No matter whether a student is an A+ scholar or flunked out of school, it is impressive how nearly all become competent drivers. On a two-lane road posted for 60 miles per hour, these students drive toward us, closing at 120 miles per hour, and safely zoom past us a few feet away on the other side of the stripe.

So why do all students grow up to become drivers who consistently—with a few exceptions—are good drivers? The answer is simple: real consequences.

Schoolwork mostly lacks real consequences. Children perform to make parents happy. As students, we switch to teacher consequences: gold stars to grades. Sadly, much of K–12 school is isolation in classrooms were there are few opportunities for students to respond to real consequences.

But when an A or F student gets behind the wheel, driving on the open road is no longer consequence-free. Real skill and paying attention are critical. Make a mistake and the car damage and physical trauma are real. This is not parents’ disapproval or a teachers’ lower grade. Performance in the real world has consequences. “Reality bites.”

Because mistakes in the real world can cause us real harm, our brains are wired to wake up and pay attention when real consequences are possible.

But we have recently seen an increase in car technologies that remove the driver’s responsibility. Cruise-control is nearly universal. GPS is so convenient. And recent high-end models now throw beeping hissy fits whenever your car crosses into another lane, or approaches the car in front of you too fast.

But the general public has an unease about going all the way to a self-driving or autonomous car. And rightfully so.

In March, the AAA released a survey showing that 78 percent of Americans would be afraid to ride in a self-driving car. This rate of fear is the same as found in their survey the year before. The same surveys show that drivers do not mind having some “autonomous technologies” in their cars, but that they did not want to hand over full control.

And remember how your level of safety depends on the competence of that driver coming toward you in the other lane. The AAA survey found that 54 percent of American drivers feel less safe sharing the road with a self-driving vehicle. Only 10 percent indicated they felt safer.

So if the driving population is saying “no,” why is the industry driving full speed ahead to develop self-driving cars (and loading the research costs on us)? Like much of American society, they are digitally-deluded techno-enthusiasts that assume the general public is ignorant and has to be dragged into the future.

But by focusing on the tech-glitter they miss the real problem: the dismissal of real consequences and the loss of any driving skill at all.

That difference can clearly be seen in the distinction between cruise-control and the cross-the-line and collision alert systems. When you engage cruise-control, you still must keep your attention on the road and moderate your approach to slower cars, etc. But the cross-the-line and collision alert systems actually take away your need to pay attention. The car will take care of alerting you to stay in lane and will brake if you fail to slow down.

The real consequences of an accident remain, and already a self-driving car has had a fatal accident. But full automation takes away the driver’s need to monitor and engage with reality.

We have enough experience with GPS systems to know that they can get you where you want to go, but you have no idea where you are or, if the system is turned off, how to get back.

And today, some drivers of new cars return to their dealer to ask that the cross-the-line and collision alert systems be disabled. As good drivers, they already know they are crossing the center line to pass, or had a reason to follow closely. They know that to keep these systems is not only a distraction, but relying on them will lead to a lack of attention.

When real consequences are coupled with our learning, both A and F students become A-drivers. But under the proposed self-driving future, both the A and F students will become F-drivers.

5½ months or 10.5 hours to arrive at an $89 million bond proposal for the school district? Understanding the value of and the distinction between these two numbers is imperative for the taxpayer as the plans for USD 489’s proposed school bond moves forward.

In a recent article, the spokeswoman for the architects running the planning process for the USD 489’s next bond proposal essentially said the 5½ months the Vision Team spent pouring over details before they came up with a plan to present to the school board was enough time to sufficiently vet all the issues. But I believe it is imperative that the public have all information before it decides whether or not the Vision Team’s plan has been well thought out.

Starting in February this year the Vision Team met a total of seven times. Each one of these meetings lasted approximately 1.5 hours. In other words, the Vision Team spent a grand total of 10.5 hours to come up with a plan to spend $89 million of taxpayer money on school improvements. And the first few meetings just informed the Vision Team of the current condition of the existing school buildings.

Only 10.5 hours to arrive at a plan to spend $89 million has to be some sort of record. The citizen’s committees that planned the Hays sports complex and the building projects for Ellis County, for example, spent 1.5 to 2 years to fine tune their plans before they presented them to the public for a vote.

Perhaps common sense and prudence would suggest that more time should be spent on developing plans before asking the taxpayers to support an $89 million school bond.

Tom Wasinger, Hays

“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.” — Father Theodore Hesburgh

The 2017 politics of Kansas exemplifies the politics of uncertainty. Our nominal leaders blow the most uncertain of trumpets, while both legislators and the public seek clear direction. With less than a month before the end of the fiscal year, we are barely closer to resolving central issues than we were in February.

