KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police are investigating the shooting of a 12-year-old boy who was riding four-wheelers with an adult relative Thursday evening.
The boy was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in stable condition Thursday night.
Police Officer Thomas Tomasic said the boy was shot in the stomach and the adult was grazed by a bullet.
Gayla Jo Amend, 55, teacher, passed away Wednesday, May 29, 2019.
Memorial Service, 11 a.m., Saturday, June 1, at Hyde Elementary School (please use north entrance).
Gayla was currently a special education teacher at Hyde Elementary School. She was with USD 259 for the past 25 years, and considered all her students her adopted children. She was also an advocate for animal rescue.
Preceded in death by her father, Gene Clapp.
Survivors: husband, Daniel “Ty” Amend; sons, Adam Amend of Ft. Worth, TX, Brandon Amend of Wichita; mother, Virginia Clapp of Hays; sisters, Lanette (Kevin) Shaffer of Ft. Morgan, CO, Jenny (Toby) Prine of Hays; nieces, Lexi (Nathan) Roger, Emily Prine; nephews, Tyler Shaffer and Andrew Prine, along with numerous other nieces, nephews, relatives and friends; her dogs, Scooby and Tater.
In lieu of flowers, memorial established with Kansas Humane Society, 3313 N. Hillside, Wichita, KS 67219. Downing & Lahey Mortuary West.
Manhattan, Kan.— Due to severe flooding and uncertainty of the safety of event grounds, Country Stampede officials have announced an alternative location for the 2019 music festival, according to a media release on the festival web site.
The festival set for June 20-22 will be held at the Heartland Motorsports Parklocated at 7530 SW Topeka Blvd, Topeka, Kansas.
“Safety is our main concern. The severe weather prompted us to partner with the good folks over at Heartland Motorsports in Topeka, just 45 minutes away to insure all of our concert goers will be out of harms way.
We are maintaining the integrity of what we currently have in place to our new location,” says Wayne Rouse, president of Country Stampede.
For any other questions, email [email protected] or call 800.795.8091.
Steve D. Ochs, 54, passed away May 29, 2019 in Jetmore.
He was born November 4, 1964 in Dodge City, the son of Loren E. and Beverly Kay Fagen Ochs. A lifetime area resident, he was a devoted cattleman and rancher, but most importantly he was a loving son, husband, father and grandfather.
He was of the Christian faith and attended Grace Community Church, Dodge City. He was a member of Kansas Livestock Association and was a proud supporter of the FFA and 4-H youth.
On July 28, 1990, he married Stephanie Schawe in Spearville. She survives.
Other survivors include: parents, Loren and Kay Ochs, Jetmore; son, Garrett (Kelsey) Ochs, Jetmore; two daughters, Janae (Ryan) Falconer and Taylor (Caleb) Sheets, both of Jetmore; brother, Brad (Penny) Ochs, Jetmore; sister, Carol (Jeff) Jarnagin, Holcomb; grandson, Ty Falconer and mother-in-law, Anne Schawe, Spearville.
Funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Grace Community Church, Dodge City, with Rev. Kirk Larson presiding. Family requests casual dress. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at Beckwith Funeral Home, Jetmore. Burial will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Fairmount Cemetery, Jetmore.
Memorials may be sent to the Grandchildren’s school fund in care of Beckwith Funeral Home, Box 663 Jetmore, KS 67854.
Janice Ilo Baczkowski, 65, passed away on May 28, 2019 at her home in Dighton, Kansas. She was born on January 26, 1954 in Ransom, Kansas to Michael and Margaret (Paul) Curtis.
Janice was the Lane County Register of Deeds since 2008. She married Theophile A. Baczkowski on Saturday, April 29th, 1972, in Ness City.
Survivors include her husband, Theophile A. Baczkowski; a son, Theophile J. Baczkowski and fiancé Brittany Rains; a daughter, Tamatha (Michael) Thomas all of Dighton; her brother, Jim Curtis of Ness City; 7 grandchildren; and 3 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents.
Rosary will be on Friday, May 31, at Fitzgerald Funeral Home at 7:00 P.M. Funeral service will be on Saturday, June 1, at 10:30 A.M., at Fitzgerald Funeral Home, Ness City. Burial will be in the Sacred Heart Cemetery, Ness City. Friends may call at Fitzgerald Funeral Home, Ness City, from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. on Friday.
Memorial contributions may be given to the St. Catherine’s Hospice.
Charlotte Theresa Otter, 81, of McPherson, Kansas passed away at 4:50 p.m., Wednesday, May 29th, 2019 while in the company of family members, at Cedars House.
