Martha Mary Fringer was born February 8, 1930 in Morland, KS to Edward Martin and Laura Mable (Cox) Adams. She passed away February 19, 2019 in Oberlin, KS at the age of 89.
Martha attended schools in Selden, Dresden and Kanarado. She married Max Fringer in 1964 in Oberlin, KS. She enjoyed having family gatherings, sewing and spending time with her grandchildren. She was a member of the United Church of Oberlin.
Martha is survived by daughters: Charlene Mowrey of Colby, KS and Lori Rogers of Colby, KS; step-children: Rick Fringer of Lompoc, CA, Randy (Janice) Fringer of Richmond, TX and Linda Forgue of Richmond, TX; sister, Lila Keenan of Oberlin, KS; daughter-in-law, Sharon Cline of Scott City, KS; sister-in-law, Doris Fringer of Oberlin, KS; 10 grandchildren; 8 step-grandchildren; 20 great grandchildren and many other relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, Ed and Laura; husband, Max; son, Ron Cline; step-children: Larry Fringer, Connie Atkinson, Allen Adams and Darrel Adams; sister, Velma Reed; brothers: Earl and Robert Adams; sister-in-law, Mona Adams; brother-in-law, Lloyd Keenan; step-grandsons: Todd Forgue and Scott Mowrey and step-son-in-law, Kenneth Forgue.
Funeral service will be 1:00 pm Monday, February 25, 2019 at Pauls Funeral Home, Oberlin, KS. Burial will follow at Oberlin Cemetery. Visitation will be 9:00 am – 1:00 pm before the service. Memorial Contributions may be made to Pauls Funeral Home to help with funeral expenses. Condolences may be left at www.paulsfh.com
Karen Huffman, 78, of Quinter, Kansas went Home to her Savior and her beloved Galen on Feb. 19, 2019.
Karen was born August 29, 1940 to Dale and Leona Stoner of King Ferry, New York. She and her two brothers, David and Dick, grew up on the family dairy farm, learning to work hard and to love the Lord. She attended McPherson College where she met the love of her life, Galen Huffman. They married in 1960 and graduated together in June of 1963, Karen having earned her degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Music. They made their home in Quinter, Kansas, where they lived most of their lives raising their five children. In 1989 they founded Formation Plastics, a business dedicated “to the glory of God and our neighbors’ good.”
Karen had a servant’s heart and an almost endless supply of energy. Their home was frequently an overnight stop for friends travelling across the country on I-70. Both she and Galen served as deacons in the Church of the Brethren and were actively involved in teaching Sunday school and other church work. Both also dedicated tremendous amounts of time and service to Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas, an organization that houses and supports special needs adults, including their son Eric. She loved singing, bell choir, games with the family, gardening, helping with the business, quilting, and travelling, but her favorite thing was being a mother and a Nana. She gave her time and love abundantly and selflessly in helping her adult children with their own growing families.
Karen is survived by her five children: Jana (David) Pote, Wichita; Scott (& Carolyn) Huffman, Lawrence; Eric Huffman, Hays; Penny Callantine, Wichita; and Jeff (& Shawna) Huffman, Lawrence; twelve grandchildren, Jordan Pote, Joshua Pote, Jacob Pote, Courtney Summers, Jessica Sharpe, Alexis Luinstra, Garrett Luinstra, Tim Huffman, Patrick Huffman, Stephen Huffman, Matthew Callantine, and Audrey Callantine, two great-grandchildren Tenley Pote and Beckett Pote; brothers David Stoner and Richard Stoner and their families.
Karen was preceded in death by her father, Dale Stoner; her mother, Leona Buckhout Stoner; and her dear husband, Galen Huffman.
A family hosted memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Mar. 3 at the Quinter Church of the Brethren. The family wishes to invite the community and all who wish to attend to a potluck fellowship dinner and gathering time at the Quinter Church of the Brethren immediately following Sunday worship (approx.. 12:00 p.m.) in the church’s fellowship hall. Karen’s memorial celebration in the sanctuary will follow the meal.
Memorials are suggested to the Church of the Brethren in Quinter and may be sent to the Church of the Brethren, 700 Grant St, Quinter, KS, 67752.
The family wishes to thank all who reached out and supported Karen and her children through these past few difficult months. The outpouring of love has been humbling, and we feel we have truly been touched by the hands of God through every act of kindness and generosity.
Tax-cutting fever is alive and well in Kansas politics, and no single person deserves more credit than Charles Koch, head of Koch Industries, the dynamic global conglomerate headquartered in Wichita.
H. Edward Flentje is professor emeritus at Wichita State University.
This fervor was recently orchestrated by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, as business lobbyists and hired guns paraded before a Senate committee in late January to embrace SB 22, a bill that cuts state income taxes by $190 million, with over three-fourths of the benefits going to businesses and corporations. After only an hour of hearings the committee advanced the bill to the Senate floor, and one week later 26 Republican lawmakers passed the bill over to the House.
