The Ellis County Drug Enforcement Unit will be collecting unused or expired medication for safe disposal from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 29 in the north parking lot of the Law Enforcement Center, 105 W. 12th, Hays.

The service is anonymous. It’s part of  the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

Pills, tablets, capsules, creams and ointments will be accepted. Liquid medicines are acceptable if in a spill-proof container. No syringes will be taken.

Anyone with questions can call the sheriff’s office at (785) 625-1040.

TMP-Marian High School in Hays has a new name and a new motto.

“In years prior our school had a motto:  ‘Give us four years and we’ll give you a lifetime, ‘” Wagoner said.  “We are no longer a four-year school and we have a greater vision.”

Then Wagner announced the new school motto, “Worlds of Opportunity, Investing for Eternity.”

According to TMP-Marian and Holy Family Elementary School Advancement Director Jeff Brull,  the new motto is a collaborative effort.

“It was spearheaded by the school’s public relations committee,” says Brull.  “You’ll see and hear it more frequently in the coming weeks as we work to retire the previous motto and move forward with “Worlds of Opportunity, Investing for Eternity.”

“This library system is unique.”  That’s what Forsyth Library Director John Ross says about Fort Hays State University’s new cloud-based system.

During a Thursday morning news conference, Ross demonstrated next-generation library services software called Alma and Primo, part of the Ex Libris Group.  Among 60 institutional development partners, FHSU’s Forsyth is the first of the early adopters in the United States to go live on Alma.

Alma is a single, consolidated system that replaces several systems at Forsyth for managing print, electronic and digital collections. Library staff can monitor and manage collections, databases and other resources in real-time.

Features of Alma and Primo deliver documents directly to a user’s desktop and also provide immediate access to the catalog to the world’s largest and most prestigious libraries.

A fire just after 5p.m. Wednesday in Hays was likely caused by a tossed cigarette.

Hays firefighters, police and Ellis County EMS responded to a building fire report at 19th and Oak Streets at 5:07p.m.

According to Fire Chief Gary Brown, a fire was burning in the garden mulch next to the house at 116 East 19th Street and then spread to the house exterior.

Firefighters used a fire extinguisher to quickly control the fire and one hose line was used to completely put it out.  The home’s interior was not damaged.

Brown says the most probable cause of the fire was discarded smoking materials in the dry mulch. “Fortunately a neighbor spotted the smoke and promptly called 9-1-1.”

This is the third outside fire that has spread to a building in Hays this year. Brown urges residents to carefully dispose of smoking materials and to have working home smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.

“Believe.”

That’s the mantra of Hays Middle School, which is now the only public middle school in USD 489 following the closure of Kennedy Middle School in May.

HMS principal Craig Pallister told a crowd gathered for Tuesday morning’s ribbon cutting outside the school’s new addition that “this is the start of the tradition for Hays Middle School.”

“We have new students, new teachers, new secretaries and a new assistant principal.  We even have a new football team which is undefeated in the history of Hays Middle School,” Pallister joked, drawing a laugh from the audience.

Pallister doesn’t know if the football team will remain undefeated but says he does know Hays Middle School is “full of opportunities.”

There are 600 students in 6th, 7th and 8th grades, along with 75 staff members at HMS.

The original building dates to 1964 when it was known as Hays Junior High School.  After some reconstruction in 1981, it became Felten Middle School.  Now, as of August 16, 2012, it’s Hays Middle School.

Pallister says an east side addition is planned which will include a storm shelter, the first for any school in USD 489.

Even though she interned at the prestigious Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, Lucia Flaim is still a little overwhelmed by the Hays Public Library’s Kansas Room.

Flaim, who goes by Lucy, was recently hired to replace Mary Ann Thompson, who retired in June after nearly 30 years as the HPL Kansas Room Librarian.

“Every day I find something new among the closed stacks, and I just know it’s going to be of interest and important to somebody who walks through the door,” she says.

Flaim has a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a native of  St. James, Missouri.

She plans to expand the Kansas Room holdings about Walker Air Force Base, which operated north of Hays during World War II, and also wants to gather more history about the city of Victoria.

You can see more from Lucy Flaim on an upcoming “Community Connection with Mike Cooper” on Eagle Community TV Channel 14.

The City of Hays general fund sales tax collections continued an upward trend in July.

General sales tax collections: were up $51,027, or 8.95 percent, as compared to last year.  July’s total sales tax collections were $621,448.

During the first seven months of 2012,  sales tax collections increased $248,583 or 6.25 percent.

The sales tax dedicated to the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex collected in July was $253,580, an increase of $20,480 from last year. Total year-to-date collections for the sports complex are $1.7 million.  Inception-to-date collections total $8.6 million.