Author: Hays Post
More US beef being recalled over salmonella fears
NEW YORK (AP) — More U.S. beef is being recalled because it may be contaminated with salmonella.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says a unit of Brazil’s JBS is now recalling a total of more than 12 million pounds of raw beef that was shipped around the country. JBS Tolleson in Arizona already recalled about 7 million pounds of beef in October.
Health officials say their investigation identified additional products with the USDA inspection number “EST. 267.” The products were packaged between late July and September. The USDA says any products still in people’s freezers should be thrown away. It says 246 illnesses have been reported.
The USDA says salmonella is prevalent in raw poultry and meat and is reminding people of to properly cook and handle meat. It says cooking kills salmonella.
John ‘Irvin’ Wolf
Irvin Wolf, age 91, Quinter, passed away Tuesday, December 4, 2018, in Olathe.
Services are pending with Schmitt Funeral Home.
Loren ‘Bob’ McCann Sr.
Loren “Bob” McCann Sr., 92, died December 2, 2018, in Clay Center, KS.
He was born on September 29, 1926 in Parkerville, Kansas, the son of Chas and Ethel (Fowler) McCann. Bob was raised in Parkerville and Clay Center.
He served in the US Navy during WWII. Bob returned to Clay Center following the war and married Darlene Shuler on April 11, 1950. He worked for Don Modean, Gamble’s, Farmers CO-OP, Swift and Co. and owned Bob’s Appliance Service. Bob was a member of the Wesleyan Church, American Legion, V.F.W. and the N.R.A.
He was preceded in death by his parents; three brothers, Charles, William and Lloyd McCann; sister, Florence Hunter; son in law, Frank Clark.
Survivors:
Wife: Darlene McCann of Clay Center, KS
Son: Loren D. “Bob” McCann, Jr. and wife Roseanne of Overbrook, KS
Daughter: Lynnette Clark of Clay Center, KS
Daughter: Jan Straub and husband Otto of Clay Center, KS
Daughter: Rin Retzlaff and husband Dave of Clay Center, KS
Son: Barry McCann and wife Robin of Longford, KS
Son: Kelly McCann and wife Tracy of Clay Center, KS
Daughter: Diana Kopfer and husband Dale of Clay Center, KS
Sister: Nancy Bloom and husband Bill of Clay Center, KS
Sister: Retha Hornbostel and husband Loren of Clay Center, KS
Brother: Clifton McCann and wife Ann of Manhattan, KS
Brother: Jim McCann and wife Sharon of Oberlin, KS
Brother: Larry McCann of Superior, NE
Brother: Lowell McCann and wife Vonda of Hays, KS
Sister: Venita Elrod and husband Bob of Mulvane, KS
Sister: Carolyn Beausoliel of Sedgwick, Canada
26 Grandchildren, 62 Great-grandchildren & 6 Great-Great-Grandchildren
Funeral Services: Wednesday, December 5, 2018 at 10:30 at the Family Life Center at the United Methodist Church in Clay Center, KS
Minister: Pastor Rob Stewart
Burial: Greenwood Cemetery, Clay Center, KS
Visitation: Tuesday, December 4, 2018 from 3-8 PM at Neill-Schwensen-Rook Funeral Home. The family will greet friends from 4:30-7 PM
Sheriff: Man wanted by police since October arrested in Finney Co.
A man police had been looking for since late October has been apprehended, the Rooks County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday.
Derek Fritz, 36, was arrested by the Finney County Sheriff’s Office on local charges. He also faces charges of absconding from Kansas Department of Corrections parole on a Rooks County warrant.
Fritz was on parole for distribution of meth, felon with a firearm, aggravated robbery and other felony charges. The Rooks County Sheriff’s Office announced the search for Fritz on Oct. 26.
“We want to thank the public for any and all information that was shared, as well as keep the public informed,” the Rooks County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post. “Fritz will also have criminal charges out of Rooks County as well.”
Vera Elizabeth (Mayfield) Thomas
Vera Elizabeth (Mayfield) Thomas – loving mother and grandmother, supportive wife, tireless volunteer, and pioneering college professor – passed away June 15, 2018, at Fellowship Square in Mesa, Arizona. She was 95.
