Racing action returns to the speedway Saturday, August 10th with the five regular IMCA classes, modifieds, stocks, sportmods, hobby stocks and sport compacts plus the crazy cruisers trackside.
Thanks to race night sponsor, Pfeifer Dozer Service of St. Peter, all active duty, former or retired military, reservist or National Guard members will be admitted free to the grandstands.
Associate sponsor for this special event will be Dreiling Field Service of Hays.
Free general admission for children 12 and under with parent or guardian thanks to G & B Fireworks of Liebenthal.
General admission for adults 13 and up will be $10. Pit passes for adults 13 and up will be $25 and kids 12 and under with parent or guardian will be $10.
Pits open at 4 p.m., general admission at 5 p.m., hot laps at 6 p.m. with the green flag waving at 7 p.m.
Race fans are encouraged to wear their red, white and blue in support of our troops and to remember our veterans.
Thanks to Kansas Grateful Stitchers, Quilts of Valor will be awarded during intermission to an active service member or veteran.
For the latest race results, news and special events like RPM Speedway on facebook at rollingplainsmotor.speedway or find them on the web at rpmspeedway.net.
The Auto World team takes the lead in their cardboard boat heat on Wednesday night.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
The winning ducks are collected during the BBBS Duck Derby Wednesday night at the Hays Aquatic Park.
Thousands of rubber ducks raced around the Hays Aquatic Park’s lazy river vying for a Ford Focus on Wednesday night.
The annual fundraiser benefits Big Brother Big Sister of Ellis County. Troy Burkhart’s Xibit Customs was the winner of the car this year.
The car give away was sponsored by Car Zone, James Motor Co., Lewis Automotive, Hays Chevrolet, Auto World and Happy’s Auto. The Duck Derby race was sponsored by Paul Wertenberger Construction and Insurance Planning.
Auto World’s Man Overboard Challenge cardboard boat race, was won for the second year in a row by Auto World in a time of 42.13 seconds.
APAC took second, and Cloud Storage placed third. The Soroptimist Club won the Titanic Award. Great Clips won the Spirit Award. Cloud Storage won Best in Show with its NASA spaceship-themed boat.
This year’s presenting sponsor was Eagle Communications, which owns and operates the Hays Post.
Cloud Storage touches down during the boat race Wednesday night at the Hays Aquatic Park.
The APAC team won its heat and placed second overall in the cardboard boat race.
The Ellis County Sheriff’s Department opted for a board instead of a boat for the boat race on Wednesday night.
The Hays Police Department competes in the cardboard boat race on Wednesday night.
The Hays Fire Department may have finished last in their heat, but they did it with a smile.
Ducks race down the lazy river during the Duck Derby Wednesday night at the Hays Aquatic Park.
Ducks for the children’s Duck Dash are collected Wednesday night.
Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Shopping in the produce aisle can take time, if one stops to look and study all the fruits and vegetables on display. If only those fruits and vegetables could be packaged together – maybe even with a recipe to help my family use them. Today we’ll learn about an innovative program which is simplifying healthy food access, using a local food store and community support. Thanks to JoEllyn Argabright of K-State Research and Extension for this story idea.
Last week, we learned about K-State Research and Extension’s Culture of Health initiative. Here is an example of a local initiative to support healthy eating.
Jerad Gooch is the owner of Leoti Foods in Leoti, Kansas. His family has deep roots in the grocery business. His grandfather Harold Gooch opened the store in Tribune in 1948. Harold’s son Dwight joined the business in 1972. Now the family owns three stores and Dwight’s three sons manage one each. Jerad has the store in Leoti.
In 2015, some people in Leoti started to participate in a produce basket purchasing program which utilized out-of-state goods. “I noticed these baskets coming into town and I wondered why we couldn’t do that with a local store,” Jerad said. That program ended after a few months, but Jerad met with people who were interested to see if his store could provide such produce baskets.
In early 2017, the group launched a program called Simply Produce. This program provides fruit and vegetable baskets to local customers through the Leoti Foods store.
Every three weeks, there is a sign-up period from Friday to Tuesday for people who want to get a produce basket. People order the basket and pre-pay, at the store or by phone.