The list of uncertainties is staggering:

– Will the Supreme Court accept or reject the Legislature’s two-year educational spending proposal of around $250 million?

– Will legislators agree on a tax bill that will gain either the governor’s signature or the votes to override his veto?

– Will a two-year budget be passed?

– Will the state fulfill its basic obligations (payroll, pension payments) in June, 2017?

– Will Governor Brownback leave office early? If so, what will Governor Colyer be like?

– Who will run for Governor in 2018, in both parties?

– Will the 2nd and 3rd congressional districts produce serious partisan races?

– Will Senate President Wagle mount a primary challenge in the 4th congressional district?

– What will the 2018 Kansas House look like if there is a Democratic wave election?

– How will the national politics of so-called health care reform affect the state Medicaid policies and the survival of many Kansas hospitals?

– Will lawmakers need a special session to address at least some of their educational, budget, and tax uncertainties?

There are some basic certainties, including: the need for lots more revenue to balance the state’s budget; the need to satisfy the Supreme Court as to funding adequate K-12 education; the unalterable fact that there will be filing dates in June 2018, primary elections in August 2018, and a general election that November. With so many offices in play, the political uncertainties exacerbate those that are policy-based.

Most likely the House will need 84 votes and the Senate 27 to override a Brownback veto on taxes, thus reversing the catastrophic decline in Kansas revenues and providing adequate funding for state programs, from education to highways to social services.

The Legislature may have addressed one uncertainty on school finance, but the Court could easily rule the funding level inadequate, throwing the statehouse into further disarray.

In the midst of all this, the governor and the legislative leaders have either blown an uncertain trumpet or remained silent, allowing a series of votes to suggest what the Legislature might pass. As Governor Brownback disingenuously reminds us, such test votes are a staple of legislative politics. Sooner or later, he argues, something will pass.

Fair enough, in an ordinary year. But 2017, with its complex, interconnected mix of uncertainties, is far from ordinary. The governor and legislative leaders are obliged, absolutely, to discover where lawmakers might find agreement in addressing the state’s most pressing problems. So far, they have failed, as the session drags on.

They have not sought to rally public opinion, nor construct solid legislative deals, nor encouraged reasonable brokerage among competing factions. To be sure, this is difficult, and many actions take place in private.

Still, as we move into June and deadlines draw near, House Speaker Ryckman and Senate President Wagle, with or without the Governor, must find ways to fund the government and provide for basic state functions. One need look no farther than Oklahoma to see how core services, most notably public education, can collapse.

We’re not collapsing yet, but Kansans, per Father Hesburgh, deserve real vision and far less of their leaders’ uncertain trumpets.

Burdett Loomis is a professor of political science at the University of Kansas.

By JOHN P. TRETBAR

Hiring in oil and gas extraction increased for three straight months through April, the longest stretch since April to July in 2014, which was right around when oil prices peaked. Business Insider reports sustaining that pace won’t be cheap, as companies revamp production for cheaper oil and the labor market tightens.

A Pratt company pleaded guilty last week in an oil and gas fraud scheme. Sonstone Trading pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud admitting it agreed to sell 3,000 barrels per month of crude oil. The product turned out to be raw gas oil, a by-product from the recycling of used motor oil. At sentencing, the court will determine the amount of loss, which the government says was more than $994,000. Charges against Sonstone executive David Lawson were dismissed.

We’re still waiting to see how big a hit the oil patch in Oklahoma will take in the new budget given final approval on last week. The package may not be legal. The state constitution says no revenue bill should be passed during the last five days of the session, and no revenue bill can become law without a vote of the people or a three-fourths vote in the Legislature.

Baker Hughes reported an increase of two oil drilling rigs and five targeting natural gas, for a total of 908 active rigs across the U.S. In Canada there were 93, up eight. Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 12 active rigs in eastern Kansas, up one, and 23 west of Wichita, which was down two. They’re drilling at one site in Russell County, and drilling is about to commence at another. Completion activity is underway at sites in Barton, Ellis, Russell and Stafford counties.

Operators filed 22 permits for drilling at new locations across Kansas last week, that’s 584 so far this year, up from 333 drilling permits filed at this time last year. There were 11 new permits east of Wichita, and 11 in western Kansas including four in Ellis County.

Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 16 new well completions for the week, all of them in eastern Kansas. There have been 561 wells completed statewide so far this year, compared to 557 at this time last year.

