Since I first bit into my first Buffalo wing in the early ‘70s I’ve loved eating the spicy, tasty treat. I was back east visiting an old Army buddy, Steve Devaux, who lives in New York. He took me to a bar that served the wings up right.

You know, like the originals first prepared at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y., by Teressa Belissimo, who owned this establishment along with her husband Frank.

As the story goes, the unannounced, late-night arrival of their son, Dominic, with several of his friends from college, necessitated Teressa prepare a fast and easy snack to present to her hungry guests. It was then that she came up with the idea of deep frying chicken wings (normally thrown away or reserved for stock) and tossing them in cayenne hot sauce.

And that’s exactly how I like mine – the spicier, the better. So last weekend I was crushed when my wife brought home some, “Boneless Buffalo Wings.” Without looking closely, she picked up what looked like real hot wings from the deli section of her favorite supermarket.

I wonder how often this happens to consumers all across this country?

Just one look at the clear plastic container told me these weren’t the wings I was looking to sink my teeth into. The 10 or so pieces of plump, heavily breaded, processed chicken looked like something I’ve vowed to never enter my mouth – chicken nuggets. Uuugh.

A real Buffalo wing or hot wing is made from a real chicken wing section, the drumette or flat part of the bird. It is fried, unbreaded and coated in sauce. Classic Buffalo-style chicken wing sauce is composed of a vinegar-based cayenne pepper hot sauce and butter.

Looking closer at the label, I read… “Chicken breasts with rib meat containing up to 20 percent of a solution of water, salt, salt sodium…” That was more than enough for me.

The texture of the food we eat is every bit as important as the taste and smell. There’s a ton of difference between the texture of a chicken wing and the breast meat of a chicken, especially when you grind this breast meat with rib meat and add 20 percent water, salt and salt sodium. Now you have a mushy ball of less-than-tasty processed food that tastes nothing like the real thing.

Sadly, today we have two and three generations of young people as well as older adults who eat such processed food and don’t know the difference.

I returned the processed chicken and rib mystery meat and came home with a box of the traditional Buffalo hot wings. I pulled a couple of stalks of celery from the fridge, washed and cut them and poured a small bowl of blue cheese dressing.

Next, I popped the top of one of my favorite micro brews, poured it into a frosted mug from the freezer and sat down to a real feast. You just can’t improve on perfection and real food.

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

Two “Outside Agencies” the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development and the Downtown Hays Development Corp. have received millions of dollars from Hays, and Ellis County taxpayers over their 15-year existence.
Both have yearly expense accounts that together exceed $350,000 (June 2 Commission Agenda packet).

Their expense accounts contain fees for everything from their salaries and wages, health insurance, pension funds, to items like fees for taxi rides, airfares, and meal allowances. These are just a few of the expenses listed that city and county taxpayers are paying these two highly paid “Outside” agency directors. I also believe millions of dollars are being taken from the Transient Guest Tax to fund the renovations of old vacant downtown buildings through another “Outside” agency in Plainville.

The DHDC’s board has hired a new executive director, the fifth or sixth (?), in their 15 years of existence. So far the new director Bloom has succeeded in changing the downtown area name “Chestnut District” to “The Bricks”. Hundreds of thousands of dollars that was spent on downtown “Chestnut District” signage and gateway monuments now meaningless and confusing. New director Bloom is again bringing up the need for a downtown Pavilion with attached public restrooms adjacent to the train tracks on very isolated property owned by Union Pacific. This was previously denied approval for lease by Union Pacific two years earlier in 2014. The DHDC’s new director also wants to add more outside alcohol street events on the “The Bricks” that along with the Pavilion and Public Restrooms will surely increase safety issues and police patrolling, city maintenance, and leasing costs for ourselves and our grandchildren. Please, explain to me how the above new proposed DHDC projects will add revenue to our city? Three current City Commissioners have had close affiliations with DHDC that even included the position of treasurer of DHDC, thus guaranteeing DHDC will continue to receive annual funding. After millions of taxpayer dollars invested in this “Outside” agency, many downtown buildings restored or otherwise still remain vacant!

