MIAMI COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a case of alleged animal cruelty involving two dogs.
Location of the storage unit in Miami County Kansas google image
Just after 4 p.m. Saturday, police responded to storage business in the 23,000 block of West 255th Street in Hillside, according to Miami County Sheriff’s Captain Mat Kelly.
At the scene, the woman who called the sheriff’s department told deputies she heard barking coming from the storage unit. Deputies heard it too, eventually were able to enter the unit and located two dogs in two separate kennels.
With assistance from Paola police, the animals were transported to a local veterinarian clinic in critical condition, according to Kelly. They believe the dogs had been in the unit for up to a month with minimal care.
The sheriff’s department has contacted the individual who rented the storage unit and they are cooperating with the investigation, according to Kelly. The sheriff’s department is working with the Miami County attorney about possible criminal charges in the case.
One dog is doing well and fully recovered. The other dog is progressing, according to Kelly and they hope it continues to get better over the next few days.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a horticulturalist was slain outside his Kansas office, and a man in a vehicle that was linked to the original homicide scene killed himself hours later in Missouri as deputies attempted to stop him.
Overland Park, Kansas, police says 59-year-old David Flick was shot Monday morning outside an office center, where his consulting firm was located.
The Clay County, Missouri, Sheriff’s Department says that deputies later heard a single gunshot while attempting to stop a sport utility vehicle in Kearney. The SUV in which 60-year-old Scott MacDonald died by suicide matched a vehicle description released by Overland Park police in Flick’s death.
Investigators say MacDonald may have been connected to Flick’s death, but did not say how. No motive was released.
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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Police say they are investigating a fatal shooting near an office center in Overland Park.
Overland Park Police Department spokesman John Lacy says police responded to the shooting at Deer Creek Office Center at about 8:45 a.m. Monday.
The victim was in his 60s and worked in one of the businesses in the office park. He has not been identified publicly.
McPherson College President Michael SchneiderBy MICHAEL SCHNEIDER McPherson College president
Katie Grose is a second-generation band teacher from Jefferson West High School in northeast Kansas. I heard her story last spring when she was at McPherson College supporting our band program. Her dad was a band teacher and so is her brother. A few years ago, Katie had reservations when her daughter wanted to carry on the family tradition and go into teaching.
The sad fact is nobody wants to be a teacher anymore. It’s especially true for young people trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up. Becoming a teacher isn’t even on their list. It’s not on their parents’ list, either. When polled in 2018, 54 percent of parents nationwide said they did not want their child to become a teacher. Even educators themselves have been advising young people not to enter the profession.
As students headed back to school this fall, Kansas school districts continued to face a teacher shortage of epic proportions. Multiple school districts started classes without the full complement of teachers they needed, and some districts had literally no applicants for open positions this year—particularly in elementary and special education.
From Hutchinson to Meade to the suburbs of Topeka and Kansas City, district superintendents contend that teacher recruitment is more challenging today than at any time in the last two decades. And the recent report on teacher openings by the Kansas State Board of Education confirmed that teaching vacancies are up 27 percent over last year. The Kansas school year started with 815 open teaching positions. Considering the last 20 years of political hostility toward teachers, it’s not hard to figure out why.
It doesn’t get much clearer—kids in Kansas don’t want to be teachers. We have to change that.
Two years ago, with the teacher shortage making headlines and the number of teacher education graduates remaining flat, McPherson College developed solutions to address the problem. We started with the launch of an accelerated teacher education program, which includes an innovative curriculum that gets teacher education graduates into school districts faster and at a higher rate of pay.
Under our program, students can earn a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree in just four years. In addition, our program has endorsements in special education and English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), which are both important needs in Kansas schools. This program saves students thousands of dollars. And—because teacher salaries are generally based on the highest level of education obtained—first-year teachers from our accelerated program typically earn a higher starting salary than first-year teachers with only a bachelor’s degree.
We’ve also launched EdChat, an annual event for high school students interested in becoming teachers. In the last two years, over 100 students participated in workshops on the latest trends in elementary and secondary education, gaining insights from national and state experts.
The feedback from our EdChat events is encouraging. Participants tell us they’ve gone home fueled with new ideas and eager to earn their education degree. They look forward to having classrooms of their own one day and can’t wait to start their careers.
