8A
Sunday, June 10, 2012 LEADER&TIMES
HAPPENINGS
NEWS
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on the high plains
CAPITOL PUNISHMENT
Sign up for Baker Arts’ children’s workshop ‘All Spaced Out’ In conjunction with the NASA Youth Art Competition art exhibit, the Baker Arts Center is offering the children’s workshop “All Spaced Out.” Young artists will be inspired to create their own “Space” themed works of art. A field trip to the air museum displays will further fuel their imaginations to design their own space ship paintings, galaxy mobiles and crazy constellations. Preschool ages 3 to 5 meets from 10:30 a.m. to noon June 12, 13, 14. Kindergarten to 6th grades meets from 10:30 a.m. to noon June 19, 20, 21.The center is located at 624 N. Pershing in Liberal. Cost is $15 for members and $20 for nonmembers. Call 624-2810.
SIGN UP NOW
Summer fun with K-State The Seward County K-State Research and Extension office is hosting Summer Fun Thursdays, starting with Latin American Food Day for $15 for ages 10 and up from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Ulysses and Build Your Own Pizza with Professor Popcorn for $5 on June 21 for ages 5 to 9 in the Seward County Ag Building. Kids need to be registered by June 16. Cost includes lunch. Other activities include: • June 28 – Fishing day at Arkalon for ages 7 and up from 8:30 to noon.The cost is $5. Participants need to bring a snack lunch, hat, water bottle and sunscreen. RSVP by June 21. • July 5 – Photography day for ages 8 and up from 9 to 11 a.m.The cost is $3. Participants need to bring a camera. RSVP by June 28. • July 12 – Day camp at Meade Lake for ages 6 to 10 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.The cost is $15 and includes a hat, lunch and snack. Participants need to bring a hat, water bottle and sunscreen. RSVP by June 25. • July 19 – Air rifle and archery day for ages 8 and up from 9 to 11 a.m.The cost is $3. RSVP by July 14. • July 26 – Craft day for ages 9 to 12 from 9 to 11 a.m.The cost is $4 and includes a craft and snack. RSVP by July 19. All participants need to meet at the Extension office at the north end of the fairgrounds at 1081 Stadium Road in Liberal for all activities.All activities are available on a first come, first serve basis. Participation forms must be filled out for a child to take part in these activities.This form is available at the Extension office at 1081 Stadium Road in Liberal or online at www.seward.ksu.edu. For more information, call 624-5604 or e-mail sw@listserv.ksu.edu. Come join the fun on Thursdays this summer with these awesome activities.
THURSDAYS IN JUNE AND JULY
College seeking public’s comments Seward County Community College/Area Technical School is seeking comments from the public about the college in preparation for its periodic evaluation by its regional accrediting agency. The college will host a visit Sept. 24-25, with a team representing the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. SCCC/ATS has been accredited by the commission since 1975.The team will review the institution’s ongoing ability to meet the Commissions Criteria for Accreditation. The public is invited to submit comments regarding the college by writing the Higher Learning Commission, 230 South LaSalle Street, Suite 7-500 Chicago, IL 60604-1411.The public may also submit comments on the commission’s Web site at http://www.ncahlc.org/Information-for-the-Public/third-partycomment.html. Comments must address substantive matters related to the quality of the institution or its academic programs. Comments must be in writing. All comments must be received by Aug. 27.
GET INVOLVED
Taking fall classes? Sign up for All Saints Day Prospective students who are interested in attending Seward County Community College/Area Technical School in the fall need to sign up to attend an All Saints Days. Individuals can meet with SCCC/ATS staff, enroll in classes and meet future classmates. All Saints Days are scheduled June 21, July 10, July 29, July 26 and Aug. 7 Register at allsaintsdays.com. Make sure you have submitted an application for admission before signing up for an All Saints Days. For information, call 620-417-1100.
NEXT ONE IS JUNE 21
Good Sam seeking donations of yard sale items for fundraiser The Liberal Good Samaritan will be having a yard sale starting at 8 a.m. Saturday to raise funds for their much needed whirlpools.The public is invited to donate their unwanted items to the sale. Items may be dropped off from 8 a.m. til 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the center located at 2160 Zinnia Lane.
DONATE ITEMS NOW
Since the Kansas Legislature could not decide on how to redistrict Kansas, the Federal Court stepped in and created maps that gave no consideration to the location of current legislators. The result ...
48 25
New House districts with at least 2 incumbents. New House districts with no representative at all.
