Dear Neighbors, Friends and Concerned Citizens,

I can’t hardly believe that it’s already been 10 years. In 2007, I wrote my last letter to the editor, thanking everyone for their support in fighting the parole of Francis Donald Nemechek, and the last words of that letter read “Parole Denied till 2017.”

Once again, I call upon you for your help. I am writing this letter to inform you that Francis Donald Nemechek is once again coming up for parole.

For those of you who do not know the case history of Nemechek it goes like this:

On March 24, 1977, Francis Donald Nemechek was taken to Lansing Penitentiary after he was convicted of five counts of first degree murder and sentenced to five life sentences. He came up for parole after only 15 years, this is our fifth attempt to keep him in prison, we hope to again be successful, but only if the public outcry is such that the Prisoner Review Board cannot possibly turn him lose.

Nemechek was convicted of the murder of Paula Fabrizius, WaKeeney, who was the daughter of Leon and Ginger Fabrizius and would have been my sister-in-law; Carla Baker, Hays, Cheryl Williams Young, and her 3-year-old son, Guy, Fort Madison, Iowa, and Diane Lovette, Fort Madison, Iowa.

Young, Lovette and the 3-year-old were traveling from Iowa to see relatives in Denver, in December of 1975, when they had a flat tire. Nemechek stopped to offer assistance, but ended up abducting them and taking them to a farm house, where he raped Lovette and then shotgunned Lovette and Young and left the 3-year-old boy to freeze to death.

Fabrizius was a rangerette at Cedar Bluff State Park and was abducted, murdered by Nemechek and taken near Castle Rock, where her body was dumped off a cliff.

Baker’s body was discovered in a canyon on the south side of Cedar Bluff three months after she was abducted from Hays while riding her bicycle.

Nemechek confessed to all five murders.

Every three years the families of the victims fought his parole, until in 1997 when the parole board was given the opportunity to pass for ten years. However the families must still go through a re-creation of pain and loss when we are confronted with the possibility that Nemechek could be set free. We hope that each of you will find it in your hearts to help us by signing a petition, carrying a petition or sending a letter to the Prisoner Review Board. The Petition is available to sign in the Trego County Emergency Management Office in the courthouse. Also anyone who wishes to write a letter or carry a petition can take them to my office or mail them to my home.

If you are interested in carrying a petition (they are not legal or binding, they simply state the wishes of the signer, any age may sign) type, write or just cut this out and attach it to a piece of paper and have it signed below with name and address:

“2017 — PETITION TO DENY PAROLE FOR FRANCIS DONALD NEMECHEK”
We the undersigned want to express our wishes to the Kansas Department of Corrections and the Prisoner Review Board to deny parole to Francis D. Nemechek. We believe that the crimes he committed were heinous in nature and that the length of time served, no matter how long, will never be enough to repay the debt to society for the taking of five lives.”

You can return the petitions and also any letters you want delivered to the Prisoner Review Board to me at Kathleen Fabrizius, 28021 330 Ave, Ogallah, Ks. 67656 or if you need more information call 785-731-5536. They can also be dropped off at Trego County Emergency Management office in the Courthouse.

Petitions need to be returned to me by June 10.

The family plans to attend the Public Comment Session in Derby, Kansas on June 14; Topeka, Kansas on June 23 or Kansas City, Kansas on June 26th.

You may also write to the Kansas Department of Corrections, Prisoner Review Board, 714 SW Jackson, Suite 300, Topeka, Kansas 66603.

The support that our family had the past three times we undertook this project was tremendous, it is our hope that by taking the time and making the effort to keep this killer behind bars, we are preventing the loss and heartache that the families of these victims have been through and must continue to go through each time he comes up for parole.

Thank you to each one of you, even if you can’t consciously sign the petition and you just say a silent prayer for our cause we thank you. No action is too small to be heard by the Almighty.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Fabrizius

SUNFLOWER ELECTRIC

Electricity powers our lives. Rarely are we in environments that are not dependent on electricity in some way. Each time we turn electricity on and off, we are influencing one of the world’s largest and most complex machines: the North American power system. This machine, which stretches from coast to coast, can be impacted by severe weather, vandalism, cyber incidents, and other natural and man-made events.

Protecting the nation’s critical assets to ensure an affordable, reliable and secure energy supply are top priorities for electric cooperatives and the entire electric power industry. Electric system owners work with government agencies in deploying multi-layered security measures that respond to and mitigate the system’s threats and vulnerabilities. The electric power sector continuously monitors the bulk electric power system and responds to events large and small. As a result, electric consumers are rarely aware of these events primarily because the electric sector successfully executes its defensive measures every day.

