SALINA — A 41-year-old Salina man was booked into the Saline County jail Tuesday on charges that included six counts of rape of a girl under age 14.
Salina Police Sergeant Gary Hanus said Wednesday an investigation that began Nov. 3 resulted in the arrest Tuesday afternoon of Phillip J. Garrett, 41, Salina, on suspicion of six counts of rape of a victim under age 14 and one count of aggravated criminal sodomy.
The girl was an acquaintance of Garrett’s, Hanus said. The incidents occurred in a south Salina residence during a period of May through August, he added.
Hanus said the girl’s parents took the girl to the police after finding text messages between the girl and her friends that raised their suspicions and caused them to question her.
Scott SchwabTOPEKA (AP) — Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab is preparing to take over as secretary of state after promising to be less colorful and more focused on nuts-and-bolts administrative details than outgoing Republican incumbent Kris Kobach.
Kobach won the office in 2010 on a platform of rewriting state election laws. He boosted his national profile by championing tough voter identification laws and ran unsuccessfully for governor as a vocal ally of President Donald Trump.
Both Schwab and Kobach are conservative Republicans. But Schwab said in a recent Associated Press interview: “People want things to calm down.”
His plan is to focus on improving the day-to-day administration of elections but the Kansas Senate’s top Democrat has a proposal to curb the office’s power to oversee elections in the state’s four most populous counties.
Dr. Tisa MasonYou know the old joke: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.
It is a great metaphor for the payoff of hard work and determination – strong characteristics of Fort Hays State University. I am so proud of how our faculty and staff stay focused and put in whatever effort is required to stay the course to see our students reach their level of success. We invest everything we have in our remarkable students, preparing them to excel throughout their lives and careers.
Amidst the multitude of illustrations of how we prepare our students, one recent example of the Carnegie Hall expression came to fruition both metaphorically and, well, literally!
It was Tuesday, Oct. 30, and the Russian String Orchestra was on its way to Fort Hays State as part of our Encore Performing Art Series. They arrived in the United States late Monday night, but without the cellists. Apparently, they missed their flight due to some unfortunate ticketing problem. As Ben Cline tells the story, flying with a cello is harder than flying with unhappy children!
Cline, chair of the Department of Music and Theatre, went on to share with me that there was a lot of concern and angst – a missing section of the orchestra, Cline said, is like missing your running backs or defensive line. How would the show go on? Of course the show must always go on – right? And after all, this is Fort Hays State University. Determined. Resilient. A deliverer.
As the evening unfolded, our music chair and our guest conductor put together a plan to save the concert. The orchestra was able to put together enough music for the first half of the concert without the cellos. But they had to have cellos to make the second half of the concert work. Cline had an idea.
Misha (the Russian conductor), invited Cline to select students to play with the orchestra on a piece the students had worked on in the past – a very difficult work that is 30 minutes long (yes, 30 minutes, one song). Cline contacted the students on Monday night and they jumped at the opportunity. Even though they felt unprepared, they were willing to take the risk because they had the opportunity to work with a professional chamber orchestra; indeed, a once in a lifetime moment!
Early Tuesday evening, immediately prior to the performance, the students (Natalie Thomas, Stockton; Clara Kachanes, Great Bend; Jayce Milburn, Arcadia; Tanner Callis, Hays; Megan Rayl, Littleton, Colo.; and Carl Rorstrom, Hays), together with Cline, rehearsed and then performed this 30-minute piece of music with the Russian String Orchestra – all in the same evening. The audience was delighted.
Indeed, it was extraordinary!
I join Professor Cline in saying how really proud we are of these students. In less than 24 hours they helped locate the music, practiced as much as they could, and with that Tiger resilience, did their very best. Their effort and results speak volumes to their commitment and their willingness to take a chance. I am equally proud of Ben Cline.
One of the students described the experience as like “going into battle.” The students were focused. They were prepared. They were practiced.
I, however, describe the evening of Oct. 30, 2018, as a moment in time when our Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center was magically transformed into Carnegie Hall.
Grayce Joann (Bock) Lucas, 87, passed away November 20, 2018 at Country Living Memory Care, Larned, KS.
She was born August 17, 1931, in Hutchinson, KS the daughter of Alfred and Alice Bock. A longtime area resident, she was a housewife and a teacher.
