By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Although his last official day of work is June 30, the current president of Fort Hays State University Dr. Ed Hammond, is quick to point out he is “not retiring.”

The Kansas Board of Regents announced Friday that Dr. Mirta Martin will become the ninth FHSU president starting July 1.

Hammond arrived at FHSU in 1987 and is the longest-serving president in the Regents system.

He is under contract with the Regents to work another three to seven years at the university, with the first year dedicated to helping Martin ease into her new position:

Hammond said he’s particularly interested in teaching in the new Higher Education Student Affairs Masters program and Leadership Studies.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Lewis Toyota of Hays, which has served the Hays region since 1991, just completed an extensive renovation of its nearly 30,000-square-foot facility at 4400 Vine.

A ribbon cutting ceremony Friday afternoon included tours of the redesigned new car showroom as well as two customers’ lounges, children’s play area and Wi-Fi access. The service area is equipped with 18 high-tech service bays and a two-lane, enclosed service drive.

The dealership, owned by Jim and Tonya Lewis, Dodge City, is a recipient of the 2013 Toyota Presidents Award:

Lewis Automotive Group has been family owned and operated since 1977. The Lewis family has donated more than $1 million to the communities they serve.

 

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

They’re still “All Shook Up.”

Hays High School’s 2013 fall musical, “All Shook Up,” was nominated in 15 of 19 categories for the 2014 Jester Awards given by the Music Theatre of Wichita.

Friday night, they walked away with 12 Jester Awards including Best Overall Production.

Brenda Meder, Hays Arts Council executive director, won for “Direction of Show” — and couldn’t be prouder of the students.

“They are a very impressive and talented group of young people who are the product of strong school music and arts programs, especially in the very important early, formative years,” Meder said.

Hays High had two nominations in two of the categories for a total of 17 nominations, the most of any participating school.  The judges for MTWichita visited 36 schools to watch live productions of 41 different shows.

The Outstanding Achievement awards for Hays High School’s “All Shook Up” were:

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Imagine cancer radiation treatment that greatly reduces the number of times a patient needs to undergo treatment and the length of those treatments reduced from 45 minutes to two minutes.

That’s the power of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy.

The HaysMed Foundation kicked off a  $1.3 million fundraising campaign Friday toward the cost of replacing the hospital’s current 14-year-old linear accelerator.

“With SBRT,” explained Dr. Babu Prasad, HaysMed radiation oncologist, “we are able to pinpoint higher doses of radiation therapy to the tumor and get more accurate results than ever before”:

Prasad and his family made opened the fundraiser with a $100,000 pledge to the campaign.

Dr. John Jeter, HaysMed president and CEO, said the total cost of the SBRT project is approximately $3 million.

“Our foundation has offered to raise private funds toward the cost of the equipment. Once the initial funds are raised, the balance will be paid by HaysMed,” Jeter said.

Donations for the campaign can be made online at www.haysmedfoudnation.org/envision.

BY BECKY KISER
Hays Post

As the weather warms, a lot of people are firing up their outdoor grills. They may also be firing up about high beef prices.

The cattle herd in the United States, the largest beef producer in the work, has fallen to an estimated 63-year low, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Beef cattle scientist John Jaeger at the Hays K-State Agriculture Research Center says higher beef prices at the grocery stores don’t necessarily mean more money for Kansas cattle producers:

Jaeger says the drought has caused poor pasture for grazing and higher grain prices for feeding cattle.

The average retail value of “all-fresh” USDA choice-grade beef jumped to  a record $5.28 a pound in February, according to the U-S Department of Agriculture.

That’s up from $4.91 the same time a year ago. The same grade of beef cost $3.97 as recently as 2008.

 

 

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

It’s been 30 years since Ellinwood attorney Kent Roth was a Kansas state legislator.

At age 61, he’s jumping back into politics, campaigning for the First Congressional District GOP nomination against incumbent Rep. Tim Huelskamp.

Roth’s campaign theme song is “Keep Talking” by Pink Floyd. He believes Congress needs to do just that, without the increasing political rhetoric:

Roth, who was campaigning in Hays on Wednesday, is a supporter of the Congressional group “No Labels,” which encourages bipartisan legislation.

More information about Roth’s campaign is available on his website.

The primary election is  Aug. 5.

BY BECKY KISER
Hays Post

“We just pray a little harder.”

That’s what Kansas High Patrol troopers do when they must respond to vehicle accidents caused by blinding dust and snow storms, according to Troop D Technical Trooper Tod Hileman, Hays.

“The drivers involved in the collisions couldn’t see and neither can we,” said Hileman.

There have been several multiple vehicle crashes resulting in fatalities this week in western Kansas because of limited visibility caused by dust storms.

