PJILLIPSBURG — “In five years, I’ve never seen that happen,” said Clay Barker, Kansas GOP director, in response to the group of precinct leaders who were denied their ability to vote after paperwork failed to make it to the correct person.

“There was a large group of precinct leaders that, the list went to the Clerk, the officers thought the county chair was OK with it, he claims he never saw it until today,” Barker said.

At the heart of the situation is the person that holds the county chair position, Robert Pinkerton, who was in charge of calling the meeting Thursday to appoint a replacement for former state Rep. Travis Couture-Lovelady. Pinkerton also was in the running for the seat, eventually won by Ken Rahjes.

Several of the disenfranchised leaders indicated Pinkerton would not have received their vote.

Despite objections from the group unable to vote, the meeting continued, although 20 minutes later than planed.

“It was a strict rule of law, because someone had to challenge the result that those 13 couldn’t have voted,” Barker said.

As the meeting was political rather than governmental, neither the Secretary of State nor the Kansas Attorney General could offer resolution.

“It was something really of beauty but kind of a mess. It’s Democracy and it works so great,” said Rahjes, who won the seat after two rounds of voting. “Politics is local … and we saw that tonight here.”

The total group of voters included in the process numbered 57, with 20 proxy votes being counted through the 37 precinct leaders eligible to vote.

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

Following a preliminary hearing Thursday morning, Fernando Insaurralde Cantero, 20, Paraguay, pleaded not guilty to suspicion of rape, aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated burglary following an allegation from a Fort Hays State University student he had came into her dorm room the morning of Sept. 20 and had sexual intercourse without consent.

During the testimony heard in the preliminary hearing, the victim testified to being “very, very, very drunk” when she went to her room to sleep, to awake later with Cantero on top of her.

“I didn’t know him,” she said. “I was not coherent at all.”

She also testified there had been no communication whatsoever with Cantero during the encounter, waking up later in the morning, fully undressed, “confused,” as to what had happened.

Following the incident, testimony came out during the hearing that at 3:54 a.m. she had texted her roommate, questioning who had been in her room.

Officer Joshua Fleenor, FHSU police officer, testified during the hearing that video surveillance during the evening confirmed Cantero had been moving through the building with two others.

The two acquaintances of Cantero that were with him before the alleged incident occurred testified in the hearing, fleshing out events of the night.

Brandon Mitchell and Joseph Herrington both testified they had been with Cantero in the dorms, but only Herrington accompanied Cantero to the room of the victim.

Herrington testified he had met with Cantero in the common area of the floor both of them resided on in their dorm building. The pair then went floor to floor, opening doors in the girls area of the dorm in an effort to find someone that wanted to “hang out.”

When the pair reached the victim’s door, Herrington said Cantero walked in, whispered something to the girl, followed by an embrace and kissing. He said in a statement given to law enforcement she appeared “passed out” and was laying on top of her bedding, fully clothed when they arrived at the room. Herrington then left the area.

Herrington said he has heard of others going door to door in a similar manner, but it was not a common occurrence for him. He also testified he believed Cantero was intoxicated at the time.

The incident was investigated by the FHSU Police Department, Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office and the Hays Police Department. During the investigation, Fleenor said language was clearly a barrier, so Cantero spoke with officers through a translator. He used a translator during the hearing, as well.

“She waved for him to come in,” Cantero told police, and told police, “It was just regular sex.”

After the incident allegedly occurred, Fleenor said the footage showed he had a “completely different demeanor” leaving the area than he had going into the area.

Following the preliminary hearing, the prosecutor and defense agreed to move into the arraignment, during which Cantero pleaded not guilty to all three counts. He is currently being detained at the Ellis County jail, awaiting a bond hearing.

A jury trial will be set for the case at a later date.

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

PHILLIPSBURG – A group of Republicans from around the Kansas 110th District will gather at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Huck Boyd Community Center, 860 Park, Phillipsburg, to choose a replacement for the Kansas House seat vacated by Travis Couture-Lovelady following his resignation to accept a job as state liaison with the National Rifle Association.

“Because he is a Republican, the Republican County Party Chair of the county with the most registered voters in the legislative district … is responsible for calling a convention to elect a replacement,” said Clay Barker, Kansas GOP director. “The people that do the voting are the Republican precinct leaders in the 110th.”

