ComeauThe law firm of Jeter Turner Sook Baxter, LLP announced this week that Ashley Comeau has joined the firm in an “Of Counsel” capacity. Her practice will encompass a broad range of civil matters, including estate planning and elder law, to guide the firm’s business and individual clients.
Comeau graduated with honors from Washburn University School of Law in 2011, earning a Juris Doctor with a certificate in law and government, and from Fort Hays State University in 2008. She was a member of the Washburn Law Moot Court Council as well as the Trial Advocacy Team. Her prior experience includes work as corporate in-house counsel and, from 2012 to 2015, she was a civil litigation attorney at Wagstaff & Cartmell, LLP of Kansas City. She is admitted to practice law in the state and federal courts of Kansas, and is a member of the Kansas Bar Association, Kansas Women Attorneys Association, Ellis County Bar Association and Rooks County Bar Association, where she serves on the Rooks County Law Library Board.
“We are very excited that Ashley has joined the firm,” said Christopher Sook, the firm’s managing partner. “She brings experience and a background that will help us better serve our clients throughout the region.”
Jeter Law Firm has served Kansans for more than 80 years in the areas of Business Law, Banking Law, Commercial Law, Real Estate Law, Oil & Gas Law, Civil Litigation, Trusts, Wills, Estates, Probate, and School and Government Law. The firm includes six attorneys and has offices in downtown Hays and Stockton. More about the firm can be found at www.jeterlawoffice.com.
How awesome would it be to have had prominent sports announcers Howard Cosell, Pat Summerall or even Gerard Wellbrock covering the play by play of the second Hays Recreation Commission pickleball tournament?
Pickleball the fastest growing sport in America for players over the age of 60 and its popularity is rising in Hays, Kansas. The Hays City Commission recently gave its blessing for the addition of two nets at the tennis courts on South Main street under the direction of Jeff Boyle, director of the Parks Department.
That project will be undertaken this month. The addition to our quality of life in Hays is complemented by the Hays Recreation Commission having completed a refinish of the three gym floors at the complex on Canterbury Road with the addition of six pickleball sections. The process and wait time for proper drying of the floor took about a week where the local addicts of this sport overcame their withdrawal when 21 players showed up for the reopening of the gym.
What a nice showing of newly made friends from Great Bend who signed up to play. Nearly all victories to 15-point totals came down to break points in the quarter, semi-finals and finals of the matches among the 13 two-person teams that were entered to play. One-nail biting match pitted local rising star Devon Fuller, 28, a six-year Army veteran returning to further his education at FHSU, against Sheldon Hamilton, 72, from Great Bend. Despite a four-decade spread in age, the elder Hamilton moved forward to the semi-finals.
The finals took on an interesting twist of fate finding Justin McClung facing off against his son Bryce McClung in what took several playoffs to give the father, in this match-up, the victory. Justin’s teammate, Shawn Clark, was playing opposite side to Soumya Bhoumik, an associate professor at FHSU.
Keeping this short, fans or interested persons will want to view these 35 minutes of segments of some great action videos that had family and spectators glued to their seats into the finals of a great day.
By KIM BALDWIN McPherson County farmer and rancher
The other day Facebook reminded me that a year ago we kicked off our fall harvest season. I had posted a picture of the kids climbing into the combine with my husband, and then a picture of the four of us piled in the combine with smiles on our faces. It’s always an exciting day when we fire up the combines and move into the fields.
It means we have a crop to harvest. It also means adding many extra miles on my vehicle.
My mother-in-law and I will begin taking evening meals out to the field. I’ll begin reading books to my kids in the car while waiting for a combine to make its return to our side of the field. You might catch us some evenings driving slowly down a dirt road with our windows down blowing goodnight kisses to my husband because the kids won’t see him again until breakfast. It means driving out to a field and excitedly showing everyone when someone has lost a tooth, or celebrating being selected as the Star of the Day at school, or showing off the newest piece of art that was completed in class, or displaying a birthday card that arrived in the mail.
Yes, we spend a lot of time in the car this time of year. I’m always impressed the kids handle it so well. For them, it’s just a normal part of being a farm kid in the fall. After all, it is how they’ve spent every harvest since before they were even born.
