MITCHELL COUNTY — A Kansas woman who was missing after her car was stuck in a ditch during the Sunday blizzard was found dead on Tuesday.
According to the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office, authorities found the body of Tanya Eshbaugh, 37, Cawker City, three miles from her car in a field near Waconda Lake, approximately 17 miles east of Beloit.
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MITCHELL COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are asking the public for help to locate 37-year-old Tanya Eshbaugh. She was last seen on Sunday and didn’t arrive at work on Monday.
Eshbaugh -photo courtesy Mitchell County Sheriff
According to the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Department’s social media page, she called work to say she wouldn’t be able to arrive at work due to the weather and was turning around to go home.
Authorities located her vehicle in the ditch on Highway 24 in Mitchell County. It is believed that she exited the vehicle after getting stuck during the blizzard.
Eshbaugh is described as 5-foot-1, approximately 170 pounds with red, purple dyed hair and blue eyes. She may be wearing a Nebraska Cornhusker jacket.
Anyone with information on Eshbaugh is asked to contact the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Department.
Gann is being held in Butler CountyWICHITA – A Kansas man was sentenced Tuesday to 165 months in federal prison for distributing child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Charles A. Gann, 49, Great Bend, pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography.
In his plea, he admitted that an investigator with the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was able to use a file-sharing program to download child pornography from Gann’s computer.
At sentencing, a prosecutor argued Gann used the internet to seek out and communicate with other people who shared Gann’s desire to have sex with children as young as infants.
The Hays USD 489 school board approved raises for teachers, administrators and classified staff at its meeting on Monday.
However, not everyone received the same amount.
The board approved the teachers’ contract, which was ratified on Nov. 14. That contract included a 3.7 percent raise, a $200 one-time payment for insurance and vertical and horizontal movement on the pay scale. The raises will be retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year in June.
The board approved a 4.6 percent raise for classified staff and 3.7 percent raise for administration.
The administration and classified received a 4.6 percent pay increase in error in June. On Nov. 1, the board stopped that raise, but agreed the staff would not have to pay back the salary increase that was paid in error.
The board in the past has given administration and classified staff the same percent raise as it has negotiated with teachers. However, the Hays NEA can’t legally negotiate on the behalf of other staff.
Board member Greg Schwartz made a motion to increase pay for classified and administrative staff by 3.7 percent. That failed on a vote of 5 to 1. Board member Lance Bickle was absent.
Luke Oborny proposed increasing classified staff by 4.6 percent and increasing administrative staff by 3.7 percent.
A wage comparison that was included in the board packet indicated some of the classified staff are being paid less than comparable positions in Ellis County.
The district budgeted a 4.6 percent increase for all staff. The difference between a 4.6 and 3.7 percent raise for the classified staff would be $20,000 total. Board member Paul Adams said the difference in hourly rate for classified staff on a 4.6 percent raise would be between 9 and 23 cents.
Although that might not seem much to the board, he said he that might mean something to the staff members.
Board member Sophia Rose Young said she could not live on the amount some of the classified staff are being paid.
Schwartz said, “Where are you going to draw the line? $50,000?”
Schwartz voted against the split raises. He said the pay system needs to be evaluated, but the board needs the facts before making any significant changes in the pay scale.
However, he and other board members agreed a committee needs to be formed to review staff pay.
Board member Mike Walker said it would be very bad for morale if the board took action Monday and then did nothing to evaluate and revise staff pay. Superintendent John Thissen said he would work to form a committee to bring back recommendations to the board.
District custodians had already negotiated a 4.6 percent pay raise. This is the last year the district will negotiate with the custodian’s union, SEIU. The board also already approved a $2 per hour raise for paraprofessionals. The move was aimed at reducing turnover among special education staff.
Chris Hipp, special education director, told the board Monday the coop has had a 4 percent reduction in open positions since the raise was instituted in August.
Hays USD 489 school board members vote on the contracts for the Oak Park Medical Complex Monday night.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 school board approved the contracts for the $2 million purchase of the Oak Park Medical Complex at its meeting Monday night.
The district will use a $1.47 million federal grant to renovate the complex for use by the Early Childhood Connections program.
The district will pay back a lease agreement on the complex $217,000 per year for 10 years using capital outlay funds. District taxes will remain the same. HaysMed owns the most significant portion of the complex and has agreed to donate $500,000 back to the district from the purchase price to be used for the renovation of the complex.
Because the lease agreement was more than $100,000, it required a protest period for taxpayers. That period ended Sunday, Nov. 25, without a petition being presented.
The project will allow the district to expand its ECC program as well as vacate the 94-year-old Washington Elementary School building and Munjor school building.
The federal government has a goal of all Head Start positions moving to full day. On Monday, Donna Hudson-Hamiiton presented a grant application to the board, which it approved, for funds to expand 21 slots to full time.
This will mean 45 percent of the ECC’s Head Start slots will be full-time. Hudson-Hamilton projected more grants will follow to bring the rest of the slot to full-time within the next five years.