On the following Friday morning, the produce is delivered to a distribution point at the fairgrounds. Volunteers then sort the produce into baskets, which customers can pick up at noon. Jerad also delivers baskets to the school and to the elderly.
Typically, the baskets would include 12 items: Six fruits and six vegetables. The baskets cost $15 each. Since the baskets might include up to 22 pounds of produce, this is a terrific value. Purchased separately, those items might amount to twice that in cost, not to mention the time spent shopping.
“We’ve had customers say, `Wow, I get all that?’” Jerad said. “Some of our elderly ladies even share baskets.” The store is now offering an additional mini-basket option.
Another popular option is the add-on baskets for an additional charge. For example, Leoti Foods recently offered an optional grill pack which includes ears of corn, sweet peppers, potatoes, squash, onions, mushrooms and more. All of these products would be great when prepared on my grill.
This makes shopping simple, which means that the name Simply Produce is especially appropriate. “This produce is delivered in the morning and is in the consumer’s hands by noon,” Jerad said. “To get fresh produce in the hands of people that quickly in western Kansas is remarkable.”
“Everything about this has been great,” Jerad said. Now their store in Tribune is using the same model. “We’re averaging about 45 participants each time,” Jerad said.
“It’s not about the business, it’s what’s good for the community and about getting produce into people’s hands,” Jared said. He also noted the importance of volunteers in assembling the baskets.
Aimee Baker, the family and consumer sciences agent for K-State Research and Extension – Wichita County, is one of his key volunteers. “She’s been with us since day one,” Jerad said. “She even makes a recipe card each time which correlates with the produce in the basket.”
This is an innovative, collaborative approach to help people get healthy produce while benefiting the local economy. It’s great to find in a rural community like Leoti, population 1,534 people. Now, that’s rural.
Shopping for produce can take time. We commend Jared Gooch of Leoti Foods, Aimee Baker, and all those involved with Simply Produce for making a difference with this project to help people utilize fruits and vegetables while utilizing their local store. I think it’s high time.
August means that the Perseid Meteor Shower is coming, and at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center this year it means a party – the Perseid Meteor Shower Watch Party.
Free, family-fun activities begin at 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9. Participants can rotate through various activities until 10:30:
• An inflatable planetarium, which allows for viewing the sky even if the weather does not cooperate.
• A craft to make a constellation luminary – a good, take-home reminder.
• Glow-in-the-dark wiffle ball, a crowd favorite from years past.
• Smores, with the fire pit manned by a local Boy Scout troop.
• A “moon dust” footprint photo, in which visitors can have a photo taken of their own re-enactment of the footprints Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left 50 years ago.
• And a craft to make solar-system hats, courtesy of the Great Bend Public Library.
A special event is the egg-drop, lunar landing STEM experiment (participants design and build a landing craft to support an “eggstranaut.” The challenge, said Kern, is to build a safe, durable lunar lander for the least amount of money.
“Once it is dark enough outside, we will also encourage families to stargaze and look for the Perseid Meteor Shower show,” said Mandy Kern, program specialist at the center.
The Perseid shower results when debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet enters the atmosphere. As the particles burn up, they appear as shooting stars radiating from the constellation Perseus. The Perseids occur each year in August.
“With this year being the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, our annual watch party will have a special nod to the moon,” said Kern.
The Kansas Wetlands Education Center is at 592 NE K-156 Highway, northeast of Great Bend.
Visitors are free to bring lawn chairs or blankets.
“The party is a good way to celebrate the end of summer before school starts,” said Kern.
COLBY – Beginning Aug. 26, Colby Community College Adult Education will be offering classes in Colby and Hays to help students prepare for attaining the Kansas High School Diploma (GED). The credential is affiliated with the Kansas Board of Regents and recognized by colleges and employers nationwide.
In Colby, the class will be held in the lower level of the H.F. Davis Library on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The class in Hays is scheduled on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 10 p.m. in the lower level of the Community Corrections of Northwest Kansas building, 1011 Fort.
Adults over the age of 16 not currently enrolled in school are eligible. Learners who have been associated with credit recovery programs or learning centers are welcome. Classes are also suitable for those who want to refresh their skills and enhance job placement or transition into college or technical school.
For more information, contact Nance Munderloh at 785-460-4663.
