Hays Police Officer Ryan Blecha and the other members of his shift spent their day off doing lawn maintenance for 92-year-old Margaret Vine of Hays. (Back row L to R): Sgt. Brandon Hauptman, Dispatcher Josh Cooper, Ofc. Aaron Ewy, Ofc. Mackenzie Smith, Cpl. Vilaysing, Ofc. Ryan Blecha, Ofc. Scott Heimann (Kneeling) Dispatcher Alanna Hansen, Ofc. Samantha Nielsen
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
It was their day off, but the entire law enforcement shift that works with Hays Police Officer Ryan Blecha got together anyway.
All nine of them gathered at 9 a.m. to do major lawn maintenance at the home of 92-year-old Hays resident Margaret Vine.
“She really needed her lawn done,” Blecha said during a short break in the frenzy of activity Monday morning.
Nobody was in uniform. Instead the seven officers and two dispatchers were dressed in work clothes and boots, with yard and garden tools in hand as they clipped bushes, mowed grass, weeded, raked, and sawed dead tree limbs in Margaret’s large front and back yards.
Blecha saw the overgrown front lawn and landscaping early Sunday morning during a patrol check at Vine’s house in the 300 block of West 25th. Hays Police were called by Vine’s granddaughter when she saw an unfamiliar vehicle and driver in front of their house.
Blecha responded to the call and made sure Vine and her granddaughter were safe. He left his business card with them.
“I saw the lawn was overgrown and didn’t want Margaret to have to worry about calling somebody or getting more help to do that,” he said.
A neighbor across the street, Dennis Budke, came over to check on Margaret when he saw the police car pull up. Budke told Blecha she has a lawn mowing service but “they don’t really do the deep stuff.”
Blecha also gave his business card to Budke, who “offered help with water and other power equipment.”
During a lull later in his Sunday shift, Blecha asked the other shift members if they’d be interested in helping him help Margaret.
“They all said yes,” Blecha said. “Basically, it was all put together in about 30 minutes on shift.”
The group brought their own lawn and garden tools, plus herbicides to kill the weeds. They filled their pickup beds with grass, leaves, bush clippings, weeds and dead tree limbs that were sawed off mature trees and hauled it all to the Ellis County Landfill.
Budke, whose son is a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper in Goodland, was also on hand during the lawn work, explaining to Margaret exactly what was going on.
When Blecha stepped up onto the porch to greet Margaret, she didn’t recognize him.
“Well, I have the card that nice young man left me last night on my table,” Margaret said slowly.
“And this is him,” Budke pointed to Blecha as he shook Margaret’s hand. “He’s just not in his uniform today.”
Margaret gasped a little as Budke explained everyone swarming over her property is a Hays police officer.
“Oh, they not only keep us safe, they do something like this,” Margaret smiled. “We have a wonderful community.”
The Hays police officers volunteering their time were:
Sgt. Brandon Hauptman
Cpl. David Vilaysing
Ofc. Samantha Nielsen
Ofc. Mackenzie Smith
Ofc. Scott Heimann
Ofc. Ryan Blecha
Trainee Ofc. Aaron Ewy
Dispatcher Josh Cooper
Dispatcher Alanna Hansen
A portion of Margaret Vine’s front yard prior to the cleanup by HPD officers. (Photo courtesy Dennis Budke)
An entire shift of Hays Police personnel volunteered on their day off to do lawn maintenance for 92-year-old resident Margaret Vine.
Dennis Budke talks to his neighbor Margaret Vine Monday morning about the Hays police officers working in her yard.
Margaret Vine had been worried about dead limbs on a mature tree in her front yard. They were removed by HPD volunteers.
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.
A petition for judicial review has been filed as the first part of the regulatory phase is wrapping up for transferring water from the R9 Ranch in Edwards County to Hays.
The ranch is owned by the cities of Hays and Russell to be used as long term water source, which may also be made available to Ellis, Victoria and La Crosse.
