By JOHN P. TRETBAR

Harvey and Irma combine to pump up gasoline prices to their highest level in two years. Triple-A says Monday’s national average price for a gallon of regular was $2.668. That’s nearly two cents higher on the day and 31 cents higher than a month ago. The last time prices were this high was in August of 2015. The average in Kansas was up more than three cents Monday to $2.457, which is lower than last week, but still 22 cents higher than a month ago. We spotted $2.41/gallon in Hays and $2.43 in Great Bend.

Baker Hughes reported 944 active drilling rigs across the US last week, down three oil rigs, but up four searching for natural gas. Canada has 202 active rigs, up one from last week. Rig counts across Kansas were up more than 6%. Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 13 active rigs in eastern Kansas, up three, and 22 west of Wichita, down one. Operators are drilling at one lease in Ellis County, and report drilling ahead at two sites in Barton County. They’re moving in completion tools at three sites in Ellis County and two in Stafford County.

There were 17 permits filed across the state last week for drilling at new locations, 967 so far this year. There were nine new permits filed in eastern Kansas and eight west of Wichita.

Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 22 new well completions over the last week, 887 so far this year, including 16 east of Wichita and six in western Kansas.

The Kansas Corporation Commission reported 153 new intent-to-drill notices filed across the state during the month of August. The adjusted total for the year through August was 1,037 intents compared to 1,708 two years ago and 5,061 through August of 2014. There were three new intents filed in Barton County, three in Ellis County, none in Russell County and five in Stafford County.

Nine high ranking officials at Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA were arrested by military intelligence services Monday on multi-million dollar corruption charges. They are accused of illegally granting state contracts without following due bidding processes, diverting crude oil exports, and sabotage of a Russian bank which holds a 40% stake in a joint Venezuela-Russia oil company. The racketeering ring came to light after a top bank official complained last week about irregularities in the purchase of chemicals for processing crude oil. Unofficial reports estimate that hundreds of millions of dollars were lost between 2010 and 2017.

A pilot project in Canada could make transform the way Alberta’s heavy crude is transported. The Web site Oil Price dot com reports the process could make oil by rail and by truck much safer than pipelines. Researchers at the University of Calgary are applying heat and pressure to the raw bitumen pulled from Canadian mines to create what are described as bitumen pellets, which can be transported in coal cars or trucks. The pellets can be reconverted to bitumen or applied as-is for road paving and other uses.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia told his South Korean counterpart that Russia opposes cutting off oil supplies to North Korea as part of new sanctions being considered after the country’s latest nuclear test. Members of the U.N. Security Council are debating a new round of sanctions against North Korea, and the US and its allies were pushing for a global embargo on oil exports to North Korea.

The acquisition of Russia’s Eurasia Drilling by oilfield services giant Schlumberger has been held up by U.S. sanctions on Russia. Reuters reports Houston-based Schlumberger applied for approval to buy the stake in late July in a deal widely seen as testing the state of relations between Russia and the U.S. Since then the United States has introduced additional sanctions against Russia which include restrictions in the energy sector.

The government in China announced work on a timetable to end the production and sale of vehicles that run on gasoline, diesel and other fossil fuels. But the news didn’t have much of an effect on that country’s oil industry. Bloomberg reports shares in China’s biggest oil companies — PetroChina Co., CNOOC Ltd. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. — barely budged. Stock prices surges for electric car manufacturers and the companies that supply their components.

Folk wisdom, especially weather-related folk wisdom, captured my attention when I first learned the saying, “Red sky at night—a sailor’s delight and red sky at morning—a sailor’s warning,” from my grandmother. I’ve tried over the years to determine whether her wise words consistently ring true, but so far–no verdict.

The verdict’s still out on woolly caterpillar stories, too. I can’t capture enough to determine if they sport more fur during colder winters than they do in warmer ones. In fact, I can’t remember from one year to the next exactly how furry the little guys the year before were. Surely, scientists possess some statistical measuring device that’d permit more precise analysis of this phenomenon. So far, I haven’t found a catalogue that sells this instrument to the public.

