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Month: February 2019

Suspect arrested for series of Kansas vehicle burglaries

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COWLEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in connection with multiple vehicle burglaries that occurred in January.

Brown -photo Cowley Co.

Officers investigating a rash of vehicle burglaries in Arkansas City identified a suspect as 23-year-old Trevor Scott Brown, according to a media release.

A search warrant was obtained and executed at his residence in the 400 block of North Second Street. Several stolen items were located inside the residence, as well as marijuana, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Brown was located in the home with meth and paraphernalia in his pocket.

Through investigation, police were able to recover several stolen items and return them to owners.

Officers arrested Brown on suspicion of four felony counts of burglary of a motor vehicle, as well as one felony count each of possession of methamphetamine and no drug tax stamp.

He also was arrested on suspicion of seven misdemeanor counts of possession of stolen property, plus one misdemeanor count each of criminal trespass, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana.

Brown has made a first court appearance, according to Undersheriff Christina McDonald.  He is being held in the Cowley County Jail in Winfield in lieu of $22,250 bond through Cowley County District Court in Arkansas City.

Kansas woman dies after SUV slides on ice into a ravine

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POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY—One person died in an accident just before 7a.m. Wednesday in Pottawatomie County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1997 Chevy Blazer driven by Ann Marie Lochner, 67, Manhattan, was southbound on Elbo Ridge Drive.

Due to snow and ice, the vehicle left the road at the intersection of Elbo Ridge View landed on its top in a ravine.

Lochner was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics. She was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

Hays High, TMP, area basketball sub-state brackets released

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The Hays High boys will be the 12 seed in the west in sub-state #4. The girls will be the 7th seed in the west in sub-state #2. You can find the full 5A brackets here. The games will be broadcast on 96.9 KFIX and on the KFIX App or on TuneIn.

TMP will be in the Hoisington 3A sub-state. You can listen to the games on 99.5 KHAZ and on the KHAZ App or on TuneIn.

 

The 2A sub-state brackets have been released for girls and boys basketball. Here are the brackets for the Wichita County-Leoti sub-state which will feature five area teams. The semi-finals and finals will be broadcast on KKQY 101.9 The Bull and on the KKQY App or on TuneIn.

Ness City will be playing in the Meade sub-state:

Anesthesia Group: Medical information for KC-area patients might have been compromised

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By DAN MARGOLIES

A medical group that provides anesthesia services to Kansas City metro hospitals has notified 3,472 patients that some of their personal information may have been compromised after surgery schedules were stolen from an employee’s car.

A nurse anesthetist left a backpack containing surgery schedules in his vehicle.
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Anesthesia Associates of Kansas City posted a notice on its website that the surgery schedules may have included some patients’ names, dates of birth, types and dates of surgery, and the name of the patients’ surgeons.

Patient addresses, Social Security numbers, insurance and financial information were not included on the schedules.

“We had an employee that was doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing,” said Mark Meisel, Anesthesia Associates’ CEO.

Meisel said the employee, a nurse anesthetist, put his backpack containing surgery schedules in a visible part of his car – a violation of the medical practice’s data security protocols.

“Unfortunately, you can tell people what the rules are, but this person didn’t follow the rules,” Meisel said.

Meisel declined to say whether the employee had been fired or disciplined.

The theft, which occurred in December, did not affect all of Anesthesia Associates’ patients. But Meisel said that out of “an abundance of caution,” it notified patients who underwent surgery between April 4, 2018, and Dec. 4, 2018.

The theft was reported to police but the backpack and its contents have not been recovered.

Anesthesia Associates, which is based in Overland Park, Kansas, provides anesthesiology services to Children’s Mercy Hospital as well as hospitals owned by HCA Midwest Health, including Belton Regional Medical Center, Lee’s Summit Medical Center, Menorah Medical Center, Overland Park Regional Medical Center and Research Medical Center.

With about 240 anesthesiologists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, pain management specialists and other clinicians, it’s the largest anesthesiology practice in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

The data breach is one of several that have occurred in the last few months at local and regional health care practices. Last month, Sunflower Health Plan, one of the managed care organizations that insures Kansas Medicaid patients, reported a data breach affecting 1,625 plan members after it sent ID cards and welcome packs to the wrong recipients.

Also last month, Valley Hope Association, which operates drug and alcohol rehab clinics in Kansas, Missouri and five other states, said that an unauthorized individual accessed the email account of an employee and may have viewed patients’ health information. That breach affected 70,799 individuals.

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

Lorene Mary Faimon

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Lorene Mary Faimon, 61, of Hebron, NE., died Monday, February 18, 2019. She was born May 5, 1957, in Lincoln, NE. In 1960 at the age of 3, she and her brother, Michael, were adopted by Ben and Agnes (Pianalto) Faimon.

