Letter to Ellis County Commissioners Dean Haselhorst and Marcy McClelland

RE: Denial of Final Plat of
Blue Sky Acres Addition
to Ellis County, Kansas

Commissioners:

I am writing this letter on behalf of Mary Alice Unrein, owner of the land proposed as a residential development named Blue Sky Acres Addition to Ellis County, Kansas (Blue Sky Acres). When Mary Alice initiated the process of zoning and platting Blue Sky Acres she was courteous enough to write to each of the homeowners living in VonFeldt’s Subdivision to Ellis County and inform them of her plan with regard to Blue Sky Acres and offered to visit with them about her plans.

In what should have been a rather routine matter of Mary Alice exercising her property rights, conforming to all the rules and regulations and policies currently in place in Ellis County related to the platting of her land, has instead been met with continued delay, obstruction and harassment by the owners of the seven (7) homes in VonFeldt’s Subdivision and one – just one – Ellis County Commissioner, Marcy McClelland, who all apparently believe there is some inalienable right under the Constitution to never have a neighbor if they don’t want any. It is a certainty that no other person who has platted land in Ellis County or any of its cities has had to experience what Mary Alice has endured to this point. And over the past thirty (30) years I can’t recall one Final Plat that has been denied, much less on the basis of some nebulous notion such as fear of possible pollution or potential for water wells to dry up in the future. Who knows, maybe someday climate change will be enough.

Instead, she has had to suffer through a year-and-a-half-long bizarre surreal nightmare, involving senseless, disorienting and menacing complexity in which no matter which way she turned or how often she met the demands made upon her or answered the questions presented to her by various individuals and governing boards, she was met with yet another obstacle to overcome. She was powerless to understand or control what was happening to her. She didn’t stand a chance.

And despite disingenuous pronouncements that there are more important things to consider than the almighty dollar, such as water and the remotest possibility of pollution, both of which are sufficiently protected by the planning, subdivision regulations and environmental code of Ellis County, Commissioner McClelland’s decision to deny the Final Plat of Blue Sky Acres rests on no substantive basis. Her decision is all the more incredulous when viewed in light of her repeated past public expressions of support of Blue Sky Acres in public meetings, up until of course her last minute change.

Let me illustrate:

On January 14, 2016 the Hays City Commission under authority granted to it by an interlocal agreement established by Ellis County Resolution No. 2007-8 between it and Ellis County, approved rezoning the real estate constituting the proposed Blue Sky Acres from A.L. to R.S.

On February 15, 2016 the Preliminary Plat of Blue Sky Acres was approved by the Hays Area Planning Commission based importantly on the letters it received from various individuals and departments related to every element required by planning and subdivision regulations governing the three (3) mile limits surrounding the City of Hays which were examined by the planning commission before making its decision.

On April 18, 2016 the Final Plat of Blue Sky Acres was approved by the Hays Area Planning Commission. The plat and plans, having been approved by the planning commission, were delivered to the county commissioners for their approval. It is undisputed that the proposed plat and plans were prepared in accordance with the ordinances and regulations governing the three (3) mile limits of the City of Hays and were in full compliance therewith.

On November 7, 2016 the Ellis County Commission acting with only Commissioner Dean Haselhorst and Commissioner Marcy McClelland (Commissioner Barbara Wasinger recused herself from the matter entirely) failed to take action on the Final Plat of Blue Sky Acres when Commissioner Marcy McClelland refused to second a motion to approve the Final Plat.

On November 21, 2016 the Ellis County Commission, based on a motion to approve the Final Plat, rejected the Final Plat of Blue Sky Acres by a vote of 1-1, Commissioner Haselhorst voting to approve and Commissioner McClelland voting no, despite the fact that she expressed her support of Blue Sky Acres at the December 7, 2015 county commission meeting and at various other times since that date. The only reasons given for the rejection of the plat and plans were certain objections made by the homeowners of VonFeldt’s Subdivision and one lone member of the governing body which had no basis in existing planning or subdivision ordinances or regulations. There is nothing in the record to disclose that the final plat and plans for the development were in any way opposed as being contrary to regulations or ordinances adopted by the Hays and Ellis County.

What happens next?

K.S.A. 12-752 does not provide for the right to appeal the denial of the Final Plat of Blue Sky Acres Addition.

In the absence of a statutory right of appeal, relief from illegal, arbitrary and unreasonable rejection of the Final Plat of Blue Sky Acres Addition can be obtained by using the remedy of mandamus – a proceeding to compel a board, such as the Ellis County Commission, to perform a specified duty.