A final master order was issued March 27 by David Barfield, chief engineer at the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s Division of Water Resources (DWR), approving change applications by Hays and Russell to convert the irrigation rights of the R9 Ranch to municipal use for the cities.
There are two checks in that process.
Due to the quantity of water and the distance it will be transported for its new use, the project also requires approval under the state’s Water Transfer Act. Now that the changes have been approved, the water transfer proceeding will be initiated to determine whether it is in the state’s overall best interest to allow the transfer of the water.
“Entities could petition the secretary of agriculture for a review of the order. There was (such) a petition and the secretary declined declined to review the order, and stated the order was fine,” Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty told city commissioners Thursday night.
The last opportunity for an intervention by an outside party is to petition for a judicial review.
A group called WaterPACK, the Water Protection Association of Central Kansas, has filed a petition for judicial review with the court in Edwards County.
“They’re really our only opposition in this entire project,” noted Dougherty. “Essentially what the petition said is that (they) don’t agree with the chief engineer’s findings on the master order.
“They rehashed all the arguments they brought up as the master order was being drafted to which the chief engineer pointed out they weren’t relevant to the situation. There was no new information introduced.”
DWR is in the process of filing its response to WaterPACK. The Division of Water Resources, through their agriculture department attorney, is filing their answer to the petition on June 28.
“I believe, on that same day, it’s our attorney’s intention to file a motion to intervene on behalf of Hays. There will also be one filed on behalf of the city of Russell. Once those motions are filed, we are tied into the case,” Dougherty explained to the commissioners, “becoming a party to the case, as is WaterPACK and as is the Division of Water Resources.”
Dougherty does not know what the court proceedings schedule will be. “That will be up to the judge to determine what the procedure is to be going forward, or whether something might get dismissed.
“We do fully intend to be tied to this case,” he emphasized.
R9 Ranch, Edwards County
By state law, once the Final Master Order is issued, the Water Transfer Act is triggered, which has never happened in Kansas.
The act still requires approval within 18 months from a three-person panel consisting of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary or the KDHE Director of the Division of Environment, the head of the Kansas Water Office, and the chief engineer of the KDA/DWR. The state agriculture department oversees the Division of Water Resources.
Updated public information is available on the KDA–DWR website dedicated to the project — agriculture.ks.gov/HaysR9.
Hays is nearly two inches ahead of average for annual rainfall.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
It’s been an unusually cool and wet spring in Hays but outdoor watering restrictions remain in place.
From June 1 through Sept. 30, no outdoor watering is permitted from city of Hays or private wells between the hours of noon and 7 p.m.
In many areas the soil remains saturated, and Holly Dickman, water conservation specialist, cautions against over watering.
“Despite those warmer days, we may have had here and there, many of our established landscape plants have not needed supplemental irrigation,” says Dickman. “Trees, shrubs and lawns that have been well established and in for years, they really haven’t needed any watering as of yet, which is very unusual for this point in June.”
Too much irrigation is not good for plants and even Mother Nature can cause problems with too much water.
“You can have poor root systems which can ultimately cause unhealthy plants and lots of stress on them,” Dickman said.
Dickman advises checking the soil before watering by using a probe such as a long screwdriver or piece of stiff wire.
Holly Dickman, water conservation specialist, shows a soil probe that can be used to determine moisture depth of soil.
“Stick that probe down into the soil and see whether it’s actually moist or not. Once you hit resistance with a probe like that, you know you’ve probably hit dry soil.
“But at this point, we do not have dry soils in Hays, Kansas.”
The soil should be allowed to dry out before it is watered again.
Watering is recommended to the following depths where the roots are :
Turfgrass lawns: 6-8 inches
Flowers and vegetables: 8-12 inches
Trees and shrubs: 12-18 inches
You made need to water more often if you have a newly planted seed lawn, newly planted flowers or a vegetable garden.
“In that case, on a warmer day you may have to go out and water periodically to keep those roots systems moist and healthy. But other wise, established plants have not needed additional moisture yet.”
