Sharon “Sherry” Mikkelson, 75, of Osborne died on Sunday, April 7, 2019, at Parkview Care Center of Osborne. She was born in Minot, N.D., on March 10, 1944, to Einar & Ruth (Simonson) Gay.
Sherry was a retired restaurant & bar manager.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Tom Weeth on March 9, 2019.
Sherry is survived by a daughter: Jodee Mikkelson of Grand Fork, ND; 3 sons: Steve (Kathy) Mikkelson of Portis, KS; Greg (Kiki) Mikkelson of Dracula, GA; Jon (Beth) Mikkelson of Hamilton, MN; 8 grandchildren & 6 great-grandchildren.
Donations may be made to: Parkview Care Center Activity Fund, c/o Parkview Care Center, 811 N 1st St., Osborne KS 67473.
Donald E. “Don” Baker, 88, passed away April 9, 2019 at Medicalodges of Great Bend. He was born October 22, 1930 at Great Bend, the son of Elmer and Velma Neva (Cook) Bortz. He married Joan Jecha July 7, 1956 at Bison.
Don, a long time resident of Rush and Barton Counties, was a graduate of Fort Hays State University. Don was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, based at Schilling Air Force Base, Salina, serving during the Korean War, earning the rank of 1st Lt. Much of his military career was spent on tankers and B-47 bombers. Following his military discharge, Don continued his aviation career with Boeing in Wichita as a B-52 test pilot. It was not long before he and Joan found their way back to the family farm, where he farmed, raised livestock and worked for Timken State Bank. After retirement from the farm, Don was blessed with employment with Dee Doves, KVGB, KSN and Head Start. Don was a life member of the V.F.W. Post #3111, member of the American Legion Argonne Post #180, and enjoyed sports, reading, playing cards and fishing.
Survivors include, his wife Joan of the home; two sons, Stuart Baker and wife Lisa Ann and Clark Baker, all of Great Bend; one daughter, Lisa Oborny and husband Jim of Bells, TX; and six grandchildren, Andrew Baker, Jonathan Baker, Amber Hart and husband Michael, Nicholas Oborny and wife Samantha, Alexander Oborny and wife Rachel, and Victoria Oborny. He was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Elizabeth Jeanne Degner.
Visitation will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Friday, April 12, 2019 at Bryant Funeral Home, with family receiving friends from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Funeral Service will be held at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, April 13, 2019 at Bryant Funeral Home, with Pastor Larry Schumacher presiding. Interment will be in the Great Bend Cemetery, Great Bend, with Military Rites conducted by the United States Air Force. Memorials are suggested to the Golden Belt Humane Society or Kansas Wetlands Education Center, in care of Bryant Funeral Home.
Ean Schulmeister, 17, Olathe, Kansas, was injured Saturday in Lenexa, Kansas. He died Monday.
Schulmeister was a back seat passenger of the Jeep, which also included the driver and three other passengers.
Police say Schulmeister was standing in the Jeep, which had its top and doors off. Witnesses told police he was holding onto a strap when the strap broke and Schulmeister fell.
Police say the driver had a valid restricted license that does not allow transporting non-sibling minor passengers. None of the passengers were siblings.
Police will forward a report to prosecutors, who will decide if any charges should be filed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr declared Wednesday he thinks “spying did occur” on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, suggesting the origins of the Russia investigation may have been mishandled and aligning himself with the president at a time when Barr’s independence is under scrutiny.
Barr, appearing before a Senate panel, did not say what “spying” had taken place but seemed likely to be alluding to a surveillance warrant the FBI obtained on a Trump associate. He later said he wasn’t sure there had been improper surveillance but wanted to make sure proper procedures were followed. Still, his remarks give a boost to Trump and his supporters who insist his 2016 campaign was unfairly targeted by the FBI.
Barr was testifying for a second day at a congressional budget hearing that was dominated by questions about special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation. His comments risked inflaming Democratic concerns that Barr’s views are overly in sync with Trump’s and that he’s determined to protect the president as he readies the release of a version of Mueller’s report.
Barr said he expects to release a redacted copy of the report next week. Democrats have expressed concern that his version will conceal wrongdoing by the president and are frustrated by the four-page summary letter he released last month that they say paints Mueller’s findings in an overly favorable way for the president.
