Think of farmers and ranchers and this old, often forgotten tribute comes to mind. It fits farmers like seed in the soil or ranchers like a new-born calf takes to its mother’s udder.

I’ve often heard friends, neighbors and family – my dad for one – quote bits and pieces of it. I’ve heard others refer to it at meetings, in church, at a sale barn, funerals and many other places where rural people live, work and congregate. It exemplifies the farm and ranch vocation. It goes something like this.

A man’s greatest possession is his dignity and no calling bestows this more abundantly than farming. Hard work and honest sweat are the building blocks of a person’s character.

Farming and ranching, despite its hardships and disappointments, is the most honest and honorable way a man/woman can spend days on this earth. The vocation of agriculture nurtures the close family ties that make life rich in ways money can’t buy.

Children who are raised on a farm or ranch earn values that last a lifetime that can be learned no other way. Farming and ranching provides education for life and no other occupation teaches so much about birth, growth and maturity in such a variety of ways.

Without question, many of the best things in life are free – the splendor of a sunrise, the rapture of wide open spaces, the exhilarating sight of the landscape greening each spring – true happiness comes from watching crops ripen in the field, watching children grow tall in the sun, seeing your whole family feel the pride that springs from their shared experience living, working and harvesting from the land.

Farmers and ranchers believe that through their shared vocation they are giving more to the world than they are taking from it – an honor and privilege that does not come to all men or women. Agricultural producers believe their lives will be measured ultimately by what they have done for their fellow men/women and by this standard, fear no judgment.

They believe when they grow old and sum up their days, they will stand tall and feel pride in the life they’ve lived. Farmers and ranchers believe in their vocation because it makes all this possible.

John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.

By JOHN P. TRETBAR

The Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association has its Board Meeting and General Membership meeting December 6 from 2pm to 4pm at the Petroleum Club in Wichita. Call Kelly Rains of KIOGA, at 316-263-7297 or visit them online at www.kioga.org.

US oil production climbed by nearly 300,000 barrels a day in September to the highest level since April of last year. Texas production recovered from Hurricane Harvey, jumping to 3.57 million barrels per day in September, up from 2.38 million the month before. The government report, which tends to underrepresent the independent producers in Kansas, shows the Sunflower State produced about 95,700 barrels per day in September, down from 97 thousand barrels a day the month before.

OPEC and other large crude exporters agreed to extend oil output cuts until the end of 2018. They will reportedly review the deal at the next OPEC meeting in June. Nigeria and Libya, two OPEC members exempt from the deal, have agreed not to increase their output above 2017 levels.

Independent Oil and Gas Service reported 13 active drilling rigs in eastern Kansas last week, up three, and 22 west of Wichita, down two. Drilling is underway at sites in Barton and Russell counties, and they’re moving in completion tools at sites in Barton, Ellis, Russell, and Stafford counties. Baker Hughes reported 929 active rigs nationwide, an increase of two oil rigs and four gas rigs. Canada reported 222 active rigs, up seven for the week.

Kansas operators filed 33 permits for drilling at new locations last week, 19 east of Wichita and 14 in western Kansas, including one in Russell County. So far this year, operators have filed 1,324 drilling permits.

Independent Oil & Gas Service reported 14 new well completions over the last week, 1,210 so far this year, including five in eastern Kansas and 9 west of Wichita. Operators completed one well in Barton County and two in Ellis County.

A federal judge on Monday ordered Energy Transfer Partners to coordinate with native tribes to create an oil-spill response plan for the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline by April 1. The ruling from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg came nearly six months after he ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers’ review of the project was inadequate. The judge also asked ETP to get an independent auditor to review easement conditions and submit bi-monthly reports on safety conditions at the Lake Oahe pipeline crossing.

A Corrective Action Order issued by federal regulators to TransCanada this week says mechanical damage during original construction may have caused the recent Keystone Pipeline oil spill in South Dakota. The US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in the order that the affected segment of 30-inch pipe was removed for testing and replaced. TransCanada was ordered to restart the pipeline at a 20% pressure reduction and to conduct additional testing to identify and address threats to the integrity of the pipeline system. PHMSA says the investigation is ongoing. The pipeline leaked more than 210,000 gallons of oil Nov. 16, forcing a shutdown.

