Join us October 19 for the 7th annual Run/Walk to Help Children Talk charity event.
This event will be held at the Fort Hays State University quad outside of the Memorial Union.
Registration begins at 8:15 a.m. with the races beginning at 9:00 a.m.
Prices for early-bird registration are $15.00 for FHSU students, $20.00 for adults, and $10.00 for children. Add $5.00 for registration after October 4, 2019.
Proceeds from the 5K run/walk and 1-mile fun walk will provide client scholarships to children in need of speech/language services and support the purchase of clinic materials for the FHSU Herndon Clinic.
The Run/Walk event is sponsored by the Salina Valley Scottish Rite Masons and the FHSU National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
For event information and registration, please visit our website www.fhsu.edu/runwalk.
MANHATTAN — The Kansas Department of Agriculture Division of Water Resources (KDA-DWR) will host two public meetings on Monday, October 21, 2019, to share information related to upcoming action responding to the impairment complaint by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.
Water rights owners in the area were sent notice this week of the KDA-DWR plan to regulate water rights. The meetings will review the anticipated regulation and the ongoing work with local stakeholders to develop a Water Conservation Area (WCA) that will provide flexibility in use for those regulated water rights.
Groundwater Management District 5 and the R9 Ranch in Edwards County (owned by the cities of Hays and Russell as a long-term water supply) are included in Zone A.
According to Toby Dougherty, Hays city manager, “only a small portion (few acres) of the R9 is in the Rattlesnake basin. Whatever the result of the Quivira impairment claim, it should have little, if any, effect on the R9.”
All area residents are welcome to attend one of the two meetings. KDA also plans to livestream the presentations and archive them on their website.
The public meetings will take place at 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at the Stafford County Courthouse Annex, 210 E. 3rd Ave. in St. John. Both meetings will include the same information.
More information related to the impairment complaint and investigation findings, the planned water administration, and plans to develop a WCA to provide flexibility can be found at agriculture.ks.gov/Quivira. Questions can also be addressed by calling KDA–DWR’s Stafford Field Office at 620-234-5311.
Last week’s inspection results from the Kansas Department of Agriculture:
Washington Elementary 8100 E. 13th St., Hays – Oct. 3
A routine inspection found one violation.
On the floor mixer arm, there was dried food residue present. The mixing bowl was being stored directly underneath the arm.
Indigo by Jasmine 111 8th St., Hays – Oct. 1
A routine inspection found one violation.
In the GE single-door refrigerator, there was an opened container of Silk Milk that did not have a date of when it was opened.
Walmart 4301 Vine, Hays – Oct. 1
A follow-up inspection to an administrative order found three violations.
In the self-service meat department, there were eight containers of a raw plant-based burger that was being stored directly under six sealed containers of raw ground beef. No evidence of leaking was observed.
In the self-service reach-in cooler, there were six containers of uncured raw turkey bacon that were being stored directly next to six containers of raw pork bacon. No evidence of leaking was observed.
In the deli sliding door cooler, there was a container of cooked ham that had an expiration date of 9/30/19.
Hays Middle School 29th St. and Fort, Hays – Sept. 30
A follow-up inspection found no violations.
Super 8 Hotel 3730 Vine, Hays – Sept. 30
A routine inspection found no violations.
Woodrow Wilson Elementary 101 E. 28th St., Hays – Sept. 30
A routine inspection found one violation.
In the Hobart three-door refrigerator, there was a container of opened milk with no date of when it was opened.
Raymond Torvie Parrott, 80, a longtime resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, died September 12, 2019 at the Nathan Adelson Hospice after a prolonged illness.
He was born December 5, 1938 in Cleburne County, Arkansas in a log cabin to Jake O. and Jessie Pearl (Tidwell) Parrott. He married the love of his life, Joyce Halling, December 29, 1962 in Hanston, Kansas.
Ray or Torvie as many knew him, served proudly in the Navy and then went to college. He attended Dodge City Community College and Wichita State University. He received a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education from Saint Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City, Kansas in 1971. He then completed a Master of Science degree in Education in 1975 at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas. He taught in many schools across Western Kansas and influenced countless lives as a teacher, coach, mentor, principal and superintendent. In 1989, he retired from school administration and relocated the family remaining at home to Las Vegas. He embarked on a second career as a croupier. (Look it up!) He really enjoyed interfacing with the public and sharing his particular brand of humor at the table.
