Paul Cardennis II, age 70, of Saint Francis, Kansas passed away Saturday, November 10, 2018 at Hays Medical Center.
Arrangements are pending with Brock’s-Keithley Funeral Chapel and Crematory 2509 Vine Hays, KS 67601
Author: Hays Post
Catholic bishops delay votes on combatting church sex abuse crisis
BALTIMORE (AP) — U.S. Catholic bishops abruptly postponed plans Monday to vote on proposed new steps to address the clergy sex abuse crisis roiling the church at the Vatican’s insistence.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was told on the eve of the bishop’s national meeting to delay action until after a Vatican-convened global meeting on sex abuse in February.
“We are not ourselves happy about this,” DiNardo told reporters in an unusual public display of frustration at a Vatican pronouncement.
“We are working very hard to move to action — and we’ll do it,” he said. “I think people in the church have a right to be skeptical. I think they also have a right to be hopeful.”
The bishops are meeting through Wednesday in Baltimore and had been expected to consider several steps to combat abuse, including a new code of conduct for themselves and the creation of a special commission, including lay experts, to review complaints against the bishops.
The bishops plan to proceed with discussing these proposals, which were drafted in September by the bishops’ Administrative Committee. Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, of Chicago, suggested the bishops could hold a non-binding vote on the proposals while in Baltimore and then convene a special assembly for a formal vote after considering the results of the global meeting in February.
“I realize that another meeting will create logistical challenges for the conference staff and the bishops’ schedules, but there is a grave urgency to this matter and we cannot delay,” Cupich said.
Abuse scandals have roiled the Roman Catholic Church worldwide for decades, but there have been major developments this year in the U.S.
In July, Pope Francis removed U.S. church leader Theodore McCarrick as a cardinal after church investigators said an allegation that he groped a teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible. Subsequently, several former seminarians and priests reported they too had been abused or harassed by McCarrick as adults, triggering debate over who might have known and covered up McCarrick’s misconduct.
In August, a grand jury report in Pennsylvania detailed decades of abuse and cover-up in six dioceses, alleging more than 1,000 children had been abused over the years by about 300 priests. Since then, a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia has begun working on a federal criminal case centered on child exploitation, and attorneys general in several other states have launched investigations.
DiNardo, in his address opening the bishops’ assembly, told survivors of clergy abuse he was “deeply sorry.”
“Some would say this is entirely a crisis of the past. It is not,” DiNardo said. “We must never victimize survivors over again by demanding they heal on our timeline.”
After DiNardo’s address, the bishops adjourned to a chapel for a daylong session of prayer that includes remarks by two survivors of clergy abuse who have worked to promote healing and reconciliation among other victims.
“Please understand the heart of the church is broken and you need to fix this now,'” Luis A. Torres Jr. told the bishops. “You were not called to be CEOs… You were not called to be princes. Be the priests that you were called to be. Please act now. Be better. Be good.”
Outside the conference hall, news of the delay in voting angered some protesters who were demanding the bishops take strong action against abuse.
“I know that they answer to the Holy See, but there’s a bigger imperative here, which is that children and victims need them to step forward,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, who works at the abuse database BishopAccountability.org. “By complying so meekly with what the pope has demanded of them today, they are surrendering their responsibility.”
Liz McCloskey, part of a coalition of concerned Catholics called the 5 Theses movement that has posted its proposals for reform on church doors in Baltimore and other cities, said the stakes couldn’t be higher. She said Catholics were “leaving in droves” in the absence of significant reforms and full transparency.
“Delaying taking any action in response to the sex abuse scandal is not only a public relations nightmare but a moral failing,” McCloskey told The Associated Press.
Her group’s proposals for the bishops include cooperating fully with investigations and releasing names of credibly accused clergy, committing to shedding regalia and living simply, and asking Pope Francis to put women in leadership posts.
DiNardo said the bishops didn’t complete a final draft of their proposed anti-abuse actions until Oct. 30 and the Vatican, with relatively short notice, sought to delay voting because of potential legal complications.
Nonetheless, John Gehring, the Catholic program director at a Washington-based clergy network called Faith in Public Life, said the Vatican “just made a big mistake.”
“The optics are terrible, and it sends a message, intended or not, that Rome doesn’t recognize the urgency of the moment,” Gehring tweeted .
Kan. undersheriff in beanbag shooting death was untrained
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Court documents say a Kansas undersheriff who shot and killed a man with a beanbag round hadn’t been trained on how to properly use the weapon.
