A courtroom is not a place where you expect to find scenes of celebration and tears of joy, unless, of course, it’s drug court.
This May drug courts throughout Kansas will join more than 3,000 programs nationwide in celebrating National Drug Court Month. This year alone, more than 150,000 individuals nationwide who entered the justice system due to addiction will receive lifesaving treatment and the chance to repair their lives, reconnect with their families, and find long-term recovery.
National Drug Court Month is a celebration of the lives restored by drug court and it sends the powerful message that these programs must be expanded to reach more people in need.
Nearly 30 years ago the first drug court opened its doors with a simple premise: Rather than continue to allow individuals with long histories of addiction and crime to cycle through the justice system at great expense to the public, use the leverage of the court to keep them engaged in treatment long enough to be successful. Today, drug courts and other treatment courts have proven that a combination of accountability and compassion saves lives while also saving valuable resources and reducing exorbitant criminal justice costs.
Drug courts are the single most successful criminal justice intervention for seriously addicted offenders. Proven to save lives, save money, and reduce crime, these courts treat substance use disorders and produce tax-paying, productive citizens, while breaking the cycle of addiction.
The Ellis County Drug Court began August 30, 2018 and has already experienced success and changed lives. Our court is one of thousands that demonstrate why treatment courts are so critical in the effort to address addiction and related crime. The scientific research agrees:
Numerous studies have found that treatment courts reduce crime and drug use and save money. Research shows treatment courts also improve education, employment, housing, financial stability, and family reunification, which reduces foster care placements.
Treatment courts represent a compassionate approach to the ravages of addiction. Ellis County is privileged to be able to reap the economic and societal benefits of its drug court. The drug court team thanks the community for its continued support of our efforts to make a difference in Ellis County.
Kansas is one of just a handful of states that doesn’t allow a person injured by a drunk driver to sue the retailer who furnished the alcohol.
The driver who nearly killed Jeff Kudlacik had consumed at least eight alcoholic beverages over several hours before he got into his car. BIGSTOCK
On Friday, the Kansas Supreme Court upheld that 34-year-old rule, saying it was up to the Legislature to change it.
On March 10, 2015, Jeff Kudlacik was driving down 135th Street and Quivira Road in Overland Park around 11 p.m. when a Ford Fusion going 70 miles an hour ran a red light and slammed into his Mitsubishi 3000 sedan, slicing it in half.
The accident left Kudlacik, who had just celebrated his 23rd birthday with his parents, with compound fractures in both of his femurs, a punctured lung, nine broken ribs and other injuries. He was placed in a medically induced coma for 21 days and spent 70 days in Overland Park Regional Medical Center before he was discharged. He subsequently spent months in rehabilitation.
The driver who hit him, Michael Aaron Smith, had a blood alcohol content of 0.179, more than twice the legal level of impairment in Kansas.
Court records indicate that Smith had eight to 10 alcoholic drinks at Johnny’s Tavern in Shawnee over the course of about four and a half hours and then a beer at Barley’s Brewhaus in Overland Park over the course of an hour.
Thirteen months after the accident, Smith pleaded guilty to aggravated battery while driving under the influence and was sentenced to 31 months in prison. Court records show he was also ordered to pay restitution of more than $1.5 million to Kudlacik’s insurance carrier and more than $18,000 to the state crime victim compensation fund.
Kudlacik, meanwhile, sued the two bars where Smith drank, claiming the bartenders knew or should have known that Smith was intoxicated and still continued to serve him alcohol.
Johnson County District Judge Kevin Moriarty dismissed the case, noting that Kansas doesn’t allow third-party lawsuits against alcohol vendors for injuries caused by their patrons. The Kansas Court of Appeals upheld Moriarty.
Kudlacik then appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing Kansas’ rule is outdated, creating an “inexplicable immunity” for alcohol vendors, and is bad public policy.
The Supreme Court didn’t buy it.
“These arguments have some merit but not enough to cause this court to upend the status quo,” the court stated in an opinion written by Justice Dan Biles.
Biles said the court was bound by a 1985 Kansas Supreme Court case, Ling v. Jan’s Liquors, which found that since Kansas doesn’t have a dram shop act, “the common-law rule prevails in Kansas.”
Dram shop laws allow victims of drunk driving accidents to hold alcohol vendors accountable for the injuries or deaths caused by their drunk customers. Forty-three states and the District of Columbia have such laws. Only Kansas, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, Nebraska, South Dakota and Virginia don’t have dram shop laws.
