By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

What aircraft was the most widely used model for training airplane pilots during World War II?  Would you believe, an airplane named for one of the early pioneers of the aviation industry who came from rural Kansas?

In recent weeks we’ve learned about Clyde Cessna and Walter Beech, two of the three men who founded an airplane business in Wichita in 1924. Today we’ll learn about the third of those three:  Lloyd Stearman, whose plane, the Stearman Kaydet, was the primary trainer for World War II pilots.

Lloyd Stearman was born in the rural Kiowa County town of Wellsford, Kansas in 1898.  Wellsford had been a thriving community but faded away through the decades until it legally disincorporated. Other than the southeast Kansas town of Treece, which disbanded itself due to pollution problems in 2012, Wellsford was the last Kansas town to eliminate its legally incorporated status which it did in 1975. As of the town’s last official census in 1970, Wellsford had an official population of 9 people. Now, that’s rural.

Lloyd Stearman was born at Wellsford and went to school in Harper. While in grade school, he saw his first airplane, piloted by Clyde Cessna.

In 1917, Stearman attended what is now Kansas State University and studied engineering and architecture. During World War I, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve Flying Corps in Kansas City. He went to ground school in Seattle and then was stationed in San Diego where he learned to fly seaplanes.

After the war, Stearman returned to Kansas and worked as an airplane mechanic. There he met the aforementioned Walter Beech, who was a test pilot and salesman. Beech taught Stearman the finer points of piloting an airplane.

In 1924, Lloyd Stearman became chief engineer of the Swallow Airplane Company. Stearman designed his first airplane, called the New Swallow. Beech flew it at the National Air Races at Dayton, Ohio where it was crowned the nation’s best performing commercial airplane.

Of course, this was back in the day when planes were still constructed with wood and canvas.  Stearman and Beech wanted to redesign their aircraft to make the fuselage of welded steel tubing instead of wood, but their owner resisted. So they reached out to a guy who had recently purchased one of the New Swallows. His name was Clyde Cessna – the very same man who had piloted the plane which Stearman saw as a child.

In 1925, Lloyd Stearman, Walter Beech and Clyde Cessna went together to form a new business to build their planes using metal. The company was called Travel Air Manufacturing.

In 1926, the three young Kansans entered an airplane in the Ford Reliability Tour, a cross-country airplane performance competition that attracted the best aircraft in the country, and won handily.

But this moment of triumph quickly turned into a time of tragedy. In Wichita, Lloyd Stearman took his plane up for an aerial demonstration. Upon landing, he taxied his plane along the runway where stood a prominent citizen of Wichita who had stopped there with his family to watch the flight. The propeller of Stearman’s plane struck the man, killing him instantly. When he realized what had happened, Stearman himself collapsed in horror and had to be carried from the plane.

After that incident, Lloyd Stearman moved his family to California where he created his own aircraft company. Eventually he was recruited back to the airplane business in Wichita. The biplane which bore his name, the Stearman Kaydet, was so durable and reliable that it became the primary trainer aircraft for the U.S. military during World War II. Stearman would go on to work for Boeing and serve as president of Lockheed before passing away at age 77.

What was the most widely used training airplane for pilots in World War II? It was the Kaydet built by Lloyd Stearman, who made a difference with his pioneering aviation work.

Why did Kansas become such a center for aviation? Is it wide open spaces, the work ethic of our people, or visionary leaders? Perhaps all of the above have helped keep Kansas flying high.

And there’s more. We’ll find a modern-day restaurant which bears his name next week.

Talk to farmers, stockmen and ranchers – most will tell you how much they love their cows. Problem is this humble and in most cases easy-going beast rarely receives the praise associated with the noble show horse or one of the so-called smartest creatures, the squealing pig.

Fewer and fewer people extol the virtues of this contented creature that spends her days quietly grazing and eating grass. We’ve all watched movies about horses (Trigger) and pigs (Babe), but for most of the time, cows are considered boring and ignored by Hollywood, the media and the general public.

Still, cows are not whiners. They take their obscurity in stride and rarely complain about their circumstances. Except for a couple of rare occasions, animal rights activists have overlooked this wonderful beast of burden and focused their careful aim on mice, monkeys, rats and other vermin.

Everyone screams bloody murder when some shampoo company tests its latest shampoo on a furry rodent. Where is the outcry for the lifestyle of cows?

They spend days and nights under the stars without a tent or blanket and only their coat to keep them warm. They have to hoof it across the pasture just to get a drink of cold water.

But hey, I’m not here to say I feel sorry for the cow community. Confident and quiet, it is not their way to ask for preferential treatment.

Spend time with a herd of cows and you’ll soon discover they are indeed spiritual beings. They live their entire lives in service to mankind.

Behind that seemingly blank stare rests a knowing glint that suggests, “Go ahead. Make fun. I spend all day eating and sleeping. You’re the one with high blood pressure and cash-flow problems.”

Cattle occupy a unique role in human history, domesticated beginning with the Stone Age. Some are raised for meat (beef cattle), dairy products (cows) and hides (both).

They are also used as draft animals and in certain sports. Some consider cattle the oldest form of wealth, and cattle rustling, consequently, one of the earliest forms of theft.

Dairy cows are referred to as the foster mothers of the human race because they produce most of the milk that people drink. They provide 90 -percent of the world’s milk supply.

