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Author: Hays Post

ABATE of Kansas District 6 Fundraiser Set for Saturday

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By C.D. DESALVO
Hays Post

A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments (ABATE) of Kansas District 6 is having a soup supper on Saturday, January 27th to raise funds to support the fuel cost of the Run for the Wall that comes through Bunker Hill.

ABATE of Kanas is a neutral organization that allows motorcycle riders and enthusiasts to put motorcycle legislation in proper prospective. The organization hosts safety education programs, public awareness programs and other proposals in an effort to prevent fatal motorcycle accidents and injuries.

The Run for the Wall is the largest and longest organized cross-country motorcycle run of its kind in the world. It starts in Ontario, California and ends at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C every May. The Run for the Wall has over 1,800 participants annually.

For the second year, ABATE of Kansas District 6 will help support the fuel cost of the Run for the Wall as it stops through Bunker Hill for gas on the Central Route. To help raise funds for the refueling, District 6 will host a soup supper.

“Our volunteers and district member are all making homemade soup,” said district representative Becca Hardman. “We have 5 different soups and this is our first time doing a soup supper for the Run for the Wall.”

The soup supper will be held at Ellis VFW Post 9139 in Ellis from 4pm until the soup runs out. Cost of attening is $5 for a bowl or $8 for all you can eat.

“We got together to do it for a good cause and we appreciate the community support,” said Hardman.

For more information on ABATE of Kansas, visit their website.

For other District 6 events, visit their Facebook.

For more on the Run for the Wall, go here.

KELLY: Together, let’s move beyond Brownback once and for all

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Sen. Laura Kelly (D-Topeka) is a candidate for Kansas governor.

The following op-ed is by Senator Laura Kelly, candidate for governor:

It has been a long time coming. Finally, on January 31st Sam Brownback is leaving Kansas. His disastrous experiment has inflicted serious damage to our state that will likely take years to fix. He’s leaving our budget in shambles, our schools underfunded, our economy at a standstill, and our communities struggling to make ends meet. And sadly, our challenges are far from over. Taking over his legacy is Jeff Colyer.

As Lieutenant Governor, Jeff Colyer was Sam Brownback’s biggest fan. They worked hand-in-hand to create policies that harmed our state. They both championed the tax plan that led to the devastating collapse of our state’s budget and economy. From dismantling our top-notch highway program to cutting schools to privatizing our Medicaid system, Jeff Colyer helped lead the way.

But he is not alone in his support for Sam Brownback. Secretary of State Kris Kobach and other Republican candidates for governor supported Sam Brownback’s irresponsible tax plan. They supported his efforts to decimate our public schools and steal money from our roads. Several have even proposed we bring the experiment back.

From Topeka to Colby folks tell me it is time to go in a new direction.

I’ve spent the last seven years in the Legislature fighting for teachers and taxpayers, seniors and students who suffer under the bad policies of the Brownback/Colyer Administration. I have witnessed first-hand the problems that were created by their failed tax plan. I know where the problems are, and I am uniquely qualified to fix them.

It’s time Kansans come together to invest in our shared priorities – strong schools, affordable healthcare, safe roads, and a thriving economy. To do that, we must first balance our budget. I have been a leader on budget issues for my entire career in the Senate. As governor, I will continue to advocate for fiscal responsibility and a balanced budget so that government can start working for the people again.

This November, Kansas voters have an opportunity to reclaim our state and move beyond Brownback once and for all. Let’s get it done together.

KHP: Kansas school bus driver failed to yield before crash

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The Honda involved Thursday’s crash being removed from the scene-photo courtesy KWCH

BUTLER COUNTY — Eleven students avoided injury in a school bus accident just after 4p.m. Thursday in Butler County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a USD 394 Rose Hill School Bus driven by Juanita J. Notz, 64, Rose Hill, was westbound on SW 210 Road approximately three miles south of Rose Hill.

The driver failed to yield as the bus turned south on SW Butler Road.  An eastbound 2001 Honda passenger vehicle driven by Ronald L. Shores, 61, Douglas, struck the bus.

Notz and 11 students on the bus were not injured. Shores was properly restrained, suffered a possible injury and was treated at the scene, according to the KHP.

Neyla M. ‘Lila’ Kippes

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Neyla M. “Lila” Kippes, age 83, died Thursday, January 25, 2018, at the Good Samaritan Society of Hays. She was born April 10,1934, on a farm near St. Peter, Kansas, to Adolph and Celestina “Sally” (Rome) Rohr. She married Pius Wildeman on August 3,1953, at St. Peter Kansas. He preceded her in death on October 7, 1966. She then married Eugene “Gene” Kippes on August 19, 1983, at Hays, Kansas.

