Martina Holmes, age 95, passed away on Sunday, August 25, 2019 at Cedar Village Care Center, Ness City, Kansas. She was born on May 17, 1924.
Rosary and Parish Vigil will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at Fitzgerald Funeral Home, Ness City. Mass of Christian burial will be on Thursday, August 29, 2019, 11:00 a.m. at Sacred Heart Church, Ness City, Kansas.
Memorial contributions may be given to the Sacred Heart Cemetery Fund.
By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
A Wilson man was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for his role in an armed robbery and assault on a fellow inmate while in the Ellis County jail.
Jeremy Schulmeister, 33, was sentenced to a total of 133 months in prison Monday in Ellis County District Court after he was found guilty of three felony charges earlier this month.
Schulmeister was sentenced to 102 months in prison for aggravated robbery and 12 months for aggravated battery.
In February, Schulmeister and another man offered to give a man a ride near the Fort Hays State campus, but instead of dropping the man off on campus, the two men robbed the man at gun point.
They robbed the man of more than $1,500 cash, an iPhone and clothes.
While in the Ellis County jail, Schlmeister attacked another inmate and broke his nose, authorities said. Schlmeister was sentenced to 19 months in prison for aggravated battery.
At Monday’s sentencing, Schlmeister apologized to the victims, his family and the court. He said he is now being treated for mental health issues.
Q: What musical instrument is found in the bathroom?
A: A tuba toothpaste.
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KANSAS CITY,– A former Kansas City Chiefs football player, who was tasered twice while struggling with officers and resisting arrest, was charged in federal court Monday with illegally possessing firearms, according to the United State’s Attorney’s office.
Saousoalii P. Siavii, Jr., also known as “Junior,” 40, of Independence, Missouri, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., with three counts of being an unlawful drug user in possession of firearms. Siavii remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.
Monday’s federal criminal complaint alleges that Siavii, an unlawful user of illegal drugs, has been arrested on three occasions in which he was in possession of both illegal drugs and loaded firearms. Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who is an unlawful drug user to be in possession of any firearms or ammunition.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Siavii was arrested on Saturday, Aug. 24. Independence, Missouri, police officers responded to parking lot on U.S. 40 Highway, where a witness said he located his friend’s stolen 2017 Jeep Wrangler Sport. The witness told police he saw a man later identified as Siavii getting out of the driver’s seat of the vehicle.
Officers contacted Siavii, the affidavit says, who disregarded their commands, and an officer deployed his Taser on Siavvi. Siavvi, who is six feet, five inches tall and weighs approximately 330 pounds, fell to the ground and officers attempted to gain control as he began to actively resist arrest. Siavii began pushing himself up off the ground, at which time a loaded Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol fell directly in front of him within his reach. An officer drew his duty weapon and put it to Siavii’s back, due to him not being under physical control, while another officer grabbed Siavii’s firearm and threw it several feet away. Officers continued to fight with Siavii, the affidavit says, while giving him commands to stop resisting and to place his hands behind his back. An officer deployed his Taser on Siavii again with little effect. Siavii was able to get on top of the officer, who was on the ground at this point. Another officer was eventually able to put Siavii in a neck restraint and render him unconscious long enough to handcuff him. Siavii continued to resist even after being handcuffed.
Officers searched Siavii’s backpack and found additional ammunition, 5.2 grams of methamphetamine, 12.2 grams of marijuana, and drug paraphernalia.
In addition to the Aug. 24 incident, today’s complaint cites two more incidents in which Siavii was arrested while in possession of illegal drugs and firearms.
On Aug. 4, 2019, Independence police officers were dispatched to the area of 24 Highway and Jennings on a stolen auto report. A 2019 Chevrolet Silverado had been stolen in Sugar Creek, Missouri, and was being tracked by On-Star to the parking lot of the Great Western Motel. When officers arrived, Siavii was walking away from the stolen vehicle, the affidavit says, and fled on foot when he saw the officers. Officers attempted to take Siavii into custody, but he resisted and fought with officers. Siavii was lying on his stomach and constantly reached towards his waistband. After a prolonged struggle with Siavii, officers were able to take him into custody. When officers rolled him to his side, a loaded Sturm Ruger handgun was located underneath him. Officers searched Siavii and found 4.4 grams of methamphetamine. Officers searched the stolen Silverado and found a Cobra Enterprises .32-caliber handgun and drug paraphernalia.
