By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Russ Tuttle told students at Hays High School on Wednesday he wanted to remember just one thing — cola cockroach.

Tuttle grew up in India. On one particularly hot and miserable day, he bought two Thumbs Up colas from a street vendor. He was so hot, miserable and dripping with sweat that he chugged the first cola.

To his horror, a cockroach had been bottled inside the beverage and now was stuck to the roof of his mouth.

He told HHS students he never heaved so badly in his life.

His point to the students was social media is like sweet, fizzy cola. A little of it is OK. Too much is bad for you, and there can be lurking inside cockroaches ready to take advantage of you.

In his BeAlert program, Tuttle noted human trafficking is not something that just happens in the Third World.

At least 100,000 children in America are taken of advantage of in the sex industry each year. Three of four of those young victims are trafficked online.

“I am here as an adult male to tell you guys there are people who want to harm students,” he said

Youth put on social media their dislikes and their desires everyday. Cockroaches, the bad guys, use that to take advantage of students, Tuttle said.

Tuttle acknowledged the disconnect between youth and adults. He explained that simply. Brains in humans don’t fully develop until on average a person is 25 years old. The thinking part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex, is the last part of the brain to fully develop,

“You are in high school, so right now I want you to understand something, this is not a slam,” Tuttle said. “It is not a put down. It is not a derogatory comment, but right now you turn to your neighbor on the left and your right and with your best compassion and empathy, look them in the eyes and tell them, ‘You are just a half brain.’ ”

Tuttle said adults need to understand students make mistakes because they were half-brain formed decisions. He then turned back to the students.

“When you feel like no one understands you and you feel like you don’t have a trusted adult you can talk to about something, online is not the place to go,” he said.

Teens often feel lonely and isolated because they look at social media and compare their weaknesses to others strengths. Teenage suicide is up 20 percent in American in the last six years.

In Tuttle’s daughter’s high school, two students killed themselves in the same weekend. One was a boy, and the other was a girl. They were in different grades and did not know each other. Both were expressing on social media they were lonely, isolated and depressed.

“There were students in my daughter’s school that were responding to these students saying, ‘I think you should end your life,’ ” he said.

He said students need to take responsibility for their own actions and the care of others.

Tuttle said he was becoming increasingly distressed about students falling into controlling relationships as young as elementary school.

Recently during a presentation at a small Kansas school, a seventh-grade girl came up to Tuttle after his presentation and said a fifth-grade boy had started harassing her when she was in the fourth grade. He began threatening her. In the fourth grade, he convinced her that she needed to take her clothes off, take a “hot pic” and send it to him.

“She is now in seventh grade, and she comes to me and says, ‘How did you know my story?’ I don’t know your story. I don’t know you. She said, ‘Everything you just talked about unpacked for me. That is my life. How did you know?’ I said these are the patterns when people control others in a relationship,” Tuttle said.

This young girl in the seventh grade was suicidal. She was cutting herself.

“This is not a rare story for me,” he said. “She got in a controlling relationship, and now, in the seventh grade, all the images that had been taken and used against her — she had over 100 men trolling her, catfishing her, harassing her through social media.”

This kind of manipulation does not only happen to girls, Tuttle said.

“I don’t want you to live in fear,” he said. “I want you to be wise.”

Predators use video games, such as Minecraft and Fortnite to prey on boys. Twenty-three men were arrested out of Kansas who were recruiting boys using Fortnite.

Boys are getting naked pictures from who they think is a girl, but it is really coming from a predator. The predator, posing as a young girl, convinces the boy to send naked photos of himself. The predator offers to meet. The boy goes thinking he is meeting the girl, and there is the predator.

Unfortunately, once these “hot pics” are out there, they are usually passed on. If you receive a pic of a teen who is undressed, and you pass it on, by federal law, you are a child pornographer. One in five pornographic images is of a child.

“You are only a safe online as your stupidest friend,” he said.

Jesse Logan, 18, trusted her boyfriend, so when he said, “If you really love me, you would take your clothes off and send me a hot pic.”

She did, he broke up with her and started passing the image along. Her parents found her hanging dead from suicide in her room.

Eighty-eight percent of the time once these photos are sent, they go semi-viral, which means they are seen by at least 1,200 people.

If someone approaches you online and you don’t know them or they try to harass you, Tuttle said you should block that person, save the information and report it to a trusted adult. This can help police put predators in jail.

“I recently encountered a 12-year-old girl who had saved the online exploitation she had been going through,” Tuttle said. She was 12 years old. She thought she was talking to a 14-year-old boy for several months. It turned out it was a 57-year-old man in Philadelphia, who had 14 others girls he was doing the same thing with. Because she saved the information, that guy is in jail today.”