Some days we’ll run home after school and change our clothes before heading out to the field, but more days than not, we go straight to where the crew is. It gives the kids extra time to ride alongside their dad or grandpa, to honk the combine’s horn, to “help” unload the grain by pushing buttons and pulling levers, or to just supervise the entire operation.
We try to keep a routine during harvest for the kids. Many evenings I’ll try to get them in the car and headed home before it’s dark. We’ll still have homework, bath time and stories before I put them to bed. But sometimes exceptions have to be made.
There are some evenings when the kids need extra daddy time, so I’ll ignore the setting sun or the time on the clock. Some days we’ll have to make a trip back out to a field after dark in our jammies because a little one needs to see their daddy one more time before bed and Facetime just isn’t cutting it.
Fall harvest will lead into wheat sowing followed by more fall harvest. The goal is to be completely done by Thanksgiving. Last year we went a few days past that.
Regardless of when the harvest is completed this year, you can bet my kiddos and I will have some quality time driving to and from fields this fall. We will be completing reading assignments while waiting for the crew to come to the edge of the field for a meal, enjoying the cool and crisp weather that will soon be here, and I’ll be snapping a picture every once in a while to document our trips out to the fields.
Yes, it’s the eve of fall harvest and we’re ready to begin this season.
“Insight” is a weekly column published by Kansas Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization whose mission is to strengthen agriculture and the lives of Kansans through advocacy, education and service.
Every year, Rockalooa gets a bit bigger, and this year promises to be no different as bands from across Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado will descend upon Hays on Saturday, Sept. 21, in Municipal Park for a music event like no other in the area.
“It seems that every year we do it, there are more bands coming out,” said Matt Isley, organizer.
The event is an opportunity for bands to bring their musical talents to Hays.
“It’s a showcase that features local bands and other bands from regional hubs like Kansas City, Denver and Wichita,” Isley said. “It also features visual artists and food.
“It’s something interesting and out of the ordinary that people can enjoy in Hays,” he added.
This is the second year the event will be held outdoors after the event outgrew venues available in Hays.
“It will be 20 bands at the park and there is going to be an after show at the (Golden Q, 809 Ash), that’s going to be three bands,” Isley said.
While the event will feature several genres of music, rock will be the primary music showcased at the event.
“As the name suggests, it’s mostly rock music,” Isley said. “You’ve got indie rock, you’ve got harder rock, there are some covers in there.
“There are some other genres too,” he said. “We have some singer-songwriters, we have some folk music, there’s some hip-hop music, so it’s pretty diverse and a little bit of everything.”
After being involved in bands in the area, Isley created Rockalooa after seeing an opportunity to bring a music festival to Hays that is a draw in other cities across the state.
It also gives the bands exposure outside of the normal late-night scene at local bars and venues.
“I really feel like it’s a place for local bands have a place to be and showcase them in a light that isn’t just at the bar, on a larger platform than usual,” Isley said.
Outside of the musical acts, art vendors use Rockalooa as a way to showcase their work.
“They are showing art, they are selling art,” Isley said. “You can buy big, nice paintings or you can buy prints of the paintings. There are all kinds of things that people bring out.
“Local artist can show off a little bit and promote their thing,” he said, noting it’s not just visual artists that will be there, but jewelers and handmade bookbinders have been apart of previous events.
Some local organizations also use the event as a fundraising platform through games or sales, Isley said.
While the music will likely appeal to a young adult crowd, Rockalooa will be a family-friendly event.
“It’s all ages, and there are kids activities,” Isley said. “Kids under 10 will get in free with a parent or guardian.”
The Kansas Department of Transportation has started work on a project to resurface a portion of U.S. 83 in Decatur County.
Crews will be performing a surface recycle and overlay on a 12-mile segment from the U.S. 36 junction in Oberlin to the Nebraska state line. Traffic is reduced to one lane through the construction zone and directed by flaggers and a pilot car during daylight hours. Minor delays not exceeding 15 minutes should be anticipated. KDOT expects work to be completed by the end of November, weather permitting.
