HPMH

High Plains Mental Health Center will offer two free community Mental Health First Aid classes this summer at Hays Recreation Center. Registration is required in advance by calling HRC at 785-623-2650.

A Youth Mental Health First Aid class will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 11, at HRC, 1105 Canterbury. This class focuses on signs a young person might be developing a mental health problem and also addresses subjects including suicide prevention, childhood trauma and adolescent development. Participants must be 18 or older to attend.

An Adult Mental Health First Aid class will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, July 19, at HRC. This class addresses signs and symptoms of several mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety, psychosis and substance use. The group also will discuss suicide prevention and non-suicidal self-injury.

Participants should bring a sack lunch. All will receive official certification in Mental Health First Aid and a resource manual to keep. Continuing education credit certificates are available on request.

Mental Health First Aid is an international, evidence-based curriculum that teaches how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorders. The training provides skills to provide initial help and support to someone who might be developing a mental health problem or experiencing a crisis.

To learn more about the program or to schedule a class for your agency or community, contact Kaley Conner at High Plains Mental Health Center, 785-628-2871.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Lori Hertel, a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist, has filed for election to the Hays USD 489 school board.

Hertel joins Luke Oborny, who has filed for re-election, and Tammy Wellbrock in running for four open seats on the board.

Hertel applied to fill the seat vacated by Sarah Rankin in August 2017, but the board voted to fill that position with Greg Schwartz.

“I have some time that I want to devote to some more children’s-type of activities,” Hertel said. “This position came up on the school board, and I thought this would be an opportunity for me to be able to make a difference in children’s lives, so I decided to go ahead and run.”

Hertel, 58, has extensive background working with children and families.

She was involved in the founding of both CASA and Big Brothers and Big Sisters in Ellis County. Hertel served as the first CASA director and later as president of the CASA board as well as president of the board of BBBS.

For years, she has done psychological evaluations with a parenting emphasis for the court in custody and child in need of care cases. She worked as a therapist in her own counseling agency as well as for High Plains Mental Health.

She currently works with children and families at Serenity Psychological Services in Hays.

She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in resource counseling from Fort Hays State University, and is working on her PhD in health psychology through Walden University.

Her daughter, Ana, attended Hays public schools before her death from a childhood muscular disease. Her daughter was in the special education program, and Hertel said she is very familiar with that program.

“I am familiar with a lot of different areas of the school district and feel that I can be an asset to all of those areas,” she said.

Hertel has collected stuffed animals in her daughter’s name for first responders to give to children in crisis in program she calls Ana’s Gift. She has also donated books to the school district and spearheaded efforts to bring the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program to Hays. The program provides free monthly books for Ellis County children birth through age 5.

Most recently, she donated to the ARC Park, accessible park project, also in her daughter’s Ana’s name.

For her work with children, she was awarded the Woman of Distinction Award by Soroptimist International.

“I am mostly wanting to focus on programming, staff and people who can make a difference for children,” Hertel said of her goals if elected.

She said she thought the current school board is doing a good job and she wants to continue with that positive work.

Hertel said she has supported past bond issues. The school district had failed bond issues in 2016 and 2017 and has discussed a third try for a bond to address facility needs in the district.

“I have served on a site council and have seen the facilities and some of the maintenance that needs to be done in the facilities,” she said.

However, she said she would need more information before making any decisions on facilities as a board member.

The Hays school board has clashed with the teacher’s union in the past. The board and Hays NEA reached impasse during negotiations last year.

“I think I am a very open person,” Hertel said. “My education, experience, etc. has always been in working with people, trying to resolve problems, conflicts, so I think I would be good at coming up with some good resolutions.”

The deadline to file for the school board election is noon Monday, June 3. The USD 489 positions that are up for election include those held by Oborny, Mandy Fox, Paul Adams and Greg Schwartz. All candidate filings need to be handled through the Ellis County Clerk’s office at 718 Main St., Hays.

School board and city elections will be on Tuesday, Nov. 5. If nine or more candidates file for the USD 489 school board, a primary election will be on Tuesday, Aug. 6.

Brian Shannon has filed to run for the school board in Ellis USD 388. Don Pruitt has filed for in Victoria USD 432. Four positions are open in each of those races.

A portion of USD 403, USD 399 and USD 407 all are in Ellis County.

Justin Frye and Kristin Lyle have filed in the Paradise USD 399 election, and Kathy Wallert has filed for election in Russell County USD 407.

No one has filed as of Thursday for the open positions on the school board for Otis-Bison USD 403.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

LIEBENTHAL — A crew from Roofmasters is working more than 150 feet in the air to repair the steeple on the 114-year-old St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Liebenthal.