He loved his family and friends, sharing his love of his second home, Las Vegas, with all who came to visit. He also loved going to movies and the many restaurants available around town. As his health declined, he found a way to stay connected through Facebook, sharing his love of old country music, playing games and making friends with people all around the world. He had a great sense of humor and an infectious laugh when he got really tickled about something.
Ray is survived by his wife of 56+ years, Joyce of Las Vegas; daughter Monica Scrudder of Gig Harbor, Washington; son Greg (Stefanie) of LaCrosse, Kansas; son Scott of Las Vegas; son Richard (Eva) of Hays, Kansas; daughter Jennifer York (Daren) of Scott City, Kansas; daughter Myrna of Las Vegas; 12 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren; sisters Wanda Abernathy (Robert) of Hutchinson, Kansas; Linda Rehmert of Eufala, Oklahoma; Brenda West of Corinth, Mississippi; and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents Jake O. and Jessie Pearl Parrott; his brother Andrew; a half-sister Opal Woodam; granddaughter Alexa Leigh Whalen; daughter Janelle Parrott Whalen; and son Michael Brett.
Remembrances can be sent to Palm Eastern Mortuary & Cemetery, 7600 S. Eastern Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada 89123.
Funeral service will be held on Saturday, October 26, 2019 at 10:30am at Christ the King Catholic Community, 4925 S. Torrey Pines Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89118. Interment will be Saturday, October 26, 2019 at 1:00pm at Palm Eastern Mortuary & Cemetery, 7600 S. Eastern Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada 89123.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to consider how far states can go toward eliminating the insanity defense in criminal trials as it reviews the case of a Kansas man sentenced to die for killing four relatives.
The high court planned to hear arguments Monday in James Kraig Kahler’s case. He went to the home of his estranged wife’s grandmother about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Topeka the weekend after Thanksgiving 2009 and fatally shot the two women and his two teenage daughters.
Not even Kahler’s attorneys have disputed that he killed them. They’ve argued that he was in the grips of a depression so severe that he experienced an extreme emotional disturbance that disassociated him from reality.
In seeking a not guilty verdict due to his mental state, his defense at his 2011 trial faced what critics see as an impossible legal standard. His attorneys now argue that Kansas violated the U.S. Constitution by denying him the right to pursue an insanity defense.
The nation’s highest court previously has given states broad latitude in how they treat mental illness in criminal trials, allowing five states, including Kansas, to abolish the traditional insanity defense. Kahler’s appeal raises the question of whether doing so denies defendants their guaranteed right to due legal process.
“Maybe they will establish some ground rules,” said Jeffrey Jackson, a law professor at Washburn University in Topeka. “They’ve been vague about what the standard is, and maybe now they’re going to tell us.”
Until 1996, Kansas followed a rule first outlined in 1840s England, requiring defendants pursuing an insanity defense to show that they were so impaired by a mental illness or defect that they couldn’t understand that their conduct was criminal. Now Kansas permits defendants to only cite “mental disease or defect” as a partial defense, and they must prove they didn’t intend to commit the specific crime. Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Utah have similar laws.
Christopher Slobogin, a professor of both law and psychiatry at the Vanderbilt University, said even seriously mentally ill defendants typically intend to the commit their crimes, even if their acts result from delusions.
“John Hinckley intended to kill President Reagan. He would not have had a defense in Kansas,” Slobogin said. “Name an insanity case, the person would not have had a defense in Kansas.”
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt argues that the Supreme Court has previously taken a “laboratories of democracy approach” so that states can try to improve criminal justice.
“Scholars and practitioners have struggled for literally hundreds of years to decide to how to handle evidence of a criminal defendant’s mental condition,” Schmidt said in an interview. “Kansas is merely continuing the long tradition of trying different approaches.”
Kahler’s attorneys contend he snapped under the strain of crumbling personal and professional lives. His estranged wife, Karen, was in a relationship with another woman and was seeking a divorce. He had lost his job as utilities director in Columbia, Missouri, and moved back to Kansas weeks earlier to live with his parents.
Karen Kahler and their three children were spending the Thanksgiving 2009 weekend at the home of Karen’s grandmother, Dorothy Wight, in Burlingame. James Kahler shot the women, then found his daughters and killed them. His young son, Sean, fled to a neighboring house and later testified at his father’s trial.
Slobogin, who helped write a handbook for attorneys and mental health professionals on psychological evaluations for courts, said insanity defenses typically arise in less than 1% of felony cases, and when those cases go to trial, the defendant loses three out of four times.