The approval of the plat and street plans is a purely administrative act and can be rejected only upon grounds that it does not comply with existing ordinances and minimum requirements duly established by the city and the county. The evidence submitted by parties shows that the plat and street plans are in conformity with the existing ordinances and that the only objections expressed at the time of the trial were certain requirements made by individual homeowners or members of the governing body, not relying upon existing ordinances or city regulations.

(See letter from Jesse Rohr, Planning Inspection Enforcement Superintendent for the City of Hays. Kansas)

Even in the context of zoning decisions made by a planning commission which are much more likely to involve the element of discretion, its discretion must be exercised within the limits of the regulations and its statutory authority. Approval of a plat is improperly denied where the plat conforms to all zoning and subdivision regulation and planning commission standards. Denial must be based on violation of regulations and standards which are within the authority conferred by the enabling legislation.

By reason of the foregoing statute (K.S.A. 60-802(c)), plaintiff (Mary Alice Unrein) is entitled to recover as damages attorney’s fees as well as her other costs in cases where an order in mandamus has been issued.

Why is this important?

From a practical standpoint a citizen should be able to rely on a governing body, its ordinances, its properly-designated officials and the requirements established by such officials under the proper exercise of their authority so when such citizen simply wants to exercise her property rights and strictly complies with the law, ordinances and the requirements of such officials she is not acting on chance alone. Otherwise a person who might want to plat and develop real estate is paralyzed with absolute uncertainty because decisions made by commissioners can be based on whatever reason such commissioners can conjure up with their fertile imaginations or on pure whimsy for that matter.

In view of this holding it follows that the denial of approval by Commissioner McClelland of the plat and plans of Blue Sky Acres, which admittedly were in full compliance with all duly adopted regulations and ordinances, constituted arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable action on the part of the Ellis County Commission. A trial court, therefore, would not err in ordering the governing body of Ellis County to approve the plat and plans of Blue Sky Acres for filing with the Register of Deeds and to permit Mary Alice Unrein to continue the development of the tract in accordance with the established ordinances and regulations governing the three (3) mile limits of the City of Hays, Kansas.

(Italics above indicate language borrowed and paraphrased from Kansas Supreme Court and Appellate cases.)

Mary Alice Unrein has always acted with quiet demeanor and class throughout this long, mind numbingly laborious process leading to nowhere. Prior to the writing of this letter she has visited with her legal counsel and though she’s certainly under no obligation to do so (particularly given the way she has been treated this whole time) she has decided nevertheless, in keeping with her character, to give the Ellis County Commissioners thirty (30) days from the date of this letter to reconsider their unreasonable and arbitrary denial of the exercise of her fundamental and legal property rights.

In the event the Commissioners refuse to perform their legal duty in this matter, Mary Alice Unrein has authorized me to find litigation attorney(s) who will file a mandamus action against the Ellis County Commission, as well Commissioners Marcy McClelland and Dean Haselhorst. Also, please be advised that according to K.S.A. 60-802(c), if successful, she will seek reimbursement of her costs and legal fees as part of the damages she has incurred in this matter.

Sincerely,
Thomas M. Wasinger

The one winter hunting sport I rarely get to enjoy is waterfowl hunting. For years I’ve looked for someone who wants a dependable partner for several goose hunts each season, but so far I only get to scratch my goose hunting itch perhaps once each year when I can find a couple guys who will let me tag along.

Last summer, I developed a friendship with Jason Austin and his son Jared from McPherson, both goose hunting enthusiasts who are partners in a waterfowl hunting lease near Little River, KS.

The warm fall kept the geese up north longer this year than most, but nasty weather in the Dakotas the past 2 or 3 weeks have finally brought them south to us. Jason had been checking with other local waterfowl hunters and watching the skies and felt Saturday was going to be good hunting at their lease, with seemingly lots of birds around, so an early Saturday morning hunt was planned.

Saturday morning dawned cloudy and frigid but was supposed to be the warmest day of the past week. Their lease is on a big lake, well off the road and out in the middle of rolling farm country. The dam itself is over 200 yards long and driving across it places you over 50 feet above the water’s surface. The field drive snaked around through hayfields and across the dam where we hooked sharply around the fence in a wheat field and drove down to the water. The headlights revealed a dandy duck blind tucked into the 6 foot tall brown grass at the water’s edge. Excitement and anticipation dropped several notches to disappointment as the beam from Jason’s headlamp shone across a lake frozen solid from end to end. Both he and Jared agreed they had never seen that lake frozen solid, as there always seemed to be a good big spot of open water out a ways in front of the blind. Friday night Jason had talked to another of the hunters on the lease and they were certain the lake was not frozen. Yet here we stood wondering if we should have left the shotguns at home and brought ice skates instead.

