J Richard Caldwell, 89, lifetime resident of Goodland, KS, passed away October 6th, 2019 at Cheyenne County Hospital in St. Francis, Kansas.
Richard was born to Irma (Nye) Caldwell and Jim Caldwell on November 30, 1929. He was the third born of four children. He attended Sherman Community High School and graduated in 1947. After High School he attended Kansas University for one year. He enjoyed driving around in his 1947 Ford Sportsman convertible with his friends, especially Gayle Fixsen, they had big fun even skipped school and took a road trip to Florida. Richard married Barbara (Elmore) Caldwell in 1952 in Las Vegas Nevada and had two children. Richard’s occupation throughout life was owner/operator of Caldwell’s Inc. in Goodland.
Richard’s favorite times were in Las Vegas with his wife, Barbara.
Preceding him in death are his wife Barbara (Elmore) Caldwell, his parents Jim and Irma (Nye) Caldwell, his sister Peggy Newhouse, brother Don Caldwell of Burlington, Co.
Survivors include, Daughter Terri Caldwell Lucas (Tony Poling) of Kingman AZ, Son Jaymes Caldwell (Tammy) of Goodland. Grand-children Michelle Kaup Kaiser (Paul Kaiser) of Goodland, Aubree Caldwell (JC Ely) of Stratton, CO, Joseph Caldwell of Cherryvale, KS. Great-grandchildren Emily Purvis of Denver, CO, Ezra Kaiser of Lawrence, KS, and Isaac Kaiser of Goodland.
The Caldwell family will have a celebration of life in November more details will be posted at a later date.
SALINA — A 51-year-old Salina man is without his 1966 Ford Thunderbird after someone stole it.
Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester said Wednesday that sometime between 9:45 p.m. Monday and 6 p.m. Tuesday, someone stole the car from where it was parked in the 300 block of Otto. The owner, who still has the keys, had moved the car outside from where it was stored so he could do some painting, Forrester said.
The car was described as being maroon with a black top and having a Kansas antique license tag of 212461, he said. The car was valued at $18,000, Forrester said.
The car was seen by a patrol officer at 2 p.m. on Tuesday near the intersection of South Kansas Avenue and Gypsum Avenue, but at that point, the car had not been reported stolen, he added.
Eight alumni and friends of Fort Hays State University will be honored at the Alumni Awards and Recognition Banquet on Oct. 11 during 2019 Homecoming weekend.
This year’s four Alumni Achievement Award recipients are Buck Arnhold ’74, ’76, ’80, Olathe; Kevin Faulkner ’83, ’83, Pebble Beach, Calif.; Dr. Leigh (Bunn) Goodson ’94, Tulsa, Okla.; and Michael Miller ’85, ’86, ’93, Kansas City, Mo.
The Alumni Achievement Award, the association’s highest honor, was established in 1959 to recognize graduates who have made outstanding and unselfish contributions in service to their community, state or nation as citizens, in chosen career fields or through philanthropic work. The award is based upon career and professional achievements, service involving community betterment, philanthropic activities and educational achievements.
The Young Alumni Award will go to two recipients: Cole Engel, Ph.D., CPA, ’07, ’07, ’09, Hays; and Joshua W. Snider ’05, El Paso, Texas.
The Young Alumni Award is granted to graduates of 10- through 15-year reunion classes. The award is designed to recognize those early in their careers who have had outstanding professional and educational achievements, community activities, honors and awards received, and other accomplishments since graduation. Candidates must hold a bachelor’s degree from FHSU, be members of the 10-15 reunion classes, and be under age 40 as of Jan. 1 of the year the awards are presented.
This year’s Distinguished Service Award goes to Dr. Christie (Patterson) Brungardt ’01 and
Dr. Curt Brungardt ’81, ’84 of Council Grove.
The Distinguished Service Award recognizes a graduate or friend of the university who has demonstrated a continuing concern for humanity on a universal, national, state or community level, who supports spiritual, cultural and educational objectives, and who endorses and exemplifies the highest standards of character and personal attributes. It is reserved for alumni or friends of the university.
