Dear Constituent,

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I’ve been inside voting or outside observing the legislature for more than 18 years and it was a year to remember. We passed some good, killed some bad. Some good bills were killed and some bad bills got through. This was the shortest session in anyone’s memory, recent or otherwise, and the campaign cycle has officially begun. Do you sense a “but” coming?

The only caveat to that is the Kansas Supreme Court’s consideration of the school finance bill detailed below.

SCHOOL FINANCE
My colleague, Rep. Melissa Rooker, is well-versed in all things K-12 education and she produced a series of reports detailing the cost studies commissioned, House’s work on education this year, the bill sent to the Court at the end of the regular session (SB 423), the $80 million drafting error included in the bill, and the “trailer bill” to fix that error. For an easy-to-read, thorough, and well-cited overview of the education process this year, I highly encourage you read the series.

When we came back to session on April 26, we had two jobs – pass the budget to “true up” the budget passed last year with this year’s actual revenues, and pass a “trailer bill” to fix the error mentioned above. We did both, to varying degrees of success, depending on where you sit.

House Substitute for Senate Bill 61 (H Sub SB 61) became a compromise of fixing the drafting error and some taking the opportunity to include further policy measures some weren’t able to slide into the last bill. It includes a requirement for all districts to have at least a 15% Local Option Budget (LOB) which is derived from local property taxes levied by our school board. Most districts have far higher than that already, but the bill seeks to ensure districts aren’t keeping local taxes down in order to secure more funding from the state. How LOB is derived will also change by using the current year’s funding total instead of the previous year, which will make the overall amount higher.

The original bill (SB 423) increases per pupil spending by $548, which, adjusted for inflation still would not meet what funding would have been had the legislature maintained the level of funding deemed constitutional following the 2005 Gannon lawsuit. The bill includes some positive steps:

• Infusing new money into 4-year old at-risk programs and expanding them to 3-year olds if classes are not full.
• Adds more than $74 million in special education funding over five years, and
• Launches a mental health pilot project to partner community mental health centers and school districts to work together to improve mental health among our students.

If you take last year’s bill and combine it with this year’s bill, the increases are as follows:

Year-Over-Year Increase
2017-18 194,705,228
2018-19 189,428,148
2019-20 105,500,000
2020-21 105,500,000
2021-22 113,100,000
2022-23 115,500,000
6-yr. total 823,733,376

The bill passed the Senate, 31-8, and the House, 92-27. I voted yes.

Specific to my constituents, our districts will see the following in new money:

Victoria: $82,155
Hays: $647,415

TAX CUTS
There’s nothing more appropriate than a description of the hundreds-of-millions we need to put in to properly fund our schools, than to follow that conversation with one about tax cuts. It was odd to many of us as well. I like lower taxes as much as the next guy, but we have a documented recent history of not running our government well. With just one year under our belts following the 2017 tax changes which brought thousands of Kansans back onto the tax rolls, we are still uncertain of the long-term impacts of the law.

To add further confusion, the ink is barely dry on the federal tax law and many wanted to make massive tax cuts hoping the dice would fall in our favor. I will support tax cuts when we are performing the basic operations of government at a functional level. We began that path last year and in order to keep that positive change, we cannot reverse course to the errors of 2012 and the sales tax increases that followed.

Last year’s bill phased in the restoration of tax deductions eliminated during Brownback’s reign, with full deductibility of medical expenses, mortgage interest, and property taxes paid by 2020. Among other sweeping changes, this bill would have sped that up to next year and allowed those who do not itemize on their federal taxes to itemize on their state taxes.

Now is the time to:

• Restore more than $2 billion borrowed from KDOT in the last eight years,
• Repay the “loan” from the KPERS program and begin to shore up its unfunded liability,
• Pay state employees a competitive wage so those with oversight of foster families know what they’re doing and families provide a safe home, and we have enough corrections and mental hospital employees to maintain safe employee-to-inmate/patient ratios.

There are about 25 other examples I could list, but you get the idea. Now is the time for proactive, pragmatic action, not another ill-advised and ill-timed tax cut.

The Senate passed it, 21-19, but the House killed it for lack of 63 votes, 59-59. I voted NO.

BUDGET
Last year, when we crafted the two-year budget bill for July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018 and July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019, we used well-researched estimates to decide how much to spend on what. With the 2017 tax bill seeing its first tax year come to fruition, we needed to amend that budget to reflect revenue changes and increases in caseloads for Medicaid and other program beneficiaries. This “supplemental” budget (House Substitute for Senate Bill 109) made additional strides toward fixing the way Kansas government runs, but still relies partially on borrowing from KDOT, not repaying a loan from KPERS, and other shell games.

However, I supported this budget because it is a step in the right direction. It would be financially irresponsible and unsustainable to make all the budgetary changes many of us think should happen in just one or two years. Recovering from the Brownback years will take a decade, many have said, and in the process, we will slowly begin to repay the record debt those years created.