The ECCED executive director White and his unnamed board of directors one and only accomplishment to my knowledge was to convince three commissioners Phelps, Musil and Mellick to vote to implement a 1 cent sales tax on shoppers at the Mall, now called Big Creek Crossing. This 1 cent sale tax will be given to Mall landlords to make renovations and repairs to their property. Shouldn’t they have been doing this all along as any responsible landlord should do? Some Mall businesses are still closed to this day because of roof collapses and water leaks that still continue to occur every time it rains. The side and rear parking lots still remain a hazard for vehicles and pedestrians. A little research of the Mall owners past caretaking should have set off alarms to White and commissioners.

Changing the names of downtown Hays and the Mall didn’t produce different results. City sales tax revenues are down! These two Economic expert “Outside” agencies still can’t fund their own existence after 15 years of taxpayer support.

Tell City and County Commissioners to quit using taxpayer money to fund these two “Outside” agencies so they can speculate their wants and dreams! Businesses that provide customer satisfaction and quality service will survive as many downtown and other businesses throughout Hays have done for years without the existence of these two agencies.

John Basso
Hays

I love the Kansas State Fair and even though I’ve been there dozens of times I never tire of attending. Possibly our favorite places at the fair are the exhibitor buildings, where besides enjoying the air conditioning, we can load up on “freebies.” These buildings are also Mecca’s for what’s new in the gadget world.

We also enjoy attending Expos having to do with hunting, fishing, trapping and the outdoor world in general, and even though we’ve also been to dozens of them, we never tire of attending, as they also offer bags full of “freebies” and are Mecca’s for what’s new in the outdoors. Friday afternoon we attended the fifth annual Midwest Huntfest at Century II in Wichita, and here are a few of the new and interesting products that were my favorites.

Deer hunters often store their hunting clothes in closed containers during the off season, sometimes adding something like pine or cedar boughs to keep them smelling natural like the surroundings where they hunt. There are also scent-free products to wash your body and clothing during hunting season. We found a company from Savannah MO. called Wild Game Drops LLC that has a line of “Buck Barrier” products that all smell like dirt. Good old-fashioned dirt smell is about as natural as it gets and Wild Game Drops has cover scent spray, bar soap, wafers to store with clothing and even beard oil that all smell like God’s plain ole’ soil. I smelled them all and can attest to that claim. Check them out at www.wildgamedrops.com.

Cover and attractant scents are important to both big game and predator hunters and a company from Michigan called Fourth Arrow has developed a neat new electronic scent dispersal system and a line a high intensity cover and attractant scents to go with it. Known as Wyndscent, the scent can be used with a battery operated wand that sticks in the ground or hangs from a limb and can be set to disperse the scent at set intervals, or it can be used in a hand-held squeezable bulb called a grenade that disperses the scents when squeezed. Both are designed to get the aromas into the air and let the wind currents take them where they need to go. Deer attractant scents that smell like buck and doe urine are available, cover scents come in pine and apple aromas and they even have an attractant specially made for a bear’s sweet tooth called donut shop. The company also makes a line of high-end camera mounting equipment to help hunters film their own hunts. Check them out at www.fourtharrow.com.

Portable hunting blinds are very popular and handy, especially if you hunt at multiple locations and don’t want to build permanent blinds. You can carry them in, set them up for a day or a week them take them down and hang them in the shed until next season. We have a couple older models and have harvested several deer and turkeys from them. A company called DOX Outdoors carries two portable blinds known as the Reflex Series; a larger one known as the ReflexPRO and a smaller size called the ReflexSCOUT. These blinds are multi-sided blinds that set-up and take-down accordion style and stow away in a nice carrying case. They are very well made from square metal tubing and covered with heavy cordura canvas fabric. All windows and shooting ports have both clear and solid covers that attach magnetically making them very quiet. The sales rep. told us they have had them up in 75 mph winds and they stood just fine. Their down side is that they are very expensive. Check them out at www.doxoutdoors.com.

