Following a recount, the race for the 111th District in the Kansas House has been decided.
The recount showed Republican challenger Barb Wasinger, currently an Ellis County commissioner, leading over incumbent Democrat Eber Phelps.
The vote total was 4,341 for Wasinger, 4,306 for Phelps. The vote total was certified by the canvass board. Sheriff Ed Harbin voted against the certification, while Mike Morley and Ellis County Commissioner Marcy McClelland voted to certify the results.
The canvass board traditionally is made up of the county commissioners, but with Wasinger’s name on the ballot and Ellis County Commissioner Dean Haselhorst serving on her campaign committee, Harbin and Morley were named to the canvass board.
Following last Thursday’s election canvass, election officials certified the election with Republican challenger Barb Wasinger defeating Democratic incumbent Eber Phelps by just 32 votes.
Check Hays Post for more as details become available.
At 6:57 p.m. Monday, the Ellis County Fire Department was dispatched to a structure fire at 1577 Yocemento Avenue.
Upon arrival, command was established, and a fire was found in the kitchen of the residence.
Fire crews used two fire attack lines to extinguish the fire. The home suffered extensive fire and smoke damage. The occupant was treated and transported to Hays Medical Center by Ellis County EMS.
The fire was reported to be under control at 7:40 p.m. However, fire crews remained on scene until 9:05 p.m. to ensure the fire was out, turn off the remaining utilities to the structure, and pick up equipment.
Thirty-three firefighters from the Ellis County Fire Department responded to the scene. Fire crews responded from Hays, Ellis, Victoria and Munjor. The Hays Fire Department responded with one firefighter and their air supply unit. The ECFD was also assisted by the Ellis County EMS, Sheriff’s deputies, and Kansas Highway Patrol.
— Ellis County Fire & Emergency Management
Back row: Morgan Olmsted, Emma Schmidt, Addie Roth, Kayle Casper, Avin Inlow, Hannah Flinn, Avery Werth, Izzy Peine Front row: Kali Hagans, Hayli Meier, Kamryn Hudsonpillar, Grace Pope, Makinsey Schlautman Courtesy photo
TOPEKA — Thomas More Prep-Marian cheerleaders competed Saturday, Nov. 17, in Topeka for State Cheer Competition.
The cheerleaders were judged on crowd leading cheer, band dance and fight song. TMP-Mcheerleaders made it to the final round and placed 6th place in 3A division.
The squad is coached by Denise Weigel and assistant coach Maggie Darnell
For more than 20 years, the annual Thanksgiving Day Feast has been a public event put on locally to provide a Thanksgiving for those who otherwise would not have one. This is the 11th year the Ellis County Ministerial Alliance is sponsoring the event.
The Community Thanksgiving Feast will be Thursday at The Rose Garden Banquet Hall, 2350 E. Eighth. A meal will be served from noon until 1:30 p.m., and everyone is invited — no reservations needed. Those interested in volunteering can sign up by calling First Call For Help (785) 623-2800 or visiting www.firstcallelliscounty.com.
Delivery of meals to shut-ins also can be arranged by calling First Call for Help. Meals will be delivered between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Transportation to the dinner is provided by Access, and reservations must be made by noon Wednesday. Access can be reached at (785) 628-1052.
Tax deductible donations can be sent to: ECMA, PO Box 173, Hays, KS 67601.
Pastor Celeste Lasich of the Hays Presbyterian Church and Linda Mills, director of First Call for Help, were on the KAYS Eagle Morning Show to talk about the Thanksgiving Day Feast, what’s on the menu, what goes into planning this event, and more:
The Hays city commission will meet Tue., Nov. 20 rather than Thursday due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Kim Rupp, director of finance, will present the October 2018 financial statement.
Commissioners will then consider bids for 26 areas of repair on sewer lines primarily located in the older sections of town. M&D Excavating, Hays, presented the lowest bid of $198,380.
Almost eerily quiet; this Thanksgiving week the Statehouse is going to be nearly empty, no interim committees meeting to thrash out possible legislation for the upcoming session, not even freshly elected legislators likely to be wandering the halls wondering where their offices are going to be.
