More than 40 high school seniors were honored at Saturday’s ninth annual completion ceremony of Kansas’ premier early college program for high school juniors and seniors.
Students enroll as high school juniors in the Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science at Fort Hays State University or Academy of Mathematics and Science (for out-of-state and international students). They experience college-level instruction as well as hands-on research, leadership development and civic engagement opportunities.
While living on campus, the students fulfill their high school requirements and earn nearly 70 hours of college credit. They then receive a certificate of completion from KAMS/AMS as well as diplomas from their home high school.
The average ACT score of this year’s graduating class was 32 (out of a possible 36), and together they amassed about $2.8 million in scholarships to continue their college education.
To date, more than 230 students have completed requirements for the KAMS and AMS programs since the program’s first graduating class in 2011.
Jeff Crispin, water resources director, with a map of Hays’ water wells
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Six municipal water wells for the city of Hays will be professionally rehabilitated this summer.
City commissioners approved a $67,230 low bid last week with Layne Christensen, Kearney, Neb. for the cleaning work.
Four of the six wells — YE-1, C-20T, S-8, S-16, S-19, and S-23 — are located in the Smoky Hill River well field south of town near Schoenchen. C-20 is located near 16th and Milner in the middle of Hays. YE-1 is in northwest Hays near Enersys.
The professionals are called in when in-house maintenance can no longer improve a well’s performance, according to Jeff Crispin, water resource manager.
“Professional rehabilitation is periodically required during the life of a well as groundwater contains bacteria and minerals which causes wells to plug. Screens, gravels, gravel pack, and formations may become blocked, reducing the capacity and efficiency of the well,” he told the commission.
Examples of before and after well rehabilitation
Crispin also noted the work would be completed before July 1 when temperatures rise and water use increases.
“We have enough wells that we can shut down the rehabbed wells for a few days,” Crispin assured commissioners. “Obviously, we’re not running all of our (32) production wells at the same time.”
Also during the May 9 city commission meeting, the issuance, sale and delivery of $65,000 in general obligation bonds was approved for Heart of America Second Addition and King’s Gate First Addition.
Finance Director Kim Rupp said Heart of America prepaid $277,836.51 for water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer and street improvements included in the extension of Ninth Street east to Commerce Parkway Some homeowners in Kings Gate First Addition also prepaid their improvement district assessments for a new park, which totaled 82,163.49.
That left a small bond issuance of $65,000 which was purchased by Bank of Hays.
In other business, the commission approved the mayor appointment of Reese Barrick, Sternberg Museum of Natural History director to his fourth term on the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) Advisory Committee. John Griffith, Comfort Inn & Suites North, was also appointed – for the first time – to an unexpired term on the CVB Advisory Committee.
A courtroom is not a place where you expect to find scenes of celebration and tears of joy, unless, of course, it’s drug court.
This May drug courts throughout Kansas will join more than 3,000 programs nationwide in celebrating National Drug Court Month. This year alone, more than 150,000 individuals nationwide who entered the justice system due to addiction will receive lifesaving treatment and the chance to repair their lives, reconnect with their families, and find long-term recovery.
National Drug Court Month is a celebration of the lives restored by drug court and it sends the powerful message that these programs must be expanded to reach more people in need.
Nearly 30 years ago the first drug court opened its doors with a simple premise: Rather than continue to allow individuals with long histories of addiction and crime to cycle through the justice system at great expense to the public, use the leverage of the court to keep them engaged in treatment long enough to be successful. Today, drug courts and other treatment courts have proven that a combination of accountability and compassion saves lives while also saving valuable resources and reducing exorbitant criminal justice costs.
Drug courts are the single most successful criminal justice intervention for seriously addicted offenders. Proven to save lives, save money, and reduce crime, these courts treat substance use disorders and produce tax-paying, productive citizens, while breaking the cycle of addiction.
The Ellis County Drug Court began August 30, 2018 and has already experienced success and changed lives. Our court is one of thousands that demonstrate why treatment courts are so critical in the effort to address addiction and related crime. The scientific research agrees:
Numerous studies have found that treatment courts reduce crime and drug use and save money. Research shows treatment courts also improve education, employment, housing, financial stability, and family reunification, which reduces foster care placements.
