SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating an aggravated battery involving two teenage brothers.
Just after 12:15 p.m. Monday, police responded to a shooting call at a residence in the 800 Block of North Batten in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Upon arrival, they found a 13-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was transported to a hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to Davidson.
Investigators determined a 14-year-old and 13-year-old brothers were in a bedroom to play a video game. The 14-year-old was handling a gun located in the bedroom. It discharged and struck the younger brother, according to Davidson.
Police arrested the 14-year-old and booked him for juvenile criminal possession of a firearm, aggravated battery and possession of marijuana.
BARTON COUNTY — A Kansas teen died in an accident just after noon Tuesday in Barton County.
Tuesday crash scene -photo courtesy Barton Co. Sheriff
The Barton County Sheriff’s office reported a 2007 Saturn Ion driven by Shealee A. Stover, 18, rural Olmitz, was westbound on Northeast 30 Road and failed to stop at the stop sign at Washington Avenue.
A northbound International cement truck driven by Billy Love, 39, Great Bend, struck the Saturn. Both vehicle continued north of Washington. The Saturn came to rest on its roof. The cement truck rolled onto its passenger side.
Stover was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir. Love was not injured. Both drivers were wearing properly restrained at the time of the crash, according to Bellendir.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Jurors began deliberating Tuesday afternoon in the case against three Kansas militia members accused of scheming to bomb a mosque and apartment complex housing Somalis.
During closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Mattivi credited another militia member for alerting authorities, calling Dan Day the “one man standing between these three defendants and apartment complex full of innocent people.”
Curtis Allen, Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright face charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy against civil rights. Wright also faces a charge of lying to the FBI.
The government has argued the men formed a splinter group of the militia Kansas Security Force that came to be known as “the Crusaders.”
The three men were indicted in October 2016 for an attack planned for the day after the Presidential election in the meatpacking town of Garden City, 220 miles (350 kilometers) west of Wichita. The government has said that the men wanted to “exterminate cockroaches,” saying they wanted to send the message that Muslims are not welcomed.
Prosecutors played a jailhouse conversation in which Stein tells his mother, “We were (expletive) infiltrated, mom.”
Day was “the one militia member who decided to do the right thing,” Mattivi said.
Not only did Day alert authorities to the escalating talk of violence, but he agreed to secretly record months of conversations. There were times he was scared for his life, but couldn’t live with himself if that apartment building got blown away, Mattivi told jurors.
“The heart of that hero is the heart of this case,” Mattivi said.
But defense attorneys tried to cast doubt on Day’s credibility as an informant who was paid more than $32,000 during the investigation. It was Day who had suggested the apartment complex as the target, and the FBI picked it because it was a rental property that would allow the government to claim federal jurisdiction in the case, said Melody Brannon, the attorney representing Allen.
“Make no mistake there was a conspiracy — it’s just not the one the government wants you to believe,” Brannon said. “There was indeed a conspiracy but the conspiracy was between Patrick Stein, Dan Day and the FBI.”
Brannon told jurors that the government was “investigating for the conviction, not for the truth.”
She urged jurors not to trust a paid informant who choose the target, asking them to return a not guilty verdict “to tell the government that their evidence and their tactics are too untrustworthy.”
Defense attorney Jim Pratt, who represents Stein, told jurors that the other militia members who had not alerted authorities didn’t so not because they were scared but because they knew the men were just venting and didn’t take their words seriously.
“All words, not action,” Pratt said.
Day and the government gave Stein a sense of purpose and allowed him to continue down a path they created for him to build chargeable offenses, Pratt said.
“It is not morally right to hold such hate, but it is not legally wrong,” Pratt said. “We all have the right to hate.”
Defense attorney Kari Schmidt, who represents Wright, told jurors that her client was not at many of the key moments in the government’s plot.
But the government argued that the defendants manufactured explosives and brought 300 pounds of fertilizer to an undercover agent to make explosives. They planned to put razor blades, nails and ball bearings in the bombs to make them more deadly.
“Defendants didn’t just express their views, the defendants plotted to murder dozens of innocent men women and children,” Mattivi said.
And he said the government left other militia members alone regardless of their views or their guns.
He noted the government that the defendants so distrust has given them a fair trial.