On April 7, 2019, Independence police officers attempted a traffic stop in the area of 24 Highway and Lee’s Summit Road on a silver Ford Fusion for an improperly registered license plate. The vehicle, driven by Siavii, had been observed at a known drug house. Siavii failed to stop and a pursuit was initiated. During the pursuit, Siavii’s vehicle reached speeds up to 101 m.p.h. Siavii’s vehicle eventually left the roadway on Maywood Avenue and he was seen running northbound; he was located by officers and taken into custody. Officers found a loaded Phoenix Arms .22-caliber handgun in the front cup holder of the vehicle. Also found in the vehicle was 3.8 grams of marijuana, two baggies that contained a total of .6 grams of methamphetamine, ammunition, and drug paraphernalia.
The complaint also cites two earlier incidents in which Siavii was in possession of illegal drugs when he was stopped by police officers. Siavii was arrested on Jan. 17, 2019, following a traffic stop. According to the affidavit, when he got out of his vehicle, he pulled away from officers, causing the officers to take him to the ground where he continued to resist. Officers searched him and found a Xanax pill; they also found a prescription bottle that belonged to another person and contained more pills and marijuana. Siavii also was arrested on April 21, 2018, for driving under the influence. According to the affidavit, he was in possession of a straw that contained cocaine residue.
The charges contained in this complaint are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
Friends,
The Environmental Protection Agency recently announced the exemption of 31 refineries from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) biofuel-blending requirements.
Eight of Kansas’ ten ethanol plants are in the Big First District, and combined produce more than 509 million gallons of renewable fuel using corn and sorghum. Exempting these 31 small refineries from their RFS obligations – especially if they do not reallocate the renewable fuel gallons to other obligated parties – will be devastating to Kansas communities, and rural areas in particular.
As Co-Chair of the House Biofuels Caucus, I joined several of my Congressional colleagues in sending a letter last week to the Government Accountability Office formally calling for an investigation and asking for transparency into the process of granting these exemptions. We must, at the very least, understand how these exemption determinations were reached and the economic impact they will have on communities and producers in Kansas and across the country.
Children’s Mercy
Throughout my career as an OB-GYN in rural Kansas, I would collaborate with specialists at Children’s Mercy Hospital several times a year. They served as an extension to my work, and I’m grateful to have had this partnership.
Children’s Mercy recently invited me to meet with their leadership team and tour the hospital, and the construction site for what will be a cutting edge research center. The Children’s Research Institute will pursue answers to pediatric medicine’s most challenging questions.
I’m honored to have played a role last Congress in advancing pediatric medical research through the passage of the Childhood Cancer STAR Act, and advocate for robust funding for NIH. Kansas has the talent and experts to play a key role in medical research and I look forward to seeing, not only the research they will produce, but how they will enhance the Kansas workforce and economy.
YMCA Tour
I received a tour of the fantastic YMCA in Salina and learned about the youth development and childcare programs the facility offers, as well as participate in an exercise class with a group of seniors. Kansas YMCAs serve more than 600,000 people in 30 communities and provide health, fitness, and nutritional programs for people of all ages. I applaud the staff for the excellent work they do for Salinans.
Closing the Digital Divide
Last Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission authorized nearly $191.2 million in support in Kansas over the next decade to smaller, rural carriers utilizing the Universal Service Fund. This assistance can be used to maintain, improve, and expand access to broadband in these providers service areas. It’s another step toward closing the digital divide in rural America, and I applaud Chairman Pai’s commitment to ensuring that all people, no matter where they live, have access to an affordable and reliable internet connection. For more information, Click Here.
