Student Council members at Lincoln Elementary School donated a check for $150 to the High Plains Humane Society from the sale of 3D printed toys.
Little yellow boats, shark combs, tops and T-Rexes sold to fellow students lead to a Lincoln Student Council donation to the Humane Society of the High Plains.
The school received a grant from the Dane Hansen Foundation to purchase a 3D printer.
The students used an array of preset designs to create small toys that they sold to classmates at the school.
Regina Hammerschmidt, computer lab teacher, said the students will experiment with their own designs next year.
Examples of toys that Lincoln Elementary School students made with their new 3D printer.
She said the work incorporates a lot of research and trial and error to learn how to translate a two-dimensional design into a three-dimensional object.
The students used some of the toys they created to create stop-motion movies with their tablets. Hammerschmidt said the activities include a lot of Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) learning.
The $150 check that the students presented to Humane Society will go toward medical needs of the animals at the shelter, including spay and neuter.
The Twist was in, and all the girls swooned over Elvis. The new rock-’n’-roll sound was all the rage.
One group of guys from St. Joseph Military Academy in Hays with their duck-tail haircuts and white dinner jackets brought this new break-out music to local proms and dances. They were called the Flippers.
The story of the band and this early rock history is told in a new book by fellow St. Joseph student Darrell Mudd. The book is called “The Original Flippers.” It is available from Amazon and is a compilation of seven of the band’s members’ memories from the late ’50s to early ’60s.
Proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Thomas More Prep-Marian, and band members and the author will be back in Hays in September for the TMP homecoming for book signings. Gella’s Diner will even name a beer for the band.
Some of the band members said their time in the Flippers was the best time in their lives. For others, it was a jumping off point for a lifelong career and love of music.
Although some of the band members had played in the St. Joseph marching or jazz band, the players were mostly self-taught.
John Cooke Fross recalled picking out tunes on an old wide body guitar in Terry Wierman’s basement. His parents bought that first guitar on payments from Montgomery Ward.
By the time Fross was 16, the band was making good money, (about $10 to $15 per member per dance). Fross and Wierman bought brand-new Fender Startocasters for about $300 each. After Fross left the band, he traded his for a $150 air conditioner.
“I had a wife and a son. That is what we needed,” he said.
Wierman wore his Stratocaster out playing in a second incarnation of the Flippers, The Fabulous Flippers, that toured nationwide. Today those guitars in good condition could be worth as much as $38,000.
Eventually other locals joined the group: Lee Allen Leiker on vocals, Tom Bunker on piano, Dennis Rohr on drums, and Jim Gross on sax.
The band had no sheet music. They listened to records of their favorite singers and duplicated the sound.
“Thank God for 45s,” Gross, sax player, said.
Elvis, Ricky Nelson, and Gene Vincent, who is known for “Be Bop A Lula,” all became staples. The band often kicked off its concerts with “Say Mama” by Buddy Dean and the Enchantments, and ended the evening with Ritchie Valens “Oh Donna.”
The band played its first concert in 1958 at a New Year’s Dance at the Sunflower Ballroom. The band members were not sure of their own talents or how the music would be received, so they brought along an accordion player who could step in and play German polkas if the crowd became restless.
He was never needed. The audience loved the new sound.
“The first song we played was Johnny Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues.’ They went nuts. We didn’t have much use for the accordion player,” Fross said.
The Flipper name came by chance when one of the band members bought a pair of flipper-style hub caps for his car. The band members all quickly agreed to moniker.
Before long, the Flippers were booked most Friday and Saturdays at dances and proms around the area. An owner at a theater in Lenora, Kansas, booked the band to a regular gig.
The theater would show a movie and then remove the chairs and create a dance floor.
“They did the twist and free dance. How wild it got depend on how much beer they had. Three or four beers will do that to you,” Wierman said.
“It was a great deal of fun. I think it was all legal. None of us ended up in jail. It must have been all legal,” he said of the band’s concerts.
The guys sometimes would have a few beers before or after a show. One night, Dennis Rohr got a little carried away. He drank a case.
“I was totally wiped. I was crazy,” he said. “We had to play at this prom. They gave me a shower and coffee. At one point, I was up in a tree, and they couldn’t get me out.”
However, Rohr said he still honored his faith and family on Sunday morning.
“We might be out to 3 or 4 a.m. We might go to a party afterward, but I never missed church Sunday morning. I had to pray to God for all the stuff I did at the dance the night before,” he said.
