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Month: October 2019

DHDC wins two first-place state tourism awards

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DHDC Executive Director, Sara Bloom accepts two Travel Industry Association of Kansas Marketing Awards at the 2019 Kansas Tourism Conference Wednesday in Mulvane. (Photos courtesy DHDC)

TOPEKA – Kansas tourism professionals presented several awards at the 2019 Kansas Tourism Conference awards banquet held Oct. 23 at the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane.

The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism presented the following awards:

  • Governor’s Tourism Award – Established in 1983 to recognize outstanding contributions by individuals or organizations to the Tourism Industry, the Governor’s Award encourages others to strive for excellence. The award demonstrates cooperation, sustainability, quality and accountability. Paul Bahnmaier, president of the Lecompton Historical Society, was presented this prestigious award. Via video, Governor Laura Kelly stated that Paul’s passion for tourism and Kansas is beyond compare – every community should have someone so dedicated.
  • Kansas’ Finest Awards – The Kansas’ Finest award recognizes and honors advocates who promote the state’s attributes and maintain an abiding love for the sunflower state, exhibiting passion, perseverance, and pride in promoting destinations with statewide significance and national or international relevance. This year it was awarded to Kenneth and Shirley McClintock, Council Grove, Historians, Preservationists and Restauranteurs; and Jonathan Adams, Iola, Photographer and Kansas Influencer.

“These awards highlight the vital role of dedicated individuals and organizations in growing the tourism industry in Kansas. Through their partnership, Kansas tourism will continue to be a significant part of the state’s economy.  A recent economic impact survey indicates tourism has grown to an $11.3 billion industry in Kansas, one of the fastest growing industries in Kansas.” said Bridgette Jobe, KDWPT Tourism Director.

The Travel Industry Association of Kansas (TIAK) also recognized its membership’s top marketing talent. TIAK Marketing Awards focus on overall marketing initiatives and recognize state-level winners only.

  • People’s Choice: Greensburg Tourism
  • Best in Show:  Wild West Country
  • Visitors Guide (designed in-house): Council Grove/Morris County Chamber of Commerce & Tourism won in the small budget category. Merriam Visitors Bureau received bragging rights in the medium budget category and the large budget winner was the Kansas State Fair.
  • Visitors Guide (outsourced): Emporia Convention & Visitors Bureau received the medium budget trophy and Visit Kansas City Kansas won in the large budget.
  • Online Media: Seneca Area Chamber & Downtown Impact was recognized in the small budget category. The medium budget winner was Fort Scott Convention and Visitors Bureau and Visit Kansas City Kansas received recognition in the large budget category.
  • Integrated Campaign: Emporia Convention & Visitors Bureau received the medium budget win and eXplore Lawrence received large budget honors.
  • Print Media: Wild West Country won in the small budget category. The medium budget winner was Downtown Hays Development Corporation for the Downtown Hays brochure and Visit Kansas City Kansas received the large budget win.
  • Community Awareness: Greensburg Tourism was honored in the small budget category. Downtown Hays Development Corporation won in the medium budget category for Brews on the Bricks and the Kansas Turnpike Authority received the large budget category win.

— KDWPT

🎥 City commission candidate: Michael Berges

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Michael Berges

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

There are five men running for three open seats on the Hays city commission.

Two are incumbents, Ron Mellick and Henry Schwaller IV. The three other candidates are all political newcomers, Michael Berges, Mason Ruder and Ryan Rymer.

Beginning today, Hays Post will run a series of interviews with each candidate this week.

Michael Berges, 39, is a financial advisor with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. and has a degree in political science from Fort Hays State University. He’s also run motels in other cities.

“I’ve always had an interest in watching and following governance,” Berges says. “I particularly like local government – city, county, school board – and the topics that come up in local issues.”

“I strongly feel that local issues make the greatest impact in your life.”

Berges and his wife, Erica, the new United Way of Ellis County executive director, have three young sons.

As a father and city commission candidate, Berges is looking to the future of Hays and how it will support his kids’ futures.

“I don’t know where else we could live besides Hays that provides all the quality of life amenities that fit our family so well.”

As a financial advisor, Berges works with numbers all day long. He feels his experience with personal budgets would translate well to working with the city’s budget.

Berges also deals with economic data and trends affecting changes in the nation’s economy.

“While Hays is somewhat isolated being in the middle of the country and in the middle of Kansas, it doesn’t mean some of those economic trends don’t transfer into Hays.”

The top two city commission candidates will serve for four years, while the third-place vote-getter will serve for two years.

Advanced voting is underway. The election is Nov. 5.

Rodgers, Jones star for Packers in victory over Chiefs

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Aaron Rodgers threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Aaron Jones on a big night for the Green Bay running back, and the Packers held off backup quarterback Matt Moore and the Kansas City Chiefs 31-24 on Sunday night.

Jones, who briefly left with a shoulder injury, had seven catches for 159 yards and added 67 on the ground – a big chunk of them in the closing minutes, when the Packers (7-1) sealed the win.