Kansas used to have a dram shop law, but it was repealed in 1949, when the Legislature enacted comprehensive liquor regulation even as it criminalized liquor sales to minors and incapacitated people.
A line of cases since then has upheld the Kansas rule. Lawsuits against universities, fraternities, bars and liquor stores have all butted up against it and been thrown out.
And while the Supreme Court acknowledged on Friday that it wasn’t entirely convinced by the Ling case’s rationale — including what the opinion in Ling said were difficulties in recognizing intoxication and predicting patrons’ conduct — Biles said that “we are not clearly convinced Ling was originally erroneous or is no longer sound because of changing conditions and that more good than harm will come by departing from it.”
“We remain unpersuaded that a duty of care runs from tavern owners to third-parties injured by their patrons after leaving the tavern owner’s premises,” he wrote.
Kansas City attorney David Morantz, who represented Kudlacik, said his client knew he faced long odds in getting the law changed but was hopeful the Supreme Court would see fit to scrap it.
“We told him going into this that it would be an uphill battle because the court’s prior rulings on this subject going back to the ’80s presented quite a challenge for us,” Morantz said. “And Jeff knew all along that if we weren’t successful in the courts, we would take the matter to this Legislature and that’s what we plan to do next.”
Jeff Kudlacik turned 23 the day a drunk driver ran through a red light in south Overland Park at 70 miles an hour and nearly killed him. CREDIT KIM KUDLACIK
Morantz said Kudlacik has learned to walk again and is engaged to be married in November.
“Jeff’s made a remarkable recovery and he’s really been an inspiration to our firm,” Morantz said.
The stakes in the Kudlacik case were big enough to draw the attention of outside parties with an interest in the case. Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association and the Kansas Emergency Medical Services Association weighed in with friend-of-the-court briefs supporting Kudlacik’s position. The Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association and the Kansas Association of Defense Counsel filed briefs opposing it.
Wichita attorney Blake Shuart, who represented Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the organization was disappointed with the decision.
“We feel that the Supreme Court missed a good opportunity to create a cause of action that could benefit lots of Kansans,” Shuart said.
Shuart said the court seemed to recognize there were sound policy reasons for creating a right to sue, “but the issue has now been kicked back to the Kansas Legislature.”
“Regardless of this opinion,” he said, “the policy arguments presented by both Mr. Kudlacik and our client, MADD, remain viable, and we encourage the Legislature to take overdue action, so that Kansas may join the overwhelming majority of states that have elected to hold liquor vendors responsible for the injuries they cause.”
Adam Mills, president and CEO of the Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association, said any change in the law was best left to the Legislature.
“We appreciate the Supreme Court upholding previous rulings and providing certainty for our industry,” Mills said in an email. “Alcohol sales by Kansas’ restaurant and hospitality industries are heavily regulated. These same regulations have produced reductions in the amount of alcohol-related traffic incidents, which have dropped dramatically since 1985.”
Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
Rohey Singhateh / Photo by Ryan Prickett, FHSU Athletics
FHSU Athletics
KEARNEY, Neb. – With the outdoor season winding down, the Fort Hays State track and field team had one last shot to hit NCAA qualifying marks as a handful of Tigers were sent to the Lopers Last Chance Twilight in Kearney. Both FHSU men and women competed to try to add to the potential qualifiers the Tigers will send to the 2019 NCAA DII Outdoor Championships hosted in Kingsville, Texas.
Four Tiger women competed on the day, including Rohey Singhateh placing in two events. Singhateh earned a third place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 38 feet, 6 inches, followed by a fourth place finish in the long jump with her distance of 18 feet, 5 inches. Kayla Smith added a fifth place finish in the triple jump with her distance of 37 feet, 10 ¾ inches. Julia Wagner hurled a sixth place finish in the hammer throw at 156 feet, 9 inches. Cheyenne Nickelson attempted a jump in the pole vault, but reached a no height mark.
For the men, two provisionals were hit as Hunter DeGarmo completed a first place finish in the hammer throw at 182 feet, 3 inches and Kolt Newell placed second in the high jump at 6 feet, 8 ¼ inches. Cameron Fouts added a second place finish in the javelin with a throw of 189 feet, 4 inches. Four Tigers placed in the pole vault led by Ryan Stanley (second) and Jonathan Ball (third) who both went for 15 feet, 5 ½ inches. Mark Faber placed fourth at 14 feet, 11 ½ inches and Brandon Ball rounded out the places for FHSU in the event with his height of 14 feet, 11 ½ inches.
