Sometimes us folks who spend way too much time watching the Legislature have to wonder how many different political layers there are to virtually everything that happens here — especially in an election year.

Take last week, when the House was debating an all-Republican sponsored concurrent resolution dealing with the possibility of Guantanamo Bay detainees—presumably from the Mideast—being moved to the United States, possibly the military prison at Leavenworth.

Now that’s pretty simple, and there aren’t many Kansans of voting age who if they think about it want those terrorist suspects moved into the state, even though Leavenworth has a pretty stout military prison where we’re probably safe from them. But, then their families might move into the state, or to the United States wherever those prisoners might be moved if President Barack Obama closes Guantanamo as he’s wanted to do for the last seven years and still wants to do as his term wanes.

So many political bubbles emerging from this stew.

The resolution itself tends to anger Democrats as disrespectful. “Whereas this president has continually sought to weaken our standing in the world…” is one of the phrases that rubs Democrats the wrong way.

But Republicans, especially those from the Leavenworth area, don’t want those Gitmo folks coming to town, even into a high-security prison, which some feel might be targeted for terrorist activities. Fairly simple stuff.

Republicans were reminded, though, that if the Gitmo folks wind up in this country, and even at Leavenworth, Kansas, might be slighting its duty to the nation by refusing to hold those prisoners. Lots of mention of German war prisoners held in Kansas during World War II, and if Gitmo is closed, Kansas has the patriotic duty to hold those prisoners and keep Kansans and the rest of the nation safe.

While the debate was heating up, Democrats offered an amendment to get rid of that Gitmo stuff and instead make the resolution about prohibiting folks on the national terrorist watch list from buying guns. Another not-bad idea, but sharply different than a resolution that slams Obama.

It did have a cultural problem, though, because what if that terror list was wrong, and some upstanding Kansan couldn’t buy a gun because he/she was mistakenly on the list? It’s always politically tough to mess with guns. Kansans like their guns, don’t want terrorists wandering around with guns, but what if someone wound up on that watch list accidentally who ought to be able to carry a gun?

See how this goes both ways?

But it gets more complicated. The House rules committee rejected that Democrat gun amendment because it didn’t deal with the same topic as the original resolution. And, that decision went to a vote, too.

Vote for the rules committee decision which maintained the original resolution, and you’re against moving those Gitmo prisoners and maybe their friends who might be sympathizers or terrorists into Kansas. Vote against the rules committee decision and you’re for the gun check and not-so-much the Gitmo language.

Replace the Gitmo language with the “watch list” gun prohibition? It didn’t happen. The House’s rules panel decided that the amendment to substitute the gun stuff was not germane to the Gitmo stuff, so it came to a vote. And, the Gitmo stuff won, but it required supporters to vote against prohibiting terrorists from buying guns and carrying them around the state.

Now, many people are against both the gun checks and the Gitmo transfers, and can play their votes however they think their constituents want…and put it on their websites and campaign cards.

***

Or, they might just leave it alone. The effect of either resolution would be printing it out nicely and sending copies to President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and the six members of the Kansas congressional delegation.

That ought to keep the Gitmo folks out of Kansas.

Syndicated by Hawver News Co. of Topeka, Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report. To learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit www.hawvernews.com.

Hello from Topeka.

I want to thank the Graham, Rooks and Phillips County Farm Bureaus for hosting the legislative updates in Hill City, Plainville and Agra. It is always good to listen to the concerns of the 110th District. Also, over this past weekend I participated in the Republican Caucus in Phillipsburg.

One concern voiced to me has not changed; many people want to know how the state budget will be balanced. The budget was passed in mid-February this year and was signed by the Governor on Friday and included two line item vetoes dealing with spending the governor wanted. One was the 20-million-dollar loan for the new HVAC unit for the Capital area and the other was STAR Bonds for projects in Wyandotte County, which would be used to try to lure the American Royal from the Missouri side of Kansas City to the Kansas side near the National Ag Hall of Fame. These projects may be needed, but at this time I believe we need to focus on short term solutions to balance the budget.

As tax revenues continue to come in lower than forecasted it will mean more cuts, as it looks like the votes are not there to repeal the 2012 tax plan or raise taxes in any form. We must balance the budget which means tough choices have to be made, and K-12 school funding will need to be addressed too, adding to the challenge.

One of the committees I sit on is the General Government Budget Committee. This week we are reviewing some of the recommendations of a study conducted last year to find efficiencies in state government. Some of these can be done without legislative action while others would need to be changed through the process. Recommendations range from bidding out services like state printing and managing some insurance services, to paying state bills in such a way as to gain the best advantage for the state of Kansas.