She worked as a sales clerk at Tempo and Mid-West Drugs in Hays for a number of years. Neyla grew up near St. Peter, Kansas and was a 1953 graduate of Quinter High School. She was a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Hays, Kansas and a member of the Sunflower Polka Club. She enjoyed reading, quilting, sewing, vegetable gardening, cooking, baking and spending time with her family and grandchildren.

Survivors include her husband, Eugene “Gene” Kippes, of the home; three sons, Paul Wildeman and wife Connie, Hays, KS; Michael Wildeman, Wichita, KS; Jim Wildeman and wife, Karla, Wichita, KS; two daughters, Amanda Cronn and husband, Harry, WaKeeney, KS; Donna Creel and husband, Greg, Sheridan, WY; one stepson, Ron Augustine and wife, Deb, Hays, KS; one step daughter-in-law, Tina Augustine, Neosho, MO; one brother, Tom Rohr and wife, Kathy, Blue Springs, MO; four sisters, Darlene Wynne, Oklahoma City, OK; Glorie Ann Geisel and husband, Jerry, New Wilmington, PA; Mary Lou Carothers and husband, John, Anthony, KS; Jolene Stinemetz and husband, Chad, Sacramento, CA ; one sister-in-law, Nancy Rohr, Littleton, CO; eight grandchildren; seven step grandchildren; 11 great grandchildren and 15 step great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her first husband, Pius Wildeman; one infant son, Mark Wildeman; one brother, Don Rohr; one sister, Dora Haughn; three brothers-in-law, Bob Wynne, Ray Fothergill, and Patrick Fahey; and one stepson, Larry Augustine.

Services are at 10:00 A.M. Tuesday, January 30, 2018, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 18th & Vine, Hays, Kansas. Burial in St. Joseph Cemetery, Hays, Kansas.

A vigil service is at 7:00 P.M. Monday, at Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary of Hays, 1919 East 22nd Street, Hays, Kansas 67601. Visitation is from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. Monday and from 8:30 to 9:45 A.M. Tuesday all at Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary of Hays.

In lieu of flowers the family request donations be made to Alzheimer’s Association of Central and Western Kansas.

Condolences can be left by guestbook at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or can be sent via e-mail to [email protected]

Robert E. Nicholas

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Robert E. Nicholas, age 86, died Wednesday, January 24, 2018, at the Parkview Care Center, Osborne, Kansas. He was born February 13,1931, in Nebraska City, Nebraska to George E. and Caroline M. (Ellis) Nicholas. He married Faye Anne (Schirer) on June 7, 1958 at Newton, Kansas. She preceded him in death on May 15, 1982.

He was the Librarian at Victoria, Grade School and Victoria High School from 1984 until he retired in 1994. Robert grew up in Omaha, NE and Englewood, CO and was a 1949 graduate of Englewood High School. He receives his BME Degree in music from the University of Colorado at Bolder and his MME Degree in music from Fort Hays State College. He taught music at Jennings, for one year, he taught music and band at Monument for 14 years, then he taught music and band at Stockton for 17 years.

He was a member and played with the Hays Big Band, Hays Symphony Orchestra, Hays City Summer Band, the FHSU Brass Choir and a member of the Kansas Music Educators Association. He was a volunteer with the FHSU High Plains Band Camp and with the Hays Public Library for over 20 years. He also was a statistician for the Victoria High School Athletics Program.

Survivors include three daughters, Patty Nicholas, Hays, KS; Cindy Grieve and husband, Philip, Osborne, KS; Kathryn Nicholas and Justin Thiessen, Lincoln, NE; one nephew, Kent Nicholas, Englewood, CO; three grandchildren, Tiffany Krier (Adam), Dillon Grieve (Meagan), Chelsea Dowell (Brandon); six great grandchildren, Gage Robinson, Alexis Krier, Natalie Krier, Sara Grieve, Allison Grieve and Mason Grieve.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife; one brother, Edward James “Jim” Nicholas; two sisters, Doris Nicholas and Ruth Nicholas; and one nephew, James Edward “Eddie” Nicholas.

Services are at 11:00 A.M. Monday, January 29, 2018, at the First United Methodist Church, 7th and Ash, Hays, Kansas. Graveside services are at 3:00 P.M. Monday, at the Stockton Cemetery, Stockton, Kansas.

Visitation is from 10:00 to 11:00 A.M. Monday, at the church.