Just when you thought nothing more could possibly be made for a smart phone, Convergent Hunting Solutions now offers a game call that operates from a special free app that runs on any Android or Apple devise. Called the Convergent Bullet HP Electronic Game Call, it runs on rechargeable lithium batteries and uses Bluetooth technology to let you download calls from a library of sounds and play them through powerful speakers built into the call. It comes with a decoy that mounts on top of the unit for increased attraction to predators. At $260 it’s cheaper than most good game calls. Find them at www.convergenthunting.com.

And finally a home town company called To-Extreme off Road and Outdoor Products from just up the road in Salina, KS offers a myriad of heavy duty off-road outdoor products including coolers, cargo carriers, navigation tools, emergency/preparedness gear, and my favorites, a heavy duty trailer and a line of tents made to mount on a frame above the trailer or on top of an SUV. These tents are way cool and would be just the ticket for camping in rattlesnake, bear or mountain lion country. See them at www.to-extreme.com.

Plan to take-in the Midwest Huntfest next year and see some of this stuff for yourselves. Besides all I’ve told you about there were the usual guns, knives, gear, archery contests, taxidermy contest, outfitters booking hunts, TV personalities and several booths selling dozens of flavors of jerky& sausage, and offering free samples. It just doesn’t get any better than that! Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.

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

Well, the Kansas delegates are back and are probably sorting through the credit card receipts to see just how good a time they had—and how long they are going to remember and pay off—those trips to the Republican and Democratic national conventions.

And, for many of the Republican and Democratic delegates and alternates and friends and staff and, well, whoever else showed up at the GOP festival in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Democratic party in Philadelphia, Pa., they’re probably also wondering just what they achieved for their political parties in Kansas.

Remember, neither delegation to either convention saw the result it was after.

Kansas Republicans, well, they saw the party nominate Donald Trump for president, and he didn’t win the Kansas caucuses—Texas Sen. Ted Cruz did.

And Kansas Democrats who by their numbers were in favor of Bernie Sanders saw Hillary Clinton become the party’s standard-bearer.

No wins here, and for Republicans, the best to come out of the convention was that there was no motion to nominate Trump by acclamation, which would have meant that all 40 Kansas delegates would have instantly become “Trump people” though they all didn’t want to.

And the majority of the Kansas Democratic delegates—many first-time political activists—were Sanders delegates who were dashed when Sanders who lost the delegate count moved that the entire convention line up behind Clinton. It was a heart-breaker for those new-to-politics Sanders supporters, many of them moved to tears by the Clinton nomination.

***

Sound like fun? Yes and no.

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We aren’t going to know until November, of course, who gets to move into the White House, and whether two high-profile, bitterly fighting presidential nominees are going to have an effect on Kansas political races. But for Kansas delegates to those national conventions, the choices aren’t what they hoped for and their level of enthusiasm for getting out the November vote is not yet known.

***

But this probably means that Kansans are going to have about 100 days to consider who should be president. For those Kansans who don’t have a favorite at the top of the ballot, this week’s primary election results just might have the effect of voters focusing with unusual precision on legislative races which many times have a bigger impact on their lives than the presidential race.

No, don’t look for legislative candidates to be photo-shopping their faces into pictures of Clinton or Trump; look for them to almost avoid those links and instead campaign to Kansas voters on the issues that we’ll feel where we live.

It’s the level of state spending, taxes and who pays them, the provision of health care, whether the highways are repaired and just what sort of education Kansas provides to its children.

Those are the state issues that voters not enthused about either presidential nominee may be moved to concentrate on and which candidates need to bring to the front porch and the bulk mailed campaign materials in the state.

If there was ever a presidential scrap that clearly focuses Kansans inward on, well, Kansas, this might just be the time. That “straight party line” vote probably is going to happen less frequently than in the past, and practically, that’s likely to be good for Kansans and the state. The real key will be whether candidates of both parties realize it.

