By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
It was their day off, but the entire law enforcement shift that works with Hays Police Officer Ryan Blecha got together anyway.
All nine of them gathered at 9 a.m. to do major lawn maintenance at the home of 92-year-old Hays resident Margaret Vine.
“She really needed her lawn done,” Blecha said during a short break in the frenzy of activity Monday morning.
Nobody was in uniform. Instead the seven officers and two dispatchers were dressed in work clothes and boots, with yard and garden tools in hand as they clipped bushes, mowed grass, weeded, raked, and sawed dead tree limbs in Margaret’s large front and back yards.
Blecha saw the overgrown front lawn and landscaping early Sunday morning during a patrol check at Vine’s house in the 300 block of West 25th. Hays Police were called by Vine’s granddaughter when she saw an unfamiliar vehicle and driver in front of their house.
Blecha responded to the call and made sure Vine and her granddaughter were safe. He left his business card with them.
“I saw the lawn was overgrown and didn’t want Margaret to have to worry about calling somebody or getting more help to do that,” he said.
A neighbor across the street, Dennis Budke, came over to check on Margaret when he saw the police car pull up. Budke told Blecha she has a lawn mowing service but “they don’t really do the deep stuff.”
Blecha also gave his business card to Budke, who “offered help with water and other power equipment.”
During a lull later in his Sunday shift, Blecha asked the other shift members if they’d be interested in helping him help Margaret.
“They all said yes,” Blecha said. “Basically, it was all put together in about 30 minutes on shift.”
The group brought their own lawn and garden tools, plus herbicides to kill the weeds. They filled their pickup beds with grass, leaves, bush clippings, weeds and dead tree limbs that were sawed off mature trees and hauled it all to the Ellis County Landfill.
Budke, whose son is a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper in Goodland, was also on hand during the lawn work, explaining to Margaret exactly what was going on.
When Blecha stepped up onto the porch to greet Margaret, she didn’t recognize him.
“Well, I have the card that nice young man left me last night on my table,” Margaret said slowly.
“And this is him,” Budke pointed to Blecha as he shook Margaret’s hand. “He’s just not in his uniform today.”
Margaret gasped a little as Budke explained everyone swarming over her property is a Hays police officer.
“Oh, they not only keep us safe, they do something like this,” Margaret smiled. “We have a wonderful community.”
The Hays police officers volunteering their time were:
Sgt. Brandon Hauptman
Cpl. David Vilaysing
Ofc. Samantha Nielsen
Ofc. Mackenzie Smith
Ofc. Scott Heimann
Ofc. Ryan Blecha
Trainee Ofc. Aaron Ewy
Dispatcher Josh Cooper
Dispatcher Alanna Hansen