Of the high points, we began the process of restoring the disastrous cuts to our higher education system and increased state employee pay again after years without raises:

• $15 million for higher education will include $637,554 for Fort Hays State, $1.9 million for KSU, $2.6 million for KU, and another $2.1 million for the medical school.
• State employees not included in last year’s raise will see an 5% increase, and those from last year will receive another 2.5% increase this year.
• Proactive investments like early childhood education and the State Water Plan were also included:
  $1 million for Parents As Teachers
  $1 million for Tiny-K
  $4.2 million for a Pre-K Pilot project
  More than $3 million for various water plan projects

I’m thrilled our seniors and their nursing facilities will begin to see better treatment from the Medicaid program via increased reimbursement rates to the tune of $22 million.

Finally, I supported an effort to keep Kansas taxpayers from paying more than $51,000 in legal fees assessed to Secretary of State Kris Kobach due to contempt charges levied against him during his most recent court case. The Senate stripped that language out of the budget bill.

When all was said and done, this is a much better budget than the legislature has seen in recent years. It passed the Senate, 26-14, and the House, 98-23, I voted yes.

It is a special honor to serve as your state representative. I both value and need your input on the various issues facing state government. Please feel free to contact me with your comments and questions. My office address is Room 43-S, 300 SW 10th, Topeka, KS 66612. You can reach me at (785) 296-4683 or call the legislative hotline at 1-800-432-3924 to leave a message for me. Additionally, you can e-mail me at [email protected]. You can also follow the legislative session online at www.kslegislature.org.

Warmer weather means gardens, birds, spring cleaning, walks, fishing and more. For many, scores of garage sale ads make up for a long winter without a reuse or recycle fix. There’s a whole group of folks whose guilty pleasure involves sorting through unwanted belongings, hoping to score treasure.

As a kid, I attended church rummage sales with mom or gramma. These involved tables full of well-worn clothing or outmoded hats. Unlike our daughters and grands, I didn’t anticipate weekly scavenger hunts where I might find already broken-in jeans, cowboy boots, denim jackets, camo, hunting and fishing supplies (including a Herter’s crow call), a favorite game piece, a specialized cooking utensil, or funky décor to sizzle up outfits and rooms.

While garage sales potentially interest anyone, they’re perfect for dressing children. Considering kids outgrow clothing before it wears out, these weekend sprees offer a budget Godsend. Expect to find quality jeans, tops, shoes, and coats for pennies on the dollar. Of course, you have to factor in added expense for toys your kids latch onto while you upgrade their wardrobe.

As a result of these trips, our girls had more playthings than they needed. Ditto for the grands. Their moms find clever sandboxes, motorized bikes and cars, doll houses, and more for prices that don’t break the bank. Oftentimes, these items are in excellent condition and can be resold when the sprouts outgrow them. It makes financial sense to practice a reduce, reuse, recycle policy.

That said, my favorite part of garage sale-ing is discovering treasures I didn’t know I needed. Some shoppers hit the streets each Friday and Saturday with a specific list. Others count on serendipity to bless their adventure. With our kids are grown, I’ve joined the second group, which adds a new level of anticipation to the experience.

I’ve picked up clam shells big enough to serve as bathroom sinks and a conch larger than a basketball. One now showcases rocks, the other necklaces. This decades’ long addiction helped me build an extensive shell collection. These finds pushed it over the top.

In addition, cool kitchen gadgets and cookware from American history wait to be reused. I didn’t even know about springform pans for making cheese cake til I found one at a garage sale. Now, it’s a kitchen essential. Recently, I picked up a never-used ceramic tart pan for a dollar. While I use it only once or twice a year, it didn’t cost an arm and a leg so there’s no guilt.

This doesn’t cover vintage finds that include everything from Civil War letters to handcrafted lace doilies to WW II Ration books, stamps, and magazines. These discoveries make a history lover salivate. You never know when you’ll score the find that fills a hole in your collection. As a bonus, you often get the item’s background story.

I hesitated to share my love for this guilty pleasure for fear it might increase competition. However, the growing numbers of advertisements lead me to believe good deals await anyone willing to hit the road to find them.

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

My wife and I often pass the hours spent in a hunting blind by making up animal conversations for various situations.

On a fall turkey hunt years ago, we had our hunting blind set up near an old feedlot. The owner had round bales stored there and a tractor path wound around through the bales. The turkeys followed the tractor path through the bales and into the pasture surrounding the old feedlot. We put a couple hen turkey decoys just across the fence into the pasture and settled in to our blind. The resident cattle soon came to see what was up, and became enamored with the decoys.

You could almost sense their thoughts, so we named the cows Clara, Elsie, Audrey and Bessie, and imagined their conversation something like this; “They look like turkeys, but they sure don’t move much,” Clara thought starring at the decoys. Elsie added “Turkeys stink but these things smell like tractor tires or something. Let’s all run at them and see if they scatter and make those same funny noises turkeys make when we almost step on them.” Audrey weighed in “No I’m pretty sure they aren’t real turkeys – if they were they’d be eatin’ corn out of our poo right now.” Bessie said “Girls I’ve got an idea – let’s all back up and try to pee on them and see if they run like they usually do.”

Perhaps the funniest animal conversation we ever conjured up came about at an old farmstead where we hunt deer. The abandoned farmyard sits back a long lane and we park our pickup there and walk to the nearby deer blind. We know deer routinely wonder through the farmyard and around the old buildings, so we tried to imagine how they would react to our truck sitting there if they wandered through as we sat in the blind. Here’s the scene: One morning as we sit there in our deer blind, two deer, Bucky and Chloe wonder through and come upon our pickup in the drive.