The best cows may give approximately 25 gallons of milk each day. That’s 400 glasses of milk. Cows in this country give an average of 2,000 gallons of milk per year. That’s more than 30,000 glasses of milk.

Beef cattle supply more than 30 different cuts of meat including the heart, tongue and what we grew up calling mountain oysters – a male private part. You gotta’ admit, that’s meaningful giving.

Another gift from the bovine community is leather that comes from their hides. We use it for boots, belts, baseballs, suitcases, purses, wallets, easy chairs and jackets. Yes, cattle or cows make the ultimate sacrifice for human comfort.
Another place cows shine is in the rodeo arena or as spokes mammals in advertising. Who hasn’t seen the skydiving cows on their television screen?
Another cow celebrity that’s been around for eons is Borden’s Elsie the Cow.

Snorting bulls symbolize a healthy stock market and a Hereford cow pioneered space travel. Every kid knows about the cow who jumped over the moon.

Milk, ice cream, cheeseburgers or that fine leather purse – think about it. Where would we be without our cows?

On any given day a cow often does more for us than our friends, neighbors, in-laws or even our elected officials. Cows deserve a roaring round of applause and recognition for a job well done.

Anyway, I’d much rather thank a cow and wear a pair of leather boots than sport a mink coat and thank a varmint. I know I’d rather drink milk from a cow than milk from a mink. Enough said.

John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas. Born and raised on a diversified farm in northwestern Kansas, his writing reflects a lifetime of experience, knowledge and passion.

By ROD HAXTON
Scott County Record

If you thought the budget fiasco in Kansas was bad before, then brace yourself. Here’s the rest of the story.

By now, you may be familiar with how the Brownback Administration has been tapping into the Kansas Department of Transportation – half-jokingly referred to as the Bank of KDOT – to fill the growing pothole known as the budget deficit. What you may not know is how Gov. Sam Brownback and Republican leadership in the Kansas Legislature have been pulling off a budget scheme that would make Bernie Madoff proud.

When the state budget was approved last spring, it included a provision – at the request of Brownback – to suspend the KDOT debt cap for 2016 and 2017. The goal wasn’t to embark on a spending binge to improve highways and bridges across the state.

Instead, lawmakers had discovered a means by which they could circumvent the balanced budget requirement of the state’s constitution.

And they were attempting to do so with as little fanfare as possible.

State Rep. Don Hineman (R-Dighton) said there was not widespread understanding last spring that the debt limit had been suspended.

“The chairs of the Ways and Means and Appropriations committees claim this was public knowledge, but I don’t remember it ever being brought up and neither do my colleagues. We would have remembered if something this important had been brought to our attention,” says Hineman.

Attempts by the governor and legislative leaders to conceal their activity was further highlighted by the issuance of another $400 million in bonds on Dec. 2 which was supposedly for the T-Works highway improvement program. This raised KDOT’s bonded indebtedness to a record-setting $1.2 billion.

However, knowledge of this latest $400 million bond issue didn’t surface until two weeks after the fact and only after it was discovered by the media.

What lawmakers did was apparently legal – though arguably unethical.

“It’s pretty obvious the plan is to use this money to fill part of the hole in the general fund,” notes Hineman. “This is reckless fiscal policy. You do not take out long-term debt to pay your current bills. That’s not conservative and it’s not responsible.”

How long term is the representative talking about?

He saw the prospectus for the recent $400 million bond issue and the first principal payment is not due until 2025.

“We’re borrowing the money now to pay this year’s bills and we won’t start paying the principal for another 10 years,” emphasized Hineman. “How can you endorse this policy and call yourself a fiscal conservative?”

Just in case you were wondering, that’s seven years after Brownback leaves office. In all likelihood, a number of the ultraconservative lawmakers who are also responsible for this disastrous fiscal policy will also be out of the legislature by that time and enjoying their annual Christmas cards from the Koch brothers.

These so-called conservatives are decimating the sound budget principles that have long been the foundation of Kansas government. Bearing the brunt of this morally bankrupt policy will be those in Kansas who can least afford it as well as our children and their children who will have no choice but to pick up the tab.

We’ve seen it before.

It’s strikingly similar to the pyramid scheme used by Wall Street scam artists who promise huge returns on investments, but deliver on those promises by continually attracting “new” money from unsuspecting clients that is then redistributed to their earlier investors. In this case, the “new” money is hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term debt that’s being used to help pay off those who have received hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks.

What lawmakers are doing may not be in direct violation of the state’s Constitution, but it’s “a violation of the spirit of the Constitution,” argues Hineman.

We would take that a step further and argue that if it’s not criminal then it ought to be.

Not that any of that matters to the ideologues in the Brownback Administration or those who hold down leadership positions in the legislature. They aren’t concerned with whether massive income tax cuts represent good policy or whether using long-term debt from KDOT to pay current salaries and utility bills is morally responsible.

They are much more concerned with fulfilling the ultraconservative goal of giving tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals and corporations while further limiting the ability of government to perform its duties.

Further cuts to our social services safety net, toward the public education of Kansas children and in the state’s infrastructure that we all rely upon are of small consequence. How different is this from the disdain that Madoff had for the victims of his financial fraud that resulted in guilty pleas to 11 federal felonies and earned him 150 years in prison?

Only there will be no jail time for the fiscal shenanigans committed by Brownback and his co-conspirators. Instead, it will be up to future lawmakers – if they choose to act responsibly – and our children to clean up one helluva mess.

