SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of business burglaries and have a suspect in custody.

On Monday, police arrested a person of interest in at least 15 business burglaries that occurred throughout the Topeka community that spanned several months, according to Lt. Andrew Beightel.

Police booked Eric Darnell Swopes, 44, Topeka, into the Shawnee Co Department of Corrections on requested charges of burglary, theft and criminal damage of property (x15).

BROWN COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 5p.m. Monday in Brown County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Chevy Cavalier driven by Ronnie D. Myers, 47, Hiawatha, was eastbound at 783 U.S. 36.  The vehicle rear-ended a semi that was turning into a private drive.

Myers was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics.

The semi driver Martin E. Lawrence, 53, Wetmore, was possibly injured, according to the KHP report.  Myers was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

CLARK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are alerting citizens in southwest Kansas of a scam involving checks that arrived in the mail.

A citizen in Clark County received two checks in separate envelopes and one required a signature.  They came from the same sender address, had the same check paper but with different company and account information.

Fortunately, they were not cashed at local banks, according to a social media report from the Clark County Sheriff.

The sheriff reminded residents “Pay attention. If you are not expecting a check or refund from a company that you deal with, use extra caution. The citizen who received the checks wanted to share this information to help keep others safe. The sheriff’s office removed their information prior to sharing.

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a case of animal cruelty and have increased a  reward from $500 to $1000 for information leading to those responsible for cutting a month-old puppy’s ear off  with a sharp object, according to Beauties and Beasts Animal Rescue in Wichita.

Doctors at Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital of Wichita performed surgery on the puppy named Brooks after the animal rescue organization rapidly received donations to cover costs of the care. 

Anyone with information on the case should contact the Wichita Police animal cruelty investigator [email protected] or you can send a message to Beauties and Beasts Animal Rescue.

BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects on drug charges after a traffic stop.

Just after 3a.m. Monday, a deputy sheriff on patrol conducted a traffic stop on a white Mitsubishi bearing Kansas tags in the 1000 block of Heizer in the City of Great Bend, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir. 

During the course of the traffic stop, a Great Police Department K-9 unit arrived at the scene. Further investigation uncovered almost 5 grams of methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.  

Deputies arrested the driver, Esteban Foster, 19, of Great Bend. He was booked on charges of possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia as well as driving without a license.  Foster is being held in lieu of a $10,000 bond.

The passenger identified as Damaris Meeks, 18, of Great Bend was placed under arrest and booked on charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Meeks is being held in lieu of a $2500 bond. 

MANHATTAN — The largest pumpkin on record grown in Kansas is on display at the Flint Hills Discovery Center for a short time this fall.

The pumpkin officially weighed in on September 8, 2018 in Dewey, OK at 1,176 lbs., a record for any Kansas grown pumpkin, according to grower, owner Jacob Marintzer of Westmoreland, Kansas.

This pumpkin beat Marintzer own official record set in 2016 of 940lbs.

The pumpkin is on display at the Discovery Center Atrium until October 5, so there is no fee to see it.

The seeds, and not the pumpkin are where the real excitement is, according to Marintzer. While the giant pumpkin is a great spectacle to behold, it’s the price that a giant pumpkin seed fetches that really makes all the work worthwhile.

The price for a pumpkin seed that comes from a pumpkin this large can run between $15 to $600 per seed. More info can be found here: www.bigpumpkins.com

The family also has a Youtube channel where they have documented the progress of their pumpkin growing process.

Marintzer described the growing process, “There is a main organization called the GPC Giant Pumpkin Commonwealth. This is the main group which makes all of the rules and regulations. Under them are all of the clubs, some states have 1 club some states have many clubs. These clubs must pay their fees to be part of the GPC and they also must have a certified scale to weigh these pumpkins. I took my pumpkin to a weigh-off in Oklahoma. I took it there and not the State fair because the state fair isn’t part of the GPC and they don’t have a certified scale so any pumpkins weighed there don’t count as an official state record.

The largest ever weighed in Kansas unofficially was 1040 pounds. I had the official state record 2 years ago at 938 pounds that pumpkin was weight in Pawnee City, NE. The pumpkin I grew this year set the record at 1176 pounds. So right now it is the largest pumpkin ever grown in Kansas. Somebody could weigh one here in the upcoming weeks and beat it but I’m not aware of any bigger at the moment.”

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in connection with use of explosives at his home.

Just after 4:30p.m. Sunday, police responded to a check for explosion call in the 3300 Block of South Glenn in Wichita, according to office Charley Davidson.

Just after the initial call, officers were also sent to report of an injury associated with an explosion at a home in the 3300 Block of South Vine. At the residence, officers contacted 43-year-old Travis Redd of Wichita.  According to investigators, Redd used a large firework in a manner in which it was not designed to explode an item on the ground behind his residence, according to Davidson.

When the firework detonated, fragments hit Redd in the chest.  He was transported to an area hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries and released. Officers then booked him into the Sedgwick County Jail for criminal use explosives, according to Davidson.

There were no other injuries.

The Wichita Police Department Bomb Squad and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents assisted with the investigation.

By JULIET LINDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Farmers across the United States will soon begin receiving government checks as part of a billion-dollar bailout to buoy growers experiencing financial strain from President Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China.