Arnhold
ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS Buck Arnhold
After 40 years as a full-time professional artist and entrepreneur, Buck Arnhold is still actively creating. Upon completing his B.A., M.A. and M.F.A. from Fort Hays State, he launched his own successful sign and graphics business in Hays. He painted Bob Dole’s presidential announcement backdrop and murals for many organizations and schools including FHSU’s Forsyth Library.
In 1989 he relocated to Kansas City where he worked for Acme Sign Company with clients such as the Kansas City Chiefs and Boulevard Brewing Company. For the latter, he painted the iconic smokestacks which have been recreated as tap handles found in establishments across the region. During this time, he also produced works for the personal foundations of former Chiefs players including Derrick Thomas, Joe Montana and Marcus Allen.
Among many other high-flying art projects, Buck’s job required him to repaint the Chiefs’ Arrowhead sign atop the stadium by being hoisted 100 feet up in the air on a boom truck and, still not reaching the sign, swinging another 15 feet on a wooden seat hung with ropes, a five-gallon bucket of paint, a roller and a brush.
Always generous to share both his art and his knowledge, he has painted murals in El Salvador and designed décor, paintings and murals for countless fundraisers. He has been especially generous to Literacy Kansas City and The Good Samaritan Project, among others.
He has also painted murals in 28 of the 36 Olathe elementary schools. Arnhold has provided annual drawing demonstrations for elementary students hoping to engage and inspire youth in the artistic process. In 1998 he went to work for Associated Wholesale Grocers, where he was responsible for 1,500 murals and art in 22 states.
Faulkner
Kevin Faulkner
When Kevin Faulkner graduated from FHSU in 1983, he was already a very committed Tiger who showed great potential. He earned two B.A.s, one in political science and another economics, served as SGA president, received the Torch Award, and continued his education at the University of Virginia Law School, where he earned a Juris Doctorate.
Faulkner has succeeded at the highest level in his professional career, most of which has been spent while working as an investor relations officer (IRO) for various technology companies in Silicon Valley.
After 12 years as a securities and corporate lawyer with two prestigious West Coast firms, he embarked upon a career in investor relations that revolutionized that role for technology companies from an administrative position supporting the CEO and CFO to an outward-facing position working directly with investors while ensuring that all securities regulations and insider trading laws are followed.
Faulkner has been a generous supporter of Fort Hays State University through the FHSU Foundation and the FHSU entrepreneurship program. While serving since 2010 on the Foundation Board of Trustees Investment Committee and Executive Committee, he led efforts to improve the Foundation’s investment goals and strategy, which created many millions more in returns than the former strategy would have generated.
He has championed FHSU’s W.R. and Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship by providing resources to the entrepreneurship program, serving as a judge and supporter for the Faulkner Challenge entrepreneur competition, and developing support from local business leaders, regional economic development officials and potential investors.
Goodson
Dr. Leigh Goodson
As a highly energetic advocate of education and community service, Dr. Leigh (Bunn) Goodson has risen through the educational ranks and is currently the president of Tulsa Community College. The foundation for Leigh’s stellar career achievements can be traced back to her experience as an admissions counselor for FHSU, a position she held while she completed work on a Master of Science degree in organizational communication. Her focus, then and now, is on students and helping change their economic trajectories.
Tulsa Community College is recognized as a nationally prominent urban community college that annually serves 27,000-plus students at four Tulsa metro campuses and two community campuses.
Under her leadership, TCC was selected as one of 30 colleges nationwide to participate in the Pathways Project, a program sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Through the Pathways program and with a significant financial commitment from the college and private funders, TCC was able to increase support services to help students graduate.
Those practices have transformed the college. Results include increased retention rates, an increased number of students taking full-time class loads, allowing developmental education students to access college-level classes quicker, and higher retention rates for students of color.
Prior to assuming the TCC presidency in 2014, Goodson served as vice president for research and institutional advancement at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, where she administered $30 million in grants and contracts and directed all federal government relations for both OSU campuses in Tulsa.
Her service includes membership on the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce Board, the Tulsa World Community Advisory Board, the Tulsa Area United Way Campaign, the YMCA of Greater Tulsa Metropolitan Board of Directors and the Tulsa Public Schools Board of Education, among others.