Attorney General William Barr during Wednesday’s Senate subcommittee hearing- image courtesy CSPAN
Democrats immediately seized on Barr’s testimony.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., tweeted that Barr’s comments “directly contradict” what the Justice Department previously had said, and he said he had requested a briefing from the department. House intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Barr’s comments were sure to please Trump, “but it also strikes another destructive blow to our democratic institutions.”
Republicans, meanwhile, praised Barr for looking into the matter. North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a confidant to Trump who has raised concerns about Justice Department conduct for the past two years, tweeted that Barr’s willingness to investigate it is “massive.”
Barr, who was nominated to his post by Trump four months ago, was asked about spying by Republican Sen. Jerry Moran. He said that though he did not have specific evidence of wrongdoing, “I do have questions about it.”
“I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” Barr said.
Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen asked him directly if he believed spying on the campaign occurred, and he said, “Yes I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated” — meaning whether it was legally justified.
Barr said he was reviewing his department’s actions in investigating Trump. A separate investigation is being conducted by the Justice Department inspector general into the early days of the FBI’s Russia probe, which Barr said he expects to conclude sometime around May or June.
“I feel that I have an obligation to ensure government power was not abused,” Barr said.
Asked again about spying at the end of the hearing, Barr tempered his tone. “I am not saying improper surveillance occurred. I am saying I am concerned about it, and I am looking into it,” he said.
Barr’s reference to “spying” may refer to a secret surveillance warrant that the FBI obtained in the fall of 2016 to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has denied being a Russian spy.
That warrant included a reference to research that was conducted by an ex-British spy who was funded by Democrats to look into Trump’s ties to Russia.
Critics of the Russia investigation say the warrant on Page was unjustified and have also seized on anti-Trump text messages sent and received by one of the lead agents involved in investigating whether the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia.
At the White House on Wednesday, Trump repeated his claim that the investigation was illegal.
“It was started illegally. Everything about it was crooked. Every single thing about it. There were dirty cops,” he said.
He falsely claimed that the Mueller report had found “no obstruction.” While the four-page letter released by Barr said the special counsel did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump associates around the time of the 2016 election, it also said Mueller had presented evidence on both sides of the obstruction question and ultimately did not reach a conclusion on it.
Barr said he did not believe the evidence in the report was sufficient to prove the president had obstructed justice. Democrats said they were concerned that Barr’s letter portrayed the investigation’s findings in an overly favorable way for Trump.
Barr’s statement Wednesday that he expected to release a redacted version of Mueller’s nearly 400-page report next week marked a slight change from the estimate he gave Tuesday, when he said the release would be within a week.
Though he said the document will be redacted to withhold negative information about peripheral figures in the investigation, he said that would not apply to Trump, who is an officeholder and central to the probe.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Attorney General William Barr’s testimony to Congress and the Russia probe (all times local):
Attorney General William Barr says he plans to review the origins of the FBI’s investigation between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Barr told senators on Wednesday that he believed the Trump campaign had been spied on, but “the question is whether it was adequately predicated.”
He says he believes that “spying on a political campaign is a big deal.
The Justice Department’s inspector general has already been investigating the early days of the FBI’s Russia probe.
Barr says he wants to pull together the different reviews underway within the Justice Department and see if there are remaining questions that need to be addressed.
A person familiar with the process said Barr is forming a team to review the origins of the FBI investigation.
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Attorney General William Barr says a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report is coming “hopefully next week.”
The timeline mentioned by Barr at a Senate hearing on his department’s budget is a tweak from comments he made a day earlier. Barr said at a House hearing Tuesday that the report was coming “within a week.”
Barr made the comments as senators questioned him on the specifics of the report and what he would be redacting. Democrats have said they won’t accept redactions and will fight to get the full report.
8:00 a.m.
President Donald Trump is declaring that he wants an investigation into the origins of the federal probe into ties between his campaign and Russia.
Trump, speaking to reporters Wednesday at the White House, decreed it an “illegal investigation” conducted by “dirty cops.” The president did not name them but has previously blamed Justice Department officials and former FBI Director James Comey.
Attorney General William Barr has a team reviewing the origins of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia, according to a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal discussions..
Trump also stated that “I don’t care” about the report from special counsel Robert Mueller that Barr says he will release in the coming days in redacted form. Despite that declaration, the president has repeatedly tweeted about the report in recent days.
Mueller didn’t find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump. He did not rule on obstruction of justice, though Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ruled Trump did not.
