Mary Ellen Stueder, 86, passed away Wednesday, January 9, 2019 at Almost Home, Great Bend. She was born May 15, 1932 in Herington, Kansas. She was the daughter of John T. Johnson and Ruth (Milleson) Johnson. She was an area resident, having lived in Bushton, Claflin and Great Bend. She graduated from Bushton High School in 1950.
She married Elmer Stueder October 15, 1950 at Bushton Methodist Church. He died January 24, 2018, after 67 blessed years of marriage. She was a farm wife, mother and homemaker. She was a member of Zion Lutheran Church, holding various offices and jobs over the years including, financial secretary, Sunday school teacher, Ladies Aid and serving funeral dinners. She enjoyed playing bridge, traveling in the U.S. and foreign countries, attending her grandchildren’s athletic sporting events and programs and family get togethers.
Survivors include, three sons, Bill Stueder and wife Patty, Alan Stueder and wife Rita, all of Claflin, and Terry Stueder and wife Mel Eesa of Great Bend; eleven grandchildren, Danny Stueder, Kimberly Prosser and husband Mark, Michael Stueder and wife Samantha, Evann Newton and husband Rusty, Brenna Marshall and husband Logan, Tarynn Stueder and fiancé Benn Kirmer, Trent Stueder, Sarah Stueder, Cindy Stueder, Tim Stueder and wife Kaitlee, and Abby Stueder; and five great-grandchildren, Wesley Prosser, Emma Stueder, Noah Stueder, Mercadez Newton and Shatarah Newton. She was preceded in death by her husband, Elmer Stueder; her parents, John and Ruth Johnson; a son, David Stueder; a granddaughter, Rachael Stueder; a brother, John Johnson; and a sister, Susan Foster.
Visitation will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday, January 11, 2019 at Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home, with family receiving friends from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Funeral Service will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, January 12, 2019 at Zion Lutheran Church, Claflin, with Rev. Daniel Harders presiding. Burial will be in the Claflin Cemetery, Claflin. Memorials are suggested to the Zion Lutheran Church or Donor’s Choice, in care of Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home.
Lawrence Harlan Litson, age 71, of Gove, passed away Monday, January 7, 2019 in Quinter.
Services will be 10:30 a.m., Saturday, January 12, 2019, at Gove Community Bible Church. Burial will be in the Gove Cemetery.
Visitation will be Saturday, from 9 to service time at the church.
Memorial contributions are suggested to Hoxie Baptist Temple (for Missions Account). Contributions made to the Temple may be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 901 South Main, Quinter, KS 67752.
A complete obituary is pending with Schmitt Funeral Home.
Dennis J. Haselhorst, 83, of Hays, Kansas, passed away peacefully on Sunday, January 6, 2019, at his home in Fredericksburg.
He is survived by his loving wife of 45 years, Rosalina, his four children, Johanna, Stephen, Paulette, and Kevin, their spouses, Edgardo, Michelle, Carlos, and Meggen, his brothers, Orville and Rolland, and eleven grandchildren.
He will be remembered for his kindness, humility, and love, which he offered others without ever expecting anything in exchange. His legacy will live on through his family and the many lives he touched.
A funeral mass will be held on Thursday, January 10, 2019, at 2:30 pm at St Mary of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Fredericksburg, Va. Inurnment will follow at a later date.
Martha M. Armbrister, age 95, of Ellis, Kansas passed away Thursday, January 10, 2019, at the Good Samaritan Society, Ellis.
Funeral services will be 10 AM Monday, January 14, 2019, at St. John Lutheran Church 394 St. John-St. Andrew Rd. Ellis, KS. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
Visitation will be Sunday 5 PM – 7 PM at Keithley Funeral Chapel, 400 E 17th in Ellis. Monday visitation will be at the church 9:30 until service time.
A prayer service will be 7 PM Sunday at the funeral chapel.
The first two women to serve as members of the Ellis County Commission took part in their final commission meeting Monday with a new commission set to be sworn in next week.
After serving six years on the commission, Barb Wasinger, R-Hays, was elected to the 111th District Kansas House seat in November and will be sworn in next week.
Commissioner Marcy McClelland, R-Hays, was defeated by Republican challenger Butch Schlyer in the August primary.
McClelland, who served one term on the commission, thanked her fellow commissioners and county employees at Monday’s meeting.
McClelland
“This has been an eye-opening adventure for me, as an Ellis County taxpayer,” McClelland said. “I am proud of the fact that the sales tax was enough to complete the projects that were started and trust that they will soon be finished.”
Wasinger also thanked staff and employees and said she looks forward to continue serving Ellis County.
“There’s no better place to live, I think, then in Kansas and here in Ellis County,” Wasinger said. “We’ve got a pretty good thing going and hard workers and wonderful people.”
Wasinger will be sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives at a ceremony Monday in Topeka.
“I’m proud to be serving Ellis County in the state Legislature,” she said.
Roths
Commissioner Dean Haselhorst said Monday, “Thank you both for the past years, it’s been a lot of fun. … We’ve made it through the challenge so we’re going forward.”