Venture Corporation is the primary contractor for the project with a total contract cost of approximately $2.5 million.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A surgeon accused of mishandling surgeries in Missouri is banned from the operating room of the Wichita Veteran Affairs hospital while his work is being reviewed.
Veteran Affair’s banned urologist Christel Wambi-Kiesse from doing surgeries at the Robert Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita after learning he faced disciplinary action in Missouri.
Missouri’s healing arts board found that Wambi-Kiesse performed robot-assisted surgeries beyond his abilities. A complaint before Missouri’s Administrative Hearing Commission said his alleged mistakes contributed to a woman’s death and caused dangerous complications for two men.
Wambi-Kiesse will be allowed to see patients but cannot perform surgery at the Wichita VA hospital while he is under review. The federal agency said appropriate action will be taken based on the results of that review.
BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug charges after a traffic stop.
Carey photo Barton Co.
Just after noon Tuesday, a Great Bend Police Department detective made a traffic stop in the 2100 block of Harrison, according to a media release.
During the traffic stop, the officer detected the odor of marijuana and conducted a search of the vehicle.
The officer located approximately 5 pounds of marijuana, methamphetamine, acid, mushrooms, MDMA, and drug paraphernalia inside the vehicle.
They arrested Xavier Allen Carey, 25, and transported him to the Barton County Jail where he was booked and confined in lieu of $100,000 bond. Authorities have not released details on requested charges in the case.
KANSAS CITY — A Kansas City man has been charged in the fatal shooting of another man during a gathering Sunday to watch the KC Chiefs play Oakland, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.
Sharron Garner photo Jackson Co.
According to court records filed Monday, Kansas City patrol officers were dispatched Sunday afternoon to the 4200 Block of Tracy Avenue in Kansas City on a reported shooting. They found the 46-year-old Robert D. Williams inside an upstairs apartment.
Witnesses identified the suspect as 28-year-old Sharron Garner, who they said was wearing a Chiefs jersey at the time of the shooting.
He and the victim had been in the residence to watch the game earlier.
Witnesses said the defendant left the apartment for a few minutes and returned. Without saying anything, he shot the victim, unloading a full magazine before fleeing. Spent shell casings were found in the residence.
Court records say he was dressed in clothes that smelled of bleach and was high on PCP when he was found afterward hiding on the apartment’s main level.
Garner is being held on a requested bond of $350,000 cash.
Fort Hays State coach Chris Brown held his weekly press conference Tuesday following the Tigers loss to Missouri Western State. It’s the Tigers second straight loss and the first time since 2013 the Tigers have starter 0-2. Fort Hays State travels to Topeka for a Saturday afternoon matchup with Washburn.
You can hear his comments along with comments from junior offensive lineman Amari Angram-Boldin and senior defensive back Tanner Hoekman below:
The Shawnee Mission school board voted unanimously Monday night to adopt the LGBTQ language. It joins nearby districts in Olathe, Blue Valley and De Soto, who have added the nondiscrimination language.
The vote came after 10 residents spoke against changing the policy, while a handful of others supported the proposal.
Board member Deb Zila said she believed the change reflected the district’s practice of welcoming all children and trying to accommodate them as best it can.
Opponents said they feared that schools are teaching students about sexuality at too young of an age, or that transgender students might be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice.
OGALLALA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska trial of a Kansas man charged with the collision deaths of four Iowa motorcyclists has been delayed again.
CISNEROS HERNANDEZ- photo Keith County
The new trial starting date for 24-year-old Jeser Cisneros-Hernandez, of Liberal, Kansas, is Dec. 3. Keith County District Court records say he pleaded not guilty in October 2017 to four felony counts of vehicular homicide, one misdemeanor count of reckless driving and one of failing to drive in his lane.
The North Platte Telegraph reports that Cisneros-Hernandez’s trial previously had been set to start in July 2018, then successively in April, August and October of this year.
Prosecutors say Cisneros-Hernandez’s vehicle hit two motorcycles carrying two people each on July 1, 2017, near Ogallala.
Authorities say 54-year-old Sheila Matheny and 61-year-old James Matheny, from Bedford, Iowa. The other motorcyclists were 58-year-old Michal Weese and 59-year-old Jerolyn Weese, who lived in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