Despite my confusion about red skies in the morning and woolly caterpillar prognostications, I conducted an experiment several years ago. An unremembered someone (if I could, I’d give credit) told me to predict the amount of snowfall the following winter by measuring the height of sunflowers growing in road ditches—a likely accounting because rain provides their only moisture.

Road ditches get mowed regularly, so I searched for a reliable alternate site. We knew of a fenced-in area no one waters or mows–perfect for this test.

One might wonder where plants originate in this odd little test. Well, this research plot was about 12 feet from a bird and squirrel feeder. As greedier birds flew over or full-pouched squirrels dashed across to tease geriatric dogs, they dropped seed. As a result, a yearly sunflower garden grew untended.

Over droughty years, calling it a garden was an exaggeration. It sported a motley patch of dry grass and abbreviated sunflower plants that raised one or two sorry blooms amongst hardy, barely-above-the- ankle leaves and stems. That year, however, lucky seeds deposited there reached exalted heights.

I kept regular records of rainfall, though I didn’t need to. I could look at the sunflowers sprouting higher that year to know more moisture had fallen than these plants knew what to do with. As the plants eventually grew taller than I, my hypothesis would prove itself or fail dramatically.

That earlier mentioned, unnamed weather maven told me you can tell how much snow you’ll have in the winter by the height of the sunflowers in the summer. Eventually, a few of these plants towered a foot over my head, so I calculated and predicted around 84 inches of snow over the winter.

Remembering the winter of 91/92, I recollected receiving over 128 total inches of snow, snow that began in October and continued without break through March. So, 84” was possible. The winter of my study didn’t produce nearly that much precipitation. Lucky for the shovelers, that pundit was wrong.

Despite the failed experiment, I saw sense in such a prediction (if you have a wet summer, you’ll have a wet winter). In fact, I’ve continued to size up every season’s sunflower heights, and I’d have to say my forgotten prognosticator’s average lands in the ball park even if it’s not exact. Test it. Jot yourself a note to see if this year’s sunflowers reveal the coming winter’s snowy secrets.

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.

Whether you’ve had a bad day and need some quiet time, or whether your faith has taken a hit lately and you need some assurance that there is still good in this world, take a drive along any back road going anywhere in Kansas right now and let God treat you to a spectacle only He can provide in the form of acre-after-acre of brightly shimmering wild sunflowers in the ditches and fencerows. As you drive along, thousands of luminescent yellow heads appear to guide your way and offer a boost to your spirits.

Did you know that the sunflower is the only crop grown for seed that was domesticated right here in the USA? Sunflowers were a common crop among Native American tribes throughout North America, and Spanish explorers took the exotic plants back to Europe in the 1500’s. Sunflowers were first grown for food in Russia. By the early 19th century, Russian farmers were growing over 2 million acres, and by the late 19th century, Russian sunflower seed had found it’s way back to North America again.

Though different from domestic sunflowers in many ways, wild sunflowers are the genetic basis of today’s commercially grown crop. Domestic sunflower blooms appear to follow the sun across the horizon each day, but once the radiant flowers open, they actually face east for the rest of their lives. This is possibly a defense mechanism, as facing any other direction could scald the seeds before they ripen. Wild sunflowers don’t seem to care which direction they face. Last year the U.S. had just over 1.8 million acres of sunflowers planted commercially; approximately 58,000 of those acres were planted here in Kansas. 2015 sunflower production in the US totaled 2.92 billion pounds, and the top two sunflower producing states were North and South Dakota. Russia and the Ukraine combine to grow more sunflowers than any other country, nearly 15 times more than the US. The sunflower, by the way is the national flower of Russia.

Now heres a little “sunflower trivia,” compliments of the Guinness Book of World Records. A sunflower grown in Germany holds the record for the tallest ever grown, at 30 feet, 1 inch, a sunflower grown in British Columbia boasts the widest head ever recorded at over 32 inches across, and a sunflower grown in Michigan claims the most heads with 837 sunflower heads on one plant.

