The Scott County Record

Home of El Cuartelejo

30 Pages • Four Sections Look Inside

Sports SCHS softball is ready to build on last year’s success Page 17 State Legislature wrestles with how to distribute money for pay raises Page 2

Volume 24 • Number 33

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Published in Scott City, Ks.

$1 single copy

Burn ban into effect in Scott County In the aftermath of major fires that swept through Lane County and across south-central Kansas, Scott County Commissioners have passed a resolution calling for an immediate burn ban.

The last time the county issued a similar ban was in July of 2008.

In addition, Lake Scott State Park is enforcing a complete ban on open fires and traffic is prohib-

ited on the trail leading to Battle Canyon Historic Site.

The county ban prohibits any agricultural open burning because of extremely dry conditions. The ban will remain in effect indefinitely, according to Commission Chairman Jim Minnix.

“Until we get some rainfall, conditions are too dangerous.

When that changes, we will notify the public,” he says.

The Scott City and Scott County fire chiefs are designated to determine if conditions change enough to allow burning in rural parts of the county.

Even under less risky conditions, anyone planning a controlled burn or similar activity in the county must first notify the

Scott County Law Enforcement Center (872-2133) before the operation begins. They are required to provide the dispatcher with the proposed burn location, estimated burn time and who is responsible for the burn.

Likewise, the LEC must also be notified when the burn is extinguished.

(See BURN on page eight)

master farmer and homemaker

Community Area volunteers are wrapping up Firefighter I training Page 23

gaining a new perspective

Index

Opinions...................4-7 Calendar...................... 7 Youth/education.......... 9 Deaths....................... 10 Church services......... 10 LEC report................. 12 Legals...................12-13 Health care...........14-15 Sports...................17-22 Farm section.........24-25

Education Bad is okay when SCHS one-act plays hit stage on Sunday Page 9 Health KanCare expansion clears House and goes to state Senate Page 14

406 Main, St. Scott City • 620-872-2090 www.scottcountyrecord.com

Agriculture Kansas wheat crop showing stress from statewide drought Page 24

Minnixes share a commitment of service to their community When you spend 24 months recovering from major burns over 70 percent of your body it gives you a lot of time to think.

“That changed my perspective on life,” says Jim Minnix.

The tragic event that nearly took his life when he was just 24-years-old gave Minnix an opportunity to appreciate the support of a community that aided his family through that difficult time and it fostered a desire to return that support.

Community involvement has been an important part of the

lives of Jim and Eilene Minnix for more than three decades through their church, 4-H, the Scott Community Foundation and other organizations.

The desire to give back contributed to the couple being selected to the 90th class of Master Farmers/Homemakers by Kansas State University Extension.

Minnix was involved in a neardeath experience while working for a glass company in Manhattan.

While attending graduate school at Kansas State University, Minnix (See SERVICE on page eight)

406 Main, St. Scott City • 620-872-2090 www.scottcountyrecord.com

406 Main, St. Scott City • 620-872-2090 www.scottcountyrecord.com

Kenneth Breitkreutz

Eilene Minnix is more than a homemaker

Kansas State University calls it the Master Homemaker Award.

But that hardly describes Eilene Minnix.

A veterinarian, she is also an active partner in the Minnix farming and livestock operation, serves as a board member of the William Carpenter 4-H Foundation, volunteers with the Scott County Fair and is active in her church.

“Growing up on our farm, my mother was more (See HOMEMAKER on page eight)

Sign-up begins for Wichita Co. WCA Applications haven’t been flooding the Kansas Division of Water Resources, but interest continues to grow in establishing a Water Conservation Area in Wichita County.

Eight water rights owners have made application to enroll in the WCA and those applications are in various stages of being finalized.

While the number of applications appears small, Mike Myers, area water commissioner with

the Kansas Department of Water Resources (DWR) puts it into perspective.

“Once the eight applications are approved that would be a pretty significant increase from the five we currently have statewide,” he points out. “That alone makes this a success.”

However, he also emphasizes that the more participants, the more effective the program can be in prolonging the life of the Ogallala Aquifer in Wichita

County.

“To reap the benefit and reach the goals that everyone is hoping for, we need participation,” Myers says.

Interest in the program has been evident by the large number of landowners and water rights holders in attendance at public meetings and who attended workshops. During a two-day signup/information session held in December, DWR staff worked with 50-60 water rights holders

406 Main, St. Scott City • 620-872-2090 www.scottcountyrecord.com

Deaths

Jim and Eilene Minnix have been named a Master Farmer and Homemaker by Kansas State University Extension.

406 Main, St. Scott City • 620-872-2090 www.scottcountyrecord.com

Ham Giveaway.......... 30

406 Main, St. Scott City • 620-872-2090 www.scottcountyrecord.com

Classified ads.......27-29

in calculating the impact of the proposed 29 percent reduction in irrigation pumping during the first seven years of the program.

Those water rights owners represented 139 of the 546 actively pumping wells in Wichita County.

In addition to meeting with DWR staff in Leoti, a number of landowners also visited the DWR office in Garden City.