Although Lee Leiker was considered by some of his bad mates as the group’s heart throb, there was no leader of the band.
“We had camaraderie,” Fross said. “We didn’t have a leader. We didn’t have disagreements. If everyone didn’t like it, we didn’t do it. Everybody booked dances.”
Although the young men all attended a Catholic military school, they received little pushback from their teachers and elders.
“The parents liked it,” Gross said. “It was something that got the kids off the streets on Friday nights.”
Except for their hair. The cadets were required to wear military haircuts and a couple of the band members were reprimanded for wearing their hair slicked back into duck tails.
Father Timothy Gottschalk, who Wierman said hated the music, even let the group practice in the St. Joseph’s band room for a time.
When the group wasn’t practicing at the school, they pulled a piano up to a door at one of the member’s houses and played in the yard. People from the neighborhood would stop by to listen at the outdoor impromptu concerts. Even police officers would swing by and linger to listen to the band.
Band members also said they enjoyed playing outdoor concerts on top of the swimming pool.
“It was a wonderful atmosphere,” Wierman said. “I won’t mind doing that again.”
The band even sent a letter to Capitol Records, but they were so good at emulating other artists, Capitol told them they couldn’t record the band because they didn’t have an original sound.
The original Flippers were together until 1964 when the guys went on to divergent lives.
Fross unfortunately no longer plays guitar. He broke his hand as a young man, and the bones did not set properly. He can no longer play certain chords.
“It about killed me when that happened,” he said.
Rohr, 73, took a while to recover from his party days with the band. He flunked out of college twice, but eventually graduated with a master’s degree.
“I would have been well educated a lot earlier if it had not been for rock ’n’ roll,” he said.
He lives in North Dakota and still plays drums.
Leiker, 78, became a family man and still lives in Hays.
“In 1960, I got married and, in 1962, I quit the band,” he said. “I had a family, and it was a whole different world.”
He now has four children, seven grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren and says all of the kids and grandkids are getting copies of the book. Although he doesn’t sing much anymore, he still loves music and has fond memories of his time int he band.
“It was a lot of fun growing up,” he said. “I would never change anything. In the band, we are all like one. We all had fun together, That’s how I grew up.”
Gross, 72, briefly co-owned a record shop in Hays, The Record Village, which was located off Vine Street.
He said his time in band made a great deal of difference in his later life.
“It gave me confidence,” he said. “It made a lot of difference in my career. I was managing plants with 300 people working in them. When I was in upper management, I knew how to deal with people.”
Bunker, 79, had a lifelong career in music and is still conducting choruses today, including a large chorus with Idaho State University for the opening of a new Mormon Temple. His children took up music as well, including a daughter who has played with Garth Brooks.
Wierman, 73, went on to play in The Fabulous Flippers and toured the nation. The band was know for their single “Harlem Shuffle.”
The time in the band took its toll from poor food and little sleep from constantly being on the road. He said he saw a lot playing rock in the ’60s. The nation was changing.
“In the bigger cities, there were riots, vandalism and looting,” he said. “It was not safe. … It was a wild time in a disturbing sense.”
Wierman abandoned touring in 1969 and took a construction job with his brother in Hays, where he lives today.
“I have no regrets,” he said. “I play still occasionally, but my hands are not as good as they used to be. I blame it on my mom for having me pray too much over the Rosary.”
Wierman summed up his music experiences very simply, “It has been one hell of a ride. I enjoyed it.”
I have always wanted to make a change here at Thomas More Prep-Marian. When I was a freshman, I wanted to be a leader in sports or in student council. However, I found out by trial and error that neither am I sporty, nor can I cause a wave of student leadership. So where is my place?
It was never “cool” to be the quirky, artsy kid. Someone would much rather be a sports star or get the pancake man to come to TMP. After three years of pushing it back, I finally accepted being artistically gifted. It makes me truly happy to create works of art for others to enjoy.
During the beginning of this school year, I had the idea of creating a mural for my school. I wanted to leave my own personal mark here at TMP. I was blessed to be granted permission to create a mural in the Student Center.
My original idea for the mural was pretty basic, I wanted to paint the new logo of the Monarch buffalo. That idea was OK, but it did not challenge me as much as I wanted it to.
After some sketching, I came up with the idea of a stained glass window for the mural. The three main symbols of the mural would be roses, a crown and the Monarch buffalo.
The roses symbolize Mary, the mother of God. Mary is a symbol of what a true woman should be, full of grace and courage. The golden crown at the top symbolizes Jesus, the king of mankind.
