By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

You may not know the name of Hays native Buck Arnhold, but you probably have seen his work.

A 40-year career as a commercial and fine artist has included painting portraits of such icons as Joe Montana and Marcus Allen and painting hundred of sign, billboards and murals.

Arnhold will return to Hays on Friday for the exhibition “Buck Arnhold Comes Home” during the Fall Art Walk at the Mad Matter Frame Shop.

Arnhold, 65, remembers drawing from at least the age of 5. His father told him stories about his grandfather painting pictures of horses on doors of barn lofts, and Arnhold gravitated to horses and western scenes early on.

He said he always wanted to be an artist or perhaps a pro football player.

However, Arnhold’s burgeoning talent was almost squashed early in his school career. His mother wanted him to go to St. Joseph’s Military Academy, which is now Thomas More Prep-Marian. St. Joseph’s did not have an art program.

In fact, he was discouraged from taking fine art at all. At that time, boys took mechanical drawing. He said the mechanical drawing teacher called him a sissy for wanting to pursue art — something that stuck with him for many years.

Buck’s older brother worked on their mother over the summer, and finally convinced her to allow Buck to go to Hays High.

“Hays High had a really good art department,” he said. “It really cemented the fact I wanted to be an artist.”

Arnhold’s parents were strict, so when his peers were going out in high school, he spent hours in his room drawing. He said it made him a better artist.

Arnhold went on to study art at Fort Hays State University in 1970, where he received a bachelor’s, master’s and master’s of fine arts degrees in art. For about 12 years, Arnhold had local sign company, before moving to Kansas City.

In Kansas City, he worked for the Ace Sign Company, where he was assigned early on to take on some great heights.

He was painting billboards 80 to 100 feet in the air. The first time he had to go on top of a billboard, Kansas City had a cold snap, and it was 10 below. In order to get to the top of the billboard, you had to climb a narrow ladder attached to the pole. When the painters did those billboards, the first person up had to carry a 100 foot rope, so the supplies could be hoisted up to the sign.

“It was windy, and everything was waiving,” he said. “That first time was rough.”

Arnhold’s company was also involved in painting the Arrowhead letters at the Chiefs’ stadium. He was hoisted up with a 100-foot boom truck. The boom was not long enough, so he swung over to the sign another 15 feet on a wooden seat suspended with ropes with a 5-gallon bucket of paint, a roller and brush.

Another public piece he painted was the Boulevard Brewing Co. smokestack, which the brew taps for the brewery are now modeled.

After painting a picture of Bo Jackson, he came to the attention of Derrick Thomas and the Chiefs.

He painted a banner for Thomas that would hang in Arrowhead Stadium. From there, other players asked him to paint their banners.

From the very large billboards to the very small, Arnhold also painted players’ likenesses on signed commemorative footballs that were auctioned for charity.

Although the painting of the athletes were done from photos, during this time, he met many of the Chiefs players and other sports icons at charity events, including Joe Montana, Marcus Allen, Nolan Ryan and Mark McGwire.

You may have seen Arnhold’s work other places in Kansas City and Hays.

He has done large murals in Price Chopper grocery stores all over the country, including murals in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, where he covered 600 feet of wall with pharmacy, farmer’s market and dairy scenes.

Local work you might know includes the Indian in the Hays High gym, the “Where the Wild Things Are” mural in the children’s library at the Hays Public Library and a 16-foot mural of a sunrise at Forsyth Library at Fort Hays State University.

Arnhold said he thought his career has been well spent.

“The difference was I stuck with it. A lot people have talent, but for one reason or the other they didn’t stick with it. There are a lot of years where you go, ‘I don’t know if I should have.’ But I kept with it and stayed with it,” he said. “I was actually able to retire from Associated Groceries as an artist. I got a pension and a 401. I did’t have to be a teacher to be an artist or sell on the corner.

“I was doing art every day. I had a brush or a pencil in my hand in Kansas City probably 12 or 16 hours a day. If it wasn’t at work, it was at home.”

Arnhold still keeps busy working on murals at schools across the Kansas City area.

He has painted murals in 19 of the 35 Olathe schools, including seven murals since Christmas.

All the years as a commercial painter helped Arnhold not only paint quickly, but also helped him develop skills to scale up smaller drawings.

He recently finished a 30-foot mural of Hound Dogs for a local school in five days.

He may be retired, but Arnhold has never stopped drawing. He always has a painting or drawing in front of him. He still loves Westerns and sometimes freezes a movie in mid-scene so he can sketch Clint Eastwood or Lee Marvin.

His favorite subject recently has been his grandson, Kellan, 5. Portraits of Kellan will be included in his show on Friday along with examples of his sports work, western scenes and landscapes, and a portrait of John F. Kennedy he did in the sixth grade.

Arnhold will also do a portrait demonstration during the Fall Art Walk Friday night.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

You could just about feel the excitement and anticipation in the air Monday morning as people began gathering at 10 a.m. at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays to watch the first total solar eclipse to cross the entire United States in 99 years.

By 11:30 a.m. you could actually feel the rain drops falling from an overcast sky.

A few umbrellas popped up in the crowd, while some people headed straight inside the museum lobby where they could watch a live video feed by NASA and slip inside the inflatable planetarium to learn more about constellations in the fall sky.

Gail and Linda Palmberg, Yocemento, and their friend Karen Rankin, who is in the process of moving to Hays from Caney in southeast Kansas, stayed put in their portable chairs in the parking lot.

“I think it’s going to clear off and we’re going to see it,” Linda predicted.

And she was right.

About 12:12 p.m., the wind picked up and the clouds began to part. Even though the moon first began to cover the sun in Hays at 11:32 a.m., it was hard to discern because of the cloud cover.

Twelve-year-old Seth Tripp was ready for the big event with his handcrafted pinhole viewer made from an empty cereal box, one of several activities at Sternberg. Seth is a 7th grader at Hays Middle School who came with his family to the solar eclipse celebration.