Jack Pakkebier was the lone track athlete for FHSU on the day as he competed in both the 200-meters and 400-meters. In the shorter of the two, Pakkebier placed third with a time of 24.03, while placing second in the 400-meters at 53.12.
Fort Hays State will wait to see who and how many athletes they will be sending to nationals, which will be held May 23-25 in Kingsville, Texas.
HOLTON, Kan. (AP) — A fourth person has died from injuries suffered in a Kansas crash that happened more than a year ago as they returned home from watching two family members play in a state football championship.
Popkess Mortuaries says Lee Fred Ukele, of Sabetha, died Wednesday at the University of Kansas Hospital. He was critically injured in a November 2017 crash that killed his wife, his 11-year-old daughter and his brother.
They were returning home from watching the Sabetha High School football team win the state championship when 49-year-old Maria Perez Marquez, of Omaha, Nebraska, crashed into their minivan while trying to pass another vehicle north of Holton. At the time, two of Lee Ukele’s sons played on the team.
Carmen and her daughter Marlee photo courtesy Popkess Mortuary
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Chevy Equinox driven by Perez-Marquez, was southbound on U. S. 75 just north of 318 Road near Holton.
Marquez attempted to pass another vehicle, swerved to the shoulder to avoid a collision and struck a northbound 2008 Chrysler Town and Country driven by Carmen K. Ukele, 42, Sabetha, head-on.
Marquez -photo Jackson Co.
Ukele and passengers in the Chevy Marlee G. Ukele, 11 and Stephen M. Ukele, 62, all of Sabetha, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Marquez is scheduled to be sentenced in June on three misdemeanor counts of vehicular homicide and one felony count of aggravated battery.
Join Kansas Corn at the Grand Opening of Bosselman Travel Plaza, corner of HWY 50 and HWY 83, Garden City on Thursday, May 16. Exclusive pricing for ethanol blended fuels: E85 for 85 cents and Unleaded 88 for $1.88 plus giveaways and food samples! pic.twitter.com/LCAj4MCQdk
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Longtime NFL coach Gunther Cunningham, who emigrated from postwar Germany as a child and then dedicated his life to football, has died after a brief illness. He was 72.
Cunningham’s wife, Rene, said in a statement that he died Saturday.
Cunningham spoke no English when his family arrived in the U.S., and he was ridiculed for both his accent and ancestry as a child. But he developed into a standout prep football player in California and earned a scholarship to play linebacker at Oregon.
He eventually coached the Ducks along with Arkansas, Stanford and California before spending time in the CFL. He arrived in the NFL as an assistant with the Colts in 1982, then worked with the Chargers and Raiders before making a name for himself with the Kansas City Chiefs.
He went 16-16 during two years as their head coach.
Just before 11 a.m. May 2, a police officer was alerted to a theft in progress at Zach’s Carwash, 5340 E. 21st Street North in Wichita, according to a media release.
Upon arrival, the officer located 47-year-old Marc Neugebauer of Wichita attempting to break into a coin-operated device inside the business.
The officer arrested Neugebauer and he was booked into jail. Neugebauer was also found to be in possession of a stolen drill, which was reported stolen in an April burglary, according to release.
The investigation led to the later arrest of Neugebauer’s son, 20-year-old Kyle Neugebauer of Wichita for his participation in the April burglary.
Marc Neugebauer remains jailed on requested charges of theft, criminal damage to property, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, burglary, possession of stolen property and obstruct, according to the online jail records.
Kyle remains jailed on requested charges of burglary, theft, possession of marijuana, possession of controlled substance and interference with law enforcement.
USD 489 is partnering with the United Way of Ellis County and nwksvolunteers.org to better facilitate and organize volunteers for various events within the school district and the community next year.
Join the school district on Tuesday, May 21 in the Hays High School cafeteria to see how you can help have a positive impact on the Hays community. The informational meeting will start at 6 p.m. and should only last one hour. A hot dog feed will be provided to guests who attend.
Adults 18 and older are invited to register as a volunteer. Children are welcome to attend with their parents if childcare is not available that evening.