It was their first at Arrowhead Stadium since Nov. 4, 2007.

With reigning league MVP Patrick Mahomes out with a dislocated kneecap, Moore took the reins of the Chiefs’ high-powered offense and fared quite well. He threw for 267 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in the ex-high school coach’s first NFL start in more than two years.

The Chiefs (5-3) hoped Mahomes could make a miraculous recovery 10 days after hurting his knee in Denver in time to play. But after he was limited in practice throughout the week, coach Andy Reid announced Friday that the franchise quarterback would be inactive for the game.

So much for that Rodgers-Mahomes showdown everyone anticipated.

They had to settle for an entertaining matchup between division leaders instead.

The game started like most people outside the walls of 1 Arrowhead Drive expected, with Rodgers slicing up the defense and Green Bay marching for two quick touchdowns.

But after a shaky start by Moore, the journeyman quarterback and the rest of the Chiefs offense found a groove. They embarked on an 89-yard drive that ended with a make-it-rain 29-yard TD pass to Travis Kelce, then got a 30-yard pitch-and-catch to Mecole Hardman to knot the game.

The Chiefs led 17-14 at halftime, raising some eyebrows across the league.

Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur made a couple of adjustments, though, and Rodgers and Co. began to move the ball once more. They used a 15-play drive that soaked up more than half the third quarter to get a tying field goal, then got the ball back when LeSean McCoy fumbled on the very next play.

Five players later, Rodgers conjured up more of his magic.

With third down at the 3, he dropped back and was flushed from the pocket. He rolled to his right and threw a blind pass to the back corner of the end zone, where Damien Williams somehow took the ball away from Chiefs linebacker Ben Niemann while tapping both feet inbounds.

Rodgers was lying flat on his back, staring at the sky, as the official signaled touchdown.

The Chiefs answered with another long drive, and just when it appeared they had finally been stopped, the Packers’ Tramon Williams was flagged for illegal use of hands. That gave Kansas City the ball inside the 5, and Damien Williams scored on the next play to tie it again.

It took the Packers all of 56 seconds to score the eventual winner.

Rodgers again found Jones out of the backfield, and this time he found a lane through the entire Kansas City secondary. It was a foot race from there, and the speedy running back hop-skipped over the goal line to finish off the 67-yard touchdown reception.

The Chiefs were forced to punt on their ensuing possession and never got another chance.

HALL OF FAME

The Chiefs honored TE Tony Gonzalez and SS/FB Johnny Robinson, their new entrants into the Hall of Fame, during a halftime ceremony. Both were presented with their Hall of Fame rings.

THE WORM TURNS

Jones twice reached the end zone thinking he’d scored, dropped to the turf and did “the worm.” The first was negated by a penalty, though he scored a few minutes later anyway. The second came on a 60-yard reception in which a replay showed Jones had stepped out of bounds at the 10.

STAR SEARCH

Along with Mahomes, the Chiefs missed five other starters: DE Frank Clark (neck), CB Kendall Fuller (thumb), LT Eric Fisher (groin), LG Andrew Wylie (ankle) and DT Chris Jones (groin).

Packers WR Davante Adams (toe) went through pregame warmups before he was scratched. But they did have LB Blake Martinez (hand) and SS Darnell Savage (ankle), who had missed the last two games.

UP NEXT

Green Bay continues its AFC West trip against the Chargers next Sunday.

Kansas City plays another NFC North team in the Vikings next Sunday.

New Ellis Co. Crisis Intervention Team to lead public discussion for NAMI-Hays

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The Nov. 4 meeting of NAMI-Hays includes a discussion by members of the new Ellis County Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) including Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler, High Plains Mental Health Center’s director of clinical services Dave Anderson, and psychologist Josh Tanguay who is also an instructor in the Fort Hays State University Psychology Department.

The CIT discussion is from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Center For Life Experience, 205 E. 7th-Hadley Building Suite 257, Hays.

The public is invited to attend. There is no charge.

– SUBMITTED –

Smoky Hill ESC receives DOJ grant of nearly $250K

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Smoky Hill Education Service Center has received a grant of $249,998 for the development of anonymous reporting solutions in addressing school safety. The Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, announced the grant to SHESC on October 21.

The OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded $29.5 million nationwide through its STOP School Violence Technology and Threat Assessment Solutions for Safer Schools Program. The program is authorized under the STOP School Violence Act of 2018.

SHESC was the only institution in Kansas to receive a grant under the program, which awarded 68 grants to local governments, federally recognized Indian tribes and public agencies. The program directly helps schools by providing school administrators, staff, students and first responders with the ability to use threat assessments, crisis intervention teams and anonymous reporting technology.

SHESC will use the grant to support both existing and planned services for school districts that are designed to address bullying and school violence.

Chris Moddelmog, executive director of SHESC, said the DOJ grant will make a substantial difference at SHESC as it fulfills its mission of providing services to more than 50 school districts across 25 Kansas counties. More than 31,000 students and 2,700 teachers and administrators served by SHESC will benefit from the grant.