Roofmasters Roofing and Sheet Metal workers have begun removing the copper from the steeple, which is 167 feet at the top of its highest cross. The company estimates the work will take about a month to complete.

St. Joseph’s was established by Volga Germans in 1876, and the current church building was was dedicated on May 28, 1905. Although the steeple has had repairs many times over the years, it has not had a major renovation for 55 years.

In March 2018, the steeple sustained significant storm damage, and the parish immediately began fundraising for a major overhaul.

In addition to water-damaged wood, the church was gutted by fire in 1917 and 1959. Some work will also likely need to be done to the steeple’s masonry.

The wood as well as the cooper covering will be replaced. The old copper that is being removed will be recycled.

There are four copper crosses on top of the tower that holds the church’s single steeple. Project foreman Andy Littrel will handcraft duplicate crosses to replace the originals that have been damaged by years of harsh Kansas weather.

The church is still fundraising for the steeple project. Insurance only paid $13,000 of the $80,000 needed for the copper work. The church was able to raise another $19,000 through donations, memorials and fundraisers.

The church continues to fundraise in hopes it will not have to dip into its savings to finish the project, Judy Hoffman, church secretary, said.

“I don’t know what we can do next because you fundraise your people to death,” she said.

The congregation is small, with only 50 registered individual parishioners and families. A typical Sunday Mass attracts 70 to 90 people, Hoffman said.

The parishioners had to dig deep into their pockets for the amount that has been raised thus far for the steeple renovations. This was on top of a costly renovation in 2014 during which the interior walls were restored and repainted. Leaks in the steeple have been dripping into the choir loft and damaging the latest interior renovation and paint.

Students from the Fort Hays State University Nursing Department threw a potluck fundraiser for the church’s steeple project last year, raising $200.

“That might not sound like a big deal, but to me, it was big. To us, it was big,” Hoffman said. “It was somebody outside the parish who cared enough to put some effort in to helping us fund this project. Those kinds of things are welcome if anyone wants to try that.”

St. Joseph’s has managed to stay open as many other small, rural Catholic churches have closed, including Loretta, Pfeifer and McCracken.

“Many of those people have come over to our church, and even if they haven’t registered, they are in the pew fairly often,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman attended St. Joseph Catholic Church in Hays as a child, but started attending the church in Liebenthal when she moved back to the area as an adult.

“Oh, I really love it there in Liebenthal a lot,” she said.

Anyone wishing to donate to the steeple project can do so directly through the church’s website. Go to rushcountycatholicchurches.com and click on the St. Joseph Parish Giving icon.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The West Central Kansas Special Education Cooperative is asking for a 5 percent funding increase for the upcoming budget year.

This would be about $80,000 for the Hays school district, which would come from the general fund.

The co-op has not requested a funding increase in five years. The average increase in payments from districts in the region to their co-ops has been about 12 percent over the last two years, Chris Hipp, co-op director, said.

The co-op is administered by Hays USD 489 and also includes Ellis, Victoria and La Crosse. The co-op also provides special education services for private school students in those four communities.

The co-op budget is up an estimated 9.3 percent, or $638,000, this year compared to FY2018. The most significant increase was in salary and benefits.

The co-op has had to dip into its reserve to cover expenses two of the last five years. Hipp estimates this year the co-op will have a cash balance of about $1.5 million, which is $274,000 less than at the end of the last fiscal year.

The majority of the co-op’s expenses are teacher and paraprofessional salaries and benefits. This equals about $625,000 per month. The co-op is trying to maintain at least two months worth of salary in reserve.

The co-op is legally required to provide special education services to any student that lives in its member districts. Reserves are important, because officials never know when a high-needs student might move into the district and the co-op’s costs would increase.

The co-op is expecting a 3 percent increase in expenses for FY2020 for a total budget of $7.7 million. State revenue is estimated to be up by about 6.5 percent, but federal funding is expected to remain flat. Because Hays has the majority of the special education students, it pays 75 percent of the co-op budget. Hays’ share of the budget for FY2020 is estimated at almost $1.7 million.

The Hays USD 489 plans to republish its budget to account for about $25,000 in additional money the co-op received in state money. This was due to the district adding more teachers and paras.

Once the school district publishes its budget, it can’t spend any more than is listed in that budget. Republishing the budget will allow the co-op to spend the additional money it has received. No additional taxes will be levied as a result of this action, Keith Hall, USD 489 finance director, told the board Monday night.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

It’s been a soggy few days for northwest Kansas.

As of 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, Hays received 1.75 inches of rain in the last 24 hours.

