The population of Hays swells considerably during the annual Oktoberfest/Fort Hays State University homecoming weekend.
“Our goal is to provide a safe environment,” says Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler.
HPD officers will be out in force, including four bicycle officers. Assisting HPD will be the Ellis County Sheriff’s office, Kansas Highway Patrol, Kansas Alcohol and Beverage Control, and the Union Pacific Police Department:
The city of Hays has a public possession ordinance, which prohibits walking with an open container of alcohol on a public sidewalk or street.
Chief Scheibler encourages anyone who may have consumed too much alcohol to call Safe Ride at (785) 621-2580.
T-shirts are flying right and left in the Fort Hays State University Memorial Union. On the left, a diminishing pile of FHSU gold T-shirts; on the right, a growing pile of trade-in shirts of all colors.
To help promote spirit wear, Eagle Communications has provided 100 FHSU T-shirts for a T-shirt exchange, just in time for this weekend’s homecoming festivities.
The T-shirt exchange started yesterday and resumes today from 11:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. in the Memorial Union.
The FHSU shirts are traded in for other universities’ shirts, which will be donated to Goodwill.
T-shirt trade-ins
Josh Maples, Grad Assistant for Greek Life and Matthias Carter, Sigma Alpha Episilon Vice-President
A low vision fair featuring the newest technology for the blind and visually impaired will be held in Hays Friday, October 4, from 9a.m. to 4p.m. at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History.
The free event is sponsored by the Northwest Kansas Association for the Visually Impaired (NKAVI).
NKAVI President Pat Hall, Hays, says the fair’s hands-on access to specialized equipment and services is helpful for participants:
Bob Chaffin is a longtime member of NKAVI, and also serves as treasurer of the state organization, Kansas Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (KABVI). The Hays resident was diagnosed with macular degeneration at age 25:
Seminar topics include depression and holiday stress, occlusion therapy for low vision, and mobility and orientation.
NKAVI was chartered in 1979 in Hays and serves 18 northwest Kansas counties.
FHSU Tourism & Hospitality students get into their work during Sunday’s dog wash
Perfect weather Sunday afternoon for a walk and a bath.
Hays dogs enjoyed both Sunday afternoon during a fundraiser for Friends of the Hays Dog Park.
The event, held on the Fort Hays State University Custer Hall lawn was organized by “Team Marley” of the FHSU Tourism and Hospitality class “Meetings, Conventions, and Events Management.”
Other students in the Events Planning class are planning two more events to benefit the dog park.
The “Off the Leash” group will be selling bandanas with raffle tickets at the October 11 FHSU soccer games. Prizes will also be awarded, including a soccer ball signed by either the men or women’s team.
Hays area residents wanting to sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act can get some help and guidance from Outreach Specialist Sayre Shuck.
She’s a Certified Navigator based at the Hays First Care Clinic, although you don’t have to be a First Care patient. Anyone can ask for her help, at no charge.
Shuck will be in the Hays Public Library Gallery this afternoon from 2-4p.m. to answer questions. She will also have an informational presentation Thursday, October 3, 2p.m., in the basement conference room at First Care Clinic.
Starting today until March 31, if you don’t have an employer-based health plan or Medicare, you can turn to the health insurance marketplaces:
By January 1, all Americans must have basic health-care coverage. Thirty-six states are leaving it up to the federal government to handle all or part of their exchanges. The other 14, including Kansas, and Washington, D.C., are setting up their own.
Tammy Schumacher, Eagle Communications, raises “bail” during Wednesday’s MDA lock-up in Hays
About 80 Hays-area business leaders and community leaders were behind bars Wednesday.
They hadn’t been arrested. They were volunteers “serving time” in the Muscular Dystrophy Association lock-up fundraiser.
The jailbirds were housed at the Fox Pavilion, where they ate lunch while calling, texting and e-mailing friends and family for “bail money.” All the donations go to MDA.
There are more than 40 types of muscular dystrophy, which vary in severity. All of Kansas west of Topeka is served by the Wichita-based MDA Ark Valley Chapter.
