Joyce Ilene Halderson Gibbs was born March 11, 1933 to Orval and Freda (Horn) Halderson in Simpson, Kansas. She died on April 27, 2019 at the Trego County Long Term Care at the age of 86.
Joyce was baptized May 7, 1933 at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glasco, Kansas. She was confirmed at St. Paul’s on April 14, 1946. The church and her faith were a strong part of her life. She enjoyed teaching Sunday School and Confirmation classes. She loved WELCA activities and Bible Studies. She served on the Church Council at Zion Lutheran in Phillipsburg.
Joyce grew up in Glasco, Kansas where she was a graduate of Glasco High School class of 1950. On December 24, 1950 she married John W. Gibbs. After John returned from Korea they moved to Phillipsburg where she was a long time resident. Joyce worked in the billing and purchasing department for KN Energy, retiring after 22 years of service. In retirement Joyce enjoyed traveling in their camper with John. Together they visited many parts of the United States.
Family was important to Joyce. She and John celebrated 67 years of marriage before his death in 2017. She enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She loved her pets, especially cat Jazzy and dog Sam whom she regarded as her ‘extra children’. She loved visiting with anyone in person or on the phone, and have a cup of coffee.
Joyce was an avid coffee drinker and loved a good cup (or several) throughout the day. While she did like a regular cup of black coffee, her favorite was a strong cup of Jamaica Me Crazy blend. She was an avid bridge player and was a member of several different bridge groups.
Joyce was preceded in death by her parents, her husband John and a son, Martin John Gibbs.
She is survived by a son, Randy and wife Amy of WaKeeney, Kansas; a daughter Melissa McKee and husband Chris of Abilene, Kansas; by 5 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren; extended family and a many friends. Her quick wit and warm smile will be missed by all who knew and loved her.
Memorial service will be 11:00 a.m., Saturday, May 4, 2019, at Zion Lutheran Church, Phillipsburg, Kansas. There will be no visitation as cremation was chosen.
Memorial contributions may be made to Zion Lutheran Church. Donations made to the church may be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 North 12th, WaKeeney, KS 67672.
Susan H. Benkelman, age 73, of WaKeeney, passed away Monday, April 29, 2019, at Hays Med Center, Hays.
Services are pending with Schmitt Funeral Home, WaKeeney.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to Chapter CT P.E.O. Donations to the organization may be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 North 12th, WaKeeney, KS 67672.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — A lawmaker has resigned under pressure after an investigation into a sexual harassment complaint found he engaged in “ethical misconduct” by sending flirtatious text messages and repeatedly pursuing a relationship with a legislative employee whom he supervised.
Rep. DaRon McGee
Missouri democratic Rep. DaRon McGee, of Kansas City, submitted his resignation late Monday. It was printed in the House Journal, which was publicly available Tuesday, along with an investigatory report from the House Ethics Committee detailing the allegations against him and recommending a series of punishments.
Reached by phone Tuesday by The Associated Press, McGee said: “I’m not making any comment.” He referred questions to an attorney, who did not immediately respond to a message.
McGee is the latest of at least three dozen state lawmakers across the country who have resigned or been expelled from office since 2017 following allegations of sexual misconduct or harassment. Dozens of additional accused lawmakers have faced other repercussions, such as the loss of legislative leadership positions or committee assignments.
Most of those allegations against lawmakers were made public after October 2017, when claims of sexual misconduct against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein sparked the #MeToo movement. Many state legislatures have responded by updating their sexual harassment policies.
The Missouri House updated its sexual harassment policies in 2015 after then-Speaker John Diehl Jr. resigned after acknowledging he had exchanged sexually suggestive text messages with a House intern. The case against McGee also involved text messages.
The House committee said it subpoenaed electronic communications between McGee and the employee and received a series of text messages between 2017 and 2018, including several instigated by McGee that were “flirtatious in nature and gave the appearance” he was “attempting to establish an amorous relationship.”