Volunteers who sign up to work directly with children will be required to pass a background check. Please have your photo ID/driver’s license and social security number available for the background check that evening if you wish to volunteer for events over the summer that work directly with children.
Steve Gilliland
One of my favorite ’60s bands was Credence Clearwater Revival. The first line of their song “Who’ll Stop the Rain” goes “Long as I remember the rains been coming down.”
Who’d have thunk that we Kansans would ever be complaining about too much rain? Then when it finally stops raining and the sun comes out, the humidity is so high you feel like it’s raining again! Even though I know how high rivers and streams get around here when we’ve had big, hard rains, I can take solace in the fact that we live well above sea level, and don’t get hurricanes.
I’ll always remember a picture I saw on Fox News a few years back of a casket floating down the street in Louisiana after a hurricane. I just don’t think I could live somewhere that was below or barely above sea level.
Wildlife are greatly affected by floods too as it temporarily drives some from their homes. And severe flooding this time of year can be especially harmful as it can easily drown fawns and destroy nests or young chicks of wild turkeys, pheasants and quail. It’s quite common to see more snakes, rats, mice and rodents during and after a flood, as animals that would normally not dream of parking themselves in your yard this time of year are suddenly there in abundance.
So if you suddenly see more critters around your home and buildings after an extended time of heavy rain don’t worry; the Ark has not suddenly unloaded in your backyard! As the water recedes they’ll be gone. So with that in mind, here are some zingers I came up with that play on our recent glut of rainy weather.
It’s been so wet that the other day I watched some rodeo cowboys practicing calf roping from seahorses.
I noticed a fire hydrant near the dog park yesterday that was so tired of getting wet it had on a raincoat. Another hydrant up the street was actually chasing dogs away.
It’s rained so much lately that last night the ducks in the park were all wearing floaties and carrying canoe paddles.
The other day I was walking along a creek where I trap beavers and heard a strange sound coming from the weeds ahead. It’s rained so much lately it was a beaver trying to blow up a life raft, but his teeth kept getting in the way.
I got stopped for speeding the other night, and it’s rained so much lately that the officer also gave me a citation for not having the specified number of life jackets in my pickup.
It’s rained so much lately that all the “crabgrass” in my lawn is pulling itself out of the ground and heading for drier land.
It’s rained so much lately that now when our dogs have to go out to do their business I strap each one to a pool noodle and just toss them off the deck.
I heard on the news that it’s been so wet lately the walking catfish at the zoo are wearing boots and carrying umbrellas.
It’s been so wet lately that a fish I caught the other day actually climbed into the boat on its own and thanked me for finally pulling it from the lake.
During the summer we pick up unwanted apples and feed them to the deer by scattering them on the ground around our deer feeders where we have trail cameras. It’s rained so much lately that we actually have pictures of deer bobbing for apples.
Mosquitoes love wet weather, but it’s rained so much lately that our Kansas mosquitoes are flying around with protest signs.
A bull frogs call sounds like a deep base “harum, harum, harum,” but it’s been so wet lately that the other night I would swear one frog was saying “enough, enough, enough.”
As the saying goes here in Kansas, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change.” Today it’s nice and sunny, but when it gets hot I’m sure I’ll complain about that too. I guess it all boils down to which I dislike the most, but at least hot sunny days won’t cause the local ducks to wear floaties and carry canoe paddles….Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.
Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].
ROOKS COUNTY—Several earthquakes shook Rooks County over the weekend.
According to the Kansas Geological Survey, the two largest were magnitude 3.8 at 9:06a.m. Saturday and a magnitude 3.4 at 3:13a.m. Sunday. The United State’s Geological Survey also reported a 2.6 magnitude quake centered 8 miles northwest of Plainville on Sunday.
These are among the first reported quakes in Kansas since a 2.6 magnitude quake in Saline County on March 21.
The Rooks County Sheriff’s office reported they received no calls about the weekend quakes and there were no other calls of damage or injury.
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ROOKS COUNTY — A small earthquake shook northwest Kansas Sunday. The quake just after 3 a.m. measured a magnitude 2.6 and was centered approximately 8 miles northwest of Plainville, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
These are among the first reported quake in Kansas since a 2.6 magnitude quake in Saline County on March 21.
There are no reports of any damage or injury from Sunday’s quake.
A courtroom is not a place where you expect to find scenes of celebration and tears of joy, unless, of course, it’s drug court.
