Grow Hays invites the public to attend TriSpective on Monday BriefSpace, 219 W. 10th.
Similar to TED Talks, the speakers will each focus on a topic. Dallas Haselhorst, owner of Treetop Security, will address entrepreneurship. Kieran Windholz, Equity Bank Lender will discuss moving home and Gina Riedel, owner of Gina Riedel Results, will talk on succession planning.
Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with the event starting at 6 p.m.
TriSpective is a part of the Robert E. Schmidt Entrepreneurship Series sponsored by Robert E. and Patricia A. Schmidt Foundation.
For questions or more information contact Grow Hays at 785.628.3102 or [email protected].
Norman Lee Kimber, 82, passed away June 20, 2019, at Wesley Medical Center, Wichita. He was born October 16, 1936, at Great Bend to Howard and Genevie (Yahne) Kimber. He married Norma Jean Schmidt June 23, 1956, at Hoisington.
After living in Larned, Pratt and Great Bend, Norman and Jean had resided in Hoisington since 1960. He worked for Exxon Oil Co. as a pumper and roustabout in Kansas, as well as the gas plant in Hennesey, Okla., retiring in 1994. Norman, a 1954 graduate of Great Bend High School, was a member of Concordia Lutheran Church and American Legion Post 286, both of Hoisington, American Legion Argonne Post 180, V.F.W. Post 3111 and the Elks BPO Lodge 1127, all of Great Bend. He served in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Germany, earning the rank of Private First Class. He enjoyed square dancing, round dancing, polka dancing, playing cards, dominos, mowing, fishing, bow hunting and golf. Norman and Jean loved to travel, taking great pride in visiting all 50 of the United States.
Survivors include his wife, Jean Kimber of the home; two daughters, Sherri Kephart and husband Mike of Atlanta, Ga. and Tammi Carpenter and husband Doug of Wichita; two brothers, Russell Kimber and wife Donna of Great Bend and Leo Kimber and wife Kathy of Gladstone, Mo.; one sister-in-law, Jean Kimber of Great Bend; and four granddaughters, Andrea Kephart, Chelsea Kephart, Shelby Carpenter and Ashley Carpenter. He was preceded in death by his parents; one brother, Donald Kimber; one sister, Shirley Bobeck; and one brother-in-law, Roy Bobeck.
Visitation will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Sunday, June 23, 2019; 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday, June 24; and 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 25, all at Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home, 415 N. Main, Hoisington. The family will receive friends from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, at Concordia Lutheran Church, 460 W. 9th, Hoisington, with a prayer service at 7:00 p.m. Funeral Service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 26, at Concordia Lutheran Church, with Rev. Gary Wolf presiding. Interment will follow in the Great Bend Cemetery, Great Bend, with Military Rites conducted by the U.S. Army Honor Guard. Memorials are suggested to Kans for Kids or Concordia Lutheran Church, in care of Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home.
former Kansas Senate President and Hugoton resident Steve Morris
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is giving a key role in a study of Kansas tax laws to a former Republican state Senate leader who was ousted after conflicts with one of her GOP predecessors over tax cuts.
Kelly announced Thursday that former Senate President Steve Morris will serve as co-chairman of the Governor’s Council on Tax Reform. Kelly noted in her announcement that she served with Morris in the Senate before she was elected governor last year.She called for a study of the state’s tax system while vetoing two tax relief bills pushed by top Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature this year. The bills would have prevented businesses and individuals from automatically paying more in state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws at the end of 2017, but Kelly said they would “decimate” the budget.
“While it’s necessary to proceed with caution due to economic uncertainty, it’s also time to begin the conversation on tax reform that’s beneficial for families and businesses alike,” Kelly said in a statement.
Morris, a moderate Hugoton Republican, served 20 years in the Senate and was president from 2005 through 2012. He lost his Senate seat in a primary-election purge of GOP moderates in 2012 engineered by then-GOP Gov. Sam Brownback’s conservative allies. Brownback had championed slashing income taxes as a potential economic stimulus, and Morris was wary.
Morris has maintained that Brownback persuaded him to save a 2012 bill making deep tax cuts by promising it would be rewritten later, but it wasn’t. Persistent budget problems followed the tax cuts, and Brownback and his allies later blamed Morris, arguing that he and other moderates wouldn’t negotiate better legislation.
Senate President Susan Wagle, a conservative Wichita Republican who rose to the chamber’s top position after the 2012 election, said it’s not a surprise that Morris is “participating in crafting Democratic tax policy.”
“We are seeing the same old Democratic policies that force families to flee in search of a more affordable place to live,” Wagle said.