TransCanada is engaging with Nebraska landowners along the alternate route for the final leg of the Keystone project approved by regulators November 20. The company filed a procedural motion hoping to address some questions raised by the order, the last major regulatory hurdle for the controversial pipeline. The ruling shifts the pipeline further east, away from sensitive ecological areas, which requires new landowner agreements. The Canadian Press quotes a senior vice president saying TransCanada has begun contacting the new landowners and would “…strive to reach agreement on mutually beneficial terms.”

There’s more political trouble on the horizon for that huge proposed oil-by-rail port facility along the Columbia River. The incoming Port Commissioner in Vancouver has already promised to cancel the lease, and now a Washington state energy panel votes to recommend the governor reject the project. The panel will forward its recommendation to Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee by the end of the year, and he will then have 60 days to make a final decision.

Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources reports another huge international sale of North Dakota crude: 430,000 barrels for January delivery to unspecified international markets. The announcement follows one in October in which Continental will sell just over 1 million barrels of Bakken crude for export to China.

The State of Idaho is once again asking the federal government to take over regulation of saltwater disposal wells for the oil and gas industry. At least one oil company head tells the AP the lack of class-II injection well permits is a big hindrance to future development in Idaho. EPA said in a notice it will take public comments through Jan. 11 on the plan to transfer a portion of the state’s Underground Injection Control program.

US oil purchases by China increased more than 77 percent over a month earlier to 208,000 barrels per day. The US becomes China’s ninth largest crude oil supplier. A year ago the US had not exported crude oil to China.

The cousin of Venezuela’s former oil czar has been arrested, as a $1.6 billion money-laundering investigation continues into Venezuela’s state-run oil industry. The state prosecutor announced the arrest of Diego Salazar Friday on charges of money laundering and association to commit a crime. The former oil minister and ex-president of the state oil company were arrested Thursday after being removed from their posts earlier in the week. Both are accused of embezzling state funds, conspiracy and money laundering. Some analysts claim the probe is an attempt by President Nicolas Maduro to consolidate power within his socialist party ahead of next year’s presidential elections.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro looked to the world of digital currency to circumvent U.S.-led financial sanctions, announcing on Sunday the launch of the “petro,” during a five-hour Christmas broadcast. Maduro said the crypto-coin would be backed by oil, gas, gold and diamond reserves.

There are times that news is good … but so little good that it really isn’t worth even tweeting your friends about.

And that’s what happened last week, when the Kansas Department of Revenue announced that the state took in $458 million in tax revenue for the month of November—$8.3 million more than predicted. That’s about 1.85% more than revenue experts had envisioned; if you left a 1.85% tip at the coffee shop, you’d never get a refill, would you?

So, good news, but really not worth crowding out those cats wearing red holiday hats on your friends’ phones.

Yet, for state government, it’s a start, and that’s $8.3 million that the state didn’t expect to have.

The issue is that the November windfall and another $108 million in additional revenue predicted for this fiscal year by the state’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Group of budget and economic experts still likely aren’t enough to constitutionally finance the state’s aid to public K-12 schools.

Remember, the Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that the new school finance formula passed by lawmakers last spring didn’t meet constitutional requirements to make sure that there is “adequate” revenue to schools to provide each child across the state access to a good education.

The court didn’t say how much more money the state needs to spend on schools—just more.

Chances are slim that November’s $8.3 million atop the $108 million predicted boost in revenue to be received by June 30 when this fiscal year ends will be enough to satisfy the court.

So, good news, but not enough good fiscal news to allow the state to avoid another tax increase to adequately finance schools or to cut spending on something else and transfer the money to schools or to figure out some way to overturn or emasculate the Supreme Court’s decision that the school finance plan in place now is unconstitutional.

New taxes on things that are exempt from taxation now? That’s going to be a tough one for lawmakers—especially House members who stand for reelection next year. It means not only finding new things to tax—and fighting with lobbyists who represent those untaxed businesses—but doing it quickly so the money starts rolling in by early spring.