Still, Kansas legislators enacted the tougher standard in response to a push by crime victims, family members and friends.
They argued that defendants who escaped prison could be released from a state mental hospital after a relatively short stay. A report to state lawmakers in 1994 said that in the previous five years, 39 people who had been found not guilty by reason of insanity were confined to a state hospital. The average length of stay was 14½ months.
Supporters also argued that the new method was more straightforward for juries. Schmidt called it “simpler, cleaner and less confusing.”
But Jackson said: “Most standards that eliminate part of the defense are simpler for juries to understand.”
The teacher spent the entire hour reading to her class about farm
animals, and bulls in particular. When she had finished, she asked,
“name some things that are very dangerous to get near to and have
horns.”
Little Johnny spoke up without hesitation, “Automobiles?”
Fort Hays State University’s Academic Advising and Career Exploration Center will host its 11th annual come-and-go Majors and Graduate Programs Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16, in the Memorial Union’s Black and Gold Room.
“The fair is designed to provide current FHSU students, prospective FHSU students and community members the opportunity to be exposed to academic opportunities available at our university,” said Nikki Brown, assistant director of academic advising and career exploration.
The event is open to current FHSU students, prospective FHSU students and community members.
Representatives from all academic departments, Career Services, the Graduate School, the Honors College and study abroad will be available to answer questions.
“The fair is a great opportunity for students to learn more about the majors, minors, certificates and research opportunities available at FHSU,” said Brown.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Indianapolis Colts accomplished Sunday night what they failed to do in January.
They beat the Chiefs in Kansas City.
Marlon Mack ran for 132 yards, ageless kicker Adam Vinatieri knocked through four field goals and the Colts atoned ever-so-slightly for that playoff defeat by shutting down Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ vaunted offense in a 19-13 victory at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Colts (3-2) allowed points on the Chiefs’ first two possessions before shutting them out until Harrison Butker’s field goal with 1:16 to go. Indianapolis recovered the onside kick to seal the win.
Mahomes threw for 321 yards and a touchdown, and the Chiefs (4-1) had just 36 yards rushing despite getting top running back Damien Williams back from an injury, all while watching their record streak of 22 straight games scoring at least 26 points come to a crashing conclusion.
In an air-it-out era of the NFL, the Colts did it by dominating the line of scrimmage.
On offense, their big line bruised a Kansas City defensive front that lost defensive tackles Chris Jones and Xavier Williams to injuries. That created big holes for Mack and plenty of time for Jacoby Brissett, who threw for 151 yards while running for the Colts’ only touchdown.
On defense, the Colts spent most of the night in the Kansas City backfield, plugging up holes in the running game and relentlessly pressuring the reigning league MVP on passing downs.
Mahomes was sacked four times and hit plenty more. At one point in the second half, Cam Erving was pushed so far into Mahomes’ face that the backup left tackle stepped on his quarterback’s ankle, leaving Mahomes to hobble to the sideline when Kansas City was forced to punt.
The Colts and Chiefs mostly played to a first-half stalemate, but the second of Vinatieri’s four field goals made it 13-10 at the break. The real winners were the officials, who finally got to rest the arms that they used to throw flags for the first 30 minutes.
The Chiefs’ prolific offense continued to sputter in the second half, and Brissett and the Colts essentially played a game of keep-away throughout the third quarter and into the fourth.
They used 8:34 off the clock to move a mere 35 yards and set up Vinatieri’s next field goal. Then, when the Chiefs failed to convert fourth-and-1 at their own 34, Indianapolis got another field goal from Vinatieri with 2:30 to go to make it a two-possession game.
ALMOST INT
Mahomes nearly threw his first interception of the season in the third quarter, when FB Anthony Sherman batted a pass and LB Bobby Okereke caught it. A review showed the ball bounced off the ground.
RING OF HONOR
The Chiefs inducted OL Brian Waters into their Hall of Fame during halftime. Waters was a two-time All-Pro for Kansas City before wrapping his 13-year career with the Patriots and Cowboys.
HAPPY RETURNS
Colts DE Justin Houston celebrated his first trip to Kansas City as a visitor by sacking Mahomes in the first half. The four-time Pro Bowl pick had 78 1/2 sacks during eight seasons with the Chiefs.
