John C. Winter, age 64, of Hoxie, KS, passed away on Saturday, January 26, 2019 at HaysMed in Hays.
He was born on December 6, 1954 in Hoxie to Joseph D. Winter, Jr., and Agnes (Campbell) Winter. John was a 1973 graduate from Sheridan County High School.
John was a lifetime farmer and avid hunter. He was employed by Hoxie Sprayers the last several years.
Survivors include his mother, Agnes Winter of Hoxie; sister, Mary Lou Jones and her husband Randall of Colby; brother, Vic Winter and his wife Joan of Ellis as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
He is preceded in death by his father, Joseph D. Winter, Jr.; brothers, Dan, Mike and David Winter; nephew, Brad Winter.
Cremation has taken place. A Funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, February 2 at 10:00 A.M. at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church, 924 17th St., Hoxie, KS 67740. Inurnment will follow at Hoxie City Cemetery.
A memorial visitation/wake will be held on Friday, February 1, from 5-8:00 P.M. at the church.
The Recital of the Holy Rosary will take place at 6:30 P.M., Friday, at the church.
Memorial contributions can be made in John’s loving memory to the Sheridan County Amusement Company. Contributions can be left or mailed to the funeral home.
Condolences may be left by guest book at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or by email at [email protected].
Arrangements are by Brock’s-Keithley Funeral Chapel & Crematory, 2509 Vine St., Hays, KS 67601.
A two-day CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) Course offered through NCK TECH will be held Feb. 18-19. The course will be eight hours per day and located on the Hays campus at 2205 Wheatland Ave.
Instruction will take place on obtaining a CDL learners permit. Upon successful completion, drive–time may be scheduled to complete the training.
Tuition cost is $750 plus $50 application fee. For details, contact NCK TECH, Hays Campus at 785-625-2437 or 1-888-567-4297.
For information and to learn more about NCK TECH, visit www.ncktc.edu.
The Hays Police Department will be conducting training between 1 and 4 p.m. Tuesday at 810 E. Eighth.
“Police officers will be training with special tactical equipment. This training is being done with great care and safety,” the HPD said in a news release. “As a home or business owner, you may see law enforcement officers move through your area. There is no need to be alarmed. The officers are merely conducting a realistic training exercise and there is no danger to the community.”
If you have any questions or concerns, you may contact the on-site supervisor (Team Commander Tim Greenwood or Team Leader Aaron Larson), or Chief Don Scheibler at 785-625-1030.
John Schlageck writes for the Kansas Farm Bureau.After 45 years covering agriculture in Kansas and Missouri, I will “pull the pin” (retire) from Kansas Farm Bureau Jan. 31. I’ll put my pen in the desk drawer, close my computer, hang up my camera and turn off the phone. Don’t worry, Insight will continue.
But I will not forget this vocation of agriculture and more importantly the men, women and children who call this vocation their own.
Who knows?
After a few months, I may put pen to paper and write about this most honorable profession once more.
The opportunity to advocate on behalf of agriculture for 45 years has given me a reason to believe. No other career I could have embarked on would have fulfilled my inner need to remain connected to a life I was born into 70 years ago in northwestern Kansas.
My family and four others literally carved the community of Angelus out of the prairie during the waning years of the 19th Century. Before settling in northwestern Kansas, they’d settled in up-state New York by way of Germany in the early 1830s. From there they moved to a small farm near Milwaukee, Wis. A decade later, on to Wein, Mo. and finally the short-grass prairie on the great High Plains.
Growing up in a family of hard working, dedicated German and French immigrants, I was destined to “tell the story of agriculture.” I will carry a place in my heart for the farmers and ranchers who remain a part of this vocation as long as I inhabit this old world.
After four decades of writing a weekly column, starting “Kansas Living” magazine, producing “Insight” on the radio, “Voice of Ag” radio spots, writing speeches for three Kansas Farm Bureau presidents, video production and managing KFB’s print media department, far too many events occurred to mention them all. Here are a few highlights:
Droughts, killing freezes, brutal winters with blizzards and loss of livestock, farm bills including the Freedom to Farm spearheaded by Kansas’s own Sen. Roberts, Russia’s Boris Yeltsin cutting wheat at the Rau farm in Sedgwick County followed by a visit from the white combine.
The advent of animal welfare including PETA and HSUS, Waters of the U.S. in a semi-arid western Kansas, the over appropriation of irrigation out of the Ogallala Aquifer, yearly Governor’s tours, Farm Bureau members lobbying congress in D.C. led by KFB President John Junior Armstrong in ’78.