To maintain and improve upon the high level of reliability that electric consumers expect, electric cooperatives work closely with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Energy (DOE), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and other sectors of the industry.

“Decades ago, electric cooperatives were formed to serve rural areas, and while some now serve suburban areas,the majority still serve in rural areas,” said Bill Branch, vice president and chief information officer at Sunflower. “Being located in remote areas does not mean that co-ops work in isolation. We are part of a vast electric grid, one that relies on subject matter experts from many organizations to keep it running well.”

In 2005, Congress mandated the development and enforcement of reliability and cyber security standards to protect the critical physical and cyber assets in the BulkElectric System (BES). The Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP or cyber) standards were initially developed and
implemented by FERC in 2006 and have been audited for compliance by NERC since 2007. NERC’s CIP is the only set of mandatory cybersecurity standards in place for the nation’s critical infrastructures, such as water, gas and electricity.

During the last decade, these standards have evolved into categorizing the BES cyber system into high, medium, and low impact types of assets based on the potential risk and impacts to the BES. The newest version of standards is now being deployed throughout the industry. In the next several years revised and new CIP standards will be developed, and within a year or two of their approval, they will become mandatory. It’s safe to say that these standards will continue to be more impactful on the industry with the focus on ensuring the safety and reliability of the electric grid.

“Sunflower takes very seriously the responsibility we have in helping protect the North American power system,” Branch said. “Staff have been put in place to prepare for and meet the CIP standards, and their hard work definitely paid off in the recent CIP audit. As our industry changes, we know that more security challenges lie ahead, but the CIP plan will help electric utilities meet them head on.”

The Member-Owner Cooperatives of Hays-based Sunflower Electric Power Corporation are Lane/Scott Electric-Dighton; Prairieland Electric-Norton; Victory Electric-Dodge City; Western Cooperative Electric, WaKeeney; Wheatland Electric-Scott City; Pioneer Electric-Ulysses; and Southern Pioneer Electric Company-Liberal and Medicine Lodge.

 

By U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.)

In our hyper-partisan political environment, there’s not much that Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill agree on. But when it comes to our veterans, all Americans believe that our nation’s heroes deserve the best possible healthcare when they separate from duty. That’s why we are so proud that Congress unanimously passed and President Trump signed into law this week our Veterans Choice Improvement Act – legislation that extends the Veterans Choice Program and ensures our veterans won’t have to wait weeks or months, or drive long distances, to get the care they need when they need it.

This bipartisan legislation comes three years after the scandal in which our country was shocked to learn that dozens of veterans died while waiting for appointments at the Phoenix VA. In the weeks and months following that revelation, we learned of several more cases of wait-time manipulation taking place at VA hospitals around the country. In response, both chambers of Congress quickly came together to pass legislation that would fulfill our moral responsibility to veterans by making certain they receive quality healthcare in a timely manner.

The Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, which became law in August 2014, established the Veterans Choice Program, giving veterans who live more than 40 miles from a VA medical facility or are forced to wait more than 30 days for an appointment the option to receive healthcare from a local community provider. Though the Choice Program has much room for improvement, and growing pains have certainly accompanied the law’s expedited implementation, it has improved access to healthcare for our nation’s veterans. In fact, since the inception of Choice, more than seven million appointments have been scheduled with community providers for medical services ranging from diagnostic tests and physical therapy to life saving heart and cancer care.

Given that the Veterans Choice Program was authorized and funded through emergency measures, it also carried a looming end date. The VA has been preparing to limit medical services under the Choice Program for veterans whose treatments would extend beyond the program’s August 2017 expiration.

Our bipartisan legislation, which was also sponsored by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman and Ranking Member, Senators Johnny Isakson and Jon Tester, eliminates the August 2017 expiration, streamlines the process between the VA and community providers, and reduces the burden on veterans and the community providers who serve them.

Extending the Veterans Choice Program helps to ensure the roughly 1.5 million veterans who benefit from Choice will continue to have an option to access quality healthcare closer to home from the 350,000 participating community providers. In addition, Congress will now have more time to work with the new VA Secretary to determine what the next iteration of access to community providers through the VA ought to look like. A consolidated and integrated network of community providers is critical for the VA to reduce the burden on those who have sacrificed for their nation and are seeking access to the care they earned through the VA. Congress will work to make certain the VA strikes the right balance – delivering on our nation’s commitment to our veterans to provide access to healthcare when and where a veteran needs it.