The ECC grant also requested $185,000 in start-up costs for the program to move playground equipment from the Washington location to the new Oak Park complex on 13th Street.
Preference for the all-day slots are given to parents who work or are going to school. Hudson-Hamilton said Head Start helps fill a gap for child care, as there is not enough private child care available in the community.
Board member Paul Adams described the increase in Head Start slots as an economic development issue because the Head Start spots keep parents employed.
The ECC program is available to all children in the district. This includes children who will go on to private school or to be home schooled.
There is currently not enough classroom space at Washington to house moving all the Head Start children to full-time attendance.
Only part of Washington school can be used for student classrooms. Law prohibits small children from attending classes on the second floor of a building because of the difficulty in evacuating them in case of an emergency.
Washington is also not handicap accessible and has had significant infrastructure issues, including problems with water and sewer. Superintendent John Thissen said the district questioned whether it was worth putting money into renovations of a building that was so old.
The vote was split on approval of Oak Park purchase with board members Mandy Fox and Greg Schwartz voting against. Board member Lance Bickle was unable to attend the meeting but sent a letter to Fox outlining his concerns about the project and his objection to the purchase.
Bickle said in his letter he thought the district was overpaying for the property based on the fact that it had been on the market for some time with little interest expressed in its purchase. He was also concerned about the condition of the roof, HVAC system and parking lot. He expressed concerned about a rush to purchase the property as well as a potential loss in tax revenue when the property comes off the tax roles. The taxes on the complex were almost $48,000 in 2017.
He also said he did not think this was the greatest need in the district at this time.
Schwartz also bemoaned a lack of a long-term plan.
“I don’t think we have addressed what we are going to forgo to get there,” he said of the Oak Park purchase.
He noted at one time the district had discussed moving the ECC program to O’Loughlin Elementary School if it were to no longer be used as an elementary school.
Adams said he believed the project was a proactive step to prepare local children for kindergarten, which is being emphasized by the Kansas Department of Education.
“This is not new. It is not out of the blue. This is a way to move forward with something that we have on our docket for a few years and do it,” Adams said.
He continued, “There is a risk, but there is not often that there is $1.5 million to mitigate that risk.”
Schwartz also expressed concern that one of the entities the district has a contract with is not the current owner of that portion of the property. Board Attorney Bill Jeter said that person has a contract to buy the property and will close on the property with the current owner and then sell the property to school district.
“I have concerns about the appraisal,” Schwartz said. “I have concerns about the overall project. I have mentioned those before. I would happy to go back over those, but I think everyone here knows my position on it.”
The federal grant funds for the renovation must be used by June 30. The new space is expected to be open for ECC students in fall 2019.
Washington school will be closed and put up for sale. If the building can’t be sold, money will be included in the project for the building to be demolished. The Munjor building will go back to the Catholic church.
VICTORIA — The annual Cathedral Christmas Concert will be at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at St. Fidelis Basilica in Victoria.
The concert is free to the public.
The choirs of Fort Hays State University — Fort Hays Singers and Concert Choir — will be joined by the Smoky Hill Chorale and the Hays High School Chamber Singers. Although making yearly appearances at this event, this will be the first Cathedral Christmas Concert for director Alex Underwood of the Hays High choral program.
Others also will be a part of the festive concert including FHSU music faculty Ivalah Allen, Joseph Perniciaro, Kay Werth, and Brad and Renetta Dawson; FHSU Brass Choir, Brass Quartet and String Quartet; and organist Tom Meagher.
The Guidon was awarded four marks of distinction, giving an All-American award for the papers in the 2017-18 school year. Six papers, picked by instructor Bill Gasper and editor-in-chief Lacey Gregory, were judged.By ISABELLE BRAUN Hays High School Guidon
The 2017-18 Hays High School Guidon newspaper earned All-American status after being awarded four marks of distinction by the National Scholastic Press Association.
“We got marks of distinction in Coverage and Content, Text, Visuals, and Presentation,” journalism instructor Bill Gasper said. “Those are the four main areas that they judge in. They gave us a mark of distinction in each one, which took us up to All-American status.”
Gasper said a total of 500 points could be earned — 200 in Coverage and Content and 100 each in Text, Visuals and Presentation. The judge counted off only three points, making the score 497 out of 500.
“They look at your publication, six of our newspapers, and then they judge you in the different areas,” Gasper said. “We earned a 200 in Coverage and Contest and 99 out of 100 points in the other three categories.”
The judge said the writing was complete from start to finish; all art added to the message of the story; the sports coverage included recognition for all sports and athletes; and the opinion page combined seriousness and lightheartedness.
“This coverage is unique,” the judge wrote. “The Guidon staff has published a professional quality newspaper that serves the needs of the school community of Hays High School.”
The All-American rating is the highest rating at the national level, and Gasper said this is the first time he has achieved this award.