Morris did not return a telephone message seeking comment Thursday.
Voters came to view Brownback’s tax-cutting experiment as a failure. Bipartisan supermajorities in the Legislature repealed most of them in 2017 over Brownback’s veto, and Kelly ran for governor largely against Brownback’s legacy.
Kelly said Morris will lead the council with another former state senator, Janis Lee, a Kensington Democrat. Lee served in the Senate for 22 years and was influential in tax debates before serving as the chief hearing officer for a special state court that reviewed tax disputes.
Hays teen Sophia Linenberger was visited by multiple stars during a recent stay at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Sophia is undergoing treatment for a rare form of cancer. Courtesy photo
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
A Hays teen got a break last week from the rigors of cancer treatment when a group of celebrities visited her at Children’s Mercy Hospital.
Sophia Linenberger’s visit included an interview with Al Roker that appeared on the “Today” show on June 10. She was also visited by Selena Gomez, Adam Scott, Paul Rudd and Zachary Levi among others.
Levi, who voiced the character Flynn Rider in the movie “Tangled,” serenaded Sophia and the stars with a song from the movie. Levi’s serenade featuring Sophia also appeared on “Entertainment Tonight.”
Hays teen Sophia Linenberger with Selena Gomez during the Big Slick at Children’s Mercy Hospital. Courtesy photo
The star treatment was all a part of a fundraising effort by Children’s Mercy called the Big Slick. This year was the 10th anniversary of the Big Slick. Children Mercy set a goal to conclude the event with $10 million raised over the 10 years of the event. The hospital was able to raise $2.5 million just this year, pushing it past the $10 million goal.
Jenny Linenberger, Sophia’s mother, spoke for her daughter and said the visit was a break from all Sophia has been through during her recent cancer treatment.
“It took her mind off of the cancer. … It took her mind off of the chemotherapy. It took her mind off of the radiation. It took her mind off of the whole Ewing’s Sarcoma cancer and the whole thing for just a little bit, and that meant a lot to her,” Jenny said.
Sophia, 15, a soon-to-be sophomore at Thomas More Prep-Marian, has a rare form of cancer — Ewing’s Sarcoma. Less than 1,000 people per year are diagnosed with this type. The cancer grows in bones or in soft tissue around bones. Sophia’s cancer started in her spine and her mother said it spread like “bind weed.”
Sophia has had two surgeries, just completed six weeks of radiation and is well into an eight-and-a-half-month course of chemotherapy.
Sophia Linenberger, her sister Holly and actor Paul Rudd at the Big Slick at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Courtesy photo
The family drives back and forth to Kansas City for treatments that take between one to six days. Although she was home Wednesday, Sophia’s last trip to K.C. this week was via ambulance.
Jenny said seeing the stars rally around her daughter also meant much to her personally.
“There are times where Sophia will say, ‘I wish I could be normal. I wish I could do stuff with my friends. I wish I could go swimming … do summer things,’ ” Jenny said.
“She gets kind of frustrated at that because she can’t do the things that kids do because she is on a walker and needs a wheelchair for distance. For them to do what they did meant a lot to me — to just let my kid to be a kid again — just to see her smile, the face beam up.
“She said she felt normal again, and that was gratifying to me. It was wonderful. She always has a smile on her face, but to actually see her be a kid again, a teenager, it meant a lot.”
Children’s Mercy has been integral in Sophia’s care, her mother said, but not just in the treatment of her cancer. The staff care for her as a whole person. The hospital has child life specialists who organizes activities for the children while they are in the hospital. The hospital also has a therapy dog named Hunter. When Sophia can’t leave her room, someone comes to her sometimes just to talk.
“Children’s Mercy has been like a dream to me, because without them, I don’t know where we would be,” Jenny said.
Zachary Levi, who voiced the character Flynn Rider in the movie “Tangled” serenaded Sophia and other stars with a song from the movie. Courtesy photo
Unfortunately, Sophia’s illness is not all the family is dealing with. Jenny’s husband ended up in the ER five weeks ago and has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
“My life is pretty full,” Jenny said.
However, Jenny said she and the whole family have been very thankful for the community’s support during Sophia’s illness.
Anthony and the Animals had a benefit concert in Hays for Sophia, and TMP and Holy Family have also spearheaded fundraisers for the family.
“We have had a lot of prayer from the community, and we are grateful, believe me,” she said.
Hays teen Sophia Linenberger and her sister Holly with Selena Gomez and Eric Stonestreet during the Big Slick at Children’s Mercy Hospital. Courtesy photo
BUNKER HILL – The Finnup Foundation has awarded Smoky Hills Public Television with a grant for $25,000.