The time for the blame game is over.

We are scheduled for First Adjournment on March 25th, which leaves us limited time to do things the right way, rather than late night, all or nothing bills which have consequences that we cannot afford.

Please reach out to me if you have concerns, questions or issues that need to be addressed. You can keep up on things by following and liking Ken for Kansas on Facebook. During the session I can be reached: Ken Rahjes, Kansas State Capitol, 168-W, Topeka, KS 66612; Phone: (785) 296-7676; Email: [email protected]; or 1798 E 900 Rd, Agra, KS 67621; Cell: (785) 302-8416 or [email protected].

You can also track bills and get specific information by going to kslegislature.org. I look forward to seeing you when you are in Topeka or out and about in the district.

It is a treat to eat out at a favorite restaurant or community event. Consumers expect the food to be safe. It is up to the food handlers to provide the safest meal possible.

Preparing food for the public, whether at a volunteer group fund-raiser, or at a restaurant, often means dealing with larger quantities of food than those used at home. With larger amounts of food, different food practices and special attention to detail become critical.

A Servsafe basic food handler short course for food service employees and volunteer groups will be held on Wednesday, March 23, from 1:30 to 4:00 pm at the Ellis County Extension Office, 601 Main Street in Hays. The cost is $10.00 per person and includes the Servsafe Food Handler Guide, a nationally recognized food safety training resource, plus training materials and refreshments.

The class covers basic food safety principles, personal hygiene, preventing cross-contamination, food allergens, time and temperature controls, cleaning and sanitation. This course would be appropriate for commercial food service employees, dietary staff at nursing homes, hospitals and schools, and volunteer groups who serve concession stands, church dinners, community meals or fund-raisers. A certificate of attendance will be provided to each participant.

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that each year one in six Americans gets sick from a foodborne illness. On average, 48 million people get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3000 people die from something they eat every year. Foodborne illness is highly under-reported, and outbreaks DO happen in Kansas.

The economic impact of foodborne illness is staggering. The CDC estimates that foodborne illness costs $15.5 billion annually, which includes factors such as direct medical costs, lost wages, time lost, and pain and suffering. That makes the average cost of one foodborne illness incident about $77,000. Proper food safety is important to reduce illness, but also to protect the reputation and reduce costs and legal repercussions for those who serve food to the public.

Plan now to attend the upcoming Servsafe food handler training. Register and pay fees by Friday, March 11 at the Ellis County Extension Office to ensure adequate training materials and class supplies. Drop-ins cannot be accommodated for this class. Enrollment is considered complete when fees are paid. A minimum attendance is required by the deadline to hold this class.

Obtain a registration form at www.ellis.ksu.edu/health-nutrition in the right box under “Upcoming Events.” For more information, call the Ellis County Extension Office, 785-628-9430.

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

The Kansas House and Senate agreed on a budget during the week of February 15. That is an extraordinary event because it is likely that the legislature has never before agreed on a budget so early in the session. That accelerated schedule was made possible by the fact that we are now on a biennial budget cycle. The budgets for fiscal years 2016 and 2017 were first adopted during the 2015 session. That means that this year it was only necessary to revise those previous budgets to reflect changing circumstances since that time.

But all is not well with the budget. As passed, the budget only allowed for a year-end cash balance of $6 million… a minuscule amount when one is dealing with an annual state general fund budget of $6.3 billion. At the time I remarked that it appeared the budget was held together with baling wire and duct tape. Unfortunately it seems the baling wire has now broken and the duct tape has lost its grip. Last week we received the unfortunate news that the February revenues to the state were $53 million less than expected. The really troubling part is that disappointing revenue reports are now a recurring event. State revenues have come in below expectations in eleven of the last twelve months.

Some folks have begun to blame the revenue estimating group for missing the mark with their past estimates. I believe that blame is misplaced. The estimating group has had an excellent record in the past of producing on-target revenue estimates. It is only since the tax cut of 2012 that the estimates have begun to diverge significantly from the actual numbers. I believe that tax cut is to blame for the estimates missing the mark in recent months. It represents a dramatic shift away from long-established state tax policy. That makes it very difficult to predict the outcome. When economists attempt to predict economic activity, they are really trying to predict human behavior. The bigger the change in the economic system or tax system, the harder it becomes to accurately predict the response of the people and the economy.

