was going to fire at them.
Instead, Perry shot Rooster, killing him almost instantly.
Bennett says Perry had mental health issues and drugs in his system when he was shot.
Every year, students participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, one of the nation’s oldest and most iconic competitions.
They progress from the classroom to cafeteria or auditorium, just as millions of other students have done before them.
An average of 11 million students a year, participate in spelling bees.
The TMP-M JH Spelling Bee winner was Delaney Staab with Jensen Brull, Karlyn Rohr, Kadrian Ayarza and Harlie Schmidt following in succession.
Staab took the first-place medal with the word container. From start to finish, the competition took 38 minutes.
The top four participants will compete at the Ellis County Spelling Bee on Jan. 29. Harlie Schmidt, alternate, will attend the Ellis County Spelling Bee if one of the other participants is unable to attend.
Improving spelling, increasing vocabularies and developing correct English usage will aid students the remainder of their lives.
Listen as the ‘Voice of the Chiefs’ Mitch Holthus recaps last week’s loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game and puts a wrap on the 2018 season.
The Holthus Hotline airs Saturday mornings on your home for Chiefs football, KFIX (96.9-FM), at 8 a.m. during the Chiefs season.
PRATT – At its Jan. 17 meeting in Lawrence, the Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Commission voted on just one item during the Public Hearing session. Commissioners passed a regulation setting the season for hunting on Controlled Shooting Areas to Sept. 1-April 30, extending the season one month, which was approved during last year’s legislative session.
The Commission heard a variety of briefings on proposed regulations during the Workshop Session, including:
Allowing e-bicycles (pedal assist) on trails and in parks
A change to the Public Lands regulations allowing portable blinds to be left out overnight
Allowing the use of calls for squirrel hunting
Changes to the furharvesting regulations, including increasing the season limit on otters to five
The adoption of U.S. Coast Guard navigation rules
A report on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones)
A recommendation to eliminate the $10 duplicate license fee
Antelope season dates: Archery– September 21-29, 2019; Muzzleloader– Sept. 30-Oct. 7, 2019; and Firearm – Oct. 4-7, 2019
Elk season dates: on Fort Riley – Firearm Any-elk, Oct. 1- Dec. 31, 2019; Antlerless-only, Oct. 1-31, 2019, Nov. 1-30, 2019, and Dec. 1-31, 2019; outside of Fort Riley – Muzzleloader, Sep. 1-30, 2019; Archery, Sept. 16-Dec. 31, 2019; and Firearm – August 1-31, 2019, Dec. 4-15, 2019, and Jan. 1-March 15, 2020
Moving the application deadline for resident firearm either-species deer permits and Fort Riley elk permits to the second Friday in June, which coincides with the antelope firearm permit application deadline
Deer season dates: Youth and Hunters with Disabilities – Sept. 7-15, 2019; Muzzleloader – Sept. 16-29, 2019; Archery – Sept. 16-Dec. 31, 2019; Pre-rut Whitetail Antlerless-only – Oct. 12-14, 2019; and Firearm – Dec. 4-15, 2019.
Each of these items will be voted on during the Public Hearing portion of the March 28, 2019 Commission meeting in Topeka, which will be conducted at the Capitol Plaza Hotel. For more information on the Commission, as well as future and past meetings, visit www.ksoutdoors.com.
Teachers from USD 248 Great Bend, USD 489 Hays, and USD 350 St John-Hudson are among the more than 3,900 teachers nationwide who achieved the highest professional credentials they can earn – they attained first-time certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in 2018.
Traci Miller, from USD 248, Kristy Oborny, from USD 489, and Angie Webb, from USD 350, are now national board certified teachers.
Miller teaches second grade at Riley Elementary School in Great Bend and earned her certification in exceptional needs specialist/early childhood through young adulthood.
Oborny teaches fourth grade and is the librarian for O’Loughlin Elementary in Hays and earned her certification in literacy: reading-language arts/early and middle childhood.
Webb is a technology teacher at St John Elementary School and earned her certification in literacy: reading-language arts/early and middle childhood.
National board certification is recognized nationwide as a model for identifying accomplished teaching practice. Teachers were notified in December if they achieved the certification.
“This process of board certification is similar to how a doctor becomes certified in a special area,” said Alvin Peters, director of Emporia State University’s program which assists teachers working toward national certification. “This is voluntary – no state, school district, or program is demanding them to go through this process and each teacher can take from one to three years to complete the process.”
Before certification, teachers must have a bachelor’s degree, a valid state teaching license and three years experience in the classroom. Miller is the lone national board certified teacher in USD 248 Great Bend. USD 489 Hays now has 12 with the addition of Oborny. Webb is the lone national board certified teacher in USD 350.
The national board process is often misunderstood to mean a teacher passed a test or was nominated for the award. Peters adds, “National Board certification is a different kind of honor. Teachers must submit extensive documentation of their instruction, including videos of their students at work in the classroom.”
The accomplishment of national board certification benefits the teachers, the schools they work in, and studies have shown NBCTs improve student learning. The program hosted at ESU, Great Plains Center for National Teacher Certification, has a 78% initial certification rate over the past 13 years. This is nearly twice the national initial certification rate of 40%.