“I learned about this in 5th and 6th grades and we’re probably gonna learn more about it now (in 7th grade.) I like science,” said Seth, who was wearing a constellation t-shirt.

Shawn Demuth, Hays, teaches K-6th grade music in Ellis. He was walking up to people he didn’t know, offering to share his solar sunglasses, a hot commodity since most places have been sold out for a while.

“You’ve seen it in pictures, you’ve seen videos and you’ve seen it on TV everywhere, but it’s just not as cool as seeing it in real life,” Demuth said.

Other types of viewing devices could be seen in the crowd including welding helmets, Sternberg’s solar viewing telescope, and large cardboard viewers which could be used to look through and as a filter over a camera phone.

Glen Teel was sharing two welding helmets. “They’re #12 shade, so you can’t look through them too long,” Teel cautioned those who took a peek at the sun. A #14 shade is the darkest shade made for a protective welding helmet.

“It’s the first day of classes and the end is here,” joked Fort Hays State University biology major Jon Beck, Seminole, Colorado. He and some friends were placing their solar sunglasses over the camera lens on their iPhones and using the Snapchat app to take pictures of the eclipse. “It’s pretty cool because you can see the sun through the clouds and it gives it a kind of misty, apocalyptic look to it,” Beck said.

Delilah Meyers, 9, was using the same technique. Delilah said her mom “actually got the day off for me from school so I could come do this. It’s pretty cool.”

The maxim eclipse in Hays occurred at 12:59 p.m. with 94.6% of the sun occluded. As she took another peek through her glasses “that let me look at the sun,” Delilah was sure the temperature felt cooler.  “That’s because the sun is hidden by the moon and so it’s not shining down to make us hot,” explained the Lincoln School 4th grader.

Anna Luhman was also taking pictures with her phone during the darkest part of the eclipse in Hays. She plans on sharing them with her two sons Monday evening who are both astrophysicists and graduates of Hays High School

“I remember taking them outside all the time with their telescopes to look at the sky,” Luhman reminisced.

Kevin Luhman, 46, studies deep space with the Hubble and Kepler telescopes for NASA at Penn State. Michael Luhman, 52, is an astrophysicist for the Department of Defense in Alexandria, Virginia. “Hays High has had some good science graduates,” said Luhman.

By 2:27 p.m., it was back to normal in Hays with the full diameter of the sun’s disk emerging from behind the moon. The eclipse ended at 3:10 p.m. on the east coast in Charleston, South Carolina.

More than 600 people participated in paid activities inside Sternberg, according to Dean Zerr who was manning the visitors’ desk.  He said many other people enjoyed the free events in the lobby and parking lot where there were also food trucks set up for the solar eclipse celebration.

People in the far northeast corner of Kansas were in the path of totality, meaning they witnessed the eclipse in its entirety.

Many people from Kansas traveled north to Nebraska to experience the totality. You can watch it below.

(Video by David Hawksworth, Eagle TV)

According to NASA, the last time a total solar eclipse occurred exclusively in the U.S. was in 1778.  The next  total solar eclipse will be visible in the United States on April 8, 2024.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Growing up in Hays, Scotty Mullen dreamed of being a writer.

When he was in second-grade at Lincoln Elementary School, his teacher, Mrs. White, gave the class a manila envelope and asked them to write a story each week and place it in the envelope.

On Friday, the students read one of their stories aloud. He included cameos for his friends, and he loved making everyone laugh.

Mullen said it was good training for his last job, writing and casting the Syfy Channel’s “Sharknado 5: Global Swarming,” which premiered on cable earlier this month.

Mullen was born and raised in Hays and graduated from Hays High School in the 1990s. He spent his summers at Hays Public Library reading, writing and dreaming. He said it was hard growing up in Hays for a kid like himself who couldn’t throw a football, but drama, art and music programs through the Hays Arts Council, Fort Hays State University and the school system helped him keep his dream alive.

One thing eluded him, though. Every year, he entered the Hays Arts Council Creative Writing Contest — and each year he lost.

Mullen tried college at FHSU and KU, but couldn’t quite find his niche. He tried studying journalism, social work and education, but nothing stuck.

Some friends from Georgia finally convinced him to try Georgia State University, where he got a gig on the college’s TV station interviewing celebrities who came to town.

Before that time, he never knew anyone who was making money writing screenplays. It gave him hope.

Mullen got his start in L.A. working as a publicist organizing outlandish publicity stunts. One included casting 1,000 women to play living Barbie dolls across the country, including one who appeared in Hays.

Even with some success in L.A., Mullen said he was unsure if he would ever make it as a writer.

“I had a lot of doubt. I had a lot of doubt on myself, because it still seemed to be something for somebody else. It seemed such an impossible mountain to climb, and I didn’t know a lot people who had done it.”

He said he was going to studios as a publicist, but he said he felt as if he was cheating himself.

“Even though I was here on the lot, I was not on the side of the table that I wanted to be at. That was getting very depressing for me. It felt really inauthentic. I remember one day I totally stopped myself where I was walking. It was almost as if God grabbed me and stopped me and said, ‘Stop, you are going the wrong way.’ ”

Mullen connected with an old friend from Hays, Adrienne Kelly, who was working as a life coach in L.A. Together the two worked on a plan for Mullen to make his dream of being a writer come true.

“The first biggest step was that I had to admit to myself that I wanted to be a writer and also get over my negative thinking that it wasn’t possible. That took a good six months, but once I got out of my own way, that is when stuff started to happen.”

The connections he was making in Hollywood, led Mullen into casting. He worked as a casting associate on “Sharknado 3: Oh, Hell No.” and the SyFy channel’s “Z Nation,” a series about zombies.

Along the way, Mullen was getting calls to write jokes or short pieces of dialogue for the Sharknado franchise.

Although meeting stars as a casting director was fun, he said his dream was still to be a writer.