As of Wed., June 19, Hays has received 13.02 inches of moisture this year. The normal average, according to the K-State Research Agricultural Research Center, is 11.27 inches by the end of June.
Funding requests for 2020 by four outside agencies will be presented to the Hays city commission during its Thursday work session.
The agencies – Grow Hays, Fort Hays State University (FHSU), CARE Council, Downtown Hays Development Corporation (DHDC) – are each requesting amounts that are more than the $25,000 budget authority of City Manager Toby Dougherty. FHSU, Grow Hays and CARE Council are funded through the city’s general fund. DHDC is funded through the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).
“The governing body will determine the amount of their allocations mid-July during the budget discussion,” Dougherty said. “Nothing will decided [during the next two weeks.] It’ll be decided as part of the budget process.”
FHSU is requesting the same $100,000 as in the past for its City of Hays Scholarship Program for Scholastic Achievement.
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.
Grow Hays (formerly the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development) is asking for $100,000 from the city.
“As they transitioned to Grow Hays, there was a year they didn’t take their funding. They didn’t ask for funding this year (2019) but they are asking for funding going forward.”
A few more non-profit groups’ requests are within the $25,000 spending authority of the city manager, including Wild West Festival, Ellis County Historical Society, and the Hays Arts Council which are all funded with CVB monies. Although Sister Cities is not an outside agency, it also receives money from the CVB budget.
Right now, according to Dougherty, “the city is not in a position where it’s facing funding cuts to outside agencies” as is the county. Ellis County commissioners determined earlier this week the county will award $928,800 in funding requests. On June 10, 16 outside agencies presented requests for a total of $1.073 million from Ellis County.
“The budget I’m giving the governing body will be not only balanced, but putting money away in reserves, and it will have a pay increase for our employees,” he said.
Dougherty added there will be no suggested cuts in outside agency funding on his end in order to fund city operations somewhere else.
City commissioners will receive their 2020 draft budget books at the June 27 meeting. The proposed budget will be presented by Dougherty during the July 2 meeting.
Also on tomorrow’s agenda is discussion of the renewal of property/casualty/liability insurance coverage.
“We are going to see a slight increase in premium this year,” Dougherty noted, “which is not bad because we reassessed all of our property. We had a significant increase in property being covered.
“Because we’re with Midwest Public Risk, we had only a slight increase because there is a cap on premium. So we’re getting a pretty good bang for the buck based off the amount of property we added under it.”
Kaw Creek, Manhattan, kicked off Bach’s Lunch on the Bricks’ second season June 6 in the Downtown Hays Pavilion.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Kaw Creek, a bluegrass duo from Manhattan, kicked off the summer season of Bach’s Lunch on the Bricks Thursday in the downtown Hays pavilion.
An appreciative group gathered at the noon hour to listen to Alice Boyle and Robert Rosenberg play and sing songs inspired by the land and people of the Central Plains and its prairie lands.
Some of their music is original; other songs are traditional folk classics. Rosenberg plays guitar while Boyle plays the fiddle, viola and banjo.
Boyle is a bird biologist at Kansas State University and has written music influenced by her research experience.
Their soothing song “Gate 5” is named after the entrance to the prairie near Manhattan where Boyle studies birds. Accompanying Boyle on the fiddle and Rosenberg on guitar were recorded warblings Boyle made of the Eastern Meadowlark (not to be confused with the Western Meadowlark, the Kansas state bird, which is more prevalent in the Hays area.)
On more upbeat tunes, Rosenberg tapped an accompanying beat with his shoe heels on a wood sounding board directly in front of his chair.
This is the second year for Bach’s Lunch on the Bricks, according to Sara Bloom, executive director of the Downtown Hays Development Corporation.
The title for the free summer music series is a play on words.
Music lovers enjoy Kaw Creek, a bluegrass duo from Manhattan, Kan.