A police expert says in a report for the prosecution that the lack of training led 60-year-old Virgil “Dusty” Brewer to aim at the wrong part of Steven Myers’ body as Myers left a Barber County shed. Authorities tracked Myers to the shed last year after he was accused of threatening people with a gun outside a bar in Sun City, about 110 miles (177 kilometers) west of Wichita.
An instructor on use of force and less lethal weapons wrote in the report that Brewer also didn’t use the right kind of round. Brewer is charged with involuntary manslaughter.
TMP-Marian to participate in #iGiveCatholic campaign
TMP-M
Thomas More Prep-Marian (TMP-M), Hays, as well as other Catholic organizations are participating in the #iGiveCatholic campaign. The #iGiveCatholic campaign is a platform to take advantage of #GivingTuesday in order to benefit local Catholic entities.
The actual day of giving is Tuesday, November 27, 2018, in conjunction with #GivingTuesday, which is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration. It is a movement to create an international day of giving at the beginning of the Christmas season in order to offset the Black Friday and Cyber Monday phenomena. A simple act of kindness to create an endless ripple effect.
Early giving will be available from Monday, November 12, through Monday, November 26, 2018. Donations made during the early giving period will be credited to the organization on November 27.
The Salina Diocese has obtained $50,000 in matching funds available up to $1000 per gift. Gifts with a minimum amount of $25 will be accepted and there is no maximum donation. All matching funds are on a first come first serve basis. We encourage you to take advantage of the matching funds before that opportunity is gone.
Nearly 100 Catholic organizations with the Salina Diocese are participating in #iGiveCatholic including Thomas More Prep-Marian, Holy Family Elementary, Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Parish, St. Nicholas of Myra Catholic Church, Divine Mercy Radio, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and Comeau Catholic Campus Center, St. Francis of Assisi (Munjor), Our Lady Help of Christians (Antonino), St. Catherine Parish (Catharine) and St. Anthony Parish (Schoenchen). Your contributions through #iGiveCatholic will provide an immediate and direct blessing on TMP-Marian as the gifts will be placed in the St. Thomas More Society (STMS).
Access #iGiveCatholic directly by visiting https://salina.igivecatholic.org. Please contact your local Catholic organization directly for questions regarding participation. For questions regarding #iGiveCatholic donations contact TMP-Marian Advancement Director, Troy Ruda, at (785) 621-5427 or [email protected].
Most Kansas City Area Hospitals Do Well In Patient Safety Report
By Dan Margolies
Seven of 20 Kansas City area hospitals got A’s in patient safety, according to a new report, while nine got B’s and four got C’s.
HCA MIDWEST HEALTH
The grades were assigned by The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit that twice a year rates 2,600 general acute-care hospitals across the country on patient safety measures.
The 28 performance measures include handwashing practices, blood infections and patient falls. Leapfrog uses the measures to come up with a single letter grade ranging from A to F, meant to show how effective a hospital is in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.
“Over 33,000 lives could be saved if all hospitals performed at the level of A-graded hospitals,” Leapfrog says.
Some health experts say 4 percent of patients acquire infections in hospitals. Leapfrog says that an analysis it commissioned from the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins Medicine estimates 206,021 avoidable deaths occur in U.S. hospitals each year – and Leapfrog says that’s probably an underestimate.
The analysis also found that hospitals receiving Ds and Fs carry a nearly 50 percent greater risk of mortality than A-graded hospitals.
Listed below are the Kansas City-area hospitals and the grades they received:
A grades:
- The University of Kansas Hospital
- Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City
- Shawnee Mission Medical Center
- Providence Medical Center
- Centerpoint Medical Center
- St. Mary’s Medical Center
- Lee’s Summit Medical Center
B grades:
- Research Medical Center (main campus)
- Saint Luke’s North Hospital
- St. Joseph Medical Center
- Overland Park Regional Medical Center
- Saint Luke’s South Medical Hospital
- Liberty Hospital
- Saint Luke’s East Hospital
- Belton Regional Medical Center
- Lawrence Memorial Hospital
C grades:
- Truman Medical Center Hospital Hill
- North Kansas City Hospital
- Menorah Medical Center
- Olathe Medical Center
Dave Dillon, a spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association, noted that there are a lot of different hospital rating measures and they don’t always look at the same data.
The Missouri Hospital Association, for example, does its own survey, FocusOnHospitals.com, that includes all Missouri hospitals. (Leapfrog’s report card excludes specialty hospitals such as children’s hospitals, as well as critical access hospitals located in rural areas.)