In 1903, the sunflower became the state flower of Kansas. As history has it, in 1901, George Morehouse, a state senator from Council Grove, attended a rodeo in Colorado Springs where all the Kansas folk in attendance wore sunflowers identifying them as Kansans. So moved and inspired by the Kansas spirit was he, that upon returning home, he drafted the bill naming the sunflower as our state flower. In this original bill, Morehouse stated “This flower has to all Kansans an historical symbolism which speaks of frontier days, winding trails, pathless prairie and is full of the life and glory of the past, the pride of the present and richly emblematic of the majesty of the golden future, and is a flower which has given Kansas the world-wide name “The Sunflower State.”

The last couple years we’ve had typical Kansas weather, first dried and roasted, then flooded, over and over again, but like the mailman, those Kansas wild sunflowers don’t seem to care. They fill the ditches and pastures of our state with a gazillion gleaming jewels fit for any king’s crown. So take a lesson from the wild sunflower and when life deals you adverse conditions…….turn them into sunflower seeds! (I know that doesn’t make sense but it sounds cool) Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors

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

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The highlight of the Sept. 7 Hays City Commission meeting was a discussion of the city’s need to recruit new businesses to the area and the best ways to do that.

In all of the discussion, only Vice-Mayor James Meier identified the true problem when he asked what the city can do to grow from 20,000 to 25,000, with Commissioner Lance Jones striking at the heart of the issue – noting the unreasonably high housing prices in Hays.

One of the largest limiting factors to our growth is the lack of affordable housing in Hays. When it costs more to buy a home here than in most metropolitan areas in Kansas, we will continue to lose people, and we miss more business opportunities due to the lack of available workers than to any other factor. Ask almost any Hays business owner, and one of their largest struggles is hiring competent help. We need more people, but they need places to live.

The city needs to work toward increasing the supply of moderately priced houses in Hays, which would in turn normalize the prices of our existing homes. Neighborhood revitalization can help to an extent, but it will hardly make a dent in the problem. Hays developers are required to pay 100% of the cost of infrastructure in new developments, and that cost can only be recouped by building huge, expensive houses. However, if the city were to partner with developers on building homes to sell under $175,000 by providing the infrastructure within those developments (and perhaps limiting rentals for 10-15 years), we could make strides toward achieving real growth.

If we want to make progress on these issues, we need to identify the real problems facing our city, which a new T. J. Maxx or filling Big Creek Crossing won’t solve. We need people, and they need homes.

Chris Dinkel, Hays

(Editor’s note: Chris Dinkel is a candidate for the Hays city commission.)

Alert! Alert! Alert! The USD 489 School Board has scheduled a vote this November on its humongous $78 million school bond for brick and mortar improvements to Hays schools. It’s slick, glossy four-color mailing advertising the bond election recently hit the mailboxes. The headline “Truth-in-Bonding” alludes to the Truth-in-Lending requirements that were imposed on lenders years ago whenever someone borrows money to buy a home. More on that below.

What every voting property taxpayer living in the USD 489 school district must fully understand is this: In addition to the jumbo $78 million bond, the school board members have bound every property taxpayer to pay an equally gargantuan sum of money for interest over and above bond principal. How much you ask? $75.9 million.
Add those two numbers together and voila, the $78 million bond becomes a whopping $154 million debt for property owners to pay off. Let me repeat – this school bond proposal requires a principal payment of $2.6 million and an interest payment of $2.53 million per year FOR 30 YEARS!

Make no mistake property owners, USD 489 school board members are proposing THE LARGEST PROPERTY TAX INCREASE IN THE HISTORY OF ELLIS COUNTY! And the amounts proposed in previous bond elections aren’t even in the same universe.

In the past when someone borrowed money to buy a home, they were told what the interest rate would be on their loan but not how much extra interest added to their debt over the life of the loan. So, the federal government decided there should be Truth-In-Lending. Full disclosure was necessary so the borrower could make an informed decision before they signed any loan documents. Truth-in-Bonding thus requires the following full disclosure: Property tax owners are not being asked to just approve a bond debt of $78 million, but rather a breathtaking debt of $154 million.

Yet again USD 489 board members are telling us: Just trust us with $154 million of your money because we know best, and don’t ask us where one of the new elementary schools will be located – just trust us to figure it all out after the election. Yet again the school board is assuming that no reasonable person could possibly deny the children the benefit of right sized classrooms and new brick and mortar schools. Yet again the Vision team process the school board set up to produce the bond proposal was flawed from the beginning and the viewpoint of the community at large was essentially dismissed.