The Austins have some goose decoys they call “feeders” which appear to be a group of geese with their heads down feeding, also giving the appearance to geese passing overhead that they are at ease and all is well. Jason said they have used those successfully on the ice a time two before, but of course the “feeders” were snug and warm in the shed at home. Jason and friend Pete began breaking the 2 inch thick ice from a spot in front of the blind large enough to float a few decoys so we could be situated in the blind when the sun came up and hope for lots of geese flying overhead to make it all work.

A beautiful sunrise greeted us and as we optimistically listened for the honking of geese overhead, quiet talk in the blind turned to storytelling and good spirited ribbing. Jason and Pete are both parents of teenagers so I’ll guess their ages to be mid-40’s, I’m 65 and Jared is 16 so there was quite a mix of ages. Stories were spun about shots made and shots missed, about how much we’d like to hunt certain ponds that are always full of geese but are off limits, about how warm or how cold we each were as the heater was passed around, and about what was in the jerky we just ate.

All got quiet and somber in a heartbeat as the first and only wedge of geese passed high overhead. Shotguns were grabbed as Jason did his best to convince the birds that the ice was merely an optical allusion and to get them to swing by for a visit, but they weren’t buyin’ it and continued on. Each of us in our own time stood to stretch our legs and to poke our head out of the blind to survey the morning around us. I don’t know if dogs pray, but if so, God was getting’ an earful from Ross the Labrador retriever as he paced from one end of the blind to the other beggin’ for some action. Finally as the morning waned with not another goose in sight, and as the strawberry Danish was about gone, Jared, like an emergency room physician pronouncing a patient deceased and documenting time-of-death, called the hunt over and began the task of packing up.

It was a strange morning; despite the frozen lake, geese should have been crowding the sky above us, lining up to swoop by for a closer look. The old adage “the right place at the right time” really does play a part in goose hunting, as one day they’re flying over and feeding nearby and the next day they aren’t. I didn’t come home and unplug the freezer, as Jason and Jared have promised me their blind will become the right place at the right time sometime soon. Until then, I’ll remember the Danish, the jerky and the tales.

Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

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

Hello from Agra!

We are now less than a month from the start of the 2017 Kansas Legislative Session and the agenda is being developed and plans are being made. Last Monday, new and returning members of the Kansas House of Representatives and Kansas Senate met to elect their leadership team for the next two years. We are now anticipating which committees we will be assigned to and if we move offices in the state house.

Last spring, I sent a constituent survey out to gain insight on what your thoughts were on a number of issues and wanted to share some of them with you leading up to January. This week it is agricultural land valuation.

The election this fall brought change to the make-up of the legislative bodies and one of the issues that once again is being talked about is how agricultural land is being valued. Several years ago, legislation was passed to value agricultural land based on its production value. (It is more complicated than that, but that is the basis of discussion.) All property owners continue to feel the pinch of high property tax rates on all real estate, but to simply say agriculture is not paying its fair share is dangerous and disingenuous. Not surprisingly, those who participated in the constituent survey overwhelmingly do not support restructuring how agricultural land is valued for production purposes or a surcharge on farmland. Respondents also are not in favor of an increase in fuel tax, or changes on sales tax exemptions for charitable and religious organizations, manufacturing and agricultural equipment.

This fall there have been two topics that have been the top on constituent’s minds; Budget and Schools. There are several ideas being floated around, the first will be a revisit of the efficiency study which was released at the start of last session and look for ways to save money by combining services or pooling resources, the second will be adjusting the tax structure. Any solution needs to have a long term plan, not a shock to the system to solve the issues in one package and not bring an honest evaluation of how it could bring another round of unintended consequences to the taxpayers of Kansas.

I look forward to seeing you out and about in the district before the legislature convenes in January. If you have questions, or if I can be of service, please contact me: Ken Rahjes, 1798 E. 900 Rd. Agra, KS 67621 or call (785) 302-8416. You can follow me on Facebook at Ken for Kansas or my website, www.kenforkansas.com.

Thank you for the opportunity to be your representative!

Ken Rahjes, (R-Agra) is the 110th District state representative.

