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.
Mother Nature must’ve guffawed til her sides ached as she read scores of first day of fall memes flooding the internet. How ironic that fellow lovers of colorful leaves, cozy sweaters, pumpkin patches, and simmering soups wiped dripping sweat from brows in 90 plus temps on the cusp of our favorite season. For folks who’ve eagerly awaited brisk mornings and hoodies, last week’s sultry heat didn’t just set us back; it wilted spirits. Don’t worry, though. We’ll recover as soon as morning thermometers hover in the thirties or low forties.
It’s interesting to read friends’ posts during this hinge between summer and autumn. It doesn’t take long to know who loves frosty winters, pastel springs, simmering beach-weather summers, and my favorite– fall. When I scan Facebook, I see clearly why some of my friends and I connect. We love this time of year that others see as a harbinger of doom.
We love nature’s colors as foliage morphs from green to yellow, orange, bronze, and crimson. We love gunmetal grays that dominate skies this time of year. We love native grass hues as they switch off chlorophyll production and turn on dormant mode. We love watching birds stage in voracious hordes in preparation to migrate. We love those crazy cricket serenades that foretell dropping temperatures. We love high school football games with its scent of freshly buttered popcorn.
We love knowing hunting seasons have begun so our freezers will soon be full of freshly harvested game. We love standing over the stove to stir soups that smell of onion, garlic, tomatoes, basil, oregano as they simmer and perfume our homes. We love kneading flour, yeast, eggs, oil, and water into crusty breads we’ll bake, slice, and toast with cheese to eat with our soup or chili. We love others who understand our quirky fixation with this time of year.
I understand why some dread this season. Daylight shortens. Calendars mark the beginning of regimented activities, the end of lazy days at the pool, the last days of garden production, and the beginning of paying a rising winter heat bill. Despite recognizing others’ distress, I can’t help but wake up smiling when the autumnal equinox tells me summer is over. It means my favorite birds, sandhill cranes, will soon return, winging and singing their song across russet and golden fields on their way to New Mexico’s playas. I’ll hear their ancient cry and imagine elk bugling in the background though I know that hasn’t happened across our state for nearly a century.
My fellow autumn lovers are nesters, folks who love snuggling tight at homes with loved ones. This season appeals to those who savor each diminishing sound as cooling nights shut down summer’s harsh decibels. This begins a time of introspection and contemplation. Summer will return for those in mourning. For those of us celebrating its end, ignore the heat and brew a pot of cider. Raise your mug to toast golden days ahead.
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.
Catching rainbow trout in Kansas seems like an oxymoron; sort of like polar bear hunting in West Virginia or whale watching at Yellowstone Lake. Kansas is known for its walleye, crappie and catfish, but trout?
Wildlife and fisheries programs here in KS are funded largely by revenue from license sales that comes back to the state from the federal government. That money is reallocated back to Kansas according to the number of hunting and fishing licenses sold each year, so the more licenses sold, the more money we get back. In the 1990’s, Kansas began a trout stocking program as a way to generate more fishing license sales in the off-season, and as a way to create more fishing opportunities during the fall and winter.
Steve Gilliland
I spoke with David Breth, Fisheries Program Specialist with the KS Dept of Wildlife Parks and Tourism KDWPT) who oversees the trout stocking program. This year there will be approximately 36 lakes and water impoundments across Kansas stocked with trout. Seventeen of those are private lakes owned by towns or cities that are enrolled in the Community Fisheries Assistance Program (CFAP), meaning they purchase their own fish, but allow the KDWPT to manage the lakes. The rest of the lakes and reservoirs stocked with trout are state owned and operated.
Although KDWPT operates 5 fish hatcheries here in Kansas, none are equipped to hatch and raise trout, which are especially sensitive to environmental factors such as temperature, water quality etc, so it’s more cost effective to purchase trout from commercial hatcheries for the stocking program. Last year a Colorado hatchery supplied all trout for the western half of the state and trout for the eastern half came from a hatchery in Missouri.
Rainbow trout are the easiest and least expensive trout for hatcheries to raise, making them also the least expensive to buy, plus they tolerate warm temperatures better than other trout, so the bulk of the trout stocked here in Kansas are rainbows. However, brown trout are also put into the seep stream below Kanopolis Reservoir and into ponds in the Mined Land Wildlife Area in extreme southeastern KS. Browns are more sensitive to water temperatures and need cool water, and both those locations offer just that. Water in the seep stream comes from the bottom of Kanopolis reservoir, and the lakes and ponds that make up the mined land area are old strip mine pits that are very deep. Trout in most locations are not expected to live through the hot Kansas summers, but trout in these 2 locations often survive.
All locations are stocked twice a month from November through March; waters in the southwestern region are stocked November through April. A complete stocking schedule can be found on the KDWPT website, www.ksoutdoors.com. Click on “fishing” at the top, then click “special fishing programs” on the left. The “trout program” will appear in a box toward the center of the screen. All available information on the trout fishing and stocking program is available there including license and permit requirements which vary from region to region.