How else to explain why the school board members ignored the polling results of their out of town, not disinterested, architects’ robocall poll where 60% of the respondents favored smaller, more frequent bonds and 41% wanted no more than $10 per month increase in property taxes? Or how about the Hays Post poll on June 23, 2017 (well before the school board members voted to push the monster bond forward) where, out of a total of 1,187 responses (better participation than the architect’s robocall survey) 58.37% voted NO on the $78 million bond proposal, 37.55% were in favor and 9.08% were undecided.

The NO vote, not surprisingly, represents that segment of the community of which I have attempted to give a voice over the past few months, obviously to no avail. The yes vote represents the 85% of the individuals that controlled, along with the architects, the Vision Team and the proposed bond. Apparently such facts were mere inconveniences to the school board.

One wonders how much thought, if any, the school board gave to the economic impact of a ginormous $154 million tax increase on our local economy that is staggering under the weight of low oil and ag commodity prices. How will removing $154 million of purchasing power from the local economy affect local car sales, restaurant sales, or retail sales in general (attention Hays City Commissioners!)? How will the largest property tax increase in the history of Ellis County affect seniors who own property and are on fixed incomes?

The ultimate Truth-in-Bonding is simply this: There are absolutely other options and possibilities that the Vision Team and the school board simply didn’t want to take the time to consider and explore that would cost less money to achieve and still make educational sense. The question the school board should answer is this: What harm would have come from further analysis and other options?

Tom Wasinger, Hays

I spent last week in Manhattan for a week of agent training. One amazing fact I heard from current research is that 92% of Kansans don’t eat the recommended amount of vegetables each day and 90% don’t eat enough fruit. Wow– if eating fruits and vegetables was a test, we would be flunking!

But it doesn’t have to be so hard. The specific amount of fruits and vegetables you need to eat depends on your age, sex, and level of physical activity, but an average is 1 ½ -2 cups of fruit and 2 ½ -3 cups of vegetables each day for adults (women generally need the lower amounts; men the higher amounts.)

September is Fruit and Vegetable Month, a good time to be intentional about eating plenty of these healthful foods. Just remember these two simple things which can make it easier to get the servings of fruits and vegetables you need every day– 1) fill half your plate with fruits & veggies at every eating occasion, including snacks, and 2) all forms (fresh, frozen, canned, dried and 100% juice) count toward your daily intake.
Plan to join me on Thursday, September 14 at 6:00 pm at the Hays Public Library gallery for a free program on “Fruits and Vegetables- More Matters!” I will share ways to enjoy more fruits and vegetables, along with fruit and veggie recipes for each season of the year. Learn why it is delicious, nutritious and fun to choose more fruits and vegetables in your daily meals and snacks while contributing to a longer, healthier life. Please RSVP to the Library at 785-625-9014 to ensure adequate supplies.

With over 200 different varieties of fruits and vegetables and a variety of convenient packaging to make them easy to store and serve, there’s bound to be something to please everyone. Consider these tips:

•Most frozen and canned foods are processed within hours of harvest, so their flavor and nutritional value are preserved.
•Studies show that recipes prepared with canned foods had similar nutritional values to those prepared with fresh or frozen ingredients.
•Canned foods are “cooked” prior to packaging, so they are recipe-ready.
•Frozen foods also require little preparation—washing and slicing, for instance, is already done.

So, are you ready to eat more fruits and veggies? In “top ten countdown” style, here are the top ten reasons to increase your intake of fruits and vegetables each day:

10. Color & Texture. Fruits and veggies add color, texture … and appeal … to your plate.

9. Convenience. Fruits and veggies are nutritious in any form, so they’re ready when you are.

8. Fiber. Fruits and veggies provide fiber that helps fill you up and keeps your digestive
system happy.

7. Low in Calories. Fruits and veggies are naturally low in calories.

6. May Reduce Disease Risk. Eating plenty of fruits and veggies may help reduce the risk of many diseases, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and some cancers.

