We all read the bad news about forecasts of dropping state revenues in the upcoming fiscal year, presuming that the governor and Legislature can cut their way out of the current fiscal year with a constitutionally required minimum of $1 in the bank on June 30.

It will mean scurrying around to cut spending for the next six or so months, which won’t be pretty, especially for the nearly one-third of the 165 lawmakers who are new to the job.

But the scariest part of the so-far most detailed forecast of state revenues is coming up in the year that starts July 1, according to the just-released Consensus Revenue Estimate “long memo.” That long memo explains why Kansas is expected to receive less tax money and it paints a bleak picture for state revenues.

The very simple formula is that the more money we all make, the more money the state can levy taxes against. Yes, we can gripe about taxes, but since the state just takes a portion of what we make, we’ll pay more taxes but still have more money in our wallets.

The problem is that we’re apparently going to have less to tax, which means wallets will be thinner for men who will avoid that bump that makes our hips look fat, and for women generally lighter purses to carry.

For the governor and legislators who don’t have a good mechanism for fast cash by raising taxes, it means that the state will receive about $350 million less for the rest of this fiscal year, and $433 million or 7.4 percent less in tax revenue for the following year starting July 1.

And, a tax fix for that continuing shortfall is tricky to accomplish, because unless there’s something novel coming out of the governor’s office or from the minds of legislators, that $433 million hole is going to be difficult to fill in the same year that it occurs.

You want a retroactive tax increase? New taxes on money you’ve already spent? Didn’t think so, which means that chances are good that any new tax-raising idea that lawmakers come up with won’t be in effect until Jan. 1, 2018—more than a year from now.

So, with the immediate effect of any tax increase delayed at least a year, look for a couple things to happen.

Easiest way for the state to pull money into its budget is to cut what is going out. Again, it is looking like the easiest bill not to pay is the dedication of a portion of the state sales tax to the Department of Transportation. Last session, the governor pulled back several hundred million dollars that were pledged from the highway program. Expect that to happen again, to the angst of contractors, the people who actually lay down that asphalt for a living, and the Kansans whose coffee slops onto their pants as they hit potholes.

Oh, and don’t forget that the money pulled back from KDOT means less for little maintenance projects and upkeep on those bridges that take school buses full of children to and from school each day.

That KDOT money is the easy one, if legislators don’t live next to highway contractors or their employees, but it gets more difficult after that.

Then it’s down to other cuts that apply differently to different portions of the state’s citizens. State-assisted health care for the poor and their children will be felt in some neighborhoods more than others, care for the elderly who can’t take care of themselves at home will hit some families harder than others, and even law enforcement/the judiciary and imprisonment of those dangerous to Kansans also are likely to be squeezed.

That forward look into the future of Kansas revenues and the services and protections that those revenues provide is going to be scary at times. Or, is going to take some elaborate explanation…

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.

Domingo Sanchez’s dad has always been an avid pheasant, quail and dove hunter, and Domingo remembers going with him for the first time when he was10 or 11 years old. He also remembers harvesting his first dove on one of their hunts, and says he was hooked on upland bird hunting from then on.

When Domingo was 14 or 15, he became aware that some of his friends were into duck hunting, so he began watching duck hunting videos with them and began tagging along with them on duck hunts. He said “Until then I wasn’t even aware people hunted ducks.” Sanchez told me what intrigued him most was duck calling. He explained “I grew up hunting pheasants, and whether by yourself or with a dog, you go find the pheasants. When duck hunting, you actually interact with the ducks, and by the calls you make, get them to come to you.”

In 2012, as a way to help hunters and youth experience waterfowl hunting that either didn’t own or couldn’t afford the decoys and other equipment required, Domingo and his brother Michael started a waterfowl guide service called Fowl Mouth Outdoors. In 2014 they came to the realization that the guide service was not allowing them time to hunt with their buddies as before, and that they missed that camaraderie more than they enjoyed running the guide service, so Fowl Mouth Outdoors ceased offering waterfowl trips.