“I’m real pleased with the All-American rating,” Gasper said. “Last spring we received the highest state rating of All-Kansas, and to follow it up with the All-American is quite an honor. It is a tribute to the hard work and excellent work my newspaper staff did last year, and I could not be more pleased with their efforts. I’m proud of what they’ve done, and I’m very proud of this particular rating.”
Lacey Gregory was editor-in-chief of the publication, while Amiyah Gonzalez was assistant editor. Online editor was Isabelle Braun, and sports editors were Jacob Maska and Taylor Schiffelbein.
Other staff members were Tana Herreman, Elizabeth Lee, Allison Brooks, Anna Brull, Hanna Dannar, MacKenzie Fagan, Alicia Feyerherm, Allison Hillebrand, Scout Perryman, Rebekah Porter, Kayli Potter, Dawson Rooney, Madison Weber, Hannah Donaldson, Connor Olson and Isaiah Schindler.
Isabelle Braun is the 2018-19 editor-in-chief for the Hays High School Guidon.
Jason Livesay
Jason Livesay, respiratory therapist at HaysMed, part of The University of Kansas Health System, was recently named Respiratory Therapist of the Year.
Respiratory Services awards an annual Breath of Fresh Air award to recognize a respiratory therapist for their hard work and dedication.
The award winner is nominated and chosen by their peers and highlights an Associate in the respiratory therapy department who positively contributed the most teamwork and patient care during the year.
Martin HawverSometime later this week, we’ll see just what the Joint Legislative Transportation Vision Task Force comes up with for a new 10-year Kansas highway plan.
And, maybe we’ll also find out what happened to those 21 delayed modernization and expansion projects for the state’s highway system that were believed to be good ideas 10 years ago in the now near-expiration T-WORKS 10-year highway program that legislators and administrators touted a decade ago.
Yes, we’ll find out this week when that “vision task force” puts together most of a new highway and transportation plan that it will present to the Legislature sometime in January.
Remember that the near-ended T-WORKS plan was presented as a way to not only make the state’s roads better, more convenient and safer, but as a demonstration that representatives and senators had genuine clout in the Legislature by getting road projects in their districts, or near their districts, that their constituents would like.
Nothing quite like standing next to the governor, the local Chamber of Commerce officials, mayors, county commissioners and others when that ribbon was cut to make driving easier and safer for your local voters. Not quite like crowning a beauty queen, but politically, close.
That old T-WORKS is nearly over, and of course nobody’s forgotten those promised and then not delivered road projects.
Reason, of course, was that the now mostly repealed Gov. Sam Brownback tax cut program reduced state revenues so sharply that the state had to withhold more than a billion dollars in funds for those projects from the Kansas Department of Transportation. The governor and his allies called it “sweeps” of those highway funds, we’re supposing because “sweeping” sounds so much better than robbery.
The delayed projects include about 96 miles of modernization, ranging from wider and safer shoulders to flattening out hills and straightening curves so you can not only see where you are going, but so you can see the vehicles coming from the other direction. Safety stuff. Oh, and about 35 miles are road expansions, including four-lane expressway construction, making intersections safer and adding frontage roads so there are fewer cars slowing ahead of you as they pull off to get to a quick stop or hamburger stand or such.
Those delayed projects? Pretty evenly split between western and eastern Kansas, either side of US-81, which is the east/west dividing line of the state.
This time around, besides catching up, or not catching up on the projects that weren’t done, we’re going to see just where new money is planned to be spent in the upcoming decade.
And that’s where the issue comes down to legislators’ clout on the House and Senate floors. House members in their first year of a new term: What a good time to show that their constituents elected someone with genuine muscle? And Senate members who will be on the ballot about the time that the new highway program is to start, they’ll be measured by constituents on what they were able to bring to their home districts. Whether it’s four lanes or upgraded two lanes, or maybe just an off-ramp near the city center. Lots of options here.
But the key is that everyone wants better roads, faster roads, smoother roads, and they want everyone else in the state to pay for them…somehow.
Could be a motor fuel tax, could be provisions that prohibit that “sweeping” of funds from KDOT if the economy goes south, or it could be a battle between lowering the sales tax on groceries or getting that new or at least smoother road.
We’ll get a hint of how this may come out by week’s end.
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com
Today Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 34. Light and variable wind becoming south southeast 5 to 8 mph in the morning.
Tonight Mostly cloudy, with a low around 25. South wind around 8 mph.
Wednesday Mostly sunny, with a high near 48. South southwest wind 6 to 8 mph.
Wednesday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 29. South southwest wind around 6 mph becoming northwest after midnight.
ThursdayPartly sunny, with a high near 47. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming northeast in the afternoon.
Thursday NightPartly cloudy, with a low around 28.
FridayA slight chance of snow before 9am, then a slight chance of rain and snow between 9am and 10am, then a chance of rain after 10am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Friday Night Rain likely before 1am, then rain and snow likely between 1am and 2am, then snow likely after 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 32. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