The Kansas Geological Survey this posted oil and gas production numbers through February, reporting a decline from January’s figures. Total statewide production for the first two months of the year was 5.88 million barrels according to numbers posted on the KGS Web site May 21. The January total was just over three million. County totals also declined slightly. Ellis County led the way through February with 429,000 barrels, compared to 217,000 in January. Barton County’s two month total was 276,000 barrels. Russell County produced 256,000 barrels through February and Stafford County notched 170,000 barrels.

Top oil-producing counties 2017 (through February) per the Kansas Geological Survey:
Ellis County 429K bbl
Haskell County 351K bbl
Barton County 276K bbl
Finney County 266K bbl
Russell County 256.7K bbl
Rooks County 256.5K bbl
Ness County 245K bbl
Harper County 197K bbl
Barber County 175K bbl
Stafford County 170K bbl

OPEC and other exporters may have set back their own efforts to increase prices last year by increasing exports in the weeks leading up to the cartel’s production cuts. Now that the reductions have been extended, the Saudi energy minister tells Bloomberg that OPEC’s strategy this time around is to directly target the US. Saudi exports to the US will drop below one million barrels per day next month, down about 15% from current levels. The Web site Oil Price dot com says it will take a month or two for the effects to be felt, but U.S. import data should start showing some signs of the strategy by mid-July.

Four U.S. states on the Gulf of Mexico stand to lose billions in future payments under the latest proposed budget. The White House wants to end a program that shares revenue from offshore oil and gas drilling with the states. This comes just as those payments were scheduled to expand and coastal states try to close budget gaps.

President Donald Trump also wants to sell about half of the nation’s emergency oil stockpile and open the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to drilling as part of plans to balance the budget. Last week’s White House budget proposal reveals the administration’s policy hopes, which include ramping up American energy output. The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the world’s largest, holds about 688 million barrels of crude oil in heavily guarded underground caverns in Louisiana and Texas. Congress created it more than forty years ago, after the Arab oil embargo caused fears of long-term motor fuel price spikes that would harm the U.S. economy. The Trump budget proposes to start selling the oil in beginning October 1st, expecting to generate $500 million. The sales from the reserve would gradually rise over the following years, peaking at nearly $3.9 billion by 2027, and totaling nearly $16.6 billion between 2018 to 2027.

Bloomberg reports on a plan to sell sanctioned Syrian crude oil through Russia to Venezuela to be refined and then sold to gas stations in the U.S. and elsewhere. The plan was never executed, and it’s unclear whether the it is still under consideration. A key player has acknowledged his role, saying he scouted out and negotiated the purchase of a closed refinery on the island of Aruba, one of the world’s largest refineries. Venezuela eventually leased that refinery. Oil trader Wilmer Ruperti said the point of the scheme was to “avoid the boycott.” He recommended a five-year contract to supply 50,000 to 200,000 barrels a day of banned Syrian crude, as well as storage capacity for another 6 million Syrian barrels.

A feature film highlighting the oil industry in the ’30s and ’40s will have several scenes shot in Big Spring and Midland, Texas. The producers of ‘The Iron Orchard’ tell KTAB Big Country that shooting in Big Spring begins on June 7. Scenes will be shot inside the Hotel Settles and other historical sites as well as on location in Midland, San Angelo, Austin and Ackerly.

Since humans first walked this planet, cycles have connected their pasts, presents, and futures to intrigue and inspire them. All cultures have revered rotations of days, months, and seasons as well as life through death progressions. Those sequences fascinate Homo sapiens enough to make them search for them in odd places. Folks who track history and have internet access report that modern marketers are repeating old traditions.

A decade ago, I edited an uncle’s biography. His story caught my interest when I discovered grocery stores operated very differently than they did during my early adulthood. During his early life, customers delivered lists to a clerk who then moved up and down shelves to fill orders. Choices were limited to what was available. No one wandered aisles searching for an exact combination of cough syrup ingredients or Green Giant approved no-salt green beans.

For those who find themselves obsessively reading labels as they cruise canned good, pharmacy, and baking aisles, my uncle’s example of shopping appears ridiculously simple. There’s no way that would work today when consumers determine whether they want organic vegetables or one of the nine types of flour. Heavens, aspirin selections alone can drive shoppers batty. They have to know whether they prefer enteric or regular, high or low dosage, generic or name brand, or . . . the list goes on. Once they reach the wine aisle, matters go downhill.

In the old days, choices were simple. Flour and sugar came from barrels. The only choice involved ordering a specific quantity, and finances often dictated that. Even after stores sacked such staples, space limited brand preferences for canned fruits and vegetables. Consumers bought what was available since my uncle’s store was the only one around in those horse and buggy days.

