The general election is Tuesday. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
In Hays, three city commission and three Hays USD 489 school board positions will be filled.
USD 489 also has a $78.5 million bond issue on the ballot.
To see sample ballots for Hays, Ellis, Victoria and Schoenchen, click here.
You will need to present a valid photo ID in order to vote.
Those who have voted at the Hays American Legion in the past, will now be voting at the Hays Recreation Center, 1105 Canterbury Drive. Voting at this location will be at the south end of the south building in gym 3. There is parking in the front and rear of the building.
Below are a list of polling places for Ellis County and precinct map for the city of Hays.
Hays High School will perform the musical “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” Nov. 10-Nov. 12.
Based on the Victor Hugo novel and songs from the Disney animated feature, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” showcases the film’s Academy Award-nominated score, as well as new songs by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. Peter Parnell’s new book embraces story theater and features verbatim passages from Hugo’s gothic novel.
The musical begins as the bells of Notre Dame sound through the famed cathedral in 15th-century Paris. Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer who longs to be “Out There,” observes all of Paris reveling in the Feast of Fools.
Held captive by his devious caretaker, the archdeacon Dom Claude Frollo, he escapes for the day and joins the boisterous crowd, only to be treated cruelly by all but the beautiful gypsy, Esmeralda.
Quasimodo isn’t the only one captivated by her free spirit, though — the handsome Captain Phoebus and Frollo are equally enthralled. As the three vie for her attention, Frollo embarks on a mission to destroy the gypsies — and it’s up to Quasimodo to save them all.
The HHS cast is comprised of 70 students with a total of 100 involved with the pit orchestra and crew. This high school has moved the annual musical from the 12th Street Auditorium to Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center for the first time. The students have been practicing in the wrestling room at the high school and moved to the Beach/Schmidt stage this week.
“It is a wonderful cast and a classic show. It’s a great show based on the Victor Hugo novel,” chorale director Johnny Matlock told KAYS morning show host C.D. DeSalvo in a recent on-air interview. “It’ll be entertaining.’
Erin Muirhead plays the love interest in the show, the gypsy Esmeralda.
“My favorite part about her is that she is very sensitive,” Muirhead said, “and she just wants to help people and make the world a better place. It has been a lot of work so far, but I think it will be worth it.”
Ryan Will plays Quasimodo, the hunchback.
“Quasimodo is really cool to play because he is a complicated character. He struggles because he is physically deformed. Frollo hides him away in a bell tower, and he wants to have friends and have love and that kind of thing, but Frollo denies him that, so he has this struggle throughout the musical of finding that.”
Eric Adams plays archdeacon Dom Claude Frollo.
“He’s trying to do what he sees best except that is generally definitely not the right thing to do,” Adams said.
This is a Disney production. In the Disney movie, everyone lives happily ever after, but in the original novel, that was not the case, Matlock said. This production follows the novel more closely.
“We have enjoyed that because there is some great meaning in there,” Matlock said. “This is set in the 15th century when people would look on people like Quasimodo and he was an outcast. They wanted to keep him in the bell tower. It poses the question to us, ‘How do we treat human beings?’ We as a cast have been working through that. This was set in the 15th century in Paris by Victor Hugo, but we are still struggling with those issues today.”
Tickets are $10 and on sale now. The Hays High box office is open from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 2 to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4. It is located at Hays High School in front of the Lecture Hall. Enter through the main doors. You can also call 785-628-4628 to order tickets or book tickets online. Friday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov. 11’s performances will be at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday’s performance will be at 2:30 p.m., all at the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center on the Fort Hays State University campus.
Dr. Tisa Mason, president of Valley City State University and former vice president for Student Affairs at Fort Hays State University, was named the 10th president of Fort Hays State University during a Board of Regents meeting at FHSU today.
The board voted unanimously to appoint Mason.
“As the board thought about what type of leadership would be best to carry Fort Hays State University forward, we looked for a candidate with an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit that would be able to carry forward the goals of our Foresight 2020, which is our strategic plan for higher education in Kansas,” Board of Regents Chairman David Murfin said. “Equally important was identifying someone who was capable of advancing Fort Hays State’s tradition of providing accessible, high quality education to our state and the community.”
Mason said trying to hold back tears, “As Dorothy said, ‘There is no place like home.’ It is truly an honor to have this opportunity to work with you again — people I know to be valued colleagues who care about students and serve with a spirit of restlessness always evolving and innovating in ways that matter.”