I don’t know that celebrate is the right word for what Americans did December 7th, but we certainly should remember that date. Those who read news or social media were reminded throughout that day to recall military personnel who faced multiple enemy attacks at Pearl Harbor 75 years ago. History lovers followed up with FDR’s response to this event. What we can do less of these days is listen to stories of living survivors.

Western Kansas men and women answered duty’s call that December day. Hardly a family lived that didn’t send victory mail to loved ones serving in the European, African, or Pacific theaters. Those soldiers lucky enough to return lived among us. They labored as farmers, ranchers, teachers, entrepreneurs, preachers, law enforcement officers, bankers, and other occupations. They were our parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, spouses, friends, and enemies. Some shared recollections so others could better understand sacrificing for the greater good.

As time passes, more of these heroes become memories. Over 16 million Americans served during WW II. By 2016, the Department of Veterans Affairs calculated that approximately 620,000 of those individuals still survived. As 2017 slides into view, that number drops daily. Unless families presently have a soldier in service, it’s difficult for children to understand the intensity that turned so many youngsters just out of high school into valiant warriors.

For us whose loved ones, friends, co-workers, and teachers wore a WW II uniform, their legacies influenced our lives. I grew up listening to an uncle’s stories of surviving the Pearl Harbor attacks. A Kansas farm boy, he never expected to experience such carnage when he joined the U.S. Navy in 1940. He returned to start a family and teach school. Two generations later, his granddaughter bravely served in Afghanistan.

Another uncle performed his duty on ships guarding the Pacific. He wasn’t a talker, but his service made his family proud and inclined my dad, his younger brother, to join the Marines and serve during the Korean Conflict. That, in turn, inspired later relatives to wear USMC insignia as they protected their country.

Getting out of uniform didn’t end a soldier’s service. Many filled post-war teaching positions. History classes in the not-too-distant past included lessons from people who fought in hedgerows and survived torpedoed ships. I found t those instructors’ knowledge so valuable that when I began teaching, I asked my students to interview former veterans. Among those stories, we discovered a resident who’d seen the atomic bomb explode. Another pupil’s neighbor helped liberate Dachau. Interviewers learned a survivor couldn’t talk about some experiences without choking up even after 45 years.

These stories provided primary sources that taught the importance of protecting freedoms many take for granted. Suddenly, we’re discovering this information now exists only in books or on film. I hope Americans never forget such difficult times or citizens who left loving homes and comfortable lives to face unrelenting enemies. Their remaining messages remind us to capture the experiences of still living veterans. What they share is profound, necessary, and fleeting if it isn’t recorded.

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.

On Dec. 4, the two-year struggle by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to protect their sacred land and water ended — at least for now — when the Obama administration denied the easement needed to complete the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The cancelled route, located one half mile from the tribe’s reservation in North and South Dakota, would have allowed the pipeline to cross under the Missouri River, a action that the tribe believes would threaten their life-giving water and destroy sacred sites.

Human rights advocates are savoring the moment. In the long, ugly history of persecution, exploitation, broken treaties, unkept promises and adverse court decisions, the victory at Standing Rock is a rare win for Native American religious freedom.

What is considered sacred by indigenous peoples — including, in this case, water, burial sites, sacred gathering spaces — has been, at various times in our history, debased, mocked, bulldozed or completely ignored by government officials and courts. In fact, for much of our history, many Native American ceremonies were illegal and people were imprisoned for practicing their religion.

The First Amendment’s Free Exercise clause is supposed to protect all religious groups, including those with rites and rituals rejected, feared or misunderstood by the majority. But the Supreme Court has often failed to treat Native American religious practices on a level playing field with other religious claims. In fact, Native Americans have never won a Free Exercise case at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Consider the 1988 Supreme Court decision in Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association. At issue was a plan by the U.S. Forest Service to build a road and harvest timber in a section of the Six Rivers National Forest considered sacred by the Yurok, Karok and Tolowa tribes.

Although the justices acknowledged that the development plan would effectively destroy an entire religion, the Court ruled 5-3 that the constructing the road would not violate the free exercise of the tribes. As a result, Native Americans now have little recourse under the Constitution as they battle to preserve sacred sites on federally owned land.

Centuries of religious tradition can be wiped out — and invoking the First Amendment does nothing to prevent it.

Against the backdrop of this sad history, Native American protesters — calling themselves “water protectors” — gathered by the thousands and would not be moved. Representatives from more than 300 tribes flocked to Standing Rock, joined by human rights activists, veterans and ordinary citizens who know injustice when they see it.