“It’s a variety of different music so we wanted to have the Bach name in there. It’s also a play on words because we offer box lunches,” Bloom explained with a smile.
The event is the brainchild of local musician Kay Werth, an oboe and bassoon instructor in the Fort Hays State University Department of Music and Theatre.
“We owe all this to Kay who invited some of her friends to come out and play. She asked if the Bricks of Downtown Hays would be interested in hosting it. She organized the musicians but didn’t want to necessarily organize the marketing or lunch aspect of it.
“So we said absolutely, we love the idea, and now with Kay’s help we’re continuing the series this year.”
One hour concerts will take place every first, third and fifth Friday of the month.
“One of the things we pride ourselves on is no week will be the same,” said Bloom.
The music, and the $10 box lunches available for purchase on site, will vary during the season which runs through August.
“You’re gonna hear a little bit of rock, some acoustic music, some polka, just all kinds of different music throughout the summer. We really wanted to focus on making sure there was a large variety so everyone will have something that they enjoy, plus exposing our younger generations to a wide variety of genres.”
All ages are welcome to attend.
The lunches are provided by various downtown Hays restaurants. June features Augustine’s Bakery, 1305 Main. Friday’s menu was a Chicken Caesar Wrap with chips.
Polka music will be played at the June 21 concert by Joe Dolezal and his band. The lunch boxes from Augustine’s Bakery will be Chicken Salad on Marbled Rye.
Participating restaurants last summer included The Paisley Pear, Gella’s, The Press and others. Attendees can reserve a box lunch if desired.
Bloom says the music will always be “clean and fun.”
“It’s just a great way to enjoy some time off the electronics in our beautiful pavilion. Whether it’s hot out or not, it’s cool under the pavilion. It’s a great way to relax and have some fun over the lunch hour.”
The Hays Area Board of Zoning Appeals will meet Wednesday.
Agenda items include a special use permit request by Shining Stars Preschool to be re-located in a Neighborhood Conversation District (NC.3) at 1307 Schwaller Ave.
Owners Brooke and Curtis Deines were approved in 2010 for a special use permit at 2609 General Custer Road to operate Shining Stars Preschool.
According to information submitted by Brooke Deines, the school now needs to be relocated to 1307 Schwaller, currently a vacant lot. Deines says the school will be built with an exterior appearance similar to a single family home.
City staff is recommending a public hearing be scheduled for the request.
Relay For Life walkers stroll around luminaries in honor and remembrance of cancer patients as Frank Werth performs as Elvis Presley along with his backup singers in the Downtown Hays Pavilion June 7.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
“Very, very pleased” is how Ellis County Relay For Life Committee member Mary Ann Randa described Friday evening’s event in the downtown Hays open-air pavilion.
This was the second year the annual fundraiser for the American Cancer Society was held at the pavilion and this time the committee tried something new.
“Rockin’ on the Bricks” featured a two-hour concert by “Elvis,” also known as Schoenchen resident Frank Werth, drawing music-lovers who had never attended the local relay in its 20-plus years. Werth kicked off his concert singing “Only The Strong Will Survive” as cancer survivors clad in their purple t-shirts and wearing RFL survivor medals, walked the relay with the Survivor’s Lap.
Ellis County cancer survivors pose for a picture.
Purple donation buckets were scattered about the pavilion, adding to the money raised from a silent auction of donated gift baskets.
Luminaries purchased in remembrance of those who died of cancer and honoring others who are battling the disease lined 10th Street next to the pavilion.
A special memorial table was graced with the faces of Hays residents Mary Braden and Lonnie Claycamp, who both died recently of cancer.
Braden started the Ellis County Relay For Life in Hays and co-founded SOS, the support group for breast cancer survivors. Claycamp was a longtime committee member and also served as chairperson. Special remembrances were presented to their families by the committee.
Also honored were longtime Hays volunteers Bob May, who purchases the survivor medals; Brenda Meder, who reads the honorees names during the nighttime luminary ceremony; and Donna Maskus, a 4-H Master Volunteer who organizes 4-H members to place the many luminaries the morning of the relay.