As we work to ensure all veterans have access to care, we must develop an informed, strategic plan for the future of veteran healthcare through the VA. No veteran should worry they won’t be able to get the care they need. Where there are gaps that local providers can fill, such as in rural areas, the community should fill them. Our veterans should feel confident in the large network of providers both inside and outside VA facilities that are dedicated to their needs.

We have a duty to make certain that no undue burden is placed on the veteran in accessing care. Whether that veteran is in Hays, Kansas, and forced to drive more than 180 miles to get a shingles shot, or that veteran is in Phoenix, Arizona, waiting months to receive care at their local VA hospital, the needs of the veteran have to come first.

We must never go back to the pre-scandal days where a VA bureaucrat had the final say as to where and when a veteran got their healthcare. We will continue working with our colleagues in the Senate and the new administration to follow through on our commitment to those who have borne the price of battle for our nation.

Recently, I overheard two men my senior, espousing some pretty harsh political views. I am more apt to not say anything, but rather just excuse myself from these types of situations.

However, I was about to inject some reality into their conversation when they shifted to the topic of “shingles” (as in the illness). One of them said, “Well, I have had chicken pox, so I don’t need to worry about the vaccine for shingles.” (In fact, the opposite is true. If you have had chicken pox, you are more likely to develop shingles.)

There is a lot of talk about law, politics, and medicine in coffee shops. Even worse is the poor state of information that we are now fed before we go into the coffee shop.

Technology has exploded. Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to exploit it. Even I have a “smart” phone, which requires the assistance of my son. I have come to the conclusion that it is called a “smart phone,” because you have to be technologically “smart” to use it.

Unfortunately, our information is now provided in as little as 140 characters, or headlines, or agendas. Most of the information is misleading, if not false, and many people rely on those tidbits to form their opinions.
Most of us were brought up in an age where we studied and read and challenged the information that was given to us. While we still had coffee shops, those that participated had opinions based on, in large part, facts and beliefs—not 140 characters.

While the world may choose to get its information from those snippets, we can choose to go beyond that.
I have a friend (and I sometimes have coffee with him) who has very different political and economic beliefs than I. He can drive me crazy, but I know that his beliefs are backed by some real research and valid information. Frankly, after a debate with my friend, I feel challenged, better informed, and a little wiser.
My experience with my older clients is that they are wise. They do not let today’s shortcuts dumb them down.
Do not let today’s shortcuts dumb you down. Use your accumulated wisdom to ask the right questions, do your own research, and make better-informed opinions.

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.

Still two weeks before the Legislature returns to Topeka, so the Statehouse is virtually empty of lawmakers…a few stopping in to check the mail or maybe just hoping to find a lobbyist to take them to lunch.

But this next two weeks are all about what is necessary in the legislative wrap-up session, what is possible, and whether we’ve seen enough sparring to determine who’s going to do it.

That what is necessary, of course, has two components — putting together a budget and putting together a school finance formula that the Kansas Supreme Court has demanded by July 1.

You don’t have a budget until you see how much money you need and figure out where to get it, and you don’t have a school finance formula until the Supreme Court says you do.

Key to everything is the Thursday meeting of the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG); sometime Thursday afternoon, reporters start looking at the Statehouse, to see if a white puff of smoke has gone up, signaling that CREG has met, presumably bargained with each other in the rarified argot of economists, and come up with revenue projections. Or, if it’s windy out, we’ll get a notice of a meeting time at which the CREG estimate will be released.

Those economists and revenue specialists and whomever else gather somewhere secret in the Statehouse look at revenues from whom and what, and assemble the revenue estimate which the Legislature uses to assemble a budget and figure out how much money the state needs to finance those services that the state provides us taxpayers.

And…while that revenue business is being juggled, there’s still that formula for making sure that children from border to border have equal access to school programs and the chance to get a good education, and that roughly 25 percent of Kansas pupils who aren’t performing well academically for whatever reason get the assistance they need to emerge from high school ready for a job or vocational education or higher education.

Then, there’s still that issue about expanding Medicaid under the in-the-GOP-gunsights Affordable Care Act which will provide health care to maybe 150,000 poor Kansans. The Legislature passed a bill, remember, to allow Kansans to get that health care, the governor vetoed it, and the Legislature didn’t override the veto.

So…along with the state’s fiscal issues, there are Kansans who aren’t getting health care, and can’t work because of illnesses or might spread those illnesses to Kansans who can afford health insurance but come into contact in everyday life with those who can’t. Sound like a problem that needs a solution, or at least enough votes to override a veto?

But, it’s quiet this week and you don’t have to thread your way through the halls bumping into lawmakers who are having learned the physical lay of the land here are still learning the political lay of the land.