“See Bucky,” Chloe states “I told you I smelled them again.” Bucky rests his chin on the hood of the pickup and replies “Yup, sure enough. Hoods still warm, they’re here somewhere.” “What doofuses,” Chloe retorts with disgust as she turns and begins to walk away. Meanwhile Bucky jumps up and sprawls out across the hood of the pickup with his front legs sticking out in front of him and his back legs out behind him, rolls his eyes back into his head and hangs his tongue out the side of his mouth.

“Chloe hears the commotion, and just as she turns around Bucky calls out “Ohhhhh Chloe, they got me!” “You get off there this instant,” Chloe scolds. “That’s not funny at all anymore, especially after you got shot in the butt last season!”

The nursing/retirement home where I used to work has two dementia units and I often marveled at the strange things the residents there with dementia would say and think. Making up animal conversations may see pretty weird and even goofy, but I can only hope that filling my mind with silliness like that now will help me ramble on about silly stuff like that when I get dementia rather than being mean & nasty and cussin’ all the time!

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

Teachers touch the lives of all of us, and at the vulnerable ages of school children, teachers have such power to change lives.

It is remarkable to remember that many of the teachers in the one-room country schools were teenagers.

Isaac Werner describes in his journal a snowstorm that raced across the prairie, dropping temperatures dangerously, even indoors. 

Sometimes teachers stayed in the schools overnight to avoid making daily trips to and from distant homes, and apparently young Miss Goodwin was doing that the night the blizzard arrived.  Isaac recorded that she suffered severe frost bite to her hands at the school house during the storm.

Not all the teachers were young single women, however.

My great grandmother, Susan Beck, taught in the one-room schools in her community.  Her daughter, Anna Marie Beck, followed in her mother’s footsteps to begin teaching when she was still in her teens and devoted her life to education, as a teacher, a superintendent, the Stafford County Superintendent, and working in the education department in the state capital in Topeka.

The recent series sharing the 1895 8th Grade examinations showed the challenging curriculum these teachers, many of whom were quite young themselves, were expected to teach.  The influence of teachers, then and now, may be the most important profession in our nation.

When I was a college student at Fort Hays State University majoring in elementary education, part of my required training was Practice Teaching. 

I was assigned to a Master Teacher at Lincoln School in Hays, Kansas.  She was incredible, and more than all my classes, although they were important in training me, my master teacher taught me how to teach.  Her life lessons have stayed with me long past my years as a teacher.  Unfortunately, I had forgotten her name.  I looked for it in my old college year books, but she was not a regular faculty member, so her name was not listed.  I had given up on finding her name in order to thank her.

Recently, I was attending a luncheon at my alma mater and found myself seated next to a woman who had been an education major at the same time I was.  I happened to mention my respect for the Practice Teacher I had and my disappointment in having failed to locate her name in order to thank her.  Based on my description, the woman said, “I believe you are describing Emma Kolb.”

It is amazing how often serendipity leads us the things that had eluded us.  Sadly, Emma Kolb died in 2016, making it impossible for me to thank her for the positive influence she had on my life.  This blog is my way to say thank you, to her and all the teachers who influence the lives of students in Lyn ways that positively change their futures.

Emma Kolb was born May 21, 1918 and died November 20, 2016.  She began teaching in 1937 at Zion, Rush County, Kansas, and later, taught at Lincoln Elementary School in Hays, Kansas for 33 years.  Following retirement, she volunteered there for an additional 22 years.  She was named a Kansas Master Teacher and was inducted into the Kansas Teacher Hall of Fame.  She was often heard to say, “Remember, children are not your job; they are your privilege.”

One of the things she taught me was never to avoid admitting I did not know the answer to a question a child asked.  Rather, to tell them, ‘I don’t know the answer to your question, but it is a good question and I will look that up and share the answer with you later.” 

For the many things you taught me that have influenced me beyond the classroom, thank you Miss Kolb.  I wish I could have told you that, but perhaps I was mature enough to tell you that when my time under your tutelage ended.  If not, perhaps teachers reading this blog will be reminded of how much what they do is appreciated, even when students forget to tell them.

Lyn Fenwick, Macksville, is a graduate of Fort Hays State University. She has a weekly blog and is working on a manuscript about a Kansas homesteader and the Populist Movement.

Watch the Eagle Community TV Forum interview about the Wizard of Oz collection of Lyn and her husband Larry Fenwick.

Are weeds showing up in your new alfalfa?  If they get thick, your alfalfa will suffer.  Check your fields today after listening to some options to control those weeds. 

Alfalfa seedlings compete poorly with weeds.  Control decisions can be difficult.  Vigorous weed growth this spring might be making it extra tough for your seedlings to compete with these weeds.

When weeds, especially broadleaf weeds, threaten seedling alfalfa, one common method to control them is mowing.  If used, adjust mowing height so several leaves remain on alfalfa seedlings after clipping to help your alfalfa seedlings regrow rapidly.  Also, do not smother small seedlings with clippings.  So mow weeds before they get so tall that they produce a large quantity of clippings.