Over the past 10 years, over 1.5 million trout have been stocked in Kansas lakes through the program; that averages out to be over 150,000 per year.The state record rainbow trout weighted 15.72 pounds, was 28.5 inches long and was caught in Kill Creek Park Lake in Johnson Co. by Josh McCullough from Spring Hill. The state record brown trout came from the Kanopolis Seep Stream, weighted 4.18 pounds, was 20.25 inches long and was caught by McPherson resident Daniel Schrag.
I know fishermen who do not keep any of the trout they catch because they deem them to be less desirable fish, and yes, compared to walleye and crappie, which is kinda’ like comparing a Volkswagen to a Cadillac, I would agree. But trout is a very mild tasting fish that actually contains higher than average amounts of good Omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin B12. Trout is also known to help reduce bad cholesterol and to help lower high blood pressure.
I don’t ever order trout in a restaurant because it always comes with the head still attached and I’m not real crazy about my meal looking back at me. However trout can be filleted just like any other fish, and can be battered and pan fried or deep fried just like catfish, or can be basted with herb butter and baked. The way I see it, I have now officially removed all excuses for not fishing here in Kansas this winter. So check out the website for trout stocked near you, then grab a kid and enjoy some great fall and winter trout fishing as you continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!
Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].
Two things I want readers to take away from this writing to the editor. Hillary is guilty as sin regarding her private email server even though not charged. Secondly, there is massive corruption in our government.
What the Democrat’s presidential candidate Hillary Clinton intended as secretary of state when setting up a private email server is as plain as the nose on my aging face. She intended to keep from the public record, as a public servant, what she was doing and there’s no doubt about it.
What she was doing as secretary of state, was lining her pockets and Bill’s. It’s all about the biggest heist in American history giving away taxpayer monies to donors (foreign and domestic) that contributed to the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton’s personal bank account. And, keeping all of that a big secret.
Nobody needs to be a lawyer or rocket scientist to figure out Hillary’s motive. Average intelligence (like me), an open mind, logical thinking, and common sense are all that is needed.
FBI Director James Comey said Hillary had no “intent” to hide her emails from you and me, therefore, no lawyer would even try to prosecute. Guess what? I’ve got news for Comey. Many would take the case against Hillary in a heart beat to prove through “circumstantial evidence” there was “intent.”
Corrupted Comey had no “intent” in the first place of doing anything to Hillary. It was a foregone conclusion she would not be charged. He simply went through an investigation knowing full well the outcome would be exoneration.
There were two institutions in American government history we could count on to be above board at all times. One was the FBI, the other our military. Both went from non-political to political big time under this administration. In the process both have been tarnished and have lost all integrity.
In case you did not hear about our military doctoring data about the threat of ISIS you are now informed. Command Central lied to Americans about the real threat of ISIS in order to fit the narrative of Obama that there is no big threat. Shame on our military for undermining our national security and shame on Obama for asking that the figures be falsified.
Add the FBI and military to a litany of corrupted agencies in this administration. The State Dept was complicit in Hillary’s criminal activity. The Dept of Justice, like the FBI, was not going to prosecute regardless what she said or did. Then there are agencies like the IRS, EPA, Dept of Homeland Security, even the Veterans Administration letting veterans die.
There are thousands and thousands in prison today based solely on “circumstantial evidence.” Such evidence is overwhelming against Hillary. Following are just a few and some of them standing alone would put anybody else in prison. So much for equality under the law for all Americans.
Hillary has a history of deception and lying that have led to multiple scandals. Three out of four voters consider her untrustworthy. She lied about everything involving her emails. She even lied numerous times under oath. She “lawyered up” like crazy about her emails. During her FBI testimony she said she couldn’t remember some 38 times, obviously having something to hide. Some on her staff refused to testify. Some even took the Fifth during testimony.
She even had the gall to destroy documents instead of submitting them to congress following the receipt of a subpoena, obviously having something to hide. Her staff took hammers to multiple cell phones to destroy communications. Hillary’s email tech guy contacted Reddit social media to find out how to alter emails.
Why did it take Hillary lawyers to destroy some 30,000 emails; lawyers who didn’t even have national security clearance to read her classified emails? And, the lawyers used a very high tech procedure called BleachBit to insure those emails were gone forever!
Would you believe her two most important staff members (Mills and Abedin) worked two jobs. They simultaneously worked for the State Dept and the Clinton Foundation and that’s a huge conflict of interest. Of course, they were setting up donations to the Clintons as part of their work with the State Department. Small wonder Hillary’s emails disappeared by the thousands.
Trump better get on the Hillary email scandal during the next debate – and the massive government corruption under Obama that will continue with Hillary.
Bottom line is Hillary should not be president. Anybody else would be in the jail house, far removed from the White House.
Michael A. Smith is a Professor of Political Science at Emporia State University.
Debating incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980, Ronald Reagan pulled one of his classic moves. Reagan summed up decades of political science research with a pithy, homespun-sounding question. Once thought impossible, inflation and unemployment were both high at the same time, so the economy was on everyone’s mind. In his trademark style, Reagan looked directly into the camera and addressed the voters themselves, not his opponent or the moderator, asking “are you better off that you were four years ago?”
