TOPEKA – Colonel Herman T. Jones, Superintendent of the Kansas Highway Patrol, announced that Lieutenant Travis Phillips has been promoted to Captain and will now oversee Troop D.
Troop D is based in Hays and covers 18 counties in northwest Kansas.
Phillips joined the patrol in March 1994 and was assigned to field duties in Sherman County.
In 1996, Phillips served as an SRT Operator in addition to his road duties. Phillips was also a Rangemaster in Troop D. He was later promoted to Public Resource Sergeant for Troop D in Hays before being promoted to a Master Trooper for Troop D, Zone E in WaKeeney. He was later promoted to Field Lieutenant for Troop D, Zone E in WaKeeney.
Phillips began his law enforcement career in 1991 as a Patrol Officer with the Hays Police Department. He is a native of Mullen, NE, and Ellis, KS, and a graduate of Ellis High School. Phillips attended Fort Hays State University and Barton County Community College to obtain a criminal justice degree.
He is a member of WaKeeney Lions Club and 10-33 Foundation.
The Patrol congratulates Captain Phillips on his promotion and wishes him the best in this position.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an attempted carjacking and have made an arrest.
Sturgis photo Sedgwick Co.
Just before 1a.m. Wednesday, police responded to report of a carjacking in convenience store parking lot in the 3800 Block of north Rock Road in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
An 18-year-old and a 19-year-old at the scene told police they were getting gas at the convenience store when a suspect identified as 33-year-old Randy Sturgis of Wichita approached the woman.
He told them he had escaped from federal prison and wanted a ride, according to Davidson. The woman refused and Sturgis became agitated. He stated he had a knife and grabbed the women in an attempt to place them in the vehicle. The women broke free and ran into the convenience store to contact police, according to Davidson.
Sturgis entered the vehicle but was unable to get it to move. He took a cell phone that belonged to the 19-year-old and escaped on foot.
Officers quickly arrived, located Sturgis and he ran from them. After a short foot pursuit, police captured him.
An investigation revealed that Sturgis had walked away from the Federal Halfway House in the 3800 Block of North Toben just before the incident occurred. There were no injuries reported, according to Davidson.
Sturgis is being held on requested charges that include kidnapping, burglary, theft and resist arrest. He has previous convictions for criminal threat, theft and criminal possession of a firearm, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the shooting at a Kansas City, Kansas, bar that left four dead and five wounded (all times local):
A suspect in a weekend Kansas bar shooting that left four dead and five wounded was given probation last year for trafficking contraband while imprisoned for aggravated robbery instead of more time behind bars.
The same Leavenworth County, Kansas, judge that allowed Hugo Villanueva-Morales to avoid prison in the case also made news earlier this year when he reduced the sentence of a convicted sex offender because he said the 13- and 14-year-old girls who were victims in the abuse were actually “aggressors.”
Police continue searching for Villanueva-Morales. He and 23-year-old Javier Alatorre are charged with four counts of first-degree murder in Sunday’s shooting at the Tequila KC bar in Kansas City, Kansas. Alatorre was arrested hours after the shooting in Kansas City, Missouri.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a robbery and asking the public for help to identify and locate two suspects.
Just before 6:00 a.m., Wednesday, police were dispatched to the Kwik Shop located at 1700 SW
Topeka Boulevard in Topeka in reference to an aggravated burglary to a vehicle, according to police spokesperson Gretchen Koenen.
A female suspect reportedly entered the vehicle which was occupied by a passenger. The suspect forced the passenger out of the vehicle and fled the scene. The vehicle was located a short time later, unoccupied, near NW Jackson and Crane in Topeka.
Police are attempting to identify two persons of interest in this case and have released security camera images.
Anyone with information regarding this crime is encouraged to contact the Topeka Police.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas man accused of killing a 2½-month-old infant faces a second trial in January after his first trial resulted in a hung jury.
D’Khari Lyons faces charges of first-degree murder and child abuse over the November 2018 death of Michael Calvert Jr. Authorities said the infant died from head trauma after sustaining severe internal injuries.
Riley County District Judge Meryl Wilson scheduled the start of a second trial for Jan. 13. The first was in September.
Wilson also lowered Lyons’ bond to $100,000 from $500,000.
Defense attorney Cole Hawver said Lyons is not a flight risk and has no prior criminal history.
Prosecutors allege Lyons lashed out at the baby in momentary frustration at his crying while watching him for a girlfriend.