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1 a.m.
Attorney General William Barr is returning to Capitol Hill for a second time this week as lawmakers, the White House and the American public anxiously await his release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Barr will speak to a Senate appropriations subcommittee Wednesday about his department’s budget. But like members of the House on Tuesday, senators are expected to be more interested in the nearly 400-page Mueller report than budget details.
Barr told the House lawmakers that he expects to release a redacted version “within a week.”
Justice Department officials are scouring the report to remove grand jury information and details relating to pending investigations, among other materials.
Democrats say they will not accept redactions and want the full report’s release.
HaysMed CEO Edward Herrman, Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers and Dr. Jeff Curtis talk during a tour of HaysMed on Tuesday.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers said Medicaid expansion is not just an economic issue, it’s a moral issue, as he made a stop at HaysMed Tuesday morning for a discussion on health care.
Medicaid expansion legislation has passed in the Kansas House, but has yet to pass in the Senate. Medicaid expansion was a central piece of Rogers’ and Gov. Laura Kelly’s campaign platform.
In Ellis County, Medicaid expansion would insure 731 more residents, create 20 new jobs and have an economic impact of almost $4.9 million.
Rogers, as well as local health care professionals, gathered for a group discussion. The majority agreed Medicaid is needed to provide preventive health care for rural Kansans and maintain rural hospitals and health care clinics.
“We know Medicaid expansion won’t necessarily save a hospital, but we know it is one of the major indicators that has created problems,” he said.
About 30 Kansas hospitals are on a very vulnerable list, two rural Kansas hospitals have closed in the last 45 days, and two more have closed in the last year.
“Really what this does is Medicaid expansion takes 150,00 Kansans away from the highest cost medical service — emergency care— and puts them into preventive care, where they can have many of their services paid for in advance,” Rogers said.
“We see it as a very budget neutral situation now that we have a $25 per person per month fee and what it saves us in other state agencies it could really mean some really good things for the state of Kansas.”
The fee for families for Medicaid expansion would be capped at $100. These fees would generate about $20 million to $25 million of the $30 million cost to the state of Kansas for Medicaid expansion. The federal government currently pays 90 percent of Medicaid expansion. The House bill also stipulates if that federal match would be eliminated, the state would end Medicaid expansion.
HaysMed CEO Edward Herrman and Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers and Dr. Jeff Curtis talk about health care during a tour of HaysMed on Tuesday.
Walt Hill, executive director of High Plains Mental Health, said Medicaid expansion would be a great boon to preventive mental health care. High Plains sees 6,000 patients per year in its coverage area. Out of a $10 million budget, $1 million a year is services provided to the uninsured.
“We have to find alternative sources of funding,” Hill said. “We often provide services on the backs of our staff who are very difficult to recruit and retain in the area.”
Rogers said in looking at mental health services in the state, the Sedgwick County jail is the third largest provider of mental health services only behind the two state mental health hospitals.
“We as taxpayers are spending $10 to $12 million on mental health services that probably would be covered under Medicaid,” he said.
Rogers and Hill both noted competition is high for health care recruiting. As Nebraska expands Medicaid, there is concern that qualified health professionals will continue to move out of state for more competitive wages.
Edward Herrman, HaysMed CEO, said although the amount rural hospitals would receive from Medicaid expansion doesn’t seem like much, it may be the difference between those hospitals breaking even.
Health care providers and local leaders gather for a discussion on health care with Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers at HaysMed on Tuesday.
“I can tell you that we know for sure that there are a few facilities that even if it is only $100,000 or $150,000 in benefit they would see, that is literally what they are missing in having a margin. …
“There are more people in the larger areas, but the actual impact is much larger in the rural areas. $100,000 in bottom line revenue means a heck of lot more to a Rush County hospital than $1.5 million on the bottom line for a St. Francis or the University of Kansas hospital.”
Herrman also noted during polls, three-quarters of Kansans said they are in favor of expansion.
Kansas is one of 14 states that has not expanded Medicaid. Kansans pay taxes to support Medicaid expansion, but the funds go to other states, he added.
“Most importantly, it is 150,000 Kansans who are falling in the gap and we are not even providing basic primary care for them,” Herrman said. “They do end up showing up in our ER in the most expensive place you can possibly receive care as well as many times not the appropriate place to receive your care.”