Ellis swimming pool tour May 6 (Photo courtesy Travis Kohlrus)
By JAMES BELL Hays Post
ELLIS — To a standing-room-only crowd and after hearing numerous comments in support of building a new pool Monday, the Ellis City Council voted 4-2 in favor of approving a contract with the Kansas Department of Commerce to accept a $1 million grant that would fund a major portion of a new municipal pool.
The council took action on the contract after the pool was closed by the city nearly two weeks earlier than planned due to water loss.
Justine Benoit, Northwest Kansas Planning & Development Commission, was at the meeting and answered the council’s questions about the contract.
After hearing feedback from some in the community that the new pool should be bigger, Benoit took questions from the council about the ability to change the contract.
“You have the opportunity to make some changes, however, they did rate our application on this design,” Benoit said.
She cautioned the council that changes in the plan could cause the application to be declined, especially considering the Dane G. Hansen Foundation grant that will cover another $300,000 of the project.
The engineering firm that designed the new structure estimated the cost to be $1.85 million, but the final cost could change.
“It’s quite feasible that it could come in under,” said Mayor David McDaniel.
“I think our last street project came in almost $150,000 below the estimate, so the engineers are normal a lot higher than what we see,” said council member Holly Aschenbrenner.
“The funding level is what drove the size of the pool,” she said. “I know that is the biggest concern in town is that this pool is smaller, but the funding level is what is driving the size of the pool, plus it actually doubles our swim load, plus some, so it’s still adequately sized for our community … It’s more functional with the different design spaces that we have.”
She pointed out that trying to make a change now would be a risk, and the funding for a larger pool is not guaranteed.
And while the new pool is smaller in total volume, its design will allow for higher capacity.
“In terms of comparing this size to a lot of the communities around, it is very comparable,” said council
member Jolene Niernberger. “We are just used to big, big.”
As long as the project totals over $1.6 million, the full amount of the $1 million grant will be allocated to the city. If the final price is less, the difference will be split between the city and the grant.
While the council members considered approving the contract, there was discussion on early observations from the current pool as the liner was being removed and areas of concrete were being inspected.
Councilman Bob Redger said it did not appear the concrete was a degraded as they had been led to believe by the engineers and the liner was not installed correctly and questioned the other members if they should consider replacing the liner.
“The thing is we can’t accept either grant to fix our pool,” Aschenbrenner said.
“I realize that,” Redger said. “We are not even looking at a liner. They should have fixed it right to start with.”
Other council members agreed the liner should have been properly installed, but the grant funding is too good to walk away from.
“At what point do quit bandaging the issue and fix the pool?” Aschenbrenner said. “We heard a report a while back that it started leaking in 1981. It’s 2019 and we are still dealing with the same pool.”
“I’m just thinking we have $1.3 million handed to us and you know we are not going to have that another time,” Niernberger said. “And we have a significant amount of the community in support of it, and even if we don’t have everything that we would like paid for by this, how can you turn away that kind of support?
“I don’t see us ever frankly being handed that kind of funding again,” she said.
The community has already rallied around the new project after the sudden closure of the current pool
City Clerk Amy Burton said, even though they won’t officially start fundraising until the Splash Bash, sponsorship forms had already gone out and money was coming in.
“I wanted to report that in the last 10 days, we’ve received over $8,700 in community support,” she said.
Burton also reminded the council they were informed they should not accept the Hansen grant if they did not intend to move on building the new pool.
The city council committed $500,000 in April to fund the project, leaving only $50,500 to be raised by the pool committee at the time of the pool closure to reach the estimated cost of $1.85 million.
With over $450,000 in the city’s special project fund, Burton told the council she believes the project will be able to be completed without impacting any other capital improvement projects.
Originally the current pool was planned to be used for another year, so the council could get potentially lower bids during the winter. But with the old pool permanently shut down, the council is planning to speak with the engineering firm to see about a quicker timeline with the hope of having the new pool open in time for next summer.
In the vote to accept the contract, Bret Andries, Niernberger, Aschenbrenner and Redger voted yes. Steve Ferland and Martin LaBarge voted no.
TOPEKA – Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) Acting Secretary Jeff Zmuda today announced that Joel Hrabe has been selected to serve as the agency’s deputy secretary of facilities management.