5. Vitamins & Minerals. Fruits and veggies are rich in vitamins and minerals that help you feel healthy and energized.

4. Variety. Fruits and veggies are available in an almost infinite variety so there’s always
something new to try.

3. Quick, Natural Snack. Fruits and veggies are nature’s treat and easy to grab for a snack.
2. Fun to Eat! Some crunch, some squirt, some you peel, some you don’t and some grow right in your own backyard.
1. Fuits & Veggies are nutritious AND delicious!

Especially now, during Fruit and Vegetable Month in September, don’t be a statistic. Make an effort to increase your intake of fruits and veggies– because more matters!

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

Animals are back! School guidelines issued in 1997 about using animals in Kansas schools have been revised. Neither the older out-of-date guidelines nor the new up-to-date guidelines are statutes (laws) or regulations. They are guidelines, professional suggestions for appropriate use. There is no required inspection or threat of fines. Despite guidelines not having any force of law, some Kansas schools removed all classroom gerbils, mice, tame rats, fish aquaria, and prohibited students from bringing pets due to the older guidelines that appeared restrictive.

The new updated guidelines recognize the many benefits that animals in the classroom bring to student learning. The new Kansas guidelines are also the same as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) national recommendations and can be located at the website of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment at http://www.kdheks.gov/epi/download/Appendix_3_Guidelines_for_Exhibition_of_Animals_in_School_and_Child-Care_Settings.pdf.

Incubating fertile eggs and letting elementary students watch hatching is a wonderful activity that helps them understand reproduction. And what child would not be excited holding cute baby chicks!

A tiny adult ringnecked snake, smaller than most earthworms, will try to nose its way between a child’s fingers and elicits giggles, not fear. And for the older student who has developed a superficial fear of snakes from hearing relatives talk in fear, the only technique that ends that fear is not photos or videos, not classroom discussion or teacher claims, nor anything else digital. The student that sees other students holding a tame king snake without harm can hold out their trembling hands and ask to hold it too. And only when the teacher hands those coils into the students hands does the trembling stop, as a whole new confidence and understanding comes from this quiet interaction.

Rural students living on farms do not need to be educated about their sheep and goats and calves and ponies. And yes, it comes with that “mud” on your boots. That hands-on understanding of animals and their role with humans, our need to treat them humanely and without cruelty, and our understanding of the extent and limitations of animal behavior is an understanding that should not be limited to our shrinking population of farm kids.

The new guidelines are divided into general and animal-specific recommendations. Some of the general guidelines could have been crafted by your mom. Wash your hands after handling animals, and do the hand-washing correctly. Don’t wash the aquarium water down the sink you use to prepare food, etc. Much in the guidelines is common sense; but what we call common sense used to be based on childhood experiences that are now disappearing. That is why we need animals back in classrooms more than ever—to re-establish common sense.

The one restriction found throughout the new guidelines is limiting animal exposure for children under five years of age. Teachers also need to let parents know of their classroom animals so that students with particular allergies can be kept distant.

Across Kansas, there are many exciting classrooms at elementary and secondary level where gerbils play on exercise wheels, parakeets squawk to greets students as the come in, and terrariums and aquaria are like small televisions for students during classroom breaks. But some classroom animals have disappeared, in many cases due to the emphasis on teaching for the tests.

But this year is a new year with new animal guidelines. And for some students, the only way to get their heads out of those smartphones may be to let them hold some cute, fuzzy animals.

John Richard Schrock is a professor at Emporia State University.

The highlight of this week’s Hays City Commission meeting was a discussion of the City’s need to recruit new businesses to the area and the best ways to do that. In all of the discussion, only Vice-Mayor Meier identified the true problem when he asked what the city can do to grow from 20,000 to 25,000, with Commissioner Jones’ striking at the heart of the issue – noting the unreasonably high housing prices in Hays.

One of the largest limiting factors to our growth is the lack of affordable housing in Hays. When it costs more to buy a home here than in most metropolitan areas in Kansas, we will continue to lose people, and we miss more business opportunities due to the lack of available workers than to any other factor. Ask almost any Hays business owner, and one of their largest struggles is hiring competent help. We need more people, but they need places to live.