Sanchez has always had a competitive nature, so whether calling ducks and geese or whether at his job, he always strives to master what he sets out to do, and to become the very best at everything he tries. Many duck hunting videos also include an educational section meant to teach hunters proper waterfowl calling techniques, and so intrigued was he with the importance of proper duck calling that he began entering competitions. In 2008 at age 19 Sanchez entered his first duck calling competition, and since has competed in about 26 different contests, often finishing in the top 4.

To qualify for the World National Duck Calling Championship, a sanctioned regional contest must be won, and that win continued to elude him. Finally this past summer of 2016, he won the 2016 Show Me Regional in Independence, Missouri qualifying him for the 2016 World Championships in Stuttgart, Arkansas.

At wildlife calling competitions of any kind, a panel of several judges is positioned so they can only hear each contestant, but never see them. There are several different calls used to call ducks and geese; hail calls get the birds attention as they fly over, greeting calls try to assure them that it’s OK to join what looks to them like birds resting on the water (that are actually decoys) and feeding calls attempt to put them at ease as they set their wings and begin to glide down onto the water. On the stage at the National Duck Calling Championship, each caller had 90 seconds to go from hail calls, to greeting calls, then to feeding calls, and then as if the flock of birds being called got spooked and began to leave, they were required to go through the entire repertoire again as if to call them back. Then the calling session was to end with a few “lonesome hen” calls, simulating a lonesome hen duck looking for some company. Going over the 90 second time limit disqualified the contestant and no timing devices were allowed. On the stage at Stuttgart two weeks ago, Domingo Sanchez took second place out of 59 contestants in the 2016 National Duck Calling Championship.

Sanchez told me he plans to enter more competitions this year and he’ll keep hunting ducks to keep honing his skills. He bought his 9 year old daughter Riley her first duck call this year and is looking forward to her becoming a more frequent partner in the duck blind. Domingo has a laid-back, care free personality, but behind that demeanor lurks a fierce competitor. Someone has said “If at first you don’t succeed, lower your expectations.” That attitude doesn’t work for Sanchez and I foresee a duck calling championship in his not-too-distant future.

Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

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

I grew up in mostly metropolitan areas. To give you an idea of what that means, my high school graduating class included over 1000 students. In that world, youngsters don’t participate in every program that interests them because competition is stiff and resources are limited. While cities offer exclusive options, small towns require inhabitants to survive outside comfort zones.

During my school years, I played competitive sports, but I never participated in a music program. Yep, I was a BAD singer. This meant I never experienced the effort and cooperation it takes to produce a musical extravaganza. After contributing to my small town’s Christmas cantata as a narrator, I realize performers as well as audiences enjoy unexpected blessings. Individuals experience life more fully because they participate. They discover they’re necessary to the group’s success even though they aren’t as good as they wish they were.

I learned this early in my teaching career. Every student had to play sports and join music so our 1-A school could field teams or have a band. I know there were students who sang every bit as badly as I do, but they got better because they had to. How do I know? Because I coached youngsters who weren’t natural athletes, I learned that by the time they played several games, everyone mastered skills enough to contribute. This also rings true for those joining small town Christmas presentations.

Our director’s a wife, mother, and businessperson who serves along with her mother-in-law every year to extract maximum ability from locals willing to involve themselves in the project. She directs both bell choir and singers who perform beautifully year after year. I still can’t sing, so she and the choir invite me to narrate each holy season.

Since I never enjoyed such experiences growing up, I’ve learned much. Putting on a program requires tremendous effort and commitment. Volunteers leave dishes in the sink to practice for months prior to the final performance. Bell choir members concentrate and replay pieces until they function as a single musical unit. To complicate matters, each plays at least two differently toned bells in every song. It would be difficult to learn one new tune, but this group masters many.