The report said McGee made repeated communications over the course of at least 10 months that were not welcomed by the employee and then took actions which resulted in the termination of the person’s employment. The committee also said McGee “repeatedly delayed and obstructed” its proceedings, which began after it received a report about his conduct on Jan. 7.
The House Journal indicates McGee initially submitted a resignation letter to the House speaker at 6:55 p.m. Monday saying that he had accepted employment in Kansas City that would cause him to return full-time to his district. The letter said he was resigning effective Thursday.
Immediately beneath that letter was printed the House Ethics Committee report recommending that McGee be censured because of his conduct toward the employee, be removed from all committee assignments, resign as assistant minority leader and pay $7,408 of restitution to the House for the investigation against him. If McGee remained in office, the committee recommended that he be subject to expulsion if he didn’t comply with the other sanctions or if another sexual harassment complaint was brought against him.
The journal then contains a second resignation letter from McGee, submitted at 7:45 p.m. Monday, saying he was resigning immediately. That letter also cited a full-time job in Kansas City while making no mention of the investigation against him.
McGee declined to comment to the AP about the job cited in his resignation letter.
Republican House Speaker Elijah Haahr issued a statement Tuesday describing McGee’s behavior as “inexcusable” and adding that he had “broken the trust placed in him” and abused his position.
House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Democrat, said McGee wasn’t worthy of remaining in public office.
“By holding our colleagues accountable for their actions, we can begin to change the culture of an institution where behavior such as this has been tolerated for far too long,” Quade said Tuesday in a written statement.
Earlier in April, the House Ethics Committee found that Republican state Rep. Rocky Miller had engaged in “unbecoming” conduct by creating a false rumor that another lawmaker was having an affair with a House employee. An outside investigation concluded that Miller’s actions weren’t severe or pervasive enough to qualify as sexual harassment under federal or state law but may have violated the House’s sexual harassment policy. The ethics panel did not recommend any further action against Miller.
What was likely to be a three-day, maybe five-day veto session of the Kansas Legislature got more complicated last week with the Kansas Supreme Court decision that abortion is a right of Kansas women under the state constitution.
That high court decision which pronounces a woman’s decision to have an abortion a right under the state constitution sends the issue back to Shawnee County District Court for consideration of a bill that outlaws a specific procedure used in more than 90 percent of abortions in Kansas.
Nothing changes immediately. The second-trimester abortion procedure specifically outlawed by the bill remains legal until the specifics of that dilation and evacuation procedure are considered by the district court, and then likely challenged at the Court of Appeals level and then likely by the Kansas Supreme Court. That could take a year or so, but that provides time for the Legislature to try to change the state constitution to prohibit nearly all abortions in Kansas.
It’s a hot-button political scrap that may well dominate the planned short veto session of the Legislature, becoming an issue that will cast a shadow over assembling a budget, considering expansion of Medicaid eligibility, possibly a tax bill, and then getting out of town.
It’s still not clear when the Legislature will consider a resolution to allow voters to determine whether abortion will be banned in Kansas after a fetus is detected, but there are already House and Senate resolutions introduced earlier this year that might just get pulled out of a committee for debate in either chamber. That’ll make the veto session longer—count on it—if either the House or Senate gets the measure to the floor for debate.
And, for you political/procedural junkies, each chamber’s resolutions are strongly, near-emotionally written. If one or the other gains the two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate—the governor doesn’t have a role in the process—that public vote would be taken at the November 2020 general election when every House and Senate seat is on the line.
So, the wrap-up session is going to be emotional, and every decision on the abortion issue is going to be dissected by anti-abortion and abortion-rights legislators, and the lobbying groups which support them.
Delay the issue until next session for debate in an election year? Take fast action this session while the issue which smoldered for four years in courthouses has emerged?
Anti-abortion activists may not be sated by leadership assertions that the issue is too complicated to be thoughtfully dealt with in the few days left this session. Abortion-rights activists have apparently won on the Kansas constitutional issue, but the widely used abortion procedure’s battle in court may influence votes, depending on how it is described both in debate to get it on the ballot and the inevitable campaigning on the issue ahead of a statewide referendum.
