HAYS – Republican Butch Schlyer claimed the race for the Ellis County Commission 1st District in Tuesday’s election.
Schlyer defeated Democrat Chris Rorabaugh 43.45 percent to 33.54 percent (1,443 to 1,114). Independent John Walz was third with 22.88 percent (760 votes).
Schlyer said Tuesday he was pleased with the outcome.
“I knew it was going to be a pretty close race,” Schlyer said. “I’m just glad I came out ahead of the deal.”
The official canvass of the vote totals will be on Thursday Nov. 15th at 5 p.m. at the County Administrative Center.
Schlyer will begin serving his term on the county commission in January.
Ajoni and Kiros Smolarkiewicz cast their ballots Tuesday morning in Kids Voting USA-Kansas.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Casting his ballot today went a little faster than in other years for Hays resident Ajoni Smolarkiewicz. He was happy about that since he had to get to school on time.
The 5th grader at O’Loughlin Elementary School and his brother Kiros, a student in 2B, accompanied their mother Misty early this morning to the Hays Recreation Center where they all voted in the hotly contested midterm election. The family was waiting in line before the polls opened at 7 a.m.
Ajoni, 10, and Kiros, 7, participated in Kids Voting USA-Kansas set up in the corner of a HRC gymnasium.
“We voted for some of the people who we think will do good in our community and our ecosystem,” said Ajoni after he slid his ballot into the box. Ajnoi wants to be a veterinarian when he grows up and he “likes a healthy ecosystem.”
The brothers made their decisions after watching their mom do her own candidate research. “I looked at all the people I thought would be good,” Ajoni said, “and that’s who I voted for today.”
Kiros agreed. He voted for those candidates he believes will “do a good job.”
Both youngsters proudly wore their “I Voted” stickers and, unlike the adults, were also given a McDonald’s free meal coupon.
The Kids ballot has pictures of the candidates.
The Kids ballot has the same races as the regulation ballot, plus pictures of the candidates, explained Kids Voting volunteer Patrick Trapp.
“In this location, they’re also voting in the Ellis County Commission First District race,” Trapp added.
This is the first time Trapp, a Nex-Tech employee, has volunteered for the project.
“I’m an early morning person and I said I’d take the early shift,” he said.
Joining Trapp was his colleague Niki Clark. Nex-Tech employees have participated in Kids Voting for many years.
Also working 7-8 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. for Kids Voting Kansas are employees of Hays Daily News, McDonald’s, Golden Plains Credit Union and Wayne Voss State Farm Agency, and TMP-Marian High School Key Club members.
Parents are encouraged to bring their K-12th grade children with them to the Hays polling sites.
Volunteers Patrick Trapp and Niki Clark work the Kids Voting booth at the Hays Recreation Center.
“The kids are prepared and putting some thought into it They’re taking it seriously, I believe,” Trapp added.
Hays High School government students will tally the voting results after the polls close at 7 p.m. and will release the information to the public.
Most students throughout America are required to complete a certain amount of community service hours before they graduate high school, however for students attending Sias International University, one of Fort Hays State University’s China partner schools, seldom face the same obligation.
“So 380 Sias students enrolled in LDRS 310: Fieldwork in Leadership Studies faced a very steep challenge in a class that focuses on service learning where students must design and deliver a project aimed at addressing a social issue,” said Dr. Jill Arensdorf, chair of the Department of Leadership Studies.
“Instructors of the course decided to provide a new experience where students enrolled in the class could be introduced to community service by participating in a project coordinated as part of the course curriculum,” said Dr. Jeffrey Bourgeois, assistant professor of leadership studies.
FHSU faculty who coordinated the effort included Bourgeois; Angelique Evans, instructor of leadership studies; and Brittany Hughes, instructor of leadership studies.
Faculty at Sias worked together to organize a series of projects at three different sites over the course of a weekend in collaboration with the Henan Charity Federation, a registered nonprofit in Zhengzhou.
“All three visits provided opportunities for the LDRS 310 classes to learn about the process of helping others by immersing them in the act of helping others,” said Bourgeois.
The first day, 150 students visited a local orphanage. While there, students lead 10-14 year olds in activities including basic English lessons, outdoor games, and art projects. The same day, 130 other students visited a local primary school where they lead similar activities.
The last day 100 students visited a school for blind and deaf children. Students who visited the school read to the blind children and played games with the deaf children.
“Many shared stories about specific children with whom they connected during their participation in the project,” said Bourgeois.
“After the weekend of service, students had in class discussions and writing assignments to ensure they could identify specific strategies such as establishing project goals, communicating with organizations, creating a project timeline and assessing the success of the project,” he said.
“For many this will serve as a time they came together with their classmates to learn outside the classroom walls and improve the lives of some often overlooked members of their local community,” said Bourgeois.
Proud family members and co-workers take pictures of longtime Hays city employees Oct. 25.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Family, friends and co-workers filled the Hays city commission chambers Oct. 25 as Mayor James Meier presented awards to city employees who were marking 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 35 years of service.
Finance Director Kim Rupp, who was also recognized for his 10 years with the city, announced the names of the 27 employees. They received their certificates, shook hands with commissioners and City Manager Toby Dougherty, and posed for pictures. Department heads also congratulated their long-term employees.
After the ceremony Meier noted “Hays has a lot of good things going on because the city has a lot of good employees, who also make us the commission look good.
