TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man convicted in the killing of his estranged wife last summer has been sentenced to life in prison.
Enriquez -photo Shawnee Co.
Pedro Enriquez pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery in the death of 33-year-old Viviana Vazquez.
Enriquez was sentenced Thursday.
Prosecutors say Enriquez abducted Vazquez on June 7 from a Topeka home, where their 10-year-old son said he saw Enriquez drag her
Viviana Vazquez-photo Topeka Police
outside by the hair. Viviana Vazquez’s body was found the next day in a wooded area. An autopsy showed she had been strangled.
RENO COUNTY — A man involved in a fatal accident in Reno County in April 2017 has been arrested on alternate counts of involuntary manslaughter and a count of second-degree murder.
Buzzini -photo Reno Co.
A Kansas woman died in the single-vehicle accident along Kansas 96, about five miles south of Hutchinson. Benjamin Buzzini was driving.
Just before 2a.m. April 25, emergency responders were dispatched to the 2100 block of South K-96 Highway for a single-vehicle fatality accident.
Buzzini was driving northbound and left the road for an unknown reason. His 2010 Jeep rolled several times before coming to rest in a furniture store parking lot. Buzzini was ejected from the vehicle and taken to Wesley Medical Center with serious injuries.
The passenger, Stephanie Futral from Wichita was pronounced dead at the scene.
Neither occupant was wearing a seat belt and, at the time, speed was considered a factor in the crash, according to the sheriff’s department.
Buzzini is jailed on a $125,000 bond. Reno County Sheriff’s officials arrested him in Houston.
ELLIS COUNTY — One person was injured in an accident just before 1:30p.m. Thursday in Ellis County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Acura passenger vehicle driven by Baylee L. Johnson, 18, Bennington, NE., was northbound on U.S. 183 at Saline River Road.
The vehicle left the roadway and traveled into a drainage ditch. Johnson was transported to Hays Medical Center.
She was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a homicide and have made an arrest.
Just before 1 a.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to a disturbance with a weapon and shots being fired in the 800 block of South Pershing in Wichita, according to officer Paul Cruz.
Officers located a 17-year-old male victim identified as Tyran Carter in the back of a residence on South Pershing. Carter was pronounced dead, according to EMS.
Just after 1:30p.m. Wednesday, police arrested a 15-year-old at a home in the 1300 Block of South Pine Crest in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
He was booked into the juvenile detention facility for murder, aggravated highway robbery and criminal possession of a firearm by a juvenile. Police were to present the case to the Sedgwick County District Attorney on Thursday afternoon, according to Davidson.
TREGO COUNTY — Two people were injured in an accident just before 6a.m. Thursday in Trego County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2009 GMC Acadia driven by Candice A. Martindale, 36, Ransom, was northbound on U.S. 283 five miles south of WaKeeney.
The vehicle went left of center and collided head-on with a semi driven by Cody W. Nuttleman,
Nuttleman and Martindale were transported to the hospital in WaKeeney. Martindale was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
Phillipsburg resident Luetta Hanchett passed away March 28, 2018 at the Prairie Wind Villa in Phillipsburg at the age of 90. She was born August 26, 1927 in Phillips County, the daughter of Alex & Minnie (Behringer) Howard.
She is survived by 2 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held Monday, April 2 at 10:30 a.m. in the First Lutheran Church, Phillipsburg, with Pastor Joel Hiesterman officiating. Burial will follow in the Fairview Cemetery.
Visitation will be from noon to 9:00 Saturday and 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home.
Memorial contributions may be made to the church.
Online condolences:www.olliffboeve.com.
Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Harold Arthur Dick, 83, of Russell, Kansas, died on Sunday, February 11, 2018, at the Russell Regional Hospital in Russell, Kansas.
Harold was born on April 08, 1934, in Lucas, Kansas, the son of Arthur Michael and Edith Mae (Thacker) Dick. He grew up in Lucas and graduated from Lucas High School in 1952. He worked for RC Williams as a truck driver. He also formerly worked for Koch Industries and worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. He was a member of St. Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Russell. He was also a 3rd degree member of the Knights of Columbus and a 4th degree Past Faithful Navigator. He enjoyed traveling and riding his motorcycle.