It’ll be next week that lawmakers start diagramming the catch phrase sentences they will use to talk about taxes, budget, schools, Medicaid and a range of other issues that they must solve or figure a way to delay until next year before they can call this session to a halt.

Is there a plan here? Well, so far, it doesn’t look like one is going together. We’ve had three months of a legislative session where we have learned that legislators aren’t enthusiastic about a flat rate income tax to raise whatever money they are going to learn this week that they will need. Oh, and the governor isn’t enthusiastic about taxing LLCs and those other corporations that if their founders were smart enough to label their profits as “non-wage income” don’t pay income tax.

But clearly, if the Legislature doesn’t come up with a plan that the governor will sign into law, well, there’s always pulling money out of the Bank of KDOT, as the Kansas Department of Transportation has become known because it just takes a few minutes for the governor to sweep its sales tax receipts from roadway-building into the State General Fund for general government use.

Look for the frustration, the taxes, the spending and the schools to take center stage May 1 when lawmakers return.

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

You’ve read it time and time again: “For an unknown reason, the vehicle crossed the center line, overcorrected and rolled into the ditch.”

Jack Dillon Young, the 20-year-old from Texas, apologized for killing 13 people on a church minibus several weeks ago. He was texting while driving, and typed one letter too many before looking up to see what was happening on the road. A witness saw him cross the center-line multiple times, and even summoned the police. But they were too late. He was sorry he shattered the lives of 13 families, and yet, if he’s out driving ever again, you can bet he’ll be back doing the same thing.

Almost on a daily basis there’s news of someone entering the ditch, overcorrecting and wrecking their vehicle. Or worse yet, someone crossing the center line and having a head on collision with another vehicle. Maybe you know of people, personally, who have been involved in this situation, I know I do. Where it is always reported as to whether a seat belt is being worn, or not, it never comes out in the report whether they’re texting while driving. But a look at the phone records compared to the time of the accident would easily identify what actually happened.

If someone thinks it’s so important to text while propelling a two-ton vehicle at high speeds, they take the risk of killing themselves. But when others are at risk, also, something has to be done.

I cannot remember the last time I was on the highway and was not threatened by someone texting while driving. It’s become epidemic. I’ve even seen texting in bumper to bumper traffic. Having had two instances of near tragic results, personally, tells me it’s high time to speak up.

The programs that have been developed to address texting while driving are a big waste of money. Why? Because it’s our human nature to think it’s always going to happen to someone else, and not to us. Laws can be enacted, but if they’re not able to be enforced, what’s the use? I see the attention given to drunk driving, but statistically, texting is much more of an issue than drunk driving. Yet, very little has been done to address it.

I’ve seen people texting to the point that I’m scared to pass them. I’ve called law enforcement, and they do follow up, only to see the driver put the phone in their lap until the law enforcement passes by. Then they resume texting.

It wouldn’t be so frustrating if there was no answer to this problem, but there is, and it could be addressed immediately. Every phone has GPS capability. When it’s noted that the phone is traveling at more than 15 mph, the phone automatically shuts off. If you have an emergency, you pull over and your phone can be turned back on. Does this mean the passengers’ phones don’t work either? Yes, it does. Maybe we’ll have to go back to the Stone Age and actually have a conversation with the driver, like old times. (I’ve seen husbands and wives at lunch that never talk to one another, because they’re texting or on Facebook the entire time). What about navigating through an unfamiliar city? Yes, back to the Stone Age, again, by purchasing a GPS unit and entering the destination before you start on your trip. (Many vehicles don’t allow certain entries when the car is in motion, already).

Understand that I’m not on my high horse lecturing others, as the urge to text has bitten me, also. I think of how much I can get done on a long trip if I’m on the phone communicating to people. We all need to have this forcefully taken away from us.

Many will not agree with me, and probably won’t, right up to the time a loved one is loss. Then you’ll be sorry. Let’s not wait that long, please! Call your congressman with your concerns.

Tim Schumacher, Hays

This is a special week for those who are involved with the production of food and fiber. It marks the 47th observance of Earth Day on Saturday, April 22.

The original premise of Earth Day was to promote the conservation of our natural resources. It is only fitting that on this day we showcase the progress of the Kansas farmer and rancher – but is there really any question most people who live on planet Earth support its survival?

To help put Earth Day in perspective, this celebration of our planet really began gathering steam at the beginning of the ‘90s. It became a very “in” thing to bang the environmental drum.

Back then, I remember “Fortune” magazine proclaiming for the first time the environment was a cause worthy of saving. Others shouted from the mountaintops that while Motherhood, apple pie, baseball and the flag all may be subject to controversy – saving our planet was beyond debate.