Oh, and how lawmakers vote to put—or not put—the constitutional issue before voters will be a hot-button campaign issue in their election or reelection bids.
Yes, it gets complicated, this one issue that the Supreme Court has put into debate with just a few days left in the session.
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And, don’t forget those two other issues that the Supreme Court will leave its fingerprints on this year, adequacy of funding for public schools and just who gets to nominate the next judge on the Kansas Court of Appeals to succeed retired judge Patrick McAnany…
All of a sudden, it seems, that black robe gang becomes the focus of the legislative session. It gets complicated when the court and the Legislature interact…
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
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will host its first state-sanctioned high school wrestling tournament for girls only next year.
Photo courtesy War of the Roses Kansas Girl’s open
The Kansas State High School Activities Association board voted Friday to add girls wrestling to its competitions.
The association’s executive director, Bill Faflick, says the first girls state wrestling tournament will be held in Salina on Feb. 27, 2020.
High school girls are already allowed to wrestle, but they’ve had to join boys’ teams. More than 375 high school girls wrestled on boys’ teams across Kansas this winter.
The change means that boys and girls will still meet during the regular season, but they must participate in their respective regional and state tournaments.
Faflick says they hope the decision leads to more female participation in high school wrestling across Kansas.
May is a busy month in Hays as school calendars come to a close and graduation ceremonies are scheduled. Outdoor sports pick up and the two city swimming pools open for the season.
Melissa Dixon, Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director, has a preview of some of the spring activities.
An updated calendar of events is available on the Hays CVB website www.haysusa.net.
GOVE COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident just after 3a.m. Tuesday in Gove County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Volvo semi driven by Daniel B. Messenger, 46, Henderson, TN., was eastbound on Interstate 70 just west of the Kansas 198 exit.
The driver did not see an eastbound 1995 Chevy pickup driven by Ralph D. Hembree, 71, Inglis, FL., that was having trouble and driving on the shoulder at a low rate of speed. The semi side swiped the pickup.
Hembree was transported to Gove County Medical Center. Messenger was not injured and not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
Geneva M. (Noren) Christensen was born on the family farm near Oberlin, Kansas to David Theodore and Esther Amanda (Carlson) Noren on October 6, 1925. She passed away peacefully at home in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on April 27, 2019, at the age of 93.
Geneva attended a one-room school house near her family farm for grades 1-8. She then “batched” in town on a weekly basis for all four of her high school years. She graduated with highest honors from Decatur County High School in 1943. In Geneva’s own words: “I was born and raised in a Christian home and always loved Jesus but never committed my life to Him until I was 12 years old. A great burden was lifted from my soul at that time. The Lord has patiently led and guided me through the years. Praise His name!”
Since she wasn’t old enough to go directly into a nurses’ training program upon graduating from high school, and since she was not financially able to go to college, she worked in Denver, CO for one year. In the fall of 1944, she was accepted to enter the Swedish Covenant Hospital Nursing Program. It was war time, and when the Cadet Nursing Program was offered through the Swedish Covenant Hospital, Geneva signed up and graduated as an RN with highest honors in 1947. She then entered North Park Junior College and Bible Institute.
When great need arose on the Congo mission field, she quickly accepted the call to go after only one year at North Park. In August 1949, she sailed for the Belgian Congo. Gordon Christensen followed a year later, and they were married on September 2, 1950 in Leopoldville, the capital of the Belgian Congo. Geneva and Gordon served together on the Covenant Field in Congo until their retirement in 1990. Most of their time was spent at the Bible Institute where pastors and their wives were trained. Geneva served as a nurse as well as taught at the Bible Institute.
Probably Geneva’s greatest contribution to the pastor’s wives was to teach them that they were people of worth. She taught them that God made them, and He doesn’t make useless or second-grade things. Geneva received a medal from the Congolese government for long service to the Congo. Geneva said she had a graduate degree: “MOM”. In Lingala, she was called “Mama” and “Koko” meaning “Mom” and “Grandmother.”