Surviving family include his daughter Jeanine Innes (John) of Kansas City, Kansas; sons Michael Dick (Kathy) and Kevin Dick all of Russell, Kansas; daughters Tina Langerman (Larry) of Wilson, Kansas and Mary Sauerwinnie (Dennis) of Arizona and many grandchildren.
Services will be held at a later date and cremation has been selected by the family. Memorials can be given to St. Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church or Toys For Tots and sent in care of the mortuary. Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary of Russell, Kansas, is in charge of the memorial service arrangements.
Wilmer W. Wagner, 86, of Russell, Kansas, died on Wednesday, March 28, 2018, at the Russell Regional Hospital.
Wilmer was born on May 26, 1931, in Galatia, Kansas, the son of Wilhelm and Rachel (Kraft) Wagner. He worked as a welder.
He is survived by his sisters Karen Wagner of Houston, Texas, and Viola Long of Junction City, Kansas. He was preceded in death by his parents and a son.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas agency plans to conduct a full audit of a water park’s inspection records before it reopens this spring, a state official said Wednesday, after criminal charges were filed over the decapitation of a 10-year-old boy on the world’s tallest waterslide there in 2016.
The state Department of Labor said it will review reports from daily inspections of rides by park staff at the Schlitterbahn park in Kansas City, Kansas, before it is scheduled to reopen May 25 for its annual season. A state law enacted last year after Caleb Schwab’s death requires amusement parks to keep daily reports on their rides and to give them annual inspections.
Miles-photo Wyandotte Co.
A grand jury has issued indictments with multiple criminal charges against the park; the construction company that built the giant waterslide; former park operations director Tyler Austin Miles; the ride’s co-designer, John Timothy Schooley, and a co-owner of Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts, Jeffrey Wayne Henry.
Henry, Schooley and the construction company face one felony count of second-degree murder and Miles and the park, one count of involuntary manslaughter, over Caleb’s death. The raft the boy was riding on the 17-story Verruckt ride went airborne and hit an overhead loop.
State law allows parks to have their own staff do daily inspections and to have private inspectors do the annual inspections, rather than state inspectors. The inspectors doing the annual reviews must be either licensed engineers with two years’ experience with amusement rides, have five years’ experience in inspecting rides or have been certified by one of three industry groups.
Hersh said the audit will show whether the park has been conducting the required inspections and maintaining proper records on them as it prepares to reopen for the sesason.
“They will have a notebook full of inspections,” she said.
Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio said in a statement Tuesday that the latest indictment against Henry, Schooley and the construction company “is filled with information that we fully dispute.”
The company also posted a statement on its website that all park attractions are “thoroughly inspected daily” by supervisors and managers.
Also, it said, before the park opens for the season, each ride has a thorough internal review and an inspection from “an independent third party.” The statement said the park’s insurance provider also conducts annual inspections.
Henry, Schooley and the construction company are charged with second-degree murder in connection with Caleb’s death, and Miles and the park are charged with involuntary manslaughter over it. All are charged with multiple counts of aggravated battery and aggravated endangering a child in connection with injuries to other riders on the 17-story waterslide.
Miles was arrested last week and released from a Kansas jail on bond. jail in Wyandotte County, Kansas, on $50,000 bond. Henry was arrested Monday in Cameron County, Texas, and waived extradition to Kansas during a court hearing Wednesday.
As for Schooley, family attorney Kit Yam, of Houston, said he was traveling in Asia. Yam said Schooley is in the process of hiring a Kansas City-area attorney.
“He is out of the country at this point on a business trip,” Yam said.
Not many Kansans wake up in the morning worrying about the financial health of the state highway fund. Understandably so. But hit a big pothole on the way to work or drive a narrow, roughed up, congested roadway, and highway conditions immediately become a concern. Trouble is, by then it’s too late. Crummy roads mean the state’s highway fund failed much earlier.
Duane Goossen
Noticeable problems can take some years to appear after road maintenance levels are lowered, bridge repairs delayed, and upgrade projects cancelled. That’s why swiping money out of the highway fund can be so enticing for lawmakers. There’s instant gratification when the transferred dollars pay for some other high-profile need, and no immediate consequence for diverting the funds away from highways. The crisis comes later.
