From left, Kay Melia, Bob Schmidt, Bob Davis, Wyatt Thompson, Steve Webster and Gerard Wellbrock.
Six former and current “Voices of the Tigers” met last week at Smoky Hills Country Club for a look back at covering Fort Hays State University athletics.
The conversation spanned generations and included Bob Schmidt, Eagle Communications board chairman; Kay Melia, former Goodland radio station owner; Bob Davis, Voice of the Jayhawks; Wyatt Thompson, Voice of the Wildcats; Steve Webster, Eagle Radio of Great Bend; and Gerard Wellbrock, Eagle Radio of Hays and current Voice of the Tigers.
The special Professional Development Series, presented by Eagle Communications and FHSU Athletics, will be broadcast on Eagle TV Channels 14 and 614 at 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.
To order a commemorative DVD of the event, email [email protected] for details.
Two people were hospitalized after a car/vehicle collision in rural Trego County on Sunday.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, a 2008 Kia Amanti, driven by Michelle Danielle Hafliger, 41, Ogallah, was traveling southbound when it approached the intersection and failed to yield.
The train struck the passenger side rear quarter panel, sending the car into the east ditch, where it came to rest on its wheels.
The driver and a passenger — Bryn C. Hafliger, 16, Ogallah — were reportedly injured and taken to the hospital.
The train’s engineer and conductor — Maurice Dingemanse, Manhattan, and Dennis Thompson, Wellington — were not injured, according to the KHP.
On arrival, firefighters found a food cooler that had fire damage. The fire was extinguished by store personnel prior to the fire department’s arrival.
First arriving fire crews were able to isolate the damage to one cooler and was able turn off the power to the individual cooler. Fire crews then started to focus efforts in removing the smoke from inside the building. Ellis County Emergency Management responded also and assisted in contacting the state to have an inspector check for any food hazards.
Five fire trucks and 14 firefighters responded.
The last fire unit left the scene at 2:55 am.
The fire department would like to thank the employee’s of Dillons for their quick thinking of using a portable fire extinguisher and promptly calling 911.
UPDATE: A store representative told Hays Post Sunday morning that the store was open for business.
Hays Firefighters were on scene at Dillons, 1902 Vine St., at approximately 1:30 a.m. Sunday, responding to an alarm from the business.
While the cause is still unknown at this time, Hays Police officers on the scene and employees confirmed the fire was out and had been confined to a cooler in the building.
By Diane Gasper-O’Brien FHSU University Relations and Marketing
Hoisington’s Seth Owen, a member of the 2015 Kansas Shrine Bowl West football team, helps Justin Bowman Jr., an 8-year-old Shriners patient ambassador from Wichita, balance himself during an activity at Thursday’s visitation day at Fort Hays State University.
The slogan for the annual Kansas Shrine Bowl All-Star Football Game is “Strong Legs Run That Weak Legs May Walk.” But even at a strapping 230 pounds, Ethan Fritschi didn’t feel so strong Thursday afternoon.
Fritschi, an offensive lineman from Erie High School, was having difficulty maneuvering his 6-foot, 5-inch frame while wearing boots that simulated walking with a prosthetic leg.
A member of the West team that will take on the East in Saturday’s 42nd annual Shrine Bowl Game at Fort Hays State University, Fritschi is one of hundreds of teenagers on campus this week preparing for the game.
The football players, as well as band members and cheerleaders, are involved in a variety of events ranging from a barbecue and Friday night’s banquet, then Saturday’s 10 a.m. parade down Main Street and the 7 p.m. game.
Thursday’s up-close-and-personal contact with the patients gave the participants a glimpse of why the game is played in the first place.
The Shrine Bowl game is a fundraiser for Shriners Hospitals for Children, a healthcare system of 22 hospitals that provide pediatric specialty care including orthopedic, burns, spinal cord injury rehabilitation and cleft lip and palate. Proceeds from the Kansas all-star game go to the Shriners Hospital in St. Louis.
Thursday, the participants met Shriners patient ambassadors who manned different stations around FHSU’s Memorial Union that represented some of the different procedures the young patients have to go through.
This particular station was one of the most popular because of the participation level.
“I don’t feel safe,” Fritschi said when some of the ambassadors told him to jump with the boots on.
OK, so get down in your stance, one of them told him.
Fritschi smiled confidently, bent his long legs, leaned forward and promptly fell down. It was an eye opener for Fritschi and the rest of the hundreds of football players, band members and cheerleaders who participated in the drills.