Organizers of the WCA held a final meeting on March 9 which (See WCA on page two)

The Scott County Record • Page 2 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Legislature debates state worker pay raises Judiciary not likely to get $20M request for salary increases Senators dove deeper into the topic of state employee raises earlier this week, even as some warned harsh fiscal realities make higher compensation a challenging prospect.

Multiple members of the Senate budget committee voiced support for boosting the pay of workers who haven’t seen increases in years, but some hesitated amid uncertainty about where the money would come from.

“I think they deserve a pay raise,” Sen. Dan Kerschen said, “but if we don’t have the money,

WCA

I don’t know where we’re going to get it” Kerschen (R-Garden Plain) was referring to an anticipated third day of discussion on the matter as the Ways and Means Committee tackles budget matters for fiscal 2018 and 2019.

Sen. Carolyn McGinn (R-Sedgwick), who chairs the panel, hopes to pass a judiciary budget bill out of committee Wednesday or Thursday.

On Monday, she proposed rethinking a potential $20 million that the judiciary wants for staff raises, suggesting the Legislature spread the money among the broader state workforce instead. The panel agreed, amending the bill.

“We haven’t addressed them for 10 years,” McGinn said

(continued from page one)

gave interested parties another opportunity to ask questions and determine how water reductions will affect their operation. It also provided an opportunity to discuss technology and management techniques and, if interested, get assistance from DWR staff in filling out applications.

One application was processed and approved in as little as two days, says Myers. Others are taking longer as all the necessary signatures are collected.

“Some of the (landowners) aren’t in Wichita County,” Myers notes. “If there aren’t any conflicts with water rights ownership and if we get all the required signatures it can move along pretty quickly.”

Program Flexibility Each participant enters into their own agreement with the DWR. While the 29 percent reduction affects each operation differently, all participants are bound by the same guidelines.

“I think the process has come a long way over the last three months since this was first introduced,” says Frank Mercurio, the director of KLA Environmental Services based in Scott City and a member of the 11-member committee which formulated the WCA guidelines.

Meetings with water rights holders and their input have been important in arriving at the current plan. That input was especially valuable in terms of building flexibility into a conservation program that producers will find more workable.

One of the key ingredients was a two-year allocation of water in the first year.

The program has always allowed producers to “bank” water they don’t use, so it can be used in subsequent years.

However, without a double allocation in the first year, some producers felt they could be at risk if their initial year in the program was unusually dry.

That doesn’t increase their allocation of water over the first seven years of the plan, but is essentially an early deposit in their water bank account.

While the WCA organizers would like to see

water rights holders enroll as soon as possible, October 1 is the final date that rights can sign up and still have it count towards 2017.

“I believe some producers are wanting to take the plan for a test drive,” notes Mercurio.

“They intend to follow the guidelines as if they have signed up to see how it affects their operation.

If all goes well, I look for them to come into the program before October 1.”

Those who elect to come into the program after October 1 will need to cut water usage by more than 29 percent prior to the end of the first seven-year segment that extends from 2017-2023.

For example, if someone waits until 2018 to enroll, they will need to reduce irrigation pumping by 30 percent for the remaining six years in the initial sign-up period.

Water reduction targets increase to 36 percent in 2024; 43 percent in 2031; and are capped at 50 percent starting in 2038.

Mercurio says that while some producers have been hesitant to commit to the WCA, he hasn’t heard any complaints about the reduction goals being “too severe.”

“Most of the comments I hear are from people who worry about what will happen if they sign up and their neighbor doesn’t,” he says. “They feel like they’ll be making a sacrifice while their neighbor continues pumping water from under their ground.”

At the same time, Myers says more producers appear to be leaning toward accepting the conservation goals once they see the impact on their operation.

“I haven’t had anyone tell me, ‘I can’t make this work,’” he says. “Once they see the numbers and that it’s workable for their operation, they are more motivated to take the next step.”

Those advocating for the WCA realize that change is difficult, even when producers know the consequences if they do nothing.

“It takes courage to take this next step,” Mercurio adds. “Once people see that it’s working for their neighbors and others in the county, hopefully more will soon follow.”

of state employee raises, “and ended in 2007, and before that, I think it’s a shame that we hadn’t occurred since 2001.

Additionally, the Legislature haven’t.” hasn’t boosted the pay scale since a 2.5 percent bump to the State Worker Pay Civil service employees who base in 2009.

There are exceptions to this, meet expectations traditionally might see two main types of such as market-based increases increases to their paychecks. for some jobs in 2009, 2010 and One comes from allowing them 2011, $250 bonuses in 2014 and to move a step along the state’s financial incentives for employees willing to give up civil serpay scales.

In the past, this constituted vice status. According to Gov. a potential annual 2.5 percent Sam Brownback’s office, other increase, according to a brief- adjustments include raises for ing on the topic prepared for the Kansas Highway Patrol troop2017 legislative session. The ers in fiscal 2014 and 2017 other type happens when the and for corrections officers and Legislature approves general some state hospital workers in fiscal 2017. salary raises.