Geneva’s root gifts were those of counseling, teaching, and mentoring. During her retirement years, these gifts were in use regularly. Both Geneva and Gordon were prolific writers, producing helpful booklets for the Christian life for the Congolese. No doubt, the greatest gift to the African church was and is the three volume New Testament commentary, “Mai Na Bomoi” (“Living Water”) that Gordon wrote with Geneva’s assistance. These volumes have been used as textbooks in many Congolese Bible Schools. After their retirement, both Geneva and Gordon served in interim pastor capacities in several places and were involved in Schools of Prayer and Evangelism, and Spiritual Intervention.
Geneva is survived by her three children and their spouses: Susan and Dale Lovercheck (Media, PA), Michael and Angela Christensen (Hampton, VA), and Mary Lynn and Dennis Carlson (Farmington Hills, MI). She is also survived by her five grandchildren: James Lovercheck, Timothy Carlson (Kathryn), Kristin Bransford (Scott), Nathan Christensen and Katelin Christensen. Geneva was preceded in death by her husband, Gordon Christensen; grandson, Phillip Christensen; sister, Evelyn Noren; brother, Edwin Noren and brother, Willard Noren.
Funeral services will be held 11:00 AM Friday, May 3, 2019 at the Herndon Covenant Church. Burial will follow at Herndon Covenant Cemetery. Visitation will be 10:00 – 11:00 AM. Memorial contributions may be made to the Herndon Covenant Church or Paul Carlson Partnership – Congo Clinic Initiative (Chicago, IL). Condolences may be left at www.paulsfh.com
Building grades and project priorities / click to expand
It disappoints me that we have a room full of empty chairs for these items that are costing so much money. … It makes me very disappointed in this community.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 school board received a report on district infrastructure needs at its meeting Monday night.
Board President Mandy Fox called the list of projects a “triage list” as the district tries to address many needs with limited funds.
“I really do think ‘triage’ is the appropriate word for this,” Fox said. “It disappoints me that we have a room full of empty chairs for these items that are costing so much money. While they are for the safety of the students and for a good environment for the students, they are not directly impacting their education.
“When people are quick to post on Hays Post and the Hays Daily News about how we are spending money, it really frustrates me because they are not here to hear everything we are listening to.”
She noted it is going to take more than eight years just to fix the Hays High parking lot.
“It makes me very disappointed in this community,” she added.
Rusty Lindsay, director of building and grounds, graded each district building in a report to the board.
Lincoln Elementary School and Rockwell received D’s. Wilson and O’Loughlin elementary schools received C’s. HHS, HMS and Roosevelt Elementary School received B’s.
Lindsay noted the district is trying to concentrate its efforts on HHS, HMS and Roosevelt, as those three buildings have all been identified as buildings the district would keep if a bond issue is passed. Other buildings are being approached as repair only, Lindsay said.
In his diagram, he listed multiple projects in these buildings as bond projects. He said he cost of the work is enough that it can’t be paid for through capital outlay funds.
The district receives about $2 million annually from its capital outlay mill levy. As of the end of the FY19, the district anticipates it will have about $4.7 million in the fund, which includes a $2.7 million carry over from the previous year.
Project list by building: HHS, HMS, Roosevelt Head Start / click to expand
He also noted several projects as critical needs. These projects included a special systems project at the high school, which was approved Monday night; Roosevelt roof repair, which has already been approved by the board; and tuck point and caulking at Westside.
The special systems project will also include pulling cable for a new phone system and security cameras. The phone system is set to be in next fiscal year’s budget. The new cameras would be budgeted at a later date as funds become available.
Twenty-one projects listed infrastructure that is in poor shape and an additional 51 infrastructure areas were ranked in fair shape, but had potential for failure. Lindsay hopes to fix about 10 of the critical to fair projects by the end of this summer and additional six in the next school year. However, that still leaves 59 projects or 79 percent unfinished.
Several board members thanked Lindsay for his report and added they wished to have a similar report on an annual basis. Fox added she would like to have a copy of the report at her chair at each board meeting so she could regularly refer back to it.