This same idea is back in vogue today. In this perfect world, people will fully understand the tools they use, and some believe they can provide for themselves without depending on the professionals and specialists.

Life would slow down and be viewed as a whole. This ideology offers a sense of place – of being rooted. Ancient wisdom and grassroots democracy are essential. Quality and equality of life are where it’s at. Much is said about ends but little about means. This ideology speaks poetically about much – plainly about little.

So, what happens after Earth Day passes?

Most folks go about their daily lives and forget about Earth Day. Some will focus on small things like recycling or changing their shopping habits. Some fringe environmentalists may be forced to re-think their radical positions of imminent apocalypse.

Protecting and caring for this old world we call home is often a struggle. Like each day’s sunrise and sunset, we often take it for granted. Conservation of our planet can be a challenge because some regard the land as a private commodity.

Others, including farmers, ranchers and those who make their living from the land, view this planet as a community to which they belong. They love, respect and care for the land. They adhere to an ethic, which enlarges the boundaries of their community to include soils, waters, plants and animals.

There is no other way for the land to survive the impact of modern man. We must always remember while our land yields fruits, vegetables and grains, it also yields a cultural harvest – one we as inhabitants all share and must nurture.

Let’s remember throughout the year, not only on Earth Day, that land is used right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the living community. It is used wrong when it tends to be otherwise.

The bulk of all land relations hinges on investments of time, forethought, skill and faith, rather than only investments of capital. We have continually modernized our farm equipment, plant foods, herbicides and other production inputs. We are proud of the abundance of the crops we produce.

We can never throw away or limit the tools which have provided so much for so many. Let’s remember throughout the year our commitment to the successful and wise use of our life-giving land. Let’s remember we have not outgrown the land.

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

Regardless of faith, ethnicity or class, each of us is taught at a young age that it is our duty to help those in need. Americans take that moral responsibility to heart. As individuals, we help our neighbors. Through churches and local organizations, we feed our communities. And as a country, America leads the world in providing food for millions of people in need of assistance.

When governments cannot feed their own people, chaos and violence are sure to follow. Food assistance provided by the United States – almost 10 percent of hard red winter wheat exports in 2016 were through food aid programs – leads to greater stability in regions of the world important to America’s strategic interests. The President’s proposed budget cuts to food aid programs would only undermine those interests.

While our country’s collective moral convictions make fighting hunger the right thing to do, the benefits we receive as a nation from reducing global food insecurity also make it the smart thing to do.

President Ronald Reagan recognized the power of food in shaping foreign policy. In 1983, at a signing of a World Food Day proclamation, Reagan chided the Soviet Union for failing to provide humanitarian relief to those in need, and offered a direct challenge to the Kremlin to explain why the Soviet Union only provided weapons but not food assistance to the underdeveloped world.

While the threats of today are different than those faced during the Cold War, American food aid continues to serve our national interests by promoting political, economic and social stability on a global scale, in addition to elevating our country’s moral standing and leadership.

For decades, we have witnessed food-related hardships act as a catalyst for protests and armed conflicts that harm America’s strategic interests abroad. From 2007 to 2011, spikes in global food prices led to increased food insecurity and unrest in the world. In the Middle East and North Africa, food-related protests were one of the major drivers of the mass uprising of the Arab Spring. The widespread turmoil in these oil-producing regions caused major volatility in energy prices. And even as food prices have leveled out since 2011, we continue to deal with the reverberations of the Arab Spring.

In Syria, the Islamic State uses the promise of food and basic necessities to recruit soldiers. Food shortages have led refugees to leave camps and return to an active war zone in search of food for themselves and their families.

Closer to home, food prices contributed to rioting in Haiti in 2007 and 2008. As food prices increased and economic conditions deteriorated, US Coast Guard interceptions of people from Haiti attempting to immigrate to our country also increased.

The National Intelligence Council warns that a continuation of the fundamental contributors to food insecurity – such as expanding populations, the slowing of agricultural yields and gaps in infrastructure and distribution systems – without greater assistance by the United States will result in increased food insecurity and instability in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Congress has a critical role to play here in delivering that assistance.

Through my role on the Senate Appropriations Committee, I am committed to protecting the gains we’ve made in international food aid programs. While chairing the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, I fought for a $134 million increase in Food for Peace Title II funding, which is a USAID initiative that provides in-kind donations of American agriculture commodities to countries with critical food needs. Our subcommittee also increased funding for McGovern-Dole, a program that promotes education for children, especially for young girls, by providing meals at schools located in areas most critically in need.