A variety of our community members make up the choir. Young and seasoned– from students to house wives to farmers to professionals, they gather starting in early autumn to polish infrequently used skills. Seeing these folks uptown, who’d guess they are sopranos, altos, tenors, and baritones gifted enough to solo. From the narrator’s podium, I watch neighbors evolve from tentative, shy performers to confident, bold professionals who lift audience hearts on performance night.

If I didn’t live in the hinterlands of Kansas, I’d never have worked with so many dedicated fellow residents to produce a celebration not only of Christmas, but also of the best small towns offer. Anyone willing to participate belongs.

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

By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

Illesheim, Germany. This audience is excited because authentic cowboys from Kansas are performing cowboy music. One of them is even the official marshal of Dodge City. He’s a man of many talents who comes from rural Kansas.

Allen Bailey is the western performer who carries the title of Dodge City marshal. Allen grew up at Cimarron, Kansas and went on to a varied career, working for the gas company, building saddles and cleaning hats, working for a hospital and senior citizens home and then in education.

Several key interests surfaced early in his life. First of all, his dad had a cow-calf operation. Allen loved horses and the cowboy life. Second, he enjoyed history – especially Kansas history. Third, he liked to draw and create art. Fourth, he enjoyed music.

“One guy called me a Renaissance man but I told him I’m just a nut who likes to do lots of things,” Allen said. “I do love Kansas.”

“I was fortunate to grow up in a musical family,” Allen said. “When I was 10 or 11, I found a book in the local store which said `You Too Can Play the Guitar.’ It cost 50 cents. I borrowed the money from my mother and she spent the rest of her life trying to get it back,” he said with a smile.

Allen learned to play on an old Roy Rogers guitar, not much bigger than a ukulele. “What was really neat is that, years later, I was able to interview Roy Rogers himself and tell him that story.”

Allen loved the guitar and found that he could play and sing. Soon he was playing dances professionally. Today Allen plays the guitar, bass guitar, pedal steel guitar, fiddle, tenor banjo, and piano. He continues to write, compose and perform music.

Allen started listening to High Plains Public Radio, the station based in western Kansas. He volunteered to help with some of the early fund drives. When the station manager suggested that they needed some live music, Allen offered to bring in his band.

“The program director noticed that I had a gift of gab,” Allen said. “She asked me if I wanted to host a program. They were looking for a program on Celtic music. I told her I didn’t know anything about Celtic music. She said, `So what do you know about?’ I said, `Western swing.’”

That was the beginning of a program called Western Swing and Other Things hosted by Allen Bailey. “I didn’t think it would last six weeks,” Allen said. Today, Western Swing and Other Things continues to air weekly on High Plains Public Radio as it has done for 28 years. “We have lots of great listeners and nice folks.”

Allen also continued his pursuit in artwork. “I was a freelance artist. Now I paint mostly western scenes, wildlife and equestrian.” His art has appeared in wildlife magazines which have gone coast to coast.

In 2000, he was approached about another opportunity. The town of Dodge City was looking for an official marshal to serve as an ambassador for the community. With his trademark handlebar mustache, musical talent, and knowledge of western history – not to mention his engaging personality – Allen was a natural choice.

Since 2000, Marshal Allen Bailey has proudly carried the title of Dodge City’s official marshal. He has represented the community far and wide – even as far away as Germany.

“They put on a Civil War reenactment for us,” Allen said. “I was struck by the fact that they were walking on cobblestone streets built by the Romans next to houses that were thousands of years old, yet they were so interested in American history. They are fascinated by our old west.”

Allen and his wife Janey recently moved to a place near the rural community of Windom, population 137 people. Now, that’s rural.

For more information, go to www.angelfire.com/ks2/dcmarshal.

It’s time to leave Illesheim, Germany and our performers from rural Kansas. We commend Marshal Allen Bailey for making a difference by representing Dodge City and the state of Kansas so well.