Tuttle shared the story of a young woman who became a victim of sex trafficking. At 10, she was a star softball player. At 12, she fell into a manipulative relationship through social media with who she thought was a 14-year-old boy. When she met him, he was actually a 21-year-old-man. At 12, that man raped her, and he used all the images he took of that event against her.

Three weeks before her 18th birthday, she was sold against her will. The predators used alcohol and drugs to control her. On her 22nd birthday, she was in ICU with only 5 percent heart function.

“This is the result of what her life did to her,” he said. “This is the impact of porn on real people. This is the impact of controlling relationships — to take someone to a place where they are willing to exploit a young student through social media to get them to go to the depths of horrific horror they never thought they would go to.”

“I am asking you to be half brains searching for cockroaches when you are online to keep each other safe,” Tuttle said.

Tuttle ended the presentation by leading the students in the cola cockroach chant: “Not in my life. Not in my school. Not in my future. Cola Cockroach.”

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Daymond John, the creator of FUBU and star of ABC’s “Shark Tank” told a packed crowd at Fort Hays State University on Wednesday the story of how he rose from a waiter at Red Lobster to the CEO of a $6 billion company.

In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed John a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship, a position focused on promoting the power and importance of entrepreneurship on a global scale. “Shark Tank” has won four Emmy Awards. John is also the author of the books, “The Power of Broke” and “Rise and Grind.”

John, 49, grew up in the Hollis neighborhood of Queens. His parents divorced when he was 10. He was raised by his mother who worked three jobs to put food on the table. At times, the family did not have electricity or gas, because they had no money to pay the bills.

“I didn’t want to see my mother work that hard,” he said. “Who would want to see their mother work that hard?”

John started working before he finished high school to help support his family. His first job was standing outside handing out flyers for the local mall for $2.25 an hour.

As he put his money into the family cookie jar for bills, his mother told him, “Responsibility is something that is taken, it is not given. You know that, and you will be successful.”

As John was growing up in Queens, there were two kinds of people who he saw driving fancy cars, drug dealers and the new hip hop artists.

Hip hop gave a voice to his generation. They would pull the power cords out of the street lights to play music and maybe 100 kids would dance in the streets until 3 a.m.

In 1986, John attended a hip hop concert in Philadelphia with a crowd of 18,000 people. The kids at that concert where wearing a uniform — the same Adidas or Reebok shoes as the rappers. This was a time before cellphones and the Internet.

“I was thinking, ‘Who sent the memo?’ ” he said.

“Every single one of us has a time where we come to a decision in our lives,” John said. “Mine came to me in 1 second, and I went from black-and-white to Technicolor.”

Set goals
He started to set goals, which he says is the first in his key SHARK points to success. He wanted to find a way to make money off of hip hop. He wanted to meet Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali and attend a Prince concert.

He knew he wanted to be a part of the hip hop culture, but he had no musical talent. He was also working as a waiter at Red Lobster to make ends meet. He thought, “There has to be a better way.”

FUBU started humbly in 1989 when John’s mother taught him how to sew so he could make wool ski hats similar to one he had seen a local rapper wear. He sold the hats for $10 each, making $800 in an hour.

Unfortunately, he was so excited as he drove home that he rear-ended another car. He had to pay all his newly won earnings to fix the other person’s car.

His mother urged him to take stock of his personal assets. John, who never attended college and was dyslexic, started to bring in friends to build his business who had skills he did not.

Spokesperson
He and his friends created screen-printed T-shirts and sold them in local stores on consignment.

He went to 300 local stores in New York and New Jersey and offered to paint their front metal security gates with the FUBU logo and words “authorized dealer.” Not all of these stores were clothing stores. It could be a Chinese food restaurant, but the signs gained him premium ad space that was visible during the morning and evening rush hours. Some of these painted gates are still visible today. He estimates that spray paint campaign earned him $3 million in free advertising.

He then took 10 FUBU shirts and convinced local rap stars to wear them in videos. He didn’t have the inventory to give the shirts to the rappers, so after they were used in the videos, he took the shirts back and gave them to other rappers to wear. He later concluded he had received $15 million in free advertising by doing that.

Finally he enlisted the help of Queens rapper LL Cool J to serve as a spokesperson for the product. LL Cool J had just been picked up to star in the show “In the House.”

He was fielding contract requests from big-name clothing companies to endorse their products, so he was initially reluctant to allow young John and his friends to use him in any advertising. He finally relented and allowed John to take a single photo of him wearing a FUBU shirt.