If you would rather spray broadleaf weeds than mow them, use either Buctril, Butyrac, Pursuit, or Raptor.  Buctril controls most small broadleaf weeds fairly inexpensively, but alfalfa injury can occur when temperatures exceed 80 degrees.  If you expect those high temperatures when you spray, it might be better to use Butyrac, Pursuit, or Raptor.  These herbicides control most small broadleaf weeds, but weeds must be less than three inches tall or results will be inconsistent.  Pursuit and Raptor are more expensive but their soil activity will continue to control weeds throughout much of the season.

Mowing is not very effective with grassy weeds.  To kill grassy weeds use Poast or Select.  Use the appropriate adjuvant and make sure you spray before grasses get 4 inches tall or control will be spotty.

Weeds reduce growth of new alfalfa by shading and competing for moisture.  You can prevent these problems by acting quickly.  Exam your fields soon and control weeds as needed.
 
BE READY FOR FIRST CUTTING
Got all your corn planted?  Working on the beans?  Don’t look now, but alfalfa harvest is approaching fast. 

You’ve been busy planting crops and getting work done with the late start this spring.  But don’t relax just yet because your alfalfa soon may be ready to cut.

Being aggressive on the first cutting is critical if high forage quality is needed.  Alfalfa’s forage quality changes faster during the first spring growth than at any other time of the year.  Plants are maturing and temperatures are increasing; both cause quality to decline.  So don’t delay if high quality is needed.

But what about alfalfa for beef cows?  That might be a little different story, especially if you need to rebuild hay supplies.  Normally we get our highest total yield by waiting until alfalfa is near full bloom.  Not only is yield highest, this also uses available soil moisture most efficiently for alfalfa growth.  Some dryland fields may need quite a bit more rain for good summer and fall harvests since many deep subsoils remain dry.  But with a good first cut you at least will have some hay of good enough quality to feed your beef cows next winter.

Timing of hay harvest is important whether your needs are for high quality or for high yield.  With alfalfa becoming ready to cut soon this spring, don’t miss your best time.

Alicia Boor is an Agriculture and Natural Resources agent in the Cottonwood District (which includes Barton and Ellis counties) for K-State Research and Extension. You can contact her by e-mail at [email protected] or calling 620-793-1910.

Rightly or wrongly, certain First Amendment issues tend to dominate the national conversation more than others. Bring up President Trump’s tweets criticizing the news media, college campus protests of controversial speakers, or the possibility of the government regulating Facebook and you’re bound to inspire a rousing and possibly heated discussion. Mention that state laws protecting critical infrastructure might actually erode the right to assemble and you’re more likely get blank stares and a hasty topic change. After all, it’s an issue that combines the freedom of assembly, which barely anyone knows about, with state and local law, which barely anyone cares about. Throw in the word “infrastructure” and it’s practically anti-clickbait.

Nevertheless, it’s an issue worth paying attention to. At the end of March, legislators in Louisiana and Minnesota proposed bills that would criminalize the activities of groups protesting the construction of oil pipelines (that would be the infrastructure we’re talking about). At least five other states have passed or are attempting to pass similar laws, seemingly inspired by the protests at Standing Rock, which delayed construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization of state legislators with libertarian principles, even wrote a model policy for states to use as a template. ALEC’s rationale? “Whether it’s vandalism or protesters turned violent, a few people can cause tremendous harm to their fellow citizens by damaging critical infrastructure sites. Stopping the flow of a pipeline can cause pressure to build and puts thousands at risk of harm from an explosion. While peaceful protests are an important part of Americans’ right to free speech, causing damage and putting others at risk of harm is not.”

You may be thinking that this sounds reasonable enough. But the proposed Louisiana and Minnesota laws go beyond preventing protesters from causing damage to infrastructure. In Louisiana, it’s already a crime to trespass into a critical infrastructure facility. If the new law passes, it would be a crime to conspire to trespass into a critical infrastructure facility, one punishable by up to five years of prison. (The sentence increases to six to 20 years in prison if it’s determined that the conspiracy to trespass could lead to disruption of the infrastructure.) To be clear, the term “conspiracy” merely requires two or more people to agree to do something and at least one of them to take some action to further that objective. The proposed law also expands the definition of “critical infrastructure” to include pipeline construction sites. To review: If this law passes, a protester could go to prison for participating in a peaceful protest at a pipeline construction site…or for taking part in a discussion about that possibility.

In Minnesota, the proposed law would allow anyone who “recruits, trains, aids, advises, hires, counsels, or conspires” with someone who trespasses into a critical infrastructure facility to be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by one year in jail — or a felony, punishable by 10 years in jail, if the trespasser intended to “substantially disrupt” the facility. Again, this could mean jail time for people who simply take part in a discussion about a peaceful protest, or even people who provide protesters with water or medical attention. And as the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law puts it in their U.S. Protest Law Tracker, “the phrase ‘significantly disrupt’ could be construed to encompass peaceful protests that block access to infrastructure, for instance, which under Minnesota law is broadly defined to include bus stations and bridges.”

As Americans, one of our core freedoms is the right to assemble peacefully in a public space. Like all of our rights, it’s not without limits — the government can place restrictions on when and how we exercise it, and it can decide that certain facilities do not qualify as public spaces. But these proposed laws seem specifically designed to intimidate and dissuade people from protesting at all. If you show up for a protest that takes place in a public space near a pipeline construction site, will you face criminal charges if some of your fellow protesters start talking about trespassing onto the site? Will you face charges if you show up at a meeting to discuss ways to oppose the pipeline and the possibility of trespassing comes up? It’s hard to be certain, and that seems to be the point.