Economists may scoff. The ups and downs of the economy are too complex to attribute to politicians’ actions, but political scientists know the score. Reagan was encouraging viewers to use a strategy called retrospective voting. This explains why the economy is usually the single biggest deal-maker (or –breaker) for undecided voters.
Reagan won the 1980 election easily.
Four years later, the economy in recovery, Reagan again asked, “are you better off than you were four years ago?”
Reagan then pulled off only the second 49-state landslide in American history.
This year, in Kansas, it is time to revisit Reagan’s question.
In 2012, Governor Brownback was frustrated with moderate Republican leaders in the Kansas Senate. He and his political allies pulled off a first-in-Kansas-history moment: a well-funded, professionally- organized campaign targeting these obstinate moderates in the Republican primaries. They sought to oust 12 and succeeded in removing 9. Then Brownback hit the gas: having passed tax cuts earlier that year, Brownback proceeded to privatize Medicaid, drain the state highway and children’s health trust funds, abolish the school base funding formula, and refuse federal money to expand Medicaid and set up an Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Are you better off than you were four years ago?
How are the schools that your children or grandchildren attend? How likely are they to stay in Kansas after they graduate? How is their teachers’ morale?
How is your local hospital doing? Is it solvent? Is it closing?
How about your area’s roads? Are repairs on schedule?
Finally, comes Brownback’s signature act: the 2013 tax cut. How much of that have you seen, personally? How much job growth have you seen in your community and workplace as a result?
Senator Forrest Knox’s (R-Altoona) primary-election defeat last month spells trouble for Brownback. Knox was a Brownback ally and conservative firebrand known for his outspoken advocacy of, among other things, giving adoption preference to traditional, heterosexual, two-parent families like the ones on the 1950s TV show Leave It to Beaver (he actually said that). I spoke with some of Knox’s former constituents, unhappy that he was ignoring district matters. One local mayor got no help from Knox on an environmental variance, needed to build a new water-treatment plant. Knox’s constituents expected responsiveness, but they did not get it. Now Knox is out, along with other Brownback allies like Representative Virgil Peck (R-Tyro), who made national headlines for attacks on immigrants and even on the authors of these newspaper columns, yet Peck did nothing while a hospital closed in his district.
Voters may have wondered, are they better off than they were four years ago?
Kansans will have another chance to revisit Reagan’s famous question again this November.
Michael A. Smith is a Professor of Political Science at Emporia State University.
I have been riding horses in parades for the last couple of years in the local area, and because we are riding horses, we are normally at the back of the parade. On most occasions, we carry the US Flag, Kansas Flag and many others depending on the occasion.
Recently our organization was the color guard at a parade, and while riding at the front, I noticed how few people were even aware that the US Flag was passing by. Being a veteran this upset me. I wanted to tell people they should be acknowledging the flag, but I stayed quiet because I was carrying the colors.
I have been paying attention now at all of the parades, and there are very few people who acknowledge the flag. I observed this, too, as a bystander. As the colors were presented, I placed my hand over my heart until they passed, but not one person around me followed my lead; instead they continued their conversations.
Some of the people I see along the parade routes are wearing ball caps proclaiming their service to our country, and yet none of them take their hats off when the colors passed by. Have we become so complacent that there is little to no respect for the flag?
Some of these same people post angry messages on Facebook about the pro athletes not standing for the national anthem. What people do not realize is it is not the national anthem that we are standing for but the raising of the flag or posting of the colors. How can you sit and complain about something that you, yourself, are not respecting? What saddens me most are the service men and women who are not showing respect for the flag.
I know that times have changed, but if we do not start teaching our children respect for the flag, why do we even post the colors or play the national anthem? How can we stay strong as a nation when we cannot even come together for something as easy as pausing for the flag as it passes by or standing when the colors are posted at an event?
This may seem very trivial to most, but it saddens me. I have had many family members (past and present) along with so many friends and their family members serve our country. My heart breaks for them, to think that they gave up their time, and some even sacrificed their lives, to provide the freedom that we have, and it seems that no one respects that.
What can we do? How do we start the change? This is my first step. Maybe some people are not even aware that the flag passed by, so perhaps this letter will make them watch for the colors the next time they are at a parade. Maybe they in turn will teach their children to have that small pause before running out to find the candy thrown out from the closest float.
Sincerely
Renee Nichols
Sod. Boxcars. Stone. Wood. Canvas. Kansans had utilized all of these materials in the construction of their homes before we were even recognized as a territory. As the pioneers of our great state learned, shelter from the temperamental Kansas weather patterns was a primary need for survival.
That need for housing is just as great today as rural America fights for its own survival.
My travels around Kansas date back to my time as the Congressman for “The Big First” district. At that time, the district was a collection of 69 largely rural counties dominated by fields of grain, pastures of cattle, and oil and gas wells. My conversations with community leaders as their congressman are no different than they are now as their senator. How do we make certain that the next generation has the opportunity to continue to enjoy the special way of life we have cultivated in rural Kansas?