Sprayed with water cannons in freezing weather, pelted with rubber bullets, tear gas and concussion grenades, the water protectors attempted to open a bridge barricaded by police, arguing that the barrier blocked emergency services from reaching their camp and the nearby Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

Fortunately, tribal elders defused that confrontation. But more serious conflicts were anticipated after state officials gave the protesters a Dec. 5 deadline to leave the area; an order protesters promised to defy. The Obama administration’s action on Dec. 4 ended the standoff, handing Native Americans a rare religious freedom victory.

Not surprisingly, proponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline are outraged. Energy Transfer Partners, builders of the pipeline, accused the Obama administration of “currying favor with a narrow and extreme political constituency” by halting the project. North Dakota Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer described the move as a “chilling signal to others who want to build infrastructure.”

Given the political clout of pipeline supporters, the tribes are aware that their victory is fragile — and could be undone after Jan. 20. A spokesman for Donald Trump has already announced that the president-elect supports completing the pipeline and will revisit the Obama administration’s decision once he is in the White House.

What the new administration will soon discover, however, is that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, supported by hundreds of tribes from across the country, will not fold their tents and quietly disappear. If construction resumes, threatening sacred water and land, the protest camps will grow in size and strength.

The Trump administration will face a stark choice: Once again remove Native Americans by force — or, at long last, protect Native Americans to preserve and practice their religion on land they hold sacred.

Charles C. Haynes is vice president of the Newseum Institute and founding director of the Religious Freedom Center. [email protected]

The holidays may mean lots of extra baking for gifts or serving to guests. But rather than staying up until dawn to finish the last batch of cookies at the last minute, do some of your baking now and freeze for the festivities later.

Freezing baked goods is a great way to spread out the baking duties of the holidays and minimize the “kitchen stress” that can build during the holiday season. I mentioned these techniques a couple of years ago in a column and it generated a lot of comments and requests. I’m sharing again for those who want to use this method to simplify holiday baking.

Many baked goods freeze and thaw beautifully. But the key to doing it successfully is following recommended procedures.

The first rule is to cool baked goods completely before wrapping for the freezer. This will prevent moisture condensation from the warm food making it soggy after thawing.

When cool, package the baked goods carefully to maintain the quality or freshness of the food. Use heavy-duty foil, airtight freezer bags, freezer paper or air-tight containers.

Cakes and cupcakes should be cooled, wrapped and frozen without fillings which make the cake soggy. Some frostings will not freeze well either, but confectioner’s sugar and fudge frostings may be frozen satisfactorily. Place the frosted cake in the freezer to harden the frosting before covering. Thaw frosted cakes overnight in the refrigerator, unfrosted cakes may be thawed at room temperature.

Cookies seem to have the edge over cakes or cupcakes when it come to freezing ease. Cookies can be frozen either baked or unbaked. You can shape dough in a roll, wrap and freeze, or chill dough in the refrigerator, then slice and freeze.

Drop-cookie dough may be frozen in freezer containers. Before baking, thaw dough in the refrigerator until it is soft enough to drop with a spoon. Another option is to drop cookie dough in mounds onto a tray covered with wax paper and freeze solid. Pack into a container or freezer bag when firm. Bake cookie mounds without thawing at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Baked cookies may be cooled, packaged in rigid container to prevent breakage and frozen.

Yeast bread and rolls should be cooled completely, then wrapped in tightly sealed packaging. Bread baked at a temperature of 400 degrees for about 45 to 50 minutes is less crumbly and more desirable for freezing than bread baked at a lower temperature.

Most baked quick breads freeze well, too. Follow the basic guidelines for cooling and packaging tightly.

You may also freeze baked pecan pies and baked or unbaked fruit pies. The crust of an unbaked fruit pie may absorb juices from the filling and become soggy. However, unbaked pies retain a fresher fruit flavor.

Baked pies also should be completely cooled. Place them unwrapped in the freezer and freeze until firm. Pies are easier to wrap and there is less breakage of the crust after they are frozen.
To bake unbaked frozen pies, unwrap, cut slits in the top pastry and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then lower temperature to 375 degrees and continue baking for 45 to 60 minutes or until the center becomes bubbly.

If your pie is already baked, allow it to stand at room temperature for a short time, then pop it in a 325 degree oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until just warm.

Custard pies, cream pies and pies with meringue topping do not freeze well.

