SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a teen after an incident with a Kansas deputy.
On Thursday, a deputy was in the 7100 block of SW Woodcroft Way in Topeka looking into a report of three vicious dogs in the area, according to Deputy Andrew Mergen.
The deputy located the 19-year-old owner and while talking to her an object was thrown at and hit the deputy.
The female then ran into her house, but soon came back outside and was detained for a short period of time.
She is being charged with battery on a law enforcement officer. Authorities have not released her name. The deputy was not injured.
The Kansas Honors Program, a longstanding tradition of the University of Kansas, Alumni Association and KU Endowment, honors high school seniors throughout Kansas for academic excellence and achievement.
This year, there were four Thomas More Prep-Marian seniors who received the honor. Abigail Heimerman, Abigail Peeler, Bryson Rupp and Margaret Speno were chosen due to their GPA being in the top 10 percent of their senior class.
Patrick R. Miller is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Kansas.To address prison overcrowding, Kansas must understand the racial disparities that exist in our system of mass incarceration, how they fuel our ballooning prison population, and potential remedies.
Our state prison population does not reflect the Kansas population on race. According to 2018 data from the Kansas Department of Corrections, 28% of our adult prisoners are African American, 12% Hispanic, 3% Native American, and 1% Asian. The 2010 Census shows that Kansas is 6% African American, 12% Hispanic, 1% Native American, and 3% Asian.
So, African Americans are represented in our prison population at nearly five times their share of the Kansas population, and Native Americans three times. Racial disparities also exist among juveniles in detention in Kansas, where 32% are black and 23% Hispanic.
Our prison population skews in other important ways, too. Among adult prisoners, 36% have less than a high school education. And 33% are diagnosed with a serious to severe mental illness, underscoring how prisons compensate for the decline of state psychiatric hospitals.
On race, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that the national imprisonment rate among black men has dropped by about 20% since 2000. Experts tie this to declining crime rates, shifts in drug enforcement toward opioids and meth, and criminal justice reform focused on urban communities. Consequently, as prison populations have declined in most states, the disparity in imprisonment between blacks and whites has shrunk, though not disappeared.
In Kansas, though our prison population has grown, African Americans have declined from 36% of the adult prison population in 2001, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. That represents progress, though that decline has stagnated in recent years.
Nationally, Americans seem more aware of how racial disparities in prison are driven by differences in poverty and educational opportunities, drug laws and their enforcement, policing inequities, legal representation inequities, and sentencing disparities, among other factors.
But good data on Kansas are scarce. Challenge one in addressing the racial disparity in Kansas prisons is better studying and understanding how national factors that create this difference work specifically in Kansas.
Challenge two is policy. The upside to Kansas lagging other states on criminal justice reform is that we can learn from their experiences, though their approaches will not always fit well in Kansas.
Take Georgia. As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, former Republican Governor Nathan Deal spearheaded bipartisan criminal justice reform measures, including “accountability courts” that provide prison alternatives for non-violent or mentally ill offenders and redefining what constitutes a “felony.” Though imperfect, Georgia has shrunk its prison population, cut the imprisonment rate of African Americans even more dramatically, and saved tens of millions of dollars.
Other states have tackled minimum mandatory sentencing, three strikes laws, indigent defense, and other factors that have exacerbated racial disparities in their respective prisons.
Challenge three is spine. Many reform advocates deemphasize race, perhaps thinking it makes the issue divisive. But avoiding hard truths serves no good. This leaves reform opponents as frequently the ones emphasizing race, often implicitly in their language or which violent offenders they cherry pick to mischaracterize reform proposals.
One column cannot adequately address this topic—especially policy complexities, moral justice, and the human impact. But to tackle this problem intelligently, we should not treat the issue as color blind when our prison crisis is inseparable from race.
Patrick R. Miller is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Kansas.
Pete Zimmer, a New York based jazz drummer, will perform at Fort Hays State University’s Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23.
Touring through the midwest, Zimmer will stop in Hays to perform as well as work with music students.
This is not Zimmer’s first time in Hays. He has stopped to play on campus before and was a guest artist for the music camp four years ago.
Zimmer will perform with Dr. Ben Markley, an FHSU alum who teaches at the University of Wyoming, on piano, Bob Bowman, a freelance musician, on bass, Brad Dawson, assistant professor of music and theatre, and Luke Johnson an instructor of music and theatre.
“This will be a chance to hear great jazz from some great players,” said Dawson.
The show will feature two compositions written by Markley that are on his latest CD Slow Play.
The show is free and open to the public. For more information you can email Dawson at [email protected].
Scroll to the bottom for a map of garage sale locations. Hays Post offers FREE garage sale listings weekly. Having a garage sale next weekend? Click HERE to submit your information.