“Don’t intentionally drive into a dust storm; wait it out if you can,” Hileman advised.

“If you do get caught in a dust storm, get off the road:”

Kansas Highway Patrol officials say poor visibility was the cause of a deadly wreck Monday afternoon seven miles west of Great Bend.

BY BECKY KISER
Hays Post

A lot of blue polycarts were blown over Monday in Hays because of the wind, but that didn’t stop the collection of refuse and recycling by city employees.

Solid Waste Superintendent Marvin Honas told Hays Post if a cart is blown over, the collection truck driver gets out, sets the cart upright, and then operates the trash-dumping process with the truck.

“Most of the time, the cart will blow over after dumping, but we do dump the cart,” Honas said.

“In my 14 years with the city of Hays, we called off collections once due to a severe thunder and lightning storm but resumed collections after the storm had passed. We completed the entire route that same day.”

About two years ago, a Friday refuse collection was stopped because of heavy snow; collection resumed Saturday. Since then, according to Honas, the trucks have been equipped with tire chains and the city also has purchased a back blade for the compost tractor to open alleys that drift shut.

As for picking up the blue recycling bags, “We have never missed a collection day, but we find that recycling bags get completely covered with snow and are not visible. They are collected the next week,” Honas said.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The Hays Area Job Fair will be Wednesday afternoon in the south end of the Mall from 4 to 6 p.m.

Military veterans and their families are invited an hour early, at 3 p.m.

Participating employers have a large variety of job openings — from customer service to crane operators, according to Linda Koci of the Kansas Works office in Hays.

“Come dressed for success, and bring your resume,” she advised.

For some, a resume might need an update or revision.

“Most employers will look just at the top third of a full-page resume,” Koci explained.  “They’re busy, and they may have a lot of resumes to wade through”:

There are full- and part-time positions to be filled, Koci said.

The job fair is free and sponsored by APAC, The Mall, HaysHasJobs.com, KansasWorks, Kansas Workforce ONE, ESGR, Hero 2 Hired and the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development.

For more information, contact Ernee Sly at (785) 628-3102.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

At least two Hays homeowners lost mature trees to Monday’s high wind.

The National Weather Service reported northerly wind gusts from 43 mph to 57 mph late Monday afternoon. A 65-mph gust was recorded in WaKeeney, according to the NWS.

Hays resident Barb Wasinger said one tree in her yard, a 12-year-old ornamental Canadian red cherry, was felled in today’s wind.

“My husband Tom and I just talked about it yesterday and remarked how it lovely it was to walk out our front door and know it was blooming by the smell,” she said.

Wasinger said they will replace the tree.

A mature crab apple tree was split by the wind and is lying across the sidewalk at Julie Kitchener’s house.

She’s unsure of its age.

“We’re  going to count the rings when we cut it up tonight to get it off the sidewalk,” said Kitchener.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The figures are “very preliminary” from Saturday’s 40th annual Auction for Christian Education at Thomas More Prep-Marian, according to Advancement Director Jeff Brull.

“It takes about a month to finalize everything,” he said.

But, at this point, it appears this year’s ACE Auction has topped last year’s record-setting $630,000 raised for the Hays Catholic schools.

“I’m confident we’ve exceeded that this year,” Brull said Monday afternoon. “So far, it looks like we’ve raised $670,000.”

Donations are still coming in for Item No. 60 — money for TMP’s Fourth-Floor Reclamation Project.

“Saturday night’s auction raised $240,00 for the reclamation project, and it will be supplemented with $100,000 from the Leo J. and Albina Dreiling Trust,” Brull said. “And, of course, we’re still accepting donations.”

Last year’s Item No. 60 was installation of an elevator in the school building.

“As of 2 p.m. Friday, the elevator was installed and working perfectly. We were able to use the elevator to take guests at our Friday night pre-party up to the fourth floor so they could see what we’re working on next,” Brull said.

The fourth floor, which suffered water damage in the early 1990s, is currently used for storage.

“Our preliminary plan is to move the school library from the third floor to the fourth floor and also establish an alumni and development center,” Brull said.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

“It’s a pretty good turnout so far for the first time at this location.”

Hays Police Department Detective Jeff Ridgway had already greeted nearly 30 drivers by noon Saturday who drove through the Good Samaritan Society parking lot to drop off unused drugs.

National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, organized by the Drug Enforcement Administration, aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications.

The Ellis County Drug Enforcement Unit has two locations for dropping off unwanted drugs, the new site at Good Samaritan Center, 2700 Canal Boulevard, and the north parking lot of the Law Enforcement Center.

The drug collection continues until 2 p.m. today.