The February report pushed the projected ending balance to a negative $47 million. That is a deficiency which must be corrected, because the state is required to have a positive ending balance at the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Governor Brownback immediately responded by making an allotment (reduction) of $17 million to the appropriation for regents institutions for the current fiscal year. That theoretically makes the projected ending balance a negative $30 million. It is quite likely that Governor Brownback will be forced to use his newly-granted authority to delay up to $100 million of state employer contributions into KPERS.

In retrospect the prudent thing to do, if such a dramatic change in tax policy was contemplated, would have been to initiate that change at a time when state cash reserves were large enough to effectively deal with unexpected shortfalls if things didn’t work out as expected. Instead the abrupt change in tax policy forced the state to quickly consume what cash balance we had at the time. Since then the budgets have been cobbled together with fee sweeps, transfers from KDOT, decreased contributions to KPERS, and true cuts to many vital state programs. Most recently the Kansas sales tax was raised to second highest in the nation to avoid adjusting the income tax plan.

So now the budget is underwater with nearly four months left in the current fiscal year. That means four revenue reports yet to go, and the trend has certainly not been our friend. The oil and gas industry is in a major recession and agriculture is not doing well either. But the seeds of this fiscal crisis were sown long before those industries started to slump. It is increasingly evident that the income tax cut of 2012 went too far too fast, and the expectations for the economic growth it would produce were far too optimistic.

There is no time to craft any sort of revenue plan which would provide relief over the next four months. Any anemic revenue reports over that time must be dealt with by imposing even more harmful fund transfers or cuts to programs which vitally need the dollars remaining in their budgets. Reflect for a moment on how difficult it will be on those agencies and departments to absorb cuts so late during the budget year. And yet it must be done; there is no alternative.

The time has come to quit holding on to the vain hope that the tax cut will eventually work and the economy will grow accordingly. It is not happening, and it is now time for us to deal with that reality. Core governmental functions are now being seriously compromised and we can wait no longer for the miracle to happen.

Trying to keep up with the election process for the next U.S president is no easy task.

What we see happening as candidates campaign for the most powerful office in the world seems to be unprecedented in American history. Call it a roller coaster. Call it surreal.

Media has gone bonkers covering the campaigns 24/7. It makes my head spin with 95% of the news about the upcoming November election.

One thing that’s real – people are divided like never before about what is needed to fix this country. Political pundits claim there are two Americas, the division is that huge.

On the one hand there’s Hillary Clinton, the Democrat socialist, and there’s Bernie Sanders, the ultra socialist. Hillary is running on Obama’s record, perhaps even left of him, and Bernie is far left of Hillary and our president.

On the other hand are conservatives Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Donald Trump claims to be a conservative but that’s open to debate. Trump, who has never held national political office before is, therefore, considered an “outsider” and has the media’s attention like no other presidential candidate in modern U.S. history.

GOP candidates John Kasich and Ben Carson have a lot to offer voters, but hanging on by a thread.

What readers should keep in mind is that Hillary and Bernie’s socialism (or call it liberalism and progressivism) represents a totally 180 degree opposite vision for this country than that of conservatism. Socialism and big government go hand in hand as is currently the case with our present Obama government. Conservatives want more liberty for individuals through free market capitalism and less government in our lives. That difference, my friends, is huge

Obama ran for president on transforming America, and in many ways has succeeded. Now we have Republican candidates who also want to transform America, but that goal is to change our government of today, back to a large extent, the way America was in its conservative past. However, one could argue the GOP establishment that has Republicans in a turmoil would prefer things as they have been the last seven years rather than support Trump or Cruz, both totally disliked by those elites in Washington. I have reason to feel like my head is spinning. Dems have their turmoil also with a radical Bernie versus Hillary the career politician currently being investigated by the FBI.

Voting Democrat or voting Republican in the upcoming November election is not presidential elections as usual. There’s far more at stake this time around. What kind of America do most voters want with a new president – and congress? As mentioned, the divide among voters is huge!

I believe this to be the most important election of my time as do many others. The belief is that making the right decision about our next White House occupant will make or break us as a country, perhaps forever.

Can Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP (disliked by the GOP establishment and elite) “make America great again,” as he claims? It makes my head spin thinking about it. Can he (or will he) make us great again if he becomes our next president? Can he unite the Republican Party?