So much history, so much fun and so many wonderful farm families. The opportunity to visit farms and ranches in all 105 counties. The chance to visit with members – in their pickups, combines or drive through a pasture filled with fleshy momma cow-calf pairs – as they proudly showed me their farms and shared the intimate details of their lives and livelihood.
I also witnessed the sorrow and pained hurt in the eyes of a wheat farmer a few minutes after a hailstorm hammered his crop into the ground. Followed by his vision and hope for the next great year. I’ll never forget and always cherish these moments.
I will remember always the friendships forged with farmers and ranchers throughout Kansas. We all share a love of this business of agriculture, each other and our Farm Bureau organization.
This continues to make Farm Bureau the best. We care on a personal level. Our families and lives became intertwined.
We share common concerns. Kansas agriculture remains a moving target, always changing. What’s right for you, may be wrong for me. Still, in Farm Bureau, we work together to find solutions for our shared industry.
At the end of the day, week, month or year, we love our great organization. We’re unafraid to tilt at windmills like the brave Don Quixote. We toil behind the scenes “to finish the task,” driven by dedicated farm and ranch leaders and dedicated staff, we make a difference in the agricultural vocation.
While it may seem like a long, hard road, it’s been an exhilarating ride. One I wouldn’t change for anything. I’m truly honored and humbled to have served with each one of you.
God bless.
John Schlageck is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas. Born and raised on a diversified farm in northwestern Kansas, his writing reflects a lifetime of experience, knowledge and passion.
With help from 58 donors and an $81,000 matching grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University is ready to officially open its newly renovated and equipped fossil preparation lab.
The ribbon cutting ceremony will be at 1 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11, at the museum, 3000 Sternberg Drive in northeast Hays. Representatives of the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce will cut the ribbon. The public is invited.
The Hansen Foundation grant, awarded in January 2017, was combined with proceeds from museum galas in 2016 and 2017.
Construction was completed in 2018, and custom equipment was then installed. The prep lab is now up and running with a graduate student lab manager and undergraduate volunteers.
“We plan to offer workshops for the public to those interested in being trained in fossil prep and becoming a museum volunteer,” said Dr. Reese Barrick, museum director.
The fossil preparation lab is where collections, research, exhibits and education intersect, said Barrick.
“It is where staff, volunteers, and students clean, stabilize, and repair fossils for long-term preservation before they are ready for research, educational use, or exhibit,” he said.
“The lab is a fundamental part of the museum, and having a large, safe, and state-of-the-art lab allows us to provide more hands-on education, volunteer opportunities, and professional development to students and the community,” he said.
The new lab is more than three times the size of the original lab, and Barrick said that will allow the space to be used as a hands-on classroom for K-12 programming and summer camps as well as for FHSU students.
Students will get hands-on experience cleaning and studying fossils that can spark their interest in the sciences and, said Barrick, “set them apart as they advance into college and careers.”
“Working with fossils is a big attraction to many museum volunteers and students and it a great way to get the community involved in science,” he said.
The lab is also a key resource needed to sustain the high-level of scientific research undertaken by museum students and staff and scientists from around the world. Because the lab is integrated into exhibit space, museum visitors are able to get an in-depth view of the scientific process not offered at other museums in the state, said Barrick.
The new space actually incorporates two lab spaces, the main the fossil prep lab and a smaller research lab. The research lab, occupying the old lab space, is a “clean” lab with computer, microscope, fume hood, and equipment for student, staff, and faculty research projects.
The labs together are named the Dane G. Hansen Paleontology Research Center. The prep lab is the Oceans of Kansas Fossil Prep Lab, named by Mike and Pam Everhart. The small research lab is currently unnamed.
Colton Eikenberry, Secretary/Treasurer, ECBA; Theresa Hill, Co-Director, Community Assistance Center; Christopher Lyon, ECBA President
The Ellis County Bar Association (ECBA) has made charitable donations totaling $2,000 to three local charities.
First Call for Help, Saint Francis Community Services, and the Community Assistance Center were designated to receive donations by a committee comprised of attorneys appointed by the president of the ECBA, Christopher Lyon. Members on the committee included Colton Eikenberry, Alex Herman, and Todd Powell.
The Ellis County Bar Association is comprised of attorneys and judges from Hays and the surrounding area. The group has regular meetings for the benefit of the members, organizes and presents an Annual Continuing Legal Education Seminar open to all attorneys, and makes charitable contributions to area organizations.
Attention all music lovers. Please mark your calendar for the Hays Symphony Orchestra’s free Valentine’s Concert at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9, in Fort Hays State University’s Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center, featuring an evening of ravishingly romantic music.
The orchestra will perform three exciting suites, all of which are fantasies of a sort.
Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” originated as a series of piano pieces memorializing the paintings of his recently deceased friend Victor Hartmann. The suite remained nearly as unknown as Hartmann’s art until it was orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. Led by conductor Shah Sadikov, the orchestra will play the Ravel adaptation.
“Carmen Fantasy,” an arrangement of Bizet’s opera by Pablo de Sarasate, will follow. Sarasate was a world famous 19-century violinist and composed the fantasy as a virtuoso piece for himself – today, it is his best-known work. Internationally famous violin soloist Veronique Mathieu will join Sadikov and the orchestra for the stirring fantasy.
“Pelleas et Melisande” began as a drama by the French author Maurice Maeterlinck. The suite, composed by Gabriel Faure, was commissioned as incidental music for the British version of the play. Guest conductor Mark Bartley of West Texas A&M University, also an associate conductor of the Amarillo Symphony, will lead the orchestra in the suite.
The post-concert reception will give the audience and performers an opportunity to meet and greet while enjoying refreshments sponsored by Insurance Planning.
Free tickets are available online at www.hayssymphony.org, at the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau, or at the Downtown Hays Development Corporation.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators in Kansas expect to push forward this week with an income tax relief proposal in defiance of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s call for lawmakers to avoid adjusting state tax laws this year.
A Senate committee is set to open hearings Tuesday and could vote Thursday on a bill aimed at preventing individuals and corporations from paying more to the state because of changes in federal income tax laws at the end of 2017. Top Republicans in the GOP-dominated Legislature have made tax relief a priority.
Republicans argue Kansas is receiving an unanticipated revenue “windfall” because its income tax laws are tied to the federal tax code. While the changes championed by President Donald Trump cut rates, they also included provisions that could keep many residents from claiming itemized deductions on their state tax forms.
GOP leaders also are pushing to have their proposed changes apply retroactively, so people benefit when filing their taxes this spring for 2018. The Kansas Department of Revenue told legislators Monday that taxpayers would save $192 million during the fiscal year that begins July 1.
“Whose money is it? It’s the taxpayers’ money,” said Sen. Larry Alley, a Winfield Republican and member of the special Senate committee reviewing the legislation. “Let the individuals and corporations get that money back that was intended for them.”
The GOP’s push sets up a political confrontation with Kelly, whose top priorities are increasing spending on public schools and expanding the state’s Medicaid health coverage for the needy.
Under the Senate proposal, the state’s revenue loss — and taxpayers’ savings — would be far higher during the next budget year because of refunds of taxes already paid for 2018. The bill would reduce state revenues by $113 million in the fiscal year that begins in July 2020.
“The question is: Can we afford it at this point in time?” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat. “You have to put it in the context of the entire budget.”
Kelly won the governor’s race last year by running againstformer GOP Gov. Sam Brownback’s unpopular fiscal policies. Brownback successfully pushed legislators to slash state income taxes in 2012 and 2013, and most of them were reversed in 2017 after persistent budget woes.
State officials have struggled to calculate the effects of the federal tax changes. Last summer, legislative researchers projected $146 million in additional revenues during the next budget year, but Democrats have been skeptical.
“This is not the time to be making any substantial changes in our tax structure,” Kelly said during a news conference last week. “We have no idea if there’s a windfall.”
But Kelly also has consistently refused to say whether she would veto a tax relief bill. Spokeswoman Ashley All said Monday only that Kelly would review any bill to “determine if it’s in the best interests of the state.”
The bill before the Senate committee would allow Kansas taxpayers to claim itemized deductions on their state income tax forms even if they don’t itemize on their federal tax forms.
The federal standard deductions have increased, discouraging taxpayers from itemizing. But the state’s standard deductions aren’t changing — a hit for some taxpayers who formerly itemized on their federal forms. Their savings would average about $60 million a year.
The bill also would make changes to keep Kansas from taxing foreign income earned by individuals and corporation — saving them $137 million during the next budget year, when they could claim refunds on their 2018 taxes, but dropping to less $60 million a year after that. Republicans argue that without such changes, businesses would be encouraged to leave the state for a more favorable tax climate elsewhere.
“I have a sense of urgency,” said Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican and chairwoman of the special tax committee.
She noted that individuals are preparing to file returns and added, “Businesses certainly need certainty.”
RENO COUNTY — A Kansas man made a court appearance Monday on two serious charges.
Petty-photo KDOC
Police arrested 40-year-old Richard Andrew Petty for breach of privacy — disseminating sexual media of a person 18 or older — and blackmail for videotapes and photos of a person.
The state alleges the blackmail charge occurred Sept. 1 and Sept. 14, 2018. Petty tried to persuade a person against her will by threatening to disseminate pictures or videotape.
The breach of privacy charge occurred Sept. 13 when he released photos or videos of the victim in a sexual act.