Mason thanked the Board of Regents and the search committee.
“I was lucky to call myself a member of the Fort Hays State University community for several years, and I have many fond memories of the students, faculty and staff, so toady I am absolutely thrilled to rejoin this great institution to rekindle old friendships and many new ones as we work together to carry this university into the future.
Dr. Tisa Mason
“I am excited to lead an institution that has a leadership team with synergy and vision, with a faculty that thrive on excellence and engagement with students and staff who are committed to removing barriers to student success and celebrating their personal transformation. And to the students, I am eager to get to know you and your hopes and dreams and how you want to make a difference in this world.”
Students, faculty, staff and community members nearly filled the lower level of the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center for the announcement.
“I know starting this journey that I am warmed by a fire that others have built,” she said. “I look forward to honoring the past as we build our future together. Thank you for this magnificent homecoming. It is fabulous to be back in Hays, America.”
In a short interview before the announcement, Mason said she hoped to build relationships during her transition and create goals together. She spoke about her first actions as president.
“Obviously, relationship building, getting out and talking to people, hopefully hosting some listening sessions and, again, getting to know people,” she said. “Even though I have been here for six and half years, there are some new players and I want to come back with some new eyes, relearn the institution and fall in love with it all over again. And then really focusing on the leadership team and make sure we are moving together with some clarity with our next step forward.”
Mason said she will continue to work on enrollment growth. She worked on enrollment projects while VP of student affairs at FHSU, and Valley City State recorded record enrollment growth and retention under her direction. Mason said she had some ideas should would bring from Valley City State, but would listen to and learn from the FHSU faculty and staff on what may be best for the FHSU campus. Valley City State had a strong virtual presence, with 46 percent of its students taking online courses.
“I think the best ideas come from listening and listening to other people’s voices,” she said. “I’ve got lots of thoughts, but I want to spend the next few months getting to know everyone and the institution once again on a very deep level.”
Mason said she hopes to build on what she learned at Valley City State.
Valley City State University was able to set up a three-year undergraduate program under Mason’s guidance and was able to pursue new revenue opportunities as it was getting ready to add an activated carbon plant to its heat plant. Mason also had the opportunity to work closely with the community on workforce development, something she hopes to carry over into her new job at FHSU.
Mason said she thought she was coming into a university that has kept tuition low and has a strong financial outlook.
“When you invest your money personally, they tell you not to put all your eggs in one basket, and that what this institution has done. It has diversified its revenue sources with … the China program to understanding and being a leader in distance education. With the disruption of technology and everything changing so fast, this institution is so poised to build on a strong history for an amazing future.”
Mason said her decision to leave FHSU to take the job at Valley City State was difficult. She thought she would stay at Valley City, but the call came for the job here and she decided this was going to be part of journey.
“I think that I am uniquely qualified because I have been a successful president. I have been at a lot of different institutions, so I bring a lot of best practices from different institutions, and I spent six and half years here. I know this institution very well. I am an external candidate, and an internal candidate and successful president.”
Joey Linn, FHSU vice president for student affairs, worked under Mason when she was VP of student affairs.
“I am excited to have her back on campus and taking leadership of the university,” he said. “I am absolutely confident that she will propel Fort Hays into the future and do great things while she is our new president.”
Linn continued, “I think Fort Hays should feel confident that it was able to attract a candidate as good as her. I am sure she had a lot of options for her future. For her to be interested in coming back and being president of the Fort, I think says a lot for what we have done as a university. With her as our leader and president, there is no level to what we can do into 2020 and 2025. I am excited to get her here and begin working with her again.”
A native of Massachusetts, Mason also served as dean of student life at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater in Whitewater, Wis.; executive director of the Sigma Kappa Sorority and Foundation in Indianapolis, Ind.; director of student life and assistant professor at Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Va.; and assistant dean of students, Hanover College, Hanover, Ind.
In 2013, Mason received the Robert H. Shaffer Award from the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors for her long-term commitment to fostering positive change in fraternities and sororities. She received the Excellence in Service to Students Award from the National Society of Leadership and Success in the same year.
Her academic credentials include a Doctor of Education degree in higher education from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.; a Master of Science degree in education from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill.; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology/anthropology from Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky.