This administration’s budget proposal, which eliminates funding for the McGovern-Dole Food for Education and makes cuts to USAID, will harm our long-term national security interests and reduce our leadership in the world.

We are outraged at the crimes of ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram and other terrorist groups. We rightfully label the actions of these groups and corrupt global leaders, which have led a number of countries to the brink of famine, as evil. But unless we back up that outrage by continuing to support global food aid programs, it rings hollow.

When signing the proclamation in 1983, Reagan cited 450 million people in developing countries who were undernourished. Our global population has risen by 3 billion people since that time, and today, there are nearly 800 million people in the world who do not have enough food to lead healthy, active lives. While significant strides have been made in the fight against food insecurity, for both strategic and moral reasons, our commitment to ending hunger cannot end now.

I urge my colleagues to consider the implications of global hunger and join me in supporting policies that help solve this problem. America’s unmatched generosity helps to feed the hungry across the globe while benefiting our citizens here at home.

Jerry Moran is a United States Senator for Kansas and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He serves as co-chair of the Senate Hunger Caucus and formerly chaired the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, which allocates funding for certain USAID and USDA global food programs.

So here we are, it’s the first week of the 2017 Kansas turkey season and I can’t quite explain why I haven’t been chomping at the bit as usual. For some reason I’ve just been feeling ho-hum about the whole turkey hunting experience this year, so much so, that I wasn’t even sure if I would get a permit and hunt. A fellow deer hunter at church who has never hunted turkeys before told me if I decided to hunt, he wanted to go along.

So thinking that might just be the motivation I needed, Thursday morning I went early to a property, intending to see how many turkeys are there this year and where they are roosting. The property is a long narrow hay field bordered on one side by a pasture and woodlot, the other side by a pasture with a pond and with crop ground behind it. I misjudged sunrise and arrived just in time to hear one lone gobble and the unmistakable sounds of turkeys flying down from their roost over the neighbor’s pond, then all was quiet. I mentally took my pulse and sensed a slight uptick in enthusiasm. The neighbor guy told me he was seeing just a few hens with a couple gobblers so I decided to hang around and try to get a count and to see where they were headed.

Beyond the neighbor’s pasture was cropland clear to the nearest road. I pulled into a driveway overlooking that field and got out the binoculars. A wide grass waterway runs across the back of his property behind the pond and winds its way across the entire field. In that waterway, bobbing in the breeze I could see the fanned out tails of strutting toms and the dark specks of hen turkeys. More and more appeared until a group containing half a dozen mature gobblers, a handful of jakes and numerous hens totaling 20 birds in all slowly flowed across the open field. I mentally checked my pulse again and now the hunt was on!

I picked up my friend and the two of us put up a blind at the corner of the pasture overlooking the grassy waterway where the turkeys seem to turn and head across the crop field. About 4:00 that evening my friend, his son and myself situated ourselves in the blind to await the flock as they headed back to roost for the night. Two adults on folding camp chairs and an 11 year old boy on an overturned 5 gallon bucket pretty well fill up my blind. Two decoys, one a hen and the other a jake (a young one year old gobbler) with a tiny beard were set out in front of the blind in the middle of the waterway.

The wind was howling, flapping the sides of the blind and causing us to use an extra stake to hold down the jake decoy. Knowing my luck, the decoys would take off in the wind like the Wizard of Oz about the time several turkey dinners were approaching. My friend occupied the “shooter’s seat” facing the decoys, and his son and I provided eyes and tried to stay out of his way. Talk was about the weather, Sunday morning church, turkey hunting and everything else guys talk about in a blind. Somewhere after 5, I happened to glance directly behind us to find a lone gobbler slowly making his way back across the field toward us in the wind.

As we sat there I had called a couple times just out of formality and the gusty south wind could have carried my pleas to him I suppose, but after all the birds I’d seen it seemed odd for just one old tom to show. In time, the old guy was just outside the blind 15 feet away, doing his best to hold his tail erect in the wind as he strutted, trying to impress our rubber lady and take her away from her friend, the rubber jake. My friend’s young son sat in front of the side window and could see the entire show as the old gobbler strutted his stuff, twirling and stomping trying to win the affection of our hen decoy. My friend was turned as far sideways as he could to see the gobbler, and finally the old tom’s love-sick shenanigans became his undoing and my friend harvested his first ever Kansas wild turkey.

Over the hill more of the flock were coming behind the old tom, but the shot spooked them and we hadn’t seen them again when we left. Early Saturday morning amidst rolling thunder and lightning flashes we again made our way to the blind to try and help my friend’s son harvest his first turkey also, but in typical spring turkey fashion, they managed to elude us. We’ll keep trying as were just gettin’ started, but what I did manage to do was to hook both my friend and his son on spring Kansas wild turkey hunting; after all isn’t that what it’s all about!…Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.