She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, First Presbyterian Women, PEO, all of Larned. She was very active in many organizations and was a member of the Symphony Orchestra in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She taught junior high Home Economics in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and also taught part time at Barton County Community College.
On August 6, 1949, she married Dale D. Lucas in Macksville; he passed February 27, 2015. During their marriage she was an avid supporter of all his endeavors.
Survivors include; two sons, Daryl (Sandy) Lucas, Macksville, Myron (Cynthia) Lucas, Garden Plain; four grandsons, Sebastian Lucas, Garden Plain, Mackenzie Lucas, Garden Plain, Christopher (Krista) Lucas, Denver, CO, Nickolas Lucas, Macksville; one granddaughter, Emily Lucas; Macksville; three great granddaughters, Kenli, Kaybri, and Kypton Lucas, Denver, CO.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Dale, and brother Bob Bock.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Monday, November 26, 2018 at First Presbyterian Church, Larned with Pastor Bill Stapleton presiding. Visitation will be from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Sunday at Beckwith Mortuary, Larned. Private family inurnment will be in the Farmington Cemetery, Macksville, Kansas at a later date.
Memorials may be given to First Presbyterian Church, Larned, in care of Beckwith Mortuary, P.O. Box 477, Larned, KS 67550.
LAWRENCE (AP) — A judge is barring an attorney from representing the man charged with fatally shooting three people and wounding two others in downtown Lawrence.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Douglas County District Court Judge Sally Pokorny says she has “grave concerns” about the competency of Jennifer Chaffee. Pokorny cited a laundry list of missteps that culminated with a mistrial four days into jury selection in the high-profile case.
Chaffee declined to comment. She was representing 21-year-old Anthony Roberts Jr., who is charged with three murder counts and one attempted murder count. Two other suspects face less series charges in the October 2017 shooting.
Pokorny has appointed a new attorney to represent Roberts and says she intends to appoint a second attorney soon. Roberts’ trial is now set for Feb. 4.
Tony Gonzalez, Ed Reed and Champ Bailey are among 25 semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The three made the cut in their first year of eligibility.
Champ Bailey
In all, 13 defensive players, nine on offense and three coaches — Jimmy Johnson, Tom Flores and Don Coryell — are semifinalists. Contributors Gil Brandt and Pat Bowlen, and senior committee nominee Johnny Robinson are already finalists for the hall.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Light right falling Wednesday in some areas of Northern California could aid crews fighting a deadly wildfire while raising the risk of flash floods and complicating efforts to recover the remains of those killed.
Heavier rain was expected later in the day in the Paradise burn area, where a monstrous wildfire has killed at least 81 people and destroyed more than 13,000 homes.
Residents of communities charred by a Los Angeles-area fire stacked sandbags as they prepared for possible downpours that threaten to unleash runoff from hillsides left barren by flames.
Satellite view of the wildfires in Paradise, California. NASA
Forecasters say rain expected over areas of Southern California burned by recent wildfires could cause mudslides and rock slides.
In Paradise, teams sifted through ash and debris as they searched for bodies about 140 miles northwest of San Francisco.
“The task is arduous,” said Rick Crawford with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “And the possibility exists that some people may never be found.”
Officials said nearly 870 people were still unaccounted for.
Precipitation could hinder the search by washing away fragmentary remains and turning ash into a thick paste.
Authorities trying to identify people killed are using rapid DNA testing that provides results in just two hours. The system can analyze DNA from bone fragments or other remains, then match it to genetic material provided by relatives of the missing.
The technology depends on people coming forward to give a DNA sample via a cheek swab.
But as of Tuesday, nearly two weeks after the start of the inferno, only about 60 people had provided samples to pop-up labs, said Annette Mattern, a spokeswoman for ANDE, a Colorado company that is donating use of the technology.
“We need hundreds,” Mattern said. “We need a big enough sample for us to make a positive ID on these and to also give a better idea of how many losses there actually are.”
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for Paradise and nearby communities and for those areas charred by wildfires earlier this year in Lake, Shasta, Trinity and Mendocino counties.
The Camp Fire, which has burned an area about the size of Chicago — nearly 238 square miles — was 75 percent contained.
In Southern California, people who worried days earlier that their homes might be consumed by flames were taking precautions against possible mudslides caused by the approaching storm.