“Nothing is better than having a story in my head,” he said. “You get to watch it come to life. Working with a director to bring it to life is very addictive.”

In 2014, he got his first break as screenwriter. Director Glen Miller wanted a zombie movie, so Mullen paired a zombie with a sorority girl in “The Coed and the Zombie Stoner,” which he had to turn over in two weeks.

Casting and writing, Mullen has been able to work with many stars and some of his childhood idols. He met Jackie Collins during the filming of “Sharknado 3” and played her escort during filming.

Mullen fell in love with the movie “Xanadu” after seeing it at the Fox during a summer movie series, so he was thrilled when Olivia Newton-John and her daughter appeared in “Sharknado 5” for Newton-John’s first American movie appearance in 17 years.

“I used to have Bret Michaels on my Trapper Keeper, and then I am sitting with him at his house having a Coors Light talking about how he is going to fight a shark on his guitar,” he said. “That’s nuts. That was so fun. That was really, really fun.”

Mullen said he was surprised at how hard working and fun some of the celebrities he has worked with have been, including mogul Mark Cuban.

The Sharknado franchise has been fun to work on, and Mullen said that has drawn many celebrities to the films.

“I describe it as a Hollywood kegger,” he said. “It is just a fun crazy party that people really want to come to or not, and the people who do come to it have a great time.”

“Sharknado 5” filmed all around the world in London, Tokyo, Rome, Sidney, Bulgaria and little bit in the U.S. He spent 10 days in London filming with Clay Aiken, Geraldo Rivera and Tara Reid.

Mullen continues to write everyday and works to improve his skills. He is taking classes and reading script books as well as rereading Hamlet.

He is currently working on a World War II drama about the Flying Tigers plus some other possible projects in the wings.

However, he said he would not turn down an opportunity to write “Sharknado 6.”

“I love those sharks,” he said. “I would write them until the end of time. The sharks have been very good to me. They have been a lot of fun. I actually would like to write a script from the point of view of the sharks, because I think they are the innocent bystanders in this crazy phenomenon. I think people would get a kick out of that.”

You can watch reruns of Sharknado on the Syfy channel. The next showing on Syfy is Sunday, Aug. 27. Check local listings for exact times. “Sharknado 5: Global Swarming” will be available on DVD and VOD on Oct. 3.

 

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

RUSH COUNTY — It looked like an informal gathering of friends sitting under the shade trees to while away a perfect summer afternoon Friday in Loretta.

But the 20 or so people were there to voice their concerns about a proposed expansion of a hog farm 2 miles southwest of Pfeifer in northern Rush County and just south of the Ellis County line.

The residents of Rush and Ellis Counties had asked State Rep. Troy Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill, to hear the concerns of locals about the expansion by Bison Rush Genetics, LLC, which could increase the permitted number of animals from 3,840 to 24,408.

The group is troubled about environmental damage, property values, health issues, road maintenance and their livelihoods.

“This is gonna ruin people’s lives,” said one young man to Waymaster.

Melanie Urban lives 1.1 miles from the edge of one of the proposed buildings.

“Right now when the wind blows, you can smell it. If it gets that much bigger, you’ll be able to smell it all the time.

“We’re worried our water wells are going to get polluted or even depleted,” she told Waymaster. “We’re also concerned about how much (animal) waste will be generated, how they’ll contain it and how it will spread so it doesn’t pollute our water resources.”

The Smoky Hill River is 1.5 miles away from the site and the source for drinking water, private wells and agricultural wells in the area. The Pfeifer well field on the Smoky Hill River is the primary source of water for the city of Russell.

According to the public hearing testimony, a certified land surveyor has determined dead swine and carcasses are being left in open trenches closer to one habitable structure (a home) than the required distance of 5,000 feet. That would be a violation of KDHE regulations and state law.

“The dead pigs are at the same depth as some of our water wells,” Urban continued. “They’ve been burying them there for 20 years. We’re worried about that getting into our water.”

If a waste lagoon were to break, the slurry would run downhill into the Smoky Hill River, according to Urban.

“To our knowledge, that lagoon has never been pumped out, never been cleaned. They’re not telling us that information. We don’t have access to that information,” she said.

Urban presented Waymaster with a copy of the public comments alleging several state violations during a public hearing July 25 in La Crosse. Several times during Friday’s 90-minute meeting, Waymaster looked up from his cell phone, promising the group he was “taking notes, not playing on my phone.”

“I have four little ones,” said Emily Billinger. She and her husband Jim, who grew up in Pfeifer, are parents to four children under the age of 8. “I want the state to know there are young families here who are worried about their kids not being able to play outside because of polluted air and water.”

Waymaster told the group he had talked with KDHE Secretary Dr. Susan Mosier on Thursday. He read out loud a lengthy email from Mosier detailing the status of the KDHE permit application and what action steps might be next for residents in Rush County.

“This could be brought up to a public vote as to whether or not they would want this type of facility moving into their county. But the unfortunate fact is the people in Rush County would have that voice. But the people in Ellis County will not,” Waymaster pointed out. “That’s why this discussion was a combination of Ellis and Rush County residents so I could hear their concerns and relay those back to Dr. Mosier.”

Under state law, Kansas counties do not have any control in regulating confined swine feeding operations owned by an LLC or corporation. The state does allow county commissions to “request an election to determine whether corporate swine production facilities shall be allowed to be established in _______ county, pursuant to K.S.A. 17-5904.”

“We went door-to-door talking to people about what was going on, showing them the application so they’re aware of this hog facility. We went to the county commission and the zoning committee to make them aware,” Urban said. “So, in November of this year, it’s gonna go to a vote of Rush County residents whether they want a corporate swine production facility in this county.

If the result is a “no” vote, Urban is unsure how it would affect the proposed expansion.

“We’re still worried about it, but it’ll for sure stop others from coming in.”

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has prepared a proposed Kansas Water Pollution Control Permit for Bison Rush Genetics. The permit is being reissued for a 20-year-old existing confined animal feeding operation, which was sold recently.