This grant will provide educational resources to the children of the following counties: Finney, Hamilton, Hodgeman, Lane, Gray, Kearny and Scott counties.
“We are extremely grateful for the Finnup Foundation’s generous support of Smoky Hills Public Television’s educational mission,” said Kelli King, Smoky Hills Public Television Director of Finance and Administration. “We are extremely happy to be able to provide the children of southwest Kansas with valuable educational resources.”
The Finnup Foundation Trust was established in 1977 by siblings Frederick Finnup and Isabel Finnup, who carried on the legacy of generosity that was modeled by their father, George Finnup, and their grandfather, Frederick Finnup. The Finnup family’s interest in families, youth, education and conservation is expressed through the gifts to many organizations in the community.
Smoky Hills Public Television serves 71 counties in central and western Kansas and has been named the Kansas Association of Broadcasters Non-Metro Station of the Year, broadcasting 64 commercial-free hours per week of educational programming.
Doug Williams, Grow Hays executive director, requests city funding Thursday as Karen Dreiling, board chair looks on from the audience.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Four outside agencies each requesting funding from the city of Hays in 2020 presented their requests to city commissioners Thursday night. Following each presentation, the representatives of the four groups – Grow Hays, Fort Hays State University (FHSU), CARE Council, Downtown Hays Development Corporation (DHDC) – were thanked by the commission for their community support and involvement.
“It’s light years ahead of where we’ve been and your board and staff has worked very hard these past 18 months,” Mayor Henry Schwaller said to Doug Williams, executive director of Grow Hays. The group has operated the past two years without any funding from the city.
For many years it was known as the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development. The coalition was criticized by city and Ellis county commissioners for not being responsive to the governing bodies’ directives for some time.
Since January 2018, the organization has changed dramatically. The number of board members has shrunk from 24 to 18, has a new executive director, and has relocated to BriefSpace in downtown Hays.
What hasn’t changed is its mission – business creation, business retention and expansion, and business recruitment.
“I’m proud to report to you I believe we’re hitting on all cylinders at this time,” Williams told the city commission.
He said the city of Hays is an “integral partner” of Grow Hays for funding and projects. “They’re not going to happen without the city.”
A 2020 operational plan for Grow Hays included information about economic development funding by peer Kansas communities, including Dodge City, Garden City, Salina, and Phillipsburg. “They are significantly funded in greater amounts than we are,” Williams pointed out. …”Partly because they have to. We operate with some advantages that they don’t have.”
Grow Hays does receive funding from the private sector. “I believe that’s important because they need to invest in the process, as we all do,” he added.
Commissioner Sandy Jacobs appreciates the basics of economic development that are underway. She also wants to see more succession planning in the business community.
“A lot of people may be sitting around waiting for something grand to happen – the new manufacturing company bringing 300 jobs. … I think there’s so many things you can do for that.”
Jacobs gave an example of a local electrician working at her home recently who told her he’s unable to plan his retirement because he has no one in his company or outside of it wanting to take it over.
“I think that’s a way to bring people back to this [our] communities,” suggested Jacobs. “Maybe that’s a way to match up people who want to come back or haven’t even thought about their succession planning yet but need to think about it.”
Grow Hays is requesting $100,000 from Hays. “Without you, we are not sustainable.” A request for funding from Ellis County of $50,000 was reduced to $27,500. “Given their budgetary challenges, I consider that a very generous funding amount from them,” said Williams. “We had asked for $50,000 because that’s what we need.”
Also making a funding pitch was FHSU for renewal of the $100,000 City of Hays Scholarship Program for Scholastic Achievement.
Sherry Dryden, United Way of Ellis County exec. dir., reported the CARE Council is now assisting two new agencies, the Western Kansas Child Advocacy Center and the Center for Life Experiences.
CARE Council is requesting $168,000 for social services funding, an increase of $4,000 from last year. The CARE Council is also asking the city to budget $60,000 in Special Alcohol Tax Funds for 2020. The monies for drug and alcohol prevention programs come from a portion of the local alcoholic liquor tax. That money is divided equally each year between the CARE Council, the special parks fund, and the general fund.
The $50,973 request by DHDC is down five percent from 2019.
A discussion of the renewal of property/casualty/liability insurance coverage was also presented. Midwest Public Risk (MPR) offered the lowest cost option for the renewal of the city’s package, with a two percent increase.
A 30-minute executive session was requested by Mayor Henry Schwaller for discussion of attorney/client information by the commission, City Manager Toby Dougherty and Assistant City Attorney Todd Powell, who was substituting for City Attorney John Bird.
No action was taken following the executive session.