Rod Haxton is editor of the Scott County Record. [email protected]

Because the only thing that the Legislature absolutely, positively has to do this session is adopt a budget that leaves at least $1 in the state treasury on July 1, you’d figure this year might be simple.

Except, that the budget Gov. Sam Brownback presented to the Legislature is based on the shifting sands of state revenues, and already legislators are dubious that if they adopted it, say, at the end of the week, it would hold up.

And, they are having that feeling that the real work of balancing the budget as revenues continue to drop below expectations is going to be on them…just months before they stand for re-election.

Besides that giant problem, you’ll be glad to know that the first week of the 2016 session—well, four days because they took Friday off—was accomplished with no apparent (compensable) injuries and some interesting bills introduced that will make nice distractions for the next few months.

…Say that little bill that will raise from 75 mph to 80 mph the speed limit on four-lane divided highways where we spend much of our travel lifetimes. And, if nobody gets too finicky, that boost means that practically, you probably aren’t going to be pulled over until you are clocked at 74 or 75 mph, and even then, it’s going to be 90 mph before the speeding ticket becomes a moving violation, which will spike your auto insurance premiums.

Or, the unusual bill that essentially marries you to a firearms or ammunition dealer? Huh?

Yes, the measure called the “Kansas firearms industry nondiscrimination act” says that you can’t refuse to do business with, or quit doing business with, any legally licensed firearms or ammunition seller. Not sure where that goes. If your local store, say, moves the gun rack to the front of the store, so that you have to walk to the back to get your ice cream and it starts to melt as you are standing in the checkout line, well, you may have discriminated against the Kansas firearms industry…or maybe not. Someone thought that was a good idea, and it might take a public hearing to get it explained.

Because bills dealing with guns always bring a crowd to the Statehouse, we’re wondering also about a bill that would make it a criminal offense for a gun dealer to sell guns to “anyone on a watch list.” Now, that appears to make sense, if people on federal watch lists—who can’t board airplanes—are people we want to have guns, anyway. But, it appears that even if those folks on watch lists can’t buy guns, well, they might be able to drive 80 mph.

Yes, there are lots of things to keep lawmakers busy, or at least distracted, during the session, and some of those bills might make headlines.

There are, of course, more serious issues facing lawmakers—financing K-12 education at a constitutional level; but that is likely to be put on hold while the Kansas Supreme Court decides just how much money is necessary to provide every child in the state the same chance to get a good education so they can take care of us grownups.

Don’t look for school finance to get solved this session, and also, don’t look for the Supreme Court to make a ruling with dramatic budget consequences this spring while lawmakers are in session.  At this point a majority of legislators believed they know how to finance public education and the courts ought to stay out of it. Five of the nine justices of the Kansas Supreme Court stand for retention election this year, and they might just be mindful of whether they want to stir up legislative angst before the election.

And…they might just want to keep things quiet so they can drive 80 mph this summer…

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.

Last fall, I was contacted by Michael Huff, an independent author, wildlife photographer and coyote hunting guide living in Pennsylvania. Michael has a new book “Understanding Coyotes,” and offered to send me a copy and asked that I review it.

Coyotes currently live and thrive in all contiguous states in the U.S. and in every Canadian Province. They also flourish in large cities like New York City and Chicago, often totally unbeknownst to the residents.

I once read a study about coyote populations that said 70% of a local coyote population would have to be removed for seven years in a row before any lasting effect would be seen to that population. Michael exhibits an amazing understanding of these prolific critters we call coyotes, and in his book he truly and thoroughly takes the reader to school concerning the life of the survivalist coyote.

Besides citing reams of research and dozens of books by other authors, Michael shows that his time in the woods as a coyote hunter and hunting guide has served him well as he put this book together. I have a pretty nice library of books on coyote trapping, but the chapters in his book on coyote biology and types of coyotes go well beyond what’s presented in other books I own.

He concludes his tutorial with a chapter on “Understanding and Overcoming the Super Senses,” a chapter about the insanely acute vision, smell and hearing of the coyote, and offers tips to hunters and wildlife photographers for temporarily fooling those senses.

Michael calls his book “The comprehensive guide for hunters, photographers and wildlife observers.”

I think his book is a worthy investment for any of the above, and can be found on Amazon or by contacting Michael at [email protected].

• • •

OK, so you’ve made the usual New Year’s resolution to eat healthier, including more salads and fish. Well the Kansas Dept. of health and Environment has issued revised fish consumption advisories for 2016 because of mercury and other contaminants found in higher than healthy concentrations in some Kansas fish.

The entire report with all the various advisories and specific locations can be read on the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism website, ksoutdoors.com, but I’ll offer a summary.

In a nutshell, the report advises the general public and especially women who are pregnant, may become pregnant or are nursing to restrict consumption of locally caught fish (mostly bottom-feeders and mostly from reservoirs and rivers) to one meal per week. The report is found under the heading “News Releases” and is entitled “2016 Fish Consumption Advisories Issued.” It is very easy to read and understand, and gives very specific fish species and locations.

It’s too bad we have to worry about contaminants in our Kansas fish. I don’t buy into all the hype about global warming, but it’s obvious some dramatic changes are being seen in our weather and environment.