Homework
After doing some research, he determined all of the big clothing retailers gathered annually in Las Vegas for the MAGIC trade show. They couldn’t afford a booth at the show, nor could they get tickets to get into the show. They set up their clothing in a hotel room and snuck into the trade show armed with flyers of LL Cool J wearing the FUBU shirt.

They came home from the show with $300,000 in orders, but had no way to produce that much inventory. John sought capital, but was turned down by 27 banks.

His mother agreed to mortgage their home for $100,000, and John turned their house into a manufacturing hub for FUBU.

But the money ran out before the stores paid off their orders. The family was in danger of losing the house. He scrapped up $2,000 from working shifts at Red Lobster, and his mother used that money to put an ad in the New York Times looking for capital.

Based on the ad, Samsung Textiles reached out and offered the cash needed to keep FUBU going.

Samsung wanted the brand to make $5 million in three years in order for FUBU to pay back their investment. John’s company took off and did $30 million in three months.

Amor
Things started to happen for John. His dreams were coming true. He met Michael Jackson. He had the opportunity to work with Muhammad Ali. He played air guitar on stage with Prince.

However, he was losing touch with things that were important to him — his wife and his two young daughters.

His wife was from the neighborhood just like John, and she could not relate to her new rich neighbors. She also felt separated from her friends back in Queens. John was spending a lot of time away from home and even out of the country.

She finally left and took the girls with her. John realized he needed to find a balance between work and home.

Remember you are the brand
In 2009, Mark Burnett came calling for John to be a part of “Shark Tank.” He told Burnett he had to honor an obligation to appear on the Kardashians. Burnett would not allow this, so John initially turned him down. He said he had to keep his prior obligation. The Kardashians canceled his appearance, so that freed him up to do “Shark Tank.”

On “Shark Tank,” he said he invests in people, not products. He reminded young people in the crowd to be careful of what they post on social media. He said he has rejected applications from otherwise qualified candidates for jobs at his company based on their posts on social media.

Keep swimming
Before closing his speech, John related his story of battling cancer. He had a tumor removed from his thyroid in 2017.

He encouraged the audience to love and really embrace life. He said the last thing he thought of before he went under anesthesia was his youngest daughter.

“I really felt like I was put on the planet for her,” he said.

He urged others to stay on top of their health screenings. His cancer was caught early, and he is cancer free today.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

After many years in their home base of Liebenthal, Pat’s Beef Jerky has opened a retail store in Hays.

The new store, 2514 Vine St., Ste. 3, is inside Centennial Plaza mall. Enter at the door south of Sherwin-Williams.

The store opened Friday. Exterior signage is still in the works. Hours will be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, but are subject to change.

The Hays store can be reached at 785-656-2613. You can also follow Pat’s on Facebook.

Pat Carver has been making his world-famous beef jerky for 28 years.

Among his customers have been NBA and NFL players and Tiger Woods’ caddy. Pat’s has even shipped to the White House.

Despite a healthy online business, the majority of Pat’s business is walk-in traffic to the tiny store at the front of business’ commercial kitchen on U.S. 183 in Liebenthal.

“We have a lot of customers from Hays who like our jerky, and they would buy more of it if they didn’t have to go down south to get it,” he said.

You still will be able to buy Pat’s Jerky in your favorite locations, including the Liebenthal plant and Cervs and Southside Convenience in Hays.

The new store in Hays will carry everything the store in Liebenthal carries. This includes several flavors of jerky, beef sticks, summer sausage, bologna, sausage, Hot Mama’s Pickled Sausages, spices, homemade noodles and cheese.

All of the beef products are made in Liebenthal.

Pat’s will have a hot dog roller, so you can pick up one of their own homemade hot links or polish sausage for lunch or dinner along with a cold beverage, chips or a candy bar.

The Carvers are considering bringing in other Kansas-made products, such as cookie dough and pies.

The store will carry premade gift-baskets all year round. You can also have a basket especially made for the holidays. The baskets will start at about $25. You can also pick up Pat’s sweatshirts or “Got Jerky” T-shirts.

Eventually, the Carvers plan to move shipping for their operation to Hays. This will allow the staff in Liebenthal to concentrate on making products.

Pat said he prides himself on keeping his inventory fresh, so he doesn’t keep a large inventory on the shelf. If you are planning a large order, he urged you to call ahead.

The Carvers are planning a grand opening the weekend after Thanksgiving — Friday, Nov. 23, and Saturday, Nov. 24. The store is planning discounts and a prize drawing.

“If they haven’t tried our product, now is the time to stop in and try it out,” Pat said.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Not all educators who touch students’ lives work in classrooms.