Wasinger said to Haselhorst, “You ushered me into this job six years ago and now you’re ushering me out.”
At Monday’s meeting, Wasinger submitted her letter of resignation as a commissioner.
At a meeting of Republican party precinct chair members in December, Dustin Roth, R-Hays, was appointed to fill the term on the commission vacated by Wasinger.
Schlyer
Roths and Al Ackerman, who ran against Wasinger in the Republican Primary Election in 2016, answered questions during the December meeting before the precinct chairs selected Roths. Wasinger, John and Becky Pile all three voted for Roths while Lucas Roths and Chase Berg abstained.
Commissioner Haselhorst said of the two incoming commissioners Monday, “We’ve got two new commissioners who are coming in so that is going to be interesting to start over again. But looking forward to that challenge.”
A woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital.
While on the operating table she had a near death experience.
Seeing God she asked “Is my time up?” God said, “No, you have another 40 years, 2 months and 8 days to live.”
Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a face lift, liposuction, and a tummy tuck. She even had someone come in and change her hair color. Since she had so much more time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of it.
After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on her way home, she was killed by an ambulance.
Arriving in front of God again, she demanded, “I thought you said I had another 40 years. Why didn’t you pull me from out of the path of the ambulance?”
God replied, “Sorry about that, I just didn’t recognize you!”
A private rocket launch of a satellite is just one thing that the partial federal government shutdown might delay. Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran also worries about how it complicates efforts to avoid a trade war with China. SPACEX
As President Donald Trump prepared to address the nation about the partial shutdown of the federal government, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran huddled with staffers this week talking about rocket launches.
They fretted over whether the furlough of workers at NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration could force the delay of satellite and experimental rocket launches.
That shutdown also delays a planned Senate vote on the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA, the North American Free Trade Agreement replacement negotiated by the Trump administration.
“Getting those answers isn’t easy because the people who normally answer me and my staff’s questions aren’t at work,” Moran said told the Kansas News Service.
Moran, a Kansas Republican, chairs the appropriations subcommittee that handles the budgets of NASA, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and scores of other agencies.
He said trade negotiations with the Chinese appear headed toward a conclusion, but staffers supporting the U.S. officials conducting the talks fall among the ranks of furloughed federal workers. The same is true, he said, of workers at the FAA and NASA who license and schedule launches of experimental rockets and those carrying new satellites into orbit.
One of the missions likely delayed by the shutdown is a planned Jan. 17 launch of an unmanned capsule to the International Space Station by SpaceX, a company founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk.
The shutdown has also halted work at the U.S. Department of Commerce on two reports that Congress needs before the Senate can vote to ratify USMCA.
“This will delay our ability to consider a trade agreement that is of significant importance to Kansas,” he said. Mexico and Canada are the top two purchasers of Kansas farm and manufacturing exports.
Beyond those specific issues, Moran said he’s concerned that the shutdown will make it harder for the federal government to recruit the kind of workers it needs, particularly those with technical skills such as cybersecurity.
“They’re in great demand,” he said. “Many of them are very important to our national security.”
But he said when the government can’t guarantee those people will be paid, “they start looking for work elsewhere.”
Ending the stalemate will require compromise on all sides, Moran said. That could mean a deal that gives the president the additional money he’s demanding for border security — including a wall — in exchange for broader immigration reforms. Those could include renewing protection for immigrants covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, who face potential deportation after being brought into the country illegally as children.
“That is something we could go to that I think would bring Republican and Democrat support,” he said. “The question is: Would it be something the president would sign?”
Negotiations prove even harder, Moran said, when two sides can’t agree on key facts.
Trump’s speech from the Oval Office drew criticism for its characterization of a border “security crisis.” Leading up to the speech, administration officials made disproven claims that thousands of terrorists are sneaking into the country from Mexico.
“We need to get to the point in this country where facts are agreed to and they don’t change from one day to the next,” Moran said. “We can have the negotiations, but those negotiations can only be successful if we’re all talking about the same set of facts.”
Other members of the state’s congressional delegation continue to defend the president’s claims.
Tweeting after Tuesday night’s speech, Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Estes said the president made a clear case for “why we need to address the crisis on our southern border.”
“Democrats must come to the table to negotiate a solution to protect our border and reopen government,” Estes said.
Moran agrees border security is a priority, but he said the threats extend well beyond the U.S. Mexico border.
“It’s all of our borders,” he said. “It’s our ports of entry. It’s our coastline.”
Jim McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.
A KSCA (Kansas Scholastic Chess Association) sponsored chess tournament will be held at the former Kennedy Middle School building, 1309 Fort, Hays, Sat., Jan. 12 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The tournament is open to all students in grades kindergarten through high school senior. There will be separate sections for different age levels. Medals will be awarded for all in the top third of each section.
More information and registration is available by calling the TMP-Marian office at 785-625-6577. Registration cost is $7 per person and is to be paid at the tournament site on Saturday.