The little town I lived in as a newlywed still had its old store with high ceilings and wood plank floors. Over time, the owner updated it to include rows of shelving arranged along narrow aisles so customers could carry a basket and collect their own products. Lack of space limited selection so shopping was simple. At a back counter, a fine butcher cut meat to order. Folks could call in their order or drop off a list if they desired. Though it’s only memory, it remains my favorite market.

Recently, a newscast reported major internet vendors sell groceries online. Shoppers log onto sites, review options, select product, pay electronically, and either pick up their items or have them shipped to home addresses. Apparently, robots can fill orders and drones make deliveries. Despite the Jetson-like cartoon angle, this practice follows my relative’s old grocery store shopping model. You wonder if the brainchild behind this had an uncle who collected orders for old-time mercantile patrons.

Mull the possibilities. Will this innovation simplify consumers’ lives? They order what they want and skip competing choice or will someone devise a companion site to reveal exact ingredients and cheapest sources? Will algorithms unveil exactly what shoppers desire before mathematical functions suggest substitutes? Despite its high-tech twists, this shopping technique strikingly resembles my uncle’s first job in a small town grocery store.

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.

By Chris Dinkel

School district bonds can be contentious issues because they directly affect two of the most important aspects of our lives – our kids and our money. For parents who worry about their kids attending schools without safe entrances or with inadequate educational space, opposing a bond to save money is inconceivable, yet for individuals without kids or who live on a fixed income, extra taxes levied for schools is tantamount to theft. Both sides make sense, and both sides need to be considered. The beauty of our democratic system is that both sides can be heard, and that’s been one of the most positive aspects of the work the USD 489 Vision Team has done over the past several months.

From the first Vision Team meeting, the conversation has been dynamic and evolving with significant contributions coming both from people who supported and opposed the last bond. It takes a lot of guts and conviction to be one of the few dissenting voices in a room full of enthusiasts, so I want to commend the people who came to every meeting despite being in the minority. Having supported the last bond, I made a point of sitting with several of its vocal opponents in order to make sure their reservations remained part of the conversation. It’s easy for a super-majority to dismiss the minority in the room, but I hoped that by cooperating with the individuals who expected to be side-lined, we would develop a better plan. To the Vision Team’s credit, they listened, and fiscal responsibility and long-term solutions became guiding principles for the whole process.

As a result of the cooperation among a broad range of Hays citizens, I believe we’re close to developing a plan that not only casts a positive vision for the future of USD 489 but also reflects the values of the Hays community. That couldn’t have happened without cooperation among individuals from a variety of perspectives, and I believe that the end result of this process will be as positive as the process has been.

Just as many people will vote Republican or Democrat regardless of the candidate, with an issue like this some people will support any plan, despite its downfalls, and some will oppose any plan, regardless of its merit. Even so, most people stand somewhere in between and need to see the value that a bond issue like this would bring to the community before supporting or opposing it. I supported the last bond issue, but I believe that community made the right choice in voting it down. The Vision Team is still working to hammer out the details of a plan to present to the School Board, but even in its unfinished state, I believe that the current plan will be excellent and one that the Hays community can proudly support.

Before long kids will toss their schoolbooks and pencils in the far corners of their rooms, don their Magellan garb and embark on a summer course of outdoor exploration.

For many rural children, railroads, dumps, junkyards, abandoned properties and ponds make exciting places to explore. It is up to parents to decide where suitable adventure sites may be found.

Each year, hundreds of railroad trespassers are killed and injured, according to the National Safety Council. Children who crawl under or pass around lowered gates, walk the tracks, cross trestles, take shortcuts across railroad property, hop trains, climb in, on or around railroad cars run a tremendous risk.

This spring take the time to warn your children of these dangers. Instruct them to obey warning devices and insist they never cross a railroad track until they have looked both ways and are sure it is safe.

Never assume children will act like responsible, mature adults. Advise them often because they forget.

Kids will be kids. For most, life is an adventure. Anything and anywhere is fair game for exploration.
When I was a boy growing up in northwestern Kansas, there was always something magnetic about a junkyard. We had an abandoned dump within easy walking distance.

We dug and sifted through the trash at the site for hours, collecting little treasures to add to our growing collections. Sometimes these “keepers” as we called them consisted of rusted iron spikes, neat-shaped bottles, broken wrenches and tools, discarded containers and other cast-offs.

While we weren’t aware of it or didn’t care, the risk of injury was always present. Wasps, snakes, rats, spiders and other creatures scrambled and slithered to move out of the way of our excavation projects. Broken glass and boards with rusty nails threatened to cut or puncture our small feet. I will never forget the pain and tears of stepping on a nail.

