Hays meeting scheduled for Aug. 5

PRATT – The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism is seeking input from individuals who hunt waterfowl in Kansas through a series of public information meetings. KDWPT staff wish to reexamine current waterfowl regulations ­– including season dates and duck zone boundaries – utilizing the critical input waterfowl hunters have to share.

Public information meetings will be held in Hays (Aug. 5), Great Bend (Aug. 6), Wichita (Aug. 7), Manhattan (Aug. 12), Pittsburg (Aug. 13), and Kansas City (Aug. 14). Each meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m., and all are welcome to attend. See below for meeting locations.

Should proposed changes arise as a result of the public meetings, staff will make a formal presentation to the KDWPT Commission for final action, beginning in November. All proposed changes that are voted on and approved by the Commission will then go into effect for the 2021-2022 waterfowl seasons.

Meeting locations are as follows:

August 5 – Hays
Ellis County Fairgrounds
1344 Fairground Rd
Hays, KS 67601

August 6 – Great Bend
Kansas Wetland Education Center
592 NE K-156 Hwy
Great Bend, KS 67530

August 7 – Wichita
Great Plains Nature Center
6232 E 29th St N
Wichita, KS 67220

August 12 – Manhattan
K-State Alumni Center
100 Alumni Center
1720 Anderson Avenue

Manhattan, KS 66506
August 13 – Pittsburg
Lamplighter Inn
4020 Parkview Dr

Pittsburg, KS 66762
August 14 – Kansas City
Cabela’s
10300 Cabela Drive
Kansas City, KS 66111

For more information, or to provide comments outside of the scheduled meeting times, contact KDWPT migratory game bird program manager Tom Bidrowski at (620) 566-1465 or [email protected].

BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are conducting an ongoing drug investigation in Barton County and have made another arrest.

Just before 10:30a.m. Monday, deputies executed a search warrant at 1217 Polk Street in Great Bend, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir.

Upon entry into the residence officers discovered methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and prescription medication. They also arrested 20-year-old Morgan Krankenberg, of Great Bend on requested charges of possession of methamphetamine within intent to distribute within 1000 feet of a school, possession of drug paraphernalia and unlawful sale of prescription drugs.

She is being held in lieu of a $100,000 bond, according to Bellendir.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a man whose body was found behind a Kansas City, Kansas, cemetery as suspicious.

Police say officers responded around 2:30 p.m. Monday and found the body in a wooded area.

Police provided no information about the identity of the man. Police say his was severely decomposed so an autopsy will be needed to determine a cause of death.

WICHITA, KAN. – A Kansas man pleaded guilty Monday to threatening an employee of the pro-life organization Operation Rescue, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Christopher M. Thompson, 22, Wichita, pleaded guilty of one count of making a threat. In his plea, he admitted making three phone calls to Operation Rescue in one day containing threats against the group’s employees.

The original indictment alleged Thompson made calls threatening to kill Operation Rescue employees and rape their daughters.

Sentencing is set for Sept. 15. He faces a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and continue the search for one suspect.

Just after 3:30p.m. July 25, police were dispatched to SE 37th and SE Pennsylvania in Topeka located a white passenger car  with 16- year-old Joaquin Aj McKinney suffering from life threatening injuries. He was transported to a local hospital where he died.

On July 27, 2019 a suspect in the case, 16-year-old Zachary Jacob McFall turned himself in to law enforcement. He is being held in the Juvenile Department of Corrections for 1st Degree Murder.

On July 28, 2019 officers located and arrested an additional 16-year-old suspect in the case. He was transported to the Juvenile Department of Corrections for 1st Degree Murder.

Police are attempting to locate 22-year-old Lavonte D. Johnson for questioning in the case.

Police said if you know his location, please do not attempt to apprehend him, call 911 to report his location

ATCHISON COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 6p.m. Monday in Atchison County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2014 Polaris ATV driven by Jentri Lynn Fowler, 19, Cummings, was westbound in the 13000 Block of 214th Road.

The driver  lost control and the vehicle. It entered the south ditch and rolled.

Fowler and passenger Jaycee Ernzen, 18, Cummings, were transported to Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph where Fowler died. Another passenger Ashley Peiper, 18, Cummings, was transported to the hospital in Atchison for treatment of minor injuries.  A third passenger Caden McAfee, 19, Valley Falls, was not injured.

SALINE COUNTY —A small earthquake shook portions of central Kansas Tuesday morning. The quake just before 4:30a.m. measured a magnitude 3.1 and was centered approximately 5 miles west of Solomon.

The  quake was felt over a wide area. The Saline County Sheriff’s office said they received several calls about the quake. There were no reports of damage or injury.

LINN COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 9:30p.m. Monday in Linn County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Edward W. Lewis, 56, Blue Mound, was eastbound on Kansas 31 Highway two miles west of Blue Mound.

The motorcycle crested a hill and rear-ended a 1999 Ford pickup driven by Jacob R. Robinson, 17, Mound City.

Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Schneider Funeral Home.
Robinson was not injured. Lewis was not wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.

ELLSWORTH COUNTY —Emergency responders are currently searching near the middle ramp of the Minooka campground at Wilson Lake for a person reported missing just before 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Keith Haberer, Russell County emergency management coordinator, said emergency responders are gathering to assist in the search, and asked the public to avoid the area.