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

Outback Steakhouse may advertise blooming onions, but I have blooming turkeys in a green field north of my house. Like a rose going from a tight bud to full summer bloom, those big ol’ gobblers put on a show. Puffing their feathers and spreading their fan-shape tails into full-blown sails, they strut and rattle. Their not so subtle actions woo nearby hens that coyly scan the area for insects and greens. If all works out, baby turkeys will soon follow.

Spring gobbler watching is always a treat for nature lovers, but this year it is spectacular. Timely rains and Jekyll and Hyde temperatures combined to create a dense, green back drop for this year’s extravaganza. Wheat and alfalfa that just a few months ago appeared anemic and scraggly soaked up an all-day, gentle rain, turning it into a lush, velvety backdrop for those spring show-offs. Brilliant emerald fields highlight iridescent feathers of toms and hens to dazzle turkey watchers willing to find birds to watch.

Four mature long beards star in the pageant below our house. A number of jakes or young male turkeys meander outside the inner circle of strutting toms, snagging a bite here and there while keeping an eye on the show. My guess is that they are studying the dance steps so they know what to do next spring.

The hens, in my opinion, are most entertaining of all. While the males fluff, preen, and strut, the ladies focus on dining. With their heads to the ground, they seek tasty snacks. It’s amazing that they can stand in the midst of all those fanned tails, red wattles and blue faces, while hearing that curious rattling sound toms make as they strut in choreographed steps, and not notice.

As intent as the girls appear on anything but the toms, you would think they were totally unaware of their suitors’ energetic presentations. If I didn’t see gangly poults awkwardly following proud hens through fields and down roads in early June, I’d guess the guys’ efforts were in vain.

While turkeys will always look like lumbering, big-bellied cargo planes as they fly to their evening roost, their spring dance has an unarguable elegance. On the ground in full strut, the male turkey puts on a show worthy of Las Vegas headlines. When rain-fueled Mother Nature’s greenery serves as a backdrop to the show, it’s more dazzling.

Take a morning or evening drive along western Kansas roads and highways bordered by wheat fields and alfalfa patches to see this spring gala. Follow any highway or country path, keep your eyes open, and your camera ready. Blooming turkeys will delight you.

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.

At the Kansas Insurance Department (KID), more than 50 percent of the consumer complaints received about insurance relate to claims handling.

To help eliminate those complaints, preparing and tracking the information the insurance company needs to process the claim is critical in reducing the time between the insurance incident and the resolution of your problem.

Filing and getting a claim resolved with your insurance company can be a frustrating process for you, especially when you are troubled with the incident that caused the claim or you are faced with a weather disaster.

To help get claims paid promptly, KID staff members offer the following ideas:

• Know your policy. Understand what your policy says. Because it is a contract between you and your insurance company, you need to know what’s covered, what’s not and what your deductibles are.
• File claims as soon as possible. Don’t let the bills or receipts pile up. Call your agent or your company’s claims hotline as soon as possible. Your policy might require that you make the notification within a certain time frame.
• Provide complete, correct information. Be certain to give your insurance company all the necessary information. If your information is incorrect or incomplete, your claim could be delayed.
• Keep copies of all correspondence. Whenever you communicate with your insurance company, be sure to keep copies of all correspondence. With phone calls, include the date, name and title of the person you spoke with and what was said. Also, keep a record of your time and expenses.
• Ask questions. If there is a disagreement about the claim settlement, ask the company for the specific language in your policy that is in question. Find out if the disagreement is because you interpret the policy differently. If your claim is denied, make sure you have a letter from the company explaining the reason for the denial — including the specific policy language which caused the denial.
• Don’t rush into a settlement. If the first offer your insurance company makes does not meet your expectations, be prepared to negotiate to get a fair settlement. If you have any questions regarding the fairness of the offer, talk with your local insurance agent, seek other professional advice or call the KID Consumer Assistance Hotline, (in Kansas) 800-432-2484.
• Document temporary auto and homeowners repairs. Auto and homeowners policies might require you to make temporary repairs to protect your property from further damage. Your policy should cover the cost of these temporary repairs, so keep all receipts. Also, document any damaged personal property for an adjuster to inspect. If possible, take photographs or videotape the damage before making the repairs.
• Don’t make permanent repairs. A company might deny a claim if you make permanent repairs before the damage is inspected. If possible, determine what it will cost to repair your property before you meet with an adjuster. Provide the adjuster any records of improvements you made to the property, and ask him/her for an itemized explanation of the claim settlement offer.
• Seek accident and health claims details. Ask your medical provider to give your insurance company details about your treatment, condition and prognosis. If you suspect your provider is overcharging, ask the insurance company to audit the bill, and verify whether the provider used the proper billing procedure.
• Contact us. If you continue to have a dispute with your insurance company about the amount or terms of the claims settlement, contact our Consumer Assistance Hotline or go to our website, www.ksinsurance.org, to file an online complaint, or to discuss the situation by using our online chat feature on the home page.