Raising existing taxes? Well, last year it was income taxes that were boosted, and the year before that it was raising sales taxes. That doesn’t sound like a starter, does it?

Of course, there are still seven months left in this fiscal year, and it might turn out that the state has under-estimated just how much money the retroactive income tax increase will raise and whether those limited liability companies and self-employed workers will pony up more money than expected after a four-year break from paying state income taxes.

But month-by-month as the Legislature meets to craft a new school aid proposal and a budget for everything else the state does with your tax dollars, the time clock ticks on that Supreme Court decision.

Back when lawmakers thought they had the school finance issue settled for this year and next, they hoped the upcoming session would be short, low-cost and generally agreeable to Kansans who will vote for their reelection next November.

Doesn’t look like that anymore. Nope, it’s looking like the little revenue boost the state enjoyed last month isn’t near what is going to be required and lawmakers are going to have to raise more money from somewhere…which means you.

Unless…and you gotta hope…that state revenues are going to unexpectedly climb to dig out of the budget hole facing the state.

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

A report released today by NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, reveals new information about barriers that people with mental illness in our state encounter when trying to find affordable, quality mental health care.  

The Doctor is Out: Continuing Disparities in Access to Mental and Physical Health Care found that, despite federal law, people lack the same access to mental health providers as they have for other medical providers. And when they find a mental health provider, many are forced to go out-of-network at a much higher rate than when seeking primary or even specialty care.

More than 1 out of 3 survey respondents with private insurance had difficulty finding a mental health therapist, compared to only 13% reporting difficulty finding a medical specialist. And over 1 in 4 people receiving mental health therapy used an out-of-network therapist, compared to only 7% needing to use an out-of-network medical specialist.

Throughout NAMI’s history, parity – covering mental health and addition care at the same level as other health care – has been a priority issue. NAMI successfully fought for passage of a federal parity law that was intended to improve coverage for mental health treatment. Today’s report is result of NAMI’s third nationwide survey to learn whether people with mental health conditions were experiencing better coverage and access to care under parity.

The NAMI report was released simultaneously with a report published by Milliman, Inc. on behalf of a coalition of America’s leading mental health and addictions advocacy organizations. The Milliman report uses private health insurance data to confirm what everyone knows: people must seek mental health care out-of-network much more frequently than for other health care. It also confirms that psychiatrists are routinely paid less than primary care doctors and medical specialists for the same types of services – even those under the same billing codes.

Nationally in 2015, nearly 1 in 5 individuals received outpatient behavioral health care out-of-network – a rate 5.1 times higher than primary care services and 3.6 times higher than medical specialty care services received out of network. For individuals receiving inpatient behavioral health care out-of-network, the rate is 4.2 times higher than for other inpatient services.

In Kansas, the disparities are glaring. In 2015, individuals received outpatient behavioral health care out-of-network at a rate of 6.5 times higher than primary care services and 4.79 times higher compared to specialists.

For individuals receiving inpatient behavioral health care out-of-network, the rate is 3.95 times higher than for other inpatient services.

The data is in: the inequities for people seeking mental health care are real. And this means that people with mental illness aren’t getting the care they deserve. It’s time to level the playing field. The way our state can address this is for the Kansas Insurance Department to conduct random market audits of private health insurance and Medicaid managed care plans.

Access the NAMI report.

Access the Milliman report.

NAMI Kansas is the state organization of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, providing programs of peer support, education and advocacy in 15 communities in Kansas on behalf of individuals living with mental illness and their family members.

During this season, it’s exciting to visit the mail box to see who sent Christmas cards. Since childhood, I’ve loved receiving friends and loved ones’ annual greetings. The clever or sentimental sayings are nice, but the best part after the letter is the scene on the front of the card.

Peaceful outdoor scenes top all others. Every year I struggle to find a card that expresses how I feel about the out-of-doors and rarely succeed. In fact, I often resort to clever or sentimental verse simply because I can’t find the perfect image. Of course, it’d help if the picture was 3-D and had a sound chip. If it did, I know exactly how it would look and sound.