She was born July 14, 1922, in Stillwater, Oklahoma to William Thomas Mayfield and Mary Estella (Finn) Mayfield. She attended one-room country schools in Payne County, Oklahoma, before the family sold the farm and moved to town in 1928. She graduated from Stillwater High School in 1939. A top student, she was the Oklahoma state high school shorthand and typing champion. In 1939, she married Archie Carithers Thomas, also of Stillwater. They were married for 48 years, until his passing in 1988.
She and Archie lived in Stillwater, Oklahoma and Lake Charles, Louisiana in the 1940s. They moved to Hays in 1947, where Archie taught for 25 years as a professor of business at Fort Hays Kansas State College (later Fort Hays State University). Vera earned a B.S. in Education from Fort Hays State in 1955. She then worked as an executive secretary for Service Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of Standard Oil, for 10 years.
Vera went back to Fort Hays and obtained a Master of Arts in English in 1967. Shortly thereafter, she began teaching as an instructor in the business department, later the School of Business Administration, at Fort Hays State. From 1968 to 1973, she took summer school courses in computer science at Colorado State University, the University of Colorado, and the University of Hawaii, and began teaching college courses in COBOL, Fortran, and other data processing languages at Fort Hays in the early 1970s, at a time when there were few women professors of computer science in the United States. She became an Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor of Business Administration at Fort Hays State University, before retiring in 1982. During her time as a Fort Hays State faculty member, she served on the tenure committee and various search committees for department chairs and the university president
After retiring from teaching, Vera volunteered in the medical records department at Hadley Regional Medical Center in Hays, Kansas. While living in Hays, she also was active in the First United Methodist Church, the Fort Hays Faculty Wives Club, the Lincoln School PTA, the DeMolay Mothers Club, and a sewing club that endured for more than 30 years.
In 1984, she and Archie moved to Mesa, Arizona, where she lived for 27 years in the Leisure World retirement community. She volunteered in the Leisure World health office and the Banner Baywood medical center for more than 20 years. She was also an active member of the Velda Rose United Methodist Church and served as its Financial Secretary for 18 years. During the 1980s and 1990s, she traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Scandinavia, Great Britain, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and the Caribbean. She moved to Fellowship Square in 2011 and maintained an active routine of card games, billiards, dominoes, and breakfast outings, volunteering in the chaplain’s office, and serving as a tour guide for prospective residents, before transitioning to Fellowship Square’s Oasis assisted living facility in 2015 and the Reflections memory care unit in 2017.
Vera was preceded in death by two brothers, Oran Mayfield and Orval Mayfield, by her husband Archie Thomas, and by her daughter Patricia Thomas Cegelka. She is survived by her son Archie C. Thomas, Jr., of Owasso, Oklahoma; her son Andrew J. Thomas, of Los Angeles, California; her five grandchildren, Bill, Archie III, Miles, Cole and Isabella; and two great-grandchildren, Brennan and Blake.
A memorial service was held at Fellowship Square in Mesa, Arizona on July 23, 2018. Expressions of sympathy may be sent to Andrew Thomas, 6233 Orange Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048. Donations in Vera’s memory may be made to the First United Methodist Church of Hays or the Velda Rose United Methodist Church of Mesa, Arizona.
Viola Robben
Viola Robben, age 92, from Walker, Kansas died Monday, December 3, 2018, at Brookdale Assisted Living, Hays.
She was born May 26, 1926, on a farm South of Ogallah, Kansas to Michael and Anna (Sander) Hammerschmidt. She married Wilfred Robben on January 28, 1947, at Victoria, Kansas. He preceded her in death on August 23, 2002.
She was a homemaker and a farmer’s wife. She was a member of St. Ann’s Catholic Church, St. Ann’s Christian Mothers both of Walker, Kansas and St. Fidelis Daughters of Isabella, Victoria, Kansas. Her family moved in 1938 from Ogallah to Victoria where she attended school. She enjoyed playing cards, cooking, quilting, embroidering, her family and friends.