Of course, nobody has won anything until the State Canvass Board meets later this month to certify that those election results are official, that the county officials counted right, that the candidates who were named winners in their local courthouses get the final OK in the Kansas Secretary of State’s office.
But pending that Topeka stamp of approval, there are still going to be 125 members of the Kansas House, and at least 27 of them are new, or at least relatively new (some served earlier terms, quit or were defeated, and came back). Five of those new or relatively new faces are Democrats, 22 are Republicans. A recount out in Hays will determine if Rep. Eber Phelps, D-Hays, or Republican Barbara Wasinger, Hays, wins the vote, which could change the number of new faces.
If Wasinger wins, the ratio stays at the current 85 Republicans, 40 Democrats. If Phelps wins, that makes it 84 Republicans, 41 Democrats. Not a “blue wave” in the House of Representatives.
That eerie quiet in the Statehouse is going to be offset by what will be hot phone lines, emails and voice messages between House members who will be campaigning within their party for leadership offices.
Now, everyone knows that the big job, the most powerful job in the Kansas House, is the Speaker. He/she with the help of the House Majority Leader decide what is going to be debated, and when.
That top job appears to be locked up by current Speaker Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, who doesn’t have any serious opposition for the post within his party.
House Minority Leader Jim Ward, D-Wichita, may see a scrap for his post, largely because it doesn’t appear that he’s been able to increase Democrat numbers in the chamber, which is considered a major responsibility.
Everything else? Well, look for a GOP scrap over the No. 2 job in the chamber, Majority Leader. It’s the Majority Leader, moderate Republican Rep. Don Hineman, R-Dighton, who is facing at least two conservative Republicans who hope to build on the shift to the right of the House GOP caucus.
Rep. Don Hineman, R-Dighton, 118th Dist.
It’s that under-the-sheets campaigning that will to a large degree determine whether Democrat Gov.-elect (now Senator) Laura Kelly, Topeka, gets much of her budget and legislative agenda approved.
And that, again, is where the leadership of the House becomes a key. That House leadership appoints members to committees which will not only come up with their own bills but hold hearings on Kelly-proposed bills.
Don’t like the Kelly bill? Just have the Majority Leader send it to a committee that will knock it down or amend it. That’s why the power to name Republican members of committees is almost thermonuclear. The House party breakdown means 23-member committees are 16 Republican/7 Democrat; 17-member committees are 12 Republican/5 Democrats, and so-on,
So how does a fresh-faced new legislator who doesn’t even know where all the Statehouse bathrooms are get a flashy committee assignment, say, Appropriations or Tax or Commerce or Federal and State Affairs? How about pledging to vote for a member of leadership, a little tradeoff and the first real use of a freshman’s power.
Democrats? They’ll make their own committee assignments, but not with the leverage that the Republican committee assignments carry.
Wonder what the upcoming session is going to look like? Wait for the leadership races to trickle down to committee assignments.
We’ll see…
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
There’s an old saying that goes something like this: Sometimes you must look back on where you’ve been to know where you’re going. Being an ardent student of history, I believe it definitely has its place in our society today.
Whenever I take a road trip across Kansas or some other destination across our great land, I often stop along the way to read historical markers. They include details about battles, pestilence and devastation as well as discovery, success and progress.
When Mom and Dad were alive, we sometimes visited cemeteries in rural Kansas and Missouri to pay homage to relatives and friends. Below the headstones rested the remains of men in our family who spent their lives planting and harvesting behind sweating teams of horses, butchering hogs on bitterly cold days and teaching new sons about the soil.
Also, down there were the remains of women who collected eggs, washed clothes by hand, cooked skillets full of fried chicken and managed to raise and nurture a family under sometimes nearly impossible conditions.
They are the ones who wove the fabric that serves as the yardstick for our new and dynamic future. What happened with these early pioneers has a direct bearing on our present successes and failures.
One such winning story revolves around the strides agriculture and its people have made in the interests of conservation. Not everything that has happened in conservation can be limited to the last 20 or 30 years. Many of the innovations in conservation began taking shape in the years after the Dirty ‘30s, nearly 90 years ago.