“Additionally, not all of the data used is current,” Dillon said in an email. “So, a hospital might be performing better or worse, depending on the dataset and what practices the hospital has put in place to address specific issues.”
Dillon said hospitals have spent “significant amounts of time and energy to improve quality and patient safety.”
“As all hospitals get better, the competition to keep up gets fierce,” he said.
Leapfrog cautions that patients should never refuse emergency care because of a hospital’s safety grade but rather use the grades as a guide for planned hospitalizations and potential emergencies.
Its report card draws on data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Agency for Healthcare Research Quality, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Hospital Association’s Annual Survey Health Information Technology Supplement and Leapfrog’s own hospital survey.
Leapfrog also ranks states, based on their number of “A” hospitals compared to the total number of hospitals graded. Kansas ranked #24, with nearly a third of its hospitals receiving an A grade, while Missouri ranked #34, with about 23 percent of its hospitals receiving an A grade.
Kansas moved up three notches from Leapfrog’s last survey in spring 2018; Missouri dropped 21 notches.
The top five jurisdictions were New Jersey, Oregon, Virginia, Massachusetts and Texas. The bottom five were Connecticut, Nebraska, Washington, D.C., Delaware and North Dakota.
Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
Woman found in burning Kansas home has died
JOHNSON COUNTY— Investigators are working to determine the cause of a fatal Sunday night house fire in Johnson County.
Just after 9p.m. responded to a house fire in the 7500 Block of Kessler Lane, according to a media release. First units on the scene found smoke and fire coming from the split-level single family residence. Crews attacked the blaze on the upper level while other crews searched for occupants.
A woman later identified as 67-year-old Leanora Marks was pulled from the basement of the home. She was unresponsive at the scene and transported to a local hospital in critical condition where she died.
It appears the fire started in the basement where the victim was found but the majority of the damage was to the home’s upper level. The blaze was brought under control in about 30 minutes. The home suffered significant smoke damage.
FHSU’s presidential tour of Kansas begins; acting president fills in
FHSU University Relations
A more than 30-year tradition at Fort Hays State University continued today when the university’s president’s tour of Kansas began with a news conference in Sheridan Hall on the FHSU campus.
However, this year’s tour features the acting president, Dr. Jeff Briggs. University President Tisa Mason is recovering from an illness that has significantly reduced her ability to speak.
“While I have been acting president in the past, I have never quite had the opportunity before me that this week provides,” said Dr. Briggs. “I can tell you, I am excited to have the opportunity to tell the Fort Hays State University story.”
Acting President Briggs will make stops to visit with media and alumni in 12 cities during the week of Nov. 12 to Nov. 15. Schedule changes reduced the tour by a day from the original schedule.
The annual tour has been a tradition at Fort Hays State since 1987, when it began as a tour of western Kansas by then president Dr. Edward H. Hammond, who went on to serve 27 years in that post.
“This tradition began more than 30 years ago, when a new president – some of you may remember Ed Hammond – decided that the story of Fort Hays State University, who it is, why it is here, what it is doing and where it is going, was not a secret to be kept in Hays America but needed to be told everywhere he could take it,” said Dr. Briggs.
“Now, 31 years later, a lot of people around the world know and love Fort Hays State University because the people of this university have helped thousands of students unlock their potential and find the path to their dreams,” he continued. “But that story still needs to be taken everywhere we can take it.”
That story, he said, “is about hard-working, determined people coming together to learn from each other and help each other into the future, and to reach their goals they have had to constantly find new ways of doing things, as hardships and challenges presented themselves.”
He cited several markers of success for the university, including an 18th consecutive record headcount 20th-day enrollment this fall of 15,523 students, 423 more than last year. The year the tour started, the university had a 20th-day enrollment of about 5,500.
“Of special importance,” he said, “this fall we are serving 7,848 Kansans, a 3.6-percent increase from last year and a 10-percent increase since 2008. We are meeting our mission as a state-supported regional institution.”
He also cited this fall’s Washington Monthly rankings of universities across the United States. The Monthly’s ratings focus on adult and part-time learners, measuring them in terms of accessibility and perseverance. The magazine mined data from thousands of schools and from the federal government.
By that measure, out of 1,124 four-year institutions that met their criteria, Fort Hays State is one of the top 10.
