Steve, a lonely bachelor, wants some company, so he buys a centipede and a small box for it to live in. That evening, he decides to go out.
“Want to grab a drink?” he asks the centipede. But, there’s no answer from the box. A few minutes later, he asks again–still no reply. Finally, he hollers, “Hey! Do you want to get a drink?”
“I heard you the first time!” says a small, irritated voice. “I’m putting on my shoes!”
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FHSU
Robo Challenge Camp https://www.fhsu.edu/smei/camps/2019-robo-challenge
Are you interested in robotics and want to challenge your skills in problem solving and programming, then, this robotics camp is for you. Students will face a variety of challenges where creativity and critical thinking will allow you to build a custom robot that can operate in real world situations. Space is limited to first 24 participants.
Who: Students Entering Grades 6th – 8th in Fall 2019
When: June 3 – 6, 2019 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Where: FHSU, Custer Hall
Cost: $55 per camper
Adventures in Science Space Camp https://www.fhsu.edu/smei/camps/2019-adventure-in-science-space-camp
This camp will be out of this world! We will explore a day on the Mars Rover and learn about scale models. We will be getting to explore many different areas of space as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. Space is limited to first 24 participants.
Who: Students Entering Grades 6th – 8th in Fall 2019
When: June 10 – 13, 2019 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Where: FHSU, Custer Hall
Cost: $55 per camper
SIGNUP DEADLINE FOR BOTH IS MAY 17.
CITY OF HAYS
Beginning Monday, May 13, 2019, M & D Excavating, Inc. will be conducting multiple sanitary sewer point repairs in Hays.
The second four repair locations are in the parking lot of Fort Hays Auto Sales, in the concrete alley behind Subway between 13th and 12th Streets, in the alley between Pine and Allen Streets between 10th and 11th and in the concrete alley west of Ash Street between 5th and 6th Streets.
The project is scheduled to be completed by June 1, 2019.
Signs will be in place to direct the traveling public. The traveling public should use caution and if possible avoid areas of construction.
The city of Hays regrets any inconvenience this may cause to the public. If there are any questions, please call the Office of Project Management at 785-628-7350 or the contractor, M & D Excavating at 785-628-3169 or 785-650-3802.
Washington, DC—The names of 371 U.S. law enforcement officers including four from Kansas who have died in the line of duty will be formally dedicated on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial during the 31st Annual Candlelight Vigil held on the National Mall in Washington, DC, at 8:00 pm on Monday, according to a media release from the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr will deliver special remarks and lead in reading the names of the fallen officers.
The names of Sedgwick County Deputy Robert Kunze, Wyandotte County Deputies Patrick Rhorer and Theresa King and Jefferson County Undersheriff George Burnau and 367 other officers added to the Memorial this year include 158 who made the ultimate sacrifice in 2018, in addition to 213 officers who died earlier in history but whose sacrifice had not been previously documented.
With these additions, there are 21,910 officers’ names engraved on the Memorial, representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, federal law enforcement, and military police agencies.
A convicted felon on a crime spree shot and killed Deputy Kunze in September 2018. Deputy Sheriff Theresa King and Deputy Sheriff Patrick Rohrer were shot and killed as they transported a prisoner to court in Wyandotte in June of 2018. In March of 2019, Undersheriff George Burnau suffered a fatal heart attack while involved in a foot pursuit of a mental subject
Each May 13, an estimated 30,000 people assemble for the Candlelight Vigil, a signature event of National Police Week. For the 11th year, the ceremony will be streamed live over the Internet so that everyone can witness this annual tribute to America’s law enforcement officers. Individuals interested in the free webcast can register online at www.nleomf.org/vigil.
“The annual Candlelight Vigil allows us to honor the officers who sacrificed their lives for the protection of ours,” said Lori Sharpe Day, Interim Chief Executive Officer of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. “By attending the ceremony in person or by viewing it online, we are able to show support for the families of these brave men and women who serve.”
The names of the 371 officers added to the National Memorial this year can be found at www.LawMemorial.org/2019RollCall. For a complete schedule of National Police Week events in Washington, DC, visit www.LawMemorial.org/PoliceWeek.
