By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The Leiker family has turned a backyard into two money-making businesses.

James Leiker wanted to build a new garage for his business, Handyman for Hire, on the lot of their home at 106 W. 17th in Hays.

However, his wife, Taryn, wanted to maintain a little bit more financial security.

The couple purchased a strip of land to add on to their lot from the former owners of Pools Plus. The couple agreed to build a loft above the garage, which they now book for short-term or extended stays through VRBO, HomeAway and Airbnb.

The Leikers opened the loft in November, but had to delay the open house until this month because it has been consistently booked.

Extending into the new business has allowed Taryn to work from home and home-school her children. The space, which they call the Chestnut Loft, pays their house payment.

The Leikers like to travel, so they incorporated many of the amenities they miss when they are away from home into the loft.

The 992-square-foot loft has a full kitchen with a full-size refrigerator, stove and dishwasher. Tucked into a corner of the bathroom is a full-size washer and dryer.

The loft has two bedrooms and will comfortably sleep four. One has a Murphy bed. For a business traveler, that bedroom could be used for office space. For families, the bed can be stored away for a play space for the children during the day.

The other bed, which James built himself from repurposed corrals, is equipped with underneath storage to give visitors more space.

“There were so many times when we were traveling, but there was no storage, and we didn’t like living out of a suitcase,” Taryn said. “So we built in all this storage, but it is repurposing something that is already going to be there.”

James also made other items for the home, including the Murphy bed, bathroom mirror frame and light fixture and reclaimed wood barn-door shades for the living room windows. The couple also used reclaimed wood to decorate the stairwell wall.

The couple custom designed the kitchen around a set of kitchen cabinets they bought from a family in Hays. The owners had just purchased a new home, which had a newly remodeled kitchen. The new owners didn’t like the cabinets, so the Leikers bought the kitchen at a deep discount.

Local artist Curly Leiker made several piece of metal sculpture that are displayed in the loft, including a small bison made of wrenches and spare implement parts.

The loft offers free wi-fi, but no TV.

“Our goal is not for people to stay here,” Taryn said. “It is to get them downtown and for them to go and experience the shops … to go and visit the restaurants and really see the people of the community. That is what people have done.”

Some downtown businesses have partnered with the Leikers to offer Chestnut Loft guests discounts for local goods and services. Munsch Fitness is offering free workouts for Chestnut guests.

In addition to overnight visitors, Leiker said she also wants to offer a place for new arrivals to test out the community.

“If people are experiencing a new community, this is their testing ground where they can really be here and experience it,” she said. “We have a family coming in a couple of weeks that will be here for five weeks.”

Daily cleaning is not included in the price of the stay, but it can be arranged. Towels, shampoo, soap and conditioner are provided.

The loft has a separate private entrance with a key code and off-street parking. The Leikers insulated the floor to reduce noise from the shop and installed a separate ventilation system for the shop to reduce any fumes that might be created from work downstairs.

Taryn said she would recommend the rental concept to other families.

“I think it is phenomenal. It has taken the weight off our shoulders financially,” she said. “We have several different businesses. It has been something for us that the more income that it produced, it takes more weight off. People are so pressured financially. It is so paycheck-to-paycheck. If they have the space to do something like this … to be producing an income, why not?

“Five years ago we were really paycheck-to-paycheck. What really helped us was finding a business and then reinvesting those funds into other businesses. This alone pays more than I used to make in a year.”

The loft rents for $150 per night. You can book it at vrbo.com/1269004, homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p1269004vb or airbnb.com/rooms/24094068. Also follow the Chestnut Loft on Facebook.

The Leikers have considered opening up the space for other uses when it is not booked for overnight visitors, including wedding or baby showers, cooking classes or meetings. The space will fit about 30 people for gatherings.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Local law enforcement and domestic violence services advocates are praising a new Kansas law that prohibits those convicted of domestic violence or restrained under a protection order from possessing firearms.

The law went into effect the beginning of May and also bars illegal immigrants and fugitives from possessing guns.

Jennifer Hecker, director of Options Domestic and Sexual Violence Services, said the law was a positive step in keeping domestic abuse survivors safe.