During a prayer offered Austin Lahman, First Baptist Church pastor, he mentioned the colorful t-shirts worn by relay participants and supporters.
The backs of one particular black shirt was emblazoned with “Cancer Sucks” in white lettering. Similar shirts worn by children had a little less harsh wording of “Cancer Stinks.”
Clint Froelich team
The family and friends of Hays resident Clint Froelich were wearing the black shirts in recognition and support of his ongoing cancer battle that began a year ago.
The front of the t-shirts features a quote by Clint, “Cancer, you make me wish I had more middle fingers.”
His mother Marie Froelich says the t-shirts have been sold to members of their large family and to others in support of Clint and for cancer awareness.
Clint thought he was having an appendix attack. The organ was removed and surgeons discovered cancer.
“It was full of cancer,” Marie said. “It’s a very rare type and he’s had about nine surgeries this last year. He’s struggling and we’re just taking one day at a time.”
Marie talked about the up and down battle Clint has faced. “He’s been through the ringer.”
His latest 9-hour surgery and chemo wash yielded some positive results.
“So far things have been clear but he needs to gain weight and get better, ” Marie reported. He also wants to regain his core strength. Clint has been unable to eat normally. Her son is working with doctors in Hays and a specialist in Kansas City.
Clint Froelich (2nd from left) joins the Relay For Life Survivor Lap Friday night.
The 38-year-old is married with four daughters and is a construction worker at Brackney Construction in Hays. The company has also been supporting Clint and his family. “Mark’s been great. He’s been very helpful. If Clint isn’t feeling good he can go home. He just has [Clint] do whatever.”
“Cancer is a scary word,” Marie said. Other family members have also had the disease, including her mom and dad who have both been cancer-free for many years.
“It’s scary how many people have it. I was shocked when I came down here to see the people [who died] that either have luminaries or are in the process – cancer survivors – and how long they’ve been [survivors.] So that gives us hope.”
Prior to the first lap, the cancer survivors introduced themselves to the crowd and said how long they have been survivors. For some, it’s been just weeks; for others, many years.
A Relay For Life fundraising golf tourney organized by Hays Eagle Radio is scheduled for Fri., June 14 at the Fort Hays Municipal Golf Course.
Ellis County cancer survivors pose for a picture.
Free massages from H2O Float Cryo Massage
Silent auction items included gift baskets and cards and a reclining sofa
Clint Froelich (2nd from left) joins the Relay For Life Survivor Lap Friday night.
Clint Froelich team
Luminaries were placed by 4-H volunteers.
Brenda Meder reads luminary names.
“Elvis” with his backup singers performed by tribute artist Frank Werth, Schoenchen.
A handmade quilt featuring the RFL purple ribbon in the silent auction.
The Relay For Life committee with the memorial tribute to Hays residents Mary Braden and Lonnie Claycamp.
(Editor’s note: Becky Kiser was the emcee for Relay For Life.)
Jason Jackson (Photo by Decatur County Sheriff’s office)
Hays Post
DECATUR COUNTY – A male suspect was arrested late Friday night following a high-speed chase in Norton and Decatur counties.
According to a social media report from the Decatur County Sheriff’s office, a report was received about 11 p.m. June 7 of an erratic driver traveling west from Norton on Highway 36. A deputy clocked the 2008 Acura MDX speeding at 107 mph.
Assistance was requested from the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) and the Oberlin Police Department when the driver failed to stop.
A KHP trooper successfully deployed a spike strip. The vehicle, bearing a Colorado license plate, came to a stop a few miles east of Oberlin.
A felony car stop was executed with the assistance of Oberlin police. The suspect was taken into custody without further incident.
Illegal drugs were found in the car.
An investigation continues. Charges against Jackson and bond are pending.
That’s when the Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park in Logan County south of Oakley is expected to open to the public after the land was purchased three years ago.