“The Presidential Search Committee did an outstanding job in identifying such an excellent candidate for us,” said Regent Joe Bain, an FHSU alumnus. “The members of the Board are also grateful to Dr. Andy Tompkins for his leadership of FHSU as Interim President.”
Logo for the FHSU organization Dreamers United for Success
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
Twenty-year-old Jessica Rodriguez has known no other home except the United States. Her mother brought her here when she was only 6 months old.
Now this Fort Hays State University student fears being deported to what she sees as a foreign country because of a fight in Washington over the DACA program.
“I honestly have no idea what I would do,” Rodriguez said of a possible deportation. “I don’t have a plan. I know no other home. I have made my life here, and I have no idea what I would do if they send me back.”
Rodriguez, who grew up in Liberal, is one of more than 690,000 foreign-born residents who have been allowed to live, work and attend school under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. To be eligible, you had to be younger than 16 when you were brought to the United States and had to be younger than 30 when the program was enacted in 2012. Those in the program have been dubbed “Dreamers.”
President Barack Obama created the program, but U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in September the program would be rescinded. Anyone in the program can remain in the U.S., but no new applications are being processed.
President Donald Trump has indicated Congress could move to renew the program, but no such action has been taken. If the current deferments are allowed to expire, deportations could begin in March.
Several parties asked a judge in California on Wednesday to issue an injunction that would stop any deportations that might happen beginning in March. More than 100 tech companies — including Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Uber and Lyft — have signed on to the brief.
Rodriguez said she is in limbo. She is studying business at FHSU, but she does not know if she will even be able to finish her degree. She has a job, pays income taxes, as do all DACA participants, and volunteers in the community. She said she just wants to make the place she knows as home better.
She knows she was born in Mexico, but not specifically where. Rodriguez’s mother is in the country illegally and has no documentation, and Jessica constantly worries about her mom’s deportation. She said she doesn’t remember when her mother told her she was not a legal citizen. She just remembers always knowing that somehow she was different. When she was in high school, she did not know if she would be able to apply for a driver’s license or go to college.
“It was scary not knowing what the future held,” she said, “not knowing if the all the work I had put in was going to be taken away.”
Rodriguez founded the FHSU organization Dreamers United for Success. The group has 15 members, not all of whom are Dreamers. She said the FHSU community has been very supportive as she has tried to find the right resources to get through school.
She explained her emotions when she first heard the news Trump planned to end DACA.
“It was very emotional for all DACA recipients on campus,” she said. “I kept getting texts from people on campus or other DACA people asking me if I was OK. I broke down crying. I eventually came to the mindset that it is out of our control and our hands. I hope to be active as many ways as I can, to call congressmen. I want them to see they cannot do this — to shut our world down …”
Four teams of students have been added to the 1,000 percent Efficiency – Wall of Fame at Hays Middle School. The students built and tested bridges that were able to hold 1,000 times their weight.
When testing a bridge for its efficiency, the students divide how much the bridge holds in pounds by how much the bridge weighs in grams.
The students’ teacher is Brad Moritz.
Braxton Fritzler and Connor Dreiling. Their bridge has 1,102 percent efficiency. Submitted photoCole Schlautman and Kaden Hardin’s bridge had 1,481 percent efficiency.Left to right. (Ethan Carrillo, Trayton Roa), (Jake Taliaferro, Blake Schmidt). Both teams designed and built bridges that held more than 1,000 times the bridge’s weight. This adds them to the 1,000 percent Efficiency – Wall of Fame at Hays Middle School.
Thomas More Prep-Marian’s fall musical, “Into the Woods,” will be performed Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the TMP-Marian Dreiling Theater.
“Into the Woods'” music and lyrics are by Stephen Sondheim. The musical is based on a book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters’ wishes and quests.
The main characters are taken from “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Rapunzel” and “Cinderella,” as well as, several others.
The musical is tied together by a story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family, their interaction with a witch who has placed a curse on them and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey, according to the TMP website.
Travis Grizzell, musical director, said TMP took on a big bite by choosing a challenging musical like “Into the Woods.” The music is tough, Grizzell said, and unlike most of what the students are used to performing. However, he said he has a talented group of upper classmen.
The are 31 members in the cast and 10 in the crew plus a variety of adult volunteers.
“It takes a village to put on a musical,” Grizzell said.
The students preformed the first act of the play for Holy Family students Tuesday morning. After the first act much is rosy in the mystical fairytale land of “Into the Woods.” However, the musical takes a darker turn in the second act and addresses more adult themes.