Her early education was spent at Stratton Public Schools until she needed more specialized care. She attended other educational facilities. Lorene then lived and worked at SWATS in McCook earning her way and achieving skills according to her abilities. Lorene enjoyed various activities as doing latch hook crafts, coloring, and playing games. She especially enjoyed the monthly dances. Because she liked small dogs, she had numerous stuffed animals by her side. As her health deteriorated she spent her final years in nursing homes. In 2013 she moved to the Blue Valley Lutheran Care Center, Hebron, NE.

Lorene was preceded in death by a older biological brother, Larry Hennessey, and her parents.

She is survived by her biological brothers, Michael Faimon (fiancée Alicia Ulmer) and Steven Hennessey, and adopted brother, Phillip Faimon, as well as numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

A funeral Mass will be 10:30 am Thursday, February 21, 2019, at Sacred Catholic Church, Atwood, with a Rosary at 10:00 am. Burial will take place at Mr. Calvary Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to SWATS (Southwest Area Training Services of McCook, NE) in care of Baalmann Mortuary, PO Box 391, Colby, KS 67701. For information or condolences visit www.baalmannmortuary.com.

Northwest Kansas Community Corrections receives grant to improve drug program

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TOPEKA – Northwestern Kansas Community Corrections was awarded a grant to improve drug testing and surveillance of high risk offenders, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced today.

The organization will receive $80,087 for substance abuse programs, methamphetamine abuse programs and increased drug testing and surveillance.

“Combatting substance abuse remains a significant issue in our communities,” Schmidt said. “This grant will support Northwest Kansas Community Corrections in its efforts to provide these much-needed services.”

The grant is part of the Federal Edward J. Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program and was awarded by the Kansas Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. Schmidt serves as the chair of the council.

Northwest Kansas Community Corrections has locations in Hays, Norton and Colby.

HPD Activity Log Feb. 15-19

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The Hays Police Department responded to 3 animal calls and conducted 20 traffic stops Fri., Feb. 15, 2019, according to the HPD Activity Log.

Intoxicated Subject–100 block W 7th St, Hays; 1:25 AM
Welfare Check–300 block W 6th St, Hays; 5:35 AM
Animal At Large–2100 block Milner St, Hays; 9:43 AM
Suspicious Activity–2700 block Walnut St, Hays; 12:22 PM
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–8th and Ash St, Hays; 12:37 PM; 12:38 PM
Identity Theft–2700 block Vine St, Hays; 10/23/18 6 AM; 8 PM
Theft (general)–3600 block Vine St, Hays; 12:58 PM
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–General Hays and Downing, Hays; 2:11 PM
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–1500 block Haney Dr, Hays; 3 PM
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–500 block W 36th St, Hays; 3 PM
Civil Dispute–100 block W 12th St, Hays; 3:48 PM
Theft (general)–2700 block Vine St, Hays; 11/1/18 8 AM; 6 PM
Mental Health Call–200 block E 7th St, Hays; 5:05 PM
Suspicious Activity–300 block E 12th St, Hays; 8:36 PM
Suicidal Subject–3700 block Vine St, Hays; 8:55 PM
Disturbance – General–200 block Castillian Blvd, Hays; 10:20 PM

The Hays Police Department responded to 3 animal calls and conducted 26 traffic stops Sat., Feb. 16, 2019, according to the HPD Activity Log.

Disturbance – Noise–500 block W 17th St, Hays; 2/15 10:12 PM; 2/16 12:12 AM
Suspicious Activity–300 block E 6th St, Hays; 2:14 AM
Welfare Check–1000 block E 8th St, Hays; 2:55 AM
Disturbance – Noise–1900 block Fort St, Hays; 4:06 AM
Lost Animals ONLY–300 block W 19th St, Hays; 10:26 AM
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–100 block W 9th St, Hays; 10:33 AM
Found/Lost Property–3400 block Vine St, Hays; 11:24 AM
Welfare Check–4300 block Vine St, Hays; 3:40 PM
Welfare Check–100 block W 23rd St, Hays; 3:58 PM
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–1300 block Hall St, Hays; 1:30 PM
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–13th and Hall, Hays; 5:32 PM
Abandoned Vehicle–300 block W 18th St, Hays; 5:36 PM
Robbery–300 block E 6th St, Hays; 2/15 9 PM; 9:30 PM
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–500 block E 12th St, Hays; 2:30 AM
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–1300 block Vine St, Hays; 8:02 PM
Unwanted Person–1300 block W 27th St, Hays; 8:36 PM; 8:53 PM
Disturbance – Noise–500 block Halladay St, Hays; 11:18 PM; 11:52 PM
Lost Animals ONLY–1700 block Douglas Dr, Hays; 11:52 PM

The Hays Police Department responded to 5 animal calls and conducted 15 traffic stops Sun., Feb. 17, 2019, according to the HPD Activity Log.