James “Jim” Lawrence Hoffman, age 84, of Hays, Kansas passed away Tuesday, October 8, 2019, at the Good Samaritan Society, Hays.
He was born December 31, 1934, in Plainville, Kansas to Lawrence and Josephine (Karlin) Hoffman. On May 30, 1964, he married Vera Sander in Hays, Kansas.
Jim worked for the City of Hays for 27 years and for Alco for 17 years. He was a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church of Hays. He enjoyed playing polka and gospel music on the piano, playing cards, watching sports especially the Kansas City Royals, gardening and listening to Johnny Cash.
He is survived by his wife, Vera of Hays; a sister, Lillian Pfeifer of Hays as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents; a niece, Barbara Winston and a nephew, David Hoffman.
Funeral services will be 10 AM Saturday, October 12, 2019 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Hays. Burial will be in the St. Anne’s Cemetery, Walker, KS.
Visitation will be Saturday 9 AM until service time with a rosary service at 9:30 AM all at the church.
In lieu of flowers the family suggests memorials to HaysMed Hospice or the Good Samaritan Society, Hays.
Arrangements in care of Brock’s-Keithley Funeral Chapel and Crematory 2509 Vine Hays, KS 67601.
Condolences may be left by guest book at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or by email at [email protected]
Alva Dee Winters II, 61, passed away October 8, 2019 at the Graham County hospital, Hill City, Kansas. He was born August 21, 1958 to Alva Dee and Edrie LaVerne (Marshall) Winters Sr. in Denver, Colorado.
He was preceded in death by his mother; his sister, Patricia Spradlin; one niece; and one granddaughter.
Alva is survived by his father, Alva Dee Winters Sr.; a son, Jeremiah Winters of Hill City; a daughter, Victoria Winters of Hill City; three grandchildren; brothers: Ralph Winters of LaCrosse, and Cid Weishapl of Denver; and a sister, Barbara Sterling (Marvin) of Bailey, Colorado.
Facilitator Betty Johnson talks with Guy Windholz about an intergenerational facility.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Designing a strategic plan for the future of Ellis County drew the biggest interest and group during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Strategic Doing Re-Start for Ellis County.
Volunteers gathered at the Rose Garden Banquet Hall in Hays to winnow down the number of project ideas for community improvements generated at a meeting last month.
As attendees enjoyed bierocks and green bean dumpling soup, facilitator Betty Johnson, Lawrence, polled the group for their top topics. Many of the people had been at the first meeting and others were there for the first time.
The voting yielded eight more areas of interest.
• More after-school activities for middle and high school students
• Decreased domestic violence and human trafficking
• Increased volunteerism in Ellis County
• Reaching out with help and understanding of mental health and anxiety
• More childcare providers
• Improved cultural diversity
• A multi-generational center
• Mentoring young entrepreneurs.
The nine groups spent more than two hours talking about what they could do. Discussions began with broad suggestions and then narrowed to specific action items with deadlines.
A spokesperson from each group explained the purpose of their project and the plan to move it forward.
The group working on a strategic plan for the future of Ellis County.
“Our next steps through April of 2020 is to create a visioning process,” said Henry Schwaller, referring to the Ellis County strategic plan. “It will begin with a large meeting to get as many (residents) to the table as possible to tell us what they want this community to look like over the next five years.”
A much smaller group of three people is working on providing fun hands-on STEM learning projects after school for students in sixth grade through high school.
Many students participate in sports after school, but there’s a gap in other activities, according to the group, and they want to help fill the void.
“We want to ask kids if they’d rather learn how to build a video game instead of just playing them,” said Alan Wamser. As the IT manager at HaysMed, Wamser has a vested interest in the project.
“If we can get a college intern with IT experience and bring them in, they’re the most successful,” he said.
Alan Wamser, Amanda Legleiter and Shae Veach coordinate the date for another group meeting within 30 days.
“And kids love to make YouTube videos and podcasts,” added group member Amanda Legleiter
The career exploration opportunities would involve teaching by local IT professionals as well as students and instructors at Fort Hays State University and NCK Tech.
“It could be similar to 4-H with the older kids or students teaching the younger ones,” Legleiter said.
“With mentoring, the kids may go on to FHSU to major in computer science or graphic design,” said the group’s spokesman, Shae Veach, HaysMed vice president of regional operations. “STEM activities can lead to scholarships, empower these students with confidence and possible local careers.”