A key part of accessibility, he said, is affordability, and he highlighted a graphic in the current issue of the Kansas Leadership Center Journal, which compared rising costs at Kansas Regents institutions. Their data showed that for the 2018-2019 year, tuition and fees for 15 credit hours at Fort Hays State are only $24.46 higher than if they had only covered inflation since the 2007-2008 academic year.
He noted that the FHSU Foundation’s $100 million Journey campaign, supported by over 7,000 donors annually, and launched publicly at Homecoming 2016, has to date raised $68 million. The campaign is scheduled to end at Homecoming 2021.
The Pillars of the Journey Campaign are Student Scholarships, Support of Academics, Student Life and Athletics. Private donations to the campaign provided $6 million immediate financial support to FHSU last year, $2 million of which went to student scholarships.
“In addition to immediate support, many donors have endowed their gifts to provide support today, next year and in perpetuity,” said Dr. Briggs.
He went through a partial list other signs of success at Fort Hays State:
• An expanding campus: two major student residence halls, Victor E. Village and Tiger Village opened this year; the Center for Applied Technology and Sculpture opened last year; and the art and design building will be ready for students next fall.
• Full-time, doctorally prepared faculty teach freshmen.
• The new Doctor of Nursing Practice program had its first graduates last spring.
• The university’s intensive focus on undergraduate research.
• Partnerships with community colleges around the state, making the transfer from associate programs to baccalaureate programs as smooth as possible.
• A focus on service, as in the Hansen Internships through Career Services and free hearing screenings in rural areas though the Communication Sciences and Disorders program and its partnership with the Kansas Masons.
“These stories, and many more, are the kinds of things we will talk about around the state this coming week,” said Dr. Briggs. “They are part of the university’s story. But you – the faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of this university – are the Fort Hays State University story. I am honored to get to pinch hit for President Mason and tell these stories.”
Richard Lee Lamp
Phillipsburg native, Richard Lee Lamp, passed away Tuesday, October 30, 2018, at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, CO, at the age of 58. He was born January 27, 1960 in Phillipsburg, KS, the son of Robert Lamp Sr. & Geraldine (Mennenga) Lamp.
Survivors include his brothers, Robert Lamp of Phillipsburg, KS; Rod Lamp of North Platte, NE; and Sister, Rhonda Lamp of Hoyt, KS.
Cremation was planned. A private memorial service will be held at a later date.
Friends may sign the book on Thursday, November 15, from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Friday, November 16, from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at Olliff- Boeve Memorial Chapel in Phillipsburg, KS.
Online condolences to: www.olliffboeve.com. Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, Phillipsburg, is in charge of arrangements.
Winter weather postpones HMS girls games
HMS
Hays Middle School 7th and 8th Grade girls’ basketball games scheduled for today (11-12-18) are postponed due to weather. They will be played on Tue., Dec. 4th.
Middle school dance raises money for orphans in Africa, Haiti
Community businesses really stepped up for our local middle school students.
On October 27, almost 400 middle-schoolers piled into the Hays Recreation Center for the second annual Defend One Halloween Dance which is a night of games, free food, dancing, costume contests and prizes.
From costume contests and dancing to dodge ball and 9 square, they were hopping all night long!
Over 75 prizes were given away including wireless Beats headphones, Xbox One S, iPad mini, Beats pill speaker, cash, and much more. It was all provided by local business sponsors.
The event raised $2,423.00 for orphan care in Uganda, Africa, and Gonaives, Haiti.
Cornerstone Orthodontics looks forward to hosting this event for many years to come.
Thank you local businesses! What a great and supportive community we live in!
Check the Facebook page for pictures of the event.
– SUBMITTED –
Christian college students kidnapped, sexually assaulted
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. (AP) – A convicted felon has been charged with abducting two Christian college students and forcing them to perform sex acts on each other at gunpoint after they violated curfew and were locked out of their southwest Missouri campus.
49-year-old Robert Hyslop is jailed without bond on charges of kidnapping, sexual abuse and sodomy. No attorney is listed for him in online court record.
Charging documents say the College of the Ozarks students fell asleep in a commuter parking lot last month because the campus’ front gate was locked when they returned after curfew. The documents say Hyslop made the man and woman drive to a highway lookout where he forced them to perform sex acts. Hyslop also is accused of making the woman touch him sexually.
Ellis Co. Attorney part of KS Supreme Ct. task force on pretrial detention
OJA
TOPEKA—The Kansas Supreme Court has formed an ad hoc task force to examine pretrial detention practices in Kansas district courts and report its findings and recommendations to the court within 18 months.
