LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A civil rights group says staff at a privately run Kansas prison repeatedly have disparaged a Muslim woman for wearing a headscarf and ordered her to take it off before allowing her to leave her cell.
The Washington-based Muslim Advocates raised concerns about the treatment of 49-year-old Valeriece Ealom in a letter to CoreCivic, the Tennessee-based company that operates the prison in Leavenworth.
The letter, which was made public Wednesday, also was sent to the U.S. Marshals Service, which contracts with CoreCivic to house federal prisoners.
Ealom has been held at the facility since last November after federal prosecutors moved to revoke her parole in a drug case. She has sued over her treatment.
CoreCivic did not immediately respond to questions from The Star.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s claim that a Wichita high school has a dozen assistant principals is not true but his campaign says he stands by his contention that Kansas schools have too many administrators.
Kobach during the debate at the Kansas State Fair-photo courtesy Kobach for Governor
Kobach made the statement Saturday during a debate between GOP governor’s candidates at the Kansas State Fair.
Kobach spokeswoman Danedri Herbert said a state legislator told Kobach about the Wichita school.
After Wichita school officials objected, Herbert said the campaign checked and found that East High School and North High School in Wichita combined have a dozen principals and vice principals, which she says is “clearly excessive.”
Mark Tallman, a lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said he isn’t aware of any school in the state with 12 assistant principals.
WASHINGTON —The Kansas Association of Wheat Growers presented Senator Bob Dole with a Lifetime Friend of Wheat Award Wednesday
Dole was recognized for his steadfast dedication to Kansas farmers. “Thank you for your lifetime of public service, Senator Dole.”
Kansas First District Congressman Roger Marshall also participated in the presentation.
Ken and Kyler (KAWG Directors) presented @SenatorDole with a Lifetime Friend of Wheat Award today for his steadfast dedication to Kansas farmers. Thank you for your lifetime of public service, Senator Dole! And another big thanks to @RogerMarshallMD for meeting with us, too! pic.twitter.com/YIZVZGuCYS
Dole, who celebrated his 95th birthday in July served Kansas in Congress for 35 years. He left the Senate in 1996 for his campaign against President Bill Clinton. Congress recently awarded him a Congressional Gold Medal.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence student pleaded no contest after bringing a loaded gun to school last year.
Google image
The student, who was 17 at the time, was charged as a juvenile in Douglas County District Court. He pleaded no contest Wednesday to criminal use of a weapon in juvenile court. As part of his plea agreement, a marijuana possession charge from the same incident was dropped.
A school resource officer and a Lawrence police officer found the boy with a .22 magnum pistol in his backpack at Lawrence Free State High School. Prosecutor Bryant Barton said officers searched the student’s backpack after receiving a tip from another student.
Barton did not say where the boy obtained the gun.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — A 10-year-old Missouri boy is recovering after he was attacked by insects and tumbled from a tree, landing on a meat skewer that penetrated his skull from his face to the back of his head.
But miraculously, that’s where Xavier Cunningham’s bad luck ended. The skewer had completely missed Xavier’s eye, brain, spinal cord and major blood vessels, The Kansas City Star reports.
Xavier’s harrowing experience began Saturday afternoon when yellow jackets attacked him in a tree house at his home in Harrisonville, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Kansas City. He fell to the ground and his mother, Gabrielle Miller, ran down the stairs when she heard screaming. His skull was pierced from front-to-back with half a foot of skewer still sticking out of his face.
Miller tried to reassure her son, who told her “I’m dying, Mom” as they rushed to the hospital. He eventually was transferred to the University of Kansas Hospital, where endovascular neurosurgery director Koji Ebersole evaluated the wound.
“You couldn’t draw it up any better,” Ebersole said. “It was one in a million for it to pass 5 or 6 inches through the front of the face to the back and not have hit these things.”
There was no active bleeding, allowing the hospital time to get personnel in place for a removal surgery on Sunday morning that was complicated by the fact that the skewer wasn’t round. Because it was square, with sharp edges, it would have to come out perfectly straight. Twisting it could cause additional severe injury.
“Miraculous” would be an appropriate word to describe what happened, Ebersole said.
Doctors think Xavier could recover completely.
“I have not seen anything passed to that depth in a situation that was survivable, let alone one where we think the recovery will be near complete if not complete,” he s
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KANSAS CITY— (AP) — A 10-year-old boy is recovering after he tumbled from a tree house and was impaled through the skull by a meat skewer.