These steps by McPherson College are just the beginning. There’s a lot more we can do as a college (and collectively) to get kids excited about becoming teachers. Twenty years of political squabbling forced an entire generation of Kansas students to grow up thinking that becoming a teacher was a bad idea. Thankfully, the battles over school funding are civil these days, and now maybe we all can move forward with respect and appreciation for teachers so they can focus on learning in their classrooms rather than defending their life’s work.
At McPherson College, we’re changing the conversation about teachers and promoting the idea that teaching is a rewarding career path. We hope you’ll add your voice to this conversation.
Luckily, Katie Grose’s daughter decided to become a teacher and is the third generation of her family to direct bands in the state of Kansas. Let’s do more so that Katie’s grandkids will want to be teachers too — because when kids don’t want to become teachers, it’s the adults who have failed. We can’t afford to fail.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors in Kansas are dropping all charges against a University of Kansas student accused of falsely reporting a rape, saying they feared publicity surrounding the case could discourage sexual assault victims from coming forward.
Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said in a statement Monday that the three felony counts of making a false report were dropped after much discussion. His office believed in the merits of the case, he said, but the “cost to our community and the negative impact on survivors of sexual violence cannot be ignored,” reports The Kansas City Star.
“We are concerned this case, and the significant amount of misinformation surrounding it, could discourage other survivors from reporting their attack,” Branson said. “That is unacceptable.”
Cheryl Pilate and Branden Bell, attorneys for the woman, said that although they were pleased their client could “finally put this nightmare behind her,” they were “disappointed that the DA’s office continues to promote the fiction that this case was supported by the facts.” The statement added: “It was not.”
Police first spoke to the woman in September 2018 outside a Lawrence hospital before she went inside to undergo a rape examination, according to court records. The woman said she had been raped by the friend of her ex-boyfriend, but the details were fuzzy because she was drunk at the time. She also said she didn’t want to press charges but allowed officers to look through her phone.
Police interpreted the texts as an acknowledgement that the sex was consensual, according to court records. District Attorney Charles Branson says the woman fabricated being raped out of regret and to get revenge.
However, the woman’s attorneys argue in court documents that she is innocent and that her text messages made light of what happened because she wasn’t yet able to admit she had been raped after waking up in a strange bed with no memory of how she got there with unexplained bruises on her legs, neck and arms. They say police decided to investigate her rather than the man whom she alleged attacked her. The man, who also was a university student, was never charged.
The woman’s legal fees were covered in part by the Times Up Legal Defense Fund, an organization founded by celebrities during the #metoo movement.
The student’s attorneys said she never told officers she wanted to pursue charges, though she did say she might consider it at some point. The police investigation began in October 2018 after the student asked for a detective to be present when she made a formal statement to Title IX investigators at the university, according to testimony from a motions hearing. The student ultimately decided not to meet with the university, and her attorneys say she never told officers she wanted to pursue charges, though she did say she might consider it at some point.
Patrick Compton, a Lawrence Police Department spokesman, said police have the latitude to determine whether to proceed with a case even if the reporting party declines to press charges.
Going forward, Branson said in his statement Monday, he planned to work with police to update his office’s guidelines for investigating and prosecuting sexually violent crimes. Law enforcement will provide multiple options for “survivors to report crimes on their terms,” he said.
The media isn’t naming the woman because she says she is the victim of a sexual assault and the paper has a policy of not naming sexual assault victims. The felony false reporting charge carried a maximum sentence of up to 23 months in prison.
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors plan to drop all charges against a University of Kansas student accused of falsely reporting a rape.
Douglas County district attorney’s office filed a motion Monday to drop the three felony counts of making a false report against the woman.
The woman’s attorneys contend she is innocent , saying she was mistreated by police and prosecutors after reporting she was raped by a friend of her ex-boyfriend last year.
Prosecutors had contended the woman fabricated the story out of regret and to get back at her ex-boyfriend. Police have said text messages show the sex was consensual.
The woman contended the messages made light of the incident because she was not able to admit at the time that she had been raped.