Miller
Michael Miller
Mike Miller earned several degrees from FHSU, including an A.S. in radiologic technology in 1985, a B.S. in general science in 1986 and an M.S. in physical education in 1993. After serving FHSU as a clinical instructor of radiology, he left to pursue his life-long dream of following in his father’s footsteps and becoming an agent for the FBI.
Miller earned his FBI special agent certification at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. Since 1998, he has served in many roles, most recently as a training coordinator and special agent for the FBI in Kansas City. Early in his FBI career, he obtained a conviction in a $28 million Medicare fraud scheme. After the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Miller was deployed to New York on two occasions. During the first, he was a member of the response team that recovered a weaponized anthrax-laced letter sent to the New York Post. On his second deployment, he worked to search for, recover and document evidence and human remains from Ground Zero rubble.
He has received multiple awards for his FBI work in a variety of cases, including preventing violence against Westboro Baptist Church members and counter-protestors, recovery of the newborn baby of Bobbi Jo Stinnett, and coordination of searches and testimony in a plot to attack a mosque in Southwest Kansas.
As the Topeka Jewish community became more concerned about dangers from shooters and other threats, Miller became instrumental to the Beth Shalom temple.
Engel
YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD Dr. Cole Engel
A lifelong FHSU Tiger, Dr. Cole Engel, CPA, earned two undergraduate degrees in 2007, B.B.A.s in computer information systems and accounting from Fort Hays State. He also earned an MBA in accounting from FHSU in 2009, and later became a licensed CPA. During graduate school, he served as a graduate teaching assistant. He credits that experience with molding his career path as a university professor.
Engel has been an instructor of accounting since 2009. After receiving his Ph.D. from Northcentral University in 2016, he was advanced to the rank of assistant professor of economics, finance and accounting. He has written multiple research articles for peer-reviewed publications.
During his 10 years teaching at FHSU, Engel has twice earned the Outstanding COBE Faculty Award. His work in academic advising has been recognized nationally by NACADA, the global community for academic advising as well as on-campus with the Edmund Shearer and Navigator Awards.
His most extensive and long-term community-service activity has been with the Internal Revenue Service’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. He started as a student volunteer and is now the faculty supervisor who works with student preparers. The program annually provides free tax assistance to more than 150 low-to-middle-income, local taxpayers who need help completing their tax returns.
Along with providing professional service-learning experiences for his students, leadership on the Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout boards of review, and support for other non-profit community organizations, Engel is a member of the FHSU Foundation Board of Trustees and serves on its Audit Committee. He created a named scholarship with the FHSU Foundation for undergraduate accounting students.
Snider
Joshua W. Snider
Completing his B.A. in political science, in 2005, and his Juris Doctorate, from Texas Tech University School of Law in 2008, Joshua Snider has become a shining star of Texas and FHSU for his tremendous impact on the U.S./Mexico border region.
He currently is a managing shareholder and attorney for Gordon Davis Johnson and Shane P.C., a business boutique firm in El Paso, Texas. He is licensed in Texas and New Mexico and admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. He served as an advisory member of the State Bar of Texas’ Professionalism Committee in 2014-2015.
Snider’s work includes inbound and outbound business transactions, with an emphasis on cross-border issues in Mexico, international tax planning and compliance, multinational joint ventures, complex international structures, wealth planning for high-net-worth individuals, international estate planning and a wide range of domestic and transactional tax and corporate matters.
His community service includes serving on the board and pro-bono legal counsel of the FEMAP Foundation, a multinational non-profit that raises funds to assist El Paso’s sister city, Ciudad Juarez, and its citizens to improve the quality of life through health services, education, research, and economic and social empowerment. The foundation primarily assists with funding for the Hospital de la Familia and its nursing school.
Snider formerly served on the Millennial Advisory Board for the Hospitals of Providence System, and on the board for the El Paso Chapter of March of Dimes. Josh also has provided pro bono legal services to families in need.
Dr. Curt Brungardt and Dr. Christie Brungardt
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD Dr. Curt Brungardt and Dr. Christie Brungardt
The Distinguished Service Award could have been designed with Drs. Curt and Christie (Patterson) Brungardt in mind. Both are FHSU alumni and longtime faculty members in the Department of Leadership Studies, of which Curt Brungardt was the founding department chair. Upon their recent retirement, they were awarded emeritus faculty status for their service to the university.