USDA Details Trade Damage Estimate Calculations
USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist has published a detailed accounting of how estimated damage from trade disruptions was calculated for its support package for farmers. The Chief Economist’s office developed an estimate of gross trade damages for commodities with assessed retaliatory tariffs by China, India, the European Union, and Turkey to set commodity payment rates and purchase levels. This is the same approach used by the World Trade Organization is trade dispute cases.
The full description of the Trade Damage Estimation for the Market Facilitation Program and Food Purchase and Distribution Program is available on the website of USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist.
Investing in Local Health Centers
The Department of Health and Human Services awarded nearly $107 million dollars to enhance efforts of the highest performing and most improved health centers across the county. Funding will go towards enhancing the quality and value of health care they provide to local communities.
Eighteen health centers across Kansas have been awarded a total of $1.25 million in recognition of their achievements as clinical quality improvers, health disparity reducers, and national quality leaders.
FHL Bank
On Wednesday, I took part in a discussion at Topeka Federal Home Loan Bank, one of 11 Federal Home Loan Banks in the United States. I learned about how Topeka FHLBank’s programs help our community banks continue their investment in our communities. We spoke about the need for skilled labor in Kansas, the impact of international trade on our economy, and the FHLBank’s affordable housing program, which has awarded $12.2 million in grants to first-time homeowners in the Big First District since 2012.
UAS Tech Forum
I was honored to speak at the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Tech Forum in Salina on Thursday, an event featuring national speakers and top-notch panel discussions focused on precision agriculture, first responders, and UAS innovations.
Several Kansas colleges and the Kansas Department of Transportation have become industry leaders in unmanned flight systems. Kansas has always been a leader in aviation, and I will continue to support innovation to allow for more application of drone technology.
Dr. Roger Marshall, R-Great Bend, is the First District Kansas Congressman.
HARVEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities and USD 439 school district officials are investigating an alleged school threat.
On Monday evening, the Sedgwick Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office investigated a threat of potential violence against Sedgwick Public Schools, according to a social media report from the sheriff’s office. The suspect in that threat, a 14-year-old juvenile, was identified and taken into custody for alleged criminal threat.
This was an isolated incident. There is no active threat. Authorities released no additional details late Monday and there was no word of additional police at the school Tuesday. A portion of the city of Sedgwick is located in Harvey County.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Marcus Semien homered, tripled and drove in a career-high seven runs as the Oakland Athletics set season highs for runs and hits in a 19-4 thrashing of the Kansas City Royals on Monday night.
Jurickson Profar, Matt Chapman and Khris Davis also went deep for the A’s, who are locked in a tight race with Cleveland and Tampa Bay for the two American League wild cards. Josh Phegley drove in three runs and scored three times. Four players had three hits and every starter got at least one as Oakland finished with 22.
Seth Brown singled in the first two at-bats of his big league career, scored twice and drove in a run.
Homer Bailey (12-8) threw six innings, allowing three runs and eight hits, to get the win against his former team.
Oakland scored five runs in both the second and third, backed by Semien’s big hits.
Royals starter Brad Keller (7-14) lasted just 1 1/3 innings, exiting after Semien’s bases-loaded triple put Oakland up 5-0. After retiring his first four hitters, Keller let six straight reach – including three consecutive walks that forced in two runs prior to Semien’s triple.
By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
RUSSELL — Sherwin Stielow has flown to great heights without ever leaving the ground.
Stielow, 85, of Russell has been flying RC planes since the late 1960s.
He said the hobby is a combination of the challenge of building the planes, the satisfaction of seeing the something you built fly and the challenge of flying the plane.
Stielow’s love of the skies started when he was a young adult. He and his cousins liked to watch planes at the local airport. They decided to pool their money and buy a World War II military training airplane.
The cousins first took flying lessons from a former World War II pilot and trainer before finishing their lessons with a pilot in Hays. His two cousins went to work as airplane mechanics. Stielow was hired by the Kansas Highway Patrol as a pilot. He flew traffic enforcement in a Cessna Skylane and often aided in searches before damage to his hearing forced him to retire in 1987.
Stielow said one of his most memorable moments on the KHP was not in the air. He received a call from his superintendent one day in 1970 and he was asked to report to Beloit. When he arrived, the superintendent was there with Neil Armstrong, who was in Kansas to go pheasant hunting.