Likewise, I wonder if the KDHE is being a little over-dramatic about local fish contamination, but I would say there is some reason for alarm or they wouldn’t bother. Please go to the website ksoutdoors.com and read the report so you can remain healthy as you continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.

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

In the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment’s “blue collar” freedoms lead off all the rest.

Those five freedoms — religion, speech, press, assembly and petition — are what most Americans “go to work” with every day. We employ those core rights daily, from the comments we post fearlessly on the Web on virtually any subject, in the political and social associations we proclaim in every Facebook post, the office political debates we join in openly, and in the diversity of religious faiths that a majority of us still choose to adopt.

So it’s more than a bit ironic that the U.S. Supreme Court started off the new year with a case involving public employee union membership dues that is viewed by some as the greatest threat in 40 years to the everyday political power wielded for more than a century by these collective blue collar — and increasingly white collar — worker groups.

The immediate issue before the court has to do with whether a public employee, non-union member still must pay a “fair share” of dues to the union that negotiates wages and benefits that all workers enjoy.

In a decision in 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court approved a system that recognizes such collective bargaining benefits accrue to all workers — but which permitted any individuals to avoid paying a portion of dues to be used for political activities, so that Democrats were not compelled to pay to subsidize campaign support for Republicans and vice versa.

The challenge the court heard on Jan. 11 was raised by 10 conservative California teachers who argued that even having to pay dues in support of collective bargaining against their will was a violation of their First Amendment free speech rights — advancing the idea that having the right to speak also must include the right not to speak.

While some say a decision in favor of the 10 teachers will have limited impact — noting some 25 states already forbid such “agency” payments by all — others claim throwing out the current system would be an intended body blow to public sector unions using the First Amendment argument as a ruse.

The latter claim is bolstered by statistics about union membership. Nationwide, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “in 2013 there were 14.5 million members in the U.S., compared with 17.7 million in 1983. In 2013, the percentage of workers belonging to a union was 11.3%, compared to 20.1% in 1983. The rate for the private sector was 6.7%, and for the public sector 35.3%.”

The numbers also tilt higher for public sector unions in a number of states considered Democratic strongholds — which, advocates of the present system say, makes the challenge on free speech grounds even more suspect. Cutting public employee unions’ access to fees from all workers will weaken — if not destroy — such unions as a powerful political force, say critics of the California challenge.

A ruling to toss the current system would “weaken our ability at the bargaining table and on the job, [our ability] to advocate for us and for the community,” Stephen Mittons, a local president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, in Chicago, said in a Huffington Post report. “By decreasing the numbers even slightly, it does add to our vulnerability.”

Advocates for the status quo see a larger pattern: Court opinions that are positioned as upholding First Amendment values and free speech for all, but which in reality clear a path for the wealthiest speakers. Most often cited is the court’s 2010 ruling, Citizens United, which removed most limits for corporations and unions to support political campaigns and candidates, and which in critics’ eyes opened a torrent of special interest spending supported by wealthy, mostly conservative, millionaires.

The apocalyptic view is that the pair of rulings will provide for more “speech” by those who can afford to pay, while lowering the chance that the funds supported by growing ranks public sector unions can offset such spending by companies or individuals.

One non-legislative or judicial First Amendment factor may be the relatively new — and unsettling of so much — presence of the Web, which can make a single voice or example during a political campaign shout out to the world, even as well-funded corporate or union Web campaigns fail to show results.

One mitigating factor for union advocates may be to recall that in the last presidential election season, despite billions spent by rich individuals, corporations and unions, a turning point may have been the viral posting of a surreptitious cell phone camera video of GOP nominee Mitt Romney criticizing “47 percent” of voters he termed irresponsible and overly dependent on government assistance.

Still, the concentration of large public employee unions in larger, key electoral states like New York and California — and the extent to which such unions tilt to Democratic candidates — puts a political tinge to the expected court action. And even in a political atmosphere increasingly dependent on social media and Web-based appeals, money still speaks — in organizing voter turnout and in media campaign advertising.

A fair assessment of the 2016 campaign thus far is that much is unexpected and non-traditional. We should know by the end of the court’s current term, in June, whether a big chunk of money still will “speak” in the same old way in the future.

Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute and senior vice president of the Institute’s First Amendment Center. [email protected]

By Troy L. Waymaster, State Representative
Kansas House District 109

January 15, 2016

Governor Sam Brownback’s State of the State Speech
On Tuesday, January 12, Governor Sam Brownback presented his annual State of the State Address in the Kansas House of Representatives Chamber to a joint session of the House and Senate. Governor Brownback outlined his agenda for some of the items he would like the Kansas State Legislature to enact for the 2016 legislative session.

I do want to preface that these are the items that the governor addressed during his speech Tuesday evening. However we have yet to see whether any of these specific items will be drafted into legislative bill form.

Governor Brownback began his speech by addressing the accomplishments of his administration for the past five years. Those being: More than 388,000 low income Kansans now pay zero percent income taxes; KPERS is out of bankruptcy; more than half of the people on welfare are now off and out of poverty; technical education has tripled; state agencies have been consolidating; wasteful programs have been eliminated, and unemployment is down.