The family suggests memorials to the Fort Hays State University Department of Music and Theater.

Services are entrusted to Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary of Hays, 1919 East 22nd Street, Hays, Kansas 67601.

Condolences can be left by guestbook at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or can be sent via e-mail to [email protected]

Hays chamber’s first legislative forum will be Feb. 3

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HACC

The Hays Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Coffee will be at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 3 at the Robbins Center, inside the FHSU Foundation located north of Gross Memorial Coliseum.

These forums are a series of meetings with state legislators that provide area residents the opportunity to learn more about the legislative process and state issues. Sen. Rick Billinger, Rep. Ken Rahjes, Rep. Leonard Mastroni, and Rep. Eber Phelps will be there to answer questions.

The event is sponsored by AT&T, FHSU Foundation and Midwest Energy. This is a free event and is open to the public.

Hays Library will have Kansas Room Open House on Kansas Day

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HPL

There will be an open house for the Kansas Room at the Hays Public Library on Jan. 29 — Kansas Day. The open house will run from 6 to 8 p.m. There will be tours of the Kansas Room, Kansas-themed refreshments and door prizes, including a chance to win tickets to see Lee Brice in Salina on Feb. 10 along with dinner for two at Martinelli’s.

“My goal for the open house is to make the community aware of what the Kansas Room has to offer,” said Marissa Lamer, Kansas Room librarian. “I hope patrons, both old and new, will stop by to see the great changes we are making and learn about our resources.

“I am most excited about our new circulating collection,” she added. “We have some incredible books in the Kansas Room and now many of them are available for check-out. The check-out period is three weeks, just like all the other books in the library.”

Tours of the Kansas Room will take place every half hour, so stop by on your way home from work or after dinner with the family. All ages are welcome to attend.

For more information on this and other programs, visit hayslibrary.org or call 785.625.9014.

Hays Arts Council will host Wichita Children’s Theatre

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Courtesy photo

By JAYLINN PFEIFER
For Hays Post

On Thursday, Feb 15, the Hays Arts Council will host the Wichita Children’s Theatre at Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center on the campus of Fort Hays State University.

At 9:30 a.m. there will be a performance called “Cavity Crisis in Cow Town” for third graders in Ellis County and Russell.

“This is a sweet little 30- to 45-minute performance that will target dental health awareness for third graders,” said Brenda Meder of the Hays Arts Council.

The performance is teamed up with Delta Dental, who will provide dental kits and information to the children who attend. Meder says she has been doing the dental performance for a few years and she really enjoys it.

At 12:45 p.m., the theater will put on a great production of “Three Little Pigs” for kindergarten through first graders. The production is about the original story but includes the pigs teaching the wolf how to control his temper and in the end learn to be the pigs’ friend.

“The children know the story and the play is wrapped around the story with some different scenes in it,” Meder said.

There is a meet and greet for 20 minutes after every performance for the kids to meet and get autographs and pictures with the cast. There will also be a performance of the “Three Little Pigs” at 7 p.m. that night that is open to the public.

“The show is nice for families that want to have these experiences with their children without having to travel far away,” Meder said.

The Wichita Children’s Theatre also teams up with Russell to do a separate performance on Friday, Feb. 16. They will put on a Mark Twain show for the fourth and fifth graders in Russell.

Kan. takes database offline over access to private, financial information

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas took an ethics database offline Thursday over questions about how it gave users access to financial disclosure forms for hundreds of elected officials and state employees that included the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach acted after the tech website Gizmodo posted a story saying it had contacted Kobach’s office about the issue, according to news reports. Gizmodo called the failure to redact the partial Social Security numbers “beyond reckless” and “stupid.”

Kobach, a conservative Republican, was vice chairman of President Donald Trump’s now-disbanded voter fraud commission, which alarmed some state officials last spring by issuing a broad request to states for detailed information on voters, including partial Social Security numbers. Also, a multistate registration crosschecking program administered by Kobach’s office has faced questions about how well it secures voter data it collects and uses.

But the database taken down Thursday went online in 2005 during the tenure of one of Kobach’s predecessors as secretary of state, Republican Ron Thornburgh. It allowed users to view the disclosure forms that must be filed annually by elected officials, candidates, department heads, other key department employees and members of boards and commissions.

Kobach’s office said in a statement that it is required by law to make the full disclosure form accessible to the public and that the state Governmental Ethics Commission designed the form. He said he agrees that partial Social Security numbers should be redacted and is working with the ethics commission, which plans to meet next week to consider the issue.