Finally the Monarch buffalo symbolizes the students’ role in God’s plan. Here at TMP, we students are more connected to Christ than at any other school because of our immediate connection to religious education and the Marian chapel.
I would like to thank TMP-Marian for letting me create this mural. Painting it has let me express myself in a way I have not been allowed to before.
I would also like to thank my family members that have supported me along the way. The generous acts of buying me art supplies or allowing me to paint small paintings for their homes, gave me the courage and self-confidence to push myself to paint a massive public mural.
And finally I need to thank my parents. Without them pushing my ability at a young age, I would not know my talent. They constantly ask, “How did we get so blessed with such great kids?” I ask the same thing about them.
Usually a parent would be horrified when their child comes home and says they want to be an art major in college, but my incredible parents are ecstatic for my future in the arts. So thank you to all who have supported me!
Amber Beverlin, senior architect with DLR Group, discusses options for school improvements with the Hays USD 489 Vision Team Tuesday night.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
The team charged with developing a bond issue for the Hays school district has developed a list of priorities for bond improvements and three possible options for funding those projects.
The Vision Team hopes to refine the plans in the coming weeks and eventually will take them to the USD 489 school board for consideration.
The Vision Team narrowed its priorities based on three tax structures in work session Tuesday night.
The first would rely exclusively on property taxes.
DLR, the district’s architect, found in a survey the majority of voters surveyed in the district indicated they would be willing to pay between $10 and $20 more in taxes per month on a $150,000 home for school improvements.
A bond issue that would raise property taxes by $14.99 per month on a $150,000 would raise $56 million for school improvements.
The second plan would include a half-cent city sales tax that would be in effect for 10 years. This, coupled with the mill levy increase, would raise $78 million.
The Hays City Commission would have to approve the tax before a bond question could go on the ballot.
The final plan would use a countywide sales tax. The half-cent tax would run for the full 25 years of the bond. A mill levy tax that would raise property tax $12.94 per month on a $150,000 home, plus the countywide sales tax, would raise $89 million.
A portion of money raised from a countywide sales tax would go to the other school districts. Revenue would be distributed based on headcount.
The Ellis County Commission and all the cities in the affected area would have to approve the tax before the bond issue could go on the ballot.
The vision team decided to focus on work at the elementary schools, which would include a new elementary school and renovations and additions at Wilson and Roosevelt elementary schools.
Improvements could include “right-sized” classrooms, with all of the elementary schoolsbecoming four-section schools after renovations.
Among the Vision Team members, creating storm shelters and increasing security at all buildings were top priorities. At all funding levels, the team sought to improve security and make storm shelters available for all students at all schools.
Amber Beverlin, senior architect for DLR, noted Wilson has undersized classrooms, as well as structural and ADA issues that need to be addressed.
A complete renovation for Wilson would cost $16.3 million. Some present questioned the prudence of spending that much on a 58-year-old building.
Jim French, DLR’s global K-12 sector leader, said some savings could be realized by adding new space at the building that could be used for innovation and creative learning centers instead of moving walls to make classrooms bigger.
The scope of the Wilson work has yet to be determined.
As the plan stands now, Lincoln Elementary School would be closed. The district would set aside money in the bond to deal with closed buildings. It could sell them or demolish them.
Work at the high school and middle school would depend on the amount of funding available.
The group prioritized the needs at the high school in this order: storm shelters, mechanical updates, performing arts educational space, right-sizing classrooms for 21st century learning, physical education space, career and technical education space.
At the middle school, the priorities were as follows: right-sizing the kitchen and cafeteria for the student population, physical education space, classroom addition, and renovating classrooms.
Another option discussed was to renovate O’Loughlin and use it to house the learning center, early childhood program and the Westside program. The renovations would include the addition of a storm shelter.
In talks with educators, Beverlin noted the director of the early education program said the program would have to be reduced in size unless it was relocated.
A member of the committee expressed concern about the three programs being housed in the same building.
Beverlin said educators said they were comfortable putting all three programs in the same building and areas could be separated so students in the different programs did not co-mingle.
Westside and Washington would be closed under this plan, and Munjor would go back to the church.
“I think this is worth having,” Chris Dinkel, committee member, said of the O’Loughlin renovations. “I think it is a necessity. I just walked through Westside today, and it is not good.”
Superintendent John Thissen said he would take a plan to use utility savings to pay for improvement of the HVAC system at the high school to the school board. This means that $5.8 million that the committee had planned to spend at the high school could be funneled into other projects.