McGinn’s proposal would Historical data from the Kansas Legislative Research mean two percent raises for Department indicate steps most state employees, exclud-

Area Upcoming Events March 24

Hoedown dinner/concert

Bellwether Barn

March 25

RFL Meal Mania

Heartland Foods

April 1

Diamonds and Champagne The Majestic

April 8

Easter egg hunt

Patton Park

April 15

Easter egg hunt

Palmer Park

April 17-21 Spring clean-up May 16

SCES boat regatta

City Pool

June 3

Bluegrass concert/BBQ

Patton Park

Movie in the Park

Patton Park

June 10

Scott City Stars swim meet City Pool

June 23

Movie in the Park

Patton Park

June 24

Relay for Life

Patton Park

July 2

Pence Church social

Patton Park

July 7

Movie in the Park

Patton Park

ing highway troopers because of their recent pay adjustments.

A second option presented by Sen. Laura Kelly (D-Topeka) would offer 6.5 percent for classified staff - those within the civil service system - and 1.5 percent for others. Kelly said this is because classified staff missed out on opportunities for increases that were open to their unclassified counterparts.

“There are folks who chose to stay in a classified position or perhaps their position wasn’t eligible to be unclassified,” Kelly said.

Classified workers make up about 60 percent of the state’s workforce, a share that is shrinking because of incentives and legislation that are (See RAISES on page seven)

Community Living

The Scott County Record

Page 3 - Thursday, March 23, 2017

Enjoy savings on fruits, veggies now and later March is the month of many adventures. In Kansas, we get spring, winter and summer all within a few days.

But one of the best attributes is the fruits and vegetables that are coming into Carol Ann season.

Crouch Some of the Family and fruits we should Consumer Sciences begin seeing in stores that have Agent for Scott County some flavor to

them are apricots, bananas, honeydew melon, mangos, pineapples and strawberries.

Vegetables include broccoli, cabbage, green beans, lettuce, mushrooms, onions and leeks, peas, rhubarb and spinach.

This is also a great time to get these in-season fruits and vegetables at their best prices.

Enjoy them as much as you can while they are in season and fresh.

You might also consider preserving as much as you can in order to enjoy the savings

when they aren’t in season.

As many of us realize, we are quite spoiled by the amount of fruits and vegetables available all year round, compared to our choices when we were much younger. With new agriculture techniques and shipping options, we can now purchase summer fruits in December.

The problem is that they often don’t taste as good and we spend more for them.

Preserving fruits and vegetables for consumption later

Scott County Elevations Shallow Water 2,926 feet Scott City 2,969 feet Dry Lake 2,831 feet Modoc 3,136 feet Manning 2,920 feet Pence 3,133 feet

doesn’t have to be difficult.

The Extension office has many publications on preservation.

Copies are free and are also available online at http://www. rrc.k-state.edu/preservation/.

I also have a canning gauge tester and will be happy to test your gauge for free. It only

Alpha Omega to host district meeting Alpha Omega held its monthly business meeting on March 9 at the home of Barb Summers.

President Paige Vallejo called the meeting to order, followed by the opening rituals. Diana Burr presented a moment of meditation. Roll call was answered by, “What is

High Plains has program on Ukraine

Marvel Hopkins-Keyse hosted the March 16 meeting of High Plains Study Club with Jean Hardy the co-hostess.

Roll call was answered by 18 women telling of their “perfect day.”

A devotion on “Spring, a Time of New Beginnings” was given by Hardy.

The community affairs report was given by Dorothy Spitzer on economic development in Scott City.

The program was presented by Anya Kasselman on the Ukraine. Anya grew up in the Ukraine under communist rule and still has family living there.

Her program was heartfelt and informative.

Next meeting will be a field trip on April 6 to Heartland Mills, The Country Oven, and the Modoc City Hall.

Joy Cole will be hostess.

your favorite movie?” Ten members were present.

Minutes were read

by Secretary Stephani Hughes.

A new slate of officers was presented for 201718.

Alpha Omega will be hosting the District G meeting in Scott City on March 25. Kristi Conine

Cherry Supreme Salad

Prep time: 15 minutes Ingredients 1 (3 oz.) pkg.

1 cup 1 (21 oz.) can 1 (3 oz.) pkg.

3/4 cup 1/4 cup 1 (3 oz.) pkg.

1/3 cup 1 (8 oz.) can 2 cups 1/2 cup 1/2 cup

Monday-Friday March 27 - 31

gave the educational on her job as a dispatcher at the Scott County Law Enforcement Center.

The meeting was adjourned by reciting the closing rituals.

Dessert was served by Summers and co-hostess Kristi Conine. Next business meeting will be held April 13.

Recipe favorites . . .

Ready in: 3 hours

strawberry flavored gelatin mix boiling water cherry pie filling lemon flavored gelatin mix boiling water lemon juice cream cheese mayonnaise crushed pineapple, undrained miniature marshmallows whipped cream chopped walnuts

takes a few minutes to know if your gauge is off and how to make adjustments.

This is important to know because if you over-process, your product will not be as good and if you under-process, you have the potential for botulism. Stop by our office for your free “Preserve It Fresh” publication.

To help with canning, know what your elevation is. The higher your elevation the longer you need to process your recipes.

in Scott City Majestic Theatre 420 Main • 872-3840

Lunch Tuesday-Friday • 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Evenings Thursday-Saturday • 5:30-10:00 p.m.

