Dane G. Hansen Museum

LOGAN — What little town hosts a great big fair? Logan: a farming community of 600. Nestled in northwest Kansas, on Kansas Highway 9, the Dane G. Hansen Museum sponsors one of the best craft fairs around on Aug. 16. Hosting crafters from Kansas and surrounding states, this is a shopper’s paradise. Family and friends rally together for this annual event held on the Hansen Plaza Square, Main Street. There is no admission charge to attend this event.

Crafters check in at pre-dawn in preparation for the 9 a.m. opening. Food vendors line two sides of the square. Food could include hamburgers, brats, turkey and noodles, sloppy joes, homemade pies, homemade ice cream, barbecue beef sandwiches, bierocks, sno-cones, and more.

Chain saw artist Blair Smith from Iowa, will be on the grounds with his chain saw artistry. His performances will begin at 8 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Drawings at 10:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. will be held for two of his carvings.

Children can enjoy supervised games beginning at 10 a.m., including a Hula Hoop contest (ages 7 to 12), tricycle races (ages 3 to 6), water balloon toss and sand treasure hunt. There will be inflatables for kids from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Logan High School cheerleaders also will be painting faces from 1 to 2 p.m.

Inside the museum, the exhibit, “Long May She Wave: A Graphic History of the American Flag” will be on display. It includes thousands of American flag-related objects and artifacts from the private collection of Kit Hinrichs. Also, the museum’s artist of the month will have items for sale in the museum gallery.

Live entertainment will be on two stages throughout the day, including Left of Center, Concordia, and A Little Bit of Heaven, Alma, Neb.

In addition to the live entertainment, there also will be artisan presentations throughout the day. Bob Jones, antique appraiser from Jennings, will be available in the Hansen Plaza for a free verbal approximation of value for your antiques. Registration forms to schedule a time for the appraisal are available through the Hansen Museum.

Drawings for prizes — including $500 — also are scheduled.

The highlight of the day will be the selection of 12 new winners (and two alternates) of the Artist of the Month award. This year’s crafters will be judged by two of our museum board members for their uniqueness, quality of craft and display.

For more on the event, click HERE.

In observance of National Health Center Week from Aug. 10 to 16, free health screenings will be offered by First Care Clinic in cooperation with the Hays Lions Club and Walgreens.

The Lions mobile screening services will be set up in the Walgreens parking lot, 27th and Vine, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 15 and again from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 16.

The screening services to be provided are diabetes/blood glucose, blood pressure, vision acuity, field of vision and hearing.

Infants 6 months of age and older, children, adults and seniors are welcome to participate in part or all of the free screenings. Special eye screenings will be available for infants and children.

For more information, call First Care Clinic at (785) 621-4990.

The Hays City Commission will discuss implementing a fine for those who empty their pools into public alleys.

The topic is on the AGENDA for Thursday’s work session, scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

Commissioner Ron Mellick brought the issue to the city’s attention.

According to the city manager’s memo to the commission, there are 134 swimming pools in the city of Hays and an unknown number of hot tubs. When pools and hot tubs are drained for maintenance reasons or to prepare for winter, the amount of water sent into alleys has caused damage.

“Water soaks in creating soft conditions, which are exploited when sanitation, recycling or other large vehicles then attempt to drive in the alley,” the memo says. “Once this damage occurs, city staff is forced to enact repairs to bring the alley back up to standards.”

Several residents have been contacted in the past about the practice, and asked to drain water to the curb, sewer or stormwater system instead.

However, without a specific penalty for dumping in the alley, there is no recourse for the city should residents ignore the requests.

The memo noted that if a penalty is adopted, it would be coupled with an effort to educate pool and hot tub owners about their responsibilities.

Click HERE for a complete agenda for Thursday’s work session.

Related story: Continued discussion of hotel/retail/restaurant development focuses on water.

FHSU University Relations

Sculptures revealing the beauty of elders and their wrinkles are on display at Fort Hays State University’s Moss-Thorns Gallery, located on the first floor of Rarick Hall, Room 102, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. until June 20.

“My work is a slow reveal. It amazes with its realism and demands we look at faces that otherwise we might choose to ignore,” said Michaela Valli Groeblacher, a recent FHSU Master of Fine Arts graduate, in her artist’s statement. “Communicating a powerful message, my figurative sculpture forces a spotlight on the elderly, a segment of society so ignored as to be invisible. Tucked away in nursing homes and hospitals, the aged remind us of our own mortality and the inescapable march of time.”

Groeblacher’s thesis exhibit, “Make Yourself A(t) Home,” has transformed the Moss-Thorns into a cozy, home-like environment full of her sculptures and paintings.

“Working with old women and their wisdom inspires me most,” Groeblacher said. “Some old woman are wise but not all of them and as people we are the way we are so when I feel inspired, I have the desire to express myself through sculpture.”