The district has approximately 65 precinct leaders that are eligible to vote – either in person or through proxy.

“Usually a half to two-thirds of the precinct leaders will physically show up. And usually most, if they are not physically there, they have given their proxy to someone,” Barker said.

Normally the meeting would be led by Robert Pinkerton, Phillips County Republican Party chairman, but as he is in the running for the seat, another leader for the meeting must be nominated.

Once a chair for the meeting is found, attendees will then vote on the rules for the meeting.

“It’s usually a pretty straightforward process. I’ve been doing them all over the state,” Barker said.

Along with Pinkerton, others have expressed interest in the seat, including Palco Mayor Don Steeples and, more recently, Ken Rahjes, who moved from Elwood, Neb., to his family’s farm in Agra last week in order to be considered.

A typical meeting to replace an open seat includes nominations, short speeches from each candidate and sometimes audience participation, according to Barker.

As the meeting is considered a political meeting instead of a government meeting, there are no open meeting requirements, but the meeting will be open to the public, as is customary.

Although a number of people have expressed interest, there are no requirements to be elected, outside of the requirements of holding office – including party affiliation.

“Usually people hear about it pretty quickly and figure out how the process works,” Barker said. “They could just show up. There’s no filing. You don’t have to do anything ahead of time as long as someone will nominate your name. … They could elect anybody who meets the minimum requirements to be elected.”

The vote for the replacement is conducted through secret ballot, with the candidate receiving a majority of votes winning the seat.

In case of a plurality, the recipient of the lowest amount of votes will be dropped and another vote cast.

With the election this week, a lot can still change, however.

“There are a lot of rumors. Sometimes people check it out and decided they don’t have enough votes ahead of time and they don’t push it,” Barker said.

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may have passed, but great deals can still be found this weekend at Big Creek Crossing, 2918 Vine, as several stores are planning big sales in conjunction with Bath and Body Works hosting their biggest sale of the year.

“I have tons of my stores doing promotions on Saturday, so I think the whole mall is going to be busy,” said Katie Dorzweiler, property manager of Big Creek Crossing.

“Christopher and Banks will give away … anywhere up to $100 gift cards they can win for their event,” she said.

JC Penney also will be in the middle of its five-day friends and family event with specials going on throughout the store.

“We have created an event on facebook for these parties, the JC Penney one, if you share the event…we will be doing a drawing on Friday,” Dorzweiler said.

Two $25 gift cards will be given away for that contest.

The biggest draw this weekend, however, will be the sale at Bath and Body Works.

“Bath and Body works will do $8.50 candles, which is insane because candles are normally $22.50,” Dorzweiler said. “People go crazy for candles.”

“This only happens one time a year,” said Bethany Winkel, co-manager of Bath and Body Works. “We have over 60 different fragrances, so we have something for everybody. We have masculine, floral, food scents, outdoor scents, spices, you name it, we even have a pepper candle.”

She expects around a 40 percent increase in traffic in the store that day and will open for business an hour early, at 9 a.m.

To help promote the sale, BCC will be offering a $51 gift card drawing for users who join and share the event on facebook. That amount would allow the winner to get a crate of candles at Bath and Body Works, but can be used in other mall stores.

“For the Hays community, home fragrance is what they come in for,” Dorzweiler said.

Shoppers who cannot make it into the location on Saturday can also shop online, visit any other Bath and Body Works location, or phone orders will also be accepted.

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

Despite leaving public office Sunday with his resignation from the Kansas House of Representatives, public life was not quite done with Travis Couture-Lovelady. His move from representative of the 110th District to a state liaison for the National Rifle Association has drawn the ire of a national gun control advocacy group, a flurry of messages to Facebook and calls to the former legislator’s cellphone.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, a Washington-based group, posted a message asking people to contact Couture-Lovelady to provide feedback on his change in position Tuesday.

“Leading supporter of idiotic permit-less carry law in Kansas, state Rep. Travis Couture-Lovelady, resigns to accept a job as a lobbyist with the National Rifle Association. Before he walks out the door, contact him… and tell him what you think of him. You can also leave him a comment,” the post said.

Originally the post listed Couture-Lovelady’s capital office phone number, but was later changed to his personal cellphone after it was realized he would not receive messages from the capital office.

