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Funeral

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more culturally diverse. “Part of the idea is we’re not only teaching English, but we’re also reaching out and building bridges in the community,� said Joshua Spain, Plymouth’s language program coordinator. The English program at Plymouth was started five years ago by Shannon Gorres, a Kansas University graduate student who had a passion for reaching out and wanted to provide hospitality to people

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Wheat

of drought, a dramatic weather turnaround has brought snow and rain and bolstered prospects for a bumper wheat harvest. In southwest Kansas, where on a normal year only 18 inches of rain falls compared with the more than 30 inches in the east, such a turnaround is tougher. This area, Svoboda said, has dug itself so far into drought that it will have a hard time climbing out. All of western Kansas remains in an extreme to exceptional drought — the highest rankings issued by the U.S. Drought Monitor. The worst areas stretch across the Oklahoma Panhandle into Texas, as well as parts of Colorado and Nebraska. The effects of the extended dry spell have left definite scars on the southwest Kansas prairie. The wheat crop is vanishing with each day of no

rain. Pasture grasses continue to decline because of the lack of moisture. With little grass or feed, ranchers are culling deeper into their herds. “There were a few places that had rain this spring, but for the large part, the little lakes and ponds are dry,� he said. “The pastures are brown — the pastures look like August.� This year’s wheat harvest could be one of the worst harvests for the region in at least 25 years, said John Holman, a Kansas State University agriculture professor. Stevenson estimates his dryland crop at less than 10 bushels an acre. But this year he has had a double disaster, he said. Typically, he can count on his irrigated wheat crop to do well, and in the last two years, irrigated ground has bested 60 bushels an acre. This year he said he would be surprised if it made more than 18 bushels an acre after the multiple days of below-freezing temperatures in April. One night lingered in the teens with a wind chill of zero. “This year’s weather has totally wiped out most of my wheat,� he said. “But there’s nothing I could do about it. Nothing.�

lish classes, the congregation has been using the Spanish courses as part of Plymouth’s Hispanic Ministry — one of many services the church offers to the local immigrant population. “A lot of places will just focus on religion or just focus on education, but here we are here for all of those issues and we even have professional counselors,� said the Rev. Peter Luckey, senior pastor at Plymouth. Because of its efforts to expand its diversity, Plymouth received a $20,000 grant from the United Church of Christ to help pay for a part-time

pastor of Hispanic ministries. “They believe the worship and language all make for the strong possibility of a vibrant ministry focus and see it as an opportunity for Plymouth Church to be a multicultural congregation,� Luckey said. Community members interested in taking the classes can register and begin attending at any time. Classes are at 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at Plymouth Congregational Church. The suggested donation for 13 weeks of Spanish classes is $40. English classes are free.

This year’s weather has totally wiped out most of my wheat. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3A But there’s nothing with almost all his dryland I could do about it. and irrigated wheat fields Nothing.�

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liberal public policy advocate group. The crowd gathered at 3 p.m. at Plymouth Congregational Church, at 925 Vermont St., where the Rev. Josh Longbottom started the memorial service. “We use the liturgical rite of the funeral as a protest of recent actions by Kansas leadership and to the direction we are headed as a state,� Longbottom said. “If we continue down the path we are treading, it will surely put to death all we love about this great state.� Last year, Brownback signed into law cuts in state income tax rates and the elimination of state income taxes for the owners of partnerships, S corporations and limited liability companies. Brownback has said the cuts will spur the economy. The cuts also projected revenue shortfalls for years to come. This year, Brownback and conservative Republicans pushed through a $777 million tax increase that will boost the state sales tax and reduce itemized and standard deductions, while continuing to phase down

L AWRENCE J OURNAL -W ORLD

income tax rates. Bill Glover, president of the Kansas State University employees association who attended the event Saturday, said that, as a state employee, he has not received a pay raise in four years. Because of the potential cuts to the higher education budget, he thinks this trend will

continue. “We have to say, ‘enough is enough,’ no matter if you have a ‘R,’ ‘D,’ or ‘I’ in front of your name,� Glover said. “The way we’re headed, I don’t know why anybody would want to move to Kansas.� — Staff intern Nikki Wentling can be reached at 832-7196.

destroyed by drought and freeze. “My dad would always say it will rain when you really, really need it,� he said. “But I really, really needed a rain for a long, long time.� Droughts have come and gone in Kansas — especially in this seemingly arid southwestern corner of the state. In the 1930s, drought and winds created rolling walls of dust that spread across the Great Plains, causing nearly a quarter of southwest Kansas’ population to leave, according to the book “Rooted in Dust: Surviving Drought and Depression in Southwestern Kansas.� Now, the same area that was the epicenter of the Dirty Thirties is the heart of this 21st-century drought, said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska. This western swath of Kansas, in fact, is a far different picture than that of the eastern half of Kansas where, after two years

from other nations. (Gorres has since moved away from Lawrence.) The program began with only a few students in a single classroom. As word spread about the free English classes, so did the number of students showing up each week. Three years ago, the church decided to also host Spanish classes. For this year’s summer session, more than 80 English and Spanish students are registered. “Some students are young people who don’t want to pay. For the most part it’s middle-aged or old-aged people who want to learn something

new or are traveling,� Spain said. “It really runs the gamut.� The classes are taught by volunteers, but just because they aren’t paid doesn’t mean they aren’t knowledgeable. The volunteers include a mix of junior and high school teachers and members of the Spanish and Portuguese department at KU, as well as instructors certified in teaching English as a second language. Spanish student Debby Hadel has been taking the classes for more than two years and said part of the program’s appeal is that it isn’t a university atmosphere.

“It’s more conversation,� she said. “You learn the idioms, the slang, and sometimes they bring in people from different cultures.� For Rongish, what was most helpful was being able to meet people from the community, as well as the way the teachers cater to the students. For instance, she had a difficult time learning about driving laws in the U.S., and the teachers helped her by providing resources and answering questions. “I really appreciate what they’ve been doing for students and people,� Rongish said. In addition to the Eng-

Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo

PALLBEARERS CARRY Kansas’ casket from Plymouth Congregational Church to South Park during a mock funeral for the state on Saturday.

— Anthony Stevenson, southwest Kansas farmer

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