In 2016, the most recent year for which data was available, 19 people died in Kansas as a result of domestic violence, according to the KBI. Half of those homicides involved firearms. Seventy percent of those women who were killed died when they were actively leaving their abusers or within of the first two weeks of leaving.

Federal law already prohibits convicted domestic abusers from possessing firearms, but Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler said a lack of state law created an issue with enforcement. Because the law was federal, all cases had to be prosecuted in federal court. The federal system is so overburdened with higher-level cases, the gun law was seldom prosecuted. The passage of the state law will allow violators to be prosecuted in local courts.

“I think anything we can to do in an effort by the state to prevent domestic violence and make families safer, I think we need to do those things,” Scheibler said.

Ellis County Sheriff Ed Harbin said he also supported the law. However, he noted some prohibited individuals will likely continue to own and use firearms.

Undersheriff Scott Braun noted most of the calls the department respond to involve physical altercations and not weapons. However, Harbin said when weapons are present during domestic disturbances, the incident becomes more dangerous for officers as well as victims.

Although the law affects those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence, those prohibited individuals found in possession of firearms can be charged with a level 8 non-person felony, Harbin said. Under the law, law enforcement officers are allowed to confiscate the weapon as evidence and the violators can be arrested.

After five years, offenders would be able to legally own firearms again. Harbin said he thought this was reasonable for people who may have had a single incident.

Hecker said she would like to see the prohibition be longer.

Not only did the state NRA support the bill, they helped draft it. Travis Couture-Lovelady, state director with the National Rifle Association and northwest quadrant director for the Kansas State Rifle Association, worked for three years with Kansas Peace Officers Association leaders to develop the bill.

In an email Couture-Lovelady said, “This bill makes it so state law mirrors federal law to provide a more timely and efficient resolution. Rather than having to wait for the feds to handle the issue, this law now empowers state and local law enforcement to be able to handle the situation.

“This will increase efficiency and make sure that far fewer incidents fall through the cracks. We were happy to work with law enforcement to give them the tools they felt they needed to make Kansas a safer place while also making sure that the constitutional rights of Kansans were protected.”

Ed Klumpp with the Kansas Peace Officers Association said he thought the law will help protect victims.

“We surely hope all laws like this improve public safety,” he said. “Persons who have engaged in a domestic violence incident or ones who have a protection order based on a violent act have the propensity when they have a gun in their hands to engage in a higher level of crime or assault. We take that seriously. We think this law is important to public safety, and we want to do everything we can to protect domestic violence victims.”

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

A new summer exhibit, “World of Giant Insects,” at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays will allow visitors to experience insects in ways they never have before.

Set in realistic habitats, animatronics insects will tower over people at 40 to 100 time their size in life. The blown-up examples will allow visitors to see intricate details of the insects’ anatomy that can’t be seen with the naked eye.

Among these displays will be male atlas beetles with their long horns that they use to battle each other for dominance, territory and mates.

“You will get to learn some about their behaviors,” Reese Barrick, museum director, said of the insects. “It is so bizarre. It is so weird. We don’t think about how does an insect smell, how does an insect hear, how does it make noise. People don’t think about how the insect world works.”

The Insect exhibits opened Saturday and will remain in Hays through Labor Day. The exhibit is included in regular admission to the museum. The museum is open seven days a week during the summer. See the Sternberg online for details on hours and admission.

“Insects have been here for 100s of millions of years,” Barrick said, “so there is a little bit of the depth of how long insects have been here and insect diversity. Insects are the most diverse animals on the planet.”

Science does not know how many species of insects live on Earth. New species are constantly being discovered even in our own backyard. A new bristletail species, which are also known as silverfish, was found five years ago on the Fort Hays State University campus, Barrick said.

“Bristletails are one of the old insects on the planet, yet there are new species of them being found now,” he said.

People often think of insects, such as ticks or mosquitoes as pests, but there is a great number of insects that are beneficial to agriculture and humans. An example of this is bees.

“The world would be completely out of fruit and vegetables if there were not honeybees or bees in general as pollinators,” Barrick said. “The whole world changed when insect diversity increased to a point and plants started to have flowers. Now plants are dependent on insects, bees specifically, to pollinate them. Without bees, there would be so much food we would not have as humans.