According to the permit application, the proposed expansion would be a full production unit with up to 12,822 hogs more than 55 pounds and up to 11,586 hogs less than 55 pounds.

The applicant is listed as Bison Rush Genetics LLC, with a post office box address in Carthage, Ill. That address is associated with Professional Swine Management. The application includes a facility address of rural Bison in Rush County.

“We don’t know who the actual owners are yet,” said Urban, wife of Rush County Commissioner Ken Urban.

Waymaster told the group he is a firm believer in local rights. “Local government should be deciding what’s going on in their particular cities and counties, and obviously, local citizens need to have a voice.

“It does feel like this firm has moved in without the locals being able to express their concerns, but they (Bison Rush Genetics LLC) have done everything within the law and within Kansas state statutes. Nothing has been violated,” Waymaster said. “But I do have a concern about this because it’s going to be affecting the livelihoods of people in Ellis and Rush counties, who’ve been pushed aside and basically had no voice in this type of facility moving into the area.”

The 109th District state representative wouldn’t go so far as to say state statutes need to change but did say “we definitely need to have more regulation on if and when this type of business is moving in … and also in making the counties say whether or not they want this in their county.”

According to Ken Urban, Rush County has had zoning regulations in place since 2003, “but we just found out in the past few weeks we have no control over this. I’m not opposed to corporations but it would have been nice for the applicants to meet with us.” Urban, in his sixth year as a county commissioner, said he’s “disheartened,” adding that several attorneys are involved on behalf of Rush County.

His wife, Melanie, summed it up with “they’re putting it way too close to people and way too close to water resources.” She said dirt work has already been done at the site and four water wells have been drilled in preparation for the expansion.

Click HERE to view the permit application. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment oversees those permit applications.

Attempts to contact Professional Swine Management were unsuccessful Friday.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The huge mural project underway on the north side of the Hays VFW building, 2106 Vine, is nearing completion.

The military history painting “150 Years of Service” by Hays artist Dennis Schiel has been consigned by the Hays Arts Council in observation of the 150th anniversary of Ellis County, the city of Hays and historic Fort Hays. Hays Arts Council is celebrating its 50th year in 2017.

Schiel started with a depiction of the Buffalo Soldiers, the black troops who served at Fort Hays, and then he painted Walker Air Force Base which was open during World War II just east of Hays.

“Every war will also be represented and every armed service will be represented,” Schiel explained as worked in black, gray and white tones on the World War I picture.

“Since it’s our 150th anniversary, I wanted to paint something that shows 150 years of military service.”

Schiel, a professional artist for more than 30 years, usually paints on a much smaller scale, often portraits and other consigned images which will hang on indoor walls.

“This is really fun,” he laughed, making large swooping passes with a large paintbrush on the light red brick. “I don’t have to make sure every line is real straight because if you get away from it, you can’t tell the difference.”

In comparison, the subjects in the Kansas mural he painted which hangs in the Topeka state capitol “took as long as these pictures will and the Kansas subjects are just two by three inches.”

He likes to call his large work “slopping paint.”

“This wall is presenting a challenge. It’s so porous, it’s hard to make everything work. We initially started with 2.5 gallons for the base and ended up using 7 gallons of paint just to get the base down. It just sucks it in.”

Schiel also painted the mural on the north side of the Fox Pavilion in downtown Hays which depicts the 150 years of history in Ellis County.

“The Fox wall was smooth brick,” he noted.  After working on the VFW wall for a while, Schiel said he learned some secrets to painting on porous brick. “You have to use a fan brush and that way the paint gets down into the pores.”

He hadn’t planned to use little fan brushes but discovered the need since the military scene subjects are quite a bit smaller than those on the two-story Fox Pavilion.

And the secret to working in the summer heat?

“Move fast,” Schiel answered with a big laugh. He actually prefers the paint dry quickly so he can layer it if necessary.

Schiel has been keeping plenty of water with him and says the veterans inside the air-conditioned environs of Post 9076 have been “really nice, inviting me in for a drink at the end of the day.”

When completed, the mural will include scenes of Buffalo Soldiers, WWI, Walker Air Force Base, WWII, Korean Conflict, Vietnam War, Gulf Wars, symbols of the five armed services,  a bald eagle–the nation’s symbol–and a jet, all set against the red, white and blue background of a flying American flag.

The original plans for the VFW mural called for painting it on the west side which faces the heavily trafficked Vine Street, according to Schiel.

“But the sun would get to it constantly and that just won’t work. This should last a lot longer,” he predicted. Following a little bit of research, he’s now hoping the mural will last at least 20 years after applying a sealing coat.

Schiel expects to be done with the mural by the end of the month.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

It is common for you to be nervous on your first day of a new job, but not Paula Rice.

Rice, the new principal at Roosevelt Elementary School, joined her new crop of first-graders in a glass of jitter juice. The punch was offered to kids to help calm their nerves during their first morning of school Wednesday.

“The energy was palpable,” Rice said of the first day of school. “It was almost tangibly exciting. But the coolest thing was when the final bell rang at 8:02 for class to start, quality instruction was already going on. As I am walking around the school this morning, I see students in seats eagerly paying attention and listening and already asking good questions.”

Rice has been an educator for 11 years. Her last position was as the assistant principal at Hutchinson High School. Although she has never taught at the elementary level, she said she had no qualms about working with younger children.

“Kids are kids. People are people,” Rice said. “Dr. Seuss said it best, ‘People are people no matter how small.’ They are wonderful, just big balls of energy — smiles and giggles and fun and so respectful and so welcoming and so encouraging.”

Rice recently moved to Hays with her husband of 25 years, who is a special education teacher working in Stockton. She said she loves Hays and her new neighborhood, which is within walking distance of the school.

“I love it. Since I have been in town, it has been wonderful,” she said. “I have had neighbors knock on my door and welcome me. It has just been amazing. Hays has such a positive vibe and is laid back. I have had to slow down a little bit.”