Additional information about the KSCA organization is available at www.ksca.us.
By ISABELLE BRAUN Hays High Guidon Editor-In-Chief
The National Scholastic Press Association has honored 44 news sites for journalism excellence with the 2019 Pacemaker finalists.
The NSPA Pacemaker award has a rich tradition, and the association started presenting the award to high school newspapers a few years after the organization was founded in 1921. Throughout the years, yearbooks, magazines, online sites and broadcast programs were added to the competition.
“The Pacemaker is the association’s preeminent award,” said Laura Widmer, executive director. “NSPA is honored to recognize the best of the best.”
The state with the most sites named as finalists is California with 13 schools, and in Kansas, only two were given this award: The Guidon Online and The Harbinger Online of Shawnee Mission East High School.
“It’s considered the Pulitzer Prize of high school journalism,” instructor Bill Gasper said. “Now what they’re going to do is go through and look at them again. That’s when they pick the actual winners.”
To determine finalists, judges studied approximately 200 websites from 34 states, separating online sites into two categories based on school population. Now, judges will now look online at each of the finalist’s websites to make sure they are frequently posting before the spring conference in Anaheim, Calif., on April 25 to 27.
“It’s a heck of an accomplishment,” Gasper said. “To become a Pacemaker finalist is one of the top awards you can get. It’s just a tremendous honor. We’ve won two Pacemaker finalists and one Pacemaker for the print newspaper several years ago, so it’s been a while since we’ve gotten it.”
The recognition is courtesy of all of the staff members from the fall 2018 school semester, including Editor-in-Chief, senior Isabelle Braun, Online Editor-in-Chief, junior Madison Weber, Associate Editor, junior Allison Hillebrand, Photo Editor, senior Jacob Maska and Sports Editor, senior MacKenzie Fagan; sophomores Kalyssa Boyle, Addie Braun, Allison Brooks, Anna Brull, Alicia Feyerherm, Caitlin Leiker, McKena McBride and Alexis Pfannenstiel; juniors Dellilah Herrera and Yesenia Maldonado, and seniors Cody Conger, Brittani Park, Scout Perryman, Taylor Schiffelbein and Rebekah Porter.
“I’m just so extremely happy to be recognized,” Gasper said. “The online edition is something we’ve worked so hard on to improve the last few years to get to this point. I’m so proud of all my current and past students for all of their hard work to develop an award-winning online edition. They all should be very proud.”
Tyler’s Amazing Balancing Act will be the featured halftime performer at Thursday’s Fort Hays State University basketball games.
Tyler Scheuer bills himself as the “most-booked halftime act in college basketball 2017-2019,” and has been seen on “America’s Got Talent,” “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” and “Regis and Kelly,” among others.
FHSU plays Northeastern State at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m., and Scheuer will perform at both halftimes.
The Ellis Grade School Honor Choir will perform the national anthem.
McDonald’s of North Hays will host “Coffee with a Cop” from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Jan. 17, in conjunction with the Hays Police Department.
The event brings police officers and community members they serve together over coffee to discuss community issues, learn more about each other and build relationships in an informal, neutral environment. All Coffee with a Cop attendees will receive a free small cup of coffee, courtesy of McDonald’s.
Area McDonald’s restaurants will continue to work with law enforcement departments throughout the year to host additional Coffee with a Cop events with the goal of improving relationships between law enforcement and community members – one cup of coffee at a time.
“As a McDonald’s owner/operator, being involved in the community is the cornerstone of my business. Supporting our local law enforcement is a huge priority for our organization,” said Gail Kuehl, owner/operator, McDonald’s of Hays, Russell and WaKeeney. “I hope that community members will attend our Coffee with a Cop event and feel comfortable to ask questions, bring forward concerns or simply get to know our officers.”
HaysMed, part of The University of Kansas Health System will offer a pediatric orthopedic and spine clinic on January 29 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm. The clinic will be held at the Orthopedic Clinic, 2500 Canterbury.
The clinic focuses on congenital orthopedic programs in pediatrics such as scoliosis, clubfoot, hip disorders (dysplasia), flat feet, toe walking, in toeing bowlegs (knock knees) and other spinal deformities often seen in children.
Rebecca Green, PA-C, under the supervision of Dr. Max DeCarvalho, orthopedic surgeon, will be evaluating and treating the patients at the clinic.
Congenital spine deformities are disorders of the spine that develop in a child before birth. Vertebrae don’t form properly very early in fetal development, causing structural problems in the spine and spinal cord. The problems can range from mild to severe and may cause other problems if left untreated.
You can schedule an appointment by calling 866-428-8221 or 785-261-7599. No physician referral is required unless it is required by your insurance company.
Mary Ellen Stueder, 86, passed away Wednesday, January 9, 2019 at Almost Home, Great Bend. She was born May 15, 1932 in Herington, Kansas. She was the daughter of John T. Johnson and Ruth (Milleson) Johnson. She was an area resident, having lived in Bushton, Claflin and Great Bend. She graduated from Bushton High School in 1950.