Some board members said they were concerned that the $89 million option was too close to the previous bond issue that failed.
“I think we have a lot more buzz,” Dinkel said. “(During the previous bond election), 90 percent of people said they had not even heard that it was happening. It was if we were forcing through $90 million.
“I don’t think we have the same atmosphere in Hays. This is a different plan significantly. … I think people are much more engaged in the process.”
French said, “The 300 staff members in district had no passion for the previous bond. Now the educators realize the time has come and they can no longer live in environments that don’t work. They know they need to work to educate parents why we need to do this.”
The vision team has been working on this process for six months. It hopes to have final plans soon, as the longer the bond is delayed, the more construction costs could increase, potentially costing the district millions more to complete the improvements.
Monarch State Chess Team with Plaque and Medals. Back Row L to R Logan Hess, Jesus Cano, Aakash Patel, Paul Brull, Ethan Rohr, Hunter Flax. Front Row L to R Nicklas Helget, Seth Perrett, Shelden Weber, Sheena Zeng, Japheth Briney
Freshman Sheena Zeng led the Monarchs to a third-place team finish among the eight 3A schools who competed at the state tournament on March 11.
Zeng defeated five of her six opponents to claim individual fourth place in a field of 133 individual entries.
The team score of 14 was rounded out by sophomores Paul Brull (4 points) and 2017 Sheldon Weber (3 points) and by junior Ethan Rohr (2 points). Erie (17.5 points) and St. Mary’s Academy (16 points) finished ahead of the Monarchs.
The junior high Monarchs claimed the distinction of the fourth strongest middle school in the state with a team score of 17.
Eighth grader Japheth Briney set the pace with five wins and was well supported by classmates Seth Perrett and Hunter Flax and seventh grader Nicklas Helget all with four point contributions.
Also participating in the competition were eighth grader Aakash Patel (3.5 points) and seventh graders Jesus Cano (3.5 points) and Logan Hess (1.5 points).
The top prize in the middle school section went to St. Mary’s Academy (19.5 points), followed by Lawrence West (19 points) and Raintree Montessori of Lawrence (17.5 points).
Mary Kay Schippers shows children how pioneers ironed and did laundry Wednesday at the Ellis County Historical Society Museum’s Pioneer Day.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hay Post
About 140 children were able to step back in time Wednesday as part of the annual Pioneer Day at the Ellis County Historical Society Museum.
Children learned how to make a rag rug, do laundry without a wash machine, sing, fight a fire and cut wood. They also toured the Volga German house and played pioneer games.
Pat Albrecht, volunteer, showed the children how to make a rag rug. Old clothing was torn into strips, and the strips were crocheted into an oval rug.
Albrecht told the children mothers nor children were idle in pioneer times. Children hoed in the garden, helped take care of the house and did other chores, such as tearing strips for rugs.
Mary Kay Schippers, volunteer, showed the children how pioneers did laundry. She demonstrated using a washboard, lye soap her grandfather made and a ringer.
Heavy wind blew laundry that she hung on line just as the pioneers did, and s
Hays homeschool students tear pieces of fabric for a rug Wednesday at the Ellis County Historical Society Museum’s Pioneer Day.
he noted people usually did not do laundry when it rained.
She told the children most people had two sets of clothing. They would put one outfit on Sunday for church and then wear that outfit all week. The second outfit would be washed, and the cycle would start over the next Sunday.
“I want them to appreciate how easy life has become,” she said of the children, “and maybe have a greater appreciation of how life was before us for the early pioneers.”
Lee Dobratz, museum director, said she hoped the event inspired the children’s curiosity.
“I hope they find out the way things used to be,” she said. “I hope it sparked an interest in the way people lived here in Ellis County.”
Next year the format for the event will change. It will be conducted on a Saturday afternoon as a family event.
Thomas Wasinger withdrew his name as a candidate for the USD 489 school board today.
He said in a written statement, “After reflecting upon the time I spent over the past few months with the USD 489 Vision Team involving the school board’s current push for another bond election, it occurred to me that there are other individuals better suited to serve on the school board and more attuned to the agenda of the current school board.”
Three positions are up for election this fall on the school board.
Rose Lewis lays pennies at the Tiger Burgers in downtown Hays.
Pennies, pennies and more pennies pasted one at a time by hand on the floor of the new Tiger Burgers.
Tiger Burgers, the brainchild of Jacob and David Proffitt, will occupy the space at 700 Main St., which was recently vacated by Sake 2 Me. It has moved to the 2300 block of Vine St.