“Guess what I got to do in full blue highway patrol uniform? I was the bird dog that went down in the weeds. I am not 100 percent sure I got to shake his hand. I think I did,” Stielow said.
He had dreams of flying for an airline, but in those days, work for an airline was not very steady and private pilots made less than he was making as a trooper. He had a family to support. He also had a job offer to work for the Alaska State Police, shortly after Alaska achieved statehood.
“I was going to have to report to Fairbanks on Feb. 15, 1959 in the middle of winter with two children. We couldn’t hardly rub two quarters together,” he said. “Everybody talked me out of that one. But I had a good career. I still bleed blue.”
When Stielow became involved in RC planes in the 1970s, he said he enjoyed building the planes more than flying them.
“It is a challenge to put it together, and then once you have it together to see it in the air flying,” he said. “That is something that you did.”
Stielow related it to working in the oil field when he was a young man.
“I got to driving a bulldozer, building oil field locations,” he said. “The challenge was you go out there into this pasture on a hillside and you level this location and get it almost perfectly level and dig the pits and everything an oil derrick has to have. I did that. That was the challenge and the fun of working there. Just like building the airplane, I put this thing together.”
He started with gas engines, and as the technology progressed, he made the transition to electric engines. He has made planes from kits and from his own designs, from Styrofoam and basal wood.
Planes can take hours to build or they can take months. He worked on the planes during the winter when he couldn’t fly. His largest plane has a wing span of 64 inches. The planes’ top speeds can vary anywhere from 30 to 70 mph. The RC speed record was set in 2017 by a jet that was clocked at 465 mph.
The first gas trainer he built was his favorite — a stick-built high wing, which was followed by a low wing, which was faster and more aerobatic.
“It was easy to handle, but it was a challenge. It was faster and you really had to stay on your toes,” he said. “I’ve still got that airplane.”
He once scaled down plans from a life-size plane to an RC plane when a friend who worked at Beechcraft lent him the specs. He has 13 planes in his basement currently, some ready for flight, others not.
Flying an RC plane is not as easy at it might look.
“People want to learn to do this, but they try to do it on their own,” he said. “They will buy an airplane kit like this, and they will go in the backyard or out in the pasture or out in the field and try to learn to fly it themselves. The odds are against them. It is not going to happen. There are enough variables there. It doesn’t take long to learn to fly, but you need a instructor to teach you how to fly. …”
He gave an example. If the plane is moving away from you, then it is like you are sitting in the plane’s cockpit, but if the plane is coming toward you, you have to reverse the controls.
Stielow admits he has spent hours building planes only to crash them.
Flying is not necessarily a solo hobby. Stielow was part of a club based in Russell and often flew with friends before he constructed his own grass RC plane runway (a mowed strip of grass) on his farm north of Russell. He also attended a couple of large RC plane fly-ins over the years.
His favorite moment in the hobby came at one of these fly-ins. There were thousands of hobbyists at the rally. An announcer came over the loud speaker and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re thrilled. We did not know they were going to show up, but the Blue Angels have agreed to a fly by. If you’ll look to your left …”
Over a group of trees came four blue RC jets tethered together doing all sorts of acrobatics.
Stielow said he has tried flying a drone, although he does not own one of his own. He said it is just not the same as flying an RC plane. With a RC plane, you can do loops and flips. RC planes are challenging to fly.
“When a drone runs out of battery, it will come back to where it took off and land itself,” he said. He waved his hand off dismissively.
Stielow has reached a time in his life he realizes it’s time to start letting go of most of his planes. Replacement knees and hip means it is hard for him to balance when he is flying.
He has listed his planes for sale. His own kids never bought into the hobby and now they’re asking dad, what they are going to do with a basement full of planes when he is gone. He said he would like to pass the planes on to Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts or a 4-H group. He hopes a new generation of flyers will get the same joy out of planes as he did.
“I’d just like to see them go to a good home and some young kids learn to fly,” he said.