Survivors include three sons, Leroy Robben and wife, Karen, Melvin Robben and wife, Patty, both of Salina, KS; Norman Robben and wife, Linda, Walker, KS; seven grandchildren, Jason Robben and fiancé, Julie Richmeier-Werth; Jackie Vestal (Brandon); Christina Sramek (Ryan); Jamie Robben; Aaron Robben (Ashley); Daniel Robben (Kara); Patrick Robben (Amanda); nine great grandchildren and one on the way; one brother, Elias Hammerschmidt, Wichita, KS; two sisters-in-law, Bernice Hammerschmidt, Hays. KS and Agnes Hammerschmidt, Hutchinson, Ks.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; one son and daughter-in-law, James and Jane Robben; one great grandson, Landry Robben; five brothers, Fridolin, Richard, Norbert ,Alvin and Elmer Hammerschmidt; five sisters, Silvina Pfaff; Sister Armella Hammerschmidt C.S.A.; Helen Mohl; Mary Weigel and Irene Pfannenstiel.
Services are 10:00 A.M. Thursday, December 6, 2018, at St. Ann’s Catholic Church, Walker, Kansas. Burial in St. Ann’s Cemetery, Walker, Kansas.
A St. Ann’s Christian Mothers and St. Fidelis Daughters of Isabella combined rosary will be at 7:30 P.M. Wednesday, followed by a vigil service at 8:00 P.M. Wednesday, all at Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary, 412 Main Street, Victoria, Kansas 67671.
Visitation is from 6:00 to 9:00 P.M. Wednesday, at Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary Victoria, Kansas and from 9:00 to 10:00 A.M. Thursday, at St. Ann’s Catholic Church, Walker, Kansas.
Memorial to St. Ann’s Cemetery, Walker, Kansas.
Condolence can be left by guestbook at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or can be sent via e-mail to [email protected]
KLA members support more state funds for wildfire suppression
KLA
WICHITA – Members of the Kansas Livestock Association (KLA) approved policy addressing property taxes, wildfire suppression, animal traceability and other issues during the group’s annual business meeting November 30 in Wichita. KLA members drive the policy process, starting with regional roundtable discussions around the state in November, followed by committee and council meetings and concluding with approval during the general membership meeting at the annual convention.
“Input from individual KLA members is the basis for resolutions that guide the association officers and staff as we work through issues affecting livestock producers,” said KLA President Barb Downey, a rancher from Wamego. “KLA leadership essentially takes these member priorities and puts them into action.”
Members approved a new resolution supporting a Kansas constitutional amendment that would ensure state legislators have sole authority to appropriate the total amount of funds for K-12 education. It also specifies the judiciary should retain authority to review whether K-12 education funding appropriated by the state Legislature is equitably distributed among school districts.
In response to the state’s two largest wildfires in the last 50 years occurring in 2016 and 2017, KLA members passed another new resolution supporting increased state funding for wildfire suppression.
Property rights always are on the minds of livestock producers and landowners. Members approved a new resolution urging local and state law enforcement officials to actively enforce state trespassing laws along navigable streams in Kansas.
KLA members amended a resolution to support continued state and federal funding for the CattleTrace disease traceability pilot project. CattleTrace, which started in the fall of 2018, meets member policy criteria that any disease traceability program minimizes the costs to producers, optimizes the role of the private sector in administration and protects the confidentiality of individual animal owner records.
Another amended resolution opposes the introduction of a federal regulation similar to the 2010 Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration provision restricting certain types of livestock marketing.
Amended KLA policy strongly supports ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement. Congressional approval of the agreement is important because U.S. beef exports to Canada and Mexico combined are nearly $2 billion per year.
The membership chose to retain a resolution supporting an exemption for livestock haulers from electronic logging device requirements while modifications to hours-of-service regulations are under consideration. KLA supports hours-of-service changes that would protect animal welfare and prevent excessive freight cost increases.
Members chose to reaffirm a resolution supporting the Beef Industry Long Range Plan. The vision of the plan is “to responsibly produce the most trusted and preferred protein in the world.”