Treatment courts represent a compassionate approach to the ravages of addiction. Ellis County is privileged to be able to reap the economic and societal benefits of its drug court. The drug court team thanks the community for its continued support of our efforts to make a difference in Ellis County.
ROOKS COUNTY—Several earthquakes shook Rooks County over the weekend.
According to the Kansas Geological Survey, the two largest were magnitude 3.8 at 9:06a.m. Saturday and a magnitude 3.4 at 3:13a.m. Sunday. The United State’s Geological Survey also reported a 2.6 magnitude quake centered 8 miles northwest of Plainville on Sunday.
These are among the first reported quakes in Kansas since a 2.6 magnitude quake in Saline County on March 21.
The Rooks County Sheriff’s office reported they received no calls about the weekend quakes and there were no other calls of damage or injury.
———–
ROOKS COUNTY — A small earthquake shook northwest Kansas Sunday. The quake just after 3 a.m. measured a magnitude 2.6 and was centered approximately 8 miles northwest of Plainville, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
These are among the first reported quake in Kansas since a 2.6 magnitude quake in Saline County on March 21.
There are no reports of any damage or injury from Sunday’s quake.
The Society moved the former Pleasant Point one-room school from its location six miles south of Nekoma to Grass Park in La Crosse in February 2015. The school is one of the last remaining from a time when there were over 80 in the county. Pictured is the school building on the original site in 2014.
Rush County Historical Society
LA CROSSE — The Rush County Historical Society will be hosting a dedication ceremony and ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 25, at the museum complex on West 1st Street in La Crosse for the Pleasant Point School Museum and the Roger Greenway Memorial Flagpole.
Records for District 24, Pleasant Point School, date back to the 1880s. In 1907, George Sheets built the present building six and one-half miles south of the town of Nekoma in southwestern Rush County. After consolidation closed the school in the spring of 1959, the Seltman family, many of whom had attended the school, maintained the building and preserved nearly all of its original books and furnishings. In the fall of 2014, the owner of the building donated it and its contents to the Historical Society to ensure its preservation for future generations. On February 18, 2015, the Society moved it to the museum complex in La Crosse citing its value as “an educational resource to tell the story of a time when over 80 one-room schools dotted the landscape of Rush County.” In addition to its original collections, the school will also house collections from innovative pioneer educator Howard Barnard, founder of Entre Nous College near McCracken.
Members of the Greenway family donated the Roger Greenway Memorial Flagpole in memory of SSG Roger K. Greenway, great-grandson of William Mottern Greenway who homesteaded in Rush County in 1880. Staff Sergeant Greenway was born in La Crosse, Kansas on July 4, 1947 to Milford K. Greenway and Ruth Lebsack Greenway. He enlisted in the United States Army on March 27, 1968, began his tour in Vietnam on March 13, 1969, and was killed in action at Quang Tin Province, Vietnam on January 1, 1970. As part of the ceremony, the family will donate a collection of Greenway family records and photographs dating back over 100 years.
The Rush County Historical Society now operates the former District 24, Pleasant Point school as a museum and hands-on educational facility. The school contains most of its original furnishings.
A collection of handmade toys built by Wesley, Harvey, and Marvin Becker while they attended Pleasant Point School in the late 1920s will be on display during the dedication. The three brothers were serving in the United States Navy on the USS Arizona during the attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Wesley and Harvey went down with the ship but Marvin survived.
Local businessmen incorporated the Rush County Historical Society in May 1963 to maintain a collection of historical records and to preserve and protect the heritage of Rush County and the region. In addition to the Pleasant Point School Museum, the Society operates three other museums, the Post Rock, Rush County Historical, and Nekoma Bank. The Kansas Barbed Wire Museum is also located in the complex.
For more information, visit the website at www.rushcounty.org or call 785-222-2808.
Are you interested in robotics and want to challenge your skills in problem solving and programming, then, this robotics camp is for you. Students will face a variety of challenges where creativity and critical thinking will allow you to build a custom robot that can operate in real world situations. Space is limited to first 24 participants.
Who: Students Entering Grades 6th – 8th in Fall 2019
This camp will be out of this world! We will explore a day on the Mars Rover and learn about scale models. We will be getting to explore many different areas of space as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. Space is limited to first 24 participants.