The major items that Governor Brownback focused on were on:

•  Education-Governor Brownback called on the Legislature to design a new funding system that benefits instruction and provides bonuses for exceptional teachers.
•  Kansas National Guard-The Governor’s new budget funds the arming and training of
  additional personnel.
•  Refugees-The Governor said he will act and expand his executive order blocking state agencies from resettling any refugees that present a safety and security risk.
•  GITMO-He said that he stands ready to thwart every action that President Obama takes to transfer terrorists to Kansas.
• Property Tax Lid-The Governor announced his support for strengthening the property tax lid by closing existing loopholes.
• Planned Parenthood-Governor Brownback directed that not a single dollar of taxpayer money go to Planned Parenthood through our Medicaid program.

These were the main focus of Governor Brownback’s State of the State speech, we will see which of these items will exactly flow through the legislative process during this session.

The Governor’s Budget Proposal
The morning following the State of the State speech, members from the House Appropriations Committee, on which I serve, and the Senate Ways and Means Committee held a joint committee meeting to review the Governor’s submitted budget proposal.

Budget Director, Shawn Sullivan addressed the main components of the Governor’s proposal and adjustments to the 2016 and 2017 budgets, both in revenue streams and expenditures that would provide for an ending balance for the 2016 fiscal year of $35.1 million dollars and an ending balance for fiscal year 2017 of $87.9 million. For both years, we will need to take legislative action in the form of a rescission bill for fiscal year 2016 and a supplemental bill for fiscal year 2017.

For more information on the budget, visit the Kansas Division of Budget’s website at https://budget.ks.gov.

The Kansas Efficiency Study
Last year, the Legislature appropriated up to $3 million dollars specifically for the purpose of contracting an auditing firm to evaluate the agencies and departments of the state of Kansas with the intent to identify monetary efficiencies. Last summer, the firm of Alvarez & Marsal on the bid at the price of $2.6 million, and quickly began evaluating the state of Kansas’ books.

On Tuesday, during our Appropriations Committee meeting, auditors from Alvarez & Marsal presented their 105 recommendations, which would provide $2.04 billion in benefits to the state over the next year.

Some of the recommendations that they addressed were:

• Procurement, which is the purchase of goods and services by agencies and other state-funded entities, could possibly save the state over $100 million over the five year period.
• By changing the way the state bids out, purchases, and administers its insurance policies,
  savings of over $170 million could be generated over a five year period.
• Several changes were recommended for the Department of Corrections that could provide $40 million in benefits over the next five years.
• Proposals for the Department of Children and Families could generate a savings of $19 million over the next five years, which would include measures to improve child support collections, an area where Kansas lags behind other states. The merger of certain field offices was also recommended.
• The Department of Transportation could produce savings or additional revenue totaling $80 million through consolidation, sponsorships, and the selling of equipment.
• The Department of Revenue could generate $381 million, without raising taxes, namely by filling 68 positions within the department.
• Allowing all school districts to participate in the State Health Insurance and benefits plan would save taxpayers $360 million over five years.

Some of the recommendations can be handled administratively, while others will require legislative action.

These are just a few of the suggestions that were presented by Alvarez & Marsal this week. They are still conducting a review of the state’s agencies and departments and will present their final analysis in February 2016.

Current Legislation and Contact Information
Even though it is only the first week of the 2016 Legislative Session, we having been moving at a quick pace. Already this week we have voted on two House bills.

One of those bills is House Substitute for House Bill 2151. This bill would amend the current law concerning grand juries summoned by petition, which is a practice commonly referred to as a citizens grand jury. The bill would allow the person who filed the petition and that person’s attorney to witness the instructions given to the grand jury, after it is summoned, however not before deliberations. There is no fiscal note with its passage.This bill was debated and passed on the House floor on Thursday, January 14, 2016.

If you have any concerns, feel free to contact my office at (785) 296-7672, visit www.troywaymaster.com or email me at [email protected]

The honor to serve you in the 109th Kansas House District and the state of Kansas is one I do not take lightly. Do not hesitate to contact me with your thoughts, concerns and questions. I appreciate hearing from the residents of the 109th House District and others from the state of Kansas.

Rep. Troy L. Waymaster

Farmers markets across the state are doing much more than just providing a source of fresh local food. The vendors offering their products, as well as consumers taking advantage of those items are also stimulating the local economy. There are now 130 active farmers markets in Kansas compared to the 26 in operation in 1987.

To help current and prospective market vendors, a regional Farmers Market Vendor Workshop will be held on Friday, January 29 at the KSU Ag Research Center Auditorium, 1232 240th Avenue in Hays. The workshop is co-sponsored by K-State Research and Extension and the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s From the Land of Kansas trademark program.

The program will be held from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Speakers, breakout sessions and panelists will provide helpful information for those who want to capitalize on the popularity of farmers markets in Kansas. Topics include Kansas sales tax requirements, food safety inspection requirements, value-added food product safety, accepting Kansas benefit cards and planning your production planting for market season. Vendor panels will share tips on setting prices, attracting repeat customers, merchandising techniques, social media marketing and other best practices. Ellis County vendors Tatum Kimzey and Shaun Musil will be included among the program speakers.
“Selling items directly to consumers through farmers markets provides producers a chance to develop their own business, but it has its own set of legal, safety and financial issues that vendors need to understand before choosing this marketing tool,” said Londa Nwadike, a consumer food safety specialist with K-State Research and Extension and the University of Missouri.

While vendors selling food items such as fresh vegetables, baked goods and homemade jams and jellies have special guidelines they need to understand, vendors selling other items (crafts, jewelry, wood-working, etc) will also find useful information at the workshop.