A deer hunt once led me into a Christmas card setting. That afternoon we hunted hills overlooking the Saline. The previous night, windless snow had fallen for hours, blanketing hills in pristine white. Nothing had traveled before us, so we were the first to disrupt the beauty. Everything before us was unspoiled.

Just enough snow frosted cedars dotting hillsides, weighing down branches. Whenever small birds would light and then flit away, their movement created mini-blizzards like one might see in snow globes.

We struggled through heavy snow to our now enchanted deer stand. White crystals disguised ordinary, prickly yucca as amazing snow sculptures. Because flakes had drifted gently, they formed outlandish shapes when they landed on spiny leaves and center spikes. Disney horticulturists couldn’t have created better fantasy creatures.

Arriving at our destination, my feet ached and icicles dangled from a hunter orange face mask. Disregarding tingles creeping into my toes, nose, and fingers, I savored the clear view of the river valley.

Grey sky silhouetted old cottonwood and hackberry branches. Trees hugged the river bank while a cut milo field stretched beyond, rust and burnished yellow. Whitetails grazed unconcernedly. If I’d been seriously after game, I’d have been agitated because the deer were out of range. Instead, I enjoyed watching them browse stubble rows.

We sat midway downhill next to a large cedar, which sheltered us from a breeze that made falling snowflakes dance lackadaisically about our heads. Low-hanging clouds and butt numbing snow muffled sound. I could’ve easily traded pressing chores for this Christmas card world.

Despite muted noise, I heard something north of us. My husband, not wanting to signal our whereabouts or break the spell, pointed the direction from which the strange squawks and calls came. As I focused, I realized it was an army of turkeys marching single file to feed on fallen milo. I tried counting but found it impossible to keep track of that descending horde.

After watching the flock feed, we saw them resume single file and count cadence toward their roost. By this time, another sound edged into my awareness from somewhere over my shoulder. My husband noticed me looking toward the soft whistling, and he mouthed in a frosty vapor, “Bobwhite Come Here call.” I’d heard those notes many times, but this was the first time I associated it with this perky, top-notched creature. The cry signaled these small gamebirds that dusk descended, and they needed to gather. I agreed. It was time to head back to the truck and finally home to daughters and toasty kitchen.

For an instant, I spent an afternoon in my own Christmas card. That enchanted memory still warms me.

Native Kansan Karen Madorin is a local writer and retired teacher who loves sharing stories about places, people, critters, plants, food, and history of the High Plains.

The nice 6 point buck “magically” appeared as deer often do in the CRP field to my left. Our hunting blind sits just above a drainage creek and overlooks that CRP patch on neighboring property to the left. Straight in front of the blind on the property we hunt is an overgrown waterway about 300 yards long in which our corn feeder sits, and to the right of it is a rolling, terraced soybean stubble field.

Farther to the left and beside the blind is a 40 some acre wooded pasture that contains several good bedding areas. Deer often follow the drainage creek west to that wooded pasture, or follow it east to another woodlot several hundred yards away, making this spot a natural crossing, although most of the deer travel through there seems to be at night.

Although we don’t have direct permission to hunt the neighboring property where the young buck stood, the owner would not care if we shot a deer there. But the property is hunted by a local guy and his son and daughter who I knew were there somewhere this first Saturday of the Kansas firearms deer season, so I opted to wait until the deer crossed onto where we hunted. As my luck would have it, when the buck was about to step into the waterway, putting himself into my freezer so-to-speak, he turned and walked directly away from me for another hundred yards, and then stopped and looked long and hard behind him. I craned my neck to see what had his attention, and coming diagonally across the CRP behind him was a beautiful 10 point buck we had pictures of on our trail camera. The bigger buck joined the smaller one and they crossed onto our side a good 200 yards away.