130 N Ash, Russell
Saturday 8-Noon
Lots of neat stuff, some antiques, Women’s Clothes, Men’s Big and Tall, household, garden, BBQ stuff, crafts and craft supplies and Misc. everything priced to sell. 130 North Ash Street Russell 8-Noon Saturday 9-21-19
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2206 Downing Ave., Hays
Friday, September 20th 5:30 until dark & Saturday, sept. 21st 8:00 am until 1:00 pm
Household items
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508 W 15th, Hays
Thursday, September 19th 4p.m. to dark, Friday, September 20th 4p.m. to dark, Saturday September 21st 9a.m. to Noon
Daycare closing! Toys, books, puzzles, baby items, pack n play, exersaucer, booster seats, house hold items, electronic keyboard with stand, sewing machine, too much to list
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2516 Henry Drive, Hays
Friday 9/20 from 8 am to 8 pm and Saturday 9/21 from 8 am to noon
Automatic Baby Bottle Maker, antiques, collectables, porcelain dolls, queen bed frames, small grill I Robot Floor cleaner, toys, games puzzles, clothes, furniture, microwave, mens electric tools, lots of miscellaneous.
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217 W. 35th St, Hays
Saturday, September 21st 8:00am to 12:00pm
Large, Multi-family garage sale
Girl’s clothing Newborn – 12 months, car seats, baby accessories, maternity clothes
shoes
Lots of home decor
wooden rocking chair
media console tables
desk hutch
coffee table
lots of miscellaneous!
BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a woman on drug charges after an arrest.
Carey photo Barton Co.Carey photo Barton Co.
Just before 12:30p.m. Thursday. police conducted a narcotics search warrant at 3621 23rd Street in Great Bend, according to a media release. This search warrant was obtained from follow up investigation of the arrest of Xavier Carey on September 17.
During the search of the residence, police found marijuana and drug paraphernalia inside the house in the vicinity of a small child.
Police arrested Treva Carey, 47, and transported to the Barton County Jail where she was booked and confined in lieu of $2,500 bond. The small child was released to another family member.
On Tuesday, police arrested Xavier Allen Carey, 25, after a traffic stop and transported him to the Barton County Jail where he was booked and confined in lieu of $100,000 bond.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A man has been convicted of holding a woman against her will in her suburban Kansas City apartment for several weeks and sexually assaulting her.
Jurors found 38-year-old Anthony Darryl Allen guilty Wednesday of one count aggravated kidnapping and two counts of rape.
Police arrested Allen in August 2015 after officers were dispatched to the woman’s apartment in Lenexa, Kansas, for a welfare check. Allen initially refused to come out of the apartment but eventually surrendered to police.
Charges were filed after the woman told police Allen wasn’t allowing her to leave the apartment and had raped her.
AUGUSTA, Kan. (AP) — The Butler County Sheriff’s says at least 60 cats — some of them dead— were removed from a home in Augusta.
s at least 60 cats — some of them dead— were removed from a home in Augusta photo courtesy KAKE
Sheriff Kelly Herzet says crews cleared the animals from the home Thursday. He said a dead and decaying dog was found inside the house and it’s possible more animals would be found.
KAKE -TV reports Stephanie Heinz, who lives next to the home, said the woman who rented the home would show up periodically to feed the animals and then would leave again.
Herzet said because the renter paid her utilities, crews couldn’t go into the home until she recently surrendered her rights to the animals.
Sheriff Herzet said his office hopes to forward a criminal case of animal cruelty to the Butler County attorney.
TOPEKA, KAN. – A Topeka man who appears to have accidentally shot himself was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months in federal prison for unlawful possession of a gun, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Collins photo KDOC
Keeno D. Collins, 26, Ozawkie, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
In his plea, he admitted Topeka police found him wounded on the grounds of the Topeka West High School.
He had a gunshot wound to his upper left arm. Collins told police he didn’t know what had happened. After police found a gun nearby, they matched DNA on the weapon to Collins. He was prohibited from possessing a firearm because of a 2015 conviction in Shawnee County District Court on a felony drug charge. He has additional convictions that include forgery and aggravated battery, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
PAWNEE COUNTY — A Kansas man entered a plea agreement Thursday in connection a burglary in Pawnee County.
Robinson photo Pawnee Co.
Thomas L. Robison, 20, Larned, Kansas, entered a No Contest plea in the Pawnee County District Court to felony burglary of the community owned State Theater in Larned on July 20, 2019, according to Pawnee County Attorney Doug McNett. Robinson also agreed to pay full restitution.
The defendant confessed to the theater burglary following his arrest on suspicion of burglarizing the Subway restaurant in Larned on July 25, 2019. Robison told law enforcement he’d hid in the cry room of the theater following a movie and waited for all of the staff to leave before stealing cash and other items.
Following the plea, District Judge Bruce Gatterman denied the defendant’s request for release on bond. Under the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines the defendant faces a prison sentence between 11 months and 34 months in the custody of the Department of Corrections depending on his criminal history. Sentencing has been scheduled for October 24, 2019.