Thousands of shelterbelts were planted in Kansas and other Great Plains states. After years of droughts and rain finally began falling again, ponds dotted the landscape holding this precious resource. Landowners learned to make the water walk and not run, conserving this water for livestock and sometimes for thirsty crops.
Terraces snaked their way across thousands of miles of farmland holding soil and water in place where it belonged. Soil stopping strip cropping created patterns and reduced wind erosion.
Slowly but surely conservation measures continued to slow the soil erosion gorilla that had stomped across the High Plains leaving in its wake gullies the size of automobiles, drifts of soil as high as fence posts, withered lifeless wheat and corn and starving livestock on barren pastures.
Yes, with knowledge, education, patience, understanding and hard work and Mother Nature’s ability to heal herself, the rich, fertile land recovered. Throughout this renaissance of the land, farmers and ranchers learned that stewardship of the soil, water and other resources is in the best interest of us all.
Without question, agriculture has yet to receive credit for what it has done to protect and to enhance the landscape and for its willingness to change and improve the few mistakes it has made.
It is important for all of us to understand what has happened in the past so we can place present events and future needs in their proper perspectives. To avoid doing so will blind us to involvement and participation in much larger efforts extending throughout a long span of time.
Incidentally, a new, modern twist may be nothing more than an old theme or something coming around after having gone around. After all, human history is comprised of human ideas. And incidentally, nearly all ideas are timeless, just waiting to be dusted off, reshaped and used again.
John Schlageck is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas. Born and raised on a diversified farm in northwestern Kansas, his writing reflects a lifetime of experience, knowledge and passion.
In watching the last two football games of the FHSU Tigers, I couldn’t help but comment publicly:
First, the game against Northwest Missouri State on Saturday, November 3rd: I certainly don’t want to take anything away from the athletes and coaches for their dramatic victory, but the TV coverage was pitiful. Granted, I’ve become spoiled with the play-by-play coverage of Gerard Wellbrock, but the commentators were terrible, the cameramen must have been sleeping some of the time, and the 21 Cox and Hutchinson Community College commercials in the first half, some back to back, left a whole lot to be desired. I find it hard to believe that, for such an important Div. II game that more professionalism was not provided.
Secondly, a few comments on the matchup with the University of Indianapolis on November 17th: For you that did not watch or listen to the game, FHSU had the lead (24-17) and plenty of momentum in the third quarter, before a targeting infraction was called on one of the Tigers. Instead of a loss of 4 yards, Indy received a first down, and one of the Tigers’ best defenders, Doyin Jibowu was ejected from the game. I watched the replay several times, and I’m not sure what the referees saw, but it was certainly not targeting. So Doyin, who I understand is just a class act in every way, ends his football career with his first ejection, ever. What a great way to end someone’s football career.
Shortly thereafter, Indy took advantage of Jibowu’s absence and scored a touchdown to tie the game.
Next Layne Bieberle makes a fantastic catch in the end zone for a touchdown, only to have it called back for offensive pass interference. In watching the entire game, there were numerous pass plays with plenty more contact than this play, but again, the refs used their own interference to take away a touchdown from FHSU.
I once had a wrestling coach that told me that the referees never decided whether I won or lost, that it was up to me to decide. I have believed that through all these years — until now. The officials are totally responsible for this loss. Coach Brown, Dr. Mason, Dr. Hammond, and Gerard are too classy to complain about this and may even say, “This is just one of life’s challenges.” No disrespect to any of them, but this game was taken away from a very good football team by officials with great big imaginations.
All the hot August days, all of the weightlifting, watching film, two-a-days, etc. end on a very sour note because of incompetent officiating. Shame on you!
I thoroughly enjoyed watching Tiger Football. I only wish I could watch a few more Tiger games this year.
WICHITA — Motorists in Kansas and across America can add cheaper gas prices to their list of things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday. As nearly 49 million motorists nationwide take to the roads for the upcoming holiday, they can enjoy some of the lowest prices at the pumps in 2018.
Kansas pump prices
Today’s average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Kansas is $2.36, which is down 11 cents in the past week, down 33 cents from one month ago, and four cents lower than one year ago.