Ignorance may well have been bliss to 18th-century English poet Thomas Gray, but in 2019, widespread ignorance of our core freedoms and how our government functions is just plain dangerous.
A just-released Survey of Civic Literacy, conducted by the American Bar Association (ABA) and released May 1 to mark national Law Day, finds many of us do not know much about either subject.
The survey’s theme and the ABA’s Law Day focus was on “Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society.” The survey findings are generally in line with the Freedom Forum Institute’s annual State of the First Amendment survey, conducted since 1997: Many — sometimes a majority — of us get our rights “wrong.” History tells us that if we are not aware of our freedoms, it is that much easier to lose them.
There is some good news in the results, particularly in strong support for free speech: More than eight of 10 respondents of the 1,000-person sampling said we should be able to publicly criticize a president or any other government leader and that we should have the right to ask for government records and information. Three of four agree the government should not be able to restrain the press in reporting on political protest.
Then there are these findings:
It is reassuring that 88 percent of respondents know that the government does not have the “right to review what journalists write before it is published,” but that means more than 10 percent wrongly believe government does have a right to censor.
Again, it is good that a strong majority sees no problem in openly criticizing public officials. But nearly 20 percent are opposed or unsure whether or not we should have that right, which is more than unsettling — it’s sizeable doubt about a core principle of what it means to be an American.
Sometimes the ignorance shown in the survey concerns current law: 54 percent said there is no free speech right under the First Amendment to burn a U.S. flag in political protest. In fact, in a 1989 decision, Texas v. Johnson, the U.S. Supreme Court said just the opposite, setting up flag burning as a demonstration to the world of our commitment to freedom of expression.
The ABA’s survey is just the latest demonstration of the need for a new national campaign by schools and civic and professional groups to educate our citizens about the meaning and importance of the role and purpose of First Amendment freedoms and, beyond that, how our government works — and why it works.
Without that effort, the warning signs are in – thanks to the ABA’s survey and others – that we could lose our basic freedoms, our representative form of self-government and undermine the basic rule of law for simply the sorrowful, sad, embarrassing reason that many of us simply will not know, or perhaps even care, that they are gone.
[The ABA Survey of Civic Literacy 2019 is available at: https://www.americanbar.org/news/reporter_resources/civic-knowledge-survey/]
Gene Policinski is president and chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum Institute and an introductory speaker at the May 1 release of the ABA’s Survey on “Free Press, Free Speech, Free Society.” He can be reached at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter at @genefac.
Pity the poor public servant.
Legislators, Commissioners, and agency managers must sort facts and opinions to make the best decisions for the public good. It is critical to hear from the public — and then sort through those comments carefully, thoughtfully, and compassionately.
They’ll get advice. Some good, thoughtful, constructive. And some mean-spirited, resentful, and cringe-worthy. The latter often emanates from people claiming the mantle of stern adult responsibility, bent on teaching what, for them, pass as Christian values.
Consider two citizen commenters at a Saline County hearing on a possible new Salina jail. One cited the Bible encouraging use of “the rod of discipline.” For him, jail seems “too comfortable.” Three meals a day, warm in winter, cool in summer free medical, no work required, TV—all were seen as coddling. So, to make jails really rehabilitate, we’ll just shut down air conditioning in 100+ degree temps.
“Known murderers” (disregarding recent examples of false convictions) should be executed “in a timely manner.” God’s word in Genesis so decrees, said he. His solution? Teach his version of religion in schools.
Another cited excess alcohol use and drug abuse as choices, not diseases. Despite all evidence to the contrary, including the US’ No. 1 standing as incarcerator-in-chief, he cited the “social experiment of the past 60 years’ as ’soft on criminals’” and “the biggest failure this country has ever seen.” Again, air conditioning, heat and three meals a day became soft, coddling measures to be dispensed with.
Where does one begin responding to such illogic and incitement to riot? First impulse is to shrug off these sentiments as aberrations and dismiss them. But these attitudes constitute a canary in our coal mine.