Two years ago I would have totally dismissed a shot that long. Even though very reasonable for the .270 rifle I shoot, I had never shot that long and had no confidence at that distance. However, before my western KS antelope hunt a year ago, I got some instruction shooting at 200 yards, and in fact harvested my antelope at that distance with a well-placed shot. So as the pair eased up out of the waterway and onto the stubble field, I grunted loudly at them to get their attention. They stopped and looked around, but 2 seconds later were on the move again. This scene repeated itself several times until both bucks were beyond what I considered a comfortable range for me. They weren’t really spooked but they weren’t really comfortable either, so their pace was rather brisk. If the distance had been one hundred yards or less, I could have been steady enough to shoot in the short time they were stopped, but at 200 yards there’s much less room for error. Add to that a mild case of “buck fever” which made me shake a little more than I already did, and a rushed shot could have been the recipe for a wounded buck that I couldn’t find.

Hunting the first weekend of deer firearms season is a mixed bag of pros and cons. There are many more hunters out meaning many more deer will be harvested, leaving fewer opportunities for unsuccessful hunters; that’s a downside. All those hunters however will also mean deer will be moving during the day more than usual, offering opportunities to harvest deer we otherwise might not see; that’s an upside. But those deer that are moving will quite possibly be a little spooky, having been pushed from their lairs; that’s another downside. Even though my argument here doesn’t show it, I’ve always felt opening Saturday was a good day to hunt.

I helped a friend load and haul a dandy older 12 point buck he and his son harvested Friday night at dusk, so my exuberance has jumped a few points on my excite-o-meter. I’m sorry I wasn’t given an acceptable shot at that buck Saturday morning, but I’m not sorry I didn’t take what I had. Saturday Dec 11 and Sunday the 12th are the final 2 days of Kansas deer firearms season for 2017 and both days look busy with family stuff for me, so the next five weekdays may be my last chance to harvest a deer this year with a rifle. Even though we are meat hunters, and are quite happy to harvest a nice plump doe, I kinda’ hope the big fella’ is still there and God sees fit to give me another chance to put him into my freezer. Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].

The fourth in a 4-part series regarding the importance of reading to and with young children in support of a new literacy initiative the Dane G. Hansen Foundation in northwest Kansas.

Throughout my career in education, I have most often been asked one question, “When should I start reading to my child?” My answer is always the same, “Before birth!” I often get a funny look, or even a laugh, as if I am joking with them. But research shows a 30-week old unborn baby can hear and become stimulated by its environment and can recognize the sound of its mother’s voice in the womb. Mom and Dad talking, singing, and playing music to their unborn child, may well contribute to the later success of these children becoming successful readers and lifelong learners.

A 2103 study by Pacific Lutheran University shared, “Babies only hours old are able to differentiate between sounds from their native language and a foreign language, scientists have discovered. The study indicates that babies begin absorbing language while still in the womb, earlier than previously thought. Sensory and brain mechanisms for hearing are developed at 30 weeks of gestational age, and the new study shows that unborn babies are listening to their mothers talk during the last 10 weeks of pregnancy and at birth can demonstrate what they’ve heard.”

What does this mean for parents and children? It means that once your child is born, you should continue to share language with him in every form available. Hearing language through song, speech, and play is essential.  Here is a list of the most positive forms of sharing language and print with your child.

• Alphabet knowledge
• Book-handling skills and concepts about print
• Phonological awareness of the different sounds associated with spoken words
• Vocabulary development, including hearing, engaging, and acting out verbs
• Social-emotional factors – modeling patience, fostering attention, learning to interact and take turns

By reading to young children, parents or educators are teaching responsiveness and creating routines. These routines help children feel safe and in turn engages their brains for the highest degree of learning.

What we know about a child’s brain can help to stress the importance of these skills and their impact not only on later success as a reader, but your child’s potential as an overall learner.

At birth, the human brain has almost all the neurons it will ever have, it doubles in size in the first year, and by age three, it has reached 80 percent of its adult volume. Even more importantly, synapses or pathways of the brain are formed at a faster rate during these years than at any other period in our lifetimes.

If you have every heard the phrase, “children are little sponges,” you can now understand why this is all too true. It doesn’t mean your 3-year-old is ready for college, but it does mean that all the connections and processes of the brain are ready for learning. Every opportunity or experience you can create for your child will influence their lifelong potential for learning, and there is no better or easier way to get started than by reading together!