The curriculum of the Leadership Studies Department, with 18 full-time faculty and nearly 1,700 students worldwide, is focused on citizenship and creating citizen leaders. Its methodology emphasizes service-learning and civic engagement. They have described the impetus for their work as: “We have committed our lives to be social entrepreneurs.”
They created the Center for Civic Leadership to expand civic engagement opportunities to all FHSU students and staff. The Center’s projects include the American Democracy Project; Tigers in Service; the Kansas Youth Leadership Academy; and the Benjamin Franklin Papers learning experience for K-12 students.
The Women’s Leadership Project, founded by Christie Brungardt, was created to “educate, inspire and empower women to be the leaders of tomorrow.” The Red Flag Campaign is an initiative of the WLP to educate students to recognize the warning signs of dating violence.
Red Flag was implemented from a separate, highly personal project. The Brungardts founded Jana’s Campaign, a national nonprofit organization, as a result of a deeply personal tragedy, the murder of their 25-year-old daughter, Jana Mackey. Jana’s Campaign was created “with the single purpose of reducing gender and relationship violence.” The campaign has so far been carried to more than 600 middle and high schools and 400 colleges and universities in 38 states.
Hillsboro Community Hospital in Hillsboro, Kansas, about 50 miles north of Wichita, has kept its doors open through a receivership and bankruptcy. Dan Margolies / KCUR 89.3
By DAN MARGOLIES Kansas News Service
HILLSBORO —
A Kansas City-based company that specializes in turning around financially distressed hospitals is proposing to purchase Hillsboro Community Hospital in rural Kansas for $6.9 million.
The company, Rural Hospital Group, was formed in 2017 and has acquired three other rural hospitals: one in Wellington, Kansas; another in Boonville, Missouri; and a third in Marion, Kentucky. It has since sold the hospital in Boonville.
Hillsboro Community Hospital was placed in receivership in January and then in Chapter 11 bankruptcy after its previous owner defaulted on its bills and other financial obligations.
Through a subsidiary, Rural Hospital Group has submitted a “stalking horse” bid for Hillsboro, meaning if any other bidders emerge, RHG’s bid will set the floor for other bids. So far, Rural Hospital Group appears to be the only bidder.
“We have signed an asset purchase agreement, which starts the stalking horse process,” said Dennis Davis, one of RHG’s principals.
Davis said he expects the purchase to close before the end of the year.
“If there are no other bidders, our bid will be accepted as the bid and we will close fairly quickly,” he said.
In 2017, its operations were taken over by a group of Miami businessmen led by Jorge Perez, a group that had acquired control of nearly two dozen distressed rural hospitals across the United States.
Last week, a member of the group, David Byrns, was charged in federal court in Kansas City with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Byrns was CEO of Putnam County Memorial Hospital in Unionville, Missouri, another 15-bed hospital taken over by Perez’s group before it was ousted by the hospital’s board of trustees.
The Unionville hospital was the subject of a scorching audit more than two years ago by Missouri State Auditor Nichole Galloway, who questioned the legality of a lab billing scheme orchestrated by the group.
Byrns stands accused of submitting fraudulent laboratory test claims on behalf of patients who never set foot in Putnam County Memorial Hospital. Court documents indicate the criminal case has been transferred to Florida for a future plea and sentencing.
Late last year, Perez’s group, Empower HMS, began missing payments on Hillsboro Community Hospital’s bills, and the town, which lies about 50 miles north of Wichita, threatened to cut off the hospital’s electricity. The Bank of Hays eventually sought to foreclose on the hospital after it defaulted on a construction loan, which led to the appointment of a receiver to run the hospital’s affairs. The receiver, Cohesive Management + Consulting, in turn put the hospital in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March.
Under the auspices of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee, Hillsboro Community Hospital’s finances have stabilized. Davis said the hospital still has not been able to access financial statements predating the bankruptcy because Perez’s group installed its own electronic records system and cut off access to it after they were ousted.