“Act II deals with some real-life stuff,” Grizzell said. “It is a little more intense.”
All performances are in the TMP-Marian Dreiling Theater, 1701 Hall St., Hays. Tickets are $8.
Shows will be performed at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
By purchasing tickets you agree to abide by the Thomas More Prep-Marian Dreiling Theater Terms and Condions.
A full remodel of Orscheln Farm and Home in Hays has recently been completed.
The former tire shop has been replaced with an expanded sporting goods department. The larger clothing department now stocks camouflage clothing and boots and has a Carhartt Concept Shop full of Carhartt shirts, jeans, coats and bib overalls.
Store manager Shelly Wittman said “the larger department, which includes firearms and hunting, fishing and boating supplies, will fill a niche for Hays residents looking for outdoor sports gear.”
“The addition of a sporting goods department allows us to meet the needs of sporting enthusiasts in our community,” Wittman said.
In addition to the sporting goods department, customers will see cosmetic improvements like new flooring, upgraded lighting and remodeled restrooms.
Wittman plans to hire two to three additional employees to help serve customers in the improved sporting goods department.
A grand opening celebration will be Nov. 17 and 18.
Family-owned, Orscheln Farm and Home has served Midwest communities for more than 55 years and owns and operates 165 stores. For more information, visit www.orschelnfarmhome.com.
The district voted earlier this year to drop the state insurance plan that was administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield in favor of a plan administered by Aetna.
The district decided to make the move after Blue Cross Blue Shield increased the district’s premiums by $1.4 million in two years. School officials hope to better control costs and have more flexibility under Aetna.
As terms of the contract, all full-time members of the SEIU, Hays NEA and non-union employees who are on the district’s insurance will receive a one-time $500 bonus to cover insurance costs. Part-time workers will receive a prorated bonus based on the numbers of hours worked.
Both unions approved the final contracts last week.
Candidates for the Hays USD 489 school board participated in a forum sponsored by the Fort Hays State Student Government Association and the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, Oct. 17.
Participants included Kevin Daniels, pastor of Hays Christian Church; Mike Walker, director of the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at FHSU; Lance Bickle, incumbent and local consultant; and Sophia Rose Young, donor communications manager at Development Services of Northwest Kansas.
There are three positions open on the board. All elected candidates will serve four-year terms. The general election is Nov. 7. Advance voting is open now.
The Electro-Rally Racing Team won the team Standard and Experimental class championship at the High Plains Electro-Rally at Fort Hays State University on Sept. 28.
Fourteen teams competed with 38 vehicles participating in the competition.
The team also won the Standard & Experimental Class Championship at the Wetlands ElectroRally in Hoisington on Oct. 12.
That event had 10 teams and 31 vehicles participate in competition.
The team has seven straight wins dating back to the beginning of the fall competition schedule, including the state Championship in spring last year.
Shirley Dinkel, a 39-year veteran of Catholic education in Hays, said she knew since she was in the second grade she wanted to be a teacher.
Dinkel was one of 11 children from a poor farming family. Her family had no books in their house.
“I passed first grade without knowing my alphabet — not knowing anything that letters made sounds and sounds made words and words made sentences and sentences made stories because no one had ever read me a story,” she said.
Shirley Dinkel, fifth- and sixth-grade teacher at Holy Family Elementary School.
Dinkel’s second-grade teacher, Sister Eloise, figured out on the first day Shirley was struggling.
When the children did circle time, Sister Eloise would sit Shirley next to her knee. She would ask one of the students a question and then ask Shirley if it was correct. In this way, Shirley learned to memorize what words meant, how to sound out words and what numbers meant.
Sister Eloise would grab Dinkel by the chin, look into her eyes and say, “You’re so cute.” For Shirley, who was a shy, scared little girl, this built her self-esteem and confidence.
“I would have walked on water for her,” she said. “She built up my self-esteem so that I thought I was a princess.”
Dinkel cried all through the summer when she had to leave second grade and Sister Eloise, but all her life she thought she would emulate Sister Eloise. She would be a teacher.
She entered a convent after college with the hopes of being a nun and a teacher. After the two years, the sisters decided she needed more maturity before she could continue, so they sent her home. She enrolled at Fort Hays State University to finish her final two years of college and worked two jobs to pay her way through college and repay the convent for her first two years of school.