The elephants on GOP signs are generally smaller this year, and the donkeys are, too. Which brings it down to individual candidates and their pledges and platforms and the issues that will be important in the upcoming legislative session.

Maybe that’s the difference that the presidential nominees of both parties brought to Kansas. A reason to learn more about the state candidates and figure that whoever is president, those voters will have to live right here, in Kansas.

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.

By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

“The Chisholm Trail.” The name evokes cattle and cowboys, independence and daring, the frontier and the wild, wild West. All those things are part of the history of the Chisholm Trail, which will honor its 150th anniversary beginning with a celebration in the town where it really all began: Abilene. This is today’s Kansas Profile.

Michael Hook is an events coordinator for the City of Abilene. He is from Kansas City but grew up in Texas where he became a western history buff. “Davy Crockett was my hero,” Michael said. A business career took him around the Midwest but he became interested in possibly teaching history.

“I stumbled upon Abilene, and it’s everything you would ever want,” Michael said. He moved to Abilene, met his wife, studied local history and became the coordinator for a landmark series of events marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Chisholm Trail.

“Abilene has amazing history,” Michael said. As we have previously profiled, an Illinois cattle buyer named Joseph McCoy saw an opportunity to supply Texas beef to the cities back east after the Civil War. He traveled along the railroad line across Kansas until he came to a community which could receive the Longhorn cattle from Texas. That community was Abilene.

According to one account, Abilene at the time had a population of about 300 people. Other accounts suggest a population closer to 30. Now, that’s rural.

The sleepy frontier community was literally transformed in a single season. McCoy built stockyards and a hotel and recruited the Texas Longhorns. They came by the thousands. The influx of money inevitably attracted merchants, gamblers, and saloonkeepers, seeking to separate the cowboys from their wages. Shootings and killings became commonplace. The wild west came to life on the streets of Abilene.

From Wichita, a half-Cherokee trader named Jesse Chisholm sent wagonloads of goods south to be sold in Indian territory. The Texas drovers learned that they could follow the tracks of those wagon wheels north. The route became known as the Chisholm Trail.

The first rail shipment of cattle from Abilene took place on Sept. 5, 1867. Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas have gotten together to plan a series of celebrations of the 150th anniversary. Abilene will kick off the fun with a big show on Labor Day weekend in 2016, culminating in an even bigger show a year later. Western performer Red Steagall will headline the 2016 show along with Kansas cowboy musicians and poets. Full disclosure: those will include me. The celebration will include a parade, reenactors, vendors, car show, fireworks and much more.

Kansas cowboy historian Jim Gray has been part of this planning. He was at a meeting in Texas in February 2016 when the unlikely idea surfaced of an actual, modern day cattle drive up the Chisholm Trail. Jim had been part of a smaller version of a cattle drive for the Kansas sesquicentennial, and he said it would be possible. His friend Fontella Knowlton said, “Let’s do it!”

Plans now call for driving up to 400 Texas Longhorns from San Antonio, Texas to Abilene, Kansas from April 1 to July 1, 2017. Jim and Fontella are planning the route as close to the original trail as possible. They’re organizing campgrounds and logistical support.

People can apply to participate in the cattle drive for a fee. Participants must provide their own horse and wear authentic-looking clothing. Jim and Fontella will be trail bosses. Six to eight drovers will go the entire trip along with two chuck wagons, while participants can sign up for weekly segments. A big celebration will be held in Abilene around the Fourth of July to mark the end of the cattle drive.

For more information about these events, go to www.chisholmtrt.com and www.chisholmtrail17cattledrive.com.

The Chisholm Trail. It evokes history, adventure, and fun, all of which can found at Abilene’s celebration of this historic landmark. We commend Michael Hook, Jim Gray, Fontella Knowlton and all those involved for making a difference by bringing this history to life. Cowboys and cattle will once again be roaming across the plains of Kansas.