Tuesday Open-faced prime rib sandwich with french fries $11.95 Wednesday Spaghetti dinner with side salad

$7.95

Thursday Chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy $7.95 Friday Fish and chips

No Membership Required

Directions Dissolve the strawberry gelatin in 1 cup of boiling water. Stir in the cherry pie filling, then spread the mixture into a 7x11 inch pan, and refrigerate until nearly set, about 45 minutes.

Dissolve the lemon gelatin in 3/4 cup boiling water; stir in the lemon juice, and set aside. Mash the cream cheese in a separate bowl until soft, then stir in the mayonnaise. Pour the lemon gelatin into the cream cheese mixture and stir until smooth. Next, stir in the undrained pineapple.

Finally, fold in the marshmallows and whipped cream.

Spread the pineapple mixture over the chilled cherry layer, and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

Chill in the refrigerator until fully set, about 2 hours.

1211 Main • 872-3215

5Buck Lunch

• Chili Cheese Dog • Deluxe Cheeseburger • 3 Piece Chicken Strips

Includes Fries, 21 oz. Drink and Small Sundae

Try all 4 Flavors!

1720 S. Main Scott City 872-5767

Yield: 1 - 7x11 inch salad

The Broiler 102 Main Street • 872-5055

Monday - Steak and Velveeta on a hoagie bun $6.00 Tuesday - Tacos Funny Tacos

1304 S. Main • 872-5301

6

$

49

Full Buffet

99¢ $1.50

Wednesday - 2 pc. chicken dinner, includes potato and vegetables $6.25 Thursday - 4 oz. chicken fry dinner, includes potato and vegetables $6.25 Friday - Fish and chips

$6.25

Saturday - Ham and two eggs

$7.95

Sunday Buffet 10:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

1502 S. Main 872-7288

The Scott County Record

Editorial/Opinion

Page 4 - Thursday, March 23, 2017

editorially speaking

Coal power:

Sunflower’s big victory is owed to Gov. Parkinson

After a very long legal battle, Sunflower has finally been given the green light by the Kansas Supreme Court to build a coal plant near Holcomb.

Perhaps we’ll soon get word that buggy whips are making a comeback, along with eight-track tape players.

This prolonged legal fight has involved the electric utility, the Sierra Club, the EPA, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the executive branch of our state government over whether or not the coal plant would comply with federal air quality standards.

Sunflower says it can now meet those standards and apparently the court agrees.

For some, this is seen as a long-awaited victory.

The real victory came late in the administration of former Gov. Mark Parkinson. In 2009, he reached an agreement with Sunflower to reduce the size of its proposed Holcomb plant and to generate 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.

While it was felt, at the time, that Parkinson had sold out to the coal industry, it proved to be a very astute move politically, environmentally and economically.

The former government was effective in limiting the carbon footprint of the coal plant and in pushing his desire to expand renewable energy in the state.

And, as difficult as it may be for Republicans and Sunflower to admit, the delay was probably a blessing for the utility’s stockholders and ratepayers.

Forget the fantasy of “clean coal.”

The fact is that natural gas is a cheaper and cleaner burning fuel. Had construction begun on the Holcomb plant 8-10 years ago, ratepayers would have been stuck with retiring the debt on a white elephant.

Maybe a coal plant made some sense 10 or 20 years ago. That is no longer true today with an abundant supply of cheap natural gas.

Sunflower is a big winner. Perhaps the company should send a “thank you” card to former Gov. Parkinson.

Insanity:

No reason to allow guns at mental health hospitals

Republicans frequently like to cite what they consider to be examples of government regulation gone amuck. Kansas lawmakers wailed about an overreaching federal government with WOTUS (Waters of the U.S.) regulations and with efforts to protect the prairie chicken.

But, heaven forbid they should see the impact of nonsensical laws they pass and the exorbitant cost that could be imposed on taxpayers. Any shred of rational thinking disappears when legislation concerns guns.

On July 1, state law will allow students and faculty to carry guns on the campuses of Kansas colleges and universities. More than 80 percent of faculty and staff across the state are opposed to the law, but to no avail.

The only way to prevent guns in buildings is for universities to have guards posted at the entrances and to have metal detectors. One community college put that price tag at $20 million, which doesn’t begin to compare with what it would cost at much larger universities.

Despite the protests of university officials, the legislature has refused to budge because, after all, we’re talking about guns and the Second Amendment supersedes everything else.

And while the level of legislative “overreach” is obvious in forcing an unwanted law upon those being regulated, there’s another provision within the law which rises to the level of absurdity. The law also allows guns at mental health hospitals in Larned and Osawatomie.

Again, if the hospitals want to prohibit guns they will need to hire guards and install metal detectors at the entrances to all buildings at an estimated cost of $25 million for both.

If the EPA had proposed some regulation that would have imposed a similar hardship on each Kansas farm, our legislators would have had a collective seizure. Attorney General Derek Schmidt would have filed a lawsuit.

But when a foolish law is passed under the guise of protecting our Second Amendment rights and with the full weight of the NRA behind it, common sense leaves the building while lawmakers cower in their legislative chambers and sheepishly cast their votes.

This isn’t a battle we should even be fighting.

Allowing guns on college campuses is risky enough.