The trio also tossed around ideas for funding and sustainability of the program as well as who will be stakeholders.
MacKinzie Foster outlines “Can We Just Talk?”
The group interested in mental health issues is working on “Can We Just Talk?,” bringing together people who are willing to listen and people who need to talk about their problems.
Kansas has had a record number of domestic-related homicides, according to Shaelin Sweet, community advocate for Options, who spoke for the group wanting to curtail domestic violence and human trafficking.
“That’s not a record we want to be breaking. The ultimate goal is for domestic homicides to go down and that will happen through education of law enforcement in the community,” she said.
Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler is a member of the group.
“I’m walking around this room and the focus in these groups is just amazing to me,” said Sandy Jacobs, HCF executive director. “We want to be all the resource to you we can. If you need help finding meeting sites, if you need help getting information out, anything you need just call our office.”
By 8:30 p.m. each table had talked through and filled out a Strategic Doing Action Pack from Purdue. The university’s Agile Strategy Lab offers training and certification in Strategic Doing.
According the to university’s website, Strategic Doing enables people to form action-oriented collaborations quickly, move them toward measurable outcomes, and make adjustments along the way.
Johnson is a certified facilitator in the Strategic Doing process.
“It’s been tried and proved. It’s used globally. We have used it in so many large, large operations as well as small,” she told the crowd. Johnson’s position is funded by the Hansen Foundation.
Erin Hughes, HCF assistant, looks at the plan from the mental health/anxiety awareness group with Jayne Inlow and Patrick McGinnis.
Erin Hughes was hired in June as a part-time assistant to Jacobs. Hughes will compile information completed by the groups. The results will be presented and project work updated at the next Strategic Doing meeting six months from now.
In the meantime, the nine groups are to meet every 30 days or so to review their progress.
Jacobs also encouraged the groups to invite other Ellis County residents to join their causes.
“If you know people that want to get involved after you begin talking about it in the community, for goodness sake, bring them into your group and get it started,” she urged.
The MIAA held its annual basketball media day Wednesday at the College Basketball Experience in Kansas City.
After finishing 32-2 last season and claiming both the MIAA regular season and tournament championship the Tiger women were picked first in both the coaches and media polls.
The Tiger men return six players from last year’s 18-11 season and were picked fourth in both polls.
Tiger women’s coach Tony Hobson and men’s coach Mark Johnson addressed the media Wednesday and you can hear their comments below.
Hays High School DECA volunteers sort food Tuesday during Trick-or-Treat So Others Can Eat. The event benefits the Community Assistance Center in Hays.
By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Hillary Newell, 33, hands food to Daisy Girl Scouts Gracelyn Inlow, Kendrie Randa and Claire Miller, all first graders at Holy Family Elementary, Tuesday night during Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat.
Students from Hays High volunteered Tuesday night for the annual Trick-Or-Treat So Others Can Eat because they know what it means to be in need.
Mercedes Nuss, a HHS senior, said when she lived with her mother, her family regularly came to Community Assistance Center for food. The family also received help during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
“It helped out a lot because we didn’t have the money to provide for our family like we wish we would have,” she said. “They helped us a lot, so it feels good to pay it forward and help others who are in the situation I was when I was a kid.”
Nuss collected food door to door for the CAC with fellow students in the HHS JAG-K program. JAG-K helps students who have risk factors that could contribute to them not graduating from high school.
“It is really comforting to know that people care about it as much as they do,” Nuss said of the food drive. “I know when I was a kid, it helped out a lot. It meant a lot to me and my family.”
Volunteers sort food at the CAC Tuesday night.
JAG-K sophomore Ashton Herrman’s family also used a food bank when he was younger.
He said he volunteered, “because we lived in Colby, and we were really poor. We had to go to a friend’s house for hot water. We did [use the food bank]. Now that we are doing better with money, I feel it should be my job, because I have been through it to know how much this helps people.”
“This place is really beautiful. I am really glad the community cares for this. It just warms my heart.”
Daisy Girl Scouts Marci Brunner, Nora Denton and Nora Pinkney, all first graders at Holy Family Elementary School, collect food during Trick-or-Treat So Others Can Eat. Flowers by Frances donated roses, which the girls distributed to donors as “random acts of kindness.”
Twenty-seven organizations collected food across the city. Some of these included Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, FHSU groups and church groups. HHS DECA students, Lions Club, CAC volunteers and church group volunteers helped sort food at the CAC.