The national board standards were created by teachers. The standards represent a consensus for 25 certificate areas in 16 disciplines, including art, English, mathematics, science, world languages, school education and physical education, from pre-kindergarten through high school and six student development levels from early childhood through adolescence.
Kansas currently has a total of 449 national board certified teachers. To date, more than 122,000 teachers in all 50 states are NBCTs.
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was launched in 1987. A decade of research shows board-certified teachers positively impact student learning. The goal is to create standards for high-quality teaching and to professionalize teaching through licensure, following the lead of fields like medicine, engineering, and architecture. More information about ESU’s program can be found at www.emporia.edu/teach/great-plains/.
Alicia BoorSevere winter weather is not only hard on people but can be a life and death struggle for birds.
Though birds also require water and shelter, food is often the resource most lacking during cold weather. Many different bird food mixes are available because various species often prefer different grains. However, there is one seed that has more universal appeal than any other: black oil sunflower. If you are new to the bird-feeding game, make sure there is a high percentage of this seed in your mix. White proso millet is second in popularity and is the favorite of dark-eyed juncos and other sparrows as well as the red-winged blackbird.
As you become more interested in bird feeding, you may want to use more than one feeder to attract specific species of birds. Following is a list of bird species with the grains they prefer.
• Cardinal, evening grosbeak and most finch species – sunflower seeds, all types.
• Rufous-sided towhee – white proso millet.
• Dark-eyed junco – white and red proso millet, canary seed, fine cracked corn.
• Many sparrow species – white and red proso millet.
• Bluejay – peanut kernels and sunflower seeds of all types.
• Chickadee and tufted titmouse – peanut kernels, oil (black) and black-striped sunflower seeds.
• Red-breasted nuthatch – oil (black) and black-striped sunflower seeds.
• Brown thrasher – hulled and black-striped sunflower seeds.
• Red-winged blackbird – white and red proso millet plus German (golden) millet.
• Mourning dove – oil (black) sunflower seeds, white and red proso plus German (golden)millet.
Extended cold periods can also make water unavailable. A heated birdbath can be a tremendous draw for birds during times when all other water is frozen. Energy use is usually less than what most people expect IF the heater has a built-in thermostat.
If you would like more information, Chuck Otte, Agriculture Extension Agent for Geary County has a series of backyard birding guides at https://gearycountyextension.com/NRMW.htm
Alicia Boor is an Agriculture and Natural Resources agent in the Cottonwood District (which includes Barton and Ellis counties) for K-State Research and Extension. You can contact her by e-mail at [email protected] or calling 620-793-1910
It was another busy week on the KAYS Eagle Morning Show. Here’s what you missed last week!
Monday
TMP-Marian STUCO Secretary Leanne Rack and President Ethan Lang
Leanne and Ethan joined the show to talk about their roles in Student Council and the upcoming Catholic Schools Week:
Rack and Lang explain what their jobs are in Student Council
Here’s what STUCO has planned for Catholic Schools Week next week
Tuesday
Ellis County Commission Recap with Jonathan Zweygardt
Jonathan was joined by county administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes and new county commissioner Dustin Roths to review this week’s Ellis County Commission meeting:
Dustin Roths introduces himself to the Eagle Morning Show
Consent to Annexation of Non-Adjoining Land into the City of Hays for Property Located at 183 Bypass and West 33rd Street
Stacy made his monthly visit to the show to talk about upcoming ag programs:
Stacy gives us the dates, times and information of the grain sorghum school on February 6th and the farm land lease meeting on February 12th.
Protect & Serve: Ellis County Fire Chief and Emergency Manager Darin Myers
Darin Myers joined the Eagle Morning Show to talk about fire prevention in the upcoming spring months:
Making an effort around your home to prevent fires
Thursday
USD 489 Report: Hays Middle School Principal Tom Albers
Mr. Albers joined C.D. and Mike to talk about what’s going on at the middle school in the second semester:
Update on the second semester activities at Hays Middle School
The Eagle Morning Show airs LIVE on KAYS (1400 AM/94.3 FM), Eagle Channel 14 & 614, and on the KAYS App or TuneIn from 7-9am on weekday mornings. Here’s what’s coming up next week on the Eagle Morning Show:
Jeremy Gill, a recent graduate of Fort Hays State University with master’s in history, will speak about aspects of his master’s thesis, “Cavalry to Campfires: The Politics of Preservation in Frontier Historical Park,” on Monday, Jan. 28, during the Ellis County Historical Society annual meeting. There will be a membership business meeting at 7 p.m. followed by Gill’s presentation at 7:45 p.m.
A 2004 Dodge Nissan driven by Justin Pate, 22, Manhattan, struck a pedestrian identified as 47-year-old Curt Bilinger of Manhattan near the 1000 Block of Westloop Place, according to a media release.
Every year, students participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, one of the nation’s oldest and most iconic competitions.
Listen as the ‘Voice of the Chiefs’ Mitch Holthus recaps last week’s loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game and puts a wrap on the 2018 season.