An update on the newest state park in Kansas was presented Thursday night by Laura Rose Clawson, director of marketing and outreach for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Kansas field office, at the Hays Public Library.
“This is the first anyone’s hearing about it,” Clawson told the small but enthusiastic audience. “What I’m telling you is pretty new and there’s always something that could change. But there’s a good certainty [this] is going to be what happens.
“We need to get it open sooner than later so we’re going to do it in phases.”
TNC purchased the 330 acres from fifth-generation owner Jim McGuire in late 2016. The family was ready to sell but only if the land and wildlife were protected and public access be granted to the previously private property.
Laura Rose Clawson, of The Nature Conservancy-Kansas, told a Hays audience Thursday the Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park is expected to open this year with a standard $5 entrance fee.
During 2017, Clawson said TNC realized “we were in over our heads. We are a nature conservationist organization. We are not a visitor access organization.”
TNC started exploring options, and looked towards the public/private partnership the organization has with the U.S. National Park Service at the Tall Grass Prairie National Preserve in the Flint Hills of Chase County.
They landed on a similar partnership with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT).
The project next had to go through the legislative process. Then-governor Jeff Colyer signed the bill creating Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park about a year ago.
Phase 1 trail system at Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park (Click to enlarge)
Since then, work has been underway to open the park. Phase 1 is a series of designated trails.
Last Dec. 13, the KDWPT Commission approved a $50 fee that would be charged to access the trails, although a $5 fee per vehicle would allow entrance to the grounds. The Nature Conservancy was not in favor of such a high fee.
“It’s really important to the Nature Conservancy that access is affordable as possible so that as many people as possible can experience it,” Clawson said.
TNC has been working with KDWPT, she said, and “landed on what we all feel is a really good solution.”
“It’s currently in front of the KDWPT Commission. What’s most likely going to happen and what everybody wants at this point is the Kansas standard park entrance fee, currently $5 a vehicle, or an annual pass [to all state parks].”
Clawson says the KDWPT Commission will discuss the joint proposal by KDWPT and TNC for lowering the fee from $50 to $5 will be discussed at a quarterly meeting and then voted on at the following meeting. “We don’t anticipate any push back with that,” she said.
The KDWPT Commission will meet June 13 at Rolling Hills Zoo in Salina. The agenda items currently do not specifically list Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park.
The Nature Conservancy owns the property and has partnered with the state of Kansas to offer public access.
During questions from the audience Clawson reiterated the entrance fee would be $5 per vehicle, the same as any other Kansas state park.
“So you come in, however many people are in your car, you pay one [$5] fee to get in and then you can get out and go on the trails.”
Clawson said the $50 fee came from “some former state personnel recognizing how excited people are for this, and knowing what it’s going to take [to open], was trying to make up the funds for it.”
KDWPT does not get any appropriation or general funding from the state, she noted. The department funds itself by charging fees.
“Nature Conservancy was okay with a fee, not a $50 fee. We’re all on the same page now and have worked it out.”
Clawson was unable to confirm a specific date for the park’s opening.
“There are a lot of moving parts, but it’s gonna be this year the park will open. I can’t put a month to it quite yet. Too many little things that could come up.”
The plan calls for KDWPT to hire a new park ranger to start work this summer – a naturalist – who will have regularly scheduled guided walks on and off the trails. Rangers now working at Historic Lake Scott – just seven miles to the south in Scott County – are now rangers working in both parks, according to Clawson. The park manager for Lake Scott is also the park manager for Little Jerusalem.
There will also be occasional special events that would have a additional fee and different staffing. “We’re not talking $50,” she stressed. People are already requesting a night photography event to take pictures of the stars in the clear sky with no light pollution.
The parking lot, designed for 30 to 40 vehicles plus a designated bus area, has been carved out, overflow parking areas have been identified, fencing is going up, and hiking trails with a variety of views are being mapped. The trail system will be adjusted as needed.