Wanda M. Seymour, 91, passed away Saturday, October 26, 2019. She was born May 25, 1928, in Sacramento, California, the daughter of Leonard and Lois (Phippen) Hawks.
She was a retired sales clerk.
She is preceded in death by her husband, George, and brothers, Lawrence and Lewis.
She is survived by her children: Rebecca Martin, Downs; Michael Williams, Denver; Dennis Williams, Denver; Kenneth Williams, Denver; David Williams, Downs; Steven Williams, Indiana; Richard Williams, Columbus, OH and Carol Burkhart, Ohio; 21 grandchildren and numerous great grandchildren and great-great- grandchildren, as well as siblings: Fern, Roy, Ray, Lorraine, and Doris.
No services are planned at this time. Domoney Funeral Home, PO Box 127, Downs, KS 67437 in charge of arrangements.
Goodland, Kansas, resident Robert Leroy Daniels, age 85, passed away on Friday, October 25, 2019, at his home in Goodland.
Bob was born September 18, 1934 to Raymond Chester and Lillie Lucille (Wilcox) Daniels in Goodland. He grew up in Goodland and graduated from Goodland High School in 1951. On January 22, 1977, he married Phyllis Nickerson-Finch. Bob was a U.S. Airforce Veteran, he worked as an architect draftsman for the Government Bureau of Reclamation in the Provinces of Vietnam and many locations in the United States. He was one of the main architects involved in the construction of the Hoover Dam in Nevada as well as many other government projects.
He is preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Norwood, Ted, Lowell, Billy and Donald; sisters, Pauline, Catherine and Ann; and stepdaughter, Peggy Bierhaus.
He is survived by his wife, Phyllis; stepdaughters, Jill (Ken) Johnson, Debbie McCloud of Loveland, CO; stepson Budd Finch of Loveland, CO; brother, Jim (Joyce) Daniels of Goodland, KS; and many nieces, nephews, family and friends.
Memorial service will be Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 11 a.m. MT at the Goodland Cemetery, North Main Street in Goodland.
In lieu of flowers the family has requested that you donate to a charity of your choice in honor of Bob. Online condolences and information www.batemanfuneral.com
Kirby Lee VanDegrift, 64, passed away on October 24, 2019 at his home in Ness City, Kansas. He was born on September 22, 1955 in Ness City, Kansas the son of Barry and Loretta (Switzer) VanDegrift.
He was a Rig Operator for both Cheyenne Well Service and Hembree Well Service. He also worked several years as a custodian and later as head custodian for the Ness City Public Schools. Kirby enjoyed hunting and fishing, working on cars, working with wood, and cooking on the barbecue for his family and friends. On November 12, 1977 he married Sharon Castor in Ness City. Together they had two children, Lori and Tony. They were later divorced. He married Nancy Holt on Saturday, April 1st, 2000, in Ness City, Kansas.
Kirby is survivored by his wife, Nancy; two daughters, Lori Weaver (Jeremy) of Ness City and Brenda M. Rhodes (Joe) of Corona, California; three sons, Anthony Vandegrift of Scott City, Jason E. Jensen (Donna) of Harvard, Nebraska, and David Jensen of Idaho Falls, Idaho; 3 brothers, Mick Vandegrift (Nancy) of Hutchinson, Rick Vandegrift (Carol) of Ellinwood, and Kirk “Cork” Vandegrift of Hiakman, Kentucky; 12 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren plus one on the way.
Cremation has taken place and a Memorial service will be held on Saturday, November 2, 2019, 10:30 AM, at the Fitzgerald Funeral Home, Ness City. Inurnment will follow in the Ness City Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be given to the Kirby VanDegrift Funeral Fund.
Marlin Henry Bernard, 86, passed away on Thursday, October 24, 2019 at his home, with his wife, Pat, at his side, in Osborne, KS. He was born January 1, 1933 to Henry Adam & Lucille (Louch) Bernard at their home in Hiawatha, NE. There he attended country school until the 8th grade. After the 8th grade he worked on the family farm with his dad.
Marlin met Patricia (Pat) Maranville while helping his cousin (on a date with Pat) dig his car out of the snow. Marlin gave her a ride home and soon they were married on January 6, 1952. To this union, 4 sons were born. Marlin & Pat shared 67 wonderful years together.