Theresa Hill, CAC co-director, said the pre-Halloween food drive is the largest donation event of the year. The food bank shelves were bare leading up to the event, and the center was using monetary donations to fill food needs.
The CAC serves about 5,500 people annually. Between 80 and 100 families receive food from the CAC monthly.
CAC volunteer Karie Younger stocks shelves at the CAC Tuesday night.
Last year the food drive brought in about 16,000 food items. Organizers were hoping for about 20,000 items this year. The CAC also accepts cash donations during the event.
Shaina Prough is the sponsor for HHS DECA, which helps organize the event. She said Tuesday night collections were looking good. Warm weather seemed to be aiding in collection.
53-year-old Bonnie Werth’s involvement with TOTSOCE goes back to the beginning of the event in 1983, when she and her sister, Connie Haselhorst, began collecting food. The sisters helped make the school-sponsored event through DECA in 1985.
DECA volunteer Paige Polifka-Denson, HHS senior, helps sort food at the CAC.
As the food cans clanked and piles of incoming food grew, Werth said watching the event was an “Aha moment.”
“This has really grown to be more than just people from the high school doing it,” she said. “They are seeing the need for having canned good and how it is really benefiting a lot of needy families and people who need help.
“It makes me teary-eyed. It makes me excited to know a lot of people benefit from something that started small and got larger.”
Not only has Werth been participating since the program’s inceptions, she is passing on a passion for giving and volunteerism to younger generations through 4-H and her grandchildren. She collected Tuesday with the Big Creek Astro 4-H Club.
A Boy Scout volunteer unloads food at the CAC Tuesday night.
“Giving of your time is what is most important—selflessness,” she said, “and teaching them sometimes we need to take time out of our day, even if it busy, to give something to somebody else.”
She added, “I am just in awe of how many volunteers help now with getting the canned goods moved for the Community Assistance Center.”
The CAC will continue to receive food through this week, so Hill said she didn’t anticipate having a total on food collected through the event until Monday. The CAC hopes the food collected this week will last until the next major food drive sponsored by mail carriers over the Mother’s Day weekend. The food collected during TOTSOCE is also used in the CAC’s annual holiday food baskets.
Gracelyn Inlow, Daisy Girl Scout, giggles as she waits for a door to be answered with Kendrie Randa, center, and Claire Miller, right.Junior Girl Scout Troop 11268 delivers food to the CAC Tuesday night.
William Michael Wininger — “Mike” to friends and family — was born October 3, 1946 in Fowler, California to William Minor and Evelyn (Foreman) Wininger. He has one sister, Sandra Lynn Doty.
Mike graduated from Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in Stockton, California in 1965. While still in high school, he studied college architecture and had a house built. Less than a year after graduation, Mike was drafted. Rather than going where the Army wanted him to go, he enlisted opting for the Nuclear Missile field, where he became a computer operator. He served his first overseas tour of duty in Korea.
Then while stationed at Fort Cronkite, just outside of Sausalito, he met Terry Cox, the love of his life. They were married on March 1, 1969. That summer he was transferred to Zweibrucken, Germany, where their daughter Suzanne Marie (Suzie) was born December 17, 1969, on Terry’s 20th birthday. Most of Mike’s stateside tours were at Fort Bliss (El Paso), Texas. In 1972, he was transferred to Okinawa, Japan, where their son William Michael Wininger, Jr. (Billy) was born December 12, 1972. Mike’s next overseas tour took the family back to Germany, this time to Ludwigsburg, just outside of Stuttgart for 3 years. Upon returning to the states, and with another transfer looming, Mike decided to leave the military in 1978, after 12 years of service.
The family moved to Sharon Springs, KS where Terry’s grandparents Wilbur and Addie Cox, step-mother Virginia (and husband Everett) Linton, and two brothers Gary and James Cox lived. Mike went to Northwest Kansas Area Vo-Tec in Goodland for a year, studying auto mechanics while working part time for Cowles Ford in Sharon Springs. After finishing school, Mike had second thoughts about leaving the military, and so he re-enlisted in 1979. He was immediately sent back to Germany, this time Germersheim. After completing that 3 year tour the family moved back to El Paso for the final time.
While planning for retirement, and Suzie’s graduation, 14 year old Billy was stricken with a brain aneurysm and passed away on May 18, 1987. Since the family had planned to move to Connecticut, where Terry was originally from, Billy was buried there. Mike reluctantly stood his retirement ceremony on May 31st, and Suzie graduated June 6th. The next day, they left for Connecticut.