Mary Boller is an educator and a youth consultant for the Northwest Kansas Library System. Learn more about the importance of reading to your children at NWKansasReads.org.

By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

Whisper. When someone lowers his or her voice to say something in a whisper, do you want to come closer and learn more? Today we’ll meet an executive of an innovative marketing agency named WHISPER. This New York City executive comes from rural Kansas.

Steve Cranford is co-founder of WHISPER. Steve’s father was career Navy so Steve moved a lot as a child. His mother is from Arkansas City, Kansas. When his father retired, the family moved to Arkansas City.

Steve finished school there, went to Pittsburg State, and got a law degree at Washburn. He worked as an attorney in Cowley County and then as a special prosecutor for the Kansas Attorney General before being recruited into private industry.

Steve did corporate legal work in Wichita and then founded a business of his own in St. Louis. Through it all, he recognized the importance of one common theme: Communication.

“As a prosecutor, a corporate lawyer and in retail, I saw the value of effective communication,” Steve said. He also met and married his wife, a K-State graduate.

In 2004, he and two partners decided to put their communications expertise into practice in a different way. They launched a marketing firm, originally in California and then in downtown New York where it is headquartered today.

They named the company WHISPER. “When we introduced the name, we encountered skepticism from other agencies,” Steve said. “They said that a whisper would be drowned out in the loud marketplace of today. We thought just the opposite. When you whisper, you’re sharing valuable information and people are innately prompted to invest their time and listen.”

The name proved apt. The goal was to convey messaging that benefits the client. Today, WHISPER works globally in 18 different industries.

“We are a marketing agency that creates reputation-building, brand content, communication and media assets to ensure client causes and products are craved over competing choices,” Steve said. He emphasizes assets which add to a company’s revenues, rather than costs.

“People think of marketing as an isolated or siloed business function,” Steve said. “Nothing could be further from the truth.” He talks the language of the business leaders themselves. “We’re focused on creating business results, not marketing results. I’m not interested in the number of click-throughs on a website, I want to add to a client’s sales and growth.”

WHISPER concentrates on determining the right message first. “We help clients cut through all the noise,” Steve said. “We help the client decide what they should say before they spend a nickel to say it, and make sure what they say engages people.”

This bottom-line business approach has helped grow the company’s clientele. Today, WHISPER clients include NBC Universal, IBM, Accuweather, Mercedes Benz and many more. Much of the company’s business is overseas. WHISPER also has clients such as George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate and the March of Dimes.

“One thing I’ve learned is how people are much the same world-wide,” Steve said. “For example, when we met with the president of a Saudi Arabian company, the first thing he wanted to tell us about was his family.

“I had no idea, when I was sitting in a classroom at Arkansas City High School, that I would have these kinds of opportunities,” Steve said. Arkansas City is a town of 12,063 people. Now, that’s rural.

As a Kansan, Steve was at first pleasantly surprised at the outside perception of his home state. “Eighteen years ago when we moved to southern California and were asked where we were from, we got the exact opposite of the reaction we expected when we said we were from Kansas,” Steve said. “Instead of stereotyping us as hayseeds, they haloed us as hard-working, dependable, salt-of-the-earth people.” Steve carries his Kansas values and assets with him wherever he goes.

For more information on his agency, see www.WHISPERglobally.com.

We commend Steve Cranford for making a difference with his creative approach to marketing, branding, and adding value to customers. Remember, when you want to be heard: Whisper.

Governor-in-waiting Jeff Colyer and Gina Meier-Hummel, his selection to head the Kansas Department of Children and Families (DCF), have an immediate opportunity to address glaring shortcomings in protecting the state’s most vulnerable children and in doing so distinguish themselves from the discredited administration of Governor Sam Brownback.

The administrative failings at DCF have been highlighted over recent years by high-profile child deaths resulting from neglect and abuse, three legislative audits documenting shortfalls, missing foster children, and most recently the jarring details of how the Brownback administration has sought to hide the endangerment of Kansas children, reported by Laura Bauer of the Kansas City Star.