The City needs to work toward increasing the supply of moderately priced houses in Hays, which would in turn normalize the prices of our existing homes. Neighborhood revitalization can help to an extent, but it will hardly make a dent in the problem. Hays developers are required to pay 100% of the cost of infrastructure in new developments, and that cost can only be recouped by building huge, expensive houses. However, if the City were to partner with developers on building homes to sell under $175,000 by providing the infrastructure within those developments (and perhaps limiting rentals for 10-15 years), we could make strides toward achieving real growth.

If we want to make progress on these issues, we need to identify the real problems facing our City, which a new T.J. Maxx or filling Big Creek Crossing won’t solve. We need people, and they need homes.

Chris Dinkel, Hays

Kris Kobach needs to go to prison. Let me explain.

Kobach wants to be the state’s next governor. If elected, he will immediately become responsible for the state’s crumbling prison system. Earlier this week, a prison disturbance—some say a riot—resulted in several inmates being transferred from the Norton facility. Employee representative Robert Choromanski calls the whole system “a powder keg.” Chronic staff shortages result from brutal conditions, combined with a starting pay less than $14 per hour. At El Dorado, the response has been mandatory overtime, with employees pushed to 60 hours a week. Violence keeps breaking out at Lansing, and inmates are double-bunked throughout the system. Lockdowns are common. Small raises in employee pay have been offered, but far short of the need. The decrepit facilities at Lansing are among the oldest prison buildings in this country still in use. State senator Carolyn McGinn says, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Nationwide, more than 2 million people—about 1% of the adult population—are in prison, 90% in state facilities and local jails, not federal penitentiaries. That does not account for the millions more on parole, on probation, or unable to find work thanks to that “have you ever been convicted of a felony” box on job applications—that notorious Catch 22 that sends many back to prison, unable to find lawful work.

A program called Face to Face, co-sponsored by the Council of State Governments, recently sent governors into prisons to talk to staff and inmates. These include the governors of Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, and Utah, plus Ohio’s Attorney General. Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy emerged calling prisons “very dark places” which we must stop ignoring. Governor Steve Bullock of Montana added, “behind the statistics are real people.” Missouri’s Eric Greitens wishes that people could see what prison staff do every day.

Sam Brownback has not participated, nor has Secretary Kobach. Perhaps Kobach was too busy congratulating Arizona’s cruel ex-Sherriff Joe Arpiao on his presidential pardon. Enforcing laws that Kobach wrote, Arpiao twisted local law enforcement’s responsibilities to include immigration enforcement. Incarcerating people in his notorious “tent city” prison camps, where several died, Arpiao was found by the Justice Department to be racially profiling Hispanic people, then holding them past their release dates. Arpaio defied the court order, leading to a second one, this time for contempt. This is what President Trump excused with a pardon, just before Hurricane Harvey inundated Houston. Pardon or no pardon, the voters of Maricopa County, Arizona have finally had it: they rejected Arpaio’s bid for re-election last year. The tent city prisons—which some observers call concentration camps–are now being dismantled.

Maricopa County voters made a good choice this time. Arpaio-Kobach tactics are not only cruel and unconstitutional, they are also ineffective. They are also unbelievably expensive, to the tune of $142 million in settlements and court costs.

In reality, terrified of being deported, undocumented immigrants are less likely be involved in crime than are American citizens. Furthermore, as the mess in our own Kansas prisons attests, state and local law enforcement is already stretched to the breaking point. They have no resources or expertise to enforce federal laws, and it is not their job. They do not even have the support they need to do their existing jobs.

The governors participating in Face to Face represent different parties, politics, and regions, but each is willing to start a discussion about a painful, dark place– one that most of us would rather not imagine, let alone experience. This is leadership. By contrast, Kobach ignores the call, preferring instead to score easy political points based on racial fears, while dumping mandates on the system until it breaks.

Kris Kobach really needs to go to prison.

Michael A. Smith is a professor of political science at Emporia State University.

My wife (Barbara) comes from a good Mennonite background, inheriting by blood or tradition many of the attributes of those raised in the simple lifestyle of Mennonites. In addition to frugality, those attributed include cooking and preserving whatever nature gives you at the moment.