Bryan Brady, First Care Clinic CEO, said the clinic takes care of about 7,000 patients — 1,600 of those are uninsured. The clinic estimates about 1,000 of those patients would qualify for health insurance under Medicaid expansion.
“That would mean about $400,000 to our facility directly,” he said. “That is a huge amount. What we do is keep those patients out of the emergency room — the most expensive method of care.”
Dr. Heather Harris, family medicine provider with HaysMed, said a lack of insurance results in individuals waiting to get care until a health problem is acute and costs more to treat.
“Not only do they not come in for acute things, but they wouldn’t dream of coming in for anything preventive,” she said. …
“They come in late. They can’t afford the medicines. We have trouble giving them the education they need about food and exercise and smoking. If you can treat the parents, you can hope you will have healthier kids. It is just this continued trend. You can barely get them well for their acute things. You are never going to get them preventive care.”
Rogers said keeping people healthy, productive and employed benefits the state of Kansas.
First Care Clinic Medical Director Christine Fisher said Medicaid expansion would help the working poor.
“These are productive people, God help them, who are trying really hard, but they just need that extra bit of help that will make them even more productive members of society,” she said. “By making them healthier, you will only increase productivity and what you gain from the health care aspect will be very far reaching. If you give a person insurance, they will get their preventive care done, and if you don’t, they simply will not.
“If you don’t do primary care and preventive care, health care is extremely expensive down stream.”
HaysMed Cardiologist Dr. Jeff Curtis described himself as a “red doctor,” but he said he supports Medicaid expansion as a people issue and a patient issue.
“In the short term, I am in favor of Medicaid expansion, not just for our hospital, but for everything in western Kansas. It is a Band Aid until we can figure something else out. If we don’t get it and we don’t have it and we see all the other states around us getting it, that means people in our state are suffering.
“If we have it, we can expand the services in our bigger hospital — new equipment and new services — so patients don’t have to go to Kansas City, Wichita, Denver or Kearny. It helps us attract high quality health care workers, which is a challenge out here.”
RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an alleged sex crime.
Just after 12:30a.m. Wednesday, police filed a report for sexual battery in Manhattan involving a 29-year-old female victim, according to the Riley County Police Department activity report.
Police listed an 81-year-old man known to her as the suspect.
Due to the nature of the crime reported, police released no additional details.
Ronnie Milsap is scheduled to perform on the Stiefel Theatre stage at 8 p.m. Aug. 10. Photo courtesy Stiefel Theatre
SALINA — The legendary Ronnie Milsap is coming to the Stiefel Theatre this summer!
Jane Gates, executive director of the Stiefel Theatre, announced Wednesday morning that Milsap is scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. August 10.
Tickets start at $38 and are scheduled to go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. Tickets can be purchased in person at the box office of the Stiefel Theatre, 151 S. Santa Fe, by calling 785-827-1998, or at Ticketmaster.
Born blind (his family thought it was retribution for sin), Milsap’s grandparents gave the boy over to the North Carolina State School for the Blind hoping for a better chance. There, Milsap discovered music -– deviating from the school’s classical curriculum to explore the nascent realms of race music, rock & roll and jazz.
Being the brilliant kid he was, it wasn’t long until he’d found his way into the local clubs and the tiny indie labels.
Suddenly, he was sharing bills with Ray Charles (who took the Ashford & Simpson-penned B-side to Milsap’s Scepter single Never Had It So Good and scored his own hit with Let’s Go Get Stoned), and James Brown on a circuit that included the Howard Theater, the Royal Peacock, and more.
It was Charles who told the young pianist when he was offered a scholarship to Young Harris College’s law program, “Son, I can hear the music inside you…”
It settled Milsap’s fate.
Living in Atlanta, playing clubs and doing sessions the future Country Music Hall of Famer caught wind that JJ Cale was looking for a keyboard player. Cale hired him. Milsap went on to work at the Whiskey for a good while.
From Atlanta, Milsap moved to Memphis where he was doing sessions with Chips Moman, where Elvis famously commanded, “More thunder on the keys, Milsap,” during the recording of Kentucky Rain. It was there he was asked to play the Whiskey on the famed Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. While staying at the notorious Hyatt House, Charley Pride, a famous man in country music, saw the white kid playing rock and soul and suggested giving Nashville a try.