Dumps also feature trucks, bulldozers and other heavy equipment. It’s difficult for operators to see children scooting among the debris. Such equipment can easily crush kids. Warn your children to stay away.

Dark deserted buildings – including barns and abandoned farmhouses – often have the reputation of being haunted. Such structures were always considered another adventure when I was a youngster.

Big kids often dare little kids to go in. I remember accepting the challenge and brushing my way through cobwebs and crawling around rodent holes and fleeing mice. Although I survived, I wouldn’t advise any child of mine to do the same.

As a youth, my dad always warned me again and again about swimming ponds. I guess the repetition paid off because I never swam in such pools of water until I was in high school and an “okay” swimmer.

Remember to tell your children about such ponds. They are deep. You can be into water up to your knees the first couple of steps and the next – over your head.

There are no lifeguards. Fencing off ponds may help. Warning signs also may serve as a deterrent, but kids always find a way into the water.

Warn children about such potential hazards. Then warn them again. Saving one child’s life is worth the effort. Many times it takes more than once for them to grasp your warnings.

Lead by example and remember that as a parent you have been entrusted with safeguarding your children’s wellbeing. Summertime is a special time for kids. Having a child is indeed a treasure. Take care of, cherish and nurture this wonderful gift.

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

Admit it, we’ve all laughed like crazy at the videos of fish jumping crazily out of the water as a boat streaks across a lake or up a river. Sometimes they actually land in the boat; sometimes they actually land in the boat after slapping someone in the boat “up-side-the-head.” It all looks crazy funny at the time, but imagine a two or three pound fish smacking you in the noggin’ while you buzz past at thirty miles an hour.

Those fish are Asian carp, just one of several species listed here in Kansas as Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS.) Aquatic nuisance species are aquatic animals that are not native to waters they inhabit, and exhibit some sort of behaviors that threaten native species. In Kansas, ANS include white perch, two species of Asian carp, zebra mussels and three plant species. Preventing the spread of ANS is largely up to us fishermen, and there are regulations in place in Kansas you need to be familiar with.

Now I know all us fishermen pride ourselves on fish identification, but when young, lots of fish look remarkably alike. When they are little and the size normally used for bait, Asian carp or white perch can easily be mistaken for native sport fish, and transporting them alive to another lake or reservoir might be all that’s necessary to get them started at yet another lake where they’re not wanted.

That’s why Kansas regulations state that bait fish must be used only in the lake or reservoir where they are caught and cannot be transported alive to any other water impoundment (with the exception of bluegills or green sunfish which may be used as baitfish anywhere in the state.) Live bait fish purchased from a permitted bait dealer may be used anywhere in the state also, but NO live baitfish may be transported from any ANS designated water. This regulation is aimed at stopping the spread of both species of Asian carp which are voracious plankton feeders capable of eating 40% of their body weight each day and outcompeting with young native sport fish for the same food. Young Asian carp strongly resemble native minnows and shad.

Another regulation to be aware of is that all live wells and bilges on boats must be drained before leaving the lake. This regulation is necessary to help stop the spread of zebra mussels in KS lakes and reservoirs. Zebra mussel larvae, called veligers are microscopic and can’t be seen with the naked eye at that stage of life. In a lake already infested with zebra mussels there may be as many as a thousand veligers in a single gallon of lake water, so spreading them from one water impoundment to another can easily be done unwittingly without even knowing it. Adult zebra mussels look like small clams and attach themselves to literally everything in the water, clogging water intake pipes and the like. Boats and trailers need to be allowed to dry for five days before putting them into a different lake, or they can be washed with 140 degree water, a 10% chlorine solution or hot saltwater.

The most recent statistics I found show that 1 federal reservoir or state fishing lake now contains Asian carp, and 17 contain zebra mussels. Eleven city and county lakes contain zebra mussels. Nineteen rivers and creeks in Kansas contain zebra mussels, and a whopping 46 rivers and creeks are infested with Asian carp.

In summary, the three primary ways we the public can help stop the spread of ANS are;

CLEAN-DRAIN-DRY – boats and equipment after visits to Kansas water impoundments

DON’T MOVE LIVE FISH between bodies of water or up streams

DON’T DUMP BAIT FISH IN THE WATER OR IN DRAINAGE DITCHES – instead discard bait fish on dry land or in receptacles provided at the lake.

Remember the signature line of Smokey the Bear, “Only you can prevent forest fires?”…… Only you can stop the spread of Aquatic Nuisance Species in Kansas lakes, rivers and streams, making it more enjoyable to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

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

If there’s a major roadblock to enactment of a new tax package for Kansas this legislative session—and nobody’s doubting the state needs more of your money—it’s this “bracket” issue.