We moved to Hays, Kansas in 1983. I was a young lawyer, trying to find my footing (and clients) in a new town. A year after our move, we started having children, pulling my wife from the workforce and making me the sole breadwinner with a new solo law practice.

Given our circumstances, and my wife’s background, imagine our delight when we discovered several apricot trees with no one picking their fruit. The trees were located on the campus of Fort Hays State University, just across the street to the west of the Memorial Union (the area is now a parking lot). It was summer, and all the students were gone.

Barb and I, armed with a couple five gallon buckets, a one year old child in a backpack, and our trusty St. Bernard mixed dog, Bruno, would gather fruit (and eat some along the way). We would then wash the fruit, set aside some for friends, and then Barb would begin the process of preserving and making other apricot based dishes.

We would return day after day to pick more. As we got near the end of the season, we would spread sheets on the ground, I would climb into the trees, and then shake the branches until we had enough to fill our buckets for the day.

This continued for several summers. However, the second year while gathering the fruit, a Fort Hays State University Campus Policeman showed up. He asked who had given us permission to pick the fruit, and I shared that no one had. He alleged we were stealing state property. My lawyer mode kicked in (as young lawyers are apt to do), and I made several arguments, including that this was State fruit and anyone from the State should be entitled to enjoy the bounty from the State.

The exchange was mildly heated. The officer (“Fred” for the purposes of this article) eventually stated that he was sure that what we were doing was wrong, but he just could not figure out what the violation was.

My first impression of Fred was not very good.

It is not unusual to have a bad experience with someone, but what happens next is really the key.

Some clients I work with may hold grudges, and they can be over the simplest things. Most disturbing is when the animosity is directed toward a family member, particularly a child or a sibling. It can result in a refusal to participate in joint family gatherings and celebrations. People can actually terminate relationships over something as simple as “apricots”.

Life is too short. In the past few years, I am lucky to have had an opportunity to visit with my father before his death, talking through some issues going back to my youth. I have made a point to write down names of people that I was angry with, and either talk it out with them, or just let my anger go.

For me, a big part of it was realizing that some, if not all of the anger or frustration, was coming from my actions or my overreactions.

As I grow older, I realize that my family, and my friends, are too important to lose over “apricots”.

Let me go back to Fred. Fred must have either bought my legal argument or just given up. On occasion, he would stop by and help us pick the apricots.

In kind of an interesting twist, Fred went on to law school and became a fine lawyer. Through the years, I have referred several cases to him. Once, Fred even helped one of my sons with a difficult traffic citation. I am happy to call Fred my friend.

Wouldn’t it have been unfortunate if Fred and I remained angry over “apricots”?

My wish for all of you is to be able to move on with the relationships with your family and friends, and not lose part of yourself because of anger.

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.

By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

A high-performance car needs to have its engine tuned just right. High-performance organizations sometimes need something similar. Today we’ll learn about a new executive-education program which seeks to help senior leaders of those organizations achieve the highest levels of performance, using a nationally known consultant from rural Kansas.

As we have previously profiled, Russell Disberger is the founder and owner of Aspen Business Group. He has deep roots in rural Kansas.

Russell Disberger’s ancestors homesteaded near Council Grove. When Russell’s father took a position teaching agriculture at Hutchinson Community College, the family relocated to Reno County. Russell and his siblings went to school at Haven and lived near the rural community of Yoder, which has a population of 194 people. Now, that’s rural.

Russell’s family worked as custom cutters to harvest wheat for farmers throughout the central plains. This rural upbringing taught him the importance of hard work and taking care of the customer.

Russell started several businesses while in college, earned a finance degree from K-State and launched a career in entrepreneurship and business development. He worked for the Small Business Development Centers and then participated in tech transfer and co-founded a venture capital-enterprise.

In 1998 while in Colorado, he launched Aspen Business Group, a management consulting and organizational development firm. “We help businesses achieve their goals by working together with them to improve their bottom line and effectiveness, one employee at a time,” Russell said. During his career, he has advised more than 3,000 businesses, government agencies and educational institutions through startup, improvement, survival, turnaround, sale and growth modes. When his kids became college-age, Russell moved his office back to the Manhattan area while maintaining an office in Colorado.