Xavier Cunningham, of Harrisonville, Missouri, landed on the skewer Saturday afternoon while trying to escape from a group of attacking yellow jacket insects. His mother, Gabrielle Miller, says she went running when she heard screaming. The skewer had pierced her son’s face, penetrating his skull all the way to the back of his head.
The University of Kansas Health System’s endovascular neurosurgery director, Koji Ebersole, says, “You couldn’t draw it up any better.” The skewer spared Xavier’s eye, brain and spinal cord and missed major blood vessels.
Doctors were able to remover the skewer Sunday and believe Xavier could recover completely.
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas chiropractor already facing two sexual battery charges is now charged with rape involving an underage female.
Hawkins -photo Lyon County Sheriff
The Lyon County Attorney’s office charged Eric Hawkins of Emporia on Monday with raping a patient who was 15 or 16 at the time of the incident. Court documents allege the assault occurred between October 1 and November 30, 2015.
Hawkins was charged in August with two counts of sexual battery involving a 22-year-old and a 32-year-old patient. He is scheduled to appear in court on those charges Thursday.
Hawkins chiropractor’s license was suspended in July pending the outcome of the court cases.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Zoo staff and many others are mourning the loss of an amazing animal.
Sunda -photo courtesy Topeka Zoo
Early Monday, the 58-year-old Asian elephant Sunda woke up at the Topeka zoo and was unable to stand, according to the zoo’s Facebook page.
Zoo staff moved the other elephants around to give Sunda some extra space and to give staff some space if needed to help but even though she was trying, Sunda was unable to get her legs under her to get up.
Zoo staff made unsuccessful attempts to lift her with airbags. At 9:30 a.m., a team of tactical rescue firefighters from the Topeka Fire Department arrived and worked to put together ropes and pulleys in a manner that allowed us to lift her up.
Once lifted, she was able to get her feet under her and support her own weight. She stood for a few minutes and then started eating hay and moved into another room to get treats from her keepers, almost as if nothing had happened.
Laying down for a nap and not being able to get back up without assistance is something that sometimes happens with older elephants.
On Wednesday, Sunda was unable to get up again and zoo staff made the difficult decision to euthanize her.
As zoo staff wrote on social media, “after 52-years in Topeka, she was indeed one of the most magnificent animals any of us have ever had the pleasure of knowing. We were hopeful that we might have had more time with her but her last days were spent eating her favorite treats, enjoying beautiful weather, and surrounded by people and elephants who loved her.”
CLAY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the former director of the Clay Center, Kansas, Area Chamber of Commerce and USD 379 school board member on child sex allegations.
Contreras -photo Clay County
Sixty-year-old Andrew James Contreras was arrested in Tennessee on a Clay County District Court warrant that has been transferred to Kansas, according to the Davidson County, Tennessee Sheriff’s department.
Contreras remained jailed Tuesday in Clay County on a $35,000 bond for two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, according to the sheriff’s department.
In 2008, Contreras arrived in Clay Center from San Antonio, Texas. In addition to a couple of years with the chamber of commerce, he also was a member of the USD 379 school board. He resigned from the board in August 2017.
He has not made a first court appearance, according to the sheriff’s department.
SEWARD COUNTY — A Kansas woman reported missing in July is out of jail, her alleged partner in crime is still in custody following a weekend arrest.
Shaila Schlenz -photo Liberal PoliceAbdnor -photo Potter County Sheriff
Charles Abdnor, 26, is being held for fraud, aggragravated assault against a public servant, evading arrest, unauthorized use of vehicles and three fugitive charges, according to the Potter County Texas Sheriff’s Department.
Abdnor is also wanted on a Seward County warrant in connection with burglary and arson, according to Liberal Police Captain Robert Rogers.
Abdnor was with 24-year-old Shaila Schlenz in Amarillo, Texas. She was first reported missing on July 5, according to officials in Seward County. Both were arrested after found driving a stolen car.
Just after 7p.m. Saturday, police responded to the 1600 block of East Amarillo Boulevard where they found Schlenz and Abdnor who both gave fake names to the officers, according to a media release. Police say the suspects were in a car that had been stolen in Kansas.
When police tried to remove Abdnor from the car, he accelerated the car with one of the officers holding onto him, dragging the officer and causing the officer to fall.
Schlenz and Abdnor drove away, and officers located the abandoned car at Southeast Third and Mirror and later found both of them in the 300 block of South Aldredge.
Schlenz has bonded out of jail. Abdnor remains in custody on a total bond of $67,000.