We are writing this letter in support of Dean Haselhorst for Ellis County Commission.

Retaining Dean in this position is a wise decision for the citizens of Ellis County. Dean has experience as a County Commissioner. He was appointed to the Ellis County Commission by the Governor of Kansas five years ago following the death of a sitting commissioner. Dean was then elected for another full four-year term.

Throughout these past five years, Dean has worked to find ways to cut and balance the county budget, which resulted in no property tax or mill levy increase to Ellis County residents. Following the resignation of the original construction manager for the renovations at the new Ellis County facilities, Dean was appointed to finish this huge task. He did get this project completed and received no stipend for his work.

Dean’s further dedication to this community is evidenced by his many years serving on the local United Ag Service Co-op board of directors, the Ellis County zoning board, the local K-State Extension Council, the TMP Endowment board and the Kansas Motor Carriers Association board. Dean has also volunteered many hours at both TMP and Holy Family schools.

Throughout the past 34 years, Dean has worked in Kansas oilfields (and beyond), he has worked on his own farming operation, and has done custom farm work for others. He is very knowledgeable in equipment purchasing, which is beneficial to the county. In other words, Dean understands the important issues facing Ellis County citizens today.

Dean Haselhorst has brought strong leadership to the Ellis County Commission. He is a common-sense, no-nonsense commissioner who gets things done through problem-solving and conservative efforts. We have known Dean for nearly 30 years. We are asking you to vote for the leadership of Dean Haselhorst for Ellis County Commission.

Drs. Curt and Christie Brungardt
Hays

By DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore

This week, the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) had the opportunity to share with the public the tremendous safety record in the child welfare system. Kansas can proudly say, we’re second in the nation when it comes to protecting children from abuse and neglect. This information was shared at a Legislative Post Audit (LPA) committee meeting in Topeka on Wednesday, July 27, where the LPA released its own audit of the foster care system.

The LPA audit suggests that some of DCF’s processes are inadequate within the child welfare system. We want to assure the public that, although the LPA report criticizes these processes, it does not measure safety outcomes and never demonstrates the system is unsafe. More importantly, the Child & Family Service Review (CFSR), conducted by the federal government shows Kansas leads the way in keeping kids safe.
We appreciate the work of LPA staff members who had limited time to delve into such a complex system that takes extensive experience and knowledge to fully understand. And we did receive some helpful insight that will allow us to improve in some areas as we serve the vulnerable families of Kansas. However, we know the federal findings regarding safety are based on years of review, evaluations, and input from a wide range of stakeholders. And the thorough and valid reviews are conducted by individuals whose exclusive focus is to ensure superior child welfare service delivery and compliance with federal regulations.

We are often forced to defend the agency with two hands tied behind our back, because laws prevent us from disclosing the full details of the cases for which we are blamed. If the public knew all there is to know, the blame would justly fall on the shoulders of those who inflict harm on innocent children. Our workers’ morale is low because they don’t have support from the public. They face heavy caseloads and never-ending scrutiny, but they keep coming back because they know, as I know, their work is important. It’s life-saving. They are heroes. And our safety record makes that clear. This audit, although insightful, does not provide a complete picture of the child welfare system in Kansas. It’s an indictment of the process, not the outcomes. And we will continue every day to improve the process, even as Kansas children benefit from a safe child welfare system.

DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore

Saturday, July 23rd, Downtown Hays Development Corporation (DHDC) had the honor to help host the inaugural Thunder on the Bricks Car Show.

As registration opened, it was a quiet and overcast morning. But, once the sun came out, 229 cars and motorcycles rolled into Municipal Park in Downtown Hays to be admired and judged making this the largest car show Hays has ever seen.