The rapidly falling gas prices of late in Kansas have earned some important distinctions for their affordability:
Kansas currently has the 8th cheapest gas prices in the country.
The 33-cent price decline in Kansas in the past month ranks as the 6th largest drop in America.
“Despite seeing higher gas prices throughout most of 2018 compared to last year, Kansans hitting the road for Thanksgiving will find pump prices that have fallen significantly in the past month and which are now cheaper than a year ago as well,” said Shawn Steward, AAA Kansas spokesman. “When it comes time to fill up during the trip, motorists should keep in mind that gas stations along highly traveled routes may have prices more expensive than in-town. Before setting out for the long Thanksgiving weekend, AAA recommends motorists download the free AAA Mobile app to find the lowest gas prices in their area.”
As usual, today’s average gas prices across Kansas vary by location:
Dodge City – $2.37
Emporia – $2.37
Goodland – $2.48
Hays – $2.44
Kansas City, Kan. – $2.34
Lawrence – $2.24
Manhattan – $2.57
Pittsburg – $2.32
Salina – $2.29
Topeka – $2.44
Wichita – $2.26
Today’s gas price extremes in Kansas are:
HIGH: Elkhart (Morton County) – $2.80
LOW: Benton (Butler County) – $2.18
Gas prices across America
Today’s national gas price average is $2.62, which is eight cents less than a week ago and the largest one-week decline in pump price this year. A year ago, the average national price was $2.54.
Facebook is undergoing a significant outage, according to downdetector.com. The outage began to surface at 6:41 a.m. Instagram also was affected, according to reports.
Click HERE for a map of the latest outage reports.
Micquille Robinson, senior construction management major from Wichita
By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN FHSU University Relations and Marketing
A construction company out of Kansas City, Mo., was so impressed with its first student intern from Fort Hays State University last summer that it made him their poster child – literally.
McCownGordon Construction was one of 30 companies represented at a career day for FHSU’s Department of Applied Technology last month.
The company’s booth was one of the first that students could visit as they walked through the front door of the Center for Applied Technology building. Pictured on one of its banners – with a white hard hat atop his head and a big smile spreading across his face – was Micquille Robinson, a senior construction management major from Wichita.
It was McGownGordon’s first visit to FHSU’s career fair, and their representatives promised they would be back – especially after their experience with Robinson.
“We had never recruited from Fort Hays State, didn’t realize it had a construction management program,” said Emily Brown, director of talent development for McCownGordon. “But we stumbled upon Micquille, and he was a phenomenal intern. So we wanted to definitely come to this fair. He looks pretty good on that poster, don’t you think?”
Robinson sounded impressive to his new employer back in September 2017. Robinson was returning to Hays from a student-athlete leadership conference in Virginia and struck up a conversation with an employee of a concrete construction company in the Kansas City area.
“We just got to chatting, and he asked what I was studying in college,” Robinson said. “I told him, and he told me he had gone to Fort Hays State, and they didn’t have construction management back then. He said he would make some contacts for me.”
That gentleman reached out to McGownGordon. Within a couple of weeks, McGownGordon contacted Robinson to apply for an internship, which he successfully completed last summer.
Landing internships isn’t quite that smooth for all applied technology majors. But the department strives to guide students through the process and give them a variety of opportunities, including hosting events such as the career fair.
“The career fair gives our students an opportunity to visit with different companies and see what the strength of that company is and what type of work they do,” said Kim Stewart, chair of the Department of Applied Technology. “It allows the companies to visit with our students and get a feel for the type of student we have at our school.”
McGownGordon learned quickly what FHSU students have to offer.
“That Midwest work ethic stood out right away,” Brown said. “We learned that their values align with our values – relationships, integrity, performance. We have already hired two more FHSU graduates besides Micquelle.”
Local companies also make use of having interns and potential future employees readily at hand at FHSU.
One of those companies is Paul-Wertenberger Construction, which started with two employees (both FHSU graduates) back in 1983 and has grown to about 50.