Both numbers were listed on the Kansas Legislature information page.

Following the post, Couture-Lovelady received calls and messages – many being “very nasty,” he said.

“Smart move to hitch a ride with the gun lobby, after setting up Kansas to rival DC as the nation’s shooting gallery. Suggest wearing a (bulletproof) vest to protect yourself from the environment you helped create. Won’t protect your head but that doesn’t seem to work anyway,” one message said.

Another simply called Couture-Lovelady an a*****e, something the caller, Tim Larson, defended as reasonable.

“Without a doubt,” he said in response to calling and leaving his message as an effective way to effect change.

“They’re being able to hide their behavior is what allows it to continue,” Larson said. “Anybody that quits a job to go work for the NRA right now has some serious motive issues.”

Despite Larson’s message to Couture-Lovelady, his message, like many others, came from outside Kansas and he had no knowledge of him personally or his legislative history prior to the Coalition posting his information and asking for comments. But he stood by his decision to make the call.

“Just the fact that he would quit a job that he was elected to, halfway through his term makes it even worse, but to give up on a job he was elected to, whether the money is better or not, it just says something as to how to his values and his lack thereof,” Larson said. “The NRA is one of the major problems in this country right now, they are involved in all kinds of divisive politics and they shouldn’t be.”

With the comments pouring into Facebook through the day Tuesday in response to the Coalition’s post, it might be easy to assume Couture-Lovelady left office in negative spirits, but local support shows a different picture as posts of support poured onto his Facebook page following the announcement of taking the new position.

“Most people locally have been very supportive. The calls to my cellphone and emails have been from out of state,” Couture-Lovelady said.

He received dozens of messages supporting his move, many from local residents who have known or worked with him during his time in the Legislature.

While he expected some feedback, the amount of attention his move made surprised him.

“I didn’t expect it to this level. I have been used to it to a certain extent at various times, but nothing went this far. Kansans are generally more polite in their advocacy methods. I am not sure what they hope to gain from this now other than giving their people something to do,” he said.

Couture-Lovelady also defended his move as a way for him to extend his role in expanding gun ownership rights, something that has been the spearhead of his legislative career.

“Gun rights have always been a passion of mine long before I started in politics,” he said “The opportunity to be able to make a difference on this particular issue on a bigger scale was too good to pass up.”

The Coalition, however, saw this move as one of personal gain for the former legislator.

“This is a textbook case of a lack of virtue in public service, so, yes, I feel this strategy is effective, it is appropriate and if we don’t do it, we will never save lives in this country,” said Ladd Everitt, director of communications for the Coalition. “We have given to many of these soulless politicians like Travis a free pass over the years.

“Like most people in America today, we’re horrified by the constant gun-related horrors we’re seeing in this country and obviously the timing of this decision by this gentleman struck a clear cord with people because of what we just observed in Colorado Springs,” he said.

The recent action by the Coalition was based solely on the change in jobs, as they had not been following Couture-Lovelady before, despite being a leader of open gun rights in Kansas.

“He was a guy I had never even heard of,” Everitt said. “This is the first news associated with him that had stuck out to me.”

Despite that, the Coaltion felt their action was appropriate.

“I think one of the reasons that we’re at this point in history, where we have a gun death rate astronomically higher than other free societies, is because guys like this haven’t gotten enough phone calls and emails over the years,” Everitt said. “I am delighted that people are sharing their feedback with him. I have no regrets.

“I think the best way to hold them accountable is to apply political pressure to them. A guy like Travis is not a principled man. This is a guy that clearly is in politics to enrich his own personal fortunes,” he added. “The best way to affect a guy like that is to apply political pressure to them, typically a guy like this is a coward and is going to move away from pressure.”

He also cited years of secretive politicking by the NRA and related legislators as being a primary reason for their success in the political arena passing legislation people do not support, including permit-less concealed carry in Kansas.

“Our side has suffered for four decades because the other side is the side that has made these calls,” he said. “Like 80 percent of Kansas disagreed with that bill…said they did not want permit-less carry. He is not representing Kansas.

“As for us describing this guy as corrupt as he is, if the shoe fits, put it on. This is clearly a breach of ethics, it is clearly a conflict of interest, if he didn’t want the feedback he should have been a good public servant,” Everitt said.