Marlin was a loyal husband, wonderful father & a good provider for his family. He ws very involved in all of his son’s activities including being a Scout Master for the Boy Scouts. As the boys grew, he was also a Methodist Youth Sponsor. His passions included breaking & training horses as well as spending time with family and friends.
Marlin was preceded in death by his parents and one sister, Maxine Reynolds.
Marlin is survived by his wife, Pat; 4 sons: Kenny (Dani Jo) of Kanopolis, KS; Larry (Julie) of Russell, KS; Danny (Deborah) also of Russell, KS; Kelly of Ellsworth, KS; 7 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren; 2 sisters: LaVeta Howard and Arlene Sharp.
Joyce Elaine White, 78, died October 27, 2019, at Morton County Senior Living, Elkhart, Kansas. She was born September 10, 1941, in Great Bend, the daughter of Joe T. and Emma J. (Reif) Prosser. She graduated from Hoisington High School, received her bachelor’s from Marymount College in Salina and later earned her masters from Fort Hays State University.
A longtime resident of Hoisington, she was an elementary school teacher, teaching primarily Kindergarten and 3rd Grade, and was also a reading specialist. Mrs. White taught in Salina, France, Schilling Air Force Base, Colorado, Odin, and retired in 2006 from Hoisington USD 431.
She was a member of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church and Altar Society. She was also a member of the KNEA and the NEA. She enjoyed reading and traveling in her spare time, but most of all supporting her grandchildren in their activities.
On January 18th, 1964, she married Jimmy Lee White. He preceded her in death on June 16, 2016.
Survivors include; two sons, Brian White of Hoisington, Blaine White and wife Jenn of Omaha, Arkansas; daughter, Jina Arellano and husband Joseph of Garden City; two brothers, Jim Prosser of Springfield, Missouri and Steve Prosser of Wichita; eight sisters, Bonnie Schremmer and husband Bill of Hoisington, Lois McClain and husband Jerald of Goddard, Celeste Meitner and husband Jim of Hoisington, Rita Solorio and husband Lou of Emporia, Nona Robinson and husband Bob of Marion, Nancy Yackshaw of Wichita, Patti Myers and husband David of Borger, Texas, and Annie Holmes and husband Jon of Shawnee; 13 grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, an infant daughter, Jane Marie White; brother, Allen Prosser, and a sister, Mary Jane Prosser.
Friends may call 12 noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. with Vigil and Rosary to begin at 7 p.m.
Mass of Christian Burial will be 10 a.m., Thursday, October 31, 2019, at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, celebrated by Father Anselm Eke, MSP. Burial will follow in St. John Church Cemetery, Hoisington.
Memorials can be made to St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, in care of Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home, PO Box 146, Hoisington, KS 67544.
John Paul Cameron, 53, passed away October 27, 2019 in Hill City, Kansas.
John Paul was born February 11, 1966 to James and Barbara (Martin) Cameron. He was the youngest of four children.
He grew up in Hill City but spend most of his adult life living in Massachusetts and North Carolina working for American Paper company as a printer.
He was proceeded in death by his father, Jim Cameron.
He is survived by his mother, Bobby Bell; brothers: Tim (Kathy) Cameron, Hill City, Jim Bob Cameron, Mesa, Arizona; sister, Rhonda (Jim) McDonald, Hill City.
GEARY COUNTY —A 22-year-old Kansas man has entered a plea deal in a fatal August 2018 shooting in Junction City.
Fontelle Jolly, Junction City, entered pleas of no contest in Geary County District Court Friday to Voluntary Manslaughter, a level three person felony and Aggravated Battery, a level five lesser felony, according to Geary County Attorney Krista Blaisdell
The court originally charged Jolly with Reckless Second Degree Murder and Aggravated Battery, level four, but pleaded no contest to the new charge in an amended complaint. A jury trial had been scheduled to begin on Monday, but now will not occur.
The charges stemmed from the August 31, 2018 fatal shooting of Felix Snipes, 29, Junction City, and the wounding of Cartavius King, 25, Junction City outside an apartment complex on Wildcat Lane on the west side of Junction City.
