Carmenlee Hull, age 93, passed away on Thursday, October 18, 2018 at her home in Scott City, Kansas surrounded by her family. She was born on January 21, 1925 on the family farm in Texas County, Oklahoma, the daughter of Robert Allen and Leona Estelle Fenton Parker. A resident of Scott City, Kansas since 1943 moving from Guymon, Oklahoma, she was a teacher.
She was a member of the United Methodist Church in Scott City, Kansas.
On January 27, 1946 she married Kenneth Wayne Hull in Scott City, Kansas. He passed away on April 7, 1979 in Scott City, Kansas.
Survivors include her Three Sons – Lawrence L. Hull of Aurora, Colorado, Robert & Charlene Hull of Scott City, Kansas, Brad & Susan Hull of Scott City, Kansas, Two Daughters – Betty & Loyd Farr of Nickerson, Kansas, Dee & Syed Ali of Riverside, California, Special Friends – Susan & Merwin Johnson of Lyons, Kansas, Grandchildren – Mark & Deb Farr, Shaunda & Sheldon Stewart, Shannon & Barbara Farr, Marlin & Tricia Farr, Troy & Kaley Hull, Jennifer & Ryan Thomas, Jason Hull, Angie & Kris Radke, Sara Ali, Atiya Ali, Ayesha Ali, Andrea & Roque Rodriguez, Stephanie & Josh Bailey, Brittany & Tylan Eitel, Stevie & Kendra Fyler, Great Grandchildren – Marissa Stewart, Travis Hull, Matthew Hull, Braden Stewart, Katarina Hull, Blair Whaley, Hailey Farr, Ariel Hull, Abby Farr, Zander Thomas, Owen Hull, Avery Radke, Aaren Radke, Stella Hull, Gavin Hull, Preston Hull, Shalyn Radke, Hudson Hull, Zach Head, Sebastian Thomas, Lana Rodriguez, Alex Rodriguez, Lawson Bailey, Bryndan Bailey, Brooks Bailey, Hadley Bailey, Treyton Eitel, Titus Eitel, Bristol Eitel, Brianna Eitel, Avelyn Bailey, Hunter Radke, Great Great Grandchildren – Jack & Isaiah and Numerous Nieces & Nephews.
She was preceded in death by her Parents, Two Brothers – Harold Parker & Darrell Parker, Two Sisters – Darlene Kemper & Maxine Hansen and One Great Granddaughter – Ireland Hull.
Graveside Services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 23, 2018 at the Scott County Cemetery in Scott City, Kansas with Rev. John Lewis presiding.
Burial will be in the Scott County Cemetery in Scott City, Kansas.
Memorials may be given to the Carmenlee Hull Memorial Fund in care of Price & Sons Funeral Homes.
Visitation will be from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m Monday at Price & Sons Funeral Home in Scott City, Kansas.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The first living person to receive the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War will speak at this year’s Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce meeting.
President Barack Obama awarded Salvatore Giunta the nation’s highest military honor for valor in November 2010. Giunta was honored for risking his life in 2007 to save two soldiers during an insurgent ambush in Afghanistan.
Giunta, then an Army specialist, was a rifle team leader with a company from the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team at the time of the ambush. He was on his second combat deployment to Afghanistan.
Giunta later gave his medal to his brigade. He retired from active duty in 2011.
The Chamber meeting and dinner is scheduled for Nov. 29.
The unemployment rate in September dropped to 2.0 percent — down from 2.4 percent in August, according to Kansas Department of Labor statistics.
The majority of northwest Kansas posted jobless rates below 3.0 percent, with Graham County’s 3.2 percent the highest in the region.
Gove, Rawlins, Logan and Norton counties all had unemployment rates below 2.0 percent.
Statewide, preliminary estimates reported by the Kansas Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics show a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.3 percent in September. This was unchanged from August and down from 3.6 percent in September 2017.
“For the fifth consecutive month, the number of unemployed Kansans remains below 50,000,” said Secretary Lana Gordon. “This is the smallest number of unemployed workers in the state since January 2000.”
Seasonally adjusted job estimates indicate total Kansas nonfarm jobs decreased by 6,900 from August. Private sector jobs, a subset of total nonfarm jobs, decreased by 3,800 from the previous month.