According to Executive Director Lacey Mills, about 500 Kansans have various neuromuscular diseases, with 11 of those people living in Hays and another 6 living elsewhere in Ellis County.
After “posting bail,” Hays Firefighter Tyler Brungardt helped pick up and drop off other “jailbirds”
Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, M.D., talks about health care reform at a forum hosted by state representative Sue Boldra,R-Hays.
Kansas Lt. Governor Jeff Colyer, M.D., is not a fan of the Affordable Care Act.
While in Hays for his TMP-Marian high school reunion, Colyer took time out Saturday morning to meet with Hays residents at the invitation of 111th District Representative Sue Boldra, R-KS.
Colyer is a plastic surgeon who has worked in many developing countries, and still practices one day a week.
Last week he testified at a Congressional hearing to discuss the impact the ACA is having on states.
“Profound,” he told the Hays group.
“There are some good things about the program, but many unintended consequences in requiring every American to have health insurance:”
Open enrollment in the Affordable Care Act begins October 1.
Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger was in Hays Monday in a series across the state talking about health care reform.
More than 300 fifth-graders from Hays and Victoria spent Monday learning more about the life and times of one of American’s most prominent Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin.
This is the seventh annual Ben Franklin Papers, sponsored by the American Democracy Project in the Center for Civic Leadership.
Hays senior Anne Drees is the ADA student coordinator:
Forsyth Library is home to two original letters written by Ben Franklin as well as copies of his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette.
Karisa Kaiser, a Hoisington senior, and others in her FHSU Teacher Education class designed and organized 11 interactive learning stations for the fifth-graders:
Over in the Beach Schmidt Performing Arts Center, FHSU history professor Dr. David Bovee talked about Franklin’s many accomplishments.
He showed the students his eyeglasses, joking that Franklin’s invention of bifocals “happened just for me:”
Victoria 5th graders make their own Franklin Leaf Money
Cookies and punch were served at the “Boston Tea Party” and students also got to create some of their very own Franklin Leaf Money.
From 1730 on, Franklin was the printer of all the money issued by Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Paper money was easy to counterfeit, but Franklin solved that problem by printing pictures of leaves on every piece of money.
Hays residents can start putting out their junk October 1 for the October 14 alley cleanup. There are four waste categories: Trees limbs & brush; Construction & demolition debris; White goods & metals; Municipal waste.
The 13th annual alley cleanup in Hays starts October 14, with one pass throughout the city.
Solid Waste Superintendent Marvin Honas says it’s a free service for residential customers only, starting with curbside customers.
Residents are asked to sort waste into four separate piles, starting October 1:
The alley cleanup does not include these items: medical waste, household hazardous waste, tires, batteries or E-waste.
KS Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer and 111th Dist. Rep. Sue Boldra, R-Hays, talk with Hays residents during a town hall meeting Saturday morning.
After spending Friday enjoying his 35th high school reunion at Thomas More Prep-Marian, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, M.D., was up early Saturday morning to join a town hall meeting with state representative Sue Boldra, R-Hays.
Colyer is a Hays native and a 1978 TMP graduate. He’s brought along his wife Ruth, and his parents, who now live in Kansas City, to enjoy the homecoming activities.
Colyer, a practicing physician who specializes in plastic surgery, was in Washington, D.C. earlier this week testifying about the challenges of implementing the Affordable Care Act at the state level.
“Although there are some positives,” Colyer told Hays residents gathered at the Rose Garden restaurant, “it’s not good for our citizens and it’s a big drag on businesses.”
KS Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer shares a laugh with Hays resident Tom Lippert.
“Forty-six percent of small business owners recently surveyed say they will not hire any new people because of ACA requirements,” said Colyer.
Colyer shared stories about how implementation of the so-called Obamacare has effected his own medical practice.
“We don’t control our own insurance rates any more. Kansans will face higher premiums to help subsidize states like California, New York and Massachusetts, ” he said.
The new location of the Hays Med Breast Care Center and Hadley Foundation Imaging is just that. One location, in Hays Medical Center.
The breast care imaging center was formerly located in Oak Park Medical Plaza on East 13th Street.