The early-bird registration deadline is January 19. A fee of $20 per person will cover the costs of the conference, including lunch. A $5 charge will be added for those who register after January 19 or at the door. Lunch cannot be guaranteed for walk-in registrations.

Registration information for the January 29 workshop in Hays, an agenda for the day and an online registration form can be found at www.fromthelandofkansas.com/FMConference.

The Hays workshop is one of four regional farmers market vendor training conferences offered across the state in January, February and March. For dates and registration information for other locations, see www.fromthelandofkansas.com/FMConference.

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

The beginning of a new year provides the opportunity to look back and resolve to improve. Improvement means kicking bad habits for some, losing weight, or some other positive life change. Here in Kansas, the New Year of renewal is punctuated by a new legislative session, which gaveled open earlier this week. What New Year’s resolutions have Kansas political figures chosen? I have some ideas:

• The Kansas Legislature: Stop Procrastinating. The House should have learned from last year’s exercise in hubris that they must address their issues early. Waiting until late in the session to produce a budget and panicking into overtime gave the legislature a black eye from which it has not recovered. In an election year, legislators simply cannot afford more bad publicity. The Legislature should vow not to waste daylight in 2016.

• The Kansas Department of the Budget Consensus Revenue Estimating Group: Adopting a New Forecasting Model. The “Glide Path to Zero” tax plan has been brutal on the Kansas budget, but the optics of revenues are worthy of attention as well. The Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG) has over-estimated state revenues for almost every month of the last two years. News reports of below-expected revenues have dogged the Brownback Administration and have called the CREG’s ability to forecast into doubt. It’s hard enough to budget under declining revenues but when income fails to make expectation it’s even harder.

• The Kansas Democratic Party: Decisiveness. The Democrats in Kansas have a decision to make. Go all-in on trying to pick off state legislators in 2016 or continue working on their organization in preparation for an all-out assault on the Governor’s mansion for 2018. But the time to decide is now. After snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in 2014, Democrats in the state have had some time to lick wounds and reflect on their missed opportunities. Making a wise decision to focus their attention on not making the same mistakes of 2014 would make a Democratic candidate for governor much more viable in 2018, when Governor Sam Brownback is barred from seeking office again.

• Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer: Get to Know Me. Lieutenant governors are often as visible as Wonder Woman’s plane, and Colyer has only been an exception when his contributions to the Brownback re-election effort came under scrutiny. But Colyer has recently raised his profile, largely testing the waters for a 2018 gubernatorial run. Colyer’s tenure has been undistinguished, but in a multi-way Republican primary his connections to the state GOP machinery could be a significant advantage. Colyer’s biggest issue, besides the campaign contributions, is low name recognition versus other viable Republican possibilities like Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Secretary and State Kris Kobach. So if Colyer is serious about a run in 2018, he needs to start sharing his story with Kansas.

• Moderate Kansas Republicans: Aggression. Since being decimated in 2012, moderate Republicans have kept a low profile, which some interpreted as their demise. However, five moderate Republicans have already filed against incumbents for the August primaries, suggesting that the center-right might be in play for a return to the legislature in 2016. To do so, though, they will need a strong candidate base, and even stronger campaign infrastructure. Without an aggressive campaign, moderates will not have the success they are striving for in 2016.

Kansas is facing great challenges, and looking back on the travails of the last five years give political figures a good opportunity to figure out how to make 2016 a better year. For all our sakes, best of luck to them all.

Chapman Rackaway is a Professor of Political Science at Fort Hays State University.

No! Look over there, in the bushes!

It happened again last Friday, the masterful misdirection of the Kansas news media just a couple days before the opening of the Kansas Legislature’s 2016 session, and that misdirection was by Gov. Sam Brownback, who is giving his sixth State of the State address this week.

Presumably there won’t be much good news in the gubernatorial address that kicks off the session. The budget has crashed and it’s going to take cuts and shuffles because the governor isn’t interested in increasing taxes again this session.

So, what’s over there in the bushes to distract us?

Well, the governor was quick to release the campaign finance report for how he and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer did at raising money during 2015. Didn’t do too badly, really, raising more than $500,000 in contributions to a campaign that will never face the voters again due to the two-term limit on Kansas governors.

After legal expenses and other spending needed to keep the office’s political side running, Colyer was repaid his last $100,000 in loans to the 2014 campaign. And, Brownback and his wife Mary got $100,000 of the $200,000 they lent to the campaign returned. The troupe wound up with about $50,000 in the campaign fund, probably enough to be sociable at GOP events and figure how to convince voters to chip in a little more in the next two years so that Brownback and spouse can be repaid.

You’d hate to see a governor’s office with a tip jar on the desk, wouldn’t you?

And, then there was that other diversion from the business of running a nearly broke state government…

Yes, it was expanding that gubernatorial order that discourages refugees from Mideast wars from entering Kansas.

Remember awhile back, when Brownback issued an order prohibiting any state agency—with Kansas money or even federal grant money—from doing anything to bring Syrian refugees to Kansas? After the Paris attack, and the San Bernardino, Calif., attack, well, it seemed like a time to toughen things up for refugee immigrants coming to Kansas.

So, last Friday seemed like a strategically good time to talk protection of Kansans from…well, not only Syrians, but how about their friends, maybe Canadians coming into Kansas where they represent a potential danger to Kansans.