“In today’s society and especially this time of year, I think it’s so easy to point out all the negatives that are happening with government at all levels,” added Meier. “And it’s harder to point out all the good things that are going on. It doesn’t make the headlines and it definitely doesn’t make the talk of the city as much.”
City of Hays 2018 Employee Service Awards
5-Year Awards Rachel Albin – Rachel started with the City in 2013 as an Account Clerk I for the Clerk’s Office. In 2014 she was promoted to Account Clerk II. Evan Cronn – Evan began as a Part-Time Police Officer in 2013. Then, in 2014, was promoted to a full-time position. Lyle Pantle – Lyle joined the City as a Volunteer Firefighter in 2013. He was appointed to a Career Fire Fighter position the next year. Rachel Kraus – Rachel has been with the City since 2013. She started as a Communications Officer and became the Shift Lead earlier this year. AJ Hill – AJ started with the City as a Maintenance Worker for the Service Division. He then transferred to the Water Plant in 2014 as a Plant Operator I. Lance Koerner – Lance joined the City as a Maintenance Worker for the Service Division. In 2015 he became a Plant Operator I at the Water Plant and, in August of this year, was promoted to a Plant Operator II.
10-Year Awards Kim Rupp – Kim’s ten years with the City has been as the Director of Finance. Bobbi Pfeifer – Bobbi has been with the City since 2007. She began her career as a Receptionist for the CVB and was promoted to the CVB’s Administrative Assistant five years later. Jamie Salter – Jamie joined the City in 2007 as an Account Clerk I for the Finance Office. In 2011 she took over the HR Administrative Assistant position. Then, in 2014, she became the Public Works Administrative Assistant. Eric Borger – Eric began as a Service Maintenance Worker I for the City. He was promoted to Maintenance Worker II in 2010 and in 2016 he became the Stormwater Operator. Kyla Jurgensen – Kyla started with the City as a Communications Officer. In 2013, she was promoted to a Shift Lead. Eamonn Coveney – Eamonn has served as a GIS Specialist for the City for the last ten years. Toby Alexander – Toby joined the City as a Maintenance Worker I for Parks and was promoted to Maintenance Worker II in 2011. Brian Meis – Brian began at the City as a Communications Officer in 2008. In 2012 he was promoted to his current position as a Shift Lead.
15-Year Awards Amy Leiker – Amy started with the City on 2002 as a Secretary for Parks. In 2013 her job was reclassified to Parks Administrative Assistant. Janet Kuhn – Janet took the Convention Sales Manager job with the City in 2003 and is still in that position today.
20-Year Awards Aaron Ditter – Aaron started with the City as a Volunteer Firefighter in 1998 and he was hired as a career Firefighter in 2000. Two years later he was promoted to Fire Engineer which was reclassified to a Fire Lieutenant in 2009. His latest promotion to Fire Captain was in 2011. Andrea Windholz – Andrea joined the City as a Student Intern for the City Manager’s Office in 1998. That same year she became a Full-Time Secretary for the Community Development/City Manager Office. In 2001 she was promoted to Executive Secretary for the City Manager Office and in 2002, her job was reclassified to Executive Assistant. Tim Greenwood – Tim began as a Police Officer in 1998 with the City. In 2010 he was promoted to Police Sergeant. His most recent promotion happened in 2015 where he became the Police Lieutenant. Jason Bonczynski – Jason started with the City as a Police Officer in 1998. He became a Uniformed Investigator in 2008. Three years later he was promoted to Police Sergeant. Jason Knipp – Jason has been with the City since 1998 when he became a Refuse Collector. He transferred to Service and became a Maintenance Worker I the following year. In 2001 he transferred back to Solid Waste to become a Recycling Truck Driver which was renamed in 2009 to Refuse Equipment Driver.
25-Year Awards Tim Huck – Tim started his career with the City as a Plant Trainee for the Water Plant in 1993. In 1994 he was promoted to Plant Operator I. A year later he was promoted to Plant Operator II. His latest promotion was in 2015 where he became the Water Production and Distribution Superintendent. Don Scheibler – Don joined the City as a Police Officer in 1993. He was promoted to Police Investigator in 2000 and then Police Lieutenant in 2005. In 2010 he was promoted to Assistant Police Chief and the following year was named Chief of Police. Karen Randa – Karen began her career with the City as a Clerk for the Service Division in 1993. Over her 25 years she has also been the Public Works Administrative Secretary, Engineering Aide, Engineering Technician, Inspector and her current role, IT Technician. Shawn Swift – Shawn started as a Plant Trainee for the Wastewater Plant in 1993. In 1994 he was promoted to Plant Operator I and in 1995 he was promoted again to the position of Plant Operator II.
35-Year Awards Mike Kline – Mike joined the City in 1983 where he was a Plant Operator Trainee for the Wastewater Plant. He was promoted two years later to Plant Operator I. Ron Rice – Ron began his career as a Maintenance Worker II for the Parks Department in 1983. In 1986 he was promoted to Tree Technician which was reclassified to Parks Technician in 1989.
From Nov. 8 to 11, Hays High School will present the Broadway musical “Bright Star,” written by Steve Martin (the comedian and banjo player) and Edie Brickell in 2016.
Hays High is the fourth high school in the nation to perform this new show, and its opening night will serve as the Kansas premiere. Tickets are available at www.ticketsource.us/hays-high-school, or at the 12th Street Auditorium box office from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. Fridays.