“The evidence in this case has showcased the very best of the FBI, the very best of the United States,” Mattivi said.
————
12:45 p.m.
Defense attorneys took aim during closing arguments at the paid informant who secretly recorded hundreds of hours of interviews with three militia members accused of plotting to bomb an apartment complex housing Somalis in Kansas.
Attorney Melody Brannon told jurors that the men’s conversations were all bravado, saying if informant Dan Day had not shown up, nothing would have happened. Day was paid more than $32,000 during the investigation. She says the government was investigating to get a conviction, not the truth.
Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen are charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy against civil rights in the plot targeting Muslims in Garden City. Wright is also charged with lying to the FBI.
Attorney Jim Pratt acknowledged that his client, Stein, did compare Somalis to an infestation of cockroaches and referred to himself as the Orkin man. But he says it was just words, not action.
Pratt said it is not morally right to hold such hate, but it is not legally wrong, adding “we all have the right to hate.”
___
11 a.m.
A prosecutor is crediting a courageous militia member with saving the lives of innocent Somali immigrants targeted in a plot to bomb a mosque and apartment complex in Kansas.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Mattivi told jurors during closing arguments that informant Dan Day is the hero at the heart of the case. He says none of the other militia people who learned of the plot but refused to join it had the guts to inform authorities. Day risked his life to record months of conversations that allowed jurors to hear for themselves the plans for the attack.
Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen are charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy against civil rights in the plot targeting Muslims in Garden City. Wright is also charged with lying to the FBI.
Mattivi says the defendants planned to place bombs around the apartment complex, which would have been stuffed with razorblades, nails and ball bearings to inflict maximum carnage.
___
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors and defense attorneys will make their closing arguments this week to jurors deciding the fate of three men accused of plotting to bomb an apartment complex housing Somali immigrants.
The jury in the trial Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen returns to the courtroom on Tuesday to get their final instructions and to hear arguments before getting the case for deliberation. The men are charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy against civil rights. Wright also faces a charge of lying to the FBI.
The government’s case featured months of profanity-laced recordings. Prosecutors say the men formed a splinter group of the militia, Kansas Security Force.
Defense attorneys have said the FBI set up the men and the talk about violence wasn’t serious.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man charged in the killing of a 3-year-old Kansas boy and hiding the body in concrete will be tried on six criminal counts.
Bodine-photo Sedgwick Co.
Stephen Bodine was bound over for trial Tuesday on two counts of first-degree felony murder, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of child abuse and one count of aggravated child endangerment.
The ruling came after testimony in a preliminary hearing Monday detailed verbal and physical abuse the boy suffered before his body was found in September in a home he shared with his mother, Miranda Miller, and Bodine, who was Miller’s boyfriend.
Miller-photo Sedgwick Co.
Miller, who is charged with first-degree felony murder in her son’s death, will be allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder and other charges after she testifies against Bodine.
Alan Deines, inaugural director for the FHSU Robbins Banking Institute.
FHSU University Relations
Alan Deines, director of the Robbins Banking Institute at Fort Hays State University, has announced a contribution to the institute from Equity Bank, Andover, that will help build a computer lab.
The lab will provide students with the opportunity to become familiar with and operate many of the computer systems in use by the banking industry.
“Equity Bank is committed to the ideals of FHSU’s Robbins Banking Institute,” said Brad Elliott, chief executive officer of Equity Bank.
“For economic development to occur in the state of Kansas and the other states in which Equity does business, it’s important for students to learn principles, practices, and software specific to banking that can help them become key contributors to the workforce,” he said. “This Institute is committed to providing the best training possible.”
Equity Bank, a $3 billion dollar bank, has roots in Andover, with 23 of its 42 banks located in Kansas. Over the past decade, Equity has built one of the region’s fastest growing banks by working side by side with customers throughout their communities in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
Equity provides sophisticated banking products and services tailored to customer needs, while delivering the high-quality, relationship-based service of a community bank. Equity’s common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “EQBK.”
To learn more about the Robbins Banking Institute and its funding needs, contact the FHSU Foundation at 785-628-5620 or [email protected].
Leaf burn from freeze damage. By itself, this is cosmetic damage only. DR. ROMULO LOLLATO, KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
While it’s not unusual for Kansas to see spring freezes, the frigid temperatures and blowing wind over the weekend likely caused some damage to the state’s wheat crop.