Though not as extreme, other similarly dismissive, jarring attitudes are impacting public policy as we speak. Sadly, they come from public servants themselves, not the testifying public.
And here, pity for public servants comes to a screeching halt.
Case in point: the KS ledge’s last days. As Kansas Interfaith Action so clearly spells out, “Medicaid Expansion ……[is] a clear moral imperative, and its failure to pass is not just a disappointment, it’s an injustice. . . . . The failure to hold hearings, the refusal to allow a vote in the Senate, are nothing less than moral failures, and blame for them rests solely at the feet of House and Senate leadership.”
On top of that, another large tax cut was passed, replacing the one vetoed by the Governor. Says KIFA, “The fact that a big tax cut that will largely benefit multinational corporations and the wealthiest Kansans can pass, but a policy that will help working people, and is supported by 70% of Kansans, by a majority of the legislature and by the governor, cannot, shows how twisted the priorities of legislative leadership were this session.”
Now, 150,000 Kansans are denied access to health insurance, and approximately 627 Kansans may die this year in the absence of expansion. “Justice delayed is {not just] justice denied,” says KIFA, “[it] is life denied.”
KIFA’s life-affirming, compassionate, faith-tradition-taught values stand in stark contrast to the pious, judgmental, punitive attitudes displayed in the latest legislative last-minute games. Adhering to the best of our religious values means revering and supporting all our fellow creatures.
Attitudes to the contrary must be called out at their root, in public meetings, on-air or in-print, in social media, in private conversations, and at the ballot box.
Those adopting such attitudes should not be allowed in positions where their rhetoric becomes reality.
Allowing that to happen is immoral and, well … un-Christian.
David Norlin is past Chairman of the Salina Planning Commission, former President of Salina Access TV, and an occasional Salina Journal columnist. He is a retired College English Department Chair and Director of Broadcasting. He has twice run for the Kansas Legislature.
RENO COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating an attempted robbery and the four suspects allegedly involved are expected to be in court this week.
Just after 4:30p.m. Friday police were dispatched to the Kansas State Fairgrounds for an active shooter with a “machine gun.”
Armando Castillo Jr, of Mineral Wells, Texas reported being confronted by four individuals while inside his 5th wheel camper. He was battered but was able to grab a firearm he had hidden in the camper. Castillo fired several shots to try and get the neighbors to call 911.
Everyone involved was still on scene when officers arrived. No injuries were reported due to gunfire. During the investigation, it was discovered that the suspects came to Castillo’s camper to get cash.
Police arrested four suspects identified as 22-year-old Kaleb Schyler Beard, 23-year-old Kerrah Schulze, 20-year-old Richard Fenters and 22-year-old Blaine White all of Wichita. They were jailed on requested charges of attempted aggravated robbery, according to the release. Three had bonded out of jail. Fenters was still in custody, according to online jail records.
By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
As the school year nears a close, administrators at Hays High School and Hays Middle School both said they have seen a spike this year in vaping referrals at the schools.
Neither HMS Principal Tom Albers nor HHS Assistant Principal John Linn had exact number of referrals they have received as a result of vaping, but both agreed the number of students using nicotine products at school has increased.
The 2017 Kansas Youth Risk Factors Survey shows one in three (or 34.8 percent) Kansas high school students have tried e-cigarettes and one in 10 (or 10.6 percent) were current users.
In light of the jump the Kansas State Board of Education will receive a presentation on vaping during its regular May meeting on Tuesday.
HHS is seeing very few referrals for traditional tobacco products, such as cigarettes or chewing tobacco, Linn said.
Linn said the most common devices he finds students using are Juuls, which is specific brand of vape device. The Juuls tend to be small, easy to conceal and sometimes resemble flash drives.
“I will be honest with you. I didn’t even know Juuls existed until the last couple of years,” he said, “and these things have just blown up.”
Albers said the vaping devices are easier for students to conceal than traditional tobacco.
“The one thing about cigarettes is that you can’t really do that without people seeing and smelling,” he said. … “Vape ends up being something that is easy to hide. It doesn’t produce smoke. It just produces a vape. It is really hard to see or find.”