He says the tree should be put up the day after Thanksgiving. She says twelve days before Christmas is the right time. He says you should go all out on gifts for everyone. She says gifts are less important than spending time together with loved ones. He says the best time to open Christmas gifts is Christmas Eve. She says the best time is Christmas morning. He says the tree should come down right after Christmas. She says it should stay up through Epiphany. And the holiday argument goes on.

Couples or step families experiencing their first holiday season together may be surprised at the intensity of their beliefs about celebrating holidays. People who are normally loving, compromising individuals may dig in their heels and cling to doing things the way they were done when they were children. Or, they may have an image of the “perfect” holiday that they want to create. Even after several years together it is not unusual for each to feel that the holidays are still not quite right if the experiences don’t match up to the ones they knew growing up or the ones they have pictured in their mind.

The issue in these holiday discussions is not who’s right and who’s wrong. Both are right. The big issue is change. Our rational side tells us that resolving the issues means compromise by everyone. But, our emotional side says that we really want things to be as we’ve known or envisioned them. Change isn’t always welcome when it comes to deeply-rooted notions of the best way to do important things.

Most of us adapt to change most comfortably in small steps, not in one big dramatic shift. As change forces itself upon us, such as a marriage or the death of someone we love, we keep going on, day by day, holiday by holiday. We may even create new traditions to fill the gaps. Still, a part of us may long for that which is no longer possible. Children of divorced parents may cling to holiday memories when Mom, Dad, and children lived under one roof. Newlyweds may insist that holidays be celebrated “my family’s way”. But the holidays will never be exactly the same and it’s a change we can’t alter.

Some holiday changes are much less traumatic. Certain foods may be so traditional that no one has ever asked if anyone really likes that food. A friend tells this story– in her family, oyster soup on Christmas Eve was a tradition. Year by year they began to notice that the oysters were left in the bottom of the soup kettle. When her family took a poll, no one really liked oysters! They served the soup each year because that’s the way their family had always done it. So, changing the menu to cheese soup the next year was a low-stress change that she says “hasn’t traumatized anyone yet!”

So, back to our “he says, she says” discussion. If a compromise is going to be comfortable to those involved, the issues will have to be discussed to the satisfaction of both parties. Negotiations will likely involve discovering which traditions are most important for each person and trying to accommodate those with the highest priority. Also, be aware that building holiday traditions is more than a one-year decision. As time goes by and changes occur, traditions may need adjustment.

In the midst of negotiating and planning holiday traditions, don’t overlook treasuring the day-by-day experiences of the holiday season. As Dolly in the Family Circus cartoon reminds us, “Today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present.”

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

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. — Daniel Patrick Moynihan

To prepare for life in post-truth America, just study the example of Kansas politics since 2010, when Governor Sam Brownback and Secretary of State Kris Kobach were elected.

What is post-truth?  The Oxford English Dictionary declares it the word of the year, with this definition: Relating or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.

Comedian Steven Colbert beat the OED to the punch.  Several years ago, he named this “truthiness”—if a statement feels true, it is true:  no thinking needed.  Actual truth requires rigorous analysis and factual verification, while post-truth claims are evaluated based on whether or not they fit with one’s political ideology.  Hence the explosion of “fake news” sites this year, which post entirely-fabricated stories on social media, always pushing emotional buttons and frequently forwarded to hundreds or even thousands of people without being verified by reliable sources beforehand.

Kansans know all about post-truth.  Consider President-elect Donald J. Trump’s recent Tweet stating that the 2016 elections featured “millions of fraudulent votes.”  Kobach agrees with the claim, citing a study that he is taking out of context.   Scholars and policymakers have combed through evidence of possible voter fraud for years, finding virtually no confirmed cases.  We also have major concerns about the way laws meant to combat this fraud have the actual effect of removing tens of thousands of people from the voting rolls in Kansas alone.   Yet to fact-check Trump’s and Kobach’s claims is to live in the past—under post-truth, the claim sounds right to their supporters, so it’s true.