It comes down to Gov. Sam Brownback insisting that there be no more than two brackets—setting the level at which different percentages of taxable income are paid, after deductions and credits and such.

Kansas has just two income tax brackets. A married couple filing a joint income tax return falls into one of two brackets. After the deductions and such, if you have a taxable income of less than $30,000? You pay 2.7% of that to the state. More than $30,000? The rate is 4.6%.

Brownback is a two-bracket sort of guy, and he’d take just one bracket—a flat rate for everyone who pays taxes—in a minute.

Well, that one-bracket appears dead—just three of the state’s 40 senators could bring themselves to vote for it.

Brownback’s key: Simplification. One bracket is pretty simple to calculate. It’s just one arithmetic calculation. Gets a little more difficult to make it even reasonably saleable. Lawmakers know they’d have to build into a flat tax system elaborate exemptions and deductions for the poor so that they can survive and not wind up on a state-financed welfare roll.

Kansas’ two brackets? Already that’s a simplification from four years ago before the so-called “Brownback tax cuts” which reduced us from three brackets to just two brackets (and eliminated the income tax on that pesky non-wage income of limited liability companies, some sole proprietorships and the like).

This simplification is not a bad argument, but did you notice any Missouri income taxpayers wandering into Kansas, weaving and confused, not speaking clearly because of the complexity of that state’s income tax policy?

Missouri, by the way, has 10 individual income tax brackets. Ten. The brackets range from 1.5% to 6%. Nebraska? Four brackets from 2.46% to 6.8%. Colorado, just one bracket at 4.63% (but of course that state legalized pot which may make computation more difficult), Oklahoma six brackets from half a percent to 5%, and even in Arkansas, taxpayers manage to compute their way through six brackets ranging from .9 % to 6.9%.

Neat deal about that multiplicity of brackets is that you can take more money from folks who will probably be able to afford a flaming dessert anyway, and less from the folks who check their wallets to see whether they can afford one scoop or two of ice cream after dinner.

Still, this simplification argument is one that is mostly coming from Brownback’s second floor office in the Statehouse, not the third floor where the Legislature works.

Lawmakers continue to try to craft an income tax bill that will raise enough money to keep the lights on in state offices and support public schools as the Kansas Supreme Court has directed. It’s taken the Legislature into extra innings to put together that plan, and it hasn’t worked yet.

Several legislators suggest adding in sales taxes on some services, and have tried to single out specific targets—say, hiring a private detective or boarding your dog. That’s a major philosophical issue, putting sales tax on something you can’t hold in your hand or drive or eat—while inconveniencing the smallest number of potential voters.

Issue there? What if sales taxes on services creep outward during the next few years. Lawyers, accountants, doctors—those folks aren’t interested in adding a sales tax to their bills either.

So, we’re looking at brackets again. Set them too high and the poor pay more than they can afford, set them too low and the upper-income folks can consider their state income tax bill like a cheap tip.

Gonna see how this one works out…

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

The Trump Administration’s new budget proposes massive cuts to Medicaid and other programs that benefit the poorest Americans, while rewarding the super-rich. This is to be expected, but there is more. The proposal forecasts 3% annual growth in the coming years: about twice what economists predict. Why? White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney answered, “That [other estimate] assumes a pessimism about America—about the economy, about its people, about its culture—that we’re simply refusing to accept.”

Refusing to accept.

Reality is hard, so we refuse to accept it.

Anyone remember Sam Brownback’s famous line—the sun is shining in Kansas?

Magical thinking has slipped its leash. Pretend and make-believe have replaced careful, worldly thinking about serious problems. Unhappy about those budget numbers? No problem, just make up new ones.

Kansans know all about this. The saga of Governor Sam Brownback’s 2012 tax cuts, runaway deficits, and weak economic growth has already been told. At issue here are Brownback’s responses: the rationalizations, stonewalling, and outright denials. As with Trump’s proposal, the revenue numbers used to produce Brownback’s tax cut bill were not based on the state’s consensus revenue estimates. Compiled by economists, they foretold disastrous revenue losses from the cuts, and much less economic growth than he promised. Even those turned out to be too optimistic, but were still the most accurate. Brownback did not like those numbers, so he just used his own. Now we live with the consequences. Today, the tide is finally starting to turn– today, the Kansas Legislature stands just a maddening few votes shy of overriding his veto and repealing this experiment altogether.