After a couple of years of various mechanical positions, Mike went back to school for Truck Driving. With his certificate in hand, he and Terry moved to Phoenix, AZ, where he got his CDL and drove truck for a while. He quickly tired of being on the road all the time, so he changed to bus driving locally. He eventually went to work for “VIA Adventures” where he drove tour buses locally and for “Tauck Tours” throughout the Southwest.
While in Phoenix, Mike got involved with Remote Control Airplanes. It was a hobby that he enjoyed most and stuck with the longest. It was the next best thing to actually flying. He’d taken flight lessons in Germany, and again in Connecticut, but never got his pilot’s license.
Mike was a military dog handler while in Korea, and never lost his love of dogs. Over the years he had four Brittany Spaniels with “Lady Millennium of Sky Lodge”, Millie for short, being his favorite. His dream car was a 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle, 396, in candy apple orange with white racing stripes. He loved bright colors.
During his 2nd tour in Germany, he took hang gliding lessons, with his graduation flight in the Alps. His hang glider was red striped with all the primary colors. He was always a bit of a thrill seeker from flying and motorcycles, to drag racing his Chevy Nova. His love for fishing came from his father. He and Terry enjoyed bowling together in leagues and tournaments for the majority of their marriage. His proudest bowling achievement was converting the 7-10 split. Mike and Terry always enjoyed vacationing in Kansas on her brother’s farm, usually over Thanksgiving with lots of good food, family and pheasant hunting.
In 2015, after battling Valley Fever for a few years, he convinced Terry to retire and move out of the southwest. They relocated in Depoe Bay, a small resort town on the Oregon coast. His Valley Fever symptoms cleared up dramatically, and he did well for about a year. Right after moving to Oregon, he purchased an ocean going boat with all the crab and fishing gear. He really enjoyed spending time on the boat with family. In January 2019, he collapsed with lung problems. Four months later, he was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), an incurable unexplainable lung disease. Initial prognosis was maybe 5-10 years to live, but after only 2 years, it was revised to 6 months to 2 years.
Mike passed away in his sleep on October 1st, 2 days short of his 73rd birthday. There is no more pain and suffering. He is survived by his wife Terry of 50 years; his daughter Suzanne, her two children Ty and Nicole Zubrod; Suzanne’s 2nd husband James Mocek and his three sons, Jeremy, Zachary and Anthony; his sister Sandra Doty and her two boys, Jacob and Aaron. He is predeceased by his parents, his son William Jr., and brothers-in-law Gary Cox and David Doty.
Mike, you are in our hearts “Always and Forever”….
Graveside services for Mike will be held on Saturday, October 12, 2019 at 11:00 AM MT at the Weskan Cemetery in Weskan, Kansas with Reverend Paul McNall officiating.
Memorials may be designated to the Disabled American Veterans and may be left at the services or mailed to Koons-Russell Funeral Home, 211 N. Main Ave., Goodland, KS 67735.
Online condolences for the family may be left at www.koonsrussellfuneralhome.com.
Graveside services have been entrusted to Koons-Russell Funeral Home in Sharon Springs, KS.
On Friday, Sept. 27 at approximately 4:30 a.m., a fire broke out at the Ellis County Landfill service shop. The fire started in a large plastic container outside of the building that is available for the public to drop off hazardous household waste, such as paint cans.
Late in the afternoon on Thursday, Sept. 26, someone dropped off multiple stain-soaked rags that spontaneously combusted, causing the fire. An insurance claim was filed and the 30-by-50-foot building was deemed a total loss by the insurance company. No injuries were caused by the fire.
The Ellis County Public Works Department and the Ellis County Landfill would like to remind the public that oily/stained rags are considered unacceptable and are not to be disposed of at the landfill. It is important to know that oily rags should always be allowed to be completely dried out before disposing of them. Oily/stained rags should never be bunched and thrown away, as it increases the chances of spontaneous combustion, causing a fire/and or explosion.
Ellis County Public Works would like to extend a sincere thank-you to the Ellis County Fire Department and Hays Fire Department for a quick response, as well as the community for their patience and cooperation during the event.
For more information regarding the types of items that are acceptable/unacceptable, such as household hazardous waste, at the landfill, please visit our website at www.ellisco.net. Any questions can be directed to the Ellis County Landfill at 785-628-9460 or the Ellis County Environmental office at 785-628-9449.