Inspired by a real event, the show tells a sweeping tale of love and redemption, in the rich setting of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in the 1920s and ’40s. When literary editor Alice Murphy meets a young soldier just home from World War II, he awakens her longing for the child she once lost. Haunted by their unique connection, Alice sets out on a journey to understand her past – and what she finds has the power to transform both of their lives.
The leading role of Alice is played by sophomore Caitlin Leiker. Billy Cane is played by sophomore Gabe McGuire, and Jimmy Ray Dobbs is played by senior Cade Swayne. There are 40 students in the cast, three students in the band of 10, and another handful of students who help run the technical elements of the production.
Alex Underwood
“I chose this show for a variety of reasons,” said Alex Underwood, Hays High Schools vocal director. “I thought its compelling plot would suit the students while also fitting the musical culture of Hays.”
The show features a unique blend of Americana music — country, bluegrass and Broadway — with a live nine-person band performing on stage during the show.
“We spent a long time finding the right musicians, from banjo and fiddle to mandolin and stand-up bass, to create the perfect musical backdrop,” Underwood said. “I think audiences will enjoy hearing our delightful bluegrass band, and will be impressed with the talented students of Hays High. They’re in for a moving and charming evening experiencing live performing arts.”
Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8 to 10, and 2:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at the 12th Street Auditorium.
Not all educators who touch students’ lives work in classrooms.
This month’s Hays Teacher of the Month is a Hays High School counselor, Suellyn Stenger. Stenger, who has a master’s degree in music education, is a long time-educator, spending more than 20 years as a music teacher and band director.
Although she loved music, it was a series of student tragedies that led her to her present calling.
When Stenger was in her first teaching job as a music teacher in a small school district in McLouth, Kansas, a student committed suicide. She had no training as a counselor at that time, but students trusted her and came to her to talk about their feelings.
“That was my first real experience that I needed to gain more experience with helping students,” she said.
When she was a band director in McPherson, she received a phone call that one of her students where she previously taught in Garnett, Kansas, was killed in a drunk driving accident. She returned to the school to try to help students process the tragedy.
Additionally while teaching in McPherson, Stenger had a student who died of a rare form of cancer.
She said when dealing with students who are dealing with tragedy, the best thing to do is listen.
“With the first student who died from suicide, there is a lot of guilt with the students’ classmates,” Stenger said. “Again, I had no training at that time, so I just listened a lot.”
“When I was in McPherson and I got called back to Garnett again and just listened a lot to the students, showed a lot of empathy,” she said.
When her student was dying of cancer, she helped her students in McPherson make cards and T-shirts to support the student who was ill. She said she thought it helped the students feel as if they were making a difference for the students who were passing.
“I had just seen the student in Wichita and I knew he was getting close to death,” she said. “The next day the students were coming into the band rooms very excited and saying the student was coming home. They thought the student was coming home because he was getting better. I knew he was coming home to pass away at home.”
She went to the counselors and told them the students thought this young man was coming home because he was getting better, but in reality he was coming home to die.
“The counselor said go back to the band room, have his sister come see me and you tell the band what is going on,” Stenger said. “And I think that was the final decision for me that I really wanted to go into counseling because I went back and told the students he was passing away.
“Student death I think is the most difficult situation for a teacher or counselor or anyone who works within the school systems to deal,” Stenger said, “but showing empathy, listening, giving them a chance to grieve, supporting them on all levels whether it be at the visitation, at the funeral itself and for the time following [is important].”
Stenger said handling these tragedies is very difficult personally but she feels she needs to model resiliency for her students.
“Yes, it is a tragic event, and we can grieve together,” she said, “but we can continue on together as well.”
Stenger went on the earn an additional master’s degree in counseling from Fort Hays State University.
She established the pre-Kindergarten through eighth-grade counseling program at Victoria before joining the Hays High counseling staff 11 years ago.
Stenger, a flutist, said she was inspired to become a teacher by her ninth-grade band teacher, Ken Ticknor, at Landon Junior High in Topeka.
“He had a way of making everyone in the band feel special,” she said. “The thing that I found most important in teaching and counseling and working with children in any capacity is building a positive relationship with students and I never wavered in my desire to be a band director all through high school and college. I just knew that was what I wanted to be.”
“I think being positive is one of the most powerful tools a person can have. Coming in everyday full of energy. He also continued to play outside [of school.] I know he performed when the circus came to town. He was just a fantastic musician.”
Stenger still keeps in touch with her former teacher through Facebook.
“He just found a way of recognizing everyone in the room even though we had a large band at the time,” she said.
Today, Stenger most often first gets to know students through academics. She helps them with their course schedules and their independent plans of study. Counselors help students create plans of support for those who struggle academically or who may need social and emotional support.
“It is wonderful that we have the opportunity to keep the same students on our case load from freshman through their senior year so we can watch them through grow during high school,” she said.
Working with students on academics can lead to students being able to share more of their emotional needs, Stenger said.
“I definitely see there is a need for more support,” she said of the emotional piece of her job. “Forty percent of our student population are kids who are on free or reduced [cost] lunches.”
Stenger said she thought the district works hard to build relationships with students because that keeps them invested in their education.
“When I talk to students, I talk about how everyone who walks through the doors of Hays High School has issues, has things that they deal with and we talk about. Are we going to rise above the challenges or are we going to succumb to them? It is amazing how some students have extreme challenges outside of school yet show great resiliency when they are here at school.”
Stenger gave the example of a young student who faced tremendous challenges throughout her life. She chose this student to share in a video why she came to school each day.