Groeblacher has always wanted to be an artist but didn’t start making it a priority until later. She graduated in 2005 from McPherson College with a bachelor’s in studio art after growing up in Austria and working as a physical therapist before moving to Seattle, where she worked as a landscape designer.

“Now in my third life, I combine my experiences and my interest in the human psyche with both my artistic loves by sculpting life-like and life-size people from clay and subsequently finishing the figures in a painterly manner,” Groeblacher says in her biography.

Some of the sculptures on display are part of Groeblacher’s “Noble Souls” project. She has been sculpting on site at Bethany Home, a nursing home in Lindsborg, with some of the nursing home residents as her models. The life sized work carries a lot of detail and comes alive in Moss-Thorns Gallery.

A couple of her sculptures, “Steel Magnolia” and “Mary,” who resembles a mermaid, are of the full body without any flaws covered up to capture the beauty of growing old. A few of her sculptures with tree trunks as torsos, define beauty and wisdom of elderly women.

“Lola,” another full body sculpture, is currently on display at the San Angelo, Texas, Museum of Fine Arts. A poster of “Lola,” a graceful ballerina in a soft pink tutu, is in the Moss-Thorns exhibit.

“Teaching takes your energy, art takes your energy, and you can really only do one of them. You want to give all your energy to the students because they look up to you, which makes it very difficult to do both at a high level,” said Groeblacher. Groeblacher’s dream is doing art full-time but as a single woman the income isn’t always enough. Now that she has her master’s, she hopes to find a teaching position.

For more on Groeblacher’s art, click HERE or call (785) 628-4247.

In the latest episode of The Forum, Gary Shorman of Eagle Communications and Hays USD 489 Superintendent Dean Katt discuss a number of issues facing the school district.

Watch the entire interview HERE.

RUSSELL — Russell County residents will gather at Russell High School at 2 p.m. May 31 to “Finish the Fight” in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

So far this year, Relay for Life of Russell County has raised $17,556 in support of the American Cancer Society’s vision of the world with less cancer and more birthdays and will involve more than 122 participants.

This year’s Relay for Life event will last for 12 hours as individuals and teams camp out around the gym with the goal of keeping at least one team member on the track or pathway at all times throughout the evening.

Teams do most of their fundraising prior to the event, but some teams will hold creative fundraisers at their sites during the Relay.

There will also be kid’s games, a community hog roast, concession stand, basket auction, DJ from Parson’s Productions, and a live band — SLY Ridge.

The Relay brings together friends, families, businesses, hospitals, schools, faith based groups and people from all walks of life as they aim to further the American Cancer Society’s efforts to save lives by helping people stay well, by helping get well, by finding cures and by fighting back.

Relay for Life began in May 1985, when Dr. Gordy Klatt, a colorectal surgeon took the first step of this 24-hour walk around a track in Tacoma, Wash., and raised more than $27,000 to support the American Cancer Society.

For more information, contact Damian Morgenstern at (785) 483-0404 or [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By NICK BUDD
Hays Post

The Hays American Legion Post 173 hosted its annual Memorial Day ceremonies Monday where veterans and their fallen comrades were honored.

Ceremonies included a flag-folding ceremony, a tribute to fallen veterans of each war and  a speech by veteran and Ellis Police Chief Taft Yates. Yates reminded to crowd to always remember the meaning of Memorial Day.

“It seems as though we’re getting away from what this day is all about,” he said. “It’s easy when Iraq was first going strong and then when it died down and now Afghanistan is now dying down. Our number of supporter’s seem to be dwindling. We forget, and it’s too easy to forget.

“And every time we forget, we pay with hard-earned lessons that we have already been taught.”

He urged those in attendance to help teach those lessons to the younger generation.

“It’s our duty and our responsibility to pass this tradition down to the next generation,” Yates said, “because when we get even more up in age then what we are, they’re the ones that are going to protect our freedoms.”

The ceremony at the American Legion ended with a 21-gun salute and a playing of taps.

Memorial Day ceremonies from Hays and WaKeeney will be rebroadcast in their entirety this week on Hays Post and Eagle Community Television Channel 14. Check back for a schedule.

As the community turns its thoughts to service men and women who offered up the ultimate sacrifice for their nation, Eagle Community Television shares the story of a heroic survivor.

Earl “Michael” Schaeffer, 92, sat down recently with Mike Cooper to share tales from his time in the military — focusing on the Dec. 7, 1941, attack at Pearl Harbor. Schaeffer was stationed at the U.S. naval base that morning, and wound up being aboard one of the two planes still able to fly after the attack.

Schaeffer is a decorated war hero, who flew as a radioman and gunner on 92 combat missions. He is the recipient of a Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster and Airman’s Medal. He also served on Midway Island, Guadalcanal and the Solomons — some of the most important arenas in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

Schaeffer, a Pennsylvania native who now lives in Hays, and Cooper discuss the experiences of World War II, including many harrowing, near-death experiences.