4 4
New Senate districts with 2 incumbents. New Senate districts with no senator at all. L&T graphic/Earl Watt
Senate ... ❖ Continued from Page 1A Four Senate districts will have two incumbents, and four districts have no senator. And the new lines gave no clear advantage to the moderates or conservatives. “I haven’t heard anyone say this helps one or another,” Love said. Love said the House saw similar issues where 48 districts now have two incumbents and 25 new legislative districts were created with no representative at all. “The courts didn’t give any regard where sitting legislators lived,” Love said. “That has caused some problems. I don’t know if that will serve people well.”
With the map being released late Thursday night, and an impending filing deadline of Monday, current office holders, and perhaps some that have never thought about running because they had adequate representation, will now have to decide whether or not to seek office. “It will come down to finding good people for those open seats,” Love said. “Twenty nine districts that have no one in them — no incumbent legislator. That’s unheard of.” Other changes to the Senate may come due to the forced contests in the House. According to Love, some legislators may relocate, or opt to run for the Senate instead. “There’s been a lot of conversations in the past 12 to 18 hours of people possibly, if they are going to run, moving, or running for a different office,” he said. “Rather
House ... ❖ Continued from Page 1A compromise, according to O’Neal. “From the House side, we didn’t turn it over to the courts voluntarily,” he said. “It was inevitable that the Senate and Congressional districts would end up there. There were not enough votes on the Senate side to get anything done. There were sufficient votes to get the House map done. We are suffering the consequences of a failure to sit down and agree. The House was willing to sit down and work this out. The governor offered to mediate. We had meetings on our concerns and what it would take to fix it. The Senate would just go the opposite direction. They were not willing to compromise. This is the consequence. If they thought they would get a better shake in the court, this is a lesson.” If anything, the court went completely nonpolitical in drawing the new maps, and in doing so effected almost half of the seats in the Kansas House of Representatives. As for the 125th District, which includes most of Seward County, it remained in tact.
than taking on an incumbent house member, some might go for the Senate. You have four senate seats without a sitting senator. I’m sure you will see House members making a run for the Senate.” But Love said the House and Senate had a chance to put together maps that would have been more acceptable, but the failure to compromise led to the current map that is unlikely to be challenged and will be the law of the land for 10 years. “We don’t like these maps,” Love said. “At the end of the day, it is the Legislature’s fault. We could have compromised. We could have found a map that could have had the support it needed through compromise. The process frustrated people, and they hardened up. Some wouldn’t budge, and they are the ones who ended up hurt the most.”
But the courts may have wanted to send a message to future Kansas Legislatures that if they cannot agree on a map, the courts will not take current lawmakers or partisan attachments into consideration. “I would concede the court doesn’t have the same requirements or guidelines,” O’Neal said. “The court went out of its way to point that out to us. They followed almost none of the guidelines. They were not the least bit interested in incumbents. When legislature fails, the court decides.” While O’Neal has made it clear that he is not seeking re-election, he still has a tough task in making sure there are candidates in each of the 25 open districts, and to see what those in the contested districts intentions are. In some cases, three incumbents are now in the same district. “I can’t be specific, but I know a number of individuals over the weekend are weighing their options,” O’Neal said. “They are wondering if this important enough to uproot and move. I guess the thing I would say is it is hard to recruit good people to do this work. When you have someone who made their decision to run and got elected in a freshmen class of 30, to suddenly have the court redraw the lines, and now decide to give it up or move is unfortunate. It’s not like
While the court could have rewritten Western Kansas, Love was glad that the original map passed by the Senate was also rejected and hopes that the Legislature can focus on the real work ahead. “Obviously redistricting is an important issue,” Love said. “What’s more frustrating to me is there are other things more important — growing the state, better business environment, strengthening our schools. I’m still very pleased we were able to change the conversation. No maps collapsed a western Kansas seat. We effectively changed the tone of that conversation and protected Western Kansas. It was very helpful in not having attorneys or a lawsuit advocating for that. We protected rural representation and Western Kansas. That was victory, in spite of the big mess.”
people are in line wanting this job. It’s a tough job, and the further away from the capital, the harder it is to recruit. Court is giving us less than 72 hours to make decisions.” O’Neal will spend the weekend trying to make sure that candidates are ready to register in every district, but there could be a chance that the filing deadline passes and some districts remain vacant. “We are scrambling to make sure we have candidates in every district,” he said. “If a district remains open, we resort to rules on write-ins. If it is truly a new district with no incumbent, it is not an appointment. You don’t have a party in power.” While the House overwhelmingly passed its version of a redistricting map, the Senate President Steve Morris (R-Hugoton) would not allow for a vote without including his Senate map, but in the end, that may mean more challenges for Senate seats. “The Senate held the map hostage trying to get a gerrymandered senate map passed,” O’Neal said. “It was totally unnecessary to look at fundamental changes in the House. House members have to make decisions — run against a colleague or in the Senate district. There will be quite a few more House vs. Senate matchups than what we were looking at.”