Both of these bills are currently pending (the Louisiana bill is slightly further along, having been approved by the state’s House of Representatives in April). Whether you’re a staunch environmentalist or a lover of pipelines, and however far you might live from Louisiana or Minnesota, this should concern you.

Lata Nott is executive director of the First Amendment Center of the Freedom Forum Institute. Contact her via email at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @LataNott.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have heard “straw bale gardening” being mentioned several times. So when I saw this article come out this week from KSU (Manhattan) I thought I would pass it on as I am sure this will be of interest to many of you.

Straw Bale Gardening
There has been growing interest in straw bale gardening.  What better place to try this than in Kansas where straw is so abundant.  First, some pointers.
∙    The bales mentioned here are referring to the “small” straw bales that are about 2 feet

high and 3 feet long.
∙    Place the bale on edge so the twine doesn’t rot. (On the small bales, there are usually two

strands of twine that keep the bale together running length-wise. Place the bale so that

you can see the twine on the side, horizontally.)

    ∙    Bales can be placed anywhere including concrete or asphalt.  Just make sure there is

plenty of sun and watering is convenient.

Bale Conditioning
∙    Water the bales and keep them wet for 3 days.  The bale will start to heat up as it breaks

down.
∙    On days 4, 5 and 6, sprinkle fertilizer on the top of each bale with 1 cup of ammonium

sulfate (21-0-0) or ½ cup of urea (46-0-0).  Water the fertilizer in.  This speeds the

decomposition process.
∙    On days 7, 8 and 9, continue to sprinkle fertilizer on each bale but cut the amount in half.
∙    Stop fertilizing on day 10 but keep the bale moist.
∙    Check for heat on the top of each bale for each day after day 10.  When the temperature

drops to below 100, the bale can be planted.

Planting
    ∙    Pocket Method: Make a hole for each plant several inches deep and fill with growing

medium.
∙    Flat Bed Method: Cover the top of the bale with 3 to 4 inches of growing medium.
∙    The growing medium can be well-aged manure, compost or potting soil.

Number of Plants per Bale
∙    Cantaloupe:        2
∙    Cucumber:         3-4
∙    Peppers:        3-5
∙    Squash (winter)    2
∙    Squash (summer)    2-3
∙    Tomatoes        2-3

 

Watering
Watering will be the most challenging aspect of management.  The straw will dry quickly.  A drip irrigation system on a timer can work well but may take some time to set up.  Gardeners may also use soda bottles or milk jugs to water by poking drip holes in the lid, filling with water and then turning upside down next to the target plant.
This information was taken from an excellent publication from Washington State University that includes much more detail as well as images.  See http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/FS109E/FS109E.pdf

Try it, and have some fun!

Rip Winkel is the Horticulture agent in the Cottonwood District (Barton and Ellis Counties) for K-State Research and Extension. You can contact him by e-mail at [email protected] or calling either 785-682-9430, or 620-793-1910.

By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

“All the world’s problems are solved around a kitchen table.” That statement is based on the belief that sharing food in a family setting can help people bridge their differences. Today we’ll learn about an innovative county organization which has put this concept into practice with a nationally award-winning program called Farm to Fork.

Tiya Tonn is county coordinator for Butler County Farm Bureau which conducted this program. Tiya grew up in a farming and ranching family in Reno County and Colorado. Her family later ranched in Butler County.

After college, Tiya became a farm broadcaster in Wichita and Arizona. She eventually returned to the Flint Hills, married, and became a full-time ranch mom of four kids. As the kids got older, she took on a part-time position as a county Farm Bureau coordinator and eventually became the full-time county coordinator in Butler County.

“In Butler County, we are uniquely positioned to see the impact of urban encroachment,” Tiya said. “On the west side of our county, we have the rapidly growing city of Andover, but the east side of our county is extremely rural,” Tiya said. “It’s the kind of area that doesn’t even have cell phone coverage.”

Eastern Butler County includes towns like Rosalia, population 171, and Cassoday, population 129 people. Now, that’s rural.

Butler County’s combination of urban and rural perspectives created the potential for conflict, but also opportunities.

“We are the county that should lead the state in connecting urban and rural people together,” Tiya said. Using the philosophy that all the world’s problems can be solved around a kitchen table, she suggested to the Butler County Farm Bureau Board that they host a farm event for their urban counterparts.

“We can invite them to our farms and let them put a face on our food production,” Tiya said. “We can help them understand that we are also families that are providing for our families.” The event was intended to connect urban consumers with the source of their food.

The program was titled Farm to Fork and So Much More. It consisted of a one-day tour to a dairy, winery, crop farm, ranch and hydroponic vegetable operations in Butler County, followed by a farm dinner of locally-produced products. “We had a nice crowd of about 30 people,” Tiya said. The board decided to do it again.

In August 2017 Butler County Farm Bureau hosted its second annual Farm to Fork event, and interest boomed. “I worried about filling a bus, but instead we had two full tour busses and cars following behind,” Tiya said. Speakers on the busses explained about the farms and their products. Congressman Ron Estes and all five county commissioners participated. About 160 people attended the dinner that evening at Fulton Valley Farm.