“Our vision with this grant is to help as many schools in Kansas as possible to grow a culture of safety and security,” Moddelmog said. “A grant this large will go a long way toward supporting that goal.”

Founded July 1, 1990, Smoky Hill Education Service Center is a cooperative consortium of more than 50 school districts across 25 counties, formed to provide cost and efficiency savings in a variety of educational services for its participating members. The service center’s mission is: “In partnership with school districts, we promote success for learners by providing superior services.” Through staff development classes and services, the service center supports more than 2,700 teachers and administrators – benefitting more than 31,000 students. In addition to educational institutions, any non-profit or governmental organization can benefit from Smoky Hill Education Service Center, either as a member or by selecting needed services.

— Submitted

Tickets on sale Monday for TMP-M’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’

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The classic story tells of Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, who is really a young prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end and he will be transformed into his former self.

TMP Drama Department, 1701 Hall St, Hays
Tickets on sale October 28 at 12 p.m. at tmp-m.org

IHM CYO Horror Movie Theatre

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Immaculate Heart of Mary CYO Haunted House 2019

Horror Movie Theatre located in the old pathology lab Next to UPS/Hays compost site on East 13th Street.

Thursday October 31st 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
(Live Version- $7 per person)

Funds raised used to offset costs of travel to conferences and mission trip while providing a fun and safe activity for the community.

Thanks for the continued support!

Monarch Masquerade at TMP-M

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Bring the kiddos out in their costumes to TMP-Marian on Halloween from 4-6 p.m. for the Monarch Masquerade! Tricks and treats will be plentiful all over the main building provided by the Junior High and many other organizations. This is a great way to have fun, safe and warm trick-or-treating!

Kansas voters could end unusual census adjustment for redistricting

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By JOHN HANNA

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas could soon end an unusual policy of using its own numbers in addition to federal census data to redraw the boundaries of state legislative districts, a longstanding practice that has cost university communities political clout.

Voters statewide will decide Nov. 5 whether to approve a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution to eliminate a requirement for the state to adjust federal census figures when the Legislature redistricts itself. The adjustment counts college students and military personnel not where they’re living but in a “permanent” home elsewhere — outside Kansas for thousands of them.

Kansas is among only a few states that adjust federal census figures for redistricting, and before it started doing it in the 1990s, it did its own population counts for more than a century. Critics see the adjustment as archaic and expensive, and the proposed amendment had overwhelming bipartisan support as it slipped quietly through the Republican-controlled Legislature earlier this year.

The biggest winners from the change likely would be Lawrence and Manhattan, home to the main campuses of the University of Kansas and Kansas State University. When the state last adjusted census figures in 2011, their counties lost 13% of their combined populations, more than 23,000 people, enough for a Kansas House seat between them.

“It is a matter of fairness,” said Lawrence Mayor Lisa Larsen. “The students live here. They contribute to our economy. They’re contributing to our community in a great way.”

Secretary of State Scott Schwab urged legislators to put the amendment on the ballot. He is doing media interviews and has a website promoting it and says the next adjustment would cost the state $835,000. There is no organized opposition to the amendment ahead of an election otherwise set for filling city offices and local school board seats.

Kansas is the last state to adjust census figures for college students or military personnel after Alaska in the late 1990s dropped a policy of adjusting its military population downward. But Maryland and New York count prison inmates in their hometowns rather than where they’re incarcerated to avoid what critics call “prison gerrymandering.”

Kansas lawmakers expect to revise legislative districts again in 2022. Adjusting the college and military populations is a remnant of the state’s longtime practice, ended in the 1990s, of doing its own census for redistricting purposes.

Schwab said the next adjustment would be expensive because his office would have to hire a contractor to track down people to ask them where they want to be counted, and that’s more difficult now than in the past because cellphones have increasingly replaced landline telephones.

Supporters of the adjustment in the past have argued that people living temporarily in a college town or on a military base should be allowed to choose where they’re counted. They’ve also suggested that the policy helps rural communities.

But no rural county saw its population adjusted upward by 3% in 2011, and a few even lost a little population. Overall, when all the shifts were taken into account, the state’s total population declined by about 13,700 residents, or less than 0.5%.

“It’s a no-brainer to vote for that amendment,” said Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican.

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Landfill fire in McPherson; officials monitoring toxic smoke

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MCPHERSON COUNTY —Crews were on the scene of a fire at the city landfill north of McPherson Sunday, according to a social media report from the McPherson Fire Department.

Landfill fire Photos courtesy McPherson Fire Dept.

The fire had toxic substances in the smoke and a plume model from the National Weather Service has indicated the City of McPherson would be directly affected.

All residents are encouraged to go inside, close all windows and doors, stay tuned to Radio/TV/Social Media for further updates.

Late Sunday, the fire department reported fire suppression operations were halted at the landfill. Air quality monitoring has been deployed on the north side of McPherson city limits. As of 2 am they have not detected anything out of normal ranges. We will continue to monitor the air quality throughout the night and into Monday morning.

They also encouraged residents to utilize 911 for emergencies only.

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