There is some disagreement on the success of freezing pumpkin pies. One of my references suggests freezing baked pumpkin pies but not unbaked ones, another says either will work. Another reference says that pumpkin pies should not be frozen at all. Based on the conflicting recommendations, I think it may be safer to freeze the fruit and pecan pies ahead and bake the pumpkin pies fresh to avoid problems.

For specific advice on freezing other baked goods, ask for the Extension fact sheet on “Freezing Baked Goods” at the Ellis County Extension Office, 601 Main Street in Hays, or find it on our website at www.ellis.ksu.edu under Health and Nutrition – Tips and Ideas.

Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.

By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

Part 1

“Boot scootin’.” The term brings to mind a fun country line dance. Today we’ll meet a rural Kansas family who began with a boot scootin’ barn and grew their enterprise into a remarkable agritourism enterprise.

David Corbin is the fifth generation owner of Fulton Valley Farms in Butler County, Kansas. David and Betty’s son Richard told me about it.

Their ancestors came from Ohio and settled here in 1863. The maternal side of the family was named Fulton – related to the Robert Fulton who invented the steamboat. A Fulton married a Corbin and the farm continued to grow.

The farm is located south of Towanda, west of El Dorado, north of Augusta and east of the rural community of Benton, population 821 people. Now, that’s rural.

David Corbin lives in a house which his ancestors built in 1880. He met and married Betty, a city girl from Wichita. She moved to the farm and observed that David, like other farmers, was constantly checking the markets to see how prices were doing. She became intrigued and ultimately set up her own brokerage firm. David joined the firm a couple of years later while continuing to farm.

For years, the market reports from Corbin Investments were a fixture on radio stations across Kansas. In 2016, the Corbins retired and sold that business.

David also pursued time in public service. He served in the National Guard and then was elected to the state legislature. He served two years in the House, 12 years in the Kansas Senate, and worked six years for the Department of Revenue.

David and Betty had two sons who were active in farming and 4-H. Richard served on the livestock judging team at Butler County Community College which won two national championships while he was there.

Then came the time that his brother was getting married. The wedding was to be held in a small local church, but the reception hall was not big enough. They looked around for a venue and decided to have the wedding reception right there on the farm.

The Corbins had a Quonset hut which had been built in 1951 and used for hay storage. They figured they could clean it up and then use it for machinery storage after the wedding. The floor of the Quonset was half dirt and half concrete, so they cleaned it out and laid a new 8-inch concrete floor.

“We bought tables and chairs from the church, asked people to bring lawn chairs, and set up port-a-potties,” Richard said. The reception was a success.

Then a couple of weeks later, a lady called who was also looking for a place for a wedding reception. She asked if they could rent the Corbin’s barn and the family agreed.

“My dad had already started moving his equipment back in,” Richard said. “We hauled it back out again and let the lady use it.” This demonstrated that there was a demand for such facilities. “That first year we hosted five or six weddings or receptions,” Richard said. Suffice it to say, David never got his machine shed back.

Because of its popularity for wedding dances, the Corbins called their facility the Boot Scootin’ Barn. Demand continued to grow, but one bride was put off by the term “barn.” “She loved the place but she assumed a barn was a stinky place full of animals, even though there never been livestock in there,” Richard said. They decided to rethink the name.

Meanwhile, the county was going through the process of assigning street names and discontinuing rural routes. Because of the history of the Fulton family as early settlers, the adjacent road was named Fulton Road. The Corbins decided to name their place Fulton Valley Farms.

Today, Fulton Valley Farms has become a beautiful destination for rural weddings and more. For more information, see www.fultonvalleyfarms.com.

The Boot Scootin’ Barn became a popular place for lots of wedding fun, but that was only the beginning. We commend the Corbins for making a difference by growing this remarkable agritourism enterprise – even to include reindeer. We’ll learn about that next week.

By EDWARD CROSS
Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association

When talking about petroleum, many people likely have the image of a barrel filled with a thick, black substance. But what most people may not realize is that petroleum is the building block of thousands of products that make our lives more comfortable, safer, cleaner, and healthier.

When thinking about the role of oil and gas in our lives, many people may only think of vehicles and fuel, but petroleum plays an integral role in nearly every aspect of our lives. As a matter of fact, over 6,000 products come from petroleum. People use oil-based products every day, whether it is your television remote, cell phone, or even the toothpaste and toothbrush you use to brush your teeth.