Visitors enjoyed viewing an impressive variety of stock, restored, modified, and custom cars plus motorcycles ranging from a rusted, but beautiful, antique truck to a car covered front to back with pennies. With each entry most likely averaging $40 to $50,000 in value, close to ten million dollars worth of rolling stock could be enjoyed

A crowd favorite was the 1921 REO Speedwagon that served as the Hays Fire Department’s first motorized fire truck. It was brought all the way from Wichita Falls, Texas, and was awarded the Fire Chief’s Choice Award.

Cars were brought from all over the state of Kansas plus Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas as well. The show was hosted in conjunction with Bargains on the Bricks, the annual Downtown Sidewalk Sale.

The success of this show is owed all to Harold Bettis and Rod Roy who came into my office six months ago to tell me it was high time Hays had a decent car show. After some discussion about how we could help each other they hit the ground running. Their team pulled off an incredible event.

DHDC wants to thank each volunteer, sponsor, entry, vendor, and spectator who came out to be a part of this special event. The goal was to create a family orientated event in Downtown Hays and to be able to give back to the community.

DHDC is excited to announce that the profits from the show, a sum of $4,000, will be given to local charities and organizations in Hays including Cancer Council of Ellis County, Hays Fire Department (to go towards the purchase of the REO Speedwagon), DSNWK, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Options, and NCK Tech Automotive Technology Program.

This will definitely be an annual event for Downtown Hays and the Thunder on the Bricks Committee looks forward to reaching their 2017 goal of 300 entries!

Sara Bloom is the Downtown Hays Development Corporation Executive Director.

Republican primary voters have clear alternatives in most of the 52 contested primaries for state legislative races next Tuesday, but many of the half million postcards inundating mailboxes this month are designed to hoodwink these voters.

The fundamental choice is simple: Do you support the direction that Governor Sam Brownback and his political patrons are taking Kansas state government? Or do you believe reassessment and course corrections are in order?

This postcard campaign is being dominated by the Kansas State Chamber with assistance from the Kansas Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity–Kansas, three groups that have championed huge income tax cuts for the richest Kansans and elimination of income taxes on business owners. These groups have successfully engaged in recent primary elections and enforced their agendas upon Republican lawmakers. Their radical tax policies have created the state’s fiscal mess—unbalanced budgets, unfair sales and property tax increases, and a mountain of new state debt.

These groups also advocate unraveling safety nets and targeting budget cuts on the state’s most vulnerable residents. Their policies have diminished core state obligations for highways and universities. They also promote handing taxpayer dollars over to private schools while shortchanging funding for public schools.

Their postcard campaign does not defend the tax cuts or their policies but seeks to befuddle voters into thinking that voting for a state legislator is about other issues, such as “fighting Washington,” “standing up to the establishment,” calling opponents “school yard bullies,” or besmirching local “politicians.” After driving the state broke, forcing record-high sales and property tax increases, and earning repeated credit downgrades, these groups claim to know the true “conservative” in each contested race.

On top of this deception the State Chamber finances last-minute attacks on opponents so scurrilous that the Chamber itself hides from voters in making such specious charges. The latest piece of hogwash slanders Republican candidates who have not pledged allegiance to the Chamber. The mailer smears candidates with scaremongering, such as “taxing seniors” and “raiding Medicare,” the latter a federal program for which the Kansas legislature has no responsibility. The Chamber resorts to unsubstantiated allegations, guilt by association, and innuendo to denigrate its opponents.

The State Chamber conceals its eleventh-hour mudslinging behind front groups with pleasant sounding titles, for example, “Main Street Kansas PAC,” a group solely financed by the Chamber and run by its vice president for political affairs. Further, the Chamber evades campaign finance laws by delaying its reports. Postcard smears go out across the state well before reporting deadlines, but the Chamber’s payment for the postcards will occur after the deadline. So, voters will never know.

The Chamber’s descent into gutter politics stains every candidate it has endorsed, as well as its donors, and further sullies the already dismal reputation of the governor.

So, Republican voters, if you like the direction Brownback and his allies have taken the state over the past five years, and the political tactics they employ to stay in power, their postcard endorsements tell you exactly who to vote for.