Rice, 43, went back to school later in life. She received her associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degree from Friend’s University in Wichita and as well as a master’s degree from Baker University.

“I have known since I was a child that I wanted to be an educator,” she said. “I guess I had gotten to the point in my life where I thought life had happened, and it was too late to go back to school. But when I finally went back to school, I knew that it was the right thing to do.”

Rice said Roosevelt has an incredible staff and strong parent support.

“I told my staff yesterday that I am not going to establish goals for us, because that is something that we need to do as a building and a school community. That is something that takes more than one person.”

She said her personal goal is to learn and help Roosevelt to grow as a family.

Rice’s education philosophy goes back to the relationships she had as a child.

“If you give a child the right support — the right backing — every child can learn,” she said. “They don’t all learn at the same rate. They don’t all get to the same place, but we as adults aren’t all the same either. This word would be pretty boring if we all looked the same and did the same and all functioned at the same level and we all had the same job.”

Rice said she fully supports the state’s new college and career readiness standards and said the foundation of that model starts in elementary school.

“When you are little, you are a dreamer,” she said. “These kiddos are growing up faster than they have to, and a lot of times the dreaming stops. I think it is our responsibility to not only to keep those dreams alive, but to teach them how to attain those goals, to set those goals, to say, ‘I really can be an astronaut,’ ‘Yes, I can be a teacher,’ or ‘Yes, I can go into construction,’ or ‘I can be a researcher.’ Whatever they want to do, now is the time to foster that.”

At the front door of the school are displays depicting what changes might happen if a $78.5 million bond issue is passed by voters this fall.

Roosevelt will celebrate its 50th anniversary in January. Although the school is better condition than some of the other schools in the district, Rice said some needed changes and repairs could be made if the bond passes.

The school has had ongoing problem with the HVAC system, which is only working about half the time. The school uses the same space for a gym, auditorium and cafeteria, which means classes can’t be scheduled in that space during the two hours it takes to serve lunch.

The proposed bond issue would also add a secure entrance and classroom space, so the school could accommodate four sections of each grade.

“I need to protect my students, I need to protect my staff,” she said. “Without a secure entrance, it is difficult to do that.”

The bond would pay for new storm shelters across the district. Currently, the students at Roosevelt are using old maintenance tunnels in case of storms. Those must be accessed by stairs, which means they are inaccessible for anyone who is disabled.

“It is better than nothing,” Rice said of the current shelter, “but I don’t think it is what the kids deserve.”

Rice, as well as members of her staff, have offered to answer questions and give tours to parents or members of the community who want more information about the bond. They need only to visit the school office and ask for Rice.

Monday night will be the Roosevelt’s Parent Orientation Night from 6 to 8 p.m. It will be primarily for parents of second through fifth graders, but the parents of the younger children can also attend.

Rice said the event will be an opportunity for parents and teachers to build adult teams that will support children through the school year. This also will be an opportunity for any parents who wish to meet Rice.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

It’s expected to be the most viewed total solar eclipse in human history.

Monday, Aug. 21, will be the first total solar eclipse to cross the entire United States in 99 years, since June 8, 1918.

People in the far northeast corner of Kansas will be in the path of totality, meaning they’ll witness the eclipse in its entirety. Those watching elsewhere in the state will see a partial solar eclipse.

While Hays is not in the path of totality, residents will experience a deep partial eclipse. The moon will cover nearly 95 percent of the sun during maximum eclipse at 12:59 p.m. Monday.

“That’s really good,” according to Greg Walters, exhibits director for the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays.

“Eclipses happen several times a year in different locations,” he explained. “The last time a solar eclipse touched anywhere in the lower 48 states was Feb. 26, 1979. That one only touched part of the U.S., from Washington state to North Dakota. Monday’s eclipse goes coast to coast.”

Sternberg is celebrating the event with exhibits, activities and programs, both indoors and outdoors.

Unfortunately, there won’t be any certified eclipse glasses available for purchase.

“We sold out what we had Tuesday,” confirmed Brad Penka, manager of Visitor Services, “and our supplier won’t be shipping us any more.”

Activities include:

• The Big Blink, a special exhibition detailing the What, When, Where, Why, How, & Who of the total solar eclipse
• Telescopes with various solar filters for viewing the partial eclipse, possible sunspots, and more
• Play-with-sun-shadows interactive station
• Planetarium shows
• Large screen projection of NASA’s live feed as the eclipse progresses across the U.S.  Images will include before, during, and after the eclipse collected from 11 spacecraft, more than 50 high-altitude balloons, at least three NASA aircraft, the International Space Station, and ground stations along the path of totality.
• Food trucks
• Make-your-own pinhole projection viewers.  The museum will provide boxes while supplies last or bring your own empty cereal box and they’ll supply the rest.
• Investigation stations. Learn how you can explore more with downloadable planetarium software, science phone apps, citizen science projects, local science clubs, local science programs, and  monitoring and charting the changing light levels and temperatures.

Sternberg Museum director Dr. Reese Barrick was a sophomore in high school during the 1979 eclipse across a portion of the northwest U.S.

“I remember getting to walk out the door and see it,” he recalled. “It’s not often you walk out in the middle of the day and it starts to get dark.”

Barrick is especially pleased about the NASA feed Sternberg will receive Monday, which will go live at approximately 11 a.m.

“If it’s cloudy out, you miss it. But with a live feed from NASA, it’s not going to be cloudy everywhere, and NASA will have a nice feed of it, so you’ll get a chance to see it,” he said.

The extended weather forecast for Monday in Hays from the National Weather Service calls for mostly sunny with a 20 percent chance of showers or thunderstorms with a high of 94 degrees.

The NASA live feed and the planetarium will be in the museum lobby which can be seen for free. Regular admission applies to the exhibits and some activities which will be in the galleries.