Petty was arrested on warrant after an investigation by the Hutchinson Police Department.
The victim was in court Monday and said she wanted the charges dropped. Petty said it was a misunderstanding.
Petty has a stalking charge pending from an incident on Jan. 9.
Magistrate Judge Daniel Gilligan agreed to lower the $50,000 bond to $25,000.
Petty served some time for an aggravated battery case from 1997.
The TMP girls stayed unbeaten in the MCL while the TMP boys suffered their third straight loss as the two teams split a doubleheader Monday night in Smith Center.
Girls: TMP 57, Smith Center 41
The TMP Lady Monarchs had three players scored in double-figures and outscored Smith Center by 12 in the third quarter as they pick up a 57-41 win Monday in Smith Center.
Early in the first quarter with Smith Center leading by three at 8-5 the Monarchs answered with an 11-2 run to take a 16-10 lead at the end of one. Sasha Wasinger scored four of her team-high 14 points during that second quarter.
Smith Center came right back to take the lead in the second quarter at 21-16 following an 11-0.
Down five Emilee Lane scored seven straight to spark a 12-3 Monarch run to put TMP up 28-21, a lead they would never give up.
They extended the lead to double-digits in the third quarter as they outscored Smith Center 18-6 on they way to a 57-41 win.
Game highlights
Wasinger’s 14, matched her career-high. Emilee Lane finished with 13 and Jillian Lowe added 12.
Bree Freiling scored 12 for Smith Center.
TMP improves to 10-4 and 5-0 in the MCL while Smith Center falls to 7-6 and 3-3 in the MCL.
Boys: Smith Center 66, TMP 58
After building a 21 point second quarter lead the Smith Center Redmen had to hold off a second-half rally to beat the TMP boys 66-58 Monday in Smith Center.
Bill Meagher postgame interview
The Monarchs and the Redmen traded baskets back-and-forth in the first quarter then with the game tied at nine Smith Center ended the first quarter and began the second quarter on a 23-2 run to build a 32-11 second quarter lead.
TMP trailed by 17 at halftime but cut the deficit to nine after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter the Redmen had again built a 14-point lead but the Monarchs put together a 16-2 run to tie the game at 56 with 1:08 to play. Lucas Lang hit back-to-back three during the run.
But Smith Center made enough of the free throws down the stretch to pull away for the 66-58 win.
Game highlights
The Monarchs had two score in double-figures led by the 19 of Jackson Schulte. Ryan Karlin added 14.
Griffin Kuger scored a game-high 21 for the Redmen.
TMP drops to 8-7 on the season and 3-2 in the MCL. Smith Center improves to 4-8 and 1-6 in the MCL.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) today announced his appointment to key committees, as well as his continued chairmanship of two influential subcommittees, in the United States Senate. Sen. Moran will serve on the following committees for the 116th Congress:
U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, Chairman
Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee on Defense
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection, Chairman
Subcommittee on Aviation and Space
Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet
Subcommittee on Transportation and Safety
U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Subcommittee on Transportation and Safety
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection
Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance
U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
“These committee assignments and their wide-ranging jurisdiction allow me to advocate for priorities important to Kansans,” said Sen. Moran. “Throughout the 116th Congress and as a member of these critical committees, I look forward to crafting and supporting legislation that helps rural communities grow and prosper, benefits farmers and ranchers, bolsters our Kansas economy and small businesses, provides for our nation’s military and veterans, ensures Native Americans have the tools they need to succeed and allows our federal agencies to perform their vital functions while responsibly using taxpayer dollars. I am grateful for the opportunity Kansans have given me to represent them in the United States Senate, and these committee assignments position me well to deliver results for our state.”
Sen. Moran will remain chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, which exercises funding jurisdiction over the Department of Justice, the FBI, the United States Trade Representative, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Commerce, to name a few.
Sen. Moran will also retain his chairmanship of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection, where he will continue to craft meaningful data privacy legislation and be a strong advocate for consumer protection and the empowerment of our Olympic and amateur athletes.
Sen. Moran’s membership on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee will further allow him to advocate for Kansans on a wide array of issues pertaining to banking, financial services, insurance, housing, community development and global competitiveness.
Sen. Moran has worked throughout his time in Congress to improve the quality of life for the nearly 250,000 veterans living in Kansas. He has served on both the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs committees and will continue this service in the 116th Congress as the second highest-ranking Republican member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
Additionally, Sen. Moran will continue serving on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs to work on behalf of the four tribes in Kansas and propose and support legislation that promotes tribal sovereignty, economic development and land management.
John C. Winter, age 64, of Hoxie, KS, passed away on Saturday, January 26, 2019 at HaysMed in Hays.