If you are interested in purchasing any of Stielow’s planes, you can contact him at 785-942-3275.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — From huge rewards to calls for allowing Missouri cities to enact their own gun laws, leaders in Kansas City are grappling with a troubling rise in shooting deaths, especially those involving children.
This past weekend was especially violent. In Kansas City, four men were killed Sunday, including two in a drive-by shooting in a popular entertainment district. In St. Louis, six people were killed in shootings, including 8-year-old and 10-year-old girls and a 15-year-old boy.
Many of the victims of violence in the state’s two largest cities are black, and black Missouri lawmakers are asking Republican Gov. Mike Parson to allow the House and Senate to consider during a special session next month legislation that would let cities adopt their own gun control measures. In a letter dated Saturday, state Rep. Steven Roberts Jr. a St. Louis Democrat who chairs the 19-member Missouri Black Caucus, told Parson that local leaders need the autonomy to act as they see fit on “this pressing crisis.”
Kansas City — Missouri’s largest city with 490,000 residents, about 30% of whom are black — has recorded 97 homicides this year, on pace to top last year’s homicide rate of 143. Sixty-eight of this year’s victims were black.
St. Louis has seen about 128 homicides this year, also on pace to top last year’s total of 186. The vast majority those killed this year — 112 victims — were black in a city where about half of the 320,000 residents are black.
At least a dozen children have been shot to death in St. Louis since April, many of them in drive-by shootings, and the city is offering $25,000 rewards for information in five recent fatal shootings of children.
“We ask you and our rural colleagues to recognize that the slaughter of children in our state, and the hundreds of other victims of gun violence, demand immediate solutions that will produce results for our communities,” Roberts wrote in his request to Parson.
In a statement, Parson said that while there are many opinions on how to find a solution to reduce violence, a special session is not the “correct avenue.”
“If we are to change violent criminal acts in Missouri, it will take all of us at the federal, state, local, and community levels working together,” the governor said.
Republican Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz doubted the Legislature would take up the proposal.
“I think we would all agree we would like to find a way to end the type of gun violence that we see going on, but you’re going to have to show proof of something that’s been effective and worked somewhere, and not doing something just for the purposes of doing something,” Schatz said.
“Guns don’t do these acts,” Schatz said. “People do them, and unfortunately they use guns to do some of these horrific things.”
Republican House Speaker Elijah Haahr didn’t immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.
Top St. Louis officials also believe Missouri’s lenient gun laws are a factor in the upsurge of killings. Mayor Lyda Krewson noted that Missouri, in 2017, became the first state to allow people to carry guns without a permit.
“Now almost anyone can carry a gun almost anywhere, anytime,” Krewson said. “That makes the job for police officers particularly difficult.”
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner blamed lax gun laws as well as a “sense of hopelessness” in many neighborhoods that has “fostered an environment where too many young people have little or no regard for their own lives or the lives of others.”
Krewson said city officials hoped the unusually high rewards for information leading to the arrests of suspects in child shootings would spur reluctant witnesses who may fear retaliation to come forward. Ninety-three of the city’s homicides this year remain unsolved.
This month alone, the victims have included Xavier Usanga a 7-year-old boy shot in the yard of his home on Aug. 12; 8-year-old Jurnee Thompson, killed Friday when gunfire erupted after a high school football exhibition; and, Nyla Banks, a 10-year-old girl found dead Saturday evening along with two adults inside an apartment building.
St. Louis saw just four killings last year involving children 16 or younger, according to police statistics.
Kansas City leaders are alarmed by a rise in homicides in the city’s popular nightlife areas, including the early Sunday deaths of Austin Michael Quijas and Leo Moreno Jr. in the Power & Light District downtown.
State Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove, a Kansas City Democrat, called it shameful that St. Louis and Kansas City both consistently rank among the deadliest U.S. cities.
“This is now a public health crisis,” Manlove said in a statement.
By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN
FHSU University Relations and Marketing
Thomas Giebler’s eyes were as bright as the light flooding in from the massive panes of glass as he gave a tour of the new art and design building at Fort Hays State University earlier this week.
He had been waiting all summer for this semester to begin, when he could actually head to class in the new home for his department.