A researcher in the Kansas State University Conservation and Parks Management Department is conducting a three-year study on the impact of visitors in the park.
“She has pictures of all the trespassers we’ve had because she’s got cameras hidden through Little Jerusalem,” Clawson laughed.
“But it also means she knows where every trickle of stream water is. And she’s going to be able to see where everybody is going off-road and going through. So maybe we need to put the trail there. Or maybe we have to do something more significant with our signage preventing people from going down there.
“We’re going to make those real-time decisions based on a combination of her scientific data and the park rangers that are going to be patrolling every day and see what’s happening.”
The mile-long valley of 150- to 160-foot-tall spires and cliffs encompasses the state’s largest Niobrara Chalk formations, created 85 million years ago when what is now western Kansas was under the Western Interior Seaway. Fossils can be seen embedded in the chalk.
Trails cross the historic Smoky Hill Trail territory that once saw “Wild Bill” Hickok and “Buffalo Bill” Cody pass through, and today is home to wildlife and plants rarely found anywhere else in the world.
Interpretive signage of the flora and fauna, along with information about the shortgrass prairie and the 200 acres of exposed chalk formations, will be placed along the trails.
Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park will be open 365 days a year during daylight hours, except for special night time events. Inclimate weather could force closure of the park or its entrance access, 400 Road, a dirt road maintained by Gove County.
Two staff members of The Nature Conservancy live in the area and manage Smokey Valley Ranch. “They’re sort of the first-line decision for Little Jerusalem as well,” Clawson explained.
The ranch and park are connected with cattle grazing in both areas. “That’s why we have fencing in the parking lot. It’s not so much to keep people in but to keep the cattle out,” she said with a smile.
Clawson thinks visitation will rival that of Tallgrass Prairie National Reserve, which sees up to 25,000 visitors a year. “We’ve gotten a lot of public interest about Little Jerusalem.”
Because TNC wants to limit the number of structures in the park, there will not be a visitors center.
“That’s one of the roles the new naturalist park ranger will play during the regular interpretive hikes and while meeting with school groups,” Clawson explained.
There are plans for a restroom facility.
Hays resident Jane Gilman told Clawson she would be “willing to pay $50” to hike in Little Jerusalem. She and her husband were recently on the Gove County 400 Road to pick up a piece of equipment. Gilman says she could see the tall chalk spires.
“I’m from western Kansas and I love open spaces.”
Gilman is an avid walker, three miles a day when she can. “I’m excited to go out and see this,” she said. “I picture this like my own ‘Little Grand Canyon’ here in Kansas.”
Purchase policy revisions are the sole agenda item on tonight’s Hays city commission work session agenda.
The policy was created in 2003 and changed in 2008 with minor revisions.
Several sections are now in need of updating, City Manager Toby Dougherty wrote in a memo to commissioners, describing many of the suggested revisions as “minor.”
Suggested updates include:
Adjustment of purchasing limits
Removal of references to a Purchasing Agent
Codifying of the current process to purchase vehicles and large pieces of equipment from
government contracts
The free wood chip pile is located at the Hays Parks Dept., 1546 Highway 40 Bypass.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
The city of Hays will offer a free mulch loading event Sat., June 8 at the Hays Parks Department, 1546 Highway 40 Bypass.
A city employee will be on hand 8 a.m. to noon with equipment to load large quantities of wood chips into pickup beds and trailers, according to Jeff Boyle, director of parks.
Water Conservation Specialist Holly Dickman says the chipped trees make great organic mulch, a critical part of a watersmart landscape.
Wood chip mulch
“Organic mulch, like wood chips, placed around plants helps to keep the soil cooler in the heat of summer, reduces evaporation from the soil surface, and limits weed competition,” says Dickman. “In addition, it breaks down over time adding organic matter to the soil which is beneficial for our heavy clay soils.”
The wood chips, ground from dead trees recovered by the Parks Dept., are free to pick up any time.
Dickman and Boyle hope to have another free loading event in the fall.