The 15-member task force was created by a November 7 Supreme Court order signed by Chief Justice Lawton Nuss. Its membership includes judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and court services and community corrections officers. It will have its first meeting December 13 and 14 in Topeka.
The task force is charged with examining current pretrial detention practices for criminal defendants in Kansas district courts, as well as alternatives to pretrial detention used to ensure public safety and encourage an accused to appear for court proceedings.
The task force will also compare Kansas practices to effective pretrial detention practices and detention alternatives identified by other courts. This comparison could be used to develop best practices for Kansas district courts.
“Every day Kansas judges decide whether to detain criminal defendants and under what circumstances. These decisions are made amid a national discussion about alternatives to pretrial detention and the need to ensure no person is unnecessarily deprived of his or her liberty,” said Nuss. “This is the perfect time for Kansas to examine its pretrial detention practices to identify if and where improvements can be made.”
Judge Karen Arnold-Burger, chief judge of the Kansas Court of Appeals, who will serve as chair of the task force, agrees.
“We’ve seen a lot of change in pretrial detention practices across the nation the last few years. We have an opportunity to learn from other jurisdictions, what they have tried and how it has worked for them,” Arnold-Burger said. “We won’t know what is useful to us until we take a closer look at it, and that’s what this task force will do.”
The Supreme Court created the task force under authority granted to it by the Kansas Constitution to oversee all courts in Kansas.
Creation of the task force follows closely a report from the ad hoc committee on municipal courts fines, fees, and bonding practices that in September made its recommendations to the Kansas judicial administrator and the executive director of the League of Kansas Municipalities. Judge Brenda Stoss of the Salina Municipal Court chaired that ad hoc committee, and she has been appointed to serve on this task force.
The municipal court ad hoc committee recommended that areas in need of additional study included bail and pretrial detention practices.
Members of the task force are:
Nancy Dixon, judicial administrator, Kansas judicial branch, Topeka
District Judge Mary Mattivi, 3rd Judicial District, Topeka
District Judge Lori Bolton Fleming, 11th Judicial District, Pittsburg
District Judge Wendel Wurst, 25th Judicial District, Garden City
District Judge Jared Johnson, 28th Judicial District, Salina
District Magistrate Judge Keith Collett, 8th Judicial District, Abilene
Judge Brenda Stoss, Salina Municipal Court
Charles Branson, district attorney, Douglas County
Todd Thompson, county attorney, Leavenworth County
Tom Drees, county attorney, Ellis County
Sal Intagliata, defense attorney, Wichita
Justin Barrett, defense attorney, Colby
David Harger, defense attorney, McPherson
Robert Sullivan, corrections director, Johnson County
Anita Cash, chief court services officer, 29th Judicial District, Kansas City
Rose Marie Koerner
Rose Marie Koerner, 74, Hays, died Saturday, November 10, 2018 at HaysMed.
She was born April 4, 1944 in Hays, the daughter of Joe C. and Catherine (Wasinger) Stecklein. On November 27, 1965 she was united in marriage to Melvin G. “Mel” Koerner in Hays. They celebrated over 51 years of marriage until his death on February 2, 2017. For 30 years she worked the third shift as a certified nursing aide at Via Christi Village, and she was member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church. Her hobbies included baking, crocheting, crafts, casino trips, playing bingo, and shopping trips to Walmart. She loved her dog, Teddy and spending time with her grandchildren.
Survivors include two daughters; Lisa M. Fose and husband Joel of Moundridge and Tamala LaPosa and husband John of Wichita, two brothers; Leroy Stecklein of Osawatomie and Ron Stecklein and wife Linda of Olathe, two sisters; Theresa Gottschalk of Hays and Charlene Weigel and husband Dennis of Gorham, four grandchildren; Trina, Ashley, Scott, and Heather Hupka, seven great-grandchildren; Evelyn White, Nathaniel Galle, Addilynn Gerrild, Lexi Gerrild, Tori Keller, Drake Leach, and Brooklynn Baumann, and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband; Melvin, three brothers; Rich, Elmer, and Donnie Stecklein, and one sister; Dolores Dreher.
Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 13, 2018 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 1805 Vine Street, with Fr. Barry Brinkman officiating. Burial will follow in the St. Joseph Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 on Monday and from 9:00 a.m. until 9:45 on Tuesday, all at the Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home, 1906 Pine Street. A rosary and vigil service will be at 6:30 p.m. on Monday at the funeral home.
Memorials are suggested to the family wishes, in care of the funeral home. Condolences may be left for the family at www.haysmemorial.com.