Under post-truth, governing is a disaster.  Policymakers each have their own, completely different set of biases and “facts” and with no common standard by which to verify claims, make judgments, or negotiate.  Politics becomes a contest of emotional manipulation:  whoever can yell louder, frighten more people, make us feel better, or do more to re-animate old prejudices is automatically declared (by themselves) to be the winner.  Partisan news media custom-tailor reports to what their audiences want to hear, and if the real facts cannot be spun enough to fit the story, no problem– we can just make some up. 

Governor Sam Brownback’s economic policies exemplify post-truth policymaking.  At his behest, the state has drained long-held trust funds for highways, children’s health, and employee health care, and has had its bond rating downgraded several times.  Medicaid benefits have been cut, and the state has gotten hauled into court over school funding.  Brownback supporters responded with a truly post-truth approach: instead of fixing the budget’s gaping wound, they tried to remove the judges who are ruling against them from office, in this year’s retention elections.  They failed, as the judges were retained with over 55% of the vote.  Meanwhile, the promised economic growth from tax cuts has never materialized.  Perhaps this is why Brownback’s approval ratings are fiftieth out of 50 among U.S. governors.

Brownback’s reaction?  In a post-election interview with the AP’s John Hanna, the Governor said the voters gave him “good, high marks” because Republicans still have large majorities in the Legislature.  In so doing, he ignored not only the seats lost to Democrats, but also the moderate surge in this summer’s Republican primaries.  Many of these successful “mods” explicitly ran against Brownback’s agenda, some even going so far as to put the words “Stop Brownback” on their yard signs, right next to the Republican elephant.  Yet to Brownback, the election feels like a mandate, so it must be one. 

Stop Brownback=Support Brownback, and post-truth wins again.  Will President-elect Trump elevate post-truth politics to the national stage?

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

I have two friends from my college days that come up to Kansas from Texas to go hunting with me after Thanksgiving. I am writing this article on Thanksgiving morning.

I have joined a club with my two friends that I hoped that I would not be joining for a long time. I have become the patriarch of my family.

Both my friends (Lane and Russell), have lost their parents over the last few years. Lane’s mother passed away quite a few years ago, and then his father died over a short period of time, after developing cancer. Russell’s story is similar.

This past year, I lost both my father and my stepfather (my mother passed away in 2001).

One of the things that we all had in common was that as our parents grew older, we all had some type of plan in place to help them through that transition. I was so thankful that I was able to assist both my father and my stepfather in some difficult decisions, both for my sake, their sake and the sake of other family members.

Sometimes in our second half of life, we are cognizant that we do need to do planning for ourselves. However, sometimes we need to be as equally aware that we need to encourage others to make plans for themselves.

When my father got sick in January, I discovered there was a real lack of appropriate documentation – lack of a living will, outdated healthcare powers of attorney, and the like. Luckily for us, my father rebounded for a period of time, and that allowed us to wrap up the essential documents.

My father returned home and, in fact, went back to work. I know that he felt a lot better about having a plan in place.

A few years ago, I did my stepfather’s estate plan. When he got sick in December and January, he and I reviewed everything, fine tuning some important elements that would have an immediate and long lasting effect on his family.

As a “patriarch”, or as a patriarch in the making, please be sure that your parents have some type of plan in place. Please be sure it stays current. Check to see how accounts are titled, if there are beneficiary designations, and that insurance policies are being paid. Make sure that your parents’ intent is properly reflected. Talk about end of life decisions, financial goals and make sure agents are clearly stated. It could save a lot of heartache, as well as money.

It is not uncommon in my office for some 60 or 70 year-old “child” to come in, and suddenly they are a caregiver for their parents. We discover that the necessary documents are not in place, and may even require them to go to court to get a guardian and/or conservatorship—a step that could cost thousands of dollars, as well as delays and unnecessary restrictions.

Similarly, I have had situations where a fairly young person comes into my office whose spouse has been suddenly incapacitated. We discover that no planning had ever been put into place.