“Despite that she had a lot of challenges, she showed up, and she did her very best,” Stenger said. “There were times she wanted to give up, but she transferred to our Learning Center and very recently graduated and earned her diploma. She is going to be a very successful young adult.
“There are many stories like that where students struggle, but they rise above the challenges.”
Stenger said working with students is very rewarding.
“I love my job,” she said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
The Hays USD 489 school board voted in a special meeting at noon Thursday to stop a 4.6 percent pay increase for certain staff.
The staff, who incorrectly received the raise since July, will not have to pay back what they have already received.
The board met at the Rockwell Administrative Center to a standing-room-only crowd.
Classified staff and administrators received a pay increase in July of 4.6 percent without the school board’s authorization. Superintendent John Thissen said it was an administrative error and took responsibility for the mistake.
Thissen noted the 4.6 percent raise for all staff had been budgeted.
The error includes about 112 people who work for USD 489. It does not include custodians, who were covered under a contract negotiated by their union, SEIU, or paraprofessionals, who received a $2 per hour raise in a board effort to recruit and retain more special education staff.
School Board President Mandy Fox proposed the district stop the 4.6 pay increase for classified staff and administrators until the board could reach an agreement with the teachers’ union.
The Hays district has typically given the same raise to other staff as it gives to teachers. Teachers are upset because they want a 4.6 percent raise as was given to the custodians and maintenance workers and initially given to the other staff.
However, when the teachers looked closer at the formula that was presented in negotiations, they realized their average raise was about 3.6 percent.
Thissen said at the meeting Thursday, if the board did nothing, he would be obligated to stop the 4.6 percent raise that was not approved by the board and require those who received the raise in error to pay back that money. This would come in the form of pay reductions until the money was paid back.
Fox’s motion initially failed to pass with Fox and board members Lane Bickle and Greg Swartz voting for the motion, and board members Mike Walker, Sophia Rose Young and Luke Oborny voting against.
Oborny and Young both said they thought the staff who received the raise in error should continue to receive the same pay and not have to pay any money back.
“I feel we as a board knew what was going on,” Oborny said. “In April it was discussed we were going to look at a 4.6. We discussed it with all of these different groups. We then negotiated with SEIU to a successful contract at 4.6. It all seemed to be going great until we found a math error in August, and that seems to be where that train seemed to derail.
“I don’t like how John [Thissen] has seemingly take all the responsibility and guilt here, because this was not a surprise to me. I felt through our meetings, and perhaps they were upstairs, I felt this was the way we were going, this is the way we should be going, this was our, as in all of us, this was our plan. I am confused. I don’t understand why we are backing up and going in a different direction now.”
Walker said he was very hesitant to take away someone’s pay.
“I am especially concerned, no offense to the administration, but the folks who earn less money — the bus drivers and secretaries,” he said.
Oborny echoed Walker’s sentiments.
He said he received an email from a classified staff member with the notification of their pay increase.
“It is still less — this person has worked in our district for years, for eight years — and it is still less than what I start employees out at Nex-Tech,” he said. “Today I cannot vote to decrease.”
Schwartz noted the board never voted on the raise, which is against board policy and state statute.
Walker proposed a compromise that would allow the raises for most of the group involved, such as kitchen workers, bus drivers and secretaries, to continue, but administrators and directors would stop receiving the raise until negotiations were resolved with the teachers.
That motion died for lack of a second.
After that motion died and Thissen clarified he would have to require staff to pay back raises if the board was unable to come to a consensus, Walker said he would change his vote on Fox’s motion.
Young said she was upset with the how the motion was stated. She said she wished the motion to be split. She said she wanted staff to be able to keep the pay they had already received, but she also wanted to continue the 4.6 percent raise until the teacher negotiations were completed.
Walker restated Fox’s motion. He refused to take amendments.
The motion passed with Fox, Bickle, Schwartz and Walker voting for and Young and Oborny voting against. Board member Paul Adams was absent.
The board then met in a short executive session. The board took no action after the executive session.
Evelyn Younker, cook manager at Hays Middle School, has worked for the school district for 36 years.
“I feel they should have given us that 4.6, and I believe it is only right that they leave it,” she said.
She said the paras and bus drivers have both received raises in the last couple of years and it is time the rest of the staff received raises. She said she has lost her retirement package and health insurance and had sick days capped.
“I am out here now where they say, ‘Stay, stay, stay. We are really going to take care of you when you get close to retirement age.’ They aren’t taking care of any of us,” she said.
Younker was using her extra income to pay down bills. She said she was counting on that money.
“Guess what? It’s gone. Now I have to figure something else out,” she said. “It is sad because we are so underpaid. It is so ridiculous.”
Kevin Ubert, a food service employee for 12 years, said, “For too long we have been taken advantage of and not been treated fairly and properly. Until we stand up for ourselves and prove a point to the board and everyone that has treated us improperly, nothing will change or get done.
“We have to stand united together and prove a point to the board that we need to be treated fairly and compensated properly.”
Kim Schneweis, negotiator for the Hays NEA, and Kathy Rome, Kansas NEA representative, addressed the crowd after the board meeting.
Schneweis thanked the crowd for attending the meeting. She noted the teachers’ pay is not legally bound to pay for other staff. The Hays NEA can’t legally negotiate for the other staff.
Rome said, “This easily could have been taken care of today with someone making a motion to give you your 4.6 percent pay raise and be done with it. It is not tied to teacher negotiations. It should have been taken care of today.”