Both administrators said despite information sent out to district patrons earlier this year about vaping as well as education in health classes, many students and parents are still not aware of the dangers of vaping.
“When I talk to our kids, it is more about trying to fit in,” Linn said. “I get very little about ‘I am trying to quit smoking so this is the best alternative to do that.’ You try to tell them no its not because it has the same amount of nicotine in those substances as a pack of cigarettes.”
Linn said he didn’t think students think about the addictive nature of nicotine when they vape.
“I think they think it is a safer alternative than smoking,” he said. “There has been multiple times this year that I have talked to students about vaping and these issues and asked them specifically, ‘Do you even know what you are sucking into your lungs? Do you even know what it is?’ You would be amazed about how many of them tell me no. They don’t know what it is. It just tastes good.”
Albers said companies are marketing to kids with sweet flavors. They also manipulate the amount of nicotine in vape pods. One pod can have the same amount of nicotine as three and half packs of cigarettes.
“Kids become addicted whether they realize it or not,” he said.
Most parents Linn said he has talked to are aware their children have tried vaping, but may not be aware they have a vaping device and are vaping on a regular basis.
“Again it comes back to education and letting them know it is the same issue as any type of tobacco product,”‘ Linn said. “It has nicotine, and that’s addictive. It is not good for students of this age whose brains are developing like they should.”
Dr. Michelle Pope, Hays pediatrician, spoke to TMP students last spring about the dangers of vaping.
Not only is the nicotine you can consume through vaping dangerous, but so are other chemicals and heavy metals you take into your lungs when you vape, she said.
Vaping liquids are loosely regulated by the federal government and 95 percent of the juices are made in China.
Vaping in teens can permanently stunt lung development. Nicotine, specifically, can cause cancer, is addictive and damaging, especially to the adolescent brain. It can also cause heart attack and stroke, Pope said.
The Hays USD 489 school board passed revisions to its tobacco policy at its April 29 meeting. Superintendent John Thissen said the changes clarify what nicotine products are banned at the school.
This includes “any device that can be used to deliver nicotine or nicotine salts to the person inhaling from the device. Such definition shall include, but may not be limited to, any electronic cigarette, cigar, cigarillo, pipe or personal vaporizer.”
Vaping is banned not only in schools during school hours, but in any district facility; in school vehicles; at school-sponsored activities, programs, or events; and on school owned or operated property. The policy is the same for both school employees and students.
For students, the policy goes on to discuss the consequences for students caught with nicotine or tobacco products.
According to the policy, “Student violations may result in parent/guardian notification, participating in tobacco education program, suspension and/or expulsion from school and/or extracurricular activities, community service, and/or notification of law enforcement.”
Linn said standard discipline at HHS for students caught with vaping devices or tobacco products is an automatic two-day in-school suspension. If the student is younger than 18, the police are contacted. If students are caught subsequent times, the disciplinary action can be heightened, Linn said.
“This is really frustrating, because the devices have changed so much. They are so difficult to detect,”Linn said. “I can search bags and all that kind of stuff, but if they hide it on themselves, it is very difficult to find sometimes. The companies have made it really easy for the students to use them and hide it.
“We do take it very seriously, and hopefully, we can get some kids to think before they do something like that.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Cole Irvin was outstanding in his major league debut and the Philadelphia Phillies scored six times in the fifth inning to beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Sunday in the rubber match of their three-game series.
J.T. Realmuto hit a two-run double and Odubel Herrera followed with a two-run single for Philadelphia.
Irvin (1-0) threw seven innings of one-run ball, allowing five hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Seranthony Dominguez and Juan Nicasio each tossed a scoreless inning to close it out for the 25-year-old lefty.
Kansas City has lost 12 consecutive rubber games, a streak that stretches back to May 30 last year, when the Royals took two of three against Minnesota.
Irvin’s strong start continued an impressive run by Philadelphia’s rotation. Over their last 15 games, Phillies starters have a 2.36 ERA – second-best in the majors during that span.