The most heartbreaking situation is when a parent comes in, and they have an adult child where nothing has been done. We are faced with some end of life decision making, or even significant health issues. Without the proper documentation, they cannot make decisions for their child, nor do they “know” what their child wants.

As the head of your family, I hope that you will encourage all of your family members, whether they are your parents, your children, or your spouse, to get some type of plan in place.

As Lane and Russell drive to Hays the Saturday after Thanksgiving, it will be the first time that we will be hunting together as three orphans!

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.

On Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted the following:

What do you think?

[polldaddy poll=9593863]

When the temperatures in Kansas dip below freezing, two types of people usually surface – those who enjoy invigorating weather and those who tolerate the cold from inside. How an individual feels about the cold weather usually depends on where he/she grew up, age and more importantly, attitude.

Another factor comes into play – wind chill factor. Wind chill factor is usually defined as the cooling effect from wind and temperature on the human body. Wind whisking by exposed skin during cold weather increases a person’s heat loss.

An Antarctic explorer, Paul Siple, and his colleague, Charles Passel, first coined the term “wind chill” in 1939. Siple described wind chill as the relative cooling power – heat removal – from the body with various combinations of wind speed and low temperatures.

Some 70 years later, wind chill has become a common term in our everyday conversation. Knowing the factors help people protect themselves against frostbite and hypothermia. Tissue damage occurs in frostbite when wind chill temperatures fall below –25 degrees F. Hypothermia results when the rapid loss of the body’s internal temperature alters judgment. This sometimes results in death.

Western Kansas stockmen know the harder the wind blows, the lower the wind chill factor. Simply put, it is the relationship between wind speed and actual temperature that produces this chilling effect.

People who spend time outdoors during these cold periods – stockmen, construction workers, hunters, runners and skiers – may create their own winds or increase the existing wind. Because movement magnifies airflow, they should be especially cautious of wind chill.

Manual labor and other physical exertion can cause heat loss also. Sweat begins and heat is removed by vaporization. Breathing cold air also results in the loss of heat from the lungs.

Few people realize that smoking, drinking, prescription drugs and illegal narcotics may also contribute to frostbite or hypothermia during bitterly cold temperatures. These dull the senses.

Alcohol dilates the capillaries of the skin and that increases the body’s heat loss. Nicotine smoke absorbed by the blood causes the capillaries to constrict. This restricts the blood flow to the earlobes, fingertips and other regions of the body. Medication can have side effects too, so venture outside during cold weather with extreme caution.

Wind chill charts for regular references are available wherever outdoor equipment is sold. Use these charts only as a point of information. Wind chill charts aren’t always accurate because they don’t take into account all the possibilities of heat loss, or the preventive measures against it.

Air temperature is rarely a reliable indicator of how cold a person will feel outdoors. Elements such as wind speed, relative humidity and sunshine or solar radiation also play a part. A person’s health and the type of clothing worn will also affect how a person feels.

When you go outside, dress for the weather and the wind. Wear loose-fitting, lightweight, warm clothing in several layers. These layers can be removed to prevent perspiration and subsequent chilling. Snug mittens are better protection than fitted gloves.

Always wear a hat, preferably wool, ear protection and a scarf or neck gaiter. If it’s bitter cold – stay inside.

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

OK, it’s starting to get interesting now, this $345 million budget shortfall for the nearly half-over Kansas Fiscal Year 2017.

So far, it’s the governor reminding the Legislature and anyone else who will listen that assembling and maintaining the budget is the job of the Kansas Legislature. But Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, is telling the governor that he really ought to use his executive power to make budget cuts now, not leave the job to the incoming new Legislature.

Hmmm…

Wagle is expected to be re-elected Senate President by the GOP caucus of the upper chamber on Dec. 5. Current House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, didn’t seek re-election to the House. So, when the session starts Jan. 9 we have a governor with two years left on his term saying he’ll come up with something after Jan. 9 and the presumptive leader of the Senate for the next four years saying fix it now.