Kansas faced a crisis of deteriorating roads back in the 1980’s, but Gov. Mike Hayden and legislators dealt directly with it, enacting a 10-year plan to modernize and improve Kansas highways. Two more long-term plans followed that first one, ultimately making the Kansas road system one of the best in the nation, a point of Kansas pride, and a feature that has attracted people and business to our state.
But now the Kansas road system is truly threatened. Sam Brownback’s 2012 income tax cuts choked revenue to the general fund, leaving Kansas without enough money to pay for education and other services. The highway fund became a convenient source of cash. Even though lawmakers reversed most of the income tax cuts last year, they did not stop the highway fund transfers. During Brownback’s time in office, more than $2 billion was siphoned off, and transfers continue unabated.
Highway fund dollars are not free money. Every dollar taken means a dollar less for maintenance or construction. The consequences for our roads have already shown up and will only grow if our leaders do not intervene.
Lawmakers have tried to blunt the effect of transfers by allowing the highway fund to borrow more and more money. The highway fund currently has $2 billion in outstanding debt and pays $200 million a year in debt service. And a portion of that debt has ‘interest only’ payments in the first years, with the principal payments still to come.
Neither deeper debt nor cutting maintenance provide a viable recipe for the future. So, what to do? The best answer is to immediately stop transferring money. Lawmakers could also raise the gas tax which goes directly to the highway fund, or charge tolls in more places. Of course, all those solutions are politically difficult, especially with the general fund still recovering from the damage of the Brownback tax cuts. But inaction–failing to protect the state’s long-term investment in roads–is worse.
School finance currently dominates the 2018 legislative session, but the highway fund lurks right under the surface. The temptation will be to wait for road conditions to really slip before doing anything, but Kansans will be much better served if lawmakers fix the highway fund now, before everyone notices the depth of the potholes.
Duane Goossen formerly served 12 years as Kansas Budget Director.
SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating suspect on charges in connection with an altercation during an arrest.
Cathey-photo Saline County
Just before 4p.m. Wednesday, police were dispatch to report of a woman yelling and screaming in the 700 Block of South 5th Street in Salina, according to Sgt. Feldman.
Officers located 27-year-old Yolanda Cathey in the 200 Block of West Crawford. There was a warrant for her arrest. She resisted arrested, according to Feldman and bit an officer on the knee. Police found drugs and drug paraphernalia with her.
Cathey faces charges of two counts of battery of an LEO, interference with LEO, possession of a stimulant, and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to Feldman.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — A Kansas man died in an accident just after 9p.m. Wednesday in Sedgwick County.
First responders on the scene of Wednesday’s fatal accident. Photo courtesy KWCH
Richard Shockley, 64, Wichita, was riding a bicycle southbound in the outside lane on K-15 from 31st Street in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
A 2013 Hyundai Elantra driven by a 23-year-old woman rear-ended the bicycle. Shockley died at the scene.
The accident remains under investigation. No charges have been filed against the driver.
MANHATTAN — The Kansas Department of Agriculture is seeking individuals to participate in a beef genetics trade mission to Argentina from July 24 to Aug. 1, 2018. In an effort to increase market opportunities for U.S. and Kansas beef genetics, this provides an opportunity for Kansas purebred beef cattle producers and allied industry to develop relationships with livestock producers in Argentina.
Attendees will interact with breeders and promote the use of U.S. beef genetics while attending Exposición Rural (Palermo), the major Argentinian livestock show. Kansas ranchers and related agribusinesses specializing in the export of Angus and Hereford genetics are invited to participate.
This trade mission is funded in part by the United States Livestock Genetics Export, Inc. Selected participants will be eligible for travel stipends for airfare depending upon number of applicants and fund availability. Participants will be responsible for the cost of hotels, meals and other incidental expenses.
KDA strives to encourage and enhance economic growth of the agriculture industry and the Kansas economy by exploring and expanding both domestic and international marketing opportunities. In 2016, Kansas exported more than $474,000 in agricultural commodities to Argentina.
Individuals interested in participating in the trade mission should complete the application forms on the KDA website at www.agriculture.ks.gov/international. The applicated deadline is Monday, April 16, 2018.
For more information on the trade missions, please contact Shirley Acedo, KDA agribusiness development coordinator, at [email protected] or 785-564-7467.