“I’m usually a pretty independent person,” said Andrew Feldkamp from Axtell, a 6-1, 230-pound offensive lineman for the East team.
Feldkamp didn’t master walking backwards with the boots as well as Fritschi and required some assistance. “Having to have others help you really makes you kind of uneasy,” Feldkamp said.
The patient ambassadors were anything but uneasy as they mingled with the older students and told their life stories.
Eight-year-old Justin Bowman Jr. from Wichita, born with disabilities to all four limbs, was in command, picking volunteers out of the crowd. “You and you and you, come out here,” he said, pointing to different members of the football teams and cheer squads.
“He figures out a way to do whatever he wants,” said his mother, Beth Bowman.
Kim Litzau from Crystal City, Mo., mother of 11-year-old A.J. Litzau, agreed. “There is no ‘I can’t do that’ for these kids,” she said.
A.J. came to live with the Litzau family as a foster child when he was about 2 years old. “He hasn’t let any of this stop him from doing what he wants,” Litzau said of her youngest son, who was born with scoliosis and a club foot on his right leg that was eventually amputated.
“He plays football, he plays basketball, he runs,” she said. “Being an ambassador has really improved his confidence.”
Cierra Brumback was pulling double duty Thursday. Brumback, who will be a sophomore at Girard High School this fall, is a member of the Kansas Masonic All-State High School Marching Band who has benefitted from the care at Shriners Hospitals.
Brumback’s left ankle was severely injured in a gunshot accident when she was 10 years old, causing muscle and nerve damage. She sometimes can’t feel the bottom of her foot but still participates in marching band and even plays softball.
“I’ve been in marching band since sixth grade,” she said. “I love it.”
Members of the local Fort Hays Shrine Club even got in on the action Thursday, leading the various groups to their stations.
Dr. Robert Keener, a veterinarian from La Crosse and assistant professor of agriculture at FHSU, said he thinks a change in 2011 to the visitation process was a good move. In the past, Hospital Visitation Day featured only players visiting the hospital in St. Louis.
This is the fifth year that some patients came to the camp, giving band members and cheerleaders the chance to meet the patients as well.
“The fact they’ve brought this to the campus is tremendous,” Kenner said. “So many more students get to experience this.”
This marks just the fourth time in 42 years the Shrine Bowl game has been held in Hays. The West team is 3-0 at Lewis Field Stadium, and they admitted they are looking forward to Saturday’s game.
But visiting and interacting with Shriners Hospital patients is a part of the Shrine Bowl experience that participants just might remember the most.
Feldkamp admitted meeting the Shriners patients was rewarding, he said while talking about a sticker labeled INAM that the players are wearing on their helmets this week.
“It’s not about me,” Feldkamp said, explaining the acronym. “It really makes you think.”
With the project being sent out for bids this week, the Boulder, Colo.-based architecture firm heading up the new retail development north of Interstate 70 in Hays said “it’s all hands on deck” to get the project up and running.
Developer Stephen Tebo of Tebo Properties is planning a 12-storefront retail development at the northeast corner of 43rd and Vine. A restaurant — Pasta Jay’s — will anchor the property.
Peter Carey
Peter Carey, president of UP Architecture, said his firm has worked with Tebo for about a decade, noting this is UP’s first foray into Kansas.
“It’s a Tebo project. I think that’s what differentiates it. … He does things right when he does things,” Carey said. “Parking will be ample and the quality of the building will be superior.
“It will be a cut above typical malls of this kind,” he said.
Carey said real Kansas limestone is planned to be incorporated into the design of the 25,000-square-foot development — tentatively named Tebo Village — as well as “a fair amount of brick and nice overhangs.” Electric vehicle charging stations also could be included in the final design.
UP also is designing the Pasta Jay’s, and Carey said the restaurant will have an “intimate” setting. Pasta Jay’s, owned by Jay Elowsky, has locations in Utah and Colorado, and UP has extensive restaurant design experience, but this is the first time the two companies have worked together.
“(Tebo and Elowsky) both are really excited about this endeavor,” Carey said.
UP Architecture is a three-person “boutique” firm, he added, noting up to a dozen specialty consultants are enlisted depending upon the project. The firm focuses on “high-end design” is both the commercial and residential arenas.
“We do a large range of projects,” Carey said. “We try to simplify the design process … take the mystery out of it all.”