Watch this special Community Connection episode here:

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

As the western Kansas solar array becomes a reality, officials from Midwest Energy and community solar developer Clean Energy Collective have set up area meetings to discuss the project and answer questions.

In March, officials from Midwest Energy and CEC announced an agreement to build a 1-megawatt community solar array in western Kansas.

According to Midwest Energy spokesman Mike Morley, the solar array, which is expected to be made up of about 4,000 panels, will be located in the Colby area, although officials still are working on a few project details.

Midwest Energy customers who purchase panels will get credit on their electric bills for the power their panels produce.

Morley said this is still a relatively new concept in the utility industry, but CEC is one of the largest companies in the U.S. doing community solar arrays, with 30 to 35 across the country.

“It’s a well established company with a good track record of building these types of projects,” Morley said.

He also said that there are a number of benefits to community solar.

“Anybody can participate if you are a Midwest Energy Electric customer,” Morley said.

Renters or people’s houses that are blocked by trees can take advantage of the community solar and still benefit from solar energy.

Officials have scheduled receptions in Colby, Great Bend and Hays as a way for Midwest Energy customers to ask questions about the project.

Morley said there have been many inquires from customers since the project was announced.

“These receptions are an opportunity for Midwest Energy members to come in, in a very informal, no-pressure setting and meet one-on-one with folks with from Midwest and Clean Energy Collective and ask any questions they might have about the project,” he said.

The Hays reception is scheduled for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. May 20 at Gella’s Diner & Lb. Brewing Co., 117 E. 11th.

Other sessions are scheduled from 5 to 9 p.m. May 19 at Front Door Community Center, 1615 10th, Great Bend, and 7:30 to 10 a.m. May 21 at City Limits Convention Center, 2227 S. Range, Colby.

Customers can calculate their savings and find more information online at www.mwecommunitysolar.com.

Morley recently discussed the solar panels with Eagle Community TV. Click HERE to watch this edition of Community Connection.

FHSU University Relations

Several workshops and programs from the Kansas Center for Innovative Education at Fort Hays State University, are available to educators and other professionals this summer. These programs provide tools for creative and critical thinking in the fields of manufacturing, technology and education.

All workshops are available for graduate credit. The fee for each of these events is $90 with registration due one week prior to each event. To enroll for graduate credit, registration is due two weeks in advance.

Friday, June 6: “Strategies and Techniques for English Language Arts Classrooms,” presented by Dr. Lorie Cook-Benjamin, assistant professor of teacher education at FHSU and Andrea Schuette, sixth-grade English teacher at Colby Middle School, will be in the nursing building at North Central Kansas Technical College, 2205 Wheatland.

The workshop will present strategies and techniques used in middle and high school English language arts classrooms to help reach the Kansas College and Career Readiness Standards.

Lunch and refreshments are included in the $90 workshop fee, due Wednesday, June 4. Registration for college credit should be completed no later than Friday, May 23.

Monday, June 23: “Approaches to classroom Management: Find What Works for You,” presented by Cook-Benjamin and Casey Piene, special education teaching specialist for Wichita public schools, will be in the nursing building at NCK Tech.

The workshop will share a variety of classroom management approaches.

Registration, including the $90 workshop fee, is due Wednesday, June 16.

Friday, June 27: “Problem-Based Learning and Technology: Connecting College and Career Readiness Standards,” presented by Dr. Kathy Dale, assistant professor of educational administration and counseling at FHSU; Maret Schrader, freshman language arts teacher at Seaman High School, Topeka; and Clayton Schrader, fourth-grade teacher at West Indianola Elementary, Topeka, will be in the nursing building at NCK Tech.

The workshop will look at the educational benefits of many technology platforms including iMovie, Garage Band, Audacity, Moodle, Schoology, Google Drive and Prezi.

Registration, including the $90 workshop fee, is due Friday, June 20.

Monday, July 7: “Google Drive in the Classroom,” presented by Dr. Robert Moody, associate professor of advance education programs at FHSU, will be in Rarick Hall, room 201, on the FHSU campus.

The workshop will offer an explanation and demonstration of the many uses for Google Drive. Participants will have many opportunities for hands-on learning.

Registration, including the $90 workshop fee, is due Monday, June 30.

Monday, July 21: “Google Chrome Apps: Benefits for Schools,” presented by Moody, will be in Rarick Hall, room 201.

The workshop will feature various free instructional apps that work well with CCRS and specific content areas.

Registration, including the $90 workshop fee, is due Monday, July 14.

Friday, July 25: “The ‘What’ and ‘How’ of ELL Strategies,” presented by Sherri Brantley, instructor of teacher education, will be in the nursing building at NCK Tech.

The workshop will equip participants to address the needs of English Language Learners through strategies for “how” to distinguish between second language acquisition levels and “what” instructional strategies are appropriate for each language level.

Registration, including the $90 workshop fee, is due Friday, July 18.

For more information or to enroll in the workshops, visit www.fhsu.edu/kcie/events.