Charlotte was born in Hays, Kansas on June 16, 1937, a daughter of Felicitas (Dreiling) and Bonaventure A. Kreutzer.
Charlotte attended Yocemento and New Almelo grade school and graduated from Leoville High School, Leoville, Kansas in 1955. She then attended Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas where she received a Bachelor’s Degree and graduated from Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas with a Master’s Degree in Special Education.
She was a lifetime member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church McPherson.
Through the years Charlotte worked as a Educator in the McPherson USD 418 District, McPherson, Kansas for 26 years.
Charlotte was a member of KPERS and the Retired Teachers Association.
Charlotte enjoyed dancing, antiques, reading, loved going to garage sales, flea markets and auctions. Spending time with her family and her grand kids were very important to her.
Charlotte T. Kreutzer was united in marriage to Conrad A. Otter on June 5, 1957 in New Almelo, Kansas. The young couple established their first home together in New Almelo. This union was blessed with the birth of 5 children, Dianne, James, Thomas, Timothy and Kevin.
She is survived by her loving husband Conrad Otter, of McPherson, Kansas; her children, Dianne Wilson and her husband James, of McPherson, Kansas, James Otter and his wife Cindy, of Pittsburg, Kansas; her siblings, Thelma Weiland and her husband Bill, of Colby, Kansas, Mary Brancio, of Denver, Colorado, Betty Neale, of Florida, Janet Harper, of Colby, Kansas, Caroline Hulka, of Florida, Jeannie Stephens, of South Carolina, B.A. Kreutzer, of Florida, Joyce Howery and her husband Jerry, of Wisconsin and Nancy Gibson, of Florida. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Sean Wilson(Jennifer), Matthew Wilson, Kimberlie Hoover(Kelly), Amy Barrow(Gregg), Joseph Otter, Jillian Otter and Jacob Otter; great-grandchildren, Cooper, Sophie, Adelyn, Kolson, Kanon, Tayla and Kayler.
Charlotte was preceded in death by her parents; her sons, Thomas Anthony Otter, Timothy Wayne Otter and Kevin John Otter; her brothers Norman and Joe Kreutzer.
Visitation will be held on Wednesday, June 5, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church with Rosary starting at 6:45 p.m..
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, McPherson, Kansas, at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 6th, 2019 with Fr. Ben Shockey officiating.
Graveside service will be held on Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church Cemetery, New Almelo, Kansas.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to New Almelo Cemetery or St. Joseph’s Catholic School in McPherson and they can be sent to Glidden-Ediger Funeral Home; 222 W. Euclid St., McPherson, Kansas 67460.
Hays Post is partnering with Grow Hays to help employers find workers and workers find careers.
Hays Has Jobs offers a comprehensive listing of employment opportunities in the Hays area, ranging from education to health care, service to manufacturing.
Aside from job listings, the site also includes the latest business opportunities in the area and tips for job seekers. Users also will find information on the latest job fairs locally and around the region.
Hays Hays Jobs, which is refreshed continually as new job opportunities are added, can be found under “Hays News” on HaysPost.com.
UPDATE: At approximately 11 a.m. Friday Trego County Emergency Management said WaKeeney resident Russell Hearting had been found safe in northwest Trego County.
“We would like to send a huge thank you to everyone that was involved in the search party for Mr. Hearting,” the Facebook announcement said.
WAKEENEY — A Silver Alert has been issued in Trego County for Russell Adair Hearting, 72, WaKeeney, according to a post of the WaKeeney Police Department’s Facebook page.
The post describes Hearting as 5’10 and 160 pounds. He was last seen wearing a red, long-sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and high-top tennis shoes.
Hearting was last seen at 10:20 p.m. Wednesday on 190th and C 
Road when an individual stopped to speak with Hearting and offered to give him a ride and Hearting refused, according to the post.
Hearting is believed to be on foot and possibly suffering from dementia.
The department is asking for anyone with any information to please contact the Trego County Law Enforcement Center at 785-743-5711.
Pizza Coupon
Dispatching her ten-year-old son to pick up a pizza, the mother handed him the money and a two-dollar coupon. Later he came home with the pizza AND the coupon.
When asked to explain, he replied, “Mom, I had enough money. I didn’t need the coupon.”
Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry
HPL
The Board of Directors and staff of the Hays Public Library will have two community stakeholder meetings June 10 at the Hays Public Library. Central Kansas Library System leaders will facilitate 90-minute public sessions at 1:30 and 6 p.m.
The purpose of the sessions is to solicit feedback and ideas about the role of the library in our community and to guide future priorities of the organization. Specifically, we are looking to establish goals and actions that will optimally benefit the community and uphold the mission and values of the Hays Public Library.