The most common answer to that question often centers on the availability of housing. One of the most consistent concerns expressed to me by city councils, county commissioners, and local economic development directors is the lack of available housing stock, which hampers these local leaders’ ability to recruit job creators to their communities.
Once this need has been identified, however, the difficult task of finding solutions begins. Federal programs like the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program are useful tools for developers and local governments who augment these resources with additional credit from banks and credit unions when available.
For example, Ulysses, Kan., has begun construction on a number of workforce housing units utilizing a blend of financial tools that include federal components. However, it is clear that the need far outstrips the availability of these programs. So why isn’t private investment jumping at this opportunity to fill a necessary void?
As a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, I work to make certain that rural interests are represented. In past hearings on housing finance issues, I have questioned large developers about the relative lack of attention paid to rural housing projects. The typical response I receive is as obvious as it is frustrating. I am told that there is very little incentive, from a business standpoint, to make the investment in rural America due to the economies of scale. Simply put, the costs associated with rural construction cannot be offset due to the relatively low number of units needed compared to larger population centers.
So how do we empower local builders to partner with their communities to fill this need?
The answer to this question is largely tied to the cost and availability of local credit. New regulations put in place following passage of the Dodd-Frank legislation disproportionately affect our community banks and credit unions. Our local lenders are increasingly being squeezed out of their own housing economies because the cost of complying with these new rules, coupled with the fear of the consequences if they were to make an honest mistake, prevents them from serving their communities as they have always done.
When the Senate Banking Committee was exploring changes to the secondary mortgage market, I sought the feedback of numerous Kansas lenders. I was surprised to frequently hear the response, “Oh senator, we don’t do home loans anymore.” To hear that local lenders are no longer in the business of financing the purchase of a home because of how they are treated by their government is terribly damaging.
While my Senate colleagues and I have introduced a number of bills to relieve this burden, it is clear to me that one piece of legislation authored, debated, passed and signed into law is not going to provide the comprehensive solution to the growing rural housing problem. Rather, it will take a mixture of legislation, appropriate regulatory changes, and perhaps most importantly, a growing economy to solve this issue.
But just as those early Kansas sodbusters refused to give up on their dreams of making a life for themselves, so too will I remain steadfast in my work in the United States Senate so that all who care to share in that special way of life we live in Kansas can do so for years to come.
It’s a fall harvest for the record books. Corn, milo and soybean crops continue to bust the bins and pour into on-farm-storage and elevators across Kansas. Thousands upon thousands of bushels of these fall crops may end up on the ground or cement slabs temporarily.
If you’ve traveled to any of our row crop fields across the state, you know what I mean. They continue to teem with fall harvest.
Combines chomp through the fields of corn, milo and soybeans eager to dump the bountiful crops into waiting trucks and grain carts. Today’s green, red and silver monsters move through the fields a little slower than some years as they growl and grind through the abundant crops.
On gravel and blacktop roads tandem trucks and semis race back from the elevators so the machines can fill them up again. Fall harvest in Kansas marks that magical time of the year when producers of food and fiber reap what they have sowed. Without a doubt, this year’s crop will be one for the ages.
Seeing this bountiful production unfold, underscores the importance of farming and ranching in Kansas. Our Kansas farmers – and their contemporaries across this great land – continually risk all that is theirs; hoping success is what each harvest and year will bring.
They work with the land, chemicals, computers and livestock. They must understand markets, people, soil crops and climate. Their livelihood is largely dependent upon factors that are oftentimes completely out of their control.
Still, farmers farm to succeed. They farm to grow and harvest crops and produce livestock. Farmers see their vocation not only as a business, but also as a way of life to preserve in good times and bad. They have their feet planted firmly in their soil. They are dedicated to the land and providing us with the safest, most wholesome food on the planet.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates the average person consumes approximately 194 pounds of cereal products annually. When you couple that with approximately 66 pounds of oils, 115 pounds of red meat and 63 pounds of poultry it’s readily apparent why Kansas harvest is an important time.
Today’s consumer has the option of using nearly 4,000 different corn products. These uses range from corn flakes to corn sweeteners. Corn and milo remain the top source of livestock feed.
Countless foods are made from today’s fall soybean crop. Some of these include crackers, cooking oils, salad dressings, sandwich spreads and shortenings. Soybeans are used extensively to feed livestock, poultry and fish.
Sunflowers from the Sunflower State can be used as an ingredient in everything from cooking to cosmetics and biodiesel cars. And as you probably already know, they’re a really tasty snack – and healthy too.
So if you have an opportunity to visit our state’s fertile fields this fall, think about the professionals who are busy providing the food we find on our tables each and every day. Tip your hat, raise an index finger above the steering wheel of your car or give a friendly wave to these producers of food and fiber who are dedicated to feeding you and the rest of the world.
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
By Dr. WALT CHAPPELL Former member, Kansas State Board of Education
The next time a candidate for state legislature promises to “fully fund education”, ask them how much more they will raise your taxes.