“Employers reported fewer jobs in September compared to August. The losses were spread across government and private businesses,” said Senior Labor Economist, Tyler Tenbrink. “However, employers did increase the number of weekly hours for existing employees. Hourly earnings for workers went up as well. This resulted in robust growth in weekly earnings, 6.3 percent over the last 12 months.”
Since September 2017, Kansas gained 19,600 seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs and 14,600 private sector jobs.
Norma E. Holmes, 92, of Alton, KS died on Saturday, October 13, 2018 at Parkview Care Center Osborne, KS. Norma was born on January 2, 1926 to John & Theresa (Holtslander) Stroup in Osborne County, KS on the family farm.
Norma was a 1944 graduate of Alton High School. She attended Salt City Business College in Hutchinson, KS before returning to Osborne County.
Norma met and later married Jackson Holmes on October 19, 1949. To this union, one son was born. She worked as a bookkeeper for Midway Coop & Boettcher Enterprises of Beloit, KS.
Norma Holmes is preceded in death by her husband, Jackson, in 2004; sister: Helen; brothers: Paul, Raymond, Ralph & Duane. She is survived by her son, Richard (Beckie) of Hays, KS; 2 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
Blake Mckinley Sullivan, 21, passed away October 18, 2018, in Manhattan, KS. He was born in Parsons, KS, on February 7, 1997, to John L., Jr. and Annie M. (Goscha) Sullivan.
A lifetime Great Bend resident, Blake graduated from Great Bend High School in 2015, where he played basketball and golf. A senior, he attended Kansas State University as a full-time student studying management information systems with a minor in statistics. He was a member of the Lambda Chi Fraternity and cherished fellowship with family and friends, touching the lives of many people he knew.
Survivors include, his parents, John Jr. and Annie Sullivan of the home; sister, Erin Sullivan of Lincoln, NE; grandfathers, John L. Sullivan, Sr. of Logan, KS, and Donald Goscha of Norton, KS; aunts and uncles, Mary Sparks of Logan, KS, Allen and Teresa Hudson of Abilene, KS, Pat Goscha of Atwood, KS, Teresa and Alan Flores of St. Joseph, MO, and Craig and Mona Goscha of Lawrence, KS, and many cousins. He was preceded in death by his grandmothers, Ellen J. (Rundle) Sullivan, Alice (Peterson) Goscha, and Anne (Losey) Sullivan; and an uncle, Thomas Mckinley Sullivan.
Visitation will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 23, 2018, at Bryant Funeral Home, with Vigil Service at 7 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, October 24, 2018, at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Great Bend, with Father Ted Stoecklein presiding. Graveside Interment will be at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, October 25, 2018, in Pleasant View Cemetery in Logan, Kansas. Memorials are suggested to Blake Mckinley Sullivan Memorial Fund, in care of Bryant Funeral Home.
Kirwin resident Lynn Stockman passed away October 18, 2018 at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney, NE at the age of 81. He was born November 27, 1936 in Phillips County, KS, the son of James P. “Jim” Stockman and Dorothy “Velma” (Kennedy) Stockman.
Lynn was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather, who delighted in every accomplishment of kids, grandkids and great grandchildren. Survivors include his wife Carol of the home in Kirwin, KS; 2 daughters, Melanie Elliott (Terry) of Kensington, KS, Barbara Brumbaugh (Craig) of Logan, KS; 2 sons, Brien Stockman (Lynette) of Logan, KS and Shawn Stockman (Dana) of Camden, ME; 3 brothers, Bruce Stockman (Judy) of Kirwin, Kenneth Stockman (Diane) of Kirwin, and Keith Stockman (June) of Colorado Springs, CO; 11 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren (with another one on the way).