“Any type of bee crisis is a crisis for agriculture. That is something we are experiencing right now.”

Other insects that will be featured in the exhibit include stick bugs, praying mantises, swallowtail butterfly caterpillars and locusts.

“A lot of people, I think, are afraid of insects because they are creepy crawlies,” Darrah Steffen, Sternberg public relations assistant, said. “They can learn they are really beneficial and these insects are really cool creatures.”

Large closeup photos of a variety of insects and insect imposters, such as spiders, will allow visitors to see insects in detail. The exhibit also will have a section called “The Zoo,” which will include live insects in terrariums.

“With the butterfly, [visitors] will learn about the metamorphosis they go through,” Steffen said. “The caterpillar has to eat so much to go into the pupa or chrysalis and completely dissolves and becomes that butterfly. [The exhibit will describe] how that transformation happens.”

Barrick said now is the perfect time to experience this exhibit because it relates directly back to what is happening in our environment.

“We are heading into insect season here in Kansas,” he said. “People can go into their backyards. They can go out on our nature trail. They can go hiking anywhere, and they will have a little better understanding of what they will be able to see and be aware of after coming to our exhibit.”

The Sternberg has a number of other activities scheduled for this summer including summer camps for children, a summer science day in July, a murder mystery party for adults on Aug. 4, family shark tooth hunt on June 16 and a teacher STEM workshop.

Information on the teacher workshop and the summer camps are available on the website now. Look for details on the other events coming soon.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

During Monday’s school board meeting, Hays High School senior Dustin Schneider was honored with the Hays school district’s student Best of the Best Award for going out of his way to help others.

Sue Rouse, high school receptionist, nominated Schneider, saying he was an exemplary young man.

He was president of FFA, vice-president of HHS Student Council, member of the National Honor Society and a member of the Chamber Singers.

Schneider was often in the school office working on projects for the various groups he was involved in, Rouse said.

“What Dustin knows is there is no ‘I’ in team,” she said. “I watched him last year as a Stuco officer. When something needed to get done and the person in charge didn’t do it, he stepped in and made sure it got done. It needed to get done, and therefore that is what he needed to do.”

Rouse said Schneider practiced service above self.

Schneider was always encouraging and prompted his other Stuco members to be positive and get excited about their projects.

“That is really awesome for a young man who doesn’t think about self, but what he can do to help others,” Rouse said. “He helped build and make a team.”

One day, Schneider happened to be in the office when a father needed to pick up some art supplies for his daughter. Rouse was busy with something else. Schneider gladly went to the art department, picked up the supplies and delivered to them to the father.

“The next thing I know he is in the office with the art supplies, giving them to the father. I am not even part of it any more. He is taking care of it in the most professional manner. The father left, and he was very happy. I was just grateful that Dustin was there in the hallway so I could ask him to do a favor for me.”

In another instance, on a cold spring day, Schneider helped two fellow students jump start their car.

“He was willing to step up and give his time and his knowledge and take care of two students he didn’t even know. That makes Dustin Schneider really one of the best of the best,” Rouse said.

Superintendent John Thissen also complimented Schneider. He said Schneider stayed late at the high school plant sale to make sure Thissen was able to purchase what he needed.

Physical education teacher Jay Sanders was nominated by Paula Rice, Roosevelt principal, for the staff Best of the Best Award for May.

Rice said Sanders gave up his planning periods for four months to help during recess when the school was short staffed. He answers the phone in the office and with other duties as needed.

“He is always there when I need him for anything and everything,” Rice said. “You add on top of that he is a really phenomenal educator and you just get the best of the best.

“People tend to underestimate PE teachers. This incredible guy builds social skills every day.”

A student came to Roosevelt who did not speak English.

“He would take her and infuse her right into the class, and she felt supported, but never once was she babied,” Rice said.

“He sets his expectations high, and those students get there, every single one of them every single day,” she said. “But they know they are loved and they know they are cared for and they know how to make him happy. I am incredibly grateful to have him. Roosevelt is incredibly blessed to have him, and the district is far better off with him. He really is the best of the best.”