The Governor never admitted defeat. He blamed the agricultural economy, already accounted for in those consensus revenue estimates. He touts new business creation, but economists say it is mostly re-incorporation by the self-employed, due to a tax loophole he created. Brownback even suggested that Johnson County build a multi-billion dollar commercial airport to compete with Kansas City, MO! How would he pay for this? Certainly not on credit—the state’s bond ratings have dropped several times recently.

Here in real Kansas, economic growth lags behind many neighboring states, schools are so underfunded they have taken the state to court, and health-care providers wait longer and longer to get paid less and less. Those serving lower-income communities operate on slim margins and may have to close or deny services. Some are already gone.

Reality is messy and complicated. The good guys do not always win, the best ideas do not always prevail, and good intentions do not equal good results. Effective decisions take hard work: sifting through numbers, deciding upon trade-offs, and making sacrifices. They require empathy with those affected by our actions, and a willingness to admit mistakes and make amends.

Instead, we have been given a budget that is particularly vindictive to the poor, kind to the rich, and fundamentally unbalanced. When children learn that their magical daydreams are just pretend, they are sad for a while, then get over it. When policymakers engage in magical thinking, it is the rest of us that suffer, and for a long time to come.

Michael A. Smith is a Professor of Political Science at Emporia State University.

By TOM WASINGER

USD 489’s Vision Team met Tuesday, May 16, 2017, to try and come up with plans for school building improvements to propose to the school board for its next bond election. In the end, some members wanted more time so there is another meeting scheduled in June. Here are some random thoughts and tidbits from my perspective about the school board, its vision team and what has been developed so far.

Vision Team members are self-appointed, meaning anyone can show up and participate. On average, 85% of the members who attended voted for the last school bond and are mostly in favor of any bond, no matter the amount. Several members are teachers or employees of the school district. Two of us, who attended regularly, voted no in the last school bond election. Based on this skewed makeup and the speed with which the decisions are unfolding, this process does seem fundamentally flawed to me. It’s questionable whether the results to date are representative of the community as a whole.

Not surprisingly, the team’s plans so far reflect the disproportionate makeup. The wished-for bond amount is $89 million on the high end (the last bond issue was for $94 million). It would necessitate the approval by voters of a one-half cent (.5¢) Hays city wide sales tax for ten years plus a rise in property taxes. If the city commissioners don’t agree to put the sales tax question on the ballot, it could be put to a vote by petition. (This certainly puts the city commissioners in an interesting position.) The back-up plan is for $55 million bond to be financed by raising property taxes only.

Both plans call for the building of a new elementary school for about $20+ million and the closing of Lincoln Elementary and the repurposing of O’Loughlin Elementary. However, don’t ask the vision team or the school board where the new elementary school will be built, because they don’t have a definite site yet. But what every voter needs to understand is interest will have to be paid on that $20+ million once the bonds are sold.

In a bow toward equality, the vision team believes there should be parity among all elementary schools, which means that they want to “right size” existing classrooms at Wilson Elementary School and wherever else necessary to make sure that no child has to suffer needlessly in a smaller classroom. Of course, this will cost many millions more to address. The only question not answered as of yet is how “right sizing” all the elementary school classrooms will translate into improved educational performance.

At no time has there been a discussion of how these plans will improve the space needs of the special needs students or how and where the school district will establish the educational experience students at O’Loughlin Elementary currently receive.

There was some discussion of transitional, incidental or miscellaneous costs associated with the building projects which were above and beyond the construction costs. I don’t exactly recall the amount of dollars mentioned, but it seemed to be additional millions.

Why should people from surrounding counties and the visitors who come to Hays to shop, eat, or spend the night pay an extra sales tax to support our local school board’s construction projects? While they do derive a benefit from our roads and EMS, for example, for which the City of Hays and Ellis County are responsible, what benefit do they get from our schools? What good reason can we give them? What might be their reaction to such a tax and what impact might their reaction be to an already declining revenue source for the City of Hays?
At the last meeting two individuals questioned the rush to get this to a vote or if they were really ready to present this to the school board. There is absolutely no doubt that the plans could be developed at a slower pace and better refined and defined before moving forward. However, the school board through its architects and vision team has created a juggernaut which will be difficult to slow down.

After the last bond election, I wrote an article in which I explained the reasons why I thought the voters rejected the previous school bond. The general and primary reason cited was a lack of trust in the school board.

But some specifics involved:

• Using a local sales tax as a funding mechanism to pay for a portion of the bonds despite its impact on the City of Hays’ and Ellis County’s ability to deal with future revenue shortfalls. Given the current local economic recession and declining sales tax revenue the issue becomes even that much more acute for the City of Hays and Ellis County. One has to wonder how they will respond to this issue.