If not for Republicans in congress last election Trump may not even be a candidate. Republicans were given the charge to stop Obama’s agendas, but reneged on that promise and Trump became a big factor. Not only are millions of voters fed up with Obama, but also fed up with all politicians in general, including Democrats and Republicans alike. Trump has weighed in on the anger and frustration of millions especially about runaway illegal immigration and our economy. He was an instant success weighing in on those two issues.

Yogi Berra said in one of his famous Yogi-isims “the future isn’t what it used to be.” That’s really funny, but does our past need to be stood on its head and not count for anything? Buyer beware regarding what kind of future you want for your children as you vote. Do you want a return to the past or an overreaching big government as you ponder the huge difference between the two?

We know what has worked in the past and it hasn’t been socialism.

Les Knoll lives in Victoria and Gilbert, Ariz.

With the onset of the Kansas party caucuses and Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s endorsement of Donald Trump for President, the Trump phenomenon, after hovering like an apparition for months, has finally landed in the Land of Oz.

Political professionals and electoral scholars alike have been befuddled by the astonishing rise of The Donald, who seems primed to win the Republican nomination for president. There is little question that Trump has struck a chord with millions of Americans who have fallen behind economically, who completely distrust elites and the “establishment,” and who frequently blame Washington’s immigration policies for their financial woes.

Trump’s stock-in-trade has been to make incredible, factually challenged, and often crude statements, as he gleefully takes on all comers – whether his primary opponents, journalists, or hecklers at his rallies. Moreover, the blunt and snarky nature of social media encourages the kind of rough-and-tumble exchanges that he glories in and excels at.

So, we should be surprised by Trump’s rise and his ability to brush aside other politicians’ counter-arguments, hundreds of fact checks, and dozens of reasoned analyses that poke countless holes in his broad-brush assertions and half-baked proposals? To an extent, it is surprising, but if we look a more closely at our own political conversations in Kansas, we can see lots of evidence that presaged Trump’s bluster.

Indeed, Kansas has experienced a “Trumpification” of politics over the past few years. Basically, various politicians and policy-makers have made outrageous, silly, and mean-spirited statements that have degraded discourse within the state.

While it’s impossible to locate an exact starting point on the decline discourse, I suggest that Rep. Virgil Peck’s (R- Montgomery County) 2011 statement, “It looks like to me if shooting these immigrating feral hogs works — maybe we have found a [solution] to our illegal immigration problem,” is an appropriate marker. Although this caused a flurry of outrage, Rep. Peck’s career went unaffected.

Then there was Senator Mitch Holmes’ (R- St. John’s) dress code for women testifying before his committee. “For ladies, low-cut necklines and mini-skirts are inappropriate,” although the good senator did admit that low-cut was “one of those things that’s hard to define.” To his credit, Senator Holmes did not suggest hunting down female lobbyists, but he certainly felt comfortable targeting them.

The Senate Judiciary Committee got into the act with a bill filed to limit the power of the state’s Supreme Court – you know, the body that determines whether a law is constitutional or not. Unhappy with the Court’s rulings, the committee proposed as grounds for judicial impeachment: “attempting to usurp the power of the legislative or executive branch of government.” Of course, in ruling on a law’s constitutionality that is precisely what the court does. Mercifully, this bill was withdrawn, but with nary a reasonable explanation. Very Trumpian.

The continuing babble from the Brownback Administration on the success (sic) of its tax cuts and economic programs constitute a whole other chapter of Trump-like blather in the face of reality, but who cares? In February, a $53 shortfall and there’s nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders and another delusional denial that tax policies were responsible. As Secretary of Revenue Nick Jordan put it, “This has got us a little bit baffled.”

Finally, before he endorsed Trump, Kris Kobach publicly labeled both the American Civil Liberties Union and the League of Women Voters as “communist” groups. The absurdity of these charges is matched only by Kobach’s ego-driven desire to play to the farthest right, most paranoid Republican factions.

So, before and after Trump’s rise to political prominence, Kansas has proved a fertile ground for absurd, airy, and scary remarks, issued with little thought and indicating a set of politicians who care almost nothing about what they say. Sigh.

Burdett Loomis is a professor of political science at the University of Kansas.

Every spring across the vast, open Flint Hills grasslands, you can see fires for miles. The flames lick at the blue Kansas sky as the brown, dry grass crinkles, crackles and bursts into orange.

Viewed up close or at a distance, prairie fires are mesmerizing. Beautiful and frightening at the same time, it’s hard to take your eyes away from this annual ritual.

These fires aren’t a recent phenomenon and they aren’t strictly for the viewing pleasure of those traveling up and down our highways. Long before civilization invaded the prairie, fires were ignited by lightning storms and the charred prairie restored the health of the native grasses.