Jacob is the owner of the Auman Company, and the brothers are co-owners of Munsch Fitness and have other interests in local restaurant franchises.
This is their first concept restaurant venture.
Tiger Burgers will focus on sliders, burgers, chicken fingers, shakes and beer in a fifties-style atmosphere.
The brothers are working to restore the 1923 Sinclair gas station, which is on the state register of historic places, to near as possible to its original look.
Jacob’s wife found a penny table on Pinterest, and Jacob thought it would be a great project for the restaurant’s floor.
Hundreds of thousands of pennies have gone into floor thus far. The brothers’ bank had to bring in a special shipment of pennies for the project.
Jacob and David Proffitt are opening a new restaurant in downtown Hays called Tiger Burger.
A crew of three to four workers have spent two weeks working 12 hours per day on their hands and knees to finish the project, which is nearing completion.
In the middle of the floor is the word “Tigers,” spelled out in quarters and dimes.
All of the pennies on the floor are heads up, except for two wheat pennies that are laid side by side. These pennies have the dates of the brothers’ parents’ birthdays.
Once the restaurant opens, the business will have a contest to see who can find the pennies. A progressive $100 prize will be offered to the person who can find the special pennies.
The oldest penny on the floor dates to 1893, but the floor also contains, Indian heads, wheat pennies and steel pennies from the 1940s.
The restaurant interior will include a wrap with Hays photos and memorabilia.
“We want this to be a tribute to the people of Hays. We want this to be a place where people can come together and talk. We wanted to do something for Hays,” Jacob said.
Anyone with old photos of Hays or the surrounding area can email photos to David at [email protected].
The restaurant will have an outdoor beer garden and seating area, which will have a stage and projectors on which old movies will be shown.
Jacob said he has been interested in the building for 15 years, and when the Sake 2 Me decided to relocated, he approached the building’s owner about a lease.
The business is set to open June 25 right before the Wild West Festival with a grand opening to be scheduled at a later date.
Hours will be 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Wednesdays and 10:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.
Courtney King receives a hug from her son, Likon, at the Wilson Mother’s Tea Thursday, May 11.
Students at Wilson Elementary School celebrated a 20-year tradition Thursday by honoring their mothers at their annual Mother’s Tea.
Gloria Blackwell, music teacher, has worked at the school for 20 years, and said the tradition started before her tenure at the school.
The second-grade classes, which accounted for about 70 students performed an insect-themed musical titled “Bugz!” In addition, the children made flowers of tissue paper and presented their moms with live carnations and framed pictures of themselves.
The closing of the program was a slide show of pictures of the children when they were babies and what they look like now. The children “Oooed,” “Ahed,” and giggled as they saw the baby pictures and then shouted the students names as their identities were revealed.
“It’s cool,” said Brianne Sultzer, mom of Harper. “The kids have been together for the last three years and you get to see how they have grown up.”
Mom Freddi Unruh and Parker, 8, will be spending Mother’s Day at a soccer tournament this weekend.
“I think it is heart warming,” she said. “You get to see how they have grown in the last seven or eight years.”
Other grades used to put on year-end programs or musicals, but changes in curriculum have made it difficult to fit everything in, Blackwell said.
Candace Sage, teacher, said the school’s staff has worked to keep the tradition alive.
“It is awesome,” she said. “It is not something that we could give up.”
A security notice at Hays Middle School directs visitors to ring a bell so someone in the school’s office can let them in. HMS is one of only two schools in the district that locks all its doors during the school day.
Hays USD 489 is looking at improving security at its schools as it forms a plan on a new bond issue.
An evaluation by the district’s architect, DLR Group, indicated all the district’s schools had security concerns. Specifically, those concerns revolved around controlled access and line of sight to the front doors to the buildings.
Amber Beverlin, senior architect for DLR, said during the facility analysis, the firm assessed security of the perimeters of the buildings and the main entries. The firm considered how visitors enter a facility and how far they can travel inside the building before encountering a staff member. It also looked at the amount of and use of technology to monitor people entering and exiting buildings.
All of the buildings have a new ID system that was upgraded with a grant this school year. Signs at the buildings direct visitors to the buildings’ offices. There, staff members can scan visitors’ driver’s licenses. Software then checks them against a KBI database.
Visitors are given ID badges to wear while they are in the buildings and are instructed to check out as they leave the buildings.
However, Superintendent John Thissen admitted there are flaws in the system.