“So if you just look at day one, which is like January of this year, right to this day, that’s the only financial information we have had to make our evaluation,” Davis said. “But at least we know that’s been prepared honestly.”
Davis said his group’s turnaround strategy generally entails reducing staff, renegotiating contracts, updating a hospital’s fees and installing its own electronic system.
“A lot of this almost doesn’t really apply to Hillsboro because Hillsboro went through a unique situation,” he said. “But generally speaking, most rural hospitals that are in financial trouble either have poor governance or poor management or both.”
RHG plans to fund its purchase with its own money as well as a loan from the Bank of Hays, according to bankruptcy court documents.
Brent King, Hillsboro’s Chapter 11 trustee, said he was looking forward to establishing a relationship with RHG.
“They understand rural healthcare and they will serve the Hillsboro community with pride,” he said.
Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
Logan resident Donna M. Lowry passed away Oct. 8, 2019 at the Logan Manor in Logan at the age of 75. She was born June 19, 1944 in Almena, KS, the daughter of Roland & Maxine (Price) Glenn.
Survivors include her husband Max of the home; 2 sons, Mark of Stockton & Kirk of Brush, CO; her daughter Pam Crist of Phillipsburg; 1 sister, Rovella Shearer of Norton; 9 grandchildren, 6 step grandchildren & 8 great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held Sat. Oct. 12 at 10:30 a.m. in the Logan Christian Church with Pastor Troy Buss officiating. Burial will follow in the Pleasant View Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 5:00 to 9:00 Thursday & 12:00 to 9:00 Friday at the Logan Funeral Home.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Church or the Logan Community Development Foundation.
LAWRENCE — This fall, the Kansas Honor Scholar Program, a longstanding tradition of the University of Kansas Alumni Association and KU Endowment, will honor more than 3,600 high school seniors throughout Kansas for their academic excellence and achievement.
Since 1971 the program has honored more than 140,000 high school seniors — from all 105 Kansas counties and approximately 360 high schools — for ranking academically in the top 10 percent of their class. The program is made possible by KU Endowment, alumni donations and proceeds from the Alumni Association’s Jayhawk license plate program, and allows the University and the Alumni Association to create more scholarship opportunities for Kansas students.
This year, the Association and KU’s Office of Admissions and Scholarships awarded five incoming freshmen from Garden City, Kansas City, Liberal, Topeka and Winfield one-time, $1,000 Kansas Honor Scholar Scholarships, funded entirely by alumni donations. In addition, two students, from Salina and Kansas City, received the $1,000 renewable four-year Herbert Rucker Woodward Scholarship, given annually for the past 21 years to Kansas Honor Scholars. Since 1985, more than 17,000 Kansas Honor Scholars have attended KU.
Scholars and their families are invited to attend any of the 13 regional ceremonies:
Ceremonies will include speakers, recognition of the scholars, and a reception for scholars, families, school administrators and alumni. During the ceremony, students will receive distinctive Kansas Honor Scholar medallions that can be worn at their local graduations or recognition events. In addition, the Alumni Association will mail certificates to all high schools for distribution to all 3,600 Kansas Honor Scholars. For more information and to register online, visit kualumni.org/khs.
Northwest Kansas students earning the honor are below:
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Fort Hays State Men’s Basketball received a pick of fourth in both the MIAA Preseason Coaches and Media Polls, released on Wednesday during MIAA Basketball Media Day at The College Basketball Experience. The Tigers were tabbed in the position where they finished last season.
Defending national champion Northwest Missouri State topped both polls following an undefeated 38-0 season. The top four remained consistent in both polls with Missouri Southern second, Washburn third, and Fort Hays State fourth. The top four of the polls nearly mirrors how the regular season standings finished last year, the only difference is Washburn finished second and Missouri Southern finished third in conference play. From fifth through 14th, picks vary in the polls.
Fort Hays State is coming off an 18-11 season in 2018-19. The Tigers went 12-7 in MIAA play to finish alone in fourth place. FHSU saw its season end in the MIAA Tournament Quarterfinals. The Tigers lost all three of their all-conference performers from last year, which included Brady Werth, Marcus Cooper, and Kyler Kinnamon.