Native Americans were the first practitioners of prescribed fires. They used the fire to attract the buffalo for easier hunting.

Today, farmers, stockmen and landowners continue to use fire as a range management tool while maintaining the economic viability of the Flint Hills.

The artificially ignited controlled burning of the tall-grass prairie in east-central Kansas is an annual event designed to mimic nature’s match. It has become a tradition, part of the culture of the communities and the people who inhabit this region of our state.

Fire is an essential element of the ecosystem. Burning pastures is one of the best management tools for maintaining the native prairie.

This annual pasture burning only occurs for a few days each year. It is not a procedure that is drawn out and lasts for weeks. Weather conditions dictate the length of the burning seasons most years.

Not every cattleman burns his pastures every year as is sometimes portrayed. Instead, individual ranchers and landowners survey and decide each spring, which pastures will benefit and produce a healthier, lush grass for livestock after burning. Often neighbors plan and burn together, giving them more hands to ensure a safe, controlled burn.

Forage quality and ecosystem health are both dependent on fire. Without fire, woodlands take over the Flint Hills and the livestock industry loses a fantastic resource.

Kansas State University recommends burning take place when wind speeds are between five and 15 miles per hour, relative humidity is from 40 to 70 percent and temperatures fall in the range of 55 to 80 degrees.

Landowners in all counties must notify local officials prior to planned, controlled burns. This notification is key to preventing prescribed fires from turning into accidental wildfires and ensuring burning is allowed under the existing conditions.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has a Kansas Flint Hills Smoke management plan to help alleviate air quality issues in urban areas generated by prescribed burning in the Flint Hills region. Coupled with the associated web tools, it should give producers better decision-making abilities when planning and implementing prescribed fires.

Producers can now assess how the smoke from their burns may impact urban areas downwind. Information like this can make a difference in keeping ozone within acceptable levels and keeping regulatory restrictions from impacting ranchers. This website is www.ksfire.org.

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

If there has ever been a ticking time bomb in the Statehouse, it’s a page and a half resolution that would let voters decide to eliminate the sales tax on groceries over the next four years.

Introduced by a dozen senators, the measure, if it passed the Senate and House, would go on the November general election ballot, just below the list of judges that some Republicans are hoping voters will stick around long enough to non-confirm.

You don’t have to be a fulltime politics watcher to know that if you can give voters a chance to eliminate that pesky sales tax on groceries, it’s going to pass.  Who likes to pay sales tax on anything? Especially groceries?

It is that near-certainty that the resolution would be overwhelmingly approved that worries some legislators who don’t like the food sales tax, either, but are looking downstream of that vote to just how they balance the budget without that revenue source.

Practically, if the sales tax on food phase-out occurred, it would create a major cash shortage for the state starting on July 1, 2017, when the food sales tax rate would drop to 4% from the current 6.5%. That’s about $150 million in revenue loss in the first budget that the newly elected House and Senate would have to come up with—or cut from spending—in the first year of their new term. Second year of that term, and the revenue drops another $130 million or so.

That makes for a rough two-year House term, revenue-wise, and it gets a dab worse when the sales tax on groceries totally evaporates on July 1, 2019, for the last two years of those four-year Senate terms that will start after this year’s elections.

Sorta like staring to cook dinner while the attached garage is on fire…

And, while the House has a bill that would drop the sales tax on groceries by a smaller amount—to 2.6% and make up for the revenue shortfall by re-imposing the state income tax on non-wage LLC and small businesses—there’s a big difference between passing a law to cut food sales taxes and putting a ban on grocery sales taxes in the state constitution.

Yes, that’s a big difference…

But the House bill, well, it’s more controllable than a constitutional ban.

So, while the House considers what to do with its bill, and the Senate Tax Committee its constitutional amendment proposal, the bigger political choice is just where legislators want to leave their DNA on the issue.

Because, be assured, every vote on the Senate side, whether it is to consider the bill for a public hearing or voting it out of committee or forcing it to a vote in the Senate, will be tracked carefully: You can be sure that sometime this October or early November, you’ll get a phone call or a postcard or a card wedged into your screen door saying who voted for or against the food sales tax measures.

In the House, while the revenue cost of that food tax reduction will show up in slim budgets for the next few years, you have to believe that a yes vote for the littler bill will become a “why not let us voters decide the issue?” style campaign talking point.