So far this month, Hays has received 5.01 inches, which is more than the 3.24 inch average for the whole month.

The storms of the last two days has also pushed the Hays over its year to date rainfall average. Since Jan. 1. Hays has received  8.63 of rain, which is more than the 7.81 inch year-to-date average for the end of May.

Ellis and Rush counties remain in a Flash Flood Watch until 1 p.m. Tuesday.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The Hays USD 489 school board will hear an update tonight on the $1.76 million renovation to the Oak Park Medical Complex.

The complex is being renovated for use by Early Childhood Connections.

The school district purchased the complex for $2 million, which will be paid for through a lease agreement out of capital outlay funds. The district received a $1.47 million federal grant and a $500,000 donation from HaysMed, the primary owner of the complex before it was sold, for the renovations.

The district hopes to have the facility open sometime this fall.

The board also is set to vote on two other capital projects on which work would be done this summer.

Members are expected to vote on a re-keying all the doors at Hays High School, Hays Middle School, Roosevelt Elementary and the new Early Childhood Connections building.

The district has received at $57,000 matching grant to replace interior door locks. The district’s match for the project will be $53,000.

Rusty Lindsay, buildings and grounds director, said the current lock system is no longer secure because keys can be easily duplicated.

The other project is to replace concrete in the Hays High School Parking lot. The district is scheduled to do a portion of the parking lot each year until all of the concrete has been replaced. This year’s low bid was for $96,600 from Brian’s Concrete Services of Hays.

In other business, the board will

• Hear a Lincoln Elementary School Site Council presentation
• Vote on revisions to the Classified Handbook
• Vote on board policy revisions
• Vote on the 2019-20 board meeting calendar
• Hear a report on workers compensation and cyber liability insurance
• Hear a report on property and casualty insurance
• Chris Hipp, director of the West Central Kansas Special Education Cooperative, will present the district assessment recommendation

Submitted

It is often said that Kansas railroads would either make or break a town. One might wonder, what were the factors that contributed to both?

In western Kansas during the mid 1880’s, several railroad companies were seeking to provide rail service to the newly populated area along and north of the south fork of the Solomon River. One such company was the Missouri Pacific.

They had plans lay track from Salina all the way to Colorado, via the Plainville Branch. This branch was to continue west of Plainville and end at Colby, connecting via a short line to Oakley, then on west to Colorado. It was along this Plainville Branch, that Nicodemus would have been targeted to receive the railroad and a depot.

This year’s theme for the third-annual “Nicodemus Spring Chautauqua” is all about the railroads and why they by-passed Nicodemus. The event will be from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday May 25 in Nicodemus. You’ll be entertained during the day with characters from this historically pivotal past. You’ll hear from characters like the railroad surveyor and engineer, business owners, politicians, attorney, newspaper editor, frustrated homesteaders and cowboys, to  J.P. Pomeroy – Kansas railroad tycoon,  philanthropist, and Hill City founder.

The annual Chautauqua was conceived with the idea to bring life to the history of Nicodemus, through various historical periods, events, and people. Last year’s Chautauqua featured various characters and their individual stories. This year’s theme is all about the railroads and to shed light on why they by-passed Nicodemus, so the characters that are presented will be sharing their part in this dynamic story.

We often wonder what Nicodemus would have been like if the Union Pacific had laid track through the town. Would it have thrived and even surpassed the county seat of Hill City?  We wonder why the decision was to lay tracks four miles south of the Solomon River?  What was the role of Kansas railroad tycoon and philanthropist, J.P. Pomeroy and how was his influence used? 

Why were businesses lured away, and the banker did not support the decision to secure the railroad at Nicodemus?  What was the role of the newspapers and why was W.R. Hill the owner of both Nicodemus and Hill City papers? These are only a few questions that beg answers as we look at the dynamic of the railroads and their interest in laying track through Nicodemus. We hope to address these and other interesting issues during the May 25 Chautauqua.

Other related railroad stories and history will be shared, such as the killing at the Bogue Depot and the Nicodemus men who worked on the railroad as mail sorters, chefs and porters.

An exhibit of oil paintings of railroad depots along the ‘Plainville Branch’ through Rooks and Graham counties by artist Mike Boss will be on display before and during the event.  Free food and refreshments in the theme of the railroads will be provided by Walmart of Hays.

Period music will entertain you by the Hays High Plains Barbershop Chorus, and throughout the performances the New Nicodemus Old Timers will tickle your ears and maybe even motivate you to get up and dance during intermissions.

For more information, call 785-839-4233 or 785-839-8200.

Sponsored by the Nicodemus Historical Society, Nicodemus National Historic Site and Walmart of Hays.