A graphic design major who spends a lot of after-hours on campus, Giebler and fellow classmates became accustomed to working in cramped quarters in a computer lab in Rarick Hall.
Now, they are able to enjoy the benefits of two large computer labs, along with the rest of the building. The second-floor atrium overlooks a large commons area below where multi-colored chairs invite students to sit and visit with others, rest, work on their laptops or merely take in their surroundings.
“I love the open floor plan,” said Giebler, a senior from Andover. “We will be able to bounce ideas off one another. I think collaboration is going to happen big time in this building.”
Giebler was giddy as he walked the halls, explaining the purpose of the different rooms, including faculty offices whose outside walls are full panes of glass overlooking the campus.
Glass walls inside the building allow passersby in the hallways to look into the classrooms.
“I love all the windows,” Giebler said. “You can see the creativity going on. It’s so encouraging.”
Fort Hays State University has long been known for its renowned art and design programs.
Now, it has another drawing card. The two-story, 43,000-square-foot facility is home to all Department of Art and Design programs, with the exception of sculpture. That program is housed in the adjacent Center for Applied Technology building.
The art building connects to the 5,000-square foot former power plant, which is being renovated for the Moss-Thorns Gallery in honor of former department chairs Joel Moss and John Thorns. A building for gallery storage was constructed west of the gallery.
The art building features two separate wings in an offset H, which are connected by a two-story commons area. The facility will provide numerous lab spaces for the various art and design programs as well as department office space, a multi-purpose lab, classrooms, woodshed, studios, commons area and a ceramics kiln yard.
Maddy Otter, a junior from Great Bend, helped move equipment and supplies from Rarick to the new building this summer but said it didn’t feel “real” yet.
It did this week.
“Being in the actual classroom setting was very, very cool for me,” she said. “It felt like almost a dream. The space is amazing. There is so much connectivity and light in the building.”
Besides knowing about the elite graphic design program, Giebler and Otter both cited affordability as a factor for choosing Fort Hays State.
Tuition costs are approved by the Kansas Board of Regents. FHSU prides itself on a quality education at an affordable cost, and it was the only school in the Regents system to seek no tuition increase for this school year.
Giebler said he also heard a lot about FHSU during high school.
“All my teachers in high school talked up Fort Hays State so much, how awesome the professors were and what a great program it is,” Giebler said.
Now that Giebler has witnessed that for himself, he plans to enroll in graduate school at FHSU after earning his bachelor’s degree next spring.
The thought of the opportunity to spend even more time in the new creative space has Giebler’s head spinning.
“When I first heard rumblings about a new art and design building, I thought it would happen after I am gone,” he said. “To get to spend my senior year in it, and probably two more years after that – it’s surreal.”
Just go ahead and put $8 million into next year’s budget for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and legislators will figure out Medicaid, taxes, schools, and everything else a little later.
You see, the KBI, the state’s top law enforcement agency, now has a fingerprint identification system that is a dozen years old. If it was a car, it would be out of warranty, and while parts are still available, the mechanics who will replace and upgrade them are quitting in about two years, the amount of time it takes to get a new fingerprint system up and running.
Now…anyone think that Kansas isn’t going to replace that computer system which keeps track of criminals?
That KBI computer system makes sure that criminals aren’t schoolteachers or day-care operators or workers, or maybe just applying for a job to be a law enforcement officer or a banker or your accountant.
The KBI isn’t saying whether freshman Gov. Laura Kelly’s initial one-fiscal year budget which broke the former Gov. Sam Brownback-era two-year budgets while she got her feet on the ground is the reason for the late notice of the computer system which is essentially in hospice care.
Instead, KBI folks say there was this problem getting the Office of Information Technology Services (OITS) to OK the reports that proposed updating the KBI system last year, in another administration…
No telling whether the KBI problem getting its new computer request in the short line for consideration was caused by OITS, but it probably means something that almost no legislators in a position to put that update plan in the budget this year had heard of the problem.
Now…depending on how many lawmakers demand to know who in state government knew what and when and why legislators never heard about it, the governor’s order last week to move OITS under the wing of Secretary of Administration DeAngela Burns-Wallace may find some support.