Overall, the whole sales tax on groceries issue comes down to the governor’s championing of those income tax exemptions. Reduced sales tax revenue means that those 330,000-some Kansans who don’t pay state income taxes are likely going to wind up with a tax bill.

You gotta figure that without any state income tax to pay, those non-income tax payers surely have the gas money to get to the polls on Election Day. Probably in Buicks or better.

Syndicated by Hawver News Co. of Topeka, Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report. To learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit www.hawvernews.com.

A term often used around Christmas and Thanksgiving is “Seasonal Smells,” meaning scents like pumpkin pie, roasting turkey and the scent of pine; pleasant fragrances that we associate with that time of the year. We are entering a time of the year that also has a specific essence associated with it that is not quite so pleasant.

Anyone who has set foot outside lately and has a nose on their face has noticed the air of late smells slightly more “skunky” than usual. Also at this particular time of the year, dead skunks seem to litter the roadside. Welcome to skunk breeding season in Kansas!

For our pungent friends the skunks, breeding season begins at the first sign of spring warm up, usually late February and early March. Skunks are among the most den-dependent furbearers, meaning that more than many other furbearers, their lives rely on them having a permanent den from which to come and go daily. Skunks do not hibernate, but become very inactive during the heart of winter, when a den becomes very important. Communal denning is common during this time, and a dominant male will often share a den with a dozen or more females during this time of inactivity. Their breeding season is fast and furious, but very short, so keeping oneself close to as many females as possible pays big dividends for male skunks when skunk love is in the air.

All right, so this is skunk breeding season, but I’ve always wondered why that means we have to smell them so much more than usual. After all, they certainly don’t spray their girlfriends do they? Maybe it’s some kind of ritual mating dance that ends each time with a poof into the air? The answer is simple, and as a trapper I should have figured it out. At this time of the year male skunks might roam as far as five miles in one night looking for eligible ladies, and since all male skunks are currently of the same mind, the chances are pretty good males will encounter each other on their quests. And then, just like a bunch of jocks fighting over the cheerleaders after the junior high dance, someone’s gonna’ get sprayed!

Figure this happening several times a night for a few weeks with all the male skunks in Kansas and you have the answer.

With that solved, what about the reason for finding so many dead skunks along the road right now? I’m glad you asked, because I’ve found some interesting takes on that question too. First and the most obvious part of the answer is simply the fact that all male skunks in the kingdom are draggin’ main street right now lookin’ for girls, so the law of averages says that because of that, many will get flattened. There’s possibly more to the answer though, and that calls for a little skunk psychology lesson.

Skunks have few natural enemies and can turn even the biggest bully around on a dime with just the lift of their tail. This seems to create in them a certain cocky attitude that appears to be present even from birth. Skunks will not back down from anything; it’s as simple as that. Couple that with the fact that male skunks have a one-track-mind this time of year, and if they even notice a car coming at them, they possible see it as just another bully that will turn and run with the lift of their tail. That all equals a flat skunk! Another interesting suggestion says that skunks have black eyes that do not reflect light well like the eyes of most other animals, possibly making them hard to spot ahead of time.

By the way, if you, your dog or your car ever happen to get sprayed directly by a skunk, here is a recipe for a deodorizer that really works, and yes, I know this from experience, and that’s another story in itself: mix together 1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide, ¼ cup baking soda and 1 teaspoon liquid dish soap (Dawn works well.) Mix this up just before use and don’t save any leftover. Bath yourself or the dog and scrub the car with this concoction.

Skunks are amazing critters that have amazingly soft, luxurious fur (once you get past the smell) and whose potent, pungent essence is invaluable to the fur-trapping industry as an additive to trapping lures. Trappers who extract the pure skunk “quill” from the animals can expect to get one to two ounces per skunk, and at about $20 an ounce that’s pretty good gas money.

Skunk essence enhances and magnifies other fragrances and is actually used in very minute amounts in perfume. Some years back there were rumors that someone was developing an aerosol spray from skunk essence called “Skunk Power” that could be used by women against an attacker. I couldn’t verify its existence but what a good idea! Native Americans are said to have used skunk oil as a healing balm and liniment; I knew our Native American ancestors were tough, but that fact gives me a whole new respect for them.

So there you have it, a little Pepe Le Pew 101 so-to-speak. When I smell a feed yard here in Kansas I just think of it as the smell of money. Even though I know they’re yet another example of God’s marvelous and diverse Creation, it’s pretty hard to think that way when the spring air is ripe with the smell of skunk. Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

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