SEDGWICK COUNTY – A man convicted of embezzling more than $500,000 from the Wichita pawnshop where he worked was sentenced to 32 months in prison Tuesday.
Jelinek -photo Sedgwick Co.
According to a media release from the Sedgwick County Attorney, Phillip H. Jelinek, 35 of Wichita, entered a guilty plea to felony theft on June 25 in Sedgwick County District Court.
The charge against Jelinek alleged that he embezzled $587,450.83 from A-OK Enterprises LLC, where he worked as an accountant.
The thefts occurred over a two-year period and involved money from internet sales.
The prison sentence was imposed by Judge David Kaufman, who said in court that the impact of the theft was “catastrophic” to the business.
Jelinek and his attorney asked Kaufman to consider probation because Jelinek was seeking treatment for a gambling addiction and had sold his house to help pay restitution. Judge Kaufman denied the request.
Bruce Harris, the owner of A-OK Enterprises LLC, said in court that the thefts from his business forced the company into bankruptcy and caused employee layoffs and closure of some locations.
The case was investigated by the Investigations Division of the Office of the District Attorney.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — GOP state lawmakers are divided over whether they support fellow Republican Kris Kobach’s candidacy to become Kansas’ next governor, according to a newspaper’s survey.
Johnson County Bar Association Gubernatorial Debate -photo courtesy Kobach for Governor campaign
Twenty-eight percent of GOP lawmakers it surveyed would not say if they support Kobach’s candidacy and close to 10 percent did not respond to repeated inquiries. Four moderate Republicans from Johnson County have already said they will not vote for Kobach.
“I’m not going to take a position on that race. I just don’t feel like it’s any benefit to me to do that,” said House Majority Whip Kent Thompson, a Republican from Iola, without elaborating.
Among Democrats, 94 percent of those in the Legislature said they will support candidate Laura Kelly.
“She will be a great Governor and the alternative is too horrible to even contemplate,” Rep. Jerry Stogsdill, a Prairie Village Democrat, said in an email.
Kobach defeated Gov. Jeff Colyer by 343 votes in the August primary, confirming a deep divide between moderates and conservatives in the state GOP. Since Kobach’s victory, some conservatives have criticized moderates for not supporting the party’s nominee in his race against Kelly and independent Greg Orman.
In August, House Majority Leader Don Hineman, a moderate Republican from Dighton, said in an email to more than two dozen centrists that voting for Orman or Kelly “could well be a career-ending move for anyone who chose to do so.” He did not respond to The Star’s questions about whether he will support Kobach.
Others in the party are strong Kobach supporters.
“Secretary Kobach is the best candidate for governor this State has had in my lifetime,” Rep. Francis Awerkamp, a St. Marys Republican, said in an email.
Kobach has long espoused conservative views on immigration, taxes and social issues and he has indicated during the campaign that he will not work to attract moderate voters in the general election.
He said after the first gubernatorial debate in Overland Park that the lack of apparent support is part of the candidates’ strategic plans when they consider their district’s wishes.
“This is typical in any major election where you have people at different levels up and down the ballot,” Kobach said.
Sen. Barbara Bollier, of Mission Hills, a GOP moderate, said earlier this summer that she would vote for Kelly.
“I don’t understand why not, why they won’t,” Bollier said about moderates not coming out against Kobach. “It’s hard for me to understand. It’s about being electable, they believe, and for me it’s about doing the right thing for the state.”
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of burglaries and have made two arrests.
Bogguess-photo Sedgwick County
Just after 9a.m. Monday, police responded to a reported business burglary in the 5600 Block of West Kellogg, according to officer Charley Davidson. The business had been burglarized overnight. Two vehicles and tools worth an estimated $68,000 were missing.
Investigators were led to a residence in the 3700 Block of North Armstrong. Police arrested 50-year-old Jaime Lambert on 8 counts of possession of stolen property and 38-year-old Charles Bogguess on 7 counts of possession of stolen property.
Lambert -photo Sedgwick Co.
Officers were able to recover all of the missing items from Gerber Collision and Glass including the two vehicles. Officers also recovered a third stolen vehicle along a skid loader and trailer reported stolen earlier this year, according to Davidson.
BROWN COUNTY — One person died from injuries in an accident just before 8:30a.m. Tuesday in Brown County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Shawn Simpson, 40, Hiawatha, was westbound on 290th Street five miles north of Hiawatha.
The driver failed to make the curve at Kill Deer Road. The motorcycle entered the west ditch, rolled and the driver was ejected.
Simpson was transported to KU Medical Center and died Tuesday afternoon.
He was not wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.