“I think this year we’re really putting the crop to the test,” said Romulo Lollato, wheat specialist at Kansas State University.
Wheat fields in south-central and southeast Kansas are the most susceptible to freeze damage right now because of where they’re at in development. Lollato suggests producers in those regions evaluate their crops for damage before putting any more money into them.
But freeze damage isn’t even the biggest problem wheat is facing.
“I think the biggest concern as a state right now is definitely the drought,” Lollato said.
Almost the entire state is experiencing drier than normal conditions, with most of southwest Kansas in extreme or exceptional drought.
Lollato said he has seen crops in some fields in southwest Kansas with roots that only go down one to two inches when they should be at least a foot deep at this point.
If May ends up being as hot and dry as expected, already stressed wheat crops may face even greater damage and, ultimately, lower yields.
Brian Grimmett reports on the environment and energy for the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @briangrimmett.
FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an aggravated assault and asking the public for assistance with information.
Just after 11p.m. Monday police were called to the Garden City Community College Residential Life Parking lot, 801 Campus Drive, for reported shots fired, according to a media release.
The caller advised several rounds were discharged in the parking lot from a vehicle that fled the scene westbound on Spruce Street.
Police located evidence at the scene to confirm the witnesses’ statements.
The preliminary investigation revealed that a gun was fired from a vehicle during a verbal altercation between several people in the parking lot.
There are no injuries in this incident. Police released no additional details.
The Garden City Police Department is requesting assistance from the community. Anyone who witnessed this incident, or has information related to this incident, you should call the Garden City Police Department (620) 276-1300.
Nan Mae (Cassidy) Conaway was born on the family farmstead at Monument, Ks., March 11, 1915, to Walter Brown and Nora Belle (Martin) Cassidy. She was the fourth of five daughters and one son. She earned her wings on April 14th, 2018, at Redbud Village, Plainville, Ks. She had been an Oakley resident for most of her life.
She attended Monument schools and graduated with the Class of 1932. She was a center for the girl’s basketball team and sang in the glee club and choir also performing solos at music contests and singing for funerals. At the time of her death she was the oldest living Monument alumnus.
While growing up with four sisters in a four-room house, a bedroom was shared by the five with three in one bed and two in another. It gave the sisters a closeness that was shared their entire lives.
She then attended Salina Beauty Academy to become a beautician. She returned to Oakley where she was part owner of a beauty salon and later the sole owner. Her beautician career lasted over 40 years; she retired in 1978.
While attending a Rebecca Lodge meeting she met Harold Conaway. They were married on Groundhogs Day, Feb.2, 1941, in Scott City, Ks. They settled into a happy life and were blessed with a daughter, Lynnis Lee, March 12, 1942. Their lives were changed when WWII started and Harold was drafted into the Army. She and Lynnis followed him to his different posts living in Virginia and California before he was deployed to the Philippine Islands. Nan ran a beauty shop while he was gone and he sent some of his salary home so they could save money for a house. After his return they put a down payment on their first home and again settled into married life in the home they affectionately called the Little House. They were thrilled to learn they were to have another baby. Kayla Sue was born Nov. 22, 1946. In 1954 they built a new house on the front lots of the little house property. Later on the Little House would become the Nan Conaway Beauty Shop.
Throughout Nan’s life she enjoyed sewing by making dresses for her girls, quilts, teddy bears, embroidery, braiding rugs and many miscellaneous projects most people wouldn’t have tackled. A pattern usually wasn’t used or if one was needed, she made it herself. She was musically inclined, and after having only three lessons could play the piano and later added the harpsichord and continued singing for various occasions. She wrote music and composed songs which included some of her own poetry. She wrote and had a book of her poems published, entitled, “Because I Love Poetry”. Cooking was a favorite of hers and she was the happiest in the kitchen or in her garden where not only vegetables were grown, but beautiful roses and all kinds of flowers. At any time you could find her with a Scrabble board, crossword or jigsaw puzzle nearby. Her love for all animals was extended to her life in the nursing home when she received an interactive cat from her family this past Christmas.
Nan was an active member of the United Methodist Church of Oakley. She taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, sang in the choir and was nursery department superintendent for 12 years only retiring when her mother became ill.