Charles Koch was nowhere visible during this parade, but his shadow loomed large over the proceedings. This story begins sixty years earlier.
In his book, Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America’s Most Powerful and Private Dynasty, Daniel Schulman traces the anti-tax philosophy of Charles and his brother David to their father, Fred Koch, who instilled in his sons deep-seated beliefs in economic liberty and disdain for big government.
In the 1960s and 1970s the two Koch brothers began promoting libertarian ideas and causes. Charles stepped out to form the CATO Institute, a think tank dedicated to advancing individual liberty, limited government, and free markets. He wrote passionately that business should “want nothing more from government than to be left alone…our goal is to roll back government…consistently work to reduce all taxes, our own and those of others.” He persuaded David to become the 1980 vice-presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party with a platform calling for elimination of income taxes.
In 1980s and 1990s the Koch brothers became more engaged in practical politics. They formed what became Americans for Prosperity (AFP) “to recruit, educate and mobilize citizens” and helped spawn state-level, free-market think tanks, such as the Kansas Policy Institute, across the country. Charles also lent financial support to the American Legislative Exchange Council, which would later hire Arthur Laffer to propagandize nationally for elimination of state income taxes.
In 2012 Koch Industries turned serious attention to Kansas politics and became a leading financial patron of the Kansas Chamber. Koch’s dramatic boost to the Chamber’s PAC paid immediate dividends as the Chamber for the first time that year endorsed total elimination of the state income tax. Friendly lawmakers responded by exempting 330,000 businesses from paying any income taxes and slashing income tax revenues estimated at $4.6 billion over five years.
In line with Koch, the Chamber PAC amped up its 2012 campaign chest to six times the level of the five prior years. From 2012 through 2018, the PAC deployed over $3 million to recruit and retain state legislators friendly to its tax policies. Koch Industries alone contributed over one-quarter of the total. A former lobbyist for Koch and AFP became head of the Chamber.
Kansans have long held a dominant cultural preference for economic liberty that underpins the anti-tax philosophy of Charles Koch, but no one has energized the passion for cutting taxes in Kansas and across the nation as he has.
The reckless tax cutting of 2012 has been rescinded, but it has left neglect and disrepair across the scope of state government. State lawmakers should address this damage and temper their fervor for tax cutting with more concern for children in need of high-quality schools, minimum-wage workers lacking access to health care, and those on fixed incomes paying record-high sales taxes on food.
H. Edward Flentje is professor emeritus at Wichita State University and served with former Kansas Governors Bennett and Hayden.
The National Weather Service is predicting widespread heavy snow across western Kansas this weekend.
Meteorologists are calling for between 4 and 9 inches of snow from Saturday morning to Saturday evening. Winds between 30 to 45 mph, with gusts between 50 and 60 mph, will lead to reduced visibility and hazardous travel.
“Expect travel to become dangerous to impossible, with visibility reduced to a quarter mile at times,” the NWS warned. “Some roadways may be drifted shut.”
Due to possible inclement weather conditions this weekend, the schedule for both ACCESS Public Transportation and SafeRide in Hays could be altered or canceled at anytime during the day.
Overland Property Group, Leawood, plans to redevelop the former Washington Elementary School, 305 Main, and construct income-qualified housing.
As part of the process to apply for federal tax credits through the Kansas Housing Resources Corp., must request a Resolution of Support from the local governing body.
City Manager Toby Dougherty told city commissioners during their Thursday night work session “this is something that has been done previously by commissions for all the StonePost developments either planned, or the ones that were pursued but not constructed.”
Overland Property Group (OPG) has built three phases of income-qualified housing in Hays to date. Phase 1, built in 2006, is on the southeast corner of 5th and Main. Phase 2 was built in 2010 west from the school across Main Street. Phase 3 is immediately north of Larks Park on Fourth Street and was built in 2012.
The city commission has offered letters of support for all the OPG projects including for a failed project attempt on East 22nd Street in 2014. The commission also authorized a resolution of support in 2017 for an attempt to redevelop the former Fort Hays Trailer Park.
StonePost Lofts would consist of up to 20 units with 1, 2 and 3 bedrooms targeting families between 30 to 80% of the Ellis County area median income.
Commissioners will vote on the resolution during their Feb. 28 meeting.
In other business, commissioners reviewed a low bid from Murphy Tractor and Equipment, Great Bend, of $34,445.91 for a double drum asphalt compactor. The equipment was budgeted for $37,000 in New Equipment Reserve.
Public Works Director Jesse Rohr said the compactor would be used by the Service Division for asphalt street patching, overlays and repairs.