Commissioner Ron Mellick was absent from the work session.
Patchy fog between 7am and 10am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. Breezy, with a north wind 10 to 20 mph.
Tonight
Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly between 11pm and 4am, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a low around 55. North wind 8 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Sunday
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 72. North wind around 11 mph.
Sunday Night
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 52. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday
Sunny, with a high near 83. West wind 6 to 9 mph.
Monday Night
Clear, with a low around 62.
Tuesday
Sunny, with a high near 91.
Tuesday Night
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 66.
Ten Fort Hays State University Bachelor of Social Work students were recently inducted into the Epsilon Omicron Chapter of the Phi Alpha National Social Work Honor Society as lifetime members. This is the highest honor that a student can receive in social work education.
“These students have attained academic excellence, and they are dedicated to the idea of the action and service to humanity,” said Kendal Carswell, field practicum director and an assistant professor of social work.
“The students have also demonstrated a commitment to the mission, ethics, standards and goals of the profession of social work,” he said.
Students who received the honor are listed alphabetically by hometown.
ASHLAND: Maddi Guerra
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.: Lucille Partlow-Loyall
DODGE CITY: Claire Albert; Theresa Ochs; and Bailey Schafer
GREAT BEND: Kameko Schultz
KANSAS CITY: Melanie Arellano-Luna
MINNEOLA: Michele Stevens SHARON SPRINGS: Annabelle Seader
SPEARVILLE: Shannon Indiek
Qualification includes social work as a declared major, achievement of senior status in the social work program and a minimum grade point average of 3.25 on a 4.0 scale in both social work courses and overall GPA.
“The purpose of Phi Alpha Honor Society is to provide a closer bond among students of social work and to promote humanitarian goals and ideals,” said Carswell. “Phi Alpha fosters high standards of education for social workers and invites into membership those who have demonstrated excellence in scholarship and achievement in social work.”
FHSU’s chapter is one of over 400 chapters across the United States.
Albert, Indiek, Ochs, Schafer and Stevens completed their course work through the FHSU Bachelor of Social Work cohort program on the Dodge City Community College campus. Cohort courses are taught by FHSU social work faculty, and the opportunity is made possible through a partnership with DCCC. FHSU’s Department of Social Work also has cohorts at Garden City Community College, Seward County Community College, and, beginning this fall, Colby Community College.
Courtesy photoBy KIRBY ROSS Phillips County Review
PHILLIPSBURG — Topeka will be shy one politician next Tuesday, as Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers will host a Town Hall Listening Tour public meeting in Phillipsburg at 5:30 p.m. at the Huck Boyd Center, 860 Park.
The tour is designed to serve as an outreach to rural Kansans and to provide the opportunity for residents to voice their concerns.
Regarding this outreach to north-central Kansas Lt. Gov. Rogers said, “It’s time for elected leaders to be sincere about listening to people in rural communities who’ve been overlooked and taken for granted far too long. We can and will do better.”
In support of the visit to Phillipsburg, Governor Laura Kelly said “Rural Kansas has been overlooked and unheard for far too long. Our towns have been neglected. Today we’re taking an important step toward changing this serious problem.”
As part of their effort to seek out rural Kansans “who’ve been overlooked and taken for granted for too long,” Phillipsburg is one of four western Kansas communities that is a scheduled stop in this round of the Listening Tour and is the one closest in vicinity to Hays.
Both the governor and lieutenant governor state the following will be priorities of the listening tour:
• Developing Rural Housing
• Supporting Rural Hospitals
• Revitalizing Main Street Corridors
• Investing in Rural Infrastructure
• Incentivizing Active Tourism
• Making State Government Work For Rural Kansas
• Supporting Agribusiness
TOPEKA — Washburn University congratulates more than 850 students who were named to the spring 2019 Dean’s List. To qualify for the Dean’s List, a student must be enrolled in 12 hours of graded credits and earn a semester grade point average of 3.4 to 3.99.
Earlier this month, the Office of the Special Counsel publicly recommended that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway be fired for repeatedly violating the Hatch Act, prompting many people to Google what the Hatch Act is (it’s a law that bars federal employees from engaging in political activity in the course of their work) and President Trump to give an interview to Fox News where he stated that, “[I]t looks to me like they’re trying to take away her right of free speech, and that’s not just fair.” (This week, the president tweeted his support for a proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw burning the American flag — an act the Supreme Court has repeatedly held to be a protected form of political expression — thus ending his streak as a First Amendment advocate.)