If on the other hand, you believe that Kansas state government has gotten off track and the radical tax policies should be reassessed, go to the Women for Kansas website for another perspective on these contested races. This group of volunteers has given a grade to every candidate based on voting records and responses to questionnaires across a broad range of issues.

The choices you make will determine the future direction of our state and the character of the Kansas Republican Party for years to come.

H. Edward Flentje is professor emeritus at Wichita State University.

I’ve been around more years than I want to admit, and like everyone else, I would call this the craziest political season I’ve ever seen. It starts at the top with a Republican presidential candidate who has no government experience and is given to, ahem, impulsive comments, and a Democratic presidential candidate with no accomplishments and an amazing record of lying to the American people.

U.S. House of Representatives candidate Roger Marshall’s behavior may be craziest of all, though. With his oh-too-clever “Washing-Tim” slur for Congressman Tim Huelskamp and various other bogus assertions, Marshall is trying to portray his opponent as a Washington insider. Republican primary voters are not that stupid. This strategy is so absurd that it, alone, disqualifies Marshall from serious consideration.

Huelskamp is the very epitome of the Washington outsider. He is one of the very few in Washington who understands that our $19-trillion federal debt is the greatest threat to our future as a nation. We are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and once that happens, everything else collapses. Our president does not understand, or certainly won’t admit, this reality. In nearly eight years, not only has Obama done nothing about the federal debt, he does not even mention it. Of the 535 members of Congress, Huelskamp is one of only a handful who recognize the threat our national debt poses, and he acts accordingly with his vote. No wonder he is unpopular among his colleagues and therefore an outsider. You could count on both hands the number of Representatives and Senators who act with fiscal responsibility, and you would not need either thumb.

If you want to be represented by one more lemming marching toward the abyss, vote for Marshall. If you want to be represented by a realist who knows the emperor has no clothes and is not afraid to say so, re-elect Congressman Tim Huelskamp.

Kent Steward
Hays

Hays Post will accept letters relating to the Aug. 2 primary until noon Friday. Letters submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

Email letters to [email protected] for consideration.

Hello from Agra!

We are now just days away from Primary Election Day in Kansas and wanted to share a couple of thoughts with you.
Earlier this year, many of us participated in our respective county caucuses to pick a nominee for President of the United States and now we know who will be on the ballot in November.

There has been a lot of hand wringing and consternation that none of the choices get people excited to go to the polls. Well, I am not here to tell you who you should vote for, but rather the importance of being engaged in one of the best fundamental rights we have in this nation, the power to vote.

Primary Election Day in Kansas is where the real change can begin. You don’t like how things are going in Washington, D.C.? Start by electing good people to county offices, state school board and legislature. As former U.S. Speaker of the House, the late Tip O’Neill said, “All politics is local.”

Being a representative republic is not for the faint of heart. The easy thing to do is stay home and say, my vote doesn’t matter. If you review voter turnout, you will see it is usually less than fifty percent for general elections and even fewer show up for the primary.

So if you really want to see change, talk to the candidates on the ballot, vote either early or on election day and ask your neighbor if they need a ride to the polls. By the way, don’t forget your identification.

A quick note regarding the special session that took place in June, you may have noticed I was not there to vote on the school funding bill. I was in attendance the first day and some of the second or last day, but needed to leave for a special event. I had the privilege of being the father of the groom as our oldest son was getting married out of state. I was in contact with legislators on what was going on in Topeka and was prepared to head to the Capitol if my vote was necessary to move forward. The vote was 116-6 and schools will open as scheduled.

I am really enjoying seeing many of you at events, including parades and county fairs, and I am working for you even when we are not in session. Please feel free to reach out to me with questions or concerns: Ken Rahjes, 1798 E. 900 Rd. Agra, KS 67621; [email protected] or (785) 302-8416.

Thank you for the honor and privilege of serving you in the Kansas House of Representatives.

Ken Rahjes, R-Agra, is the state representative for the 110th Dist.