Rome said classified staff and administrators can join the NEA and urged the staff to do that.
Thomas More Prep-Marian students will be performing the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic musical “Oklahoma!” this weekend.
Show times are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. All tickets are $8 and are on sale now at www.tmp-m.org and will be available at the door.
If you are unfamiliar with the classic, it is a love story set outside of Claremore, Oklahoma, in 1906 featuring spirited songs, dance and comedy.
Travis Grizzell, director, said he chose “Oklahoma!” because coming off of the school’s last two musicals, “The Little Mermaid” and “Into the Woods,” it was a return to a classic musical. He also thought the musical would fit the student talent pool.
“It worked out well with the other two musicals in our community this fall as well,” he said. “People were treated to the music of Abba in FHSU’s ‘Mama Mia,’ and they can also discover a wonderful new show in Hays High’s ‘Bright Star’ and also revisit a golden age show in our ‘Oklahoma!'”
The challenges for this musical are the same as all the others the school has produced.
“There tends to be a perception that because a show is older or better known, that you can just crank it out easier than some others,” Grizzell said. “It’s a musical, so it still has a lot of props, multiple costumes, hours of dance and music rehearsal and a lot of set for our shared venue space. When you take all of that on and match it up with our students’ availability, it gets pretty hectic.”
He said this cast brings energy and ownership to this show. He added he has had more student help on the production side of this show than probably any other musical he’s directed.
“They’re a combination of new, young actors and older actors that have been chompin’ at the bit for that lead or featured role,” Grizzell said. “The kids are putting their heart and soul into this, making it their own and leavin’ it all on the stage each night. I think that’ll come across well for our audience.”
He said he would encourage community members to get out and attend these shows and support our local performing arts.
“I would like to add that you may think you know ‘Oklahoma!,’ but the beauty of live theater is that every single show is different,” Grizzell said. “I encourage all your readers to get out and attend these shows and support our local performing arts. It’ll be a great time, and we look forward to seeing everyone this weekend!”
Steve Stults, Old School Paranormal co-founder and lead investigator, discusses the team’s investigation of the Hays Public Library at a talk Thursday night at the library.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
Footsteps in empty rooms, voices in the dark and disembodied voices coming from the other side are a few of the unexplained experiences the members of Old School Paranormal have experienced in their investigations of the unexplained.
Old School Paranormal of Hays investigated the Hays Public Library this summer for reported haunted happenings. They came back to the library Thursday night to present their findings to the public and share more about their otherworldly hobby. If you are a believer, their findings are chilling.
Old School Paranormal team members said they were called in by the library staff to help solve decades of paranormal claims by both patrons and library staff members. Claims included phantom footsteps, books moving on their own, a haunted painting, a man in a purple jumpsuit and claims that long-gone librarians are still tending to their beloved library.
During the night investigation, the paranormal investigators as well as Samantha Gill, adult librarian, and Vera Elwood, young adult services librarian, thought they heard footsteps on the main floor of the library while they were in the basement. The library was closed and locked. When they searched the area, no one could be found.
The investigators used electromagnetic field detectors, which are also known as EMF or K2 detectors, in the building. The theory in ghost hunting is a spirit can alter the electromagnetic field to interact with the living. The devices beep or light up when interacting with a spirit.
Both Gill and Elwood asked the spirits questions while holding the EMF detectors and both devices indicated to very specific questions. This led the librarians and the investigators to believe they might have been in contact with a former female librarian as well as a spirit of a teen boy.
“What was most interesting is that it almost was an intelligible conversation,” said Scott Stults, a team co-founder, lead investigator.
Steve Stults, a team co-founder, lead investigator and Scott’s brother, said “Is it a ghost? Is it somebody who is stuck down there and can’t get out and needs help getting out? We don’t know — possibly, possibly not.”
The investigators, who usually spend all night in a location, only spent four hours at the library and said they would like to come back for an extended probe.
Villisca Ax Murderer House
The team visited the Villisca Ax Murderer House in 2016. Sometime past midnight on Monday, June 10, 1912, a person or persons entered the Moore house in Villisca, Iowa, and used an ax to bludgeon eight sleeping people to death. This included mother and father, Josiah and Sarah Moore, their four children, and two of the children’s young friends. The children ranged in age from 5 to 12.
The killer or killers were never brought to justice, despite a decade-long investigation. Some believe the killer might have jumped a train in Iowa and traveled to other communities, including Ellsworth and Colorado Springs, Colo., and committed more murders.
The team recorded video of what they believe is the murder speaking through a spirit box. The machine rapidly cycles through AM and FM radio stations. The theory is spirits can speak through the white noise.
Voice in the dark
Scott said about 95 percent of the team’s evidence comes from audio recordings. Audio recorders can pick up sounds or what appears to be words or phrases that the team did not hear with the naked ear at the time of the recordings.
The team is made up of five men, which also includes Kevin Sauer, investigator, tech manager, electronics specialist, social media manager; Neal Dreher, investigator and building systems specialist; and John Kreutzer, co-founder, lead investigator, case manager, researcher. However, the men claimed to have recorded children’s and women’s voices during investigations.
“When you capture a woman singing at 3 o’clock in the morning, how do you explain that?” Scott said. “You are out in the middle of nowhere. That is why we do the things we do.”
The team shared a number of EVP, electronic voice phenomenon, they recorded at previous investigations.