Sound like a happy little discourse? And while there isn’t a designated House Speaker yet, in the minutes after the House GOP Caucus selects its leader on Dec. 5, don’t look for the new Speaker to side with Brownback.

Now, all of this makes for an interesting little political scrap, except that whenever and whatever cuts are made by the governor, or the Legislature if he hangs back and just makes a “suggestion,” we still live here.

That means that the cuts for the remainder of this fiscal year are going to have to be sharp, and some of us Kansans are going to feel them and some of us aren’t.

Practically, if you receive little or nothing from the state in the way of services—say, Medicaid (KanCare) or welfare or special assistance for a child or grandchild in public schools, or maybe even just making sure that the guy fishing in the next boat over is using a hook and not a net, you’ve got little to lose. Just sit back and watch what happens to those other folks.

But if you are depending on the state for welfare, for school and health care for your children or grandchildren, or your neighbors, or even penciling out just how you’re going to pay tuition at a state university…well, this isn’t just something to watch like Dancing with the Stars.

The budget is already tight; there is a Kansas Supreme Court decision on its way that might require the state to spend more money on public education. The roads? Well, that’s been a major source of money for the rest of state government and that well is about dry.

So, while you’re reading about the budget shortfall—and wondering whether there are income or property or sales tax increases in your future—remember that it’s going to be a just-elected or re-elected Legislature that is likely going to have to do the heavy lifting. A majority or at least a plurality of you voted for those folks who are going to be inconveniencing you.

The scuffle is over whether the governor is going to take direct action to solve things or whether he’s going to make suggestions and watch the Legislature just like the rest of us.

So get ready, and remember that much of what we know about state government and its services and protections for us are going to change dramatically in the next couple months.

And…wonder just what those candidates were thinking last spring, when they decided that making law and managing the state is really what they wanted to do…

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

Sometimes it’s a blessing, sometimes a curse, but I’ve always been a sucker for trying new ways of trapping coyotes.

You have to understand I’m usually the “skeptic’s skeptic;” I’m never sucked in by the endless banter of state fair hucksters as they try to sell me “the last mop I’ll ever own” or the glue that will hold an elephant from the ceiling by one leg, or the ladder that I should never be without.

The bizarre TV adds by Super Car Guy telling me that (and I quote) “buying a car doesn’t have to suck” that evidently draw customers like honey on an ant hill just make me mad. In short, I’m not easily swayed or convinced by something new. But when it comes to trapping, I often lose every shred of common sense I ever had as I try some new way of fooling a coyote I read about on the all seeing-all knowing internet or maybe in an old tattered trapping book I found at a garage sale.

Now don’t get me wrong, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with trying new ways of doing things now-and-then. If no one ever tried anything new we’d still be talking on phones meant only for conversation and we’d always be stuck with cars we actually had to drive ourselves (how ghastly.) The problem with my trapping experiments is that they almost never work, and I never seem to learn that.

Prior to Thanksgiving I had several coyote traps set on properties west of town. One property sat a half-mile off the road and was sandwiched between a creek and two other landowners. To get there required driving across a long narrow pasture, then out onto a soybean stubble field. That particular corner of the field is low and stays wetter than the rest of the field after it rains.

Because of that, the soybeans had drowned out last spring leaving a large weedy patch the farmer had left standing when he cut the beans. I reasoned coyotes would visit that weed patch often because it stood out in that corner of the field like white socks with black pants and was probably full of field mice for them to catch.

As a way to set a trap near the weed patch, experiment #1 was to try making a “trash set” for the first time. Making a trash set simply entails making a mound of trash or stubble from the field, putting some lure or scent on one side of it and setting a trap that will catch the coyote when it inspects the mound and the scent, which they most certainly will because it catches their eye as they inspect the landscape and will appear as a likely spot to find a field mouse or two for lunch. I raked together a bushel-basket sized mound of soybean chaff near the weed patch, put some scent on a stick and stuck it into one end of the mound then shaped the whole mess so the coyote had to cross the trap to inspect the smells. Three days later I was disgusted to find a skunk caught in that trap.