• Turning over $90 million to the school board in one humongous bond issue with the hope that they will be able to spend it all efficiently and prudently. The average taxpayer has heard this all before.

At the very least, it is reasonable to question the school board’s rush to put this to a vote. What is exactly gained by a vote this year vs. next year? The architects hired by the school board to guide the vision team regularly told us that there is no big hurry to put forward any plans, but given my experience in the past four months, I’m beginning to have my doubts.

It’s still possible the school board and vision team will prove skeptics like me wrong and maybe the Hays City Commissioners can justify the sales tax idea to the people of Hays, such that they will support the extra tax, notwithstanding the constraint it would impose on the city’s major source of operational funds. And perhaps the voters of USD 489 school district will gladly hand over $89 million (or $55 million) all at one time for improvements to facilities and a new elementary school despite all the unanswered questions, for example those related to where the new elementary school will be built, what happens to Lincoln Elementary, Washington School and the Rockwell Administration building, the special needs students, the O’Loughlin experience and whether right sizing all the elementary classrooms is a genuine need and is warranted.

But the questions each and every taxpayer and voter in the school district needs to ask every member of the school board and vision team are at least these: What is the rush? Why can’t the process be more measured and deliberate? So what if it takes another year to develop refined, solid plans? Why are there still important unanswered questions that aren’t being addressed? How can we trust you to spend our hard earned taxpayer money wisely under these circumstances?

Tom Wasinger, Hays

By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

Home on the Range. That’s the state song of Kansas, but many people may not know the fascinating back story of the disputed authorship of this wonderful song. Now a Kansas film company is making the true story come alive on screen.

Ken Spurgeon is founder and executive director of Lone Chimney Films, the company which is producing a docudrama called Home on the Range. Ken is from Wichita originally. He got a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Wichita State and became a teacher. He now teaches history at Northfield School of the Liberal Arts and at Friends University.

Ken became a Civil War reenactor, wearing period costumes and reenacting the battles of the Civil War. Videographers wanted footage of these battles, and Ken became interested in the filming process.

“I loved the visual elements,” Ken said. “That’s how many of us learn.” The process of bringing a story to life on film fascinated him. After serving as a close-up extra on a film shoot in Virginia, he decided he wanted to write and produce screenplays and documentaries.

Ken and friend Jonathon Goering put together their own film company. Ken remembered the stories of Bleeding Kansas and the fact that a lone chimney is sometimes the only thing which remains from an abandoned farmstead of yesteryear. He named his new enterprise Lone Chimney Films and later got it designated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

In 2005, Lone Chimney Films produced its first documentary, a Civil War story called Touched by Fire. The second documentary was called Bloody Dawn: The Lawrence Massacre. Both films have aired more than 20 times on regional PBS stations across the Midwest and have been shown in more than 200 classrooms.

The third documentary was called The Road to Valhalla about the Kansas-Missouri border war and its after-effects. That film won the Best Documentary award from the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City.

After giving a talk about his films one day, Ken was approached about a new film idea: The true story of the song known as Home on the Range. The more he explored the idea, the more intrigued he became. He visited with Wichita musician Orin Friesen and Kansas writer Sharon Black who had written about the topic.

Home on the Range was highly popular. It was also the subject of a national lawsuit. An Arizona couple claimed to have been the first persons to have written the song and sued for royalties.

An attorney had been dispatched to find the true origin of the song. His travels took him to Smith County, Kansas, where eyewitnesses attested to its having been written by Dr. Brewster Higley in the 1870s. The attorney found that the Smith County Pioneer newspaper had published Higley’s poem in 1874 prior to the Arizonans, proving that Higley was the original author.

Higley had written the poem about his Smith County cabin which was located north of the rural communities of Gaylord, population 141, and Cedar, population 26. Now, that’s rural. The poem was later set to music and modified slightly. Its popularity would spread across the nation.

The fascinating story of the attorney’s discovery of the truth about the song is dramatized in this new docudrama called Home on the Range. It stars Buck Taylor who appeared in Gunsmoke and western actor Rance Howard who is also the father of Hollywood director Ron Howard. Mitch Holthus plays an old-time radio announcer. Orin Friesen served as musical consultant. The film even includes the rock group Kansas singing Home on the Range.

The movie premiered in January 2017 in Wichita, Kansas City, and Smith County. It has been shown at the capitol in Topeka for the governor and state legislators and will be shown at various communities across Kansas and beyond. For more information, go to www.lonechimneyfilms.org.

Home on the Range. It took a lawsuit to prove that this song indeed was first written by a Kansan, and now Ken Spurgeon is making a difference by sharing this history with others. I’m glad this film has found its home – well, you know where.