Synthetic fabrics such as nylon and polyester are made from petroleum. In addition, as a key component in heart valves, seat belts, helmets, life vests, and even Kevlar, petroleum is saving tens of thousands of lives daily. Furthermore, oil and gas are key components in many medicines and antibiotics such as antiseptics, antihistamines, aspirin, and sulfa drugs.

These are just a few of the improvements that oil and gas make in our lives and societies around the world, and as a top 10 oil producing state, Kansas is a major contributor to that. As a nation we take great pride in our agriculture sector and the role it plays in feeding people around the world. In the same way, we should take great pride in the role our oil and gas industry plays in providing a commodity essential to our very way of life. Oil and gas are fundamental to our modern way of life and high standard of living.

Also, the oil and gas industry makes our environment far safer and creates new resources out of raw materials.
The energy we get from oil and gas is particularly valuable for protecting ourselves from the climate. The climate is always changing, whether mankind influences that change or not. In the last 80 years as CO2 emissions have risen from an atmospheric concentration of 0.03% to 0.04%, climate related deaths have declined by 98%. Oil and gas make the planet dramatically safer.

According to the EPA, oil and gas methane emissions account for only 3.63% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Methane emissions from the oil and gas sector declined 3.8% this last year, marking the fourth consecutive year of decline. The fact is our nation’s 21st century oil and gas renaissance has made domestically produced oil and gas economical and abundant. This market-driven success has helped our nation achieve significant emissions reductions. The men and women of the oil and gas industry reject the stale mindset of last century’s thinking peddled by some that oil and gas production and environmental stewardship are not compatible.

Oil and gas have also made the planet dramatically richer in resources. Until the Industrial Revolution, there were almost no energy resources. Oil and gas are not naturally resources. Those who first discovered how to convert oil and gas into energy weren’t depleting a resource, they were creating a resource. The world is a better place for it. Life is all about taking materials in nature and creatively turning them into useful resources. And by creating the best form of energy resource, the oil and gas industry helps every other industry more efficiently create every other type of resource.

More than a billion people around the world face challenges for adequate food and education, clean water, and protection from heat and cold due to a lack of access to safe, affordable, and reliable energy. We should work to ensure more people have access to safe, affordable, and reliable energy, no matter which state, nation, or continent they reside. Because to rise out of poverty and enjoy health and safety, people need more energy, not less.

Edward Cross is President of the Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association.

Reflection is a good thing. It allows you to see where you’ve been and hopefully chart a better course on where you’re going. While on vacation recently I had a chance to think about the small community where I grew up.

Located in northwestern Kansas, Seguin was a small farm/ranch community of approximately 50 hearty souls. It was located in Sheridan County, three miles south of Highway 24 and the Union Pacific railroad used to run through the small town.

Seguin was a community where families were raised and values – good and sometimes bad – were instilled. Looking back, those fortunate enough to grow up there like I did in the ‘50s and ‘60s were surrounded by people with core values that helped guide us throughout our lives.

At the top of this list of virtues my community provided was spiritual in nature. A spiritual quality like, seek ye first this kingdom of God and his righteousness and all things shall be given unto you.

We all grew up with Monsignor Mulvihill and the Sisters of St. Joseph, went to mass six days a week and learned to abide by the golden rule.

Next, was the courtesy level of our town. This was measured by the ordinary civilities a total stranger could expect. Residents of Seguin and the outlying community always welcomed family and friends back for special events – many centered around our church and its congregation.

Transient laborers, especially during wheat, milo and corn harvest, were also treated well because of their valuable contributions during these critical periods.

Rootedness or a sense of commitment on the part of a town’s people was another cornerstone in our little community. Dependent on the fertile, sandy loam soil of the High Plains, Seguin’s families lived by the unspoken agreement that this was a place to stay, put down roots and build a family, a farm, a business and a future.

This quality is closely related to a sense of place, which now grows rarer with each passing day.

Diversity – not necessarily in the form of many nationalities – but rather in the form of creative disagreement was another building block in our community. This meant our little town enjoyed a certain confidence that all of its inhabitants didn’t have to echo one another in order to make progress.

On the contrary, a community, like a country, can profit by its differences. Believe me, nearly everyone I ever knew in Seguin spoke up, voiced their opinions and let their ideas be heard.

Loyalty was the fifth attribute our community was blessed with. Loyalty is often confused with conformity, though the two are really opposites.

It is precisely loyalty to the community, to posterity and to principle that moves a citizen not to conform. A dissenter may never be so loyal as when refusing to go along quietly.