Hays public safety officials had an eventful Friday afternoon investigating an incident at the corner of Allen and Eighth streets, as well as a car that crashed into Nate’s Liquor.
Photo by Ricky Kerr, Hays Post
The parking canopy at a former service station at the intersection of Eighth and Allen collapsed on the semi and trailer, which was carrying a shipment of alcohol. It has since been towed out by an Augie’s Towing truck.
HPD Chief Don Scheibler said the driver was attempting to turn around in the lot and got caught up in the canopy, causing it to collapse. Because the incident occurred on private property, no citations were issued and the incident was turned over to insurance companies. There were no injuries.
Police and fire officials also responded to a car in the parking lot of Nate’s Liquor on 13th Street that backed into the building and broke one of the window panes on the front of the store.
The Ellis County Sheriff’s Department announced an arrest has been made in the fatal hit and run accident southwest of Hays that occurred Saturday.
Holliann Marie Stramel, 24, was arrested today in connection with the accident, but has not yet appeared in court.
The Sheriff’s Department sought information on a truck that was spotted in the area following the incident during the week. That truck has been recovered.
The accident claimed the life of John Befort of rural Hays, who was walking on 210th Avenue between 6:30 and 9:15 p.m. Saturday when he was struck by a vehicle traveling northbound in the 900 block of 210th Avenue. The vehicle reportedly fled the scene.
In a news release, the Sheriff’s Department reminded that an arrest is merely an allegation of criminal wrongdoing and does not imply guilt.
Hays City Commissioners will continue reviewing the 2016 budget proposal during their meeting tonight.
They will also consider setting a public hearing date of Thursday, August 13, for the 2016 budget, with a 25.00 mill levy, the same as in 2015.
According to City Manager Toby Dougherty, sales tax revenues for 2015 are estimated at a 1.75% increase from 2014. For 2016, sales tax revenues are estimated at a 1.00% increase above the 2015 estimate.
“We think these are conservative but achievable based on our current trend,” said Dougherty.
Operating expenditures are a little more than $400,000 higher than last year.
Dougherty explained it’s mostly because of money the city decided it wanted to begin setting aside for street work.
“We identified $500,000 in the General Fund budget we plan on transferring to Special Highway (fund) so we can spend well over a million dollars on street maintenance this year.
“According to the age, condition and amount of streets we have, we should be spending $3 million a year to take care of our streets–a million and a half on replacement and a million and a half on maintenance.
“This (2016) budget will get us about a million and a half dollars on the maintenance side, so we’re pretty happy with that,” Dougherty said.
The commission meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 23, in Hays City Hall, 1507 Main Street.
Despite some engineering hiccups, the retail shopping center planned for north Vine in Hays is moving along, according to Stephen Tebo of Tebo Properties.
The Boulder-based developer said plans are about 60 days behind, but he hopes to make up some of that time during the construction process.
“We go to bid this week … and then we go to the city to get a permit,” Tebo said. “We have nothing stopping us whatsoever … financing is in place, plans are in place.”
He said the hope is to get much of the work done before winter sets in and the ground begins to freeze.
The 25,000-square-foot complex will feature 12 retail storefronts, in addition to Pasta Jay’s, a Boulder-based Italian restaurant.
Initially, the construction will occur around the existing Nex-Tech Wireless building at the northeast corner of 43rd and Vine. The lease on that building expires in the summer of 2016, and Tebo said he has a proposal on the table to have the wireless company become a tenant in the new development.
After the lease expires, plans call for that existing building to be cleared to make room for what Tebo expects to be another restaurant site.
Rent won’t be cheap, he added.
“It’s the best corner in northwest Kansas, and I’ll have the best building in northwest Kansas,” he said.
There already are five letters of intent already on the table with potential tenants.
“We’re pretty optimistic,” Tebo said.
The Hays location of Pasta Jay’s will join three others — Moab, Utah; Boulder, Colo.; and Lone Tree, Colo. The first Pasta Jay’s opened in 1988 in Boulder and offers a variety of Italian fare.
An Ellis County Concrete truck rolled over Wednesday morning as the driver turned left out of the driveway.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
A man was rescued this morning after an Ellis County Concrete truck rolled over north of Hays on 230th Avenue just after 9 a.m.
According to Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Tod Hileman, early reports from the scene indicate the driver was turning left out of the business driveway, 1648 230th Ave., when the load apparently shifted.
The concrete truck rolled, at least three-quarters of the way, landing on its passenger side in the west ditch.