But back to the Hatch Act for a moment. It was passed in 1939 to prevent federal employees from engaging in partisan political activities, such as endorsing or opposing particular political candidates. It’s grounded in a noble purpose: to protect federal employees from political coercion and ensure their advancement is based on merit and not political affiliation. To that end, federal employees can’t engage in political activity while they’re on duty, in the workplace, or speaking in their official capacity. The letter from the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) pointed out that much of Conway’s recent conduct has fallen into that category, as she’s been making the rounds, “disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media.”
White House counsel Pat Cipollone responded with a letter stating, among other things, that applying the Hatch Act to political activity on social media “has a chilling effect on all federal employees whose fundamental First Amendment right to engage in political and public policy discussions should not be compromised based solely on OSC’s guidance.”
This isn’t the first time the OSC has faced that accusation. Ethics and transparency advocates said more or less the same thing last year, when the agency issued new guidelines that federal employees weighing in on President Trump’s prospects for impeachment or talking about “the Resistance” might constitute political activity. National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon’s exact words were, “This guidance is a broad reach that employees may find confusing. It could unnecessarily have a chilling effect on employees’ First Amendment free speech.”
The “chilling effect” is a concept that comes up a lot when we talk about the First Amendment. Essentially, it means that when a law concerning expression is too vague or too broad, people won’t know exactly when their speech crosses the line and violates it. So, in order to avoid punishment, they’ll avoid speaking at all — a major loss for free expression and healthy public debate.
Practically speaking, this isn’t really a concern when it comes to Kellyanne Conway specifically. President Trump has explicitly stated he will not fire her (the OSC only has the authority to recommend that he do so). She has publicly scoffed at the Hatch Act charges, telling reporters, “Let me know when the jail sentence starts.” She continues to appear in public, making it abundantly clear that nothing will get her to chill.
But it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the impact that laws like this have on other federal employees, most of whom aren’t as protected from consequences as Conway. Henry Kerner, who heads up the OSC, was certainly thinking about this when he recommended that Conway be fired. “In interview after interview, she uses her official capacity to disparage announced candidates, which is not allowed,” he said in an interview with The Washington Post. “What kind of example does that send to the federal workforce? If you’re high enough up in the White House, you can break the law, but if you’re a postal carrier or a regular federal worker, you lose your job?”
It’s a reminder that most government employees have severe restrictions on their First Amendment rights. Some of these restrictions are justified — government offices wouldn’t be able to function if they couldn’t discipline employees for speech that interferes with their duties. But there are plenty of examples of this censorship going too far.
Just look at the impact of the 2006 Supreme Court decision Garcetti v. Ceballos, which removed any First Amendment protection for speech that government employees make in the course of their duties. Since then, we’ve seen numerous cases where government employees have been fired for reporting the misconduct of others and whistleblowing about corruption and mismanagement, with no valid free speech claims at all.
Or think about the times when government entities have decided that their employees’ private conduct on social media impacts their official duties— like the incident where a Pennsylvania public school teacher was suspended without pay because someone posted a photo of her with a male stripper to Facebook. Or think of the postal carriers and regular federal workers who avoid political activity altogether because they’re anxious about running afoul of the Hatch Act.
Lata Nott is executive director of the First Amendment Center of the Freedom Forum Institute.Contact her via email at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @LataNott.
Scroll to the bottom for a map of garage sale locations. Hays Post offers FREE garage sale listings weekly. Having a garage sale next weekend? Click HERE to submit your information.
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1700 Wheatland, Hays
Friday June 21st 4-dark, Saturday June 22nd 8-12
Name brand Boys (L-XL), Women’s/Juniors (S-L), Men’s (XL) clothing and shoes. DVDs and Blu-ray movies (lots), many misc excellent quality household and misc items
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503 W. 39th, Hays
Friday June 21st – 11am-6pm and Saturday June 22nd 8am-12pm
Lots of clothing and shoes in all sizes – women’s, men’s, and girls (newborn-size 10/12). Home decor, kitchen items, barstools, grill, vases, books, adult Halloween costumes, lots of kids toys, booster car seat, kids bikes, kids table, scooter, doll stroller, and so much more.
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308 W. 37th, Hays
Friday, June 21 10 a.m.-?
-Name brand Teen and adult clothing (NIKE, Adidas, PINK, Miss Me) -Household items -Bread machine -Teaching supplies/resources -Coach purses/wallets -Misc. items
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1706 Anthony Drive, Hays
3 day event, Thurs./Fri., June 27th and 28th from 10 a.m until 6 p.m. and Sat., June 29th, 8 a.m. until noon
Toy tractors, glassware, china hutch, treadmill, edger, misc. tools, pole saw, file cabinets, safes, numerous miscellaneous items
Today