Using the Second Amendment as justification to allow guns in mental health institutions is . . . shall we say, insane. If Kansas lawmakers can’t see that, then perhaps they should at least increase the funding for more beds at both facilities because there are more than a few people in Topeka who need to be admitted.

Life is too easy for the poor

We learned this past week that when it comes to making America great again, not all Americans get to share in that greatness.

And we should be grateful it’s that way.

Big government has made us soft. We’ve come to expect too much from government - except when it comes to bullets and bombs and then we should expect much more.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan reminded us that Republicans in Congress are “doing an act of mercy” by repealing Obamacare and replacing it with a plan that, over the next 10 years, will result in 24 million fewer Americans having health insurance coverage.

That’s 24 million people who will be thankful they learned that health care is really a luxury, not a necessity. That’s millions of people who will be grateful Republicans taught them to plan ahead and hold hamburger feeds or garage sales in order to raise the money needed for a heart bypass or cancer treatment.

Rod Haxton, editor

Democrats would like you to think you are entitled to health care. It takes a merciful Republican Party to teach us that if you can’t afford health care you probably didn’t need it in the first place.

And, given the growing rates of obesity and diabetes in this nation, maybe this whole food thing is just a little exaggerated.

The value of afterschool programs which include meals, as well as free and reduced-price lunch programs for those families who qualify, are overrated and a waste of tax dollars. The proposed federal budget recently unveiled by the Trump Administration eliminates spending for those programs.

Budget chief Mick Mulvaney is convinced that bleeding heart liberals have been manipulated by youngsters with growling bellies. By being so

naive as to think a hungry child really needs food, we have helped to set the stage for future government dependence on things like child labor laws, workplace safety requirements, the minimum wage and Social Security.

In defending cuts to programs that provide food for poor kids, Mulvaney explained, “They’re supposed to help kids who don’t get fed at home get fed so they can do better in school. Guess what? There’s no demonstrable evidence they’re actually doing that.”

After hearing that, it should anger all liberals to imagine how long these young kids have been playing us for suckers.

Oh, but it’s not just young kids we should be angry with. Our parents and grandparents are just as guilty.

The Trump budget will eliminate funding for Meals on Wheels because the elderly, the sick and the homebound have been learning from their grade school counterparts and decided they are also enti-

tled to at least one free meal every day.

Once again, Mulvaney pulled back the curtain on this hoax and said that while Meals on Wheels “sounds great” it’s unfair to expect taxpayers to continue supporting a program which has no proven effect.

That’s right. There’s not one university study, not one federal government report that says eating a warm meal at least once a day helps an elderly person to do anything but continue to be a burden on our Social Security system.

In fact, Mulvaney borrowed a line from Congressman Ryan by declaring the decision to eliminate Meals on Wheels “one of the most compassionate things we can do.”

Who said compassionate conservatism had left the White House with Bush 43?

Perhaps the most troubling thing about the proposed Trump budget is that it’s shattering our trust in the innocence of (See POOR on page six)

A nation finds itself ‘under water’

Are you or a loved one having trouble staying afloat? You’re truly not alone.

While the media reports low unemployment and a rising stock market, the reality is that almost 20 percent of the country lives in “Underwater Nation,” with zero or even negative net worth. And more still have almost no cash reverses to get them through hard times.

This is a source of enormous stress for many low and middle-income families.

Savings and wealth are vital life preservers for people faced with job loss, illness, divorce, or even car trouble. Yet an estimated 15 to 20 percent of families have no savings at all, or owe more than they own.

They’re disproportionately rural, female, rent-

Where to Write

another view by Chuck Collins

ers, and people without a college degree. But the underwater ranks also include a large number of people who appear to be in the stable middle class. Health challenges are a major cause of savings depletion for these people, both in medical bills and lost wages.

Plenty more Americans could be vulnerable.

A financial planner will advise you to put aside three months of living expenses in financial reserves, just in case. So if your living expenses are $2,000 a month, you should try to have $6,000 in “liquidity” - money you can easily get to in an emergency.

But 44 percent of households don’t have

Gov. Sam Brownback 2nd Floor - State Capitol Topeka, Ks. 66612-1501 (785) 296-3232

enough funds to tide themselves over for three months, according to the Assets and Opportunity Scorecard.

Even having a positive net worth doesn’t mean you can always tap these funds, especially if wealth takes the form of home equity or owning a car.

A Bankrate survey found that 63 percent of U.S. households lack the cash or savings to meet a $1,000 emergency expense. They’d have to borrow from a friend or family, or put costs on a credit card.

Seven percent of U.S. homeowners are underwater homeowners, with mortgage debt higher than the value of their homes.

And more and more people have taken on credit card debt to pay the bills.

Meanwhile, student debt is rising rapidly and is

Sen. Pat Roberts 109 Hart Senate Office Bldg.

Washington, D.C. 20510 (202) 224-4774 roberts.senate.gov/email.htm

projected to become one of the biggest factors in negative wealth.

Conservative scolds will blame individuals for “living beyond their means” and being financially irresponsible. And individual behavior is important.

But the financial stresses facing millions of families are more likely the result of four decades of stagnant incomes.

Half the workers in this country haven’t shared in the economic gains that have mostly gone to the rich. Their real wages have stayed flat while health care, housing, and other expenses continue to rise.