Only two of the district’s six K-12 buildings lock all doors during the school days, which means someone with ill intent could enter the other schools and conceivably make it well into the buildings before they were noticed.
When DLR did its review, it pointed out most of the schools’ office staff have poor line of sight to the front door of their buildings. Only Wilson Elementary has an office with windows that faces the front door.
Beverlin said, as school districts across the nation remodel and construct new buildings, they are creating “pinch points,” so visitors to the buildings can be better monitored.
One of the district’s driver’s license scanning terminals. The terminals, which are located at all the district’s schools, check visitors’ IDs against a KBI database.
“Good sight lines from the administration office to the entry provides a second layer of security to monitor people entering and exiting the building,” she said. “In addition, exit doors around the perimeter of the building should have the ability to be electronically locked/unlocked or monitored.”
Thissen said the line of sight is especially bad at Lincoln Elementary because of the placement of the office and its distance from the front entrance.
All the schools in the district have security cameras, which include coverage of the schools’ front doors.
Lincoln Principal Elaine Rohleder’s office has a security camera feed, but she admitted she and the staff can’t watch the feeds every minute of the school day.
The middle school went to a policy of locking all entrances within the last two years and O’Loughlin just made the change within the last few weeks. Visitors to these schools ring a doorbell and wait for a staff member to let them into the building.
Vicki Gile, O’Loughlin principal, said the change in policy would give the staff time to call 911 if they perceive someone who might be a threat trying to enter the building.
“For me, my vision is that it is going to buy us time,” Gile said.
Although cases of active shooters in schools have received much attention in the media, Wilson Principal Anita Scheve noted school violence is more likely to be perpetrated by someone who has a connection with the school. This could include issues with non-custodial parents.
Scheve noted teachers and staff try to build good relationships with children and families in attempts to address issues at home before they might spill over into an issue at school.
“Teachers have relationships with parents and students to know when things are unsettled at home,” she said. “They are aware when kids are struggling or parents are struggling. They have awareness of behavior that something might get out of hand. Families can be referred to mental health, family preservation or DCF.”
Training and education has also become an essential piece of the security net for all USD 489 schools.
Where once students and staff only practiced fire and tornado drills, today students have intruder and evacuation drills.
Thissen said in the district’s crisis plan, officials have looked at many different threat scenarios. An intruder might not be the most likely threat to students’ safety. An anhydrous ammonia leak from a passing semi truck may be more likely.
No matter what the threat, Thissen said it falls to the district to be prepared.
“Hays is a safe place. It is now and it will continue to be a safe place,” he said. “However, for us to not plan for and be prepared for such a situation would be irresponsible.”
Goddard schools recently passed a $52 million bond issue that addressed maintenance needs, but also safety and security issues. The district will place intruder locks on all the schools’ classrooms and build multi-use storm shelters.
Dane Baxa, Goddard director of community relations, said improving safety and security was a key element in selling the bond issue to the public.
“When you tell moms that you can make schools safer if there is an intruder or active shooter if classrooms can be locked more quickly, everyone wants those improvements made,” he said.
Thissen said upgrading locks on buildings could also be an element of the bond.
As USD 489’s bond issue committee starts to put dollars to possible projects, the cost of improving line of sight to entrances and putting in place other security measures will become more apparent.
The issue is not whether the community wants to make schools safer — it is an issue of cost, Thissen said.
“People are not going to get in the way of safety. No one is going to say, ‘You are making the schools too safe,’ ” he said. “It is how much money it’s going to cost to do that.”
The next meeting of the bond committee is Tuesday.
The woman who was taken to the hospital this morning after an accident at 23rd and Canal Streets was reported in good condition.
Just before 10 a.m. today, Yvonne L. Braun, 77, of Hays was driving a 2014 Chevy van on Canal Street when a 2014 Jeep Cherokee driven by Timothy P. Schmidt, 70, failed to stop at a stop sign at 23rd and Canal, according to Lt. Brandon Wright of the Hays Police Department.
Braun’s vehicle collided with Schmidt’s, and Schmidt’s vehicle rolled on its side.
Schmidt was not reported injured in the accident.
The road was temporarily blocked while the vehicles were removed from the scene.
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At about 10 a.m. today two vehicles collided at the intersection of Canal and 23rd streets. At least one person was taken to the hospital due to the crash.
One of the vehicles involved rolled on its side.
Traffic was blocked while the cars were being removed.
My original idea for the mural was pretty basic, I wanted to paint the new logo of the Monarch buffalo. That idea was OK, but it did not challenge me as much as I wanted it to.