The area has suffered from flooding in recent months, but campsites near the ramp are set to open this week, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

On July 31 last year, a Great Bend man died at the reservoir while trying to swim to a boat that floated away.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A third Kansas man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the death of a Joplin, Missouri, man during a robbery.

Twenty-one-year-old Azaiah Forester, of Columbus, Kansas, was sentenced Monday in the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Taven Williams in January 2017.

Williams was killed when the three suspects and a fourth unidentified person went to the Joplin home of Paul Haney to rob Haney of marijuana. Williams was shot when he tried to help Haney, who survived a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

Two other defendants from Columbus, 21-year-old Brock Robinson and 24-year-old Erik Jones, were each sentenced previously to 15 years in prison.

Robinson claimed it was Jones who shot and killed Williams.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Max Falkenstien, the affable and silver-tongued “Voice of the Jayhawks” who brought Kansas football and basketball into the homes of fans for six decades, died Monday. He was 95.

The school announced his death in a statement. No cause was given.

Falkenstien did his first broadcast of a Kansas basketball game during the 1946 NCAA Tournament in Kansas City, where the Jayhawks played Oklahoma A&M. He took over as the play-by-play voice the following spring, and would hold the job for 39 years before switching to the commentator’s role in 1984.

He retired from Jayhawk Radio Network broadcasts after the 2005-06 basketball season.

“I’ve known Max since 1985, and back then, even being young in the profession, I quickly realized that Max was as big a part of the great history of KU basketball and football as the players and coaches were,” Jayhawks basketball coach Bill Self said. “He was an absolute joy to be around, and he will be remembered as an absolute treasure. He was loved by everyone.”

Falkenstien was a banker by trade, retiring from the Douglas County Bank in Lawrence in 1994. But his passion was broadcasting the Jayhawks, and fans across the country simply adored him.

He’s the only non-player to have a jersey — No. 60 — hanging in the rafters of Allen Fieldhouse.

“He was one of a kind,” former basketball coach Larry Brown, who guided the Jayhawks to the 1988 national title. “When I got the job at Kansas, coach (Dean) Smith told me about all the great people at KU, the love they had for the school and for basketball. When you talk about those great people, and everyone connected with all that tradition, Max is one of the first people you think about.”

Falkenstien, whose father worked for Kansas Athletics for 33 years, was born and raised in Lawrence and enlisted in the Army Air Corps after high school. He earned a mathematics degree from Kansas in 1948, a full two years after he was on the microphone for his first basketball game.

Falkenstien also did TV play-by-play commentary for the Big Eight’s basketball game of the week in the 1960s and ’70s, and for three decades he hosted football and basketball coaches’ shows for everyone from Pepper Rodgers and Mike Gottfried to Ted Owens and Roy Williams.

“Just the mention of his name will always make me smile,” Williams said.

His last football broadcast came in 2005, the Jayhawks’ win over Houston in the Fort Worth Bowl, and his final basketball broadcast came on March 17, 2006, when Bradley upset Kansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Over those 60 years, Falkenstien’s downhome voice broadcast games featuring the likes of Gale Sayers and John Riggins, Wilt Chamberlain and Danny Manning.

Falkenstien continued to sit courtside for home basketball games for many more years.

“His personal touch made every fan, player, coach and administrator feel like they were part of the KU family,” Self said. “I hope Max realized the positive impact he had on KU and everyone connected with it. He’ll be missed but his legacy will never be forgotten.”

Falkenstien is survived by his wife of 70 years, Isobel. The couple had two children, Kurt and Jane, along with three grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have three suspects in custody.

Just after 2 a.m. Monday police responded to report of a shooting in the 2400 Block of East Shadybrook in Wichita, according to office Charley Davidson. Upon arrival police found a 25-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his foot. EMS transported him to a local hospital for treatment.

Investigators learned a disturbance occurred outside a home in the 2400 Block of East Shadybrook between the victim and Broderick Lloyd when a gun was fired.  Lloyd left the scene in a grey Pontiac. A short time later, officer located and stopped the vehicle in the area of 17^th and Hillside, according to Davidson.

During the traffic stop, officer contacted two 18-year-old females in the front and suspects Lloyd, 18-year-old Adonis Dailey, 18, and 19-year-old Deandre Greenley in the back.  Officers also found drugs and a gun in the vehicle.

Police arrested Dailey on requested charges of possession of a firearm by a felon, Greenley of Shawnee, OK., on requested charges of possession of marijuana and Lloyd, 19, on a requested charge of aggravated battery, according to Davidson.

Police do not know if the incident is gang related.  The two teenage women were not arrested, according to Davidson.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The former leader of a national disability rights group has become the first Republican candidate seeking to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas.

Sara Hart Weir kicked off her campaign Monday in the 3rd Congressional District in the Kansas City area. She served more than four years as president and CEO of the National Down Syndrome Society before stepping down earlier this year.

The 37-year-old Weir touted her work on legislation in 2014 to create savings accounts with tax advantages for the disabled and their families.

Davids is the only Kansas Democrat in Congress. She ousted Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder last year and gained national attention as a Native American and LGBTQ lawmaker.

Former Kansas Republican Party Chairwoman Amanda Adkins also is considering running for the seat.