Loyalty is a virtue, but not a simple one. Certainly, it is not as simple as those who use it as a club to enforce their will on an individual or a community.

Generosity was the sixth attribute and not just with material support but a generosity of spirit akin to humility. This broader, deeper attribute sets aside not only personal interests for the sake of community, but personal grudges, slights and obsessions.

One might call this trait charity, but charity in our society has acquired an unfortunate connotation of being optional – not obligatory. Some believe charity is what you do with what you have left over. Those who believe they owe a debt to their community and embrace the opportunity to repay it practice charity, the real thing.

Pride in our little burg was also clear. Self-respect may be a better word for this civic virtue. It must do with much more than clean streets, green lawns and painted buildings. It also explains good schools, honest law enforcement and other amenities that make for a proud, self-respecting community.

Openness was the final attribute in our small northwestern Kansas community. Without openness, these other virtues would only be a façade. Our community was an open book. Everyone knew everyone else and everything that was going on. Candor, candidness, frankness, sincerity and plain dealing were the only way of doing business and conducting each day of your life.

Everyone who lived in Seguin was a member of the community and part of our town. Didn’t matter who you were, where you lived, how old you were or whatever else. Our community was a place of human and humane values.

Sometimes in the rush of everyday life we forget to live by such values. Know your neighbors, coworkers and the members of your community. And, yes, it’s all right to argue with them and disagree with them about what is best for the community.

What is important is to care about your community. Think of its best interests and don’t let your mind be diverted by lesser concerns or scattered holdings.

Just like the little community I grew up in and the family and neighbors who helped shape who I am today, each of us live in communities that have values and fine traditions to uphold. Be part of yours.

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

By Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt

Just before Thanksgiving, a federal judge in Texas blocked a U.S. Department of Labor regulation imposing new overtime mandates for executive and professional employees while states, including Kansas, challenge its legality. The judge concluded the states probably are correct that the new regulation is illegal.

This marks at least the seventh major federal regulation blocked by court order because Kansas and other states persuaded federal courts that a federal agency exceeded its authority under the law. In law-talk, we call these unauthorized agency actions ultra vires. In plain English, we call them “power grabs.”

Never before in American history have states successfully challenged so many federal power grabs. Then again, never before have federal regulators been so willing to bypass the people’s elected representatives in Congress and ignore the law to get what they want.

Our work challenging these power grabs led some to call state attorneys general the “last line of defense” against unlawful federal executive actions.

The scope of the ends-justifies-the-means mentality in the federal bureaucracy has been breathtaking. In addition to the overtime rule, coalitions of states including Kansas currently have four other illegal federal regulations on hold by court order:
Waters of the United States (WOTUS): This sweeping attempt to regulate private property use under the guise of water protection is blocked by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
‘Clean Power Plan’: This brazen agency effort to rewrite the nation’s energy policy by imposing ‘cap-and-trade’ even after Congress rejected it – while ignoring the harm to low-income consumers – is blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Immigration ‘executive action’: This unprecedented executive branch move to unilaterally rewrite the nation’s immigration laws is blocked by a federal court in Texas with assent from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Phone charges: A little-noticed regulation requiring state taxpayers to subsidize inmate phone calls is blocked by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Kansas also helped persuade the U.S. Supreme Court that the EPA must follow Congress’s command to meaningfully consider the cost of regulations and a federal district court that the lesser prairie chicken should not be listed as threatened or endangered.

We currently have half a dozen other challenges pending.

In court, the federal government is a tough foe, and we’ve lost a few. Our losses – such as challenging the Dodd-Frank financial services law or the individual mandate in Obamacare – usually came when we took on an act of Congress rather than an action of a federal agency. But even then we occasionally prevailed, as when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Obamacare’s mandated Medicaid expansion unconstitutional.

When unelected federal bureaucrats act outside the authority granted to them by the people’s elected representatives in Congress, and thereby intrude on the authority of state governments and the people, we ask: By what authority is the federal agency acting? Government is not by the consent of the governed when the people’s elected representatives at all levels are shut out of the decision-making processes of the vast regulatory state.

President Obama once pledged to bypass Congress with a “pen and a phone.” I hope our new president’s approach to federal regulatory power will be more restrained and respectful of the states, the legislative branch and the rule of law. Congress also should reassert its constitutional authority to rein-in federal agencies – regardless of which political party holds the White House.

We will remain vigilant. But at least the “last line of defense” held long enough for the people to have their say at the ballot box. They said, “Enough!” That is how our system of representative self-government is supposed to work.