You can get a claim resolved more quickly and accurately if you have the consumer know-how to move it along.

Veteran CBS News journalist Bob Schieffer closed out an extraordinary round of discussions Wednesday morning at the Newseum with a call for even better journalism — and a reminder of its place and importance to our democracy.

The morning program, “The President and the Press: The First Amendment in the First 100 Days,” included White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, and journalists from news outlets such as Breitbart News, CNN, Fox News, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

The goal of the symposium, Newseum CEO Jeff Herbst said in his opening remarks, was to look for areas of common agreement on how best to report on the Trump presidency. Schieffer took up that challenge as he ended the program.

Noting that the 2016 presidential campaign was the 14th that he covered as a journalist, Schieffer observed that — unlike other campaigns where the candidates’ slogans were memorable catchphrases — this campaign’s hallmark slogan will be “Have you ever…?”

Schieffer wryly commented that every campaign he has seen has an “all the fault of the media” phase. He recommended not overreacting to even this year’s “really nasty” attacks on the press, saying “This is all part of the job. It is something we all know about and expect…that part is not to be taken seriously.”

Schieffer said much of the criticism leveled at journalists during the campaign was contradictory. Some accused the press of “electing Trump because we gave him too much exposure.” Other critics said the press “missed the story because we did not take him seriously.” And yet others said the news media “did not really make much difference because Trump used social media to go around us.” Not all of those could be true, he said.

Serious lessons that can be taken from the election: “Too much information” opened the door for a flood of fake news. New media outlets and social media need to “take some responsibility for what the information is they are distributing.”

“Too many so-called surrogates and strategists made their way onto television and were given far more credibility than they deserved” in a misguided effort to show balance, Schieffer said. “It didn’t take long to listen to them to understand they had no understanding, and really no contact with either campaign.”

Schieffer also said the press paid too much attention to polling and the drama around what he called meaningless one-point leads by candidates. Journalists should “get back to knocking on doors and asking people how they feel,” he said.

In his eloquent defense of a free press, Schieffer said “politicians are there to run the campaigns. Government officials are there to run the government. They are there to deliver a message. Our job is simply to check out the message, determine if it’s true, and if so, what will be its impact on the governed.”

Those who would undermine the function of a free press undermine the foundations of this country, Schieffer said. “We are not the opposition party, as some would have you believe…nor is it our place to sit down and shut up and let the world pass by, as some would have us do.”

Inevitably, Schieffer’s even-handed call on Wednesday for better reporting roused spiteful comments from some of those tuning into the event through social media. One Twitter user wrote that “TRUTH is the enemy of…hacks like Bob Schieffer. We are making corporate propagandists like him extinct. He is bitter and fearful.”

Far from going extinct, Schieffer’s defense of good journalism rings true — now and for future generations of journalists. It’s more likely that such critics — “bitter and fearful” by their very verbal venom — are the ones who will eventually fade from sight.

Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute. [email protected]

Friend,

Laina and I wish you a very happy Easter weekend. We hope your time is filled with joy as we reflect upon the risen Lord! In the spirit of focusing on the importance of this Holy Week, we will keep this week’s note short.

Here’s your friendly reminder that I am still in the middle of a Listening Tour of our district. You can see more details here. I hope to see you along the way!

On the Job

Jon Wefald Hall

Earlier this month, Kansas State University dedicated their new student living center: Jon Wefald Hall. It is fitting to name it after a President so dedicated to students. It is an incredible new facility, and named after a man I am proud to call a friend.

It was also great to see Coach Snyder at the grand opening. He took a break from film to see us and he said he is doing great! (Pictured right with Senator Roberts, President Wefald and Coach Snyder)

Visits from Kansas Students

Last week, student government leaders from the University of Kansas (below) and Kansas State University (left) visited my office to talk about a variety of issues. From campus safety to supporting research, we covered a wide range of topics and ideas they had. Most importantly, it was great to get to know these students, and reassuring to know that Kansas is supporting and developing great young leaders.