Barrick encourages Hays residents to take their lunch break at Sternberg. “There’ll be 95 percent totality at 12:59 p.m. so you can come out, buy some food at the trucks in the parking lot, and watch the eclipse.”

Schedule of events:

10:00 a.m. Celebration begins.

11:05 a.m. First contact in Salem, Oregon, moon starts to cover the sun’s disk on west coast.

11:32 a.m. First contact in Hays, moon first starts to cover the sun’s disk.

12:35–37 p.m. Totality in Salem, Oregon (west coast).

12:59 p.m. Maximum eclipse in Hays, 94.6% of the sun’s occluded.

1:46–48 p.m. Totality in Charleston, South Carolina (east coast).

2:00 p.m. Eclipse Stamp postmark deposit deadline.

2:27 p.m. Fourth contact in Hays, full diameter of the sun’s disk emerges from behind the moon.

3:10 p.m. Fourth contact in Charleston, South Carolina. Eclipse ends on the east coast.

According to NASA, the last time a total solar eclipse occurred exclusively in the U.S. was in 1778.

Click here to watch a Community Connection interview by host Mike Cooper with adjunct FHSU chemistry professor Dean Stramel who explains what happens in a solar eclipse as the moon in its orbit around the earth moves directly in between the sun and the earth, blocking the sun.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Two local veterans organizations are bringing a play based on letters written by veterans and their families to Hays on Sept. 8.

Douglas Taurel wrote and performs “The America Soldier,” a one-man show that highlights the experiences of veterans from the Revolutionary War through Afghanistan.

The performance will be 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Beach-Schmidt Performing Arts Center at Fort Hays State University, 600 Park, Hays. Tickets are $10 at the door.

There is no charge for veterans (discharge papers or VFW or American Legion membership cards are preferred, but not required). The event is sponsored by the FHSU Veterans Association and Vietnam Veterans of America.

John Pyle of the local chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America said he hopes the performance helps non-veterans and family members to understand the fears and hopes veterans experience.

Taurel is not a veteran, but spent eight years researching and selecting actual letters to portray in the play. He also has family members who are veterans and active service military.

Taurel explained the play does not attempt to judge if war is good or bad, rather he tries to depict the experiences of veterans and their families during and after their service.

“My play is really to give audiences appreciation of what veterans and families go through and what their sacrifices really are,” he said. “We talk about sacrifice but really don’t know what that means to lose a father, to lose a mother, to lose a son, to lose a wife, to financially not to be able to support your family because you are not really able to reassimilate back into society and make money anymore.”

Taurel said these are things society doesn’t really talk about anymore.

“We only talk about the shiny part of war,” he said. “We don’t talk about the back side of war. There is a very deep price, and a small population of our society is paying for it.”

Taurel wanted to bring more awareness of the experiences of veterans to non-veterans through his play. Many themes arise in the play, put Taurel said a common thread for many who have viewed the play has been difficultly reassimilating into society.

“If you see heavy combat, you almost have to go into some kind of decompression group therapy for six months to a year to reassimilate — to learn that a tire in the road is not an IED, it’s just a tire in the road. Knowing that huge crowds of people around you are not people trying to blow you up, they are actually just huge crowds of people,” he said. “As a country, we just don’t put any money into the reassimilation of veterans back into society.”

Taurel said this has been a thread through all the wars he has studied.

“It is the same story. We throw our veterans away kind of like used trash,” he said.

Of the 14 people who are portrayed in the one-hour play, most are infantrymen. However, Taurel also has included a letter from a mother who lost her son during the Vietnam War, and a soldier’s wife and her 8-year-old son.

Taurel said the play is very emotionally draining to perform and has been emotional for many of his audience members.

“Family members sometimes cry,” he said. “I have really emotional moments afterwards literally crying with family members or veterans. It becomes a catharsis for some people. It allows them to release things that they have never been able to release for any reason.”

“The American Soldier” first appeared off Broadway in 2015. Since, Taurel has performed at the international Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Kennedy Center and is set to perform later this year at the U.S. Library of Congress and in front of members of the U.S. Congress. The play also was nominated for Amnesty International’s annual Freedom of Expression Award.

Taurel has been in talks to bring a longer version of the play to Broadway and film.

More information on the play can be found on Taurel’s website at https://www.theamericansoldiersoloshow.com/. You can also follow him on Facebook or on Twitter @DouglasTaurel.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Early this year, the Kansas State Department of Education, in a request by the Kansas Highway Patrol, asked the state’s 286 school districts to voluntarily take part in a school bus safety awareness project. The purpose of the project was to raise awareness about illegal passing of school buses by motorists.

Hays USD 489 was one of 57 districts to volunteer between Jan. 23 and March 3, 2017. In those 30 school days, 40 motorists illegally passed stopped Hays school buses.

“We don’t want any children getting off the bus to get hurt,” said Russ Henningsen, USD 489 Director of Transportation. “It’s state law traffic must stop in both directions when a stopped school bus is displaying its flashing red lights and stop sign arm.”

The only exception is on a divided highway, such as Interstate 70, when only same-direction traffic overtaking the bus is required to stop. USD 489 doesn’t make any stops on I-70, according to Henningsen.

“Basically, anywhere in the city limits of Hays including Vine Street, if the stop sign is out, motorists in both directions must stop,” Henningsen explained. Once the bus is no longer displaying its flashing red lights and stop arm, traffic may proceed.

The Hays school buses also routes outside city limits on Highway 183 and near the airport on east Highway 40, where traffic is traveling much faster. “We don’t make any stops on Highway 183, but on Highway 40, we have no choice. We have to make a couple stops there.”

“A lot of people run our stop signs out there,” Henningsen reported. Most of the incidents of illegal passing reported to the state this year by USD 489 occurred on Highway 40.

“No matter if it’s city, state, or county roads, they all apply under state law. In town, our bus drivers are going 20 to 30 mph. On the highway that can be up to 50 mph, so it’s a lot more dangerous out in the county than it is in Hays.”