Project list by building: Wilson, O’Loughlin, Lincoln, Westisde/Rockwell
“What you did with chart A2 works really well with my mind,” board member Sophia Rose Young said, “so I want to thank you for laying it out like that with the colors and breaking it down and putting it in the order you did. … A tool like this is very beneficial to us as board members. This is something I feel I have been missing.”
The school board heard two additional reports on infrastructure bids at Monday’s meeting, but is not set to vote on them until its meeting on May 20.
Lock project
The district has received at $57,000 matching grant to replace interior door locks at HHS, HMS and Roosevelt. The new lock system will also be a part of the renovation project at the Oak Park Complex.
Lindsay said the current lock system is no longer secure, because the keys can be easily duplicated.
The district recently changed the locks on all the exterior doors to schools so they are only accessible by key cards. If a key card is lost or stolen or an individual leaves the district, the key card can be easily deactivated, Lindsay said.
The new system will have several levels of access. Lindsay used the example of science classrooms. Science teachers would have a key that accessed all the science rooms and supply cabinets.
Total number of projects, projected completion for 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years.
Custodians would have master keys that unlocked room doors, but not supply cabinets.
Administrators would have grand master keys that accessed all classrooms and all supply cabinets and closets.
The lock replacement is a matter of security and that is why Lindsay said he has placed it high on the capital needs list.
The locks are made with replaceable cores, so if a key is lost, the cores can be replaced instead of the entire lock, Lindsay said.
If teachers move classrooms, as often happens at the elementary levels, the cores can be moved instead of reissuing keys.
Lindsay said he hoped to complete the locks at the other elementary schools in the next year or two. He noted that if the district would vacate one of these schools because of a bond being passed, the locks could be reused in a new building.
The district’s match for the project will be $53,000.
Parking lots
Brian’s Concrete of Hays submitted a $96,000 bid for concrete replacement at Hays High School. Lindsay budgets money every year out of capital outlay to replace a portion of the parking at HHS. The parking project is about 40 percent complete and won’t be fully complete until 2028.
At that point, the the capital outlay schedule has work starting on the HMS parking lot with completion in 2034.
Board member Luke Oborny noted there is a night-and-day difference between the areas of the parking lot that have been replaced and those that have not.
In other business, the board:
Approved board policy revisions.
Heard a report on administrative and classified handbook revisions
Heard a curriculum update
Heard a report on a membership renewal to the Kansas Association of School Boards
Heard a special education update
Reviewed the 2019-20 school board meeting calendar
RICE COUNTY – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) announced that the standoff with a suspect who shot the Rice County Sheriff and Undersheriff Monday evening ended just after midnight on Tuesday morning.
According to a media release from the KBI, at approximately 12:10 a.m., authorities located the body of David L. Madden inside the residence at 490 Avenue S. in Raymond, Kan. Also, found deceased in the home was Thomas T. Madden, 65, the father of the suspect, and owner of the home where the standoff occurred. No threat to the public exists any longer as a result of these shootings.
The investigation suggests that when Madden shot the Undersheriff, a female and a child accompanied him in the vehicle. Madden then fled the area and drove to his residence in Alden to retrieve guns and ammunition. He then went to his father’s home, where it is believed he fatally shot Thomas Madden prior to the Sheriff and deputy arriving. Then it is believed the female left the scene. A short time later, when the Sheriff arrived, which was at approximately 5:40 p.m., he was fired upon and shot in the leg.
Law enforcement on the scene of the shooting in Rice County photo courtesy KWCH
After the Sheriff was shot, Madden exchanged gunfire with additional responding law enforcement officers. Over the next several hours the Kansas Highway Patrol’s Special Response Team, and the KBI, the Barton County Sheriff’s Office, the Reno County Sheriff’s Office, the Wichita Police Department, the Rice County Sheriff’s Office, the Sterling Police Department, the Lyons Police Department, and many other area law enforcement agencies, attempted to safely determine the suspect’s location in the home.