Although Nan thought her life couldn’t get any happier, her daughters married and she was truly blessed with three grandchildren, Jeff Wilderson, Cyndi Circle and Steve Reed. As grandparents they enjoyed spending every minute they could with their grandkids. She always made holidays memorable whether it be by food, gifts or just making many memories. Great-grandchildren added to their joy when Kayla, Kimberlynn, Kyle, Braeden, Olivia and Jackson were born. She lived to see the fifth generation with her great-great grandchildren, Yousef, Tala, Talia, Salem, Dayton and Tallon.
Surviving her in death are daughters, Lynn Wilderson, Borrego Springs, Ca., Kay Reed and her husband Robert , Stockton, Ks.; grandchildren, Jeff and Kris Wilderson, Gatesville, Tx., Cyndi and Stan Circle, Silver Lake, Ks., Steve and Kathy Reed, Hays Ks.; great-grandchildren, Kayla and Talal Al-Salem, Kuwait City, Kuwait, Kimberlynn Uhl and husband Jake, Silver Lake, Ks., Kyle Wilderson, Cincinnati, Oh, Braeden Lockhart, Silver Lake, Ks., Olivia and Jackson Reed, both of Hays, Ks.; great-great grandchildren, Yousef, Tala, Talia, Salem Al-Salem, Dayton and Tallon Uhl and her beloved nieces and nephews.
Preceding her in death is her husband, Harold who died in 2002 after 61 years of marriage; her parents; sisters, Myrtle, Gertrude, Ethel and Helen and infant brother, Durward Walter.
Graveside funeral service will be 1:30 p.m., Thursday, April 19, 2018 at Oakley City Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to the Oakley United Methodist Church.Donations to the church may be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 North 12th, WaKeeney, KS67672.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.schmittfuneral.com.
Max Lee Folk, 88, passed away Sunday, April 15, 2018 in Ellsworth. He was born March 3, 1930 in Ellsworth to Harry Russell and Carrie Augustine (Droegemeier) Folk.
Growing up in Lorraine, Max attended Lorraine Elementary and graduated from Lorraine High School. He went on to Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina where he played basketball, then transferred to Fort Hays State University before getting drafted into the U.S. Army where he fought in the Korean War.
Max married Beverly Cron and to this marriage five children were born. He was a longtime resident of Holyrood where he was a member of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, serving on the board for 10 years and as a Sunday school teacher for 14 years. He was also a member of American Legion Post 200 of Holyrood, VFW Post 6485 of Ellsworth, Masonic Lodge 146 of Ellsworth, and Isis Shrine Temple of Salina.
Max is survived by his daughters, Debbie Oeser of Claflin, Sherry (Jeff) DeWerff of Ellinwood, and Vicki (Butch) Miller of Claflin; son, Mike (Cherie) Folk of Carlsbad, NM; grandchildren, Kristi Nixon, Kari (Dae) VanPelt, Kylie (Rick) Crawford, Blake DeWerff, Katie (Kregg) Carothers, Max Howard (Debbie) Folk, Kelli Folk, Aubrey (Shawn) Sparks, Luke Miller, and Maggie (Kyle) Kriegh; 19 great grandchildren; brother, Roy (Maxine) Folk of Holyrood; and sister-in-law, Mary Folk of Bushton. He was preceded in death by his son, Mark; son-in-law, Chris Oeser; brothers, Guy, Marvin, and Melvin; and sister, Bernice James.
Visitation: 1-8 p.m., Thursday, April 19, 2018 at Parsons Funeral Home, Ellsworth with family present 6-8 p.m.
Funeral service: 10:30 a.m., Friday, April 20, 2018 at Parsons Funeral Home, Ellsworth with burial following in the St. Paul’s United Church of Christ Cemetery, Holyrood.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Holyrood American Legion Post 200 or to Shriner’s Hospitals for Children, c/o, Parsons Funeral Home, PO Box 45, Ellsworth, KS 67439.
BROOKINGS, S.D. – Three men stated why they wanted to become the next city manager of Brookings at a meet-and-greet Monday at Café Coteau in the Children’s Museum of South Dakota.
The three Brookings city manager finalists are Paul Briseno, Shawn Kessel and Sean Pederson. Brookings has a population of about 22,000.