The governor can just with the stroke of a pen move the OITS management to Administration, but now it appears she has at least the KBI computers as a reason to make the move to make sure that the administration, and not a single agency silo, can delay an important-to-Kansans computer deal.
The computer geek community, of course, is split over moving a very technical piece of state government under the wing of a Democrat governor and her hand-picked secretary of administration. The governor can contend that the skill set at OITS is strong, but important information isn’t getting to the right people.
Kelly, when she announced the movement of OITS management to Administration, said that communication between the agency and its customers—the rest of state government—“has been difficult.”
“This was not the fault of the agency’s previous leadership. It is, however, a direct result of the fact that the previous administration split OITS from the Department of Administration and then failed to properly support the move, convey its mission and get buy-in from the rest of state government,” Kelly said.
So, the OITS move that Kelly ordered now has a new reason for that switch, and one that it is going to be tough for lawmakers to oppose with some line item in the budget bill that it will consider next session.
Not often that the governor gets a strong and vital law enforcement and public safety sales tool to use as she redesigns state government, as Brownback/Jeff Colyer left it, is it?
Nope, not often.
And…of course, we’ll see how it works out…
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com
When it gets much over 80 degrees outside, I become a vegetable. I absolutely have to force myself to do anything out in the woods or at the lake. So when September looms on the horizon I can feel my cocoon begin to crumble around me with the probability that cool weather is afoot. It won’t be long until the air conditioner can be turned off at night and windows can be opened to cool the house with wonderful fall breezes.
September brings with it a plethora of good things besides cool weather. The Kansas State Fair will be just days away. I love the fair, and I look forward to spending time in the Kansas Fur Harvesters booth at the fair talking to people about the advantages of fur trapping. Early duck seasons will be in the wings as avid water-fowlers prepare for teal season in early October. But first and foremost is the opening day of dove season September 1st.
I enjoy waterfowl hunting, but upland bird hunting is not my favorite experience, partially because I possess the wing shooting skills of a four year old, so I’m not a very good or avid dove hunter. Most dove hunting is done in early morning or late evening by waiting for doves to appear at water holes to drink or by ambushing them as they come to feed along patches of wild marijuana or sunflowers.
Just outside Inman are the McPherson Valley Wetlands owned and managed by the Kansas Dept of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) where there is usually water and where there are always sunflowers, both wild and domestic, making the area a dove hunters paradise hunted by dozens and possibly hundreds of dove hunters each season. So even if my “old-timers” disease makes me forget the first day of dove season, I will be reminded at first light as that area just out of town will sound like military maneuvers are in progress. The little beggars zoom in-and-out like tiny missiles, and if you can hit them you can hit anything. Believe me there is no finer table fare than dove breast, but harvesting enough doves for a good meal can be a challenge.
This year, youth dove hunts will be sponsored on opening morning by Pheasants Forever, Westar’s Green Team and by the Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation. The Osborne County Pheasants Forever chapter in partnership with the KDWPT will sponsor a youth dove hunt for youth ages 10 – 16 on September 1st and 2nd. Kids must be pre registered by calling the Glen Elder Area Office at 785-545-3345, or Chris Lecuyer at 785-545-3345 or John Cockerham at 785-346-6527.
The Westar Green Team is again hosting its annual youth dove hunt on September 1st and 2nd for youths 16 and under at Jeffrey Energy Center near St. Marys. Hunters are accepted on a first-come first-serve basis, so call Shelly Gomez at 785-575-6355.
The Jayhawk Chapter of the Quail and Upland Wildlife federation will host a dove hunt for youth 15 and under September 1st at Clinton Wildlife Area. To register, contact Dr. John Hill at 785-550-5657.
Dove season is a great time to get yourself and your equipment ready for upland bird and waterfowl seasons while the air is still warm and you can still feel your fingers. Make sure your license and permits are all up-to-date and be sure to have a plentiful supply of shotgun shells, as you’ll most likely take lots of shots to harvest just a few birds.
But like I said, if you can hit a flying dove, you can hit anything! Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.
Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].