Not really wanting to tote the skunk home, I googled my mental archives for a way to use it to catch a coyote. In one of the many old trapping books I’ve perused over the years I remembered reading some old trappers advise to bury a skunk in the ground with just the tip of its tail sticking out then set a trap near it, so just like that, experiment #2 was born.

Coyotes enjoy the smell of skunk; many lures used to help trap them have pure skunk scent as a base. Skunks have rather colorful tails that are surprisingly soft and ripple in the wind with very little breeze. I rebuilt the mound of trash, stuffed the dead skunk up in the pile with just a couple inches of its tail sticking out and reset the trap in front of it. Hopefully the “sweet smell” of skunk and the critters tail softly swaying in the breeze would attract a marauding coyote and convince it a tasty snack could be had by merely dragging the stinker from the pile. Sure enough, two days later a big mature coyote awaited me there at my improvised trash set.

Now before you stand up and cheer for the success of my two experiments, let me say that I’ve already tried them both again since then, and as usual, neither one worked. Some “wise guy” once said “If at first you don’t succeed, lower your standards.” While that’s bad advice for life, it proved good advice for catching that coyote. I doubt those experiments of mine will be documented and lauded in the annals of history or in text books, but I’ll still try them again. Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

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

When the Kansas Legislature convenes in January, one-third of the seats will be filled by someone new. The election results show that many voters recognized the serious financial trouble in Kansas and now expect a change in direction. But will they get it?

Lawmakers face a daunting task. To successfully alter the situation, they must take a big risk and do something that does not come naturally to politicians—gather a bipartisan coalition and reform the tax system to raise revenue.

State finances have so soured that the current budget sunk $350 million underwater even after record amounts were taken out of the highway fund and large spending cuts were unceremoniously applied to universities and Medicaid providers. This leaves Kansas schools and other key state services highly vulnerable to another round of debilitating cuts.

Kansas simply does not have enough revenue to pay even a constrained set of bills. The 2012 income tax cuts unbalanced the Kansas budget from the moment of implementation, but the situation has become especially dire today because lawmakers emptied reserves and exhausted other one-time budget maneuvers in earlier efforts to patch up the budget.

We have few options left. Without more revenue, lawmakers must make deep cuts-to-the-bone in state programs. For those legislators who voted in 2012 to deliberately starve the state’s revenue stream in order to downsize government, this is a happy climax. But that group lost heavily in the elections.

In the 2017 Legislature, moderate Republicans and Democrats now have enough numbers in each chamber to pass policy changes, if they work together. But forming coalitions becomes challenging whenever there’s hard medicine to swallow. Kansas lawmakers will face headwinds as the Trump administration and a Republican Congress attempt to pass the very kind of tax legislation on a national scale that Kansas seeks to undo here.

Then, even if tax policy changes pass the Legislature, the governor may not sign the bill. But despite the barriers, lawmakers must forge ahead because the stakes for Kansas are enormous. The financial sickness will not heal up on its own without corrective action.

One obvious step forward would close the LLC loophole which allows business income to go untaxed. The recent Kansas Speaks survey showed that 61 percent of Kansans support this action. Some lawmakers may be tempted to do only this and declare victory, but that alone will not fix the budget.

At a minimum, lawmakers must make revenue equal expenses, which requires ending the LLC loophole as well as enacting a package of other financial corrections. Reducing sales tax on food as part of this package–as some lawmakers propose to do—would require further upward adjustments to balance the cost.

Can lawmakers work across party lines to enact change? Will the governor sign a bill rescinding at least a portion of the 2012 tax cuts? Unless the answer to both questions is “yes,” the financial suffering of Kansas will worsen, plunging our state into a further downward spiral.

Duane Goossen formerly served 12 years as Kansas Budget Director.