So not everyone is on the edge at this time of dizzying inequality, after all. The 400 wealthiest billionaires in the U.S. have as much wealth together (See NATION on page six)

Sen. Jerry Moran 141 Hart Senate Office Bldg.

Washington, D.C. 20510 (202) 224-6521 www.moran.senate.gov/public/

The Scott County Record • Page 5 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

GOP health plan would add to opioid crisis States supporting Trump would be hardest hit

by Domenica Ghanem

“We will give people struggling with addiction access to the help they need,” Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail in 2016.

We’re in the midst of the worst opioid epidemic our country has seen. More people died last year from opioid overdoses than ever before - 33,000.

Opioid abuse now kills more people nationwide than car accidents or gun deaths.

The problem runs most rampant in America’s heartland in states like Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. Ohio alone, which gave key electoral votes

to Trump, has three of the top 10 cities with the worst overdose rates in the country, with Dayton coming in at number one.

So why is Trump supporting a health care bill that experts have said will only make our opioid problem worse?

Specifically, the GOP’s Obamacare replacement would eliminate the law’s requirement that Medicaid cover basic mental health and addiction services. This expansion currently covers half the cost of Ohio’s medication-assisted addiction treatment. All in all, 1.3 million Americans get treatment under it.

Studies have shown that a major cause of the opioid problem is patients becoming addicted to the painkillers their doctors prescribe. Even Trump

seems to understand this.

“We prescribe opioids like Oxycontin freely,” Trump said in October 2016. “But when patients become addicted to those drugs, we stop doctors from giving patients the treatments they medically need.”

And yet, that’s exactly the problem the new GOP health care bill perpetuates.

The bill would allow insurance companies to turn away drug users, causing patients to lose affordable access to lifesaving treatments like Suboxone, Emily Kaltenbach of the Drug Policy Alliance told Vice.

The new health care plan would also make doctors more likely to prescribe opioids for chronic pain, Northeastern University law and health professor Leo Beletsky says, because their patients won’t be

insured for alternative treatment options like physical therapy.

Republican senators from Ohio, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Colorado recently released a statement saying they wouldn’t support any “poorly implemented or poorly timed” change in “access to life-saving

health care services.”

But Trump is pushing for it anyway.

On the campaign trail, Trump also promised his rural and Appalachian supporters that he would fight for harsher sentencing for drug dealers. But piles (See OPIOID on page six)

Will FBI’s trail lead to Russia?

by Eugene Robinson

Workers are missing from jobs panel

by Jim Hightower

By golly, The Donald delivers.

Trump and his new blue-ribbon panel of working-class champions have announced a bold new initiative to create millions of American jobs. A spokesman for the panel, Steve Schwarzman, praised Trump as a leader who wants to “do things a lot better in our country, for all Americans.”

Wait a minute.

Steve Schwarzman? Isn’t he a billionaire hedge-fund huckster on Wall Street?

Yes, and holy money bags, there’s Jamie Dimon, head of the scandalridden bank JPMorgan Chase.

Working-class champions?

Hardly.

Trump’s whole “jobs” panel, it

turns out, is made up of Wall Street banksters and corporate powers like Wal-Mart that are notorious for laying off and ripping off workers.

Trump-the-candidate fulminated against such moneyed elites, calling them “responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class.” But now, in a spectacular flip-flop, he’s brought these robbers directly inside his presidency, asking them to be architects of his economic strategy.

Worse, he’s doing this in the name of helping workers.

Hello! To develop policies beneficial to working stiffs, bring in some working stiffs! But there’s not a single labor advocate on his policy council, in his cabinet, or anywhere near his White House.

Thus, the so-called “job-creation plan” announced by Trump and his corporate cohorts doesn’t create any jobs, but calls instead for de-regulating Wall Street.

These flim-flammers actually want us rubes to believe that “freeing” banksters to return to casino-style speculation and consumer scams will give them more money to invest in American jobs.

Do they think we have sucker wrappers around our heads?

Trump’s scheme will let banks make a killing, but it doesn’t require them to invest in jobs - so they won’t.

There’s a name for this: fraud.

Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker and author

What next from Capt. Obvious?

Our president is getting educated while on the job

Seeking and winning the presidency has been a magical voyage of discovery for Donald Trump.

On Tuesday night, he divulged a most remarkable finding: Abraham Lincoln was - are you sitting down for this? - a Republican.

“Most people don’t even know he was a Republican,” Trump told a group of Republicans. “Right? Does anyone know? A lot of people don’t know that.”

It’s possible that somebody doesn’t know that Lincoln, the first Republican president, was a member of the Republican Party, also known as “the Party of Lincoln.”

But it has not been for lack of effort on Trump’s part. He has repeatedly tried to educate the populace on this

behind the headlines

by Dana Milbank

little-known fact.

August 2016: “Most people don’t know this. The Republican Party is . . . the party of Abraham Lincoln.”

September 2016: “A lot of people don’t realize that Abraham Lincoln, the great Abraham Lincoln, was a Republican.”

Beyond this Lincoln revelation, Trump has happened upon many other things that people didn’t know.

Such as the complexity of health care: “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated,” he said recently.

And the existence of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who died in 1895: “Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.”