Royals starter Jakob Junis (3-4) cruised through four innings but fell apart in the fifth. After Nick Williams reached on an error with one out, Junis walked three of the next four batters, the last one chasing him from the game.
Realmuto greeted Richard Lovelady with a first-pitch double down the right field line and Herrera hit his two-run single two pitches later. Herrera and Jean Segura each had two hits for the Phillies, and Andrew McCutchen was on base four times via three walks and a single.
Despite allowing just three hits, Junis was tagged for five runs due primarily to five walks. Free passes were an issue all weekend for Royals pitchers, who walked 18 batters during the three-game set.
Alex Gordon brought home the Royals’ only run with an RBI single in the third. After the umpires initially ruled Billy Hamilton was thrown out at third base before Cam Gallagher crossed the plate, a replay review showed Hamilton beat the throw. Hamilton and Gordon had two hits apiece for Kansas City.
ROSTER MOVES
Before the game, the Phillies called up Irvin optioned LHP Austin Davis to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Davis had been recalled on Saturday.
UP NEXT
Phillies: RHP Aaron Nola (3-0, 4.57 ERA) starts Monday night against Milwaukee in the opener of a seven-game homestand. Nola has given up just one run in each of his last three outings.
Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (1-1, 3.06 ERA) makes his fourth start of the year Tuesday night against Texas. Duffy held Houston to two runs over six innings in his last outing to earn his first win of the season.
Monday Sunny, with a high near 77. South southeast wind 5 to 13 mph.
Monday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 53. South southeast wind 6 to 11 mph.
Tuesday Sunny, with a high near 86. South southeast wind 5 to 7 mph.
Tuesday NightPartly cloudy, with a low around 56. South southeast wind around 7 mph becoming east after midnight.
WednesdaySunny, with a high near 85.
Wednesday NightPartly cloudy, with a low around 60.
ThursdaySunny, with a high near 86.
ROOKS COUNTY—Several earthquakes shook Rooks County over the weekend.
According to the Kansas Geological Survey, the two largest were magnitude 3.8 at 9:06a.m. Saturday and a magnitude 3.4 at 3:13a.m. Sunday. The United State’s Geological Survey also reported a 2.6 magnitude quake centered 8 miles northwest of Plainville on Sunday.
These are among the first reported quakes in Kansas since a 2.6 magnitude quake in Saline County on March 21.
The Rooks County Sheriff’s office reported they received no calls about the weekend quakes and there were no other calls of damage or injury.
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ROOKS COUNTY — A small earthquake shook northwest Kansas Sunday. The quake just after 3 a.m. measured a magnitude 2.6 and was centered approximately 8 miles northwest of Plainville, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
These are among the first reported quake in Kansas since a 2.6 magnitude quake in Saline County on March 21.
There are no reports of any damage or injury from Sunday’s quake.
WICHITA, KAN. – A Kansas man pleaded guilty to trying to get out of a traffic ticket by pretending to be an FBI agent, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Jarrod M. Andra, 36, Milan, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of impersonating an agent. In his plea, he admitted that on Nov. 30, 2018, he was stopped for speeding in Sumner County by a Sumner County Sheriff’s Deputy. Andra claimed he was a special agent for the FBI and presented what appeared to be an FBI identification card with his photo.
Sentencing is set for July 31. Both parties are expected to recommend a sentence of probation and a $1,000 fine.
ST. PETERS, Mo. (AP) — A man is charged with felony animal abuse after authorities say he killed and dismembered cats he found in online want ads.
20-year-old Kaine Louzader was charged Friday. Prosecutors say more charges are expected.
Court documents say dead cats have been turning up on or near Louzader’s street outside St. Peters since January. Police contacted Louzader after someone reported seeing him dump a dead cat near his house.
St. Charles County police Sgt. Jeff Ochs says Louzader told police he would scour Craigslist ads for free cats, then would take them home and stomp or strangle them. Police say he dismembered some cats before dumping their remains.
Louzader is being held on $50,000 bond and could not be reached Saturday for comment. No lawyer is listed for him in online court documents.