The Tigers have six returners to the squad this season, however, only four were on the floor last year as two redshirted. Aaron Nicholson is the top returning scorer from last year. He averaged 9.0 points per game and led the team in 3-point field goals made (45). Devin Davis is the top scorer off the bench from last year, who averaged 8.6 points per contest. Jared Vitztum is the top returning rebounder, who pulled down 5.3 per game while chipping in 7.3 points per game. Nyjee Wright also returns after scoring 4.8 points per game last year.
Mark Johnson enters his 19th year guiding the Tigers. He is the longest tenured coach in the program’s history and also the program’s all-time wins leader with a career record of 359-172. He has led the Tigers to three conference titles and seven NCAA Tournament appearances.
Johnson brought in eight newcomers to this year’s squad. Five of the newcomers are transfers, while three are true freshmen.
The first action for FHSU will be on Thursday, October 24 in an exhibition contest at the University of Kansas. Tipoff is set for 7 pm at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.
Men’s Coaches Poll
1. Northwest Missouri (13) – 169 points
2. Missouri Southern (1) – 157 points
3. Washburn – 131 points
4. Fort Hays State – 124 points
5. Northeastern State – 99 points
6. Central Missouri – 96 points
7. Lincoln – 93 points
8. Pittsburg State – 92 points
9. Rogers State – 68 points
10. Emporia State – 66 points
11. Newman – 61 points
12. Missouri Western – 58 points
13. Central Oklahoma – 44 points
14. Nebraska Kearney – 16 points
Men’s Media Poll
1. Northwest Missouri (19) – 279 points
2. Missouri Southern (1) – 259 points
3. Washburn – 238 points
4. Fort Hays State – 198 points
5. Pittsburg State – 183 points
6. Lincoln – 156 points
7. Central Missouri – 140 points
8. Emporia State – 123 points
9. Missouri Western – 120 points
10. Newman – 103 points
11. Rogers State – 102 points
12. Northeastern State – 88 points
13. Nebraska Kearney – 64 points
14. Central Oklahoma- 46 points
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A year after winning both the regular season MIAA title and the conference tournament championship, the Fort Hays State women’s basketball team is listed atop the 2019-20 MIAA Preseason Coaches and Media Polls, released Wednesday (Oct. 9) at MIAA Basketball Media Day. It is the first time the Tigers have been ranked first in either MIAA preseason poll.
The Tigers were listed atop 10 ballots in the coaches poll, earning 166 points in the balloting process. FHSU picked up 14 first-place votes in the media poll, totaling 271 points. Central Missouri is a close second in both polls, finishing six points back according to the coaches and eight points back in the media edition.
Fort Hays State finished 32-2 last season, a new program record in the DII era and the second most in team history. The Tigers finished 18-1 in regular season conference play, winning the league by three games. It was the third time FHSU reached 18 conference victories since joining the MIAA in 2006, a total no other school has reached more than once in that span.
The Tigers went on to win their first conference tournament championship after winning three games over four days in Kansas City. It was the first time since 2012 a team took home both regular season and tournament trophies.
After being named the top seed and host for the NCAA DII Central Regional, the Tigers advanced to the regional title game for the second time before falling to national runner-up Southwestern Oklahoma State.
The Tigers return 10 letterwinners from a year ago, including three All-MIAA performers in Kacey Kennett (second team), Lanie Page (third team) and Belle Barbieri (honorable mention). Additions to the roster include two transfers and two freshmen.
Head coach Tony Hobson begins his 12th year at Fort Hays State with a career record of 650-200, the second-most wins among all coaches in the MIAA. He has won 237 games with the Tigers, more than any other coach in program history (237-94). Hobson holds the best four-year college winning percentage among coaches in the MIAA and is sixth among active Division II coaches (448-134, .770).
It is the eighth-consecutive season the Tigers have been picked to finish in the top five in the preseason coaches poll.
Fort Hays State will open the preseason on November 1 when the Tigers travel to Manhattan, Kan. for an exhibition contest before opening the year one week later against Minnesota Duluth on November 8 in St. Joseph, Mo.