City Manager Jeff Weldon announced his retirement in late January. He has been city manager for 10 1/2 years in Brookings, and his last day is set for June 30.
The City Council is scheduled to select the new city manager on Tuesday, April 24.
Paul Briseno
Paul Briseno has been the assistant manager in Kearney, Nebraska, since July 2015. He and his wife, Heidi, have four children: a daughter who’s a sophomore in college, another daughter who’s a freshman in high school, a son who’s a seventh-grader, and another daughter who’s a fifth-grader.
Originally from Wood River, Neb., Briseno earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Chadron State College in Chadron, Neb., and a master’s degree at Fort Hays State University.
Briseno was the assistant to the city administrator in Grand Island, Nebraska, from 2004-09; the assistant city manager in Hays, beginning in 2009; and then went to Kearney.
He’s long been drawn to Brookings.
“I’ve followed Brookings ever since I worked in the city of Hays and it was identified as a peer community,” Briseno said. “Brookings truly is a progressive community that values quality of life, safety and it’s all very welcoming. It’s a beautiful community,” Briseno said.
In fact, Brookings is the only place on his radar.
“With that said, I’m not looking to leave Kearney, other than for the Brookings position opening. Brookings is a beautiful community, like I said, and I’d love to be city manager here,” Briseno said.
As great as he thinks Brookings is, he figures he can contribute quite a bit.
“I would say my years of experience in peer cities with major universities, working with comparable opportunities in those cities, the ability to build relationships and partnerships, work with staff and citizens and elected (officials) to move this community forward,” Briseno said.
Shawn Kessel
Since January 2009, Shawn Kessel has been the city administrator in Dickinson, North Dakota, where he was born and still has family. He is recently divorced and has a son, Braden, 20.
Kessel has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Moorhead State University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D.
He was in health care administration for Beverley Health Care as an executive director of a facility.
“I got my master’s degree while I was actually employed by the city of Wahpeton, North Dakota,” Kessel said.
“I worked there for 9 years. I really enjoyed that position,” Kessel said.
“One of the things that I’m proud of in Dickinson, is we’ve been recognized nationally by a lot of different organizations,” Kessel said
Those awards include livingability.com’s Best Small Town in 2013; the North Dakota League of Cities’ City of the Year in 2013; No. 6 on Money Magazine’s Best Place to Live list in 2018; and No. 9 on Money Magazine’s Best Place to Start A Career list in 2018.
“There’s a lot of similarities between Brookings and Dickinson,” Kessel said.
Those items are things he looks for in a community because they provide stability, employment and a “dynamic economy”
“There’s a lot of things I look for in a community,” he said, listing a county seat, a university, an interstate, good health care, a good K-12 education system, and a strong arts culture.
“I think I bring proven success and teamwork. I really enjoy and appreciate that team environment. I think any community that’s successful has to approach things from a team perspective … in order to really thrive and be considered a quality-of-life community,” Kessel said.
Sean Pederson
Originally from Vermillion, Sean Pederson has been the city manager of Bonner Springs, Kansas, since October 2015. He and his wife, Shannon, have two sons, Oliver, 4; and Otto, 2.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Kansas, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of South Dakota, and a graduate certificate in economic development from the University of Oklahoma.
While he was in graduate school, Pederson interned in the city manager’s office in Yankton, then went to work in the United States Senate in Washington, D.C. He was an economic development coordinator for the city of Hamilton, Ohio, and was city manager at Canton.
He wants to come back to South Dakota.
“To be perfectly honest, it’s always been a position that I’ve aspired to get to,” he said of the job in Brookings. “Brookings lends me and my family the opportunity to be close to family and also being in a community like Brookings with great quality of life and to raise our family.”
He thinks Brookings is going places.
“I think there’s a lot going on in the community and there’s a lot of positive momentum for infrastructure and economic development and really bringing the community together around priorities of projects and plans,” Pederson said.
He’s been “very diligent” about working with different groups to figure out the priorities and get them to come together “with a common idea on how to go about getting things done,” Pederson said.
Another big thing for him is transparency.
“My career’s been about open government, really showcasing what it means to be transparent local government. That’s how I approach budget presentations, that’s how I interact in the community,” Pederson said.
Just after 12:15 p.m. Monday, police responded to a shooting call at a residence in the 800 Block of North Batten in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