At this point in the terrorism frenzy, we’d figure that anything that sounds like it keeps terrorists, or their friends, out of the Sunflower State is a good idea, never mind that many of those Middle Eastern refugees are fleeing their home countries to save their lives and the lives of their families.

Kansas, Brownback reminds us, is a warm-hearted state, willing to assist those in need, but we want someone presumably in the federal government to guarantee us that any refugees coming into the state—even those under-populated Rural Opportunity Zones—are safe as actuaries. Nobody, of course, wants terrorists slipping through the system, moving in and killing Kansans.

Nobody knows how anyone in the federal government can assure Kansas—or at least Brownback or the Kansas Department for Children and Families—that those refugees have nothing dangerous in mind. That’s probably impossible, but the Immigration and Naturalization Service does extensive background checks on the folks seeking refuge in the U.S. It hasn’t worked all the time.

In terms of specifically protecting the safety of Kansans, well, there’s no vetting of folks who cross the border from Missouri, but the international flavor of the latest executive order tends to divert our attention from dangers from Americans.

While Kansans are watching the governor’s bank account and terrorist immigration dangers, well, we have this 2016 legislative session starting, and while there are tax, budget, school, social welfare and other issues blazing, the distraction is a pretty good one for the purposes of the governor.

We’ll see how this works out…

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

Even in a world filled with fears and frets, you have some control over your health and happiness. College of Human Ecology researchers at Kansas State University offer advice to help you survive and thrive in 2016.

Be a loving partner
Jared Durtschi, assistant professor of marriage and family therapy, has one word for people who want to build a stronger romantic relationship: sacrifice.

In our culture, it is common for us to value our own wants and needs more than those of others. Unfortunately, research shows that this type of self-centered approach has the tendency to erode romantic relationships.

Durtschi studied 260 married couples across four years to determine which of among 25 specific observed behaviors demonstrated by each spouse best predicted the quality of the relationship.

“What I found surprised me,” he said. “The most consistent and strongest predictor of relationship quality was the willingness to change one’s own behavior and comply with the needs of the partner. In other words, sacrificing.”
To strengthen a romantic relationship, Durtschi suggests both partners assess how they can do a better job at putting their partner’s wants, wishes, hopes and preferences before their own.

Be money savvy
According to a study by the American Psychological Association in 2014, money is the top stressor for Americans. For couples, research has demonstrated that money is one of the most intensely argued about topics, which can have negative impact on a relationship.

However, if couples have shared goals and values and engage in positive communication tactics, such as no yelling, they are more likely to resolve their conflicts and satisfaction with the relationship goes up, said Kristy Archuleta, associate professor of personal financial planning, and licensed marriage and family therapist.

She advises couples start the new year by discussing their hopes for the future and then identifying short-term — one year or less — and longer-term goals. Develop a spending plan to help achieve those goals.

One of the most important things, Archuleta said, is for couples to regularly talk to one another about their financial goals and how they are going to continue to work toward reaching them.

Be active
Emily Mailey, assistant professor of kinesiology, studies working parents’ struggles to establish an exercise program.
Especially for busy people, Mailey recommends rethinking what counts as exercise.

Find little ways to add movement to your day, even if it’s just using the restroom on a different floor, or dancing around with your kids while you’re making dinner. An activity tracker is a great motivator to accumulate more steps throughout the day.

Being active with others makes the activity more enjoyable and helps keep you accountable, she said. “If you don’t love exercise, but you value time with your friends, combining the two can make doing the activity more meaningful to you.”

Set small, manageable goals and plan ahead, Mailey said. Put your exercise sessions on the calendar at the beginning of each week, then bring your gym bag to work, sleep in your exercise clothes, or do whatever you need to do to follow through.
Be smart at the table

Start to improve your eating habits with an honest assessment, recommends Jennifer Hanson, assistant professor of human nutrition and a registered dietitian.

Hanson suggests keeping a food diary for three to five days. Compare what you typically eat to the guidelines at www.choosemyplate.gov.

Once you identify an area for improvement, set goals that are realistic. For example, research has shown that most Americans fall short when it comes to eating enough fruits and vegetables. Replacing a bag of chips with a side salad or fruit at lunch is a small change that will have positive effects.  Preparing more meals at home will allow you to control portion sizes

Good nutrition does not have to be complicated, Hanson said. It is about identifying those things we need to improve and then taking incremental steps to get there.

Be grateful
People who express their gratitude for the good things in their lives feel more happiness and optimism, have better health, deal better with adversity, and build stronger relationships than those who do not, according to Amber Vennum, assistant professor at Kansas State University’s School of Family Studies and Human Services.

In romantic relationships, researchers find that taking the time to express gratitude to your partner may increase how positive you feel about your partner as well as increase your comfort with expressing concerns in the relationship.
Expressing gratitude isn’t ignoring the bad; it’s paying special attention to what is working in order to increase your ability to navigate the tough times, she said.

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

The recent crises at the Osawatomie State Hospital are about much more than accreditation and oversight. They are part of a larger story of neglect toward the mentally ill, now lasting for a half century and counting.

The Osawatomie story is harrowing: a staff member raped by a patient, with subsequent investigations uncovering additional abuses, inadequate oversight of the patients, and staffing problems. Federal officials threaten to suspend Medicare payments to Osawatomie, while Miami County government leaders demand solutions.