Driving Under the Influence–100 block Main St, Hays; 12:31 AM
Driving Under the Influence–700 block Fort St, Hays; 12:43 AM
MV Accident /DUI-600 block Park St, Hays; 1:31 AM
Driving Under the Influence–100 block E 6th St, Hays; 2:10 AM
Domestic Disturbance–2700 block Augusta Ln, Hays; 2:29 AM; 3:30 AM
Theft of Services–3200 block Vine St, Hays; 2/16 8:45 PM; 2/17 8:45 AM
Animal Cruelty/Neglect–2700 block Canal Blvd, Hays; 9:11 AM
MV Accident-Hit and Run–400 block W 3rd St, Hays; 12 AM; 9:30 AM
Suspicious Activity–800 block Main St, Hays; 10:19 AM
Animal At Large–1400 block US 183 Alt Hwy, Hays; 1:14 PM
Disturbance – Noise–2700 block Canal Blvd, Hays; 1:45 PM
Found/Lost Property–45th and Vista, Hays; 3:58 PM
Animal At Large; 3500 block Hillcrest Dr, Hays; 5:24 PM
Aggravated Battery–1500 block 40 Bypass Hwy, Hays; 6:40 PM; 6:43 PM
Lost Animals ONLY–2000 block Metro Ln, Hays; 8:15 PM

The Hays Police Department responded to 3 animal calls and conducted 10 traffic stops Mon., Feb. 18, 2019, according to the HPD Activity Log.

Found/Lost Property–2300 block Plum St, Hays; 7:33 AM
Found/Lost Property–1300 block Canterbury Dr, Hays; 8:17 AM
Found/Lost Property–500 block W 27th St, Hays; 2/169 9:30 AM; 10 AM
Disturbance – General–400 block E 6th St, Hays; 11:30 AM
Phone/Mail Scam–700 block W 12th St, Hays; 12:55 PM
Disturbance – General–2200 block Canterbury Dr, Hays; 1:43 PM
Found/Lost Property–2700 block Vine St, Hays; 2 PM; 2:05 PM
Warrant Service (Fail to Appear)–2700 block Epworth St, Hays; 4:07 PM
Driving Under the Influence–2200 block Canterbury Dr, Hays; 4:18 PM

The Hays Police Department responded to 4 animal calls and conducted 17 traffic stops Tue., Feb. 19, 2019, according to the HPD Activity Log.

Abandoned Vehicle–1000 block 40 Hwy, Hays; 1:08 AM
Civil Dispute–100 block W 12th St, Hays; 6:50 AM; 8 AM
Found/Lost Property–1300 block 40 Hwy, Hays; 8:56 AM
Civil Dispute–400 block E 18th St, Hays; 9:07 AM
Abuse of Child–1700 block Volga Dr, Hays; 12:34 PM
Parking Complaint–1600 block W 29th St, Hays; 1:22 PM
Assist – Other (not MV)–1000 block Fort St, Hays; 2:02 PM
Civil Dispute–1600 block Main St, Hays; 3:18 PM
Abandoned Vehicle–1000 block E 8th St, Hays; 5:47 PM
MV Accident-Private Property-Hit and Run–1200 block E 27th St, Hays; 9:09 PM
Driving While Suspended/Revoked–1600 block E 27th St, Hays; 10:12 PM
Burglary/vehicle–2300 block E 15th St, Hays; 9 PM; 11:10 PM

Hays High’s Straub to interview for Manhattan principal position

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Straub
 Hays Post

According to information released by the Manhattan school district, Hays High Principal Martin Straub will interview for the Manhattan High School principal position on March 1.

Straub has been the principal at Hays High School for six years. He was assistant principal at HHS for 19 years prior to that. Before coming to Hays, he also worked in Derby and at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School in Wichita.

Straub, one of five to be interviewed for the position, said he did not wish to comment on his application in Manhattan at this time.

Benjamin Jiminez, middle school high school principal at Decatur Community Schools in Oberlin, is also a finalist for the position, Manhattan USD 383 reported.

KBI: Remains identified as missing Kansas woman

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TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), along with the Neosho County Sheriff’s Office, and the Chanute Police Department, have identified the remains of a woman who was found last August in a field near Ford Rd. and 50th Rd. in Neosho County.

Marissa Craft – photo courtesy Chanute Police

According to a media release from the KBI, the remains are those of Marissa M. Craft, who went missing from her home in Chanute, and was 39-years-old at the time she disappeared. Craft was last seen Dec. 15, 2017 leaving her mobile home with three men in a white, Dodge pickup truck.