Effective August 11, Hrabe will assume his new role as deputy secretary of facilities management, the KDOC’s division that is responsible for the day-to-day management of the state’s eight adult correctional facilities. Currently, Hrabe is serving as the warden for Norton Correctional Facility, a position he has held since 2017.
“I am excited to have Joel working with me at this time and in this capacity,” said Acting Secretary Zmuda. “The population and safety challenges in our facilities are well known, and Joel is the right leader for the important work required to address these challenges.”
During his 27 years at Norton Correctional Facility, Hrabe has served as a corrections counselor, classifications administrator and deputy warden.
He also has worked with the agency’s Special Operations and Response Team (SORT), helped strengthen emergency response practices and completed National Institute of Corrections (NIC) training in cognitive approaches to changing offender behavior and comprehensive prison classification systems. He also is involved with NIC’s Executive Excellence program and is a graduate of the KDOC’s Leadership Development Academy. Hrabe earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Kansas State University.
The KDOC facilities management division oversees operations of eight adult correctional facilities across Kansas serving just over 10,000 inmates currently.
NORTON COUNTY – Residents of Norton County are being asked to reduce unnecessary electrical usage today, according to a social media post late Wednesday morning by Prairie Land Electrical Cooperative and Norton County Emergency Management.
From Prairie Land Electrical Cooperative:
“There was an outage last night affecting over 200 members in southwest Norton County.
The primary underground wiring faulted at about 9:50 p.m. on Tuesday. Service was temporarily re-routed to another circuit to restore power until the problem could be identified and corrected.
Today, extra crews are on site to replace the faulty underground wire and get the affected members back on their assigned circuit as soon as possible.
Since more members are sharing a circuit, we are asking those that are able, to reduce unnecessary usage for the rest of the day. Turn off fans when you leave the room. Unplug electronics you are not using. Set your thermostat a few degrees higher. Use your grill or crockpot instead of the oven. This will reduce your chances of a low voltage situation that may cause breakers to trip.
We’ll let you know as soon as everyone is back on the proper circuit.”
This oversize load is pictured Tuesday afternoon turning off U.S. 36 onto its proper KDOT-designated U.S. 183 route. Minutes before this photo was taken the oversize load operator had driven past that turn and attempted to turn onto 3rd Street in the downtown Phillipsburg business district, just as four other semi drivers have done in the past week. This vehicle was stopped before he could do so. With this vehicle far over-committed, the Phillips County Sheriff’s Department had to stop highway traffic in both directions, and the semi driver had to drive his almost-block long load two blocks in reverse so he could get back to his correct U.S. 183 turn.
By KIRBY ROSS Phillips County Review
PHILLIPSBURG — And we were doing so, so well!
Remember all the drama about the oversize wind turbine load fiascos that had been taking place in Phillips County? Well, to paraphrase Michael Corleone from the Godfather, “just when we think we’re out, they drag us back in again.”
First a quick recap — around a half decade ago wind turbine manufacturers ramped up production to meet market demand and a little extra, as major U.S. government subsidies were being doled out.
As those turbines were being built, they were being shipped down U.S. 183 and through Phillipsburg for stockpiling in central Kansas.
During the course of that transport, Phillipsburg turned into the Wild West as up to a dozen of the huge loads were being convoyed through town every day. And as they were coming through town, their pilot car drivers were steering directly into oncoming traffic, playing chicken to clear a path. They were also driving on sidewalks, running red lights, and taking rest stops in lanes of traffic. In addition, drivers were getting out of their vehicles and literally yanking street signs out of the ground to help them make tight turns.
Because of the resulting public uproar, a decision was made in Topeka to detour those oversize loads around Phillipsburg — and the only way to do that was to send them down K-383 through Long Island in rural northwest Phillips County and then on down through Almena in Norton County.
Out of sight, out of mind. Problem solved? Not on your life.
All the plan did was shift the problem from a highly-visible area, to one of less visibility. In effect, it was a hide-the-problem solution.
Pilot car drivers were still going amok, driving into oncoming lanes of traffic and running cars off the road. And to top it off, K-383 is extremely narrow and has no shoulders at all. Oncoming traffic was not only being sideswiped by the wide loads, but the semis carrying the loads were slipping off the highway and tipping over into steep ditches.