Already, 51% of our state budget goes to local school boards. This leaves very little for any other essential programs.
Kansas is 4th in the nation on the amount of state taxes going to local schools. So, how much is enough?
According to the National Association of School Budget Officers, in FY2012, Texas spent 41.7%, Colorado spent 39.1%, Missouri spent 34.9%, Nebraska spent 30.4% and Oklahoma spent 30.4%.
Alabama spent 55.1% of their state taxes on K-12 schools, yet has some of the lowest test scores in America. However, Massachusetts spent 18.3% and consistently has the highest student achievement scores.
Clearly, the amount of money a state legislature appropriates has little to do with the level of their students’ academic achievement. In Kansas, some districts spend as little as $8,000 per student while other districts spend as high as $27,000 per student to get the same results.
In addition, for most people, the property taxes they pay goes primarily for local schools. Yet, the total amount spent by their district administrators keeps going up.
So, it is finally time that Kansas parents, students, local school board members, teachers, legislators, judges and taxpayers are told the truth about how $3 billion dollars MORE per year since 1998 are being spent to educate the same number of K-12 students. During all these years, the national NAEP and ACT test scores continue to show that only 1-in-3 Kansas students is actually proficient enough to succeed in college or start a career.
For too long, false and misleading information from the State Department of Education, Kansas Association of School Boards and paid “school lobbyists” have tried to convince the public and Supreme Court that K-12 schools are UNDERFUNDED. Yet three times since 2001, state education staff deliberately lowered the percent correct answers to pass the state tests. Then they falsely claimed that nearly 90% of Kansas students were supposedly “proficient.”
In 2015, new state tests were given with more honest passing percentages. The results were “dismal.” But, these are the same low scores for Kansas students reported by national NAEP & ACT tests for nearly 20 years. So why is anyone SURPRISED or claiming that a drop in state test scores is due to not receiving enough money for school administrators to spend??
Obviously, raising our taxes by another $800 million dollars to get the same poor results is NOT THE ANSWER to making sure that Kansas kids are prepared for college or career!
Dr. Walt Chappell is a former member of the Kansas State Board of Education.
Fall is a great time to address that nagging good intention to manage your money with a little more skill and care. The Fall Financial Series from the Ellis County Extension Office can help.
In this three-part evening series presented by Linda Beech, Ellis County Extenesion FCS agent, there won’t be any “hot tips” to make your rich overnight but there will be plenty of “common cents” information to enhance your financial life. All programs are free and will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Ellis County Extension Office, 601 Main in Hays.
• Monday, Oct. 3: Understanding Your Money Personality.
This program will explore the habits and attitudes that make up your money personality. Use our special card sorting activity to discover more about yourself and the way you make money decisions. Think about how other family members approach money and learn about the effect of finances on couple and family relationships.
• Tuesday, Oct. 11: Saving Dollars When You Don’t Have a Dime to Spare.
Think it is impossible to save money? The ability to save is not necessarily a factor of income. It’s not only how much you make, but how you choose to spend and save that makes the difference. This program will hep you recognize how even small expenditures add up over time and will encourage money-saving changes so you can being to save dollars, even when you think you don’t have a dime to spare.
• Tuesday, Oct. 18: Money on the Bookshelf– Using Stories to Teach Kids Financial Skills.
The childhood years have a strong effect on how children learn to manage money. Children start building knowledge about numbers, money and choices long before they begin school. “Money on the Bookshelf” uses children’s books and basic concepts about financial literacy to help children learn about money and how to use it. Written guides for 10 children’s books are included for parents, grandparents, day-care providers and others to use with kids.
Mark your calendar and plan to attend these fall financial programs from the Ellis County Extension Office. Enter the rear meeting room door from the north parking lot.
Advance registration is requested to aid planning and ensure adequate materials. A minimum attendance is required to hold each program. Call the Ellis County Extension Office at 785-628-9430 to register or for more information.
Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
This state government/politics business is getting more and more complicated—and at some point hard for most of us grownups, who remember when air conditioning or even FM radios were options on new cars, to decide whether to spend much time fretting about.
Latest furor or maybe—what’s one less than a furor?—is the decision that those state agency budget requests that are supposed to include an option for 5 percent cuts aren’t public records.
Nobody doesn’t like public records, but Gov. Sam Brownback and his budget director, Shawn Sullivan, have decided that those budget requests aren’t public records. So far, they’re just inter-administration memos, probably all neatly typed out and with footnotes about what the budget cuts would mean to actual Kansas residents, not just those who wear white shirts to work, but, at this point, they’re just in-house documents.
There’s a bit of press furor, because this claque of Statehouse denizens, many of whom who can type without looking at their fingers, love those public records, especially those which can be e-mailed and don’t require retyping. That’s what us reporters do, find out information, figure whether it is anything worth bothering readers with, and then put it out to the public.
But, some of us old-timers recall that we weren’t supposed to see our bride in her wedding dress until she walked down the aisle. Not sure why, because most grooms’ suits match up well with white or cream-colored wedding dresses, but that was the rule. You see it at the church, and not before.