2019-20 MIAA Women’s Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll 1. Fort Hays State (10) – 166 points
2. Central Missouri (4) – 160 points
3. Washburn – 134 points
4. Pittsburg State – 131 points
5. Emporia State – 130 points
6. Nebraska Kearney – 100 points
7. Central Oklahoma – 97 points
8. Newman – 83 points
9. Missouri Southern – 67 points
10. Northwest Missouri – 64 points
11. Missouri Western – 62 points
12. Northeastern State – 37 points
13. Rogers State – 25 points
14. Lincoln – 17 points
2019-20 MIAA Women’s Basketball Preseason Media Poll 1. Fort Hays State (14) – 271 points
2. Central Missouri (6) – 263 points
3. Pittsburg State – 227 points
4. Washburn – 217 points
5. Emporia State – 213 points
6. Nebraska Kearney – 161 points
7. Central Oklahoma – 160 points
8. Missouri Western – 131 points
9. Newman – 120 points
10. Missouri Southern – 109 points
11. Northwest Missouri – 84 points
12. Rogers State – 73 points
13. Northeastern State – 47 points
14. Lincoln – 23 points
Rain changing over to snow possible on Thursday Night with a killing freeze over much of the area by early Friday morning. #kswxpic.twitter.com/Wd4iet5KYc
The National Weather Service has issued a freeze watch in effect from Thursday evening through Friday morning.
Forecasters are calling for a radical change in the weather, with temperatures going from a high of near 80 degrees on Wednesday to as low as 24 degrees overnight Thursday.
The freeze watch include most of western Kansas, including Hays and Ellis County.
The NWS said a freeze could kill crops and sensitive vegetation, as well as damage outdoor plumbing, reminded residents to unhook hoses from spigots to prevent damage. The NWS further warned those with in-ground sprinkler systems should drain the system and cover above-ground pipes to avoid them from freezing.
There is also a chance for precipitation as the front rolls in, with the NWS predicting a 40 percent chance of rain and possibly snow.
The temperature will rebound somewhat Saturday and Sunday, with highs in the low 60s, but overnight lows still could dip below freezing.
RUSSELL COUNTY — One person was injured in an accident just before 3:30 a.m. Wednesday in Russell County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1996 Dodge Ram driven by James Thomas Bond, 51, Edna, was eastbound on Interstate 70 just west of the Dorrance exit.
The driver failed to move left for the construction zone, the KHP said. The pickup struck the KDOT arrow sign, traveled through the south ditch and KDOT fence and came to rest on the south side of Old U.S. 40.
EMS transported Bond to the hospital in Russell. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
Dorothy M. Kopke, 92, passed away October 7, 2019 at Country Place Senior Living, Larned. She was born December 15, 1926 at Lawrence, to Horace Floyd & Francis Lucille (Howard) Nisely. She married Warren H. Kopke on April 15, 1950 at Lawrence. He died August 4, 2007.
Dorothy was a legal secretary, working alongside her husband in his law practice. She was a member of First Christian Church and loved to travel.
Survivors include, one brother in law; one sister in law; many nieces, and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Warren H. Kopke; and one sister in law.
Visitation will be held from 1:00 to 9:00 p.m., Monday, October 28, 2019 at Bryant Funeral Home. Graveside Service will be held at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, October 29, 2019 at Great Bend Cemetery, with Pastor Josh Leu presiding.
Memorials are suggested to First Christian Church in Great Bend, in care of Bryant Funeral Home.
SARCOXIE, MO (AP) — Jurors have ruled that an 86-year-old former minister is a sexually violent predator who should remain confined even though he has completed a 15-year prison sentence for sodomizing teenage boys.
Peckham photo MDC
Jurors reached the verdict last month in the case against Donald Peckham, but the case records weren’t publicized until Tuesday. Prosecutors say Peckham, who is from Sarcoxie in Southwest Missouri, sexually abused at least 14 boys between 12 and 16 years old over the course of 30 years and continued to victimize young boys until he was 67 years old.
Defense attorney Amy Clay says the decision to indefinitely commit Peckham to a treatment program run by the Missouri Department of Mental Health amounts to a “life sentence” because few people get through it.
J Richard Caldwell, 89, lifetime resident of Goodland, KS, passed away October 6th, 2019 at Cheyenne County Hospital in St. Francis, Kansas.
Salina Post