Later, touring the new African American history museum in Washington, Trump discovered that slavery was bad. Spying a stone auction block, Trump said, according to Alveda King, a part of his entourage: “Boy, that is just not good.

That is not good.” King also told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that upon seeing shackles for children, Trump remarked: “That is really bad. That is really bad.”

Who knew?

Trump’s discoveries of seemingly obvious things raise two possibilities: 1) He thinks people are awfully stupid, or 2) he is discovering for himself things the rest of us already knew. Which is true? Nobody knows. But we do know that there are many other things Trump thinks people don’t know about.

Sunday school: “I talk about Sunday school and people don’t even know what I’m talking about (See OBVIOUS on page six)

The FBI is investigating whether persons involved with President Trump’s campaign collaborated with Russian officials to help Trump win the election.

Let that sink in for a moment. Then take a deep breath, exhale and try to imagine where this might lead.

The intelliFBI Director James B. gence community Comey confirmed Monday has reached the what we suspected: an conclusion that active probe of Russia’s the Russian govelection meddling, which ernment actively includes “investigating the tried to meddle nature of any links between in the election individuals associated with initially, perhaps, the Trump campaign and to weaken conthe Russian government, fidence in our and whether there was political process, any coordination between but later to boost the campaign and Russia’s Trump’s chances of winning. efforts.”

Hours earlier, Trump had fired up his Twitter account in a vain attempt to make the whole thing go away. He began his tweet by saying, “The Democrats made up and pushed the Russian story as an excuse for running a terrible campaign.”

That was a lie, perhaps designed to reassure the president’s loyal supporters, perhaps to salve his own bruised ego.

“The Democrats” didn’t make up anything.

The intelligence community has reached the conclusion that the Russian government actively tried to meddle in the election - initially, perhaps, to weaken confidence in our political process, but later to boost Trump’s chances of winning.

To this end, according to the intelligence assessment, the Russians hacked into the Internet communications of prominent Democrats and party institutions - including the Democratic National Committee - and orchestrated a series of leaks timed to do maximum political damage to Hillary Clinton.

It is bad enough to have to wonder whether Trump’s narrow margin of victory might have resulted from a boost provided by Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is much worse to think that anyone connected with the Trump campaign might have known about this interference by an adversarial foreign power and failed to sound the alarm - or, perhaps, even collaborated in the dark operation.

Trump pretends this is all sour grapes over Clinton’s loss, but it’s not; she didn’t win, and Democrats have moved on. It’s about what Comey called a Russian attempt to “undermine our democracy” by helping one candidate at the expense of another.

Trump also tries to change the subject by making wild and unsupported allegations, such as his ridiculous charge that then-President Barack Obama ordered wiretapping of Trump Tower during the campaign. Comey and National Security Agency Director Michael S. Rogers both testified they had no information to support Trump’s claim.

Comey added that “no president” could unilaterally order such surveillance. And Rogers flatly denied the Trump administration’s absurd fallback claim that Obama somehow arranged for British intelligence to do the snooping for him.

(See RUSSIA on page six)

The Scott County Record • Page 6 • March 23, 2017

There is a limit to genuine college graduation rates

by John Schrock

Presidents, governors, the Lumina Foundation and other higher education agencies continue to call for an increase in the percentage of American high school graduates attending college.

The rate at which high school graduates attend college is being used nationwide as an indicator of K-12 success. To some education visionaries, the

perfect society would be one where every high school student attended and graduated from a four-year college.

Indeed, we are now hearing of state governing boards and national groups setting short-term goals of 60 or 70 percent college attendance.

These goals are unrealistic. They threaten to undermine our public university system and devalue the degree of bonafide

Obvious anymore. It’s true.”

That Bill Clinton signed NAFTA: “A lot of people don’t know that.”

What a value-added tax is: “A lot of people don’t know what that means.”

That we have a trade deficit with Mexico: “People don’t know that.”

That Iraq has large oil reserves: “People don’t know this about Iraq.”

That war is expensive: “People don’t realize it is a very, very expensive process.”

That the country is divided: “People don’t

than capable high school graduates to fill them.

Rather than lower its entrance standards, Hong Kong admitted students from the China mainland where there was a surplus of college-able students.

A decade ago, Taiwan

also found itself with too many university seats.

Similar to Hong Kong, Taiwan uses high school exit exams to measure academic skills and had no intention of admitting sub-standard students and watering down their academics. Taiwan has been scaling back and merging its universities.

Korea, likewise, expanded its university capacity and hit a ceiling.

China started from a

very low university capacity. When I was at East China Normal University in 1993, only the very top scorers on their high school exit exam were able to attend the few colleges available. Higher education was free. I watched as they all crowded to the lunch cafeteria with their eating utensils and thermos bottles.

The students were all A+ brilliant - but poor.

election hacking, but Trump long asserted that “nobody knows if it’s Russia.”

While Trump has said “nobody knows everything,” he claims to come pretty close. In his own words: “Nobody knows health care better than Donald Trump.”

“Nobody knows the tax code better than I do.”

“Nobody knows politics better than I do.”

“Nobody knows the politicians better than me.”

“Nobody knows the

system better than me.”

“Nobody knows more about debt. I’m like the king.”