Well, the internal machinations by the budget officers of state agencies which are under the control of the governor are a little like that wedding dress. It isn’t officially a wedding dress until the wedding. Those agency suggestions for budget cuts are probably more comparable to, say, chatter on a first date.
In Kansas state government, the vows are the budget, and until the governor signs off on it and presents it to the Legislature, well, it’s not the official state budget, printed at state expense for all Kansans to pore over.
So this in-house budget proposal information apparently isn’t formally a public record that anyone can demand to see if they put together a formal Open Records Act request letter to the governor, and to which the governor says “save your stamp” because he’s not going to give it to you anyway.
But that doesn’t mean that we don’t want someone to slip us those budget proposals. If you happen to have a copy that can’t be directly linked to your computer sign-in password, send it.
Bear in mind, though, that those not-yet-pubic record handoffs of the budget proposals further complicate nearly everything. Such as that internal, behind-closed-doors scrimmaging among state agencies which don’t want to lose any budget money.
What if, say, a likely civil service Department of Corrections employee slipped to a reporter a proposal suggesting saving 5 percent by releasing from prison felons who are short—or who are fat and are running up the food budget? Or, if the Department of Transportation wants to safety inspect just bridges over rivers, not just creeks, or test the brakes on just a “representative sample” of school buses? Get the idea? Will that box the governor into a corner and save one agency from cuts?
Now, practically, the governor is going to wait until the estimate of state revenues for the upcoming fiscal year in November and maybe to see just what the new Legislature’s political complexion looks like before choosing what to cut and what to not cut.
But, they all get pretty politically complicated, those budget proposals.
Oh, and remember, state workers can just slip them under the door…
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.
Over the years I’ve written this column my wife has tried numerous times to get me to fan-out into genres other than the outdoors, but I’ve pretty much a stickler for staying with what I know and do best. However, I love to write about my observations at the state fair, although it has, well, uh, absolutely nothing to do with the outdoors other than much of it sits outside.
Steve Gilliland
I ‘m the oldest of five kids and we were all in 4H until they kicked us out. We had a flock of registered sheep, and for numerous years I showed those sheep at several county fairs and at the Ohio State Fair. At the State Fair I stayed in a room above the sheep barn which was close enough to the midway that there was absolutely no sleeping until midnight when the midway rides shut down and the crowds went home.
A popular draw was the dunk tank featuring Bobo the Clown. Now Bobo had a way of taunting kids without being belligerent or racist that would cause a kid to stand there and pitch softballs at a pie-sized target on that dunk tank until they had spent their life savings, their college fund plus their parents 401 K. I will take to my grave the haunting sound of Bobo’s voice as it echoed through the dark, humid nights proclaiming “Bobo, high and dry!”
Jeff Foxworthy has said that if you want to see a family more dysfunctional than your own, go to a state fair. State fairs have taught me many important truths to guide me through life, such as, knee socks of any description on a man look horrendous with shorts, wearing both suspenders and a belt (especially with shorts) looks even dorkier than wearing both with jeans, purple spiked hair is not really that cool on a fat fifty-something man, and that most men do quite well on their PSA test without even studying.
And why is “the midway” called “the midway?” Is it because it’s “midway” between you and your wallet? Or could it possibly be midway between you and insanity? Anyway, it’s on the midway of the Kansas State Fair that I learned another of life’s great truths; that in this day and age there is no food group immune from being deep fried and/or put on a stick. I found deep fried PB&J, (haven’t a clue how that works,) deep fried Twinkies (sounds to me like a waste of a perfectly good Twinkie,) deep fried onion-battered green beans and deep fried peaches (those almost sound good,) and new this year, the Bickle, a deep fried, beer battered, bacon wrapped pickle on a stick (really?) As scrumptious as those all sound, my favorite has to be Moink Balls on a stick, comprised of beef meatballs (the “mo”) wrapped in a slice of bacon (the “oink”) and not one but three served on a stick; now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!
Another piece of advice from Jeff Foxworthy is “If you’re going somewhere alone, don’t wear a T shirt that says “I’m Here with Stupid.” I love reading T shirts people are wearing and boy-howdy, there’s no better place to do that than at a state fair. Here, in no particular order are my favorite T shirt captions seen at this year’s state fair;
(2 people paddling a canoe) Paddle Faster, I Hear Banjoes!
The Only Thing that Should Come Between a Hunter and His Meat is Bread
9 out of 10 Bears Surveyed Prefer Campers over S’mores
Country Girls Don’t Retreat, They Reload
I Believe Every Form of Wildlife has its Place; Right next to the Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
You’ve Read My T Shirt, that’s Enough Social Interaction for Today
I Love My Country, it’s My Government that Scares Me
Your Political Correctness Offends Me
(This appeared with a picture of a Harley Chopper motorcycle ridden by a skeleton and is possibly my favorite.) Sons of Arthritis, Ibuprofen Chapter
Yup, there’s no better entertainment for this country boy than the state fair; fond memories, life lessons learned, fine dining and new fashion statements. Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!
Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].
Gene Policinski is senior vice president of the First Amendment Center.
As we hurtle through the innovative and endlessly updated second decade of the 21st century, the prospects seem brighter and better than ever that our new web and social media tools will help us better communicate and more effectively confront serious challenges like terrorism.
But then, there are the reminders that the Algorithmic Age is still in its infancy and that all the programming in the virtual world sometimes falls short of good old people brainpower. And therein are the early warning signs that tech companies need to take in consideration of free expression rights into the inevitable — and perhaps even desirable — tilt toward AI over human “editors” controlling the flow of information.
Why not just use people instead of machines to oversee our posts, tweets, website content and such? ISIS is a good example of why not to do so. The terror group is in a running battle with social media sites to promote itself to the current and next generation of young people. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of bits of propaganda have been tossed into the internet information flow of billions of images, messages, rants and raves. Recruiting videos, images of beheadings, even a slick feature film threatening Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, are among the social media posts by ISIS and its offshoots.
The response to the persistent and global electronic tactics by these inhumane criminals requires constant sifting through the billions of messages, posts, sites and images that make up the World Wide Web — and that requires algorithmic surrogates to constantly prowl the internet.
Earlier this year, Twitter announced it had eliminated more than 125,000 accounts linked to ISIS. Facebook has deleted posts and blocked accounts. Google and subsidiary operation YouTube have aggressively moved to block content submitted by the extremists. Hence, the video threat days later from ISIS aimed at Dorsey and Zuckerberg.
But with the good comes the bad — or at least actions that are not in keeping with the web’s promise of free expression for all. Machines and methods are only as good as the people who create and instruct them, and technology alone does not guarantee freedom.
For example, you may have seen the brief international flap over an automated decision by Facebook to ban a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of a young girl, naked and facing the camera, running down a road. The image — posted by several Norwegians — was removed because it violated the social media behemoth’s rules on nudity and child pornography.
If you viewed the photo through the lens of a mechanical eye, case closed. Full-frontal nudity, perhaps even child porn. Check. Delete.
Except that the image was photographer Nick Ut’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of nine year old Phan Thi Kim Phuc, screaming as she ran in 1972 from a napalm attack by U.S.warplanes in Vietnam.
As Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg admitted in a Sept. 10 letter to Norway’s prime minister about Facebook restoring the photo on its pages: “We don’t always get it right.”
Sandberg explained that the photo was restored because of its “global and historical importance,” even though on the surface, the photo conflicted with “global community standards.” Sandberg added that “screening millions of posts on a case-by-case basis every week is challenging. Nonetheless, we intend to do better.”
Well, that’s good — but not a guarantee.
Facebook and the U.S.-based social media community are not bound by the First Amendment. As private companies, they have the right to make their own decisions on overall standards. The amendment’s reach in any case only applies in the U.S., a fraction of the global communities now engaged in instant interaction. The insistence by Google, Facebook, Twitter and others that they are merely “technology” companies would seem to argue content considerations are not their domains.
Still, it’s incumbent on the titans of social media to “do better” on considering and defending free expression. The tremendous impact on our lives elevates them to “quasi-government” status, where core freedoms must be protected. A report by the Pew Research Center and the Knight Foundation found that Facebook and Twitter are now seen as a prime news provider by 63 percent of their audiences.
Even as real governments turn to social media companies to help combat terrorism, there are concerns that the blocking tactics will have negative impacts: eliminating the shock and horror that the civilized world may need to see; to fully appreciate the depravity of its enemies; limiting full understanding and discussion of things like recruiting videos that are placed beyond the reach of discussants; perhaps even hampering the work of anti-terrorist forces by pushing would-be ISIS supporters off the screen into untraceable means and methods.
Human editors have always had to form a balance between reporting the news we need against being manipulated by groups for their own needs, particularly when it involves media-savvy groups. But that balance historically tilted toward “news” — more information, rather than less.
As social media operations increasingly deploy cyber editors to make those same decisions, users in their “communities” ought to insist that somewhere in those zillion bits of code and autonomous commands is at least the electronic spirit of the 45 words of the First Amendment.
Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute and senior vice president of the Institute’s First Amendment Center. [email protected]
It is late September. The November election in which I am running for Treasurer is fast approaching. But right now I am helping my dad prepare for wheat planting season. After my mother and I load grain into the drill, I walk to get a drink from the same hillside spring my dad drank from when he was a child 50 years ago and I find myself wondering, how can county citizens begin to get to know me? After all, I am asking you to elect me as your Treasurer on November 8. As I sip water from this spring that runs cold and clear from deep underground, I realize that this September moment captures my deep connection to the land of Kansas, its resources, and the citizens using those resources. That love of place and people is the first thing I want you to know about me. As I wrote in my June editorial, I feel it is a poignant time in our history, a time when we need caring leaders with courage to make tough decisions, use common sense, and move thoughtfully onward.