Finally a school bus was clipped last spring, followed in close succession by incidents where a farm truck was hit and a wind turbine trailer faded over to the side of the road and ended up dumping its massive load into a ditch.
With all three events happening in a 48-hour period, two things happened — 1) a 30-mile stretch of highway had to be closed down twice in one week, and 2) Topeka woke up and got involved again.
So the new solution was that instead of hiding the problem of oversize loads by shuttling them through lower population areas, there was no choice but to run them back through Phillipsburg.
For the first few months, they started coming back through town all went well.
CLICK TO EXPAND: Downtown Phillipsburg. Google image
Until now.
We have all heard stories about knucklehead drivers blindly following GPS and ending up driving into lakes. But those stories always seemed like an urban myth — nobody would have that much lack of common sense that they would drive into a lake just because their GPS told them to take a turn and continue driving. Would they?
Based on recent events, maybe so.
Carry that thought process one step further. We can admit it — our mothers asked every single one of us at one time or another, “would you jump off a cliff just because everybody else was doing it?”
Well, it seems we have had a bizarre version of both those things going on in regard to the oversize loads passing through Phillipsburg this past week.
Either that, or the transporters are practicing as stunt drivers for Mad Max: Phillipsburg Thunderdome.
So here’s what’s been happening — wind turbine convoys are heading into town from the west, and are driving right past their well-marked U.S. 183 turn. Instead of giving proper instructions for travel up U.S. 183, the pilot cars’ GPS has been telling them to turn onto 3rd Street in the downtown Phillipsburg business district a block to the east of 183. Phillipsburg 3rd Street — quaint, historic, flower planter-lined and red brick-paved, with diagonal parking on both sides as well as parallel parking along its center.
With that parking configuration, whatever roadway that’s left for a lane of traffic is barely wide enough for an oversize pickup. Run a massively huge oversize wind turbine tower that is too wide for K-383 down that same street and…well, you get the picture. (Actually, you don’t have to just imagine it — -there’s a real picture).
One pilot car driver who made that fateful turn into oversize load hell with a full convoy puppydogging behind him reportedly tried to loop his entourage around the entire four corners of the Phillips County Courthouse Square in an effort to make his way back to sanity.
So chaos erupts, the cops show up, and people start trying to explain what in the holy heck they are doing with a load the size of a barn on a street originally built to accommodate a horse and buggy. And that explanation?
The GPS made me do it.
Another incident on Thursday afternoon. The driver was fined $300.
Have the drivers been questioning the little voice coming out of the GPS that is doing the same as telling them to drive into a lake? No? What about that little voice in the back of their heads that has to be screaming at them?
Four times last week pilot car drivers turned up quaint Phillipsburg 3rd Street when their GPS told them to.
And four times the huge over-size-over-weight-over-wide-over-length-wind-turbine-tower-loaded-semi truck did the equivalent of following that pilot car driver over the cliff by trailing behind him onto the narrow brick street.
These guys can barely make the legal turn onto U.S. 183 because the loads are so long and the turn is so tight. How they are making that even tighter highly-skilled but absolutely illegal turn onto 3rd Street is a bit of a mystery.
The Review contacted a pilot car driver we have consulted with previously, and sent them a picture of one of the incidents from last week.
That person’s response? Drivers gotta have a little common sense.
There actually might be a way to instill that common sense into them — through their wallets. Anyway, Phillips County Sheriff’s deputies are testing that theory.
Large load semi truck drivers taking the beautiful Downtown Phillipsburg scenic tour are now being cited for deviating from the route the Kansas Department of Transportation oversize load permit requires transporters to stick to. I would think impeding traffic, careless driving, and impersonating Burt Reynolds from Smokey and the Bandit tickets might also help do the trick. With citations in hand, maybe the drivers can take their GPS to court with them to have it testify and take the rap instead.
Absent that, at this rate some people are going to have to outfit their semis Mad Max 3rd Street-style just so they get their product through the P-burg business district.
Racing action returns to the speedway Saturday, August 10th with the five regular IMCA classes, modifieds, stocks, sportmods, hobby stocks and sport compacts plus the crazy cruisers trackside.