By contrast, Trump’s list of things other people don’t know about is extensive: the heroin problem in New Hampshire, Ben Carson’s performance in the primaries, President Obama’s record on deportations, the number injured in the Paris terrorist attacks, the hikes in Obamacare premiums, eminent domain, the existence of two Air Force One planes, Afghanistan’s mineral deposits, Hillary

Clinton flunking a bar exam and the authenticity of Trump’s hair.

Trump may be correct when he says most people don’t know how much he’s worth and don’t know that he’s a “nice person.” But he’s surely wrong when he says people don’t know how bad things are.

“A lot of people don’t know it, but our country’s in trouble,” he has said.

If we didn’t know it before, we do now.

. . . we are now hearing of state governing boards and national groups setting short-term goals of 60 or 70 percent college attendance.

These goals are unrealistic. They threaten to undermine our public university system and devalue the degree of bonafide college graduates.

college graduates.

Foreign universities provide good lessons.

Hong Kong was the first in Asia to overbuild university capacity. By the late 1990s, this ex-colony of seven million found it had more university seats

(continued from page five)

realize we are an unbelievably divided country.”

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Trump, in his bid to educate the public about things he has learned, takes on a professorial tone. Talking about the Johnson Amendment on church-state separation, Professor Trump told an audience that it’s something “people don’t know in the kind of detail and depth that I have explained it to you today.”

Trump had just explained to them the Johnson Amendment’s

provenance: “This was Lyndon Johnson in the 1970s.”

The Johnson Amendment was passed in 1954.

Johnson retired in 1969 and died in 1973.

Trump claims that “a lot of people don’t know” that U.S. taxes are the world’s highest and that “nobody knows” the U.S. murder rate is the highest in 45 years. For good reason: Those things aren’t true.

Conversely, just about everybody knows that Russia was behind the

Able-bodied senior watches TV, gets free meals

by Andy Borowitz

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - An able-bodied senior citizen who refuses to do anything but watch television receives three free government meals every day, according to reports.

The senior, who has three piping-hot meals wheeled up to him each day, reportedly has no intention of working and prefers to fill his hours watching cable news.

Nation as the bottom 62 percent of the population.

This is only possible because of the expanding ranks of drowning Americans.

Some politicians will scapegoat immigrants or other vulnerable people for this suffering. When this happens, hold on tight to your purse or wallet.

Russia Throughout the hearing, Republicans sought to focus on leaks of classified information that found their way onto the front pages of The Post and the New York Times.

At one point, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) pressed Comey on whether a journalist who published such material wasn’t guilty of committing a felony.

Comey didn’t bite, apparently disinclined to threaten reporters with long prison terms.

The real issue, of course, is the information itself. Michael Flynn had to resign as Trump’s national security adviser after it was revealed that

(See RATES on page seven)

Even more outrageous, the recipient of the meals spends most weekends in Florida, where the flow of free government food continues without interruption.

Harland Dorrinson, the executive director of the Center for Benefit Reduction, a think tank that focuses on reducing federal benefits, called the individual’s consumption of free government meals “the worst abuse of the system I’ve ever seen.”

“I might be accused of being heartless for saying this, but this person should be thrown out on the street,” he said.

But, according to a source familiar with the senior, those calling for him to work for his meals are, at best, ill-informed.

“You can’t expect someone to do a job when he’s completely unqualified,” the source said.

Andy Borowitz is a comedian and author

(continued from page four)

They’re trying to distract you from the rich and powerful elites who are rigging the rules to get more wealth and power.

They want to deflect your attention away from the reality that your economic pain is the result of deliberate government rules that give more tax cuts to the super-rich and

global corporations, keep wages down, push up tuition costs, and let corporations nickel and dime you for all you’re worth.

Congress and the Trump administration are proposing to cut health care, pass more tax cuts for the rich, and give global corporations even more power over you.

They promise benefits will “trickle down.”

Unless we speak up, the only trickle will be the expansion of Underwater Nation.

Chuck Collins is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies where he directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good (www.inequality.org)

(continued from page five)

he had lied about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Despite what he told Congress during his confirmation hearing, Attorney General Jeff Sessions had meetings with Kislyak, as did several other Trump campaign advisers. There are numerous allegations of other contacts, which have yet to be discounted or confirmed.

Meanwhile, Trump’s rhetoric about Putin and Russia has been anomalously gentle. He does not hesitate to blast German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a staunch ally, for not spending enough on

defense; he goes out of his way to bash our neighbor Mexico; and he even managed to get into a needless row with the prime minister of Australia.

Yet he has consistently conveyed his admiration for Putin’s leadership and expressed a desire for a warmer U.S.-Russia relationship.

An FBI investigation, it seems to me, would necessarily have to look into the president’s business relationships with Russians tied to the Putin regime.

In 2008, Donald Trump Jr. said publicly that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of our

assets” and that “we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” The president now denies significant business involvement with Russians. Which is true?

If the FBI trains scrutiny on such Trump campaign figures as Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, what will they find? And why does the subject of Russia so reliably send Trump into a Twitter rage?

This trail may lead somewhere or it may lead nowhere. But now it will be followed to the end.

Eugene Robinson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and former assistant managing editor for The Washington Post

Poor our kids and our elderly.