FLAG DAY
Chiefs CB Bashaud Breeland had a night to forget. Not only did he struggle in pass coverage, he was flagged four times for 68 yards. That included a 53-yard pass interference call.
INJURIES
Colts: CBs Shak Taylor (chest) and Kenny Moore II (knee) left in the first half, joining inactive safeties Malik Hooker (knee), Glayton Geathers (concussion) and Rolan Milligan (knee) on the Indianapolis sideline. LB Zaire Franklin (hamstring) and DE Kemoko Turay (ankle) left in the second half.
Chiefs: WR Sammy Watkins (hamstring), LB Anthony Hitchens (groin) and DT Xavier Williams (ankle) left in the first half. DT Chris Jones (groin) and LG Andrew Wylie (ankle) left in the second half.
UP NEXT
Colts get the week off before traveling to Houston on Oct. 20.
Chiefs welcome the Texans to Arrowhead Stadium next Sunday.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting that left a man dead and after asking the public for help, received a tip through crime-stoppers and arrested 42-year-old David Pressley.
Pressley photo Sedgwick Co.
At approximately 12:30 a.m., on Sunday Sept. 29, officers were dispatched to a shooting call at Magoos Bar and Grill located in the 2300 block of S. Oliver. Upon arrival, officers located the scene of a shooting, but no victim was located. Shortly after, 29-year-old Demario Cooks arrived by private vehicle at an area hospital with critical injuries. Cooks later died of his injuries.
On Saturday night, police locted Pressley at 13th and Perry and he was arrested without incident.
He is being held on a $250,000 bond on charge of second-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of narcotics, unlawful possession of hallucinogenics and a Kansas Department of Corrections warrant.
Pressley has ten previous convictions for aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and for drugs, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
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SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting that left a man dead and asking the public for help in locating 42-year-old David Pressley.
Pressley photo Wichita Police
Pressley currently has a Kansas Department of Corrections Arrest and Detain order and investigators are wanting to speak to him in reference to Sunday’s criminal homicide in the parking lot of Magoos Bar and Grill in the 2300 block of South Oliver, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Just after 12:30 a.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to a shooting call outside the bar, according to officer Kevin Wheeler. Upon arrival, officers located the scene of a shooting, but no victim was located.
Shortly after, the victim identified as 29-year-old Demario Cooks of Wichita arrived by private vehicle at an area hospital with critical injuries and later died, according to Police Captain Brent Allred.
The preliminary investigation has revealed that the Cooks was inside the bar attending a birthday party, and a disturbance occurred between several other men. They moved into the parking lot, and multiple shots were fired, striking the victim.
If you know the whereabouts of Pressley, please call 911 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.
One evening public performance is scheduled at the Decatur Community Junior-Senior High School Auditorium, Monday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. CDT. The performance of “Three Billy Goats Gruff” is free to all attendees. The school is located at 605 E. Commercial, Oberlin.
The Western Plains Arts Association and each sponsoring district school is making this traveling program possible to elementary school children in Hoxie, Atwood, Winona, Sharon Springs, Colby and Quinter, with the support of public grants.
This WPAA project is supported in part by the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, a division of the Kansas Department of Commerce. The KCAIC receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
Area contributors include grants from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, Logan; the Greater Northwest Kansas Community Foundation- Dane G. Hansen Community Grants for Logan and Thomas County, and the Seele Foundation, Colby.
“Three Billy Goats Gruff” is the story of three sibling goats, Nanny, Billie, and Fred, who realize they have just run out of grass in their farmyard. Across the bridge they see a yard full of nice, green, yummy grass. The only problem is, underneath that bridge lives a grumbly, grouchy troll.
The three goats retreat into the barn to make their plans on how to get across the bridge to the new grass. Meanwhile, children meet a friendly, gentle troll that would never hurt anyone who loves to play but he’s just lonely for someone to play with. After numerous attempts, the three goats return and are determined to get across that bridge. Because the goats are so rude to the troll, he stops them before they can pass. The troll helps them understand how important manners are and that it’s not always greener on the other side. There is nothing to fear from the troll, in fact, they now have a new playmate– and lots of nice, fresh, new grass!
Wichita Children’s Threatre performs from September through February in Kansas and Nebraska. The company is professional in every facet, complete with storybook sets, costumes and props appropriate for each production.
Beginning at8 a.m. Monday, the 600 block of East 17th in Hays will be closed to through traffic for pavement repairs. Repairs are expected to be completed by the end of the day on Friday.