They first located the body of Thomas Madden. Then, at approximately 12:10 a.m., authorities located the body of David Madden, which ended the standoff. It is suspected that David Madden died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
KBI agents and the Crime Scene Response Team remain in Rice County interviewing witnesses, and assisting the Rice County Sheriff’s Office in processing multiple crime scenes.
The condition of the Undersheriff remains critical but stable, and the Sheriff was released from the hospital.
David Madden was a suspect in the 2015 disappearance of Megan Foglesong, and was also indicted last week on federal firearms charges.
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STERLING, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on a shooting that wounded a Kansas sheriff and undersheriff (all times local):
7:25 a.m.
Authorities have found two bodies in a Kansas home after a standoff that followed the shooting of a sheriff and undersheriff.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said in a news release that the Rice County undersheriff was shot and critically wounded around 5 p.m. Monday after attempting to stop a car north of the small town of Sterling, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northwest of Wichita.
The release says the sheriff and a deputy then pursued the suspect to a home in a nearby town, where the sheriff was shot in the leg in an exchange of gunfire.
A KBI official said at the scene early Tuesday that two men’s bodies were found at the home after a standoff. Authorities haven’t released their identities, but the bureau says there is no risk to the community.
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RICE COUNTY – The Rice County Sheriff Bryant Evans and Undersheriff Chad Murphy were shot at separate locations in Rice County, on Monday evening. Agents of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) responded to investigate the shootings, and assist in attempts to apprehend the suspect.
Preliminary information indicates that at approximately 5:10 p.m. Monday, Rice County Undersheriff Murphy attempted a car stop near the Sonic Restaurant, just north of the Sterling city limits. The car stop was related to a warrant for the vehicle’s occupant, David L. Madden, 37, of Alden.
Within approximately thirty seconds of initiating the car stop, the Undersheriff radioed to dispatch that he had been shot. EMS responded, and he was flown to a Wichita hospital. Murphy is being treated for four gunshot wounds, and is currently in critical, but stable condition.
Following the shooting of the Undersheriff, Rice County Sheriff Bryant Evans learned information that Madden likely fled to a residence in rural Rice County, southeast of Raymond. He and another sheriff’s deputy arrived at the residence and encountered Madden. Gunshots were exchanged, and one round struck the Sheriff in the leg.
David Madden photo KBI
The Sheriff and deputy called for assistance and additional law enforcement agencies responded. Authorities were able to surround the home, and establish a perimeter.
The Sheriff was taken to a hospital in Lyons, Kan., and was then transported to a Wichita hospital. The Sheriff is currently in good condition.
With multiple law enforcement agencies on scene, the standoff at the residence in Rice County ended early Tuesday, according to the KBI.
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RICE COUNTY— The Kansas Bureau of Investigation respond to the city Sterling in Rice County late Monday afternoon, according to a statement of the Bureau.
Two law enforcement officers from the Rice County Sheriffs Office have been shot.
According to the KBI, the two officers wounded in Sterling are Rice County Sheriff Bryant Evans and the Rice County Undersheriff Chad Murphy.
The suspect is 37-year-old David L. Madden.
We are trying to confirm their conditions but the situation is still very fluid currently. Information is still pending on the status of the suspect, according to Melissa Underwood with the KBI.
Check the Post for additional details as they become available.
BUNKER HILL – Smoky Hills Public Television’s local program, “Doctors on Call,” will feature its last episode of the season Tuesday, April 30 at 7 p.m.
The episode will focus on women’s health with Dr. Jenna Sloan, OB/GYN, from HaysMed, part of The University of Kansas Health System. Watch Doctors on Call LIVE on ANY DEVICE by subscribing to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SmokyHillsPBS.
Doctors on Call is a program that provides medical information on a variety of different topics. Medical professionals from throughout the state travel to Bunker Hill to provide information and answer questions from the viewing audience. The program airs LIVE on Tuesdays at 7 p.m.
During the program, viewers can call 800.337.4788 with their questions for the doctors.
To submit questions electronically on a specific topic, viewers can send an email to [email protected]. Questions submitted through email must be received by noon on the day of the show.