Meanwhile, Jeff Wolfe at K-State’s Global Campus was interested in developing an executive-education program. Global Campus is the part of the university that is responsible for assisting with conferences and online classes. After discovering that there was a strong interest and a need for executive education, Jeff looked for a partner and found that such a nationally known expert had moved to the Manhattan area: Russell Disberger. Jeff connected with Russell and they developed a unique alliance through which K-State could offer consulting and assistance to senior business executives.

In fall 2017, K-State is offering the first of three programs: The Executive Coach, which will be followed by The Strategic Leader and The Frontline Leader. The three programs are targeted for executives, mid-level managers, and front-line managers, respectively.

Through the Executive Coach session, participants will learn to define a high-performance culture, pinpoint performance gaps and priorities, identify barriers, leverage team and organizational strengths, build strong teams and foster individual commitment, and more.

The coaching and training will be facilitated by Russell and a team which includes long-time, highly regarded management experts Richard Seltzer and Tom Roberts. Each of the programs consists of 12 all-day sessions that meet quarterly over a three-year period.

Each workshop features an expert from private industry or K-State faculty. The program includes roundtable group discussions, lectures, and business simulations, plus a dedicated coach who provides one-on-one, follow-up accountability sessions between workshops.

“This is a great opportunity to plan for the future, target critical goals, and strategize the optimal execution of our objectives to achieve genuine growth,” Russell said. “It’s a chance to gain new insights from executives in other industries from around the country. Participants will come away with concrete action steps, new tools and capabilities, and a plan for the next 90 days.”

“Successful leaders need to be committed to lifelong learning,” Jeff said. “They need to invest in developing a leadership pipeline for their organization. This leads to a great culture and a high level of employee engagement additionally, a high return on their investment that will impact their bottom line.”
For more information, see www.exec.k-state.edu.

Just as a high-performance car needs a tune-up, sometimes an organization needs to be fine-tuned as well. We commend Russell Disberger, Jeff Wolfe, and others involved in this initiative for making a difference by providing high-level education for high-level performance.

Fort Hays State University Student Government Association
Sept. 5, 2017

The Trump Administration’s announcement to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program implemented by the Obama Administration impacts not only hundreds of thousands around the United States but individuals on the Fort Hays State University campus and the Hays community. Out of 32 institutions within the Kansas Board of Regents system, Fort Hays State University is the home and source of education for one of the largest populations of DACA students. As an Executive Staff, we acknowledge this as a threat to the livelihood and education of the very people that we take pride in representing. We will continue to provide any support or assistance that any DACA student or individual affected by this decision may need.

Now, and throughout this six month period, we ask that you contact your representatives and urge them to enact legislation that will protect dreamers. The Senators for the State of Kansas are Pat Roberts (202.224.477) and Jerry Moran (202.224.6521). The Representatives are Roger Marshall (202.225.2715), Lynn Jenkins (202.225.6601), Kevin Yoder (202.225.2865) and Ron Estes (202.225.6216). On campus resources include International Student Services (785.628.4176) and the Kelly Center (785.628.4401). You can also contact the Student Government Association, located in the basement of the Memorial Union, at 785.628.5311 with any questions or concerns or if you need a safe space to be. Please, let us know how we can help.

The Fort Hays State University community consists of students, faculty and staff from all around the world. Despite our differences we are united in this institution that we call home. Regardless of your citizenship status, race, ethnicity or migratory status we stand with you. The next six months might be filled with uncertainty and frustration but you will not go through them alone. Together, our voices will be louder, our actions will be stronger, and our community will be more united. This is your home, you belong here.

You are valued and valid members of the Tiger family.

Emily Brandt
Student Body President
[email protected]

Brent Hirsch
Student Body Vice President
[email protected]

Kathy Hernandez
Community Relations Director
[email protected]

Carlie Snethen
Administrative Assistant
[email protected]

Nicholas Glassman
Treasurer
[email protected]

Kayelani Kirschbaum
Legislative Affairs Director
[email protected]