When a bus driver sees a vehicle about to go around the bus, “we get very nervous about the children’s safety,” he said.

“We want to be as safe as we can transporting very precious inventory. The students are either very happy to be getting home or excited to arrive at school and may not be paying attention to vehicles on the road.”

With the fall semester starting later this week in Hays, Henningsen reminds motorists to also watch for students walking and riding their bikes to and from school.

Henningsen wants to make sure drivers are aware of the Kansas law.  “We all need to be extra careful to help the kids out. It’s a very serious issue.”

He reminds drivers Hays school buses must also stop before a train crossing. “Twice in one week two different buses were rear-ended at a railroad crossing and we do have the four-way flashing lights on to warn drivers before we stop.”

Hays school buses are typically on the road from 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. picking students up for school and again in the afternoon from 3 to 4:30 p.m. delivering them back home. During regular school hours they may be driving students between schools or on field trips, and in the evenings traveling for sporting events.  “We’re running around at all times,” Henningsen said. “It is more than just going to and from school.”

Drivers who are caught going around a stopped school bus will be fined.

“We’re in communications with the Kansas Highway Patrol, Ellis County Sheriff and Hays Police Department after one of our drivers sees a violating motorist. They work with us to find violators,” Henningsen said. The bus drivers sometimes are able to pass along a vehicle description or even a tag number. They’ll fill out a state-provided form and pass it along to local law enforcement.

“Hays police will either call or go to the offender’s residence and talk to them about being reported for not stopping. If it happens a second time, the violator is often issued a ticket,” Henningsen said.  There are areas along the Hays bus routes where the bus stop arms are commonly ignored and USD 489 sometimes asks HPD to watch for violators in action.

“People are in too much of a hurry, distracted by cell phones and they’re just not taking their time,” Henningsen believes.

According to state law, violations are punishable by a fine and court costs in excess of $420.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

“As police chief, I feel like I hit the jackpot. I got the trifecta of new employees right here.”

Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler was obviously very happy during the August 10 Hays city commission meeting as he participated for the first time in a recently added regular agenda item, the introduction of new employees and recognition of city employees who’ve been promoted.

He enthusiastically introduced three new police officers who’ve all moved to Hays from out of state.

The trio has something else in common. All three are veterans who served in the United States Army.

“As chief of police, you’re looking for someone understands courage, understands dedication, understands duty, understands sacrifice. All three of these individuals understand that,” Scheibler said. “I’m very excited about having them on board.”

Scheibler gave a brief biography about each of the new officers–Nikki Elliott, Nick Woodruff and Nait Elkins.

Elliott was born in the Bahamas, went to high school in New York and has a degree from Delaware State University. She worked in the private sector before joining the military. Elliott, her husband and family moved to Hays for a business opportunity, enabling Elliott to then apply to the police department.

Woodruff became a federal police officer after serving in the military. He later moved to Kansas and became a certified police officer in the state. Woodruff then moved to Hays with his wife and family. Because he is already a certified police officer, Scheibler said the process of acclimating Woodruff to the department will “move a lot faster.”

Elkins was born in Ohio. “He and the love of his life were born in the same Ohio hospital, but they had to move to Manhattan to meet each other in Kansas,” Scheibler explained with a smile. Elkins just got out of the military. “This week he got out of the military and this week he’s working for us,” Scheibler noted. Elkins is pursuing a degree at Fort Hays State University.

Three other employees were recognized by Jeff Crispin, director of water resources.

Holly Dickman is the new Water Conservation Specialist. A lifelong Ellis County resident, Dickman served the past 11 years as the Ellis County K-State Research and Extension Horticulture Agent. “That’s a brilliant hire,” said Vice-Mayor James Meier as the other commissioners echoed their agreement.

is a new Water Resources Maintenance Worker I who previously worked at Hess Services in Hays. His specialty is welding according to Crispin, “sewer lines, water lines, working on meters and calls such as that.”

Chase Scheibler was promoted to Plant Operator I. He started working for the city of Hays a little more than a year ago in the maintenance department of the water resources department.

Scheibler now works in water plant operations “making sure our water is safe,” Crispin said.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017, has been proclaimed Robert E. “Bob” Schmidt Day in Hays by Mayor Shaun Musil.

The 90-year-old philanthropist, renowned broadcaster and retired chairman of the board of Eagle Communications passed away Tuesday, Aug. 8 at his home.

Musil read out loud and then signed the proclamation during Thursday’s city commission meeting. The proclamation was a short history of Schmidt’s life and highlighted several of his many contributions to the community.

“(Bob Schmidt’s) name has been synonymous with kindness and generosity for so many programs and projects for so many years. He has served on many boards throughout the community, and has been an excellent example of a true philanthropist as well as a successful business leader,” Musil read.

“I knew Bob since 1963,” said Commissioner Sandy Jacobs, “and we were good friends. More recently, in the last 10 years, we were great friends. He was a mentor to me. He always encouraged me to do the right thing and figure out what the right thing was.

“More than just giving back, he said it was getting other people and encouraging them to join in that. That was the true leadership, in my opinion,” Jacobs continued. “Bob could bring people to the fold. He collaborated. I will miss him greatly. He was a great, great man.”

“He was probably the hardest working man in this community,” said Commissioner Henry Schwaller, who also admired Schmidt’s “amazing sense of humor and funny, quick wit.”

A self-made man, Schmidt believed it was his responsibility to give back, according to Schwaller.

“He had done so well in the realm of radio and TV broadcasting. And because it used public licenses, Bob felt obligated to give that money back to the public,” he said.

“Bob and Pat Schmidt are of a generation of people gone. Who are going to be the next people to step up?” Schwaller wondered.

“Those of us who are in our 40s, we need to look at what Bob did,” said Mayor Shaun Musil. “It’s our time to run with the ball.”