Anyone wishing to contribute to the discussion is invited. RSVP is appreciated, but not required. Advanced information will be provided. Questions or RSVP may be directed to [email protected].
“We know your time is valuable, but so is your voice. We can’t make community-informed improvements without your input. We will respect your time and ensure this is a fast-paced, engaging, and structured discussion. Please join us,” library staff said in a news release.
THOMAS COUNTY — One person was injured in an accident just after 10:30 a.m. Thursday in Thomas County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Harley Davidson driven by Michael B. Cash, 70, Ridgecrest, Calif., was westbound on Interstate 70 one mile west of Brewster.
The motorcycle left the roadway to the left and entered the median. The driver lost control and the motorcycle rolled several times before coming to rest in the median.
EMS transported Cash to the hospital in Colby. He was wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.
With last Wednesday’s sine die end to the 2019 legislative session, we can make an early assessment of Kansas politics, the Legislature, and especially Governor Laura Kelly. If a governor’s term consists of four legislative sessions, this is roughly the end of first quarter.
We can’t know what ultimate outcomes will be, either for policies or politics, but we can see some trends and try to understand how the remainder of the game shapes up.
Most importantly, the election of a Democratic governor has profoundly changed the nature of the game itself. For the first six years of Governor Brownback’s tenure, and especially 2013 through 2016, Brownback and his band of far-right Republican legislators held sway in Topeka. Save for an occasional must-pass piece of tax legislation, dictated by falling state revenues, there was little legislative give and take in Topeka. The overlapping agendas of the governor and Republican legislative leaders made their way into the statute books, limited only by occasional resistance within the courts.
After the 2018 election, Republican leaders had to address the stark fact that Kelly had become governor with a full array of executive powers and the willingness to use her most powerful tool – the veto. Sometimes, as with school finance, the House Speaker, the Senate President, and their allies came to terms with the demands of the governor and, in this instance, the Kansas Supreme Court.
When it came to tax cuts, however, GOP leaders could not override her vetoes of two measures to cut taxes in the wake of 2017 federal tax law changes. Despite the Republican narrative that the cuts were simply returning a state “windfall” to Kansas taxpayers, Kelly had the power to retain a fiscal cushion in the state’s coffers. But she could not prevent a successful override of a measure to pay an extra $51 million to KPERS, an act that Republicans argued was pro-education.
Moreover, the governor did not, at least in the first quarter, have the influence essential to move Medicaid expansion through the process. Despite a series of votes indicating supportive majorities in both chambers, Senate Republican leaders used their procedural power to keep expansion bottled up. Governors can and do go over the heads of recalcitrant legislative leaders; the second quarter may resolve this impasse, but it could require one more election cycle to produce a definitive result.
Administratively, Kelly has discovered that the problems she inherited were broader and deeper than even she – a 14-year legislative veteran – had suspected. The litany of problem agencies – from corrections to children and families to transportation – goes on and on. Not only did Brownback drive out skilled and devoted administrators, but over the last few years he simply didn’t care about implementing policies. They could be farmed out, privatized, and removed from state governance.
The most powerful change in the capitol transcends Kelly’s veto pen. She is the chief executive. Simply put, that means that she will govern. Her administration will continue to address problems, rather than ignoring them or pawning them off on other entities, especially those in the private sector.
The governor will need all four quarters to fully address this administrative decline, but there’s likely no one better to do it. Effective governance takes knowledge, determination, and resources – qualities that Laura Kelly embodies.
Heading toward the second quarter and a political year, the governor will keep moving the ball down the field, legislatively, administratively, and politically. Kansans should root for Kelly’s success. For it will be ours, as well.
Burdett Loomis is an emeritus professor at the University of Kansas.
MANHATTAN — Norton FFA team members were recognized for placing first in the State Leadership Quiz Bowl at the 91st Kansas FFA Convention, May 29–31 on the Kansas State University campus.
The Leadership Quiz Bowl gives members an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of FFA and its foundation. The team answering the most questions correctly, in front of a live audience, is determined as the winner.
Norton FFA faced off against Ellis FFA in the final round on the opening day of the state convention. Norton FFA won, and Ellis FFA placed second. Uniontown FFA placed third and Anderson County FFA placed fourth.
Competing on the winning Norton FFA quiz bowl team were: Sarah David, Lexi Kats, Leah David, Jonah Ruder, Hadley Hauser and Mason Schultz.
The Kansas FFA Association is a statewide organization of 9,854 agricultural education students in 205 chapters in every corner of Kansas. It is part of the National FFA Organization, a national youth organization of 669,989 student members preparing for leadership and careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture with 8,630 local chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Our mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. Visit www.ksffa.org for more information.