The 39-inch drum is smaller than what is used by Ellis County Public Works.
“This is more portable for places we get into, ” Rohr explained. “Heavy enough to do the job, but not so large we can’t get it in to the job we need to do.” It will be trailered between locations.
Rohr said the equipment will also be used for subgrade compaction prior to placement of concrete patches.
“When we get into large street projects, such as the one coming up this year on General Custer, we could use this rather than our small plate compacter that guys pick up off the truck and place it down on the road. This will produce a better end product, longer end-life of the concrete or asphalt.”
The bid will be considered next week.
Kim Rupp, Finance Director, also presented the annual review of each section of the Comprehensive Financial Management Policy. The city is in compliance with all aspects of the policy.
A 10 minute executive session was requested by Dougherty at the end of the meeting for discussion of possible property acquisition. No action was taken.
I wanted to let people know about this scam as it was very convincing. A man who called himself, Sgt. Randy Newton called my work from the phone number 785-543-0415 Ext. 13. Since I was not working that day, my secretary gave me the information, when I called the phone number, I was told I reached the Ellis County Police Department’s Warrant and Citation Department. I left my name and phone number.
It was not long before I received a phone call back from “Sgt. Newton.” He explained that I was supposed to have jury duty today, and that I had missed it. I told him I never received notice for jury duty. He said there were two warrants out for my arrest — one for failure to appear and one for contempt of court.
Mind you, I have never been in trouble with the law, so I have no idea how such legal proceedings work. I was the perfect victim. He told me that there was a bond set for my warrants that would remain until vouchers were sent to the Department of Treasury. I would need to go to the Kwik Shop, get a voucher for $500, and mail the voucher to the Department of Treasury. He would remain on the line with me until this was done. Once this was done, the warrants would be put on hold.
I could then go to the Sheriff’s Department for a court date. I would also be able to file a grievance with the court regarding this issue. I could tell no one until I had my court date as there was a gag order in regards to this case. Again, I have no idea how this stuff works. He was very convincing, and he was even calling from the Ellis Police Department’s number. Luckily, my husband came home, and he did not think this situation made sense to him.
I have also been sick, so I’m not thinking the best either. He called the real Ellis Police Department, and he told them what was going on. They told him it was a scam. I immediately confronted the guy one the phone, and he hung up. My point is that the scammers are getting better and better. I’ve decided that I would rather have a police officer show up at my door then give anyone anything from here on out.
Please tell your friends, your parents, and anyone else, so they do not become victims of this scam.
A federal judge has frozen the assets of a Kansas City, Kansas-based sect that was hit with a $7.9 million judgment last year for human trafficking.
U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson found that members of the group formerly known as the United Nation of Islam had fraudulently transferred assets to non-profit groups they created in order to prevent Kendra Ross, the woman who obtained the judgment, from collecting the money.
Royall Jenkins, as he appears on the United Nation of Islam’s Wikipedia page. CREDIT CREATIVE COMMONS
The United Nation of Islam was formed four decades ago by a Kansas City, Kansas, truck driver named Royall Jenkins who once proclaimed himself to be Allah. Once a member of the Nation of Islam, Jenkins formed the splinter group after he fell out with the Nation of Islam.
Last May, U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree ordered Jenkins and The Value Creators Inc., a successor group to the United Nation of Islam, to pay $7.9 million in damages to Ross for making her work for them without pay over the course of a decade. The judgment is thought to be the largest ever handed down in a human trafficking case.
“Here, with reckless disregard for plaintiff’s health and safety, defendants intentionally and maliciously trafficked and forced her to work in their residences for excessive hours – all with no pay or benefits,” Crabtree wrote in his 57-page ruling.
Ross, who said she was forced to work for the sect starting when she was 11 years old, alleged that Jenkins had at least 13 wives and 20 children. She said she was forced to cook, clean, babysit and work without pay or benefits. She also said she was subjected to physical and emotional abuse, and was rarely given time off.
The Value Creators once operated a variety of businesses in the Quindaro district of Kansas City, Kansas, with names like Your Diner, Your Supermarket, Your Service Station and Your Colonic Center.
More recently, it opened a “teaching restaurant” called The Royall Touch directly across the street from the federal courthouse where it was sued by Ross. The Kansas City Business Journal reported in December that the restaurant received zoning, planning and building inspection approvals from the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas and passed a health inspection.
Members of The Value Creators did not return a phone message left for them at the restaurant.
On the day Crabtree handed down his judgment, a member of The Value Creators incorporated a nonprofit called The Promise Keepers, Inc. and a few months later another group called The Promise Keepers 417 Inc. The assets of The Value Creators were subsequently transferred to the newly formed groups.