Lynn was a man of many talents, who worked a variety of jobs over the course of his career. As a young man starting out, he helped with the construction of the Kirwin Dam. He worked for Goodyear Tire for several years in a number of towns in Texas, before returning to Kirwin to work for McDowell Tire Company. Lynn started his own company, Stockman Tire Company, in Kirwin, which he ran for a number of years before joining Iowa Mold Tooling Co. Inc. (“IMT”). Lynn worked for IMT for 35 years, becoming a member of the coveted Diamond Club (25 years of service). He won many awards and honors, demonstrating exceptional skills at selling tire service trucks and related equipment all over the United States. Revered by his colleagues, he was known for his quick wit, and his many jokes and stories. He made friends quickly, and cared for people passionately, especially the underdogs or anyone down on their luck. He understood first-hand the value of second chances.
One of his proudest moments was being honored for his 60-year membership in the Masonic Fraternity. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Belleville Lodge #129, of Belleville, Kansas.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, October 23 at 2:00 p.m. in the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, Phillipsburg, with Rachel Ellis officiating. A private burial will be held in the Kirwin Cemetery.
The casket will be closed. Friends may sign the book from 5:00 to 9:00 Sunday and 9:00 to 9:00 Monday at the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Belleville Masonic Lodge #129.
Venda Marie Poore passed away October 19, 2018 at the Solomon Valley Manor in Stockton at the age of 99. She was born on September 9, 1919 in Osborne County, south of Alton near the river, to Bert and Essie (Deering) Dugan. On January 12, 1938 Venda married Alvin Poore in Long Island, Kansas. They were married almost 74 years and were blessed with four children: Mervin, Mary Ann, Larry, and Janet.
Venda grew up along the river attending the valley schools where she played basketball and softball. She graduated from Alton High School with the Class of 1937. She was a homemaker and farm wife. She was a member of Valley Club – Alton, KS, Woodston United Methodist Church, and was a 4-H cooking leader. Venda enjoyed gardening, canning, cooking, playing cards, and dancing at the Bohemian Dance Hall north of Alton.
Venda is survived by her sons Mervin Poore and wife Jeanne of Scott City and Larry Poore of Woodston; daughters Mary Ann Holmes and husband Garry of Fenton, MO and Janet O’Toole and husband Steve Zaragoza of Kansas City, MO; 10 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; and 1 great-great-granddaughter.
She is preceded in death by her parents; husband Alvin; sister Marvel Shaw; brothers Jake Dugan and Cleo Dugan; daughter-in-law Barbara “BJ” Poore; and great-grandson Jacob Thomas Foose.
Venda was a woman of great love and character. She will be truly missed by all her children and friends, but will live on in our hearts and minds as a woman who was truly the Fairest Among Thousands, Altogether Lovely.
A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, October 24, 2018, at 10:30 A.M. at Plumer-Overlease Funeral Home in Stockton. Visitation will be Tuesday 6-8:00 P.M. with the family receiving friends. Burial will follow in the Woodston Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to Solomon Valley Manor Activity Fund and may be sent in care of Plumer-Overlease Funeral Home, 723 N. 1st, Stockton, KS 67669.
As all the various hunting seasons unfold here in Kansas, so do incidents involving illegal hunters, AKA poachers. As I began working on this week’s column, I stumbled across a heartfelt letter sent to me several years ago by a reader whose family are all avid hunters and conservationists, but over the years have had inumerable problems with poachers on their land. Bear in mind, this letter was penned a few years ago after an especially hot, dry summer. I felt the letter worth sharing, so here is this week’s column entitled “Dear Poacher.”
Steve Gilliland
Dear Poacher,
The time is soon approaching to fill your pickup gas tank, load up your “partner in crime”, and set out to fill your freezer with venison, turkey, and pheasant. Although you may argue that all roads and right of ways belong to the public and the wildlife only belongs to the creator, let me argue a different point of view.
As a landowner and a hunter, your style of hunting violates the work we have done to keep the wildlife healthy and available for our family and friends. Let me explain.
This summer/fall particularly has been tough on the wildlife. Ponds have dried up and water sources have become scarce. Grain crops have failed to produce the usually yields. Habitat for wildlife has been destroyed by grazing and haying, leaving the animals looking for new cover and feed.
This landowner has responded to this situation by establishing fresh water resources. We hauled water twice or more a week. Salt and mineral blocks were set out and food plots were planted and replanted several times. Windmills were left pumping in vacant pastures. Cattle were fenced out of future food sources. We shared our growing crops (mostly involuntarily). We maintained current orchards and planted additional orchards for wildlife.