“Everything that we served was produced in Butler County,” Tiya said. Products included beef, pork, vegetables, fruit, breads, honey, cheese, milk, and eggs. (Wow, that’s my kind of county.) Food was prepared by students and faculty in the Culinary and Hospitality Institute at Butler County Community College.

Most participants came from Andover or the city of Wichita. “We had people from all different walks of life, from a minister to mommy bloggers,” Tiya said.

Farm to Fork was so successful that it won a state award from Kansas Farm Bureau. Butler County was one of only 24 counties in the nation to claim a County Activities of Excellence Award from the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The 2018 tour is scheduled to expand to include an apple and peach orchard, a haying operation, a school district farm, a scenic Flint Hills ranch, and a livestock auction. “Anytime we can share our story, it’s a win,” Tiya said.

Can all the world’s problems be solved around a kitchen table? If so, Butler County Farm Bureau is making a start by building understanding between urban and rural sectors of our population. We commend Tiya Tonn and the Butler County Farm Bureau for making a difference with this outreach to urban neighbors. They are helping bring food from Farm to Fork and fostering fellowship.

Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Legislatures are unpopular. Most voters think that legislators do little more than bicker, bicker, bicker. Major problems often go ignored, and back-room deals predominate.

There is some truth to this depressing stereotype, yet most lawmakers try to do what’s best, despite their disagreements over specifics.

What we can see, whether in Topeka or Washington, is that partisanship and centralized leadership dominate legislatures, providing little room for deliberation or – save in dire circumstances – compromise. Budget deadlines or the end of a session may force action, but day in, day out, legislative leaders often discourage productive work on serious problems.

This year, the Kansas Legislature barely managed to address the looming school finance issue, and then almost passed a rushed, ill-advised tax cut, just as the state had started to reverse its revenue swoon.

Given the need to bring together large numbers of diverse lawmakers, elected from their distinct constituencies, it is no wonder that legislating is difficult. Regardless, it is not as hard as Kansas representatives and lawmakers have made it.

To render the Legislature a bit more productive and civil, let me suggest one modest change. Legislative leaders should bring back the practice of appointing several meaningful interim committees to address thorny issues between sessions.

We do still have a few such committees, but they rarely lead to serious study of stubborn issues. Indeed, for the Senate president and the House Speaker, these committees are dangerous because they offer the possibility of reaching broad agreement on an important issue outside the majority party caucus.

Thirty or forty years ago, interim committees were plentiful and valuable; they often met for several days between sessions. In 1972 and 1973, years of intense governmental reform, more than thirty interim committees met, addressing subjects from consumer protection to education master planning to the energy crisis.

As recently as 1995, 14 committees met between sessions, and the 1980s averaged more than ten. These numbers contrast sharply with the 2011-2016 Republican era, with just 3.5 interim committees per year. In the wake of the 2016 election, interims increased to eight in 2017, but they did not shape the legislative agenda to the extent that earlier committees did.

Kansas has historically had an amateur (or maybe “semi-pro”) legislature, with its 90-day sessions and meager pay. In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, many legislators studied hard, did their homework, and with the assistance of the Legislative Research Department came to deep understanding of many issues facing the state. Interim committees served as one vehicle to enhance their knowledge, and the discussion of major issues benefited from their experiences.

Without question, there are many current legislators, such as the retiring Rep. Tom Sloan (R-Lawrence), who have gained great understanding during their service, but he stands as a contemporary exception, not the rule.

In fact, much current legislation comes pre-packaged from the right-wing universe of Americans for Prosperity and ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council).

One path to a deeper understanding of major issues is to reinvigorate the interim committee system, which could place ideology on a back burner. Perhaps ten or so such committees every year would mean that the Legislature could do a better job of hitting the ground running in an era of difficult, overlapping issues like education, mental health, Medicaid expansion, foster care, prisons, and many more.

Effectively using the June-January period could make for less bickering, less partisanship, and more coherent policy-making. Definitely worth a try.

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

The 2018 wheat crop has had it challenges to say the least. Much of the planting was late because it was too wet to get into the fields last fall. Then, that was the last measurable moisture the crop had until April. A mid-April hard freeze has also impacted some of the fields while the drought and cold spring has left the plants short and behind in development. Wheat is hardy though, and if favorable weather happens, the crop may still be close to average come harvest.

The Cottonwood District has two wheat demonstration plots out this year, one in each county.

Dr. Lucas Haag, KSRE North East Area Agronomist will be on hand to talk about the individual varieties which were planted, and how they are producing in each area. He will also discuss the different situations and stressors for this year. Eric DeWolf, KRSE Plant Pathologist will also be on hand to discuss what disease pressures are present and what to keep a lookout for coming into harvest.

At the Ellis County plot, Dr. J.P. Michaud KSRE NW area Entomologist will also be present to discuss insect populations and answer any questions that you may have.

The first plot tour will be on May 24th in Barton County beginning at 6:00. This year’s plot cooperator is Terry Reif. Directions to the field are: from Hoisington: go N. on blacktop Susank Rd. at Susank go 4 miles E. on the blacktop, turn N. onto NE40 Ave. go 1-mile N. to NE 200 Rd., turn E on 200 and go about 3/8 mile.