Protecting Kansas children who are victims of abuse or neglect represents a core function of state government assigned specifically to DCF. The agency is called upon to intervene and protect children in the most difficult family conflicts resulting from divorce, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, and other critical incidents threatening the safety of children. As of the most recent count nearly 7,000 Kansas children had been removed from their homes and placed in the custody of DCF—a substantial increase over the average of 5,200 in 2008.

Bauer reported that a frontline social worker charged with the wellbeing of a child removed from the home is sometimes assigned caseloads as high as 50 children—three times that of best practice. For each child, a social worker is expected to investigate incidents of neglect or abuse, meet with families, recommend placement to the court, formulate an individual plan for the child and the child’s family, and make a monthly visit to assess progress on implementing the plan.

Bauer’s report also pulled back the curtain on the lack of transparency at DCF. Dianne Keech, a former top DCF official, lamented in the news story: “Secrecy is killing children!” She recounted an agency culture that says: “You don’t speak. You don’t disclose. You don’t share. You don’t tell…[Y]ou don’t document anything in writing.” Keech describes how her notes from a discussion of a child’s safety were shredded by a DCF attorney. Agency staff are required to report whether any incident might “draw public, legislative or media concern.”

State lawmakers have struggled with a resistant Brownback administration to address DCF deficiencies. House Minority Leader Jim Ward, an early and informed critic, called for a change in agency leadership, which is now taking place. Lawmakers remain frustrated, however, by the veil of secrecy.

A special legislative task force on child welfare is now underway. DCF secretary designee Meier-Hummel serves as a well-regarded member of that task force, and she is presented with a unique opportunity for leadership, both on the task force and inside an emerging Colyer administration. How she and Colyer respond in lifting the embattled agency out of the depths of incompetence to responsible service in protecting children will be telling of what to expect from the new administration.

The task force is also charged with investigating the “increasing numbers of children in the child welfare system and the contributing factors” underlying the increase. In other words, has the state’s unraveling of the safety net for the lowest-income families and their children contributed to the steady increase in children removed from their homes as a result of neglect and abuse?

Kansans would welcome the prospect of a Colyer administration that demonstrates leadership and accountability in assuring the welfare of vulnerable children.

H. Edward Flentje is professor emeritus at Wichita State University and previously served with Kansas Governors Bennett and Hayden.

Do you need some motivation to cook a delicious meal from scratch this weekend? Sunday is the perfect day to do it, as it happens to be “Dine In Day.”

Families across the United States are encouraged to stay in and prepare a healthy meal to share together at the table.

This celebration of home cooking and family meals is the brainchild of the American Association for Family & Consumer Sciences which has, for the past three years, chosen December 3rd as its official Family & Consumer Sciences (FCS) Day. The association asks that families make and share a meal on this day in order to promote good nutrition and family togetherness.

Since 2014, more than 300,000 people have publicly committed to dining in on the annual Family & Consumer Sciences Day. This day also celebrates the birthday of Ellen Swallow Richards, the founder of what is now the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS), formerly called the American Home Economics Association. The website also lists over 30 different sponsors or partners in this international initiative.

On “Dine In Day,” people are encouraged to make a commitment to preparing and eating healthy meals with their family or others in their community. The meal can be plain or fancy– the important part is that it is shared together in a setting of community eating, whether with your own family or a group you invite to eat home prepared foods together.

This is a fitting tribute to Ellen Richards, who believed in people working together and valuing family and community. Richards, a chemist, was the first female graduate and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was an activist for nutrition, foods education, child protection, public health, women’s rights, and the application of scientific principles to everyday living for the family. Her activism, vision and professional experiences led to formalization of the home economics profession and founding of the American Home Economics Association (now AAFCS) in 1909.

Research has shown that the whole family benefits from family mealtime by having better nutrition, improving family communication, fostering family traditions, and teaching life skills, such as meal planning, budgeting, and food preparation. Families that eat together at home eat more vegetables, enjoy more family conversations, and reduce the risk of substance abuse in teens. Eating together as a family is more than just a meal, it is an opportunity for families to come together regularly in support of family unity. Most research suggests that both parents and children value sharing a meal together and find the experience rewarding. Although there is no guarantee that eating together as a family will resolve all family problems, it may provide the opportunity to make a fresh start.