Forty No. 1s. Five decades of charted singles. Creating a new way of recording (being blind his hyper-attuned hearing led him to create/build what is now known as Ronnie’s Place, where the new album, the Duets, was captured), he broke genre rules and became one of the biggest pop/AC and even R&B artists of the late ’70s and early ’80s.
Six Grammys. CMA Entertainer of the Year and four Album of the Year Awards. The first country video played on MTV (the ironic She Loves My Car). An early champion of NFL star Mike Reid, who wrote many of Ronnie’s No. 1 hits and who’d go on to write Bonnie Raitt’s second most enduring classic I Can’t Make You Love Me.
Always chasing the music, always hungry for the songs, he is now an inspiration for a new generation of country stars from critical standard setters Kacey Musgraves and Little Big Town to CMA/ACM Entertainers of the Year Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean, as well as a standard-setter for friends like Dolly Parton, George Strait, Willie Nelson and even ground breakers Leon Russell and Billy Gibbons.
In a world of marketing match-ups, Milsap’s Duets is an homage to blurring lines, great songwriting and vocals that celebrate soul over product -– something rare in today’s flashcard jingle country.
But just as importantly, Milsap is a testament to going where you don’t belong with an open heart and a true sense of music as compass. A rebel blind boy often at odds at school for following the music in his heart, that music took him to places white people didn’t go… brought him a wife who would be not just a steadfast companion, but a fellow traveler in the songs (they’re still together!!)… give him stages from the chitlins circuit, soul clubs, rock rooms to the biggest arenas, Solid Gold, the White House, and beyond.
He saw racism inside out. He led with an open-mind, and a hunger to play. He created action in songs instead of words without tangible works. He’s the same guy today, but all these years later, he’s still a man who lives to play.
The driver of a Toyota passenger vehicle and a cattle truck on Kansas 96 near Potwin died at the scene. He has not been positively identified, according to Butler County Undersheriff Tony Wilhite.
It’s also still unclear whether the tractor-trailer or the Toyota crossed the center line before the collision.
The 58 cattle on the truck were being transported from Joplin, Missouri to Dighton, Kansas, according to Wilhite.
Nineteen cattle died or were euthanized as a result of the crash and fire. Four cows are still missing. The 59-year-old semi driver was not injured.
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POTWIN, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say one person and around a dozen head of cattle have died in a head-on wreck in rural Kansas.
The crash happened late Monday on Kansas 196 near the Butler County town of Potwin, which is about 25 miles northeast of Wichita. The Butler County Sheriff’s Office says it’s unclear whether a tractor-trailer or passenger vehicle crossed the center line before the collision.
The driver of the passenger vehicle was killed; the cattle truck’s driver wasn’t hurt. More than 30 cattle survived the wreck. They were either stuck inside the rig or wandering around a nearby wooded area. Deputies warned drivers in the area to be on the lookout.
Deborah Nadine Cobb, 68, passed away April 9, 2019 at her home in Great Bend. She was born January 27, 1951 at Belvidere, to Donald & Nellie (Hembree) Cobb.
Deborah had been a long-time Haviland resident and homemaker. She liked to listen to classical music, read, paint and draw. She especially loved to have tea parties with her grandkids and read to each of them.
Survivors include, one son, Garrison Cobb and his wife Brittaney of Great Bend; one brother, Grant Cobb and one sister, LaDonna Herman, both of Missouri; and six grandchildren, Christopher Avery, Adalynn Cobb, Daniel Lewis, MaKynna Lewis, Teigan Cobb and Brinley Cobb. She was preceded in death by her parents.
Cremation has taken place and Private Family Services will be held at a later date.
Memorials are suggested to the Deborah Cobb Funeral Expense Fund, in care of Bryant Funeral Home.
The Hays Police Department will be conducting training from 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at 2736 Colonial.
Police officers will be training with special tactical equipment. This training is being done with great care and safety.
As a home or business owner, you may see law enforcement officers move through your area. There is no need to be alarmed. The officers are merely conducting a realistic training exercise and there is no danger to the community.
If you have any questions or concerns, you may contact the on-site supervisor, Team Leader Aaron Larson, or Chief Don Scheibler at 785-625-1030.
Sharon “Sherry” Mikkelson, 75, of Osborne died on Sunday, April 7, 2019, at Parkview Care Center of Osborne. She was born in Minot, N.D., on March 10, 1944, to Einar & Ruth (Simonson) Gay. 