At the Ness County Bank, the team thought they heard on a recording a female voice saying, “Please don’t leave us. We need you.”
When Steve was on a previous paranormal team, he recorded at the Midland Hotel in Wilson what they thought was a girl’s voice, saying “Mommy.” There was a fire at the hotel in the early 1900s, and the story goes the ghost of a girl who died in that fire haunts the hotel and pulls on guests’ sheets.
At the Ennis Handy House in Goodland, the team recorded what sounded like a woman singing, “You don’t have to leave. You don’t have to go.”
The spirits also at times seem to aggravate other senses. The team claims they intermittently smelled pipe tobacco in one building they investigated. In another instance, Steve said he felt a searing pain in the back of leg as if he had ben bitten by a dog.
Tools of the trade
Scott Stults, Old School Paranormal co-founder and lead investigator, discusses the team’s equipment with a local resident a the Hays Public Library Thursday night.
Sauer ran the group through some of their other equipment, which included video cameras with night vision, low-tech, old-school witching rods, skeletal mapping software and trigger props, including a small toy train that makes a noise only when it is physically touched.
“Imagine you are somewhere, and I will use Fort Harker as an example,” Scott said. “They have a depot there, so obviously it makes sense to put that train in the depot. Nobody is in there. It’s locked. The curator opens the door and walks in, and that is going off across the room. So what would have prompted that or caused that to go off? That is the paranormal part of it.”
Despite all of the tech, Sauer said the team’s best asset is their own senses.
Scott said, “If you hear something and it sounds like a whistle, you try to figure it out. Maybe you are in a building that was built in 1888, and the windows have some gaps in them and it is windy outside. Just because you hear something doesn’t automatically make it a ghost or spirit.”
Even the believers are skeptics
More of Old School Paranormal’s equipment.
Steve said no one has been able to prove without a shadow of a doubt the existence of ghosts. The team operates on theory. Paranormal is anything outside the realm of normal or what is expected.
“It nutshell, it is the investigation of claims or reports of ghosts or spirits or any paranormal activity.
“There are a lot of instances we are going into places that have claims of doors closing on their own, or you live by yourself and you hear footsteps upstairs in the attic, things like that,” he said. “We are not saying those are ghosts. That is where we come in and try to figure out what the heck is going on.
“If we can’t, with our vast array of devices, come up with an explanation as far as what is going on – that is what paranormal is. It doesn’t mean there is a ghost or anything like that. Paranormal is more than spirits or spooks or whatever you want to call them.”
Scott said paranormal investigation is not like it appears on TV in shows such as “Ghost Hunters.” Those shows take hours or days of video footage and only show viewers the most exciting bits and pieces.
“It is a lot of sitting around in the dark, sometimes people falling asleep. It is a lot of sitting around and waiting,” he said. “When things happen, it is exciting. It’s a rush, but it takes a long time for things like that to kick into gear. Sometimes it doesn’t happen at all.”
Dreher said when you get home you have to go through hours of video or audio even though you believe there is probably nothing on the recordings. It can take the group as long as three months to evaluate all of the audio and video they take during a full investigation.
Future investigations
The team is preparing for an investigation at Fort Riley, the first one of its kind authorized by the military.
The team is always looking for new sites to investigate. It does not charge for investigations, but will accept donations for expenses. This is a hobby for the men, who all have day jobs. They do not claim to be professionals, but they do carry insurance.
The team doesn’t usually investigate outdoor locations because of the environmental distractions. They also require a property owner’s permission and will not trespass. They also typically do not investigate private residences. Most of their investigations are in museums or other historical buildings.
The Signs of Suicide prevention program seeks to decrease the occurrence of suicide and suicide attempts among youth.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
A new program at Hays Middle School seeks to prevent suicide and self-harm among its students.
Already this year, HMS has reported multiple students with either suicide attempts or serious self-harm incidents, Julie Zollinger, school psychologist, said.
The school is rolling out a pilot of the Signs of Suicide prevention program this month. Zollinger gave a presentation on the pilot to USD 489 school board members at their meeting Monday.
SOS is the only program that research has shown increases students knowledge about suicide risk and depression, and decreased suicide attempts.
A report in 2016 indicated SOS reduced self-reported suicide attempts by 64 percent.
Over the last 10 years, the program has been implemented in more than 1,000 schools.
Screenshots from the video students will see as part of the SOS suicide prevention program at HMS.
The strongest indicators for suicide are depression, substance abuse and previous attempts of suicide, Zollinger said. For youth ages 11 to 19, suicide is the second-leading cause of death. In Kansas, suicide is the third-leading cause of death for middle school youth.
Depression has been linked to poor school performance, substance abuse, running away, feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness in addition to suicide.
“The SOS program was created to address the issues of youth depression and suicide simultaneously and age appropriately,” Zollinger said.
She added more than 90 percent of youth who die by suicide have a diagnosable mental health issue, most often depression. Yet 80 percent of youth with a mental disorder are never identified.
The SOS program has the following goals:
• Highlight the relationship between mental health and suicide
• Teach that suicide is, most often, a fatal response to a treatable disorder – depression
• Encourage individuals to seek help from adults
• Encourages students to seek help when they are concerned about themselves or a friend
In addition, the program seeks to reduce stigma, encourage students to seek help for themselves and others, engage parents and teacher to promote education and prevention, increase access to mental health services and strengthen community partnerships.
The students will learn to ACT.