A resolution on the beef checkoff was updated to show continued support for the industry’s self-help program, which was supported by 74% of producers on the most recent survey. KLA supports an increase in the beef checkoff assessment rate to adequately fund beef demand programs partially due to a Cornell University study showing between 2006 and 2013, every $1 invested in the checkoff returned $11.20 to the industry.
The KLA resolution on immigration was reaffirmed. It opposes state legislation that would enact more restrictive immigration policies than exist under federal law. The resolution also supports federal immigration policy that would allow for an efficient and adequate guest worker program.
In all, KLA members approved 62 resolutions for 2019. Other issues addressed in KLA policy include prescribed burning, fake meat regulation, noxious weed control and deer population management.
KLA is a 5,600-member trade organization representing the state’s livestock business on legislative, regulatory and industry issues at both the state and federal levels. The association’s work is funded through voluntary dues dollars paid by its members.
Johnny (John) Monrow Holt
Larned – Johnny (John) Monrow Holt, 69, passed away December 3, 2018 at his home in Larned.
He was born October 24, 1949 in McAlester, Oklahoma, the son of Doyle T. and Clara F. Henson Holt. A longtime area resident, moving from Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1982, he was a high school vocational teacher.
He was a member of Larned Assembly of God Church, and Retired Teachers, both of Larned, KPERS Retirement of Teachers Life Member, LCPL River Security Group, Vietnam; He served in the United States Navy and was the current Post Commander of the VFW Post #7271, Larned. He enjoyed woodworking, working on automobiles, and spending time with his granddaughters.
On December 27, 2002, he married Lisa D. Sallee at Larned, she survives.
Other survivors include; a son, Kevin (Kista) Holt, Larned; three step-sons, Mychall (Sharee) Allen, Clarksville, Tennessee, Christopher (Hanna) Glass, Great Bend, Marcus Glass, Portland, Oregon; a step-daughter, Debbie (Larry) Jakel, Montgomery, Alabama; a sister, Norma Sue Lindley, McAlester, Oklahoma; three granddaughters, Kathryn, Abigail, and Olivia Holt.
He was preceded in death by his parents; a son, Rhett Edward Holt; three brothers, Robert L. Holt, William (Bill) Holt, Doyle Leon Holt; a sister, Melba Schull..
Funeral will be 10:00 a.m. Friday, December 7th, 2018 at Beckwith Mortuary Chapel, Larned with Pastor Ryan Webster Presiding. Military rites to be presented at Beckwith Mortuary following the service. Visitation will be from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Thursday, December 6th, 2018 with family present from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Beckwith Mortuary, Larned.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to VFW Post #7271 in care of Beckwith Mortuary, P.O. Box 477, Larned, KS 67550. Personal condolences may be left at www.beckwithmortuary.com.
Hoarding, roof collapse hinder crews at Kansas house fire
RENO COUNTY – Officials are working to determine the cause of a Tuesday morning house fire in Hutchinson.
Just after midnight, fire crews responded to report of a house fire at 721 East 2nd Avenue, according to a media release.
First arriving units found heavy smoke coming from the single family, one story residence.
Fire crews dealt with hoarding conditions that made the blaze difficult to extinguish. No one was home when the fire started, according to the release. The owner reported the fire upon returning from a trip to get groceries.
A partial roof collapse occurred in the rear of the structure that made it difficult for firefighters to access that area.
The Red Cross is working with the homeowner as the home is uninhabitable, according to the release. There were no injuries.
Hoxie native Hague preparing for new space station mission
NASA
At the post-launch news conference for the Expedition 58 crew, Roscosmos and NASA officials announced that NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, who were forced to abort their recent mission Oct. 11 to the International Space Station, are now scheduled to launch again Feb. 28, 2019, from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Hague, Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Christina Hammock Koch will launch aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft and join NASA astronaut Anne McClain, David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency, and Oleg Konenenko of Roscosmos as station’s Expedition 59 crew.
Hague and Koch will serve as flight engineers for Expeditions 59 and 60. Ovchinin will serve as a flight engineer on Expedition 59 and the commander of Expedition 60. The trio will return to Earth in October 2019 as members of Expedition 60.
All three crew members will participate in a news conference at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston that will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.