But even those poised for big payouts worry it won’t be enough. And while support for Trump is near unwavering in the heartland, some growers say that with the November election nearing, such disappointing aid outcomes could potentially affect their vote.

“It’s pretty obvious that the rural agriculture communities helped elect this administration, but the way things are going I believe farmers are going to have to vote with their checkbook when it comes time,” said Kevin Skunes, a corn and soybean grower from Arthur, North Dakota and president of the National Corn Growers Association.

Corn farmers get the smallest slice of the aid pie. Corn groups estimate a loss of 44 cents per bushel, but they’re poised to receive just a single penny per bushel.

“If these issues haven’t been resolved, there could be a change in the way farmers vote,” Skunes said. “A person has to consider all things.”

Farmers are already feeling the impact of Trump’s trade tiffs with China and other countries. China has hit back hard, responding with its own set of tariffs on U.S. agricultural products and other goods.
The Trump administration is providing up to $12 billion in emergency relief funds for American farmers, with roughly $6 billion in an initial round. The three-pronged plan includes $4.7 billion in payments to corn, cotton, soybean, dairy, pork and sorghum farmers. The rest is for developing new foreign markets for American-grown commodities and purchasing more than two dozen select products, including certain fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, meat and dairy.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced last month that soybean growers will get the largest checks, at $1.65 per bushel for a total of $3.6 billion. China is the world’s leading buyer of American soybeans, purchasing roughly 60 percent of the U.S. crop. But since Beijing imposed a 25 percent tariff on soybean, imports prices have plunged.

The lack of initial detail about how the calculations were made left farmers scratching their heads.
Asked about the confusion, Rob Johansson, the Agriculture Department’s chief economist, responded that the USDA took into account a number of factors “including the share of production that is exported and the value of trade directly affected by the retaliatory tariffs.”

“The level of damage is not the same for each commodity,” he said in a written response to questions submitted by The Associated Press.

He estimated that there would be more than 784,000 applications for relief.

The USDA has since released a detailed analysis of how the department made its calculations.

The breakdown has stunned corn and wheat farmers who say the payments are uneven and won’t do much of anything to help keep struggling farms afloat.

A lobbying group that represents wheat growers is challenging the way the administration determined payments for wheat farmers, who are set to receive 14 cents a bushel. Chandler Goule, CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers, said the USDA assumed U.S. wheat would be sold to China this year when it made its calculations. But the assumption was flawed, he said.

China typically makes its requests for American wheat between March and June. U.S. wheat farmers have sold, on average, 20 million bushels of wheat to China over the past three years. But none came this year, Goule said, as Trump escalated his threatening rhetoric on trade with Beijing. He hopes the per-bushel rate for wheat goes up if there’s a second round of payments.

“I am very certain that we will not sell any wheat to China this year,” Goule said. “The window we sell in has come and gone.”

The response among farmers has been mixed. While some are grateful for the help, most are eager for the trade disputes to be quickly resolved.

“Nobody wants to have an aid package. I mean, if you’re a farmer you’re in the business of producing a crop. We just want a fair price for it,” said Joel Schreurs, a soybean and corn producer near Tyler in southwestern Minnesota who sits on the board of both the American Soybean Association and the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association.

His personal operation is about 1,000 acres. He farms an additional 500 acres with his son-in-law and other relatives. He estimates that the tariffs would cost him $40,000 to $50,000 in lost income and that he would get $16,000 to $20,000 in emergency aid.

Schreurs worries that it will be hard for farmers to get back the buyers they’ll lose as a result of the trade wars. “And in the short term we have to find another home for those beans, otherwise they’re going to pile up and it will keep prices depressed,” he said.

In the Midwest, growers typically farm both corn and soybeans. Those farmers would get payments for both under the program, which began sign-ups Sept. 4.

Perdue said checks could start going out as soon as the end of September for crops that have already been harvested; payouts are based on yield.

In a recent C-SPAN interview, Perdue said he understands growers’ frustrations.

“Farmers always live in unpredictable times,” he said. “They’re very resilient, but obviously the longer trade issues go on the longer it bears on them regarding what is the future.”

Jack Maloney says corn farmers will be getting so little in bailout aid that for roughly 200,000 bushels of corn a farmer would get only about $2,000 for their losses.

“That’s not even beer money,” said the Brownsburg, Indiana, corn and soybean grower.

Maloney, 62, began farming full time in 1978 and now has two employees. He said some fellow farmers are angry and upset.

“Agriculture has always been the butt of all the trade wars,” he said, adding that this isn’t the first time he’s seen trade disruptions affect the agricultural markets.

Maloney said he had already cut back on expenses during the past three years and hasn’t taken a paycheck from his farm for more than a year because of tough times before the trade war began. He said the recent tumult has dashed hopes for stabilizing agricultural markets anytime soon.

“We were seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel — the markets were improving a little,” he said, “and then this tariff thing happened and this trade war.”

Daniel Weinand worries the market downturn could be the death knell for his farm. Weinand, 30, grows corn, canola and yellow peas on 900 acres of rented land near Hazen, North Dakota. He said he expects to reap about 30,000 bushels of corn, and to receive about $300 in aid.

“A penny a bushel on corn, it’s not that it’s entirely worthless. But it almost is,” he said. “I don’t know how many more years I can weather.”