Residents filling sandbags at Malibu’s Zuma Beach were mindful of a disaster that struck less than a year ago when a downpour on a fresh burn scar sent home-smashing debris flows through Montecito, killing 21 people and leaving two missing.
The 151-square-mile Woolsey Fire in the Los Angeles area was almost entirely contained after three people were killed, 1,643 structures destroyed and 364 damaged.
___ Associated Press journalists Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco, and Christopher Weber and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Sportsman / Shawnee County Department of CorrectionsTOPEKA (AP) — A judge has found sufficient evidence for three men to stand trial in a double homicide in Topeka.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 19-year-old Matthew Hutto, 31-year-old Richard Showalter and 41-year-old Bradley Sportsman were bound over for trial Tuesday. They’re each jailed on $1 million bond on charges that include first-degree murder in the deaths of Sportsman’s estranged wife, 28-year-old Lisa Sportsman, and her cousin, 17-year-old Jesse Polinskey.
Twenty-year-old Cole Pingel testified at the preliminary hearing that the three talked about “taking care of business” while making the two-hour drive from the small town of Greenleaf to Topeka on July 22. The victims were found stabbed and beaten to death the next day.
Pingel is charged with interference with law enforcement for allegedly making a false statement during the investigation.
GoogleTOPEKA (AP) — Authorities say a statue of a bison calf has been stolen from a popular nature area north of Topeka.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Doug Iliff reported that the statue was broken off at the base and taken week from the parking lot at Iliff Commons, a privately owned area that is open to the public. It has several miles of trails for walking, running, cross-country skiing and mountain biking. A replica of Topeka’s original log cabin is situated on the trail.
Iliff estimates the statue is worth about $800.
The Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the theft. But as of Wednesday, there were no reports of arrests.
Louis Klemp, middle, has resigned from his appointed position as county commissioner after using a racist term in a meeting. Kansas News Service / Leavenworth County
Long-time city planner Triveece Penelton always thought if she ever made national news, it would be because of a great project.
But last week, the attention came instead when a Leavenworth County commissioner — a white man addressing a black woman — made a comment about the “master race” to her after she gave a presentation.
“No one wants to have a little micro part of their life all over the world in a negative fashion because someone was disrespectful,” Penelton told KCUR. “The magnitude of his comment is so great.”
“I don’t want you to think I’m picking on you, because we’re part of the ‘master race,'” Klemp said, pointing to his teeth. “You know, you’ve got a gap in your teeth, you’re the master race, don’t ever forget that.”
A public outcry followed. Calls for Klemp to resign stacked up quickly. His two fellow county commissioners, the city of Leavenworth, and Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer all said he should resign. The use of a term with Nazi origins made national news.
Klemp ultimately resigned Tuesday morning, issuing an apology in his resignation letter.
“I regret my recent comment made during a Leavenworth County Commission Meeting and for the negative backlash to the community,” he wrote. “My attempts at identifying a similarity (space between our teeth) with a presenter were well-meaning but misinterpreted by some and definitely not racially motivated.”
Colyer got news of the resignation Tuesday.
“Kansans expect us to do the right thing, and that’s what this is about,” Colyer told Kansas Public Radio Tuesday. “We’re a very tolerant state. We’re the heart of America.”
Penelton said in her 16 years as a city planner, people have made many racist remarks to her, or around her. But this one happened in public. And, she said she believes things are changing.
“We can’t continue to allow racist views to just pass by,” she said. “We’ve reached a point now where people feel like they have to say something, because if you don’t, people will continue to be comfortable in their position, when their position is really hurtful to people. But they don’t seem to know, or they’re not interested in the impact they have.
“But others are, so they are speaking out, and that’s a really powerful moment,” she said.
Penelton said she hopes people learn from the incident, especially those in positions of power.
“I’m prayerful that we as professionals, as a country and as a world can just begin to respect one another so that other people,” she said, “aren’t having to go through this.”
President Donald TrumpBy ERIC TUCKER Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has provided the special counsel with written answers to questions about his knowledge of Russian interference in the 2016 election, his lawyers said Tuesday, avoiding at least for now a potentially risky sit-down with prosecutors. It’s the first time he has directly cooperated with the long investigation.
The step is a milestone in the negotiations between Trump’s attorneys and special counsel Robert Mueller’s team over whether and when the president might sit for an interview.