Who: Students Entering Grades 6th – 8th in Fall 2019
Beginning Monday, May 13, 2019, M & D Excavating, Inc. will be conducting multiple sanitary sewer point repairs in Hays.
The second four repair locations are in the parking lot of Fort Hays Auto Sales, in the concrete alley behind Subway between 13th and 12th Streets, in the alley between Pine and Allen Streets between 10th and 11th and in the concrete alley west of Ash Street between 5th and 6th Streets.
The project is scheduled to be completed by June 1, 2019.
Signs will be in place to direct the traveling public. The traveling public should use caution and if possible avoid areas of construction.
The city of Hays regrets any inconvenience this may cause to the public. If there are any questions, please call the Office of Project Management at 785-628-7350 or the contractor, M & D Excavating at 785-628-3169 or 785-650-3802.
Legislators, Commissioners, and agency managers must sort facts and opinions to make the best decisions for the public good. It is critical to hear from the public — and then sort through those comments carefully, thoughtfully, and compassionately.
They’ll get advice. Some good, thoughtful, constructive. And some mean-spirited, resentful, and cringe-worthy. The latter often emanates from people claiming the mantle of stern adult responsibility, bent on teaching what, for them, pass as Christian values.
Consider two citizen commenters at a Saline County hearing on a possible new Salina jail. One cited the Bible encouraging use of “the rod of discipline.” For him, jail seems “too comfortable.” Three meals a day, warm in winter, cool in summer free medical, no work required, TV—all were seen as coddling. So, to make jails really rehabilitate, we’ll just shut down air conditioning in 100+ degree temps.
“Known murderers” (disregarding recent examples of false convictions) should be executed “in a timely manner.” God’s word in Genesis so decrees, said he. His solution? Teach his version of religion in schools.
Another cited excess alcohol use and drug abuse as choices, not diseases. Despite all evidence to the contrary, including the US’ No. 1 standing as incarcerator-in-chief, he cited the “social experiment of the past 60 years’ as ’soft on criminals’” and “the biggest failure this country has ever seen.” Again, air conditioning, heat and three meals a day became soft, coddling measures to be dispensed with.
Where does one begin responding to such illogic and incitement to riot? First impulse is to shrug off these sentiments as aberrations and dismiss them. But these attitudes constitute a canary in our coal mine.
Though not as extreme, other similarly dismissive, jarring attitudes are impacting public policy as we speak. Sadly, they come from public servants themselves, not the testifying public.
And here, pity for public servants comes to a screeching halt.
Case in point: the KS ledge’s last days. As Kansas Interfaith Action so clearly spells out, “Medicaid Expansion ……[is] a clear moral imperative, and its failure to pass is not just a disappointment, it’s an injustice. . . . . The failure to hold hearings, the refusal to allow a vote in the Senate, are nothing less than moral failures, and blame for them rests solely at the feet of House and Senate leadership.”
On top of that, another large tax cut was passed, replacing the one vetoed by the Governor. Says KIFA, “The fact that a big tax cut that will largely benefit multinational corporations and the wealthiest Kansans can pass, but a policy that will help working people, and is supported by 70% of Kansans, by a majority of the legislature and by the governor, cannot, shows how twisted the priorities of legislative leadership were this session.”
Now, 150,000 Kansans are denied access to health insurance, and approximately 627 Kansans may die this year in the absence of expansion. “Justice delayed is {not just] justice denied,” says KIFA, “[it] is life denied.”
KIFA’s life-affirming, compassionate, faith-tradition-taught values stand in stark contrast to the pious, judgmental, punitive attitudes displayed in the latest legislative last-minute games. Adhering to the best of our religious values means revering and supporting all our fellow creatures.
Attitudes to the contrary must be called out at their root, in public meetings, on-air or in-print, in social media, in private conversations, and at the ballot box.
Those adopting such attitudes should not be allowed in positions where their rhetoric becomes reality.
Allowing that to happen is immoral and, well … un-Christian.
David Norlin is past Chairman of the Salina Planning Commission, former President of Salina Access TV, and an occasional Salina Journal columnist. He is a retired College English Department Chair and Director of Broadcasting. He has twice run for the Kansas Legislature.