These things were not done to enhance your chances of success. They were done to ensure that deer, turkey, pheasant, and quail would continue to flourish and be available for our hunters, not only now, but for future generations.
Therefore, we want to make the following promises:
• When you choose to road hunt, we will identify your vehicle and report it to law enforcement. Road hunting dishonors you, your family, and the traditions of ethical hunting, and tarnishes the names of hunters in general.
• When you choose to spotlight and kill deer, law enforcement will be notified. By spotlighting, you are not only violating the law, you are putting a farmer’s property and livestock in jeopardy.
• When you choose to hunt without permission, we will press charges of criminal trespass and encourage prosecution. You are providing inappropriate role models for those who are hunting with you and those who hear about it. Is a pheasant really worth a tarnished reputation? We promise to clearly mark our land with purple markers and post sufficient signs.
All of the above are illegal. If caught, you risk losing your vehicle, your guns, your hunting privileges, and sometimes your job. A hefty fine is usually part of the package deal.
We have worked very hard to help sustain and improve the quality and quantity of the wildlife in our area. As hunting seasons continue to open, do both of us a favor; hunt legally or stay at home.
Sincerely,
Reno County Landowners
Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!
Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].
Armen E. Ideker, age 76, passed away on October 18, 2018 at the Cox Medical Center in Branson, Missouri. He was born on May 17, 1942 in Great Bend, Kansas the son of Ervin and Stella (Reid) Ideker.
He was the first employee hired at LaCrosse Furniture and helped build it from the ground up. He worked at the furniture manufacturing plant for 30 years and retired as the Vice President and General Manager. He was a volunteer fireman for 21 years and the fire chief for 19 year for the LaCrosse-Brookdale fire department. Armen coached his son’s and daughter’s summer league baseball and softball teams and he was an active Boy Scout leader for many years. He loved the Outdoors where he hunted, fished, and camped. He was a great handyman and could fix just about anything. After retiring and moving to Branson West, Missouri he worked for another 10 years at the Whitewater water park in Branson as the head of grounds and maintenance.
He married Nyla J. (Rothe) on June 8th, 1963, in Ness City, Kansas. They made their home in Torrance, California, LaCrosse, and Branson West, Missouri.
Survivors include his wife, Nyla J. Ideker; son, Aaron Ideker and his Wife Sarah; daughter, Michelle Murdock-Martin and her husband Brian; brother, Welton Ideker and his wife Linda; grandsons, Hunter and Dylan Ideker He was preceded in death by his parents.
Funeral service will be on Saturday, October 27, 2018, 10:30 A.M., at Fitzgerald Funeral Home, Ness City. Burial in the Ness City Cemetery, Ness City. Visitation will be on Friday, October 26, 2018 from 4:00 – 8:00 P.M. at Fitzgerald Funeral Home.
Memorial contributions may be given to the LaCrosse-Brookdale Volunteer Fire Department.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Police say one person died and three people were injured when an off-duty Kansas City police officer driving a department van hit another vehicle.
Police spokesman Capt. Lionel Colon said the crash occurred Sunday afternoon on Interstate 435 near Arrowhead Stadium as Kansas City Chiefs fans were arriving for the team’s game.
Colon says the police van ran into a vehicle involved in slow traffic lining up to turn into the stadium. That vehicle hit a second vehicle, which hit a third car.
The driver of the van that was hit by the police vehicle was killed. The person’s identity has not been released.
Police staff often are on-call and use police vehicles while off-duty so they can quickly respond if needed.
She’s heard the predictions that a Democrat can’t get elected Kansas governor these days. Kansans vote mostly Republican, after all, even in her State Senate District 18.
So, Sen. Laura Kelly knows better than most that the race will be a close one. Recent polls show her slightly ahead of her Republican challenger, Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
But Kelly knows Kansans, Republicans and others. She knows what their big worries are, including that “Ïdealogues” might bring back tax cuts that she says “devastated” the state’s schools, roads and other institutions in recent years.
Kelly said she has been able to work across the aisle with Republicans.