“Secretary Kobach takes security measures very seriously and is looking for a solution that would allow this sensitive information to be redacted, while still following the requirements of Kansas law,” the statement said.

Kobach’s office said the disclosure forms are “an important tool in ensuring government transparency.” Paper copies remained open for inspection at Kobach’s office.

Officials monitored large Kansas hay bale fires overnight

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Fire late Thursday in Stevens County -photo courtesy Hugoton Police

STEVENS COUNTY — Firefighters and Emergency personnel continue to fight a fire near the intersection of Road Q and Road 20 in Stevens County, according to the Hugoton Police Department.

There were approximately 25,000 3’x4’x8′ bales on fire. Authorities asked residents to avoid roads in the area to allow officials to work

In Lyon County, officials monitored a large fire in Lyon County early Friday.  A truck carrying 32 hay bales caught fire on Thursday evening, according to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department.  Emergency officials closed Lake Road and Kansas 5 and Kansas Street in the community of Olpe.

Photos courtesy Lyon Co. Sheriff

Photos released by the sheriff’s department indicate the truck’s cab was safely removed from the trailer. Officials reported no injuries or what caused the fire.

Lt. Governor Colyer swearing-in schedule begins in Hays

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TOPEKA —The swearing-in schedule for new Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer begins in Hays. On January 31, Lt. Governor Colyer will attend Mass at Thomas More Prep, tour the Westside Alternative Mental Health Center for Kids and have lunch at Al’s Chickenette.

After the visit in Hays, Colyer will attend the 3p.m. swearing-in ceremony in the Capitol rotunda in Topeka.

Colyer begins his tenure needing to mend relations with fellow Republicans in the Legislature, whose clashes with his GOP predecessor intensified in recent months.

The ill will stands in sharp contrast to lawmakers’ generally positive mood last fall after President Donald Trump first nominated Gov. Sam Brownback for an ambassador’s post.

Colyer, the lieutenant governor, promised to be more open, and lawmakers warmed to the prospects of working with him after years of financial distress under Brownback. But earlier this month, Brownback proposed phasing in a big increase in spending on public schools and saying growth in state revenues would cover it.

Many Republican legislators view the plan as financially reckless and an attempt to boost Colyer’s political standing by putting them in the politically untenable position of expressing skepticism about boosting education funding.

The incoming governor must quell an open revolt among GOP lawmakers who pointedly call it the “Brownback/Colyer” proposal. They assume Colyer had a big hand in drafting the plan and Brownback’s budget recommendations — something the departing governor publicly suggested publicly.

“This is tone change, and tone changes are meaningless,” said state Rep. J.R. Claeys, a conservative central Kansas Republican. “The disaster that has been foisted upon us is the same.”

Colyer, 57, owns a Kansas City-area plastic surgery practice that does both cosmetic procedures as well as reconstructive surgery, and even after being elected to public office, he continued to do international medical relief missions.

His friendship with Brownback began more than 20 years ago when both were White House fellows. Colyer was a state senator when Brownback put him on his ticket in 2010, and they won re-election in 2014.

Colyer was the Brownback administration’s spokesman on health care issues. He remained a steadfast ally both when Brownback successfully pursued aggressive income tax cuts in 2012 and 2013 and when legislators rolled most of them back last years after the state’s persistent budget problems caused voters to sour on the experiment.

The incoming governor is running for a full, four-year term this year and raised more than $630,000 from outside cash contributions since August, the highest total of any candidate. Some is supporters expect policy shifts that differentiate Colyer from the unpopular Brownback.

“He won’t have to constantly guard against stepping on anybody else’s toes, mainly Brownback’s toes,” said state Rep. Dan Hawkins, a conservative Wichita Republican.

“He can go on ahead and do his thing.” And Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, predicts “most people will probably give Colyer the benefit of the doubt.”

But the school funding proposal remains a huge sore point for many Republicans. It’s a response to a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in October that funding for public schools — even with a significant boost last year — remains inadequate under the state constitution.

The court said a new school finance law must be in place by July. Brownback is proposing to phase in an additional $513 million increase over five years and leave it to growth in tax revenues to cover the cost.

Game Warden investigating poaching in Ness County

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photo courtesy KDWP&T Game Wardens

NESS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a case of poaching in Ness County.

A whitetail buck which had already shed antlers was shot and left on Ness County road 200 just east of county road Y, according to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Game Wardens.

Authorities believe the deer is believed to have been shot on Tuesday

Any information can be directed to the Ness County Game Warden at 620-450-7194 or Operation Game Thief at 1-877-426-3843.

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