Paul-Wertenberger employs several Fort Hays State alumni full-time, as well as numerous students who work part time while going to college. The company sponsors two seminar rooms in the new Center for Applied Technology that was completed in August 2017, and a scholarship in PWC’s name is given to a construction management major each year.
“Fort Hays State has been developing its construction management program and is making headway all the time,” said Bob Wertenberger, co-owner of Paul-Wertenberger along with Steve Paul. “So we have been able to have numerous interns.”
Wertenberger said that the construction industry “always need good help,” making it a highly marketable career.
“Companies are looking for good people,” he said, “and they know that western Kansas – and Fort Hays State – is a great area to pick up dedicated workers.”
Paul-Wertenberger, which also hires FHSU graduates, has either built or remodeled several of the buildings on campus, including the current construction of the new art and design building scheduled to open in August 2019.
Wertenberger, whose company works in about a 90-mile radius, “loves doing projects on campus.”
“It’s nice to see the program growing so much,” he said. “They have been developing their construction management program and making good headway all the time.”
Stewart said his department is thankful for “all the companies in the Hays area that use our students as part of their labor force.”
Three other local companies that have employed students as interns since the fall 2017 semester are Commercial Builders, Hess Services and Sizewise.
The Applied Technology Department works hard at getting the word out about its department. In addition to its career day in the fall, Applied Technology also hosts a conference for high school and middle school teachers as well as a visitation day for high school juniors and seniors. About 130 11th- and 12th-graders took part in the 2018 Junior/Senior Day Wednesday.
Two more ways for prospective students from Kansas and sometimes even neighboring states to get a look at the FHSU campus are the High Plains ElectroRally in the fall and the Western Kansas Technology Education Fair during the spring semester. High school students from compete in the electrorally, an electric car race, as one of the races on their annual circuit. The technology education fair showcases projects from junior and high school students in technology education classes.
The career day held in October was just the third of its kind, and Stewart said it has more than doubled in numbers since year one.
“This is not only an opportunity to interview them for summer jobs, for internships and for fall and spring co-ops,” Stewart said,” but ultimately they can be hired for full-time employment.”
Robinson stressed the importance of internships at the teacher conference the week before the career fair.
“That is basically a three-month job interview, because they recruit from their interns,” he said. “The internships help us out so much because now I know how McGownGordon does things. I have a head start over other new hires who didn’t intern with them.”
Stewart said his department had 28 students involved with internships last summer. Since the fall of 2017, FHSU students have earned internships at companies in six different states.
Seventy students participated in the career day activities, and more than half of those interviewed with companies for 2019 internships. The applied technology program has grown from 117 majors in 2012, when Stewart took over as director, to 190 this fall.
More information about that program can be found at www.fhsu.edu/appliedtechnology. Its areas of study are construction technology, construction management, engineering design technology, manufacturing technology, and technology and engineering education.
“Our degree is unique; it’s about having enough skill set to know what the common laborer does in a job and enough communication and management to run those jobs,” Stewart said. “The students have to be able to step in and do those jobs as part of being a leader in our industry.”
Robinson said he and fellow students learn that leadership, as well as time management, from professors who stress being active in organizations and activities.
Robinson could be a poster child for the department as well as for McGownGordon.
An honors student with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, Robinson also puts in a lot of hours with the Tiger wrestling team. Once again, he learned last week that hard work pays off. After going 9-0 and claiming championships in two tournaments to start the season, the 184-pound Robinson was named the MIAA wrestler of week.
Following the wrestling season, Robinson will take off for Kansas City to start on his new journey. But he hopes that isn’t until March.
The NCAA Division II Regionals are scheduled for late February, with nationals set for early March.
“I’m excited about the job and wrestling,” he said. “My last year of wrestling, I definitely want to do well. I might as well go out with a bang.”
can enjoy some of the lowest prices at the pumps in 2018.
Steward, AAA Kansas spokesman. “When it comes time to fill up during the trip, motorists should keep in mind that gas stations along highly traveled routes may have prices more expensive than in-town. Before setting out for the long Thanksgiving weekend, AAA recommends motorists download the free AAA Mobile app to find the lowest gas prices in their area.”