The compromise outcome, nearly a year in the making, offers some benefit to both sides. Trump at least temporarily averts the threat of an in-person interview, which his lawyers have long resisted, while Mueller secures on-the-record statements whose accuracy the president will be expected to stand by for the duration of the investigation.
The responses may also help stave off a potential subpoena fight over Trump’s testimony if Mueller deems them satisfactory. They represent the first time the president is known to have described to investigators his knowledge of key moments under scrutiny by prosecutors.
But investigators may still press for more information.
Mueller’s team months ago presented Trump’s legal team with dozens of questions they wanted to ask the president related to whether his campaign coordinated with the Kremlin to tip the 2016 election and whether he sought to obstruct the Russia probe by actions including the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. The investigators agreed to accept written responses to questions about potential Russian collusion and tabled, for the moment, obstruction-related inquiries.
Mueller left open the possibility that he would follow up with additional questions on obstruction, though Trump’s lawyers — who had long resisted any face-to-face interview — have been especially adamant that the Constitution shields him from having to answer any questions about actions he took as president.
Trump attorney Jay Sekulow offered no details on the current Q&A, saying merely that “the written questions submitted by the special counsel’s office … dealt with issues regarding the Russia-related topics of the inquiry. The president responded in writing.” He said the legal team would not release copies of the questions and answers or discuss any correspondence it has had with the special counsel’s office.
Another of Trump’s lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, said the lawyers continue to believe that “much of what has been asked raised serious constitutional issues and was beyond the scope of a legitimate inquiry.” He said Mueller’s office had received “unprecedented cooperation from the White House,” including about 1.4 million pages of materials.
“It is time to bring this inquiry to a conclusion,” Giuliani said.
The president told reporters last week that he had prepared the responses himself.
Trump said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday that he was unlikely to answer questions about obstruction, saying, “I think we’ve wasted enough time on this witch hunt and the answer is, probably, we’re finished.”
Trump joins a list of recent presidents who have submitted to questioning as part of a criminal investigation.
In 2004, President George W. Bush was interviewed by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald’s office during an investigation into the leaked identity of a covert CIA officer. In 1998, President Bill Clinton testified before a federal grand jury in independent counsel Ken Starr’s Whitewater investigation.
“It’s very extraordinary if this were a regular case, but it’s not every day that you have an investigation that touches upon the White House,” Solomon Wisenberg, a Washington lawyer who was part of Starr’s team and conducted the grand jury questioning of Clinton, said of a prosecutor accepting written answers.
Mueller could theoretically still try to subpoena the president if he feels the answers are not satisfactory.
But Justice Department leaders, including acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker — who now oversees the investigation and has spoken pejoratively of it in the past — would have to sign off on such a move, and it’s far from clear that they would. It’s also not clear that Mueller’s team would prevail if a subpoena fight reached the Supreme Court.
“Mueller certainly could have forced the issue and issued a subpoena, but I think he wants to present a record of having bent over backwards to be fair,” Wisenberg said.
The Supreme Court has never directly ruled on whether a president can be subpoenaed to testify in a criminal case. Clinton was subpoenaed to appear before the Whitewater grand jury, but investigators withdrew the subpoena after he agreed to appear voluntarily.
Other cases involving Presidents Richard Nixon and Clinton have presented similar issues for the justices that could be instructive now.
In 1974, for instance, the court ruled that Nixon could be ordered to turn over subpoenaed recordings, a decision that hastened his resignation. The court in 1997 said Clinton could be questioned under oath in a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by Paula Jones.
Beginning Nov. 27, the National Weather Service NWS Dodge City WSR-88D radar will be down for approximately three weeks.
Technicians will refurbish and replace the pedestal, one of the most critical components of the radar, which is necessary for antenna rotation and positioning to capture data in all directions.
The components are extremely heavy and will require the radome to be removed by crane and replaced when the work is completed. The radar and pedestal were designed to last 25 years, and this radar has exceeded its lifespan. This activity is necessary to keep the radar functioning for another 20 years or more.
During the downtime, adjacent radars will be available, including: KVNX, KICT, KAMA, KPUX, KGLD and KUEX.
The Dodge City radar covers areas of northwest Kansas including Hays and Ellis County.
SALINA — A 41-year-old Salina man was booked into the Saline County jail Tuesday on charges that included six counts of rape of a girl under age 14.