“Everybody in the community at some point has benefited from the Schmidt family,” agreed Vice-Mayor James Meier, who works at the HaysMed Dreiling-Schmidt Cancer Institute.

The Schmidt name is visible throughout Hays, most notably at the Fort Hays State University Beach-Schmidt Performing Arts Center and the Schmidt-Bickle Training Facility, the Dreiling-Schmidt Cancer Institute at HaysMed and the city-owned Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex.

Musil moved to Hays in the early 1990s.

“You’d see the Schmidt name all over the place and I wondered ‘Who is this guy?’ ” he said.

Musil began running into Schmidt at various community events and meetings a few years before he became a city commissioner.

“He’s the kind of guy you can just sit in awe of, listen to him and learn from him,” he said. “He never treated you like you were below him. You were one of the residents of Hays.

“The word ‘idolize’ gets thrown around too much, but this guy, he’s truly a guy you can idolize,” Musil said emphatically.

Friday morning in city hall, Musil presented a framed copy of the proclamation and a key to the city to Schmidt’s son, Tony Schmidt, and his wife, Loreta, of Lawrence.

“We will treasure this,” Schmidt said.

Commissioners Jacobs and Schwaller, along with Ellis County Commissioner Barb Wasinger, told the couple the community would not be the same without the generosity of Bob and Pat Schmidt. Pat Schmidt passed away in August 2015.

“I know he had a gene in him that was community service,” Tony said of his dad. “I loved his word ‘obligatory,’ ” Jacobs interjected.

“Well, he’s a good Catholic Volga-German,” Tony Schmidt added with a chuckle.

As he shook Musil’s hand, Tony Schmidt said “now you guys can be the ‘Outstanding Man of the Year.’ ”

Among his many accolades, Bob Schmidt was named Outstanding Young Man of the Year by the Hays Chamber of Commerce in 1956. The award came just six years after Schmidt graduated from Fort Hays Kansas State College (now Fort Hays State University) and became general manager of KAYS Radio, as well as vice-president and director of KAYS, Inc. (now Eagle Communications).

“We have some very big shoes to fill,” Musil and Schwaller said with a smile.

Funeral services for Schmidt will be Saturday. Click HERE for details.

WAKEENEY — The sound of power saws could be heard through the streets of WaKeeney Thursday night as residents hurried to board up broken windows before dark.

A storm brought high winds and hail reported at 2 inches through the community Thursday afternoon.

Andrew Mejia, 809 Barclay, WaKeeney, was in his front yard with friends trying to board up windows.

Every single window on the north side of his double-wide mobile home was broken, as well as the windows on the west side of his house.

“It was nasty,” he said. “It came fast. It got cloudy and then pouring rain and then the hail and the wind. You couldn’t see a thing.”

The Dairy Queen down the street didn’t fare much better with the iconic red roofing stripped down to wood around almost the entire building. Siding was damaged on many homes as well.

Trees were uprooted and limbs were knocked down in some yards.

Vehicles also did not fare well. Many cars and trucks in the community had windshields broken and severe body damage caused by the hail.

Crews were working on power lines into the evening.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Jeff Leiker learned to read through comic books.

He started looking at the pictures for comics like Garfield, Peanuts, and Calvin and Hobbs and slowly he began to recognize the words.

Leiker still loves comics at age 31, and he has turned that love into a business, Red Wagon Comics, which opened in Hays in July.

The name for the store came from those innocent times and a desire to encourage young readers just as comics inspired his imagination and drove him to read as a boy.

“I had to get my comics somewhere, and I thought I might as well get them for other people,” he said. “Nothing is better than a comic book shop. You can follow titles you like or find weird, new or different stuff. It makes it exciting.”

The store, 1409 Vine, carries a combination of new releases, vintage comics, graphic novels as well as Japanese comics, known as manga.

Prices range from as low as $1 to hundreds of dollars for some vintage titles. He has a copy of House of Secrets, which includes the first appearance of the Swamp Thing, he has valued at $350.

He hopes to eventually expand into anime, toys, vinyl records and classic video games, such as Sega and Nintendo.

“It is basically a man cave that I have turned into a business,” he said.

As a kid, Leiker liked popular comics like Spider-Man and X-Men, but as he has become older, he said he enjoys more indie comics. His favorite character is Hellboy. His favorite series is Bone by Jeff Smith. Leiker considers a copy of Bone to be his first comic. He purchased it in a pack of other comics off a rack at the local Alco store when he was about 7 or 8.

It took him years to eventually track down the rest of the series, but he now has all 55 issues, which ran from 1991 to 2004.

Leiker receives monthly releases of new comics from DC, Marvel and others, plus is selling from his own personal collection of vintage comics. He will buy other vintage comics, and he offers discounts in the store if someone wishes to trade.

He also offers a free pull service. You name the series you are collecting, and he pulls them from stock and holds them for you so you don’t miss an issue.

Despite the introduction of digital comics, Leiker said he did not think paper copies are going anywhere. Most new comics include digital downloads, but die-hard collectors prefer to have the paper copies.

Although most of Leiker’s customers thus far have been young men and high school boys, he is seeing more women interested in manga and some parents bringing their younger children into the store to try to spark their interest in reading, just as comics helped Leiker.

He said he was made fun of during his youth because he preferred reading comics and liking superheroes to playing football — and he said comic books helped him extend his imagination and come out of his shell.

“Stan Lee said every comic book is someone’s first comic book,” Leiker said. “Just as Bone impacted me, I feel I need to make new readers welcome.”

Whatever youth decide to read, it is important they do learn the skill, he said.

“Whether it is the Twilight series, comic books or true crime, they need that skill set. Everyone needs to have it, and the sooner you get started the better.”

Leiker said he intends Red Wagon to be a second job. He has taken a break from working full time in the month of August to determine the best hours for Red Wagon.

Currently the store is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays. Those hours are subject to change.

For more information on Red Wagon, visit the store’s Facebook page or call 785-301-2265.