After the plot tour, everyone is invited to the Beaver Volunteer Fire Department located at 588 1st Ave in Beaver. Please call 620-793-1910 to RSVP for the meal following so that we have enough food for everyone.

The second plot tour will be on May 31st at 6:00 pm on L & M Farming’s ground. Directions from I-70: take the Victoria exit 168 go 2.5 miles north on Cathedral Ave./HWY. 255. Turn west onto Fairground Rd and go 1.5 miles. From Catharine: go ½ east and turn south onto 310, go 1 mile and turn east onto Fairground Rd and go 1.5 miles.

A meal and refreshments will immediately follow the field day in Victoria at the city park, beside the swimming pool on Iron Street. All interested people are invited to attend. No RSVP necessary.

Alicia Boor is an Agriculture and Natural Resources agent in the Cottonwood District (which includes Barton and Ellis counties) for K-State Research and Extension. You can contact her by e-mail at [email protected] or calling 620-793-1910.

The month of May is an especially busy season for gift-giving: graduations, Mother’s Day, baby showers, bridal showers, weddings, and other special occasions.

When we give someone a gift, we try to choose something we feel they will really like. We wrap it nicely and present it to them with great expectations. We can’t wait to see their reaction and their “thank you” is music to our ears.

The people who give gifts to us feel the same way. They want to know that their gift was received and that we enjoyed it. The best way to acknowledge the gift and express appreciation to the giver is with a written thank you note.

Proper etiquette says that for any gift received, a thank you note should be sent as soon as possible. Even in the same town between relatives, a short written thank you note acknowledging the gift and the giver should be sent within a week, if possible. A handwritten note is best, but a printed note with an original signature is an acceptable option. Do not use e-mail to send a thank-you note. A verbal thank-you can be made in addition to the written note– but not in place of it.

The Basic Etiquette of Thank You Notes
A thank you note is an expression of appreciation for a gift or thoughtful act. But the potential formality of this situation can be intimidating. Many people think that the wording has to be perfect, and this causes so much anxiety that sometimes the notes are never sent. Before all the other rules, just remember that an imperfect note that comes with heartfelt sentiment is better than a perfect note that was never written.

In order to relieve some of the anxiety on this subject, here is a simple guide to the do’s and don’ts of thank you notes:

The Do’s of Thank You Notes
Do send your thank you notes as quickly as possible. Notes may be sent on informal stationery, except for wedding thank you notes which are generally sent on formal stationery. Always make specific reference to the gift that is the subject of the note, such as “Thank you so much for the blue sweater. How did you know blue was my favorite color?”

Always send notes in the following situations:

• For wedding gifts.
• For sympathy flowers, memorial contributions or mass cards.
• To the hostess after a party that was hosted in your honor.
• For bridal or baby shower gifts.
• For gifts that were received by mail.
• After being entertained by your boss.
• For gifts received during a hospital stay.
• After being hosted as a houseguest for one or more nights (unless it’s a close relative or friend who is doing the hosting).
Thank you notes are not required in the following situations, but would still be a nice gesture:
• After being a guest at a dinner party.
• After a job interview (not required, but definitely a smart idea).
• When a friend has helped you out with a special favor such as babysitting, a meal when you were sick, or running errands for you.

The Don’ts of Thank You Notes
Don’t delay in sending thank you notes. Generally notes should be sent within a week of receipt of the gift or gesture. Being busy is not an excuse for neglecting a written thank you. To tell someone (who has spent time and money on a gift for you) that you are too busy to acknowledge their efforts is bad manners. The only exception to this timing is thank you notes for hospital gifts which should be sent as soon as the patient is well enough to send them, whenever that is.

There’s no need to fib if you dislike a gift. Even if something is not to your taste, you should still show appreciation for the gift and the time, money and thought that went into selecting it for you. You can always say “Thank you for the thoughtful gift. I will always think of you whenever I see it.”

Linda K. Beech is Cottonwood District Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.

The last article I wrote about Easter being special. It was special because my six-month-old grandson, Alex, came to our house. It was his first Easter. It was the first time I saw him crawl.

Along the way, I discovered if I really wanted to communicate with Alex I needed to get on his level. What I mean by that is I needed to get on the floor and get eye to eye with him. I had to travel with him on my hands and knees to see what the world looked like from his point of view.

We played for quite a while on the floor. He showed me stuff and I showed him stuff. He verbalized things that I did not understand, but I know it was him trying to communicate with me. I am sure I said a lot of things to him he could not quite figure out, but both our communications involved an exchange of love.
I do not sit still very well. I tend to always have some kind of project going on. It may be work related or it may be recreational, but I just have a hard time sitting still.

Sometimes I have a difficult time shutting off my mind. So, even if I am trying to watch a television show with my wife, or if I am at a play at the Encore Series, my mind seems to be racing on trying to figure out something, or worried about something that is going on.

I thought it was pretty amazing when I was crawling on the floor with Alex that my total attention was on him. All I cared about was spending that precious time that we had together, one on one.

Alex was at our home Saturday evening and most of Sunday. He went to church. I was that obnoxious grandparent holding my grandson, so proud of him. I feel so blessed to have a grandson. I am so blessed to have that time to spend with him.

It was so interesting after Alex left. I certainly was heartsick that I was not going to see him for a while, but, do you know what I discovered?