Judge Robinson’s temporary restraining order prohibits new groups from disposing of their assets. It also bars them from opening or closing accounts and from opening “any new entities or trusts” without prior court approval.
Elizabeth Hutson, one of Ross’ attorneys, said she was pleased with the ruling.
“Our goal is to prevent the transfer of assets in further frustration of Ms. Ross’ ability to collect on the judgment entered last May,” she said.
Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
Eric Brown. Photo courtesy Salina Area Chamber of CommerceSALINA — The Salina Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors announced Eric L. Brown has been appointed to lead the chamber as its new president and CEO. Brown will succeed Don Weiser, who announced his retirement earlier this year after 43 years with the Chamber.
Brown is currently the Vice President of Economic Development and his first official day in his new role will be May 1. As President and CEO, he will help set the future direction of the Salina business community through economic development, public policy, and continuation of the excellent Chamber programs and services that membership has come to expect.
“I’m humbled and thrilled to have the opportunity to lead the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce,” said Brown. “It is an exciting time to be in Salina and I look forward to working with the board of directors, staff, business community, and community partners to capture and expand on Salina’s momentum.”
Brown has been with the Chamber since 2011 and has served in three economic development related roles; prior to his time on Chamber staff, he worked for Kansas State Polytechnic and The Arnold Group.
“Eric has worked diligently over the last eight years to further his professional education and hone his skills as a Chamber Executive. He is passionate about Salina and Saline County businesses, and brings the enthusiasm, knowledge, and leadership needed to keep the chamber at the forefront of everything happening in our community,” said Joyce Volk, Salina Area Chamber of Commerce Board Chair. “In addition, he is well-acquainted with leaders in Salina, understands the business climate in our community and across Kansas, and those strong relationships will enable him to move the chamber forward very effectively.”
Brown received his undergraduate degree from Fort Hays State University and a Masters of Business Administration from Kansas Wesleyan University. He holds a Workforce Development Professional Certification from the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals, is a graduate of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Organization Management and was also awarded the 2014 Carol D. Ahlvers, Ph.D. Distinguished MBA Alumnus Award from Kansas Wesleyan University. Brown and his wife, Danielle, have two children and have called Salina home since 2006.
Lifelong Phillips County resident Evelyn E. Ferguson earned her wings and went to her eternal home to join her life companion, Orval, on Thursday, February 21, 2019 at the Phillips County Retirement Center, Phillipsburg at the age of 87.
She was born north of Long Island, Kansas in Phillips County the daughter of Oscar N. and Elizabeth (Taylor) Ross.
Evelyn was united in marriage to Orval L. Ferguson on June 19, 1949 in Almena, KS. He preceded her in death on June 9, 2011.
Those left to treasure her memories are her children, Kent of Glade and Melody Murdock and husband, Max of Concordia; her 3 grandchildren, Justin Murdock & wife, Megan of Concordia, Brandon Murdock and Fiancé, Anne of Salina and Kaci Ferguson and Fiancé Nick of Auckland, New Zealand; 6 great grandchildren, Taley & Tracer Murdock, Nash & Hollis Murdock and Kate & Claire Jack; 3 sisters, Phyllis Halderman and husband, Lynne of Alma, NE, Wilma Ross of Holdrege, NE and Loretta Atchison and husband, Gill of Phillipsburg, Kansas; and brother, Maynard Ross and wife, Carol of Alma, NE.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, February 25, 2019 in the First Lutheran Church, Phillipsburg, with Pastors Dave Hutson and Joel Hiesterman officiating. Burial will follow in the Fairview Cemetery, Phillipsburg.
Mrs. Ferguson will lie in state from noon until 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, Phillipsburg.
Memorial contributions may be made to the First Lutheran Church.
James Harvey Sears, 92, passed away on Monday February 18, 2019 at the Smith Center Health & Rehab Center in Smith Center, KS.
Jim was born south of the North Solomon River to Otto and Vera (Cronn) Sears March 25th, 1926. Jim went to first grade at Pleasant View Country School. The family moved to Cedar, Ks, where Jim graduated from the Cedar Grade School, he went to Cedar High School for three years.
Cedar High school was closed, he then went to Gaylord High School one year and graduated from Gaylord High School in 1943. Jim was the Standard oil and gas man for 35 years, he loved guns and became a very talented Gun Smith, he repaired guns from all over the United States, he never advertised, it all occurred by word of mouth. Jim also kept “many” lawn mowers running in the home area.
He was preceded in death by his parents, three sisters, Doris, Lila and Nina.
Survived by one sister, Betty and two brothers, Harold and Gib; many nieces and nephews.
Martha Mary Fringer was born February 8, 1930 in Morland, KS to Edward Martin and Laura Mable (Cox) Adams. She passed away February 19, 2019 in Oberlin, KS at the age of 89.