Political scientists call this “fire alarm oversight.” The legislature steps in when there is a highly-publicized, immediate crisis. Unfortunately, initiating new procedures at Osawatomie will not fix the underlying problem.

From the nineteenth century to the 1950s, Kansas followed national trends by placing those diagnosed as mentally ill into large, state institutions. Osawatomie State Hospital was just such a place, housed back then in a medieval-looking brick building, since closed. Conditions were often horrific. Patients—including children–were given improperly-administered electroshock therapy and heavy medication. Some were involuntarily sterilized or lobotomized. The 1962 book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest made many Americans aware of these horrors, until then largely out of sight, out of mind for most people. It later became a popular movie starting Jack Nicholson.

Also in the 1960s, the trend moved toward “deinstitutionalization”: the mentally ill were to be released from state hospitals and placed in community-based care. Patients would live in group homes run by nonprofits, with relatives, or even independently, checking in periodically to state clinics where they could check their dosages of medicine, get talk therapy, and get help finding appropriate jobs and other things to do. That was also a time of great hopes for newer, better, less-intrusive medications.

Things then went sideways due to lack of funding. The anti-tax climate of the late 1970s left state policymakers desperate for funding cuts, and the possibilities of deinstitutionalization were too good to ignore. The new goal was cost containment, not compassionate care. State hospitals lost too many beds to treat those who still needed inpatient supervision, while many of the deinstitutionalized joined the ranks of the homeless, due to inadequate follow-up care.

A good example of these intermingled trends occurred here in the 1990s, when Kansas closed the Winfield and Topeka State Hospitals. There was concern about the quality of patient care in these aging facilities—but their closing was also a tempting target for budget cuts. On the other hand, Wyandotte County legislators have fought for years to keep the tiny Rainbow Mental Health facility from suffering the same fate.

What now? Shall the state make a true commitment to care for those with mental illnesses, fully funding community-based, follow-up care for those who can use it, while also insuring adequate beds and sufficient staffing at state hospitals for those who need round-the-clock supervision? As things stand, most care for the mentally ill is left to the police, prisons and emergency rooms. Not understanding social norms, the mentally ill are often in trouble. Unfortunately, police officers lack the proper training to respond to them. The harsh, authoritarian tone police use to keep order is exactly what provokes a panicked, even violent response from someone with schizophrenia or other disorders. Nor do prisons or regular hospitals have the training or staffing to cope with the special needs of this population.

Proper, fully-funded care for the mentally ill would allow the police, prison, and emergency room staff to return to the jobs for which they trained, reduce the crime rate, and lower stress on affected families. It would offer hope to patients themselves, some of whom are suffering in ways that few others can imagine. In short, it is the right thing to do—but are we willing to pay for it?

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

I make few if any new year’s resolutions, but this year I’ve decided that 2016 is the year when I will take up smoking. For some time I’ve wanted to learn how, and since making my resolution I’ve been doing lots of research. As with any other subject, the internet teems with “how-to” information on learning to smoke, and as it turns out smoking is actually very healthy….Oh, I can see now that this all sounds bad. What I mean is I’ve decided 2016 is the year when I will learn to smoke meat!

Last year I bought a nice little Char Broil charcoal grill at a garage sale. The guy said he used it to smoke, but my first and only attempt at using it as a smoker fell flatter than western Kansas and I was ready to declare that smoking meat was just not for me. A couple weeks ago at a Sunday school Christmas party, one guy brought a turkey he had smoked and another brought a smoked pork shoulder. That was it; I had to learn how to do that.

Smoking is the art of slowly cooking with some sort of offset heat, unlike grilling, and adding certain wood, woodchips or pellets to give the meat or vegetables a smoky flavor. Commercial smokers are available in several styles and homemade smokers can be made from old tanks, refrigerators, freezers and almost anything else that can be turned into a fairly airtight structure where the heat and smoke can be controlled to cook the product slowly. The only thing limiting homemade smoker vessels is the imagination.

Smokers fall into one of two styles, vertical or offset, and into one of five categories; pellet smokers, propane smokers, electric smokers, charcoal smokers and wood smokers.

Vertical smokers place the heat source at the bottom and the cooking surface directly above, diverting the heat and smoke somehow to make it indirect. Offset smokers place the heat source off to one side of the cooking surface and draw the heat and smoke in and around the meat.

Pellet smokers have an offset firebox, usually with an apparatus that automatically feeds pellets to the fire; they are noted for their simplicity. Propane heat can be used with most any smoker design and propane smokers are also known for their simplicity. Electric burners can also be used as the heat source, also making for an easily-operated-smoker, and are often used in a vertical cabinet of some sort. Both charcoal and wood can be used as the heat source for either vertical or offset style smokers. Although known as the trickiest to control both temperature and smoke application, wood and charcoal smoked meats are known for their taste.

Pellets and woodchips can be purchased in different varieties. Pellets are the heat and smoke source for pellet smokers and woodchips are added as the smoke source for propane, electric and charcoal smokers. Fruit and nut tree woods of various kinds are used as both the heat and smoke source for wood smokers.

As I said, the internet simply teems with information about smoking meat. A wonderful website is www.smokingmeat.com that has all manner of different links from discussion forums to recipes and even a classified section where you can buy used smokers and equipment. I will either rebuild my little Char Broil grill or start from scratch and build what I want. In the meantime, learn to smoke (meat) and continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.

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