Acknowledge: that you are seeing signs of depression or suicide in yourself or a friend and that it is serious.
Care: Let your friend know how much you care about them and that you are concerned that they need help.
Tell: a trusted adult that you are worried about yourself or a friend.
HMS has already started to roll out the program to a pilot of 25 students. The staff has seen training videos, consent letters have gone out to parents and parent training is set to start later this week.
Parents can watch a video on SOS, receive a newsletter and receive access to an SOS online portal.
Students will also watch a video and receive a newsletter. To complete the session, they must fill out a depression screening and hand in a response card indicating if they are concerned about themselves or a friend. The students also get wallet cards and ACT sticker for their lockers.
SOS research has indicated 12 percent to 15 percent of students report they need a follow-up after they complete the SOS training. That rate is higher if there has been a recent trauma in the community.
Counselors and the school psychologist will be on hand to help students who self-refer or refer a friend. Parents will be contacted, and the students referred to community mental health services if necessary.
Materials for the program were paid for through a gift from the USD 489 Foundation for Educational Excellence. The startup pack for the middle school cost about $500, but Zollinger said further materials would be less expensive and some resources like the newsletters could be produced in-house.
Zollinger said she hopes the SOS program could be rolled out to the entire middle school. The school is only limited, at this point, by the number of mental health providers available following the implementation, she said.
Board member Luke Oborny said the numbers and the evidence on suicide were staggeringly scary.
“It is not a matter if there is a need,” he said. “I am glad you are helping to try to fill that void.”
Members of the Tech Team work with the Dot and Dash robots at Hays Middle School.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
Students at Hays Middle School are helping solve the tech troubles of their fellow students and even teachers.
Twenty-one students are members of the HMS Tech Team, which began as a pilot program this school year. The students had to apply to be on the team.
Two HMS eighth-grade students on the Tech Team — Wyatt Waddell and Chason VanDerWege — gave a presentation on the team’s work at the USD 489 school board meeting last Monday.
“We help the students with all their technology needs. We try to make the setup of iPads easier and all technology,” VanDerWege said, “and we help with classroom support for teachers and implement technology.”
The middle school has created a ticket system for students to submit technology problems. The Tech Team students are on call during a Tech Team class or during their seminar class period. They try to respond to tickets within one or two class periods.
The ticket system is on the HMS website, and students don’t need to leave their classrooms or miss instruction time to submit tickets.
The Tech Team students have been collecting data on the success of the ticket program. The students have received 54 tickets in the last six weeks. They have been able to resolve 68 percent of the issues. Most of the remaining problems related to hardware and had to be sent in to school’s technology director.
The Tech Team also helps with other school projects, including the iPad rollout, setting up Apple IDs, setting up Hoopla and Libby with Hays Public Library and HMS Library staff, developing and maintaining the Student Life website, learning the ins and outs of a new educational robots for implementation in classrooms, and creating tutorials for the HMS Canvas page.
The robots the students worked with are from Wonder Workshop and are called Dash and Dot. One of the HMS teachers received a grant to purchase the robots. The students can use the robots to learn coding and work on problem-solving skills. The Tech Team students have learned how to program the robots and will be teaching small groups of other students how to use Dot and Dash.
The students also are learning about coding and last week started making an anti-bullying video. The video is based around the word “respect.” The students hope to show the video during an elementary school assembly. They are also developing an online scheduling system for the HMS counselors.
One of the team’s most recent projects was building a platform for the Zones of Regulation Check- In.
Zones of Regulation has been a concept that has been around for years. Students report their emotions as good, sad, frustrated or angry. In the past, this has been done with physical indicators, such as popsicle sticks, Julie Zollinger, school psychologist, said.
Zollinger searched online for a program that would allow students to self report their emotions online, but she didn’t find anything.
“We know we have middle school kids we need to track. With 700-some kids in our building, that is hard to do,” she said.
She sought the help of the Tech Team.
“I said this is the program,” Zollinger said. “I pulled it up on my computer and was Googling pictures they use. And it was just awesome because they turned to each other. I felt like I was just a fly on the wall at a startup in Silicone Valley. They had their iPads, and they were like, ‘We can do this.’ ‘Hey, if we do this then this would work better.’ I just sat back and watched them. It was a great feeling.”
HMS Tech Team members Peyton Zimmerman and Jude Tippy gave a report to the school board on Monday on their work on the project.
The students used Microsoft Forms to create a Zones of Regulation quiz. They then added the Apple app Remind as notification system that will alert the students in the program to take the quiz when they first get to school.
That data is forwarded to teachers, counselors and the school psychologist so they can help the student better regulate their emotions. The students plan to further add a system to remind teachers to check the data.
The Microsoft Forms data can be downloaded into an Excel document and graphed.
The Tech students piloted the program to work out bugs. The program rolled out to a limited number of target students on Oct. 12.
“This quiz is going to make it a lot easier for school administrators, teachers and school psychologists to get the information that they need because sticks don’t work anymore,” Tech Team student Zimmerman said.
The HMS Tech Team Video Team hopes to make a video tutorial for students on how to use the Zones of Regulation online quiz.
Board members said they were very impressed with the students’ work.
“It is like that age-old thing where you are walking down the hall or see a stranger on the street and you say, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ ‘Fine, fine, fine.’ Sometimes I think are you really getting accurate data?” board member Luke Oborny said. “If you are interacting with students in a method with technology that they are already used to and are comfortable with, I think you can get more data and a lot more accurate data.”