I discovered that I had really taken a time out. My mind had been totally on Alex; it was not on work; it was not on projects that I needed to get done; it was on Alex.

For a while, Alex helped me relax. For a while, Alex helped me remember what was important in much of my life.

Many times I have families come to me with so much going on. Perhaps there has been a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or some other chronic illness. Perhaps there is a situation with an adult child and that child’s marriage. Perhaps there are financial issues. Perhaps there is the prospect of needing long-term care.

My hope is that they will all have an Alex event in their life: a time when they can completely shut down, relax, and enjoy the moment.

Alex is only six months old, but he has already reminded me of a lot of important things in life, such as taking time to be with my family.

Alex, thanks for a great Easter. I am looking forward to many, many more.

Randy Clinkscales of Clinkscales Elder Law Practice, PA, Hays, Kansas, is an elder care attorney, practicing in western Kansas. To contact him, please send an email to [email protected]. Disclaimer: The information in the column is for general information purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Each case is different and outcomes depend on the fact of each case and the then applicable law. For specific questions, you should contact a qualified attorney.

By KURT BEYERS

A while back I told a group of my Christian friends that God had told me Trump is a son of Satan. Trump voters all, most of them took exception. One asked if that meant he is going to hell because he voted for Trump. Naturally, he didn’t ask me this because he thought I knew the answer. He asked because he thought I was being a partisan jerk.

Which I was, but only a little, and only in style, not substance, because let’s be clear: Trump is a son of Satan. God did and continues to confirm me in that perception. Christian or non-Christian, people should know this about Trump.

Trump, God love him, does not know this about Trump. Things of the Spirit, other than certain words he needs to use with certain audiences as part of his con game, do not register with him. One of my prayers is that some day he will wake up and repent.

What started me thinking of Trump in spiritual terms was his almost exact resemblance to Simon the Magician in Acts 8:9-10a (NASB): “Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him.”

Then I found a partial transcript of a meeting Trump had with about a thousand self-proclaimed leaders of a large part of American evangelical Christianity. The meeting was so that Trump could appeal for their votes and the votes of the millions of Christians they lead, who are mad and scared about the way the world looks. By far the large majority of the people at that meeting went out and implicitly if not explicitly pushed Trump as God’s choice for president.

I went wrong in thinking that was the day Trump officially became a son of Satan. But he didn’t. Trump and Simon came out of their respective meetings as exactly the same people they were going in.

The difference was that Simon met apostles – who knew Jesus’ name was not theirs to sell. When Simon offered cash money for a Jesus franchise, he came away with nothing but a rebuke.

Trump met with Jerry Falwell Jr., Franklin Graham, Mike Huckabee and those others like them.Trump offered judges. Trump offered his audience the freedom to endorse candidates and keep their tax-free status. Trump offered to make people say “Merry Christmas” again. He came away with everything he wanted.

You can find the transcript here: https://yhoo.it/28RorZ6.

If anybody officially became sons of Satan that day in June 2016, it was the people who agreed to use their status as disciples of Jesus to market Trump under a Jesus brand. I wonder whether they ever pray that someday Trump will see the light. A Christian would.

Is their regard for Trump the same as his for them – a straight-up deal? I wonder if that’s the real meaning of some Christians’ defense of their votes for Trump: “I don’t like him, but I like his policies.” It’s like this: Is a deal with the devil – or the son of the devil – really a deal with the devil if you get a Neil Gorsuch out of it?

The foundation of Trump’s appeal is indisputably fear and anger. “Indisputable” because nobody disputes it. His supporters love him for it. His opponents don’t.

Set aside the constant lies, the vicious slanders and personal attacks, the relentless self-glorification, and you are still left with the fact that no vision of the Christian God is holy if it is built on fear and anger based in the institutions, customs and manners of this world. Jesus, quoting Isaiah, in Mark 7:6-7: “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.”

This applies whether you’re talking 1st-century Pharisaic handwashing rituals or 21st-century American social customs and immigration laws.

Is my friend going to hell because he voted for Trump? I don’t think so, and I don’t even think he needs to ask forgiveness for being a Trump voter, at least not forgiveness from God.

Of course, I can’t say for sure. I know how grandiose it sounds to say something like “Donald Trump is a son of hell and James Dobson is too.” I know I am not God, and I know I am not a good Christian, so I end up asking God about a lot of things, which lately have included Donald Trump’s relation to hell: “Hey, Father. Here is what I’m thinking. Am I right or not? Please tell me.”

And He did, and He gave me this one thing to say: Donald Trump is a son of Satan. Period.

For myself, I say that I believe my friends, like so many others, have fallen for a monstrous con. In saying it I am only trying to apply lessons they have taught me. Most of the men in that group I was talking about at the beginning are among the people who introduced me to Jesus.

Their essential characters of charity, grace and mercy come from long-term, in some cases lifelong, association with Jesus. These men helped persuade me by many examples that the Son of God was – is – real. Therefore, seen in the spiritual light they helped turn on for me, their support for Trump and his “policies” is absolutely incomprehensible.

So my answer to the question I began with – Is a vote for Trump a ticket to hell? – is the same as it is for all spiritual questions: “Ask God.”

Kurt Beyers, a former journalist, works in public relations at Fort Hays State University.