Ellis County Rural Fire crews used a saw to cut off the red cab top in order to access and remove the victim.
The driver, wearing a neck collar, was seen standing upright outside the truck before an ambulance left the scene.
Ellis County EMS and the Ellis County Sheriff’s Department also responded to the scene.
The truck driver is extricated and fitted with a neck brace.
The Ellis County Commission approved the hiring of one person to fill an opening within the Emergency Medical Services Department at Monday night’s meeting.
EMS Director Kerry McCue presented the commission with a request to fill two immediate full-time positions and a third that will be coming open in September.
During his presentation, McCue told the commission that over the last five pay periods – 10 weeks – the county has paid 670 hours of overtime totaling more than $14,000 because his department is currently short two full- and four part-time positions.
McCue estimated not filling the position could cost the county more than $75,000 per year in overtime.
He said the county had three options: to do nothing and they will continue to pay overtime, hire the three people to fill the open positions, or take an ambulance off the road.
Earlier this year, former County Administrator Greg Sund had approached the idea of removing an ambulance, and there was immediate pushback from concerned residents.
“Quite frankly that’s not what I saw the citizens come to this commission and ask for a month ago,” McCue said.
At a previous meeting, Commissioners Dean Haselhorst and Barb Wasinger asked McCue for information on out of county non-emergency patient transfers. EMS uses part-time employees and pays full-time employees overtime for these transfers and the commission questioned if it was worth it to use county resources.
McCue told the commission those calls make up about 5 percent of their call volume but account for 23-percent of the EMS department’s revenue.
His figures showed it costs $553 per transfer with the county getting reimbursed $1,300.
The commission will also discuss the possibility of filling the other positions at Thursday’s budget meeting.
In other business:
• The commission got another update regarding construction at the courthouse, Law Enforcement Center and the EMS/Rural Fire building. Haselhorst, the commission’s construction liaison, said crews will begin pouring concrete in parking lot at the EMS/Rural Fire building this week and construction on the inside is progressing. Mike Wilson, project superintendent for the courthouse and LEC, said crews are moving forward, as well, but they have asked for 13 extra days to complete construction at no additional cost to the county.
• Approved the purchase of a new loader from Foley Cat for $134,500 after trade-in and approved the purchase of pallet forks for $9,750 from Victor Phillips for the road and bridge department.
• Approved Wasinger to oversee the purchase order process under $20,000. The county administrator formerly had the authority to make purchases.
• Met in a 30 minute executive session to discuss a non-elected personnel matter. No action was taken.
During Monday’s Hays USD 489 Board of Education meeting, the board heard information about financial state of the district and, despite the Kansas Legislature having set up a block grant funding formula for this year — and a subsequent court ruling striking down that formula — the district is working to ensure the budget stays in line with expected revenue. State funding losses, lower tax valuations and decreased enrollment remain challenges, staff told the board.
“We do have $225,000 less budgeted for expenses this year, so we are looking at already holding that over,” said Tracy Kaiser, executive director of finance and support, adding if there are no more legislative changes, the district might be able to save even more.
“That’s our plan right now is we reduce our expenses by the $225,000,” she said.
That measure is anticipated to balance the expected loss of revenue, with the largest loss coming from lower state valuations.
State valuations in Ellis County are down by 3.8 percent, which equates to about $94,000 less from the mill levy for capital outlays. While this amount is a financial blow to the district, it pales to cuts to other districts through the state.
Some school districts lost up to 30 percent from their budgets due to lower valuations, according to Superintendent Dean Katt.
The second largest portion of lower revenue coming into USD 489 stems from the state’s school funding plan.
“We are receiving 99.6 percent for our general fund state aid, but the 0.4 percent, including the block grant, is going into the extraordinary needs fund, so that 0.4 percent will be up to the governor and their committees discretion on who’s having enough changes in their valuations or student population, or whatever, to divvy that out,” Kiser said. “Our portion is just over $54,000 that will be going into that extraordinary needs fund, so our budget has been reduced, our state aid, has been reduced by that amount.”
The smallest cut the district will face this year is lower revenue from students totaling around $50,000.
“We still have less budget expenditures than (lower revenue) so I still anticipate we’ll be able to stay well within our budget, even with those losses,” Kiser said.
The district can also maintain its $335,000 contingency fund this year with the budget cuts.
Katt added to the budget information that he felt the mill levy would likely stay the same and that the district’s fiscal situation makes it much better prepared than many districts in Kansas if state education funding changes next year.