Debbie Barnett, HHS secretary, thanks the board for her selection as USD 489’s Best of the Best.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
USD 489 staff member Debbie Barnett was honored with the Hays school district’s Best of the Best award for November at the school board meeting Monday night.
Barnett, Hays High counselor secretary, was nominated by Suellyn Stenger, HHS counselor.
Debbie Barnett is “often the first person to welcome new students and their families to Hays High,” Stenger said, “and she is always very pleasant and helpful.
“Debbie multitasks more efficiently than anyone I have had the pleasure of working with. She remains positive no matter the demands placed upon her. Debbie’s attention to detail is second to none. I have been told everyone is replaceable, but I beg to differ in this situation.”
Stenger said Barnett’s responsibilities are too numerous to list. She also assists the school psychologist, school nurse, staff and administrators.
“She is often the initial the contact for students and parents who are distressed,” Stenger said, “and she handles every situation very calmly.”
Stenger added Barnett is professional and understands the importance of student confidentiality.
“The counseling office would simply not be as efficient without Debbie Barnett. She is the Best of the Best,” Stenger said.
Lucy Tippy and her teacher, Taylor Reynolds, with members of the Hays USD 489 school board. Photo Courtesy of USD 489
Lucy Tippy, Lincoln fifth-grader, was honored as the student Best of the Best.
She was nominated by her teacher, Taylor Reynolds.
“Lucy is such a light to have in my classroom,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds read her nomination letter.
“Lucy is a very bright student and goes above and beyond to help other students around her,” she said. “She is constantly asking the classroom teacher if she is able to help anyone who may not understand something. She spends all of her free time making sure her peers understand the assignment.
“She is always smiling and has a bright and happy energy about her that makes her light up a room. She just walks in the room, and she is always smiling and making funny jokes and just makes the classroom just that much better. I love having her in my class.”
Thibodeau and Joy / photo courtesy Hays Arts Council
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
Children can join a baby owl and a young Pegasus, who eats rainbows for dinner, as they fight the forces of the evil night Night Mare in Hays librarian Nicole Thibodeau’s new book “Pegasus Dan and the Little Owl.”
For her first her first book, Thibodeau teamed up with Ellinwood artist Robert Joy.
Last week, Thibodeau and Joy were on hand at the Hays Arts Center for a book signing.
All the books on-hand at the HAC sold out. However, an exhibit of Thibodeau and Joy’s artwork is on display at the HAC until the end of October. Books can be purchased online through Amazon for $12.
The book is a tale of tolerance that Thibodeau, 38, said was inspired by her uncle. Her uncle was gay, and Thibodeau said he was misunderstood by his family. He recently died, and Nicole went to California to help her mother with her uncle John’s estate.
“It was a very moving experience, and it really inspired me to search for bringing more narratives into the world that are about inclusion and overcoming fear,” she said. “That was the narrative of this story and what this story is about.”
The main character in the story is a young Pegasus named Dan, who lives in a treehouse in an enchanted forest. Dan’s parents tell him not to trust the night creatures in the forest below.
One day, Dan is flying to school and he hears a noise. He swoops down to find a little owl whose wing is caught under a branch. He realizes she is a night creature.
“He says, ‘Just this once I would like to help you, but will you promise not to hurt me with your talons?’ She says, ‘I promise.’ He lifts up the branch and she flies away,” Thibodeau said.
Dan thinks about the little owl all day at school and hopes her wing is doing OK.
“He flies home at the end of the day and tells his parents he helped a night creature in the forest below. They look very worried and they tell him to be careful that the night creatures can be dangerous,” she said.
Dan has rainbows for dinner and goes to bed.
He wakes up to the sound of a crash and finds his father fighting the evil Night Mare, a horse.
“The little owl flies into the window, and she hoots, and the Night Mare vanishes into the night,” Thibodeau said.
Dan’s father thanks the owl, and Dan and the little owl are friends forever.
The little owl in the book was inspired by a baby owl that baby owl fell out of a tree in Thibodeau’s backyard. After a friend who works at the Sternberg examined the owl, he deemed it healthy enough to go back into the tree.
“It is about friendship, because he is afraid at the beginning because he doesn’t know any night creatures,” Thibodeau said. “Then he gets to know one and she helps him out. It is the overcoming of fear and learning about different kinds of creatures, which could be in our world different kinds of people.
“I also feel in this time in our society it is so important to generate more narratives that are bringing more people together and increasing the amount of compassion.”
Painting and drawings by Nicole Thibodeau and Robert Joy at the Hays Arts Center
Thibodeau said she did not think the book was appropriate for very young children because of the length of the story. She recommended it for first- through third-graders.
“Pegasus Dan and the Little Owl” was self-published. Thibodeau became acquainted with Robert Joy through an area art show. Joy and Thibodeau corresponded through the mail, and Joy sent her intricately hand-decorated envelopes with her letters. Photos of some of these made it into the back of the book.
Thibodeau is a library assistant in the young adult department at the Hays Public Library. She received her bachelor of arts in studio art from Bethany College in Lindsborg and her MFA from FHSU. She also received instruction at the Art Student’s League in New York, Lacoste School of the Arts in France, as well as from Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy. Additionally, she earned a master’s degree in English from FHSU.
Thibodeau has written and hopes to publish other children’s books. She is also a poet and visual artist.
“It is rewarding to create,” she said. “That is my favorite thing.”