Snipes was shot two times in the chest and later died from his injuries. King had testified he was shot three or four times.
Court testimony has revealed the the incident began as an altercation between Jolly and his girlfriend in one of the nearby apartments. King was called to the scene and later testified that he remembered that he and Snipes told Jolly to leave the premises, and Jolly sat in his own vehicle. King said he and Snipes were ready to leave, they turned around and Jolly shot them. Sentencing for Jolly is scheduled for December 30.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Flooding along the Missouri River has stretched on for seven months in places and could endure through the winter, leaving some Upper Midwest farmland and possibly some homes encased in ice.
Flooding in Doniphan County Kansas in March 2019- photo KDOT
There are several reasons for the flooding, including high levels along the river, saturated ground and broken levees. And with forecasters predicting a wetter-than-normal winter, it’s possible flooding could continue in some places all the way until spring, when the normal flood season begins.
“There’s no end in sight. None at all,” said Tom Bullock, who hasn’t been able to live in his northwestern Missouri home since March because floodwaters cut off access to it.
In Missouri’s Holt County, where Bullock serves as emergency management director, roughly 30,000 acres (12,140 hectares) of the 95,000 acres (38,445 hectares) that flooded last spring remain underwater, and at least some of that floodwater is likely to freeze in place this winter.
Similar conditions exist in places along the lower Missouri River, where broken levees will likely take several years to repair.
Nearly every levee in Holt County has multiple breaches and many haven’t even been examined yet. Repairs aren’t likely to start on most of the area’s levees until next year, Bullock said.
One key contributor to the flooding is that the river remains high because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is still releasing massive amounts of water from upstream dams to clear space in the reservoirs to handle next spring’s flooding.
The Corps said it has been releasing more than twice the normal amount of water from most of the dams along the river and will likely continue at that pace into mid-December.
This year has been exceptionally wet in the Missouri River basin, and the amount of water flowing down the river through the year is expected to match the 2011 record of 61 million acre-feet (75.24 billion cubic meters). That is why the releases must remain high until the river freezes over in winter.
Other rivers and lakes in the region are also swollen. For example, parts of the James River in the Dakotas may not drop below flood stage between now and the start of next year’s flood season. About 50,000 sandbags are in place to protect homes and other structures near the river in Jamestown, North Dakota.
“I have never seen the water anywhere near this in the fall,” said Bill Anderson, who lives near the James in Montpelier, North Dakota. “If we get a bunch of snow, it’s not going to be pretty.”
South Dakota officials are also closely watching Lake Andes, which is the largest natural water body in the state and has been overflowing for months. The lake borders the Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation and is located near the Missouri River and Fort Randall Dam.
For the last six months, residents in the town of Lake Andes and surrounding areas have had to deal with high water that has washed out roads, flooded basements and inundated graves, said Kip Spotted Eagle, the tribe’s historic preservation director. The problem is exacerbated by a 1930s aqueduct that is not properly draining water from the lake to the Missouri River, he said.
“The water is going to freeze and it’s going to stay there and it’s going to be a big problem,” said Spotted Eagle, who lives in Wagner. “Families and kids are going to walk across that ice because it’s a shortcut to town. It’s a recipe for disaster.”
At this point, any significant rain or snow in the region could lead to new flooding because the soil is too saturated to absorb most of it and many rivers are high, according to the National Weather Service.
“It wouldn’t take a big precipitation event to renew the flooding in places,” said Kevin Low, a weather service hydrologist at the Missouri River Basin River Forecast Center.
The latest long-term winter forecast from the U.S. Climate Prediction Center predicts that much of the northern United States, including the northern Great Plains, is likely to experience a wetter-than-normal winter. That could mean there will be above-average snowpack in the Missouri River’s watershed by spring.
“It’s just not a very good setup,” Low said.
That’s bad news for farmers such as Gene Walter, whose low-lying land north of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was underwater for most of this year. Walter still can’t work on most of his land because even though the floodwaters have partly receded, it is still too muddy.
Crop insurance will give Walter about 75 percent of his normal income, but this year has been full of additional expenses related to flood damage, so “the financial drain has been unbelievable,” Walter said.
“We’re just tired, he said. “We’ve been beat up so much. We’re just tired.”