Join me in signing the pledge to “Dine In” on FCS Day, December 3. You can make the commitment at the AAFCS website– http://www.aafcs.org/fcsday/home. Then check out the interactive map and see who else is “Dining In” across the country and around the world.

Make your family, our country and our world a healthier and more cohesive place, one home-prepared meal at a time. Plan to “Dine In” on FCS Day this Sunday.

Linda K. Beech is Cottonwood District Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.

At least once a year, a couple friends and I get together. We are friends from the college days. It seems like when we get together, almost no distance was created from the expanse of time. We are just good, lifelong friends.

One of my friends is Lane. He and I met on the very first day of college. We were on an elevator together and were both concerned that it was about to collapse on us. That near-death experience started a long friendship.

Lane went on to be psychologist. Many times, when we are together, I get concerned that he may be analyzing me and his prognosis may not be great.

He is a great friend who follows my writings. He recently sent me an article about wellbeing, suggesting it as an article idea. It was published in “Scientific American”.

The article talks about how to achieve wellbeing. It distinguishes traits of people who are considered to have wellbeing.

In other words, there are five different personality traits that point to a person having wellbeing. The article goes on to identify that if you have most of these traits, you probably have overall wellbeing in life.

1. Enthusiasm. People with enthusiasm are friendly, sociable, emotionally expressive and tend to have a lot of fun in life. It is a good prediction for life satisfaction, positive emotions, less negative emotions, and environmental mastery.

2. Low Withdrawal. People who score high on withdrawal are easily discouraged and overwhelmed. Compare that to people who are actively involved in life. Again, they have greater life satisfaction, positive emotions, and less negative emotions. By having lower levels of withdrawal symptoms, those people have greater autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relationships, self-acceptance, meaning and purpose, good relationships and achievements.

3. Industrious. People who are industrious are achievement oriented, self-disciplined, efficient, purposeful, and competent. Industriousness has a strong correlation with the term “grit” – passion and perseverance for long term goals.

4. Compassion. People who are compassionate feel and care about others’ emotions and wellbeing. Compassion is correlated with more positive emotions, more environmental mastery, social growth, positive relationships, self-acceptance, meaning and purpose, engagement and achievement.
5. Intellectual curiosity. People who score high on intellectual curiosity are open to new ideas, enjoy thinking deeply and complexly, and tend to reflect a lot on their experiences.

The article went on to point out that there are two more traits that predict wellbeing. The first is assertiveness. People who score high on assertiveness are socially more active, motivated to obtain social status and leadership positions, and tend to be provocative.

The second trait is creative openness. People who score high in creative openness need a creative outlet, and appreciate beauty, daydreaming, imagination, fantasy and feelings.

Why am I sharing this with you? Really, many of these items are things that we can do on our own. I know that I can be more enthusiastic about my day, I know I can become more involved, I know sometimes I just need to get up and do something (industrious). I feel like a have a lot of compassion for life, and I do feel like I have intellectual curiosity.

I feel like I have the means to control all of those factors if I just try.

Again, all of these factors are things that you can control to give you greater wellbeing, to give you greater satisfaction with your life.

One of the battles that I have with some of my older clients is that they have lost a lot of their sense of wellbeing. Somehow, they think that because they are retired, or because they have some type of chronic illness, life has little meaning.

We can battle through these things together. We can still have wellbeing.

I hope that Lane did not send me this article because he thought I lacked wellbeing. While the article encouraged me, it also reaffirmed some of the things that I know are important to me and that I need to work on.

This is wishing all of you a sense of wellbeing.

Randy Clinkscales of Clinkscales Elder Law Practice, PA, Hays, Kansas, is an elder care attorney, practicing in western Kansas. To contact him, please send an email to [email protected]. Disclaimer: The information in the column is for general information purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Each case is different and outcomes depend on the fact of each case and the then applicable law. For specific questions, you should contact a qualified attorney.