This month’s Hays Teacher of the Month is a Hays High School counselor, Suellyn Stenger. Stenger, who has a master’s degree in music education, is a long time-educator, spending more than 20 years as a music teacher and band director.

Although she loved music, it was a series of student tragedies that led her to her present calling.

When Stenger was in her first teaching job as a music teacher in a small school district in McLouth, Kansas, a student committed suicide. She had no training as a counselor at that time, but students trusted her and came to her to talk about their feelings.

“That was my first real experience that I needed to gain more experience with helping students,” she said.

When she was a band director in McPherson, she received a phone call that one of her students where she previously taught in Garnett, Kansas, was killed in a drunk driving accident. She returned to the school to try to help students process the tragedy.

Additionally while teaching in McPherson, Stenger had a student who died of a rare form of cancer.

She said when dealing with students who are dealing with tragedy, the best thing to do is listen.

“With the first student who died from suicide, there is a lot of guilt with the students’ classmates,” Stenger said. “Again, I had no training at that time, so I just listened a lot.”

“When I was in McPherson and I got called back to Garnett again and just listened a lot to the students, showed a lot of empathy,” she said.

When her student was dying of cancer, she helped her students in McPherson make cards and T-shirts to support the student who was ill. She said she thought it helped the students feel as if they were making a difference for the students who were passing.

“I had just seen the student in Wichita and I knew he was getting close to death,” she said. “The next day the students were coming into the band rooms very excited and saying the student was coming home. They thought the student was coming home because he was getting better. I knew he was coming home to pass away at home.”

She went to the counselors and told them the students thought this young man was coming home because he was getting better, but in reality he was coming home to die.

“The counselor said go back to the band room, have his sister come see me and you tell the band what is going on,” Stenger said. “And I think that was the final decision for me that I really wanted to go into counseling because I went back and told the students he was passing away.

“Student death I think is the most difficult situation for a teacher or counselor or anyone who works within the school systems to deal,” Stenger said, “but showing empathy, listening, giving them a chance to grieve, supporting them on all levels whether it be at the visitation, at the funeral itself and for the time following [is important].”

Stenger said handling these tragedies is very difficult personally but she feels she needs to model resiliency for her students.

“Yes, it is a tragic event, and we can grieve together,” she said, “but we can continue on together as well.”

Stenger went on the earn an additional master’s degree in counseling from Fort Hays State University.

She established the pre-Kindergarten through eighth-grade counseling program at Victoria before joining the Hays High counseling staff 11 years ago.

Stenger, a flutist, said she was inspired to become a teacher by her ninth-grade band teacher, Ken Ticknor, at Landon Junior High in Topeka.

“He had a way of making everyone in the band feel special,” she said. “The thing that I found most important in teaching and counseling and working with children in any capacity is building a positive relationship with students and I never wavered in my desire to be a band director all through high school and college. I just knew that was what I wanted to be.”

“I think being positive is one of the most powerful tools a person can have. Coming in everyday full of energy. He also continued to play outside [of school.] I know he performed when the circus came to town. He was just a fantastic musician.”

Stenger still keeps in touch with her former teacher through Facebook.

“He just found a way of recognizing everyone in the room even though we had a large band at the time,” she said.

Today, Stenger most often first gets to know students through academics. She helps them with their course schedules and their independent plans of study. Counselors help students create plans of support for those who struggle academically or who may need social and emotional support.

“It is wonderful that we have the opportunity to keep the same students on our case load from freshman through their senior year so we can watch them through grow during high school,” she said.

Working with students on academics can lead to students being able to share more of their emotional needs, Stenger said.

“I definitely see there is a need for more support,” she said of the emotional piece of her job. “Forty percent of our student population are kids who are on free or reduced [cost] lunches.”

Stenger said she thought the district works hard to build relationships with students because that keeps them invested in their education.

“When I talk to students, I talk about how everyone who walks through the doors of Hays High School has issues, has things that they deal with and we talk about. Are we going to rise above the challenges or are we going to succumb to them? It is amazing how some students have extreme challenges outside of school yet show great resiliency when they are here at school.”

Stenger gave the example of a young student who faced tremendous challenges throughout her life. She chose this student to share in a video why she came to school each day.

“Despite that she had a lot of challenges, she showed up, and she did her very best,” Stenger said. “There were times she wanted to give up, but she transferred to our Learning Center and very recently graduated and earned her diploma. She is going to be a very successful young adult.

“There are many stories like that where students struggle, but they rise above the challenges.”

Stenger said working with students is very rewarding.

“I love my job,” she said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”