What else do I want you to know? I want you to know my interest in being a civil servant did not start on June 1 when I threw my hat in the ring for Treasurer. That interest had its beginnings over a decade ago when I pursued Organizational Leadership as part of my college studies. All the volunteer and leisure activities I have participated in since then, in addition to jobs in higher education, office administration, libraries, and the banking industry have deepened my interest in being civically involved.
I began studying Leadership as a freshman at FHSU over a decade ago, because I wanted to make the world better. How, I did not know. I enjoyed getting out in the community, doing things such as working with Habitat for Humanity, then speaking about my team’s project, and I enjoyed learning how things get accomplished at a city-wide level. I knew majoring in Leadership would prepare me to interact in local or national government someday. During my undergraduate education, I was in the top 2% of students at FHSU in the College of Business and Leadership, and was nominated for the Torch Award, FHSU’s highest award for graduating seniors, in 2008. I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Leadership Studies, and my Master’s degree from KU, where I graduated with Honors, in 2011. During both my time as a student and as a working professional, I have always worked to promote interests of volunteer communities during my free time. While at KU, I participated in the award-winning Environs Club, working to promote locally grown foods in Lawrence, KS, and to protect and conserve the Wakarusa Wetlands. The Douglas County Food Policy Council commended my club for our organization of the first “local foods” section in Lawrence’s biggest grocery store. When I worked at the Hays Public Library I did research and then set up a well-received display to inform citizens how water from the Ogallala Aquifer was being utilized by Kansans, and how we could be more responsible stewards of its waters.
Along the way, I learned that making the world better meant making myself better, making my family stronger, and my city more united. It meant supporting the friends, colleagues and students in my life in their efforts to be happy individuals. How do I do that? Any way I can, often in small ways, always because I enjoy it. Whether I’m educating the public about water conservation, teaching yoga, shingling a roof, changing oil in my grandma’s car, or making a lesson plan, I do it with excellence because it is what I want to being doing. When I decided to run for Treasurer, many years of varied experience all came together and I knew this was the next step for me to take to do good work for my community.
What does this have to do with being Treasurer, you ask?
An outstanding Treasurer must understand the always changing Kansas statutes as they apply to the taxation process. An outstanding treasurer must interface effectively with other government officials and taxpayers as well as manage a staff of various specialists, while working to implement those statutes in a way that advocates for constituents. In other words, a good Treasurer must be a quick learner, a good people person, a skilled supervisor and able to attend to detail. My leadership degree taught me how to keep an eye on the big picture while attending to the details and provided training in effective interaction with all sectors of the community. As a former college professor, I have excellent bookkeeping and organizational skills, and successful supervisory experience. If elected Ellis County Treasurer, I aim to provide sound judgement and fiscal responsibility. There will be new things to learn, but I am an excellent learner, as evidenced by my professional record, and I look forward to the professional training sessions all treasurers attend regularly. It is my goal to work in the spirit of togetherness to make the best decisions we can to improve and unify Ellis County. I will perform the duties of Treasurer in the same way I have performed all the many duties during my 13 years of work experience: with excellence and integrity.
I love Ellis County and I want to be a part of making our county strong for the future. We need strong families that work together and leaders that care for those working families that make our county what it is. We need to decide what our priorities are, get creative, and take advantage of the fact that we have the option to vote in new people when the old ways of doing things need to evolve. In running for Treasurer, I know my talents can serve our county. But on top of knowing how to navigate within communities to make meaningful change occur through my experience in several volunteer programs, I have “hard skills” that will serve the office of Treasurer well. I also possess “soft skills” that include being outgoing, friendly, enthusiastic, and level-headed, and I will do my best to get along well with all county employees to provide excellent service to county citizens.
As part of a farming family that has also worked different supplemental jobs, I grew up learning the value of hard work, frugality, common sense, and excellence in all I do. I have managed my money well and feel confident in investing and budgeting Ellis County’s money responsibly. I have always enjoyed travel to foreign places, but I know Ellis County is the place I want to be, and I aim to show people the beauties of our place so they can appreciate it like I do, and as a result, be good stewards of the place we all call home. I think I am not alone in wanting government officials who care for the health and longevity of our community and who appreciate and understand its nuances.
My leadership and supervisory experience have made me comfortable navigating different community systems statewide, working with a large variety of people, and looking for commonalities we can build upon. So much of getting good work done is how one gets along with others. We need an environment where commissioners, employees, and citizens can come together to make smart, innovative choices. Many people who have interacted with Ann in her role of Treasurer have encouraged me to run in opposition this election because they have found her challenging to work with in ways that hinder the smooth implementation of Treasury issues in this county. In many ways her three years of experience are a three-year track record of missed opportunities and missed good will. I can assure you that if elected Treasurer, I will not alienate those I work with, and as a result, our county will be stronger.
Like most people in Ellis County, I want to live the best life I can, do right by people, land and resources, and my family. I want to make the world better for having been here, and do my part in uniting us all in one goal: to make our county strong. I need your help to do it, starting on election Tuesday. We are all critically important. With humility and a great sense of responsibility I ask for your vote on November 8.
Lisa Schlegel is the Republican candidate for the office of Ellis County Treasurer.