The investigation into Craft’s death continues. Anyone with information about the circumstances of her disappearance or death is asked to contact the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME, or the Neosho County Sheriff’s Office at (620) 244-3888. Callers may remain anonymous.

 

 

🎥 More voting machine demos for Ellis County

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Adkins Election Services, Clinton, MO, was the second vendor to demonstrate voting systems to Ellis County. Machines that produce paper ballots are now required in Kansas for post-election audits.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Ellis County election officials got a look at a second company’s electronic voting machines Tuesday.

The demonstration was presented in commission chambers of the county Administrative Center in Hays by Adkins Election Services, Clinton, Missouri. The company has placed its partner Unisysn voting systems in most of the counties of Missouri and Iowa, as well as 21 Kansas counties, including Russell and Gove.

Legislation approved in 2018 requires that all Kansas counties be able to perform a post-election audit. The audit will require a hand recount of paper ballots. The aging iVotronic machines used in Ellis County do not produce a paper ballot.

Printed information about the OVO and FTV voting system was provided by Adkins Election Services Information Tuesday.

A three-person team demonstrated the Unisyn OVO OpenElect Voting Optical Scan (OVO), a comprehensive and secure paper-based digital optical scan voting system. It both validates and tabulates ballots at each precinct.

The self-contained ballot counter, about the size of a Hays refuse polycart, includes a color touch screen display for voters, ballot scanner and precinct report printer. Ballots are recorded and then deposited into a locked ballot box, each of which has a capacity of more than 5,000 ballots.

There are numerous locks and seals on the OVO for security.

Price of the OVO is approximately $5,000 with a cost of 28 cents per ballot. The system, built with components, scans and validates full-page, multiple page, two-sided ballots as well as those on the OpenElect Freedom Vote Tablet (FVT).

The smaller tabletop FVT was shown next. On this system, voters have the option to initialize their ballot by scanning the bar code created by a poll book and then navigate through the ballot using a touch screen. A voting interface with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) features is also available. Freedom Vote produces a printed ballot which may reviewed by the voter prior to being scanned.

“One difference between this tablet-based machine and the ones you have been using is instead of ‘cast ballot’, this one says ‘print’,” Brad Bryant explained to the group as the machine kicked out a narrow paper ballot. He also noted the FVT requires voters to scroll down the entire ballot, read as a single page, before a ballot can be marked.

Holding the ballot up, Bryan reiterated that “this ballot has been marked and printed, but not cast. It’s not cast until it goes through here,” he said as he pointed to the much larger OVO.

The FVT cost is approximately $3,000. The ballot price is also lower than the OVO at 10 cents each.

At the end of the election day, poll workers will remove a memory stick from the OVOs and take it to election headquarters where the encoded results will be read by a laptop computer.

Currently Ellis County has 69 iVotronic machines that are deployed at 10 polling sites throughout the county.

The election officials, poll workers, county employees and interested residents also were shown the Unisyn OpenElect Voting Central Scan (OVCS) which would reside at election headquarters. The bulk scanner is designated to read absentee and provisional ballots and to perform vote counts. It can also produce a write-in image report for manual processing.

A third vendor is scheduled to present its voting system to the county Thursday morning at 10 a.m. in commission chambers.

Sales representatives from Election Systems & Software (ES&S) of Omaha, Neb., were in Hays Feb. 5.

U.S. Customs intercepts over $12M+ in meth at Mexico border crossing

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PHARR, Texas (AP) — Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted nearly $13 million worth of methamphetamine inside a truck carrying frozen strawberries that crossed into the U.S. from
Mexico.

The agency on Tuesday said officers working at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge cargo facility in Texas used imaging equipment and dogs to inspect the truck on Feb. 16.

Officers discovered 350 packages concealed within the trailer and seized 906 pounds of meth.

The 42-year-old Mexican citizen who was driving the truck was arrested and turned over to Homeland Security agents.

Port director David Gonzalez called it an “outstanding interception.”

No snowmageddon in Hays

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One inch of snow fell in Hays Feb. 19.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Depending on which weather forecast you followed, Hays was supposed to receive up to 5 inches of snow Tuesday.

It was actually just one inch, as officially measured at the K-State Agricultural Research Center south of town. The white stuff, which fell with no wind, yielded 0.08 inches of precipitation.

So far in 2019, 1.09 inches of snow has fallen in Hays, with 17.8 inches to date for the season.

Tuesday’s high temperature in Hays was 22 degrees with the overnight low dipping to 13 degrees.

It was considerably warmer a year ago on Feb. 19 when the high reached 63 degrees.

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