In a strange twist, Dinkel would meet her beloved teacher again in her senior year at FHSU as her student teaching mentor. Eloise had left the sisterhood, was married, still working as a teacher and was known as Esther Morris. The two developed a lifelong friendship.
Dinkel, 68, is married, has four children, nine grandchildren and estimates she has taught 1,200 children in her career first at St. Joseph Catholic School and then at Holy Family Elementary School. She is now teaching fifth- and sixth-grade reading and religion.
She was selected as the Hays Post’s first Teacher of the Month from more than 40 nominees. She was nominated by four different people.
Dinkel said she tries to honor those principles Sister Eloise taught her. She spends Sunday afternoons planning out her week and constantly is thinking how she can help each individual student improve. She teaches under the motto: “There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequals.”
“I can never tailor my lessons or my expectations so that it is a cookie-cutter approach,” she said. “Some of them, the way they learn is different from anyone else. The way they think is unlike anyone else. What their life experiences are is different.”
Parent Sandee Werth said her son was the recipient of some of Dinkel’s extra attention and love. After her 12-year-old tore his ACL and needed surgery, he was out of school for two weeks and had a lot of homework to complete. Dinkel worked with Werth’s son for a full nine weeks until he was caught up.
“She would work with him every free moment she had,” Werth said. “I respect and love this lady for everything she has done for him as well as other students. The children who leave Holy Family know she truly loves them. Her faith in God shines through as the children work monthly with Tiger Tots and Good Samaritan residents. She demonstrates how to be more God like in all we do. …
“We love her for the caring, joyous, smart and fair teacher she has been to so many of her students.”
Kellie Lee had Dinkel as a teacher and now her daughter is the second generation to go through Dinkel’s classes.
“She is amazing,” she said in her nomination. “The stories she tells the kids makes the information they are learning stick with them, and the love for Jesus she plants in their hearts sticks with them for a lifetime.”
When she was embarking on her first year of teaching, Dinkel felt lost as to how to get the school year started. She sought the advice of fellow teacher Joyce Jilg.
Dinkel related Jilg’s advice, “Tell them about yourself. Find out who they are. What do they love? What makes them happy? And develop a family. This is your family for a whole year. Whatever you do, never waste their time and don’t let them waste your time.”
She took this advice to heart and promises her students every year she will not waste one moment of their time and she asks the same of them. If she finishes a lesson early, she challenges the students to a riddle, tells a story or they discusses events in the news.
Dinkel said she could not pick one memory as a favorite from her many years of teaching.
“Every day is a happy,” she said. “Even the hard days are happy days because they help me grow, and they help me reach and be a better person. I am the person I am because every day mattered so much.”
Dinkel has taught religion for 19 years. Alongside an extensive collection of bright yellow Disney Minions, her room is decorated with religious iconography — Mother Mary, angels and crosses.
“What I try to instill in them is to have a relationship with God,” she said. “I want you to be so passionate that God has a plan on my head. He has given me the time and the talents to achieve something that no one else will ever be able to achieve to the best of the ability that I can. I want to fulfill that plan.”
She said she tries to lead by example showing the children the importance of doing for the needy and raising money for charity.
“If lives are not changed and all you are is saying words, it is kind of like pebbles in a 10-gallon container,” she said. “It rattles. It is not sound teaching unless there is action behind it.”
The reason Sister Eloise was so successful with Shirley is she connected and she loved, Dinkel said.
“There has to be a heart connection. If you never meet their hearts, you are never going to meet their minds,” she said.
Although Dinkel is past retirement age, she is not ready to quit teaching any time soon. She just loves her job too much. She said she is happiest when she was teaching.
“God has to decide that and make it very clear that it is time — that it is time to do something else,” Dinkel said of her retirement. “But he better open the door and push me through, because I am staying put here until he makes it very clear it is time for me to do something else.
“I tell myself that this is never going to be a job,” she said. “It is a ministry and a passion. It is a privilege to work with children. Every morning when I wake up I say, ‘Thank you Lord for my job. Thank you for my family. Thank you for my home and my car. Thank you for me being able to pay my bills.’ I am living every minute of the journey.”
The Hays USD 489 school board will meet at noon Monday to approve negotiations between the board and the Hays NEA and Service Employees International Union, which represents the Hays custodians.
The board also will vote on a one-time bonus for all staff not covered by HNEA or SEIU who are currently on the district health insurance.