This will be Koch’s first spaceflight. Flight dynamics specialists determined Hague and Ovchinin achieved enough altitude on their aborted climb to orbit to qualify for previous spaceflight status, making this Hague’s second spaceflight and Ovchinin’s third.
For continued coverage and more information about the mission, visit: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/. Get space station news, images and features via social media on Instagram at: @iss, ISS on Facebook, and on Twitter @Space_Station and @ISS_Research.
HaysMed Hospice sponsors Community Memory Tree
Hospice at HaysMed, part of The University of Kansas Health System, once again will sponsor a Community Memory Tree.
With the holiday season approaching you can honor someone special in your life by donating $20 to the HaysMed Hospice. A brass dove ornament will then be engraved with the name of the person you are honoring or remembering. The doves will be placed on one of two trees located at HaysMed and in the Dessin Fournir building at 308 W. Mill in Plainville.
For over 30 years, Hospice at HaysMed has lit the community and the surrounding area with hope, comfort and understanding for the terminally ill and their families. Donations enhance the resources available for education, support the volunteer and bereavement programs in their entirety and cover patient-related expenses not paid for by insurance.
Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. The Memory Tree form is available at https://www.haysmed.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-Memory-Tree-Form.pdf
For more information, contact the HaysMed Hospice at 623-6200.
HAWVER: Transparency in legislative appointment process
With the elections over and the Legislature ready to start up on Jan. 14, we’re about to enter what has become a popular issue for the news media — transparency.
It’s the concept, not all bad, of course, that everything that happens in the Statehouse — and even the process of sending people to the Statehouse — should be available to the public, generally over the Internet.
There are likely dozens, maybe hundreds, possibly thousands of Kansans who wonder what really goes on in the Legislature: Who introduced what bills, who voted for or against them in committees, even who voted on amendments to those bills in committees.
And the latest issue aborning is how legislators who quit, die, move, or maybe move up from the House to the Senate, or from the Senate to statewide office, are replaced so their constituents are represented.
This year, the replacement cycle has started. Three senators were elected to higher offices at the mid-point of their four-year terms, and they will be replaced so that their constituents are represented in the Senate. Those selections are made at conventions of their party’s precinct leaders where fill-in candidates are elected and serve out the remainder of the predecessor’s term.
That replacement procedure has drawn some criticism from the press and political activists who don’t much care for a handful of political party officials choosing new legislators.
They’re right. Everyone would like a voice in electing those fill-in candidates, but practically, do they want a new election to fill that vacant seat? And if, say, Democrats (plus some independents and likely even some Republicans) voted a Democrat into office, should everyone be able to vote again on a part-term replacement? Hard to say. How often do you think residents of a House or Senate district want to vote on who will represent them?
Oh, and at least one of those Senate seats being resigned formerly was warmed by Gov.-elect Laura Kelly, D-Topeka. State Rep. Vic Miller, D-Topeka, was chosen by his district’s Democratic precinct committeemen and committeewomen to replace Kelly. And, yes, there’s going to be another of those one-party leadership conventions at which a successor to Miller is going to be elected by the Democratic precinct leaders in his House district.
Anyone can attend those conventions, but only Democrat precinct committee officials were able to vote on Miller and will be able to vote on his successor in the House.
It’s transparent, but, well, has a funny feel to it. But if the seats are going to be back-filled by another election, it could be spring and dozens of House floor votes before voters in Miller’s House district are represented.
This is just a shard of that transparency issue, in which some of the public wants everything done out in the open, even those votes in committee that are largely strategic to push an issue to the full House and Senate where it can be amended before a very public vote.
Yes, things are going to get more complicated this session. A new Democrat governor wrangling with a conservative Republican-heavy Legislature may find transparency an issue that can be used two ways: To publicly target opposition votes, or, with a little less transparency (translucency?), get an issue to the House and Senate floor for a vote.
Just how much transparency, ranging from filling vacant House and Senate seats to recording how lawmakers vote — or maybe videos which can show whether they scratch — in maneuvering in committee will be at the forefront again.
Transparency? Politically, it goes both directions, doesn’t it…?
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com