“My own senate district is very Republican, by 10 points plus,” she said. “I’ve been able to win that district four times. And it’s because I’ve formed these relationships and maintained them.”
A common thing she’s heard from Republicans in her district during her four terms: ”I voted for you because you showed up.”
And she has been endorsed in the gubernatorial race by two popular Republicans, former Gov. Bill Graves and former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum.
What she’ll do as governor: Fix what she calls the damage from “the dark years.” Everywhere she goes, voters describe to her what the 2012 “Brownback tax experiment” did to state institutions:
• Class sizes ballooned; teachers left the state.
• The Kansas roster of foster kids jumped from 5,000 to 8,000 because there were no longer enough social workers to reunite them with their families or adopting families.
• Thirty hospitals are on the verge of closing in Kansas because the government refused to deal with Medicaid expansion, a topic she says voters bring up at every stop she’s made.
• Roads are crumbling. “You go into KDOT now (Kansas Department of Transportation) and it looks like a ghost town.”
• “And we’ve had the greatest out-migration ever in the past seven years. It’s because all those cuts made Kansas a much less attractive place.”
• “And there’s one thing I always bring up, on the road – I want to re-instate the state arts commission. I get a standing ovation anytime I bring that up, and it doesn’t matter what part of Kansas I am, Overland Park or Oberlin. We were spending $750,000 on the arts commission — and getting back $28 million, either from the feds or foundations. It was a great investment and reaped rewards all over the state.”
The dark years ended, she said, “because the Republicans and I want the same things: they want to fund their schools. They want Kansas to be a well-respected place that businesses want to move to and to grow.”
Republican voters two years ago elected moderates who combined with Democrats to end some of Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax cuts, and override Brownback’s vetoes. Kris Kobach wants to bring the cuts back, she said.
In the state’s primary in August, “Some of those really wonderful moderate legislators were taken out. We’ll have to see what happens in November, whether they are replaced by an ideologue, or by a Democrat.”
All this and more, she said, is why more than two dozen past and current Republican legislators in the red state of Kansas have endorsed her, including Kassebaum and Graves.
“We need to re-brand … go back to being a sane, open, welcoming state that businesses will look at, that people will look at.”
Voters are telling all three candidates that property appraisals and the sales tax are pricing some voters out of their homes and retirement savings. She agrees with Kobach and Orman that those taxes are too high. “We’ve got to lower the sales tax, particularly on food. Our property taxes are too high. Beyond that, we’ve got to get back to a balanced approach to taxes.”
The Brownback cuts forced the legislature and local municipalities to raise those taxes, she said, to offset what they lost from state-run programs funded with the income tax.
So would a Governor Kelly lower all taxes? Would she raise state taxes to rebuild schools, roads and other programs she said were gutted by Brownback?
“I’m not prepared to do anything about revenues until we really understand the full implications of what we did in overturning the Brownback experiment, and then what the feds did,” she said. “And we’re not going to know that until the middle of 2019.”
She hopes to make state government more open, but said she wants conversations with legislators before she would make any moves. There are many moves to consider, she said. Legislators often prepare bills without putting their names on the bills. Committees, where most of the debate and work takes place, don’t record the votes of committee members, another way to hide a legislator’s maneuvers. Legislators sometimes remove all the wording from a bill, and substitute other wording, a secretive process they themselves call “gut and go.”
Oftentimes, she said, the only way voters find out about state mistakes, big and small, is when a news reporter digs up documents and exposes wrongdoing.
News reporters are not the “enemy of the people,” she said. “Sometimes we need help. Somebody needs to hold us accountable, and the press does a really good job of that.”
Kelly has a master’s degree in therapeutic recreation from Indiana University. Her husband is a physician; they have two daughters.
Her running mate is Lynn Rogers.
– Roy Wenzl is an award-winning journalist who formerly reported for the Wichita Eagle.
Carmenlee Hull, age 93, passed away on Thursday, October 18, 2018 at her home in Scott City, Kansas surrounded by her family. She was born on January 21, 1925 on the family farm in Texas County, Oklahoma, the daughter of Robert Allen and Leona Estelle Fenton Parker. A resident of Scott City, Kansas since 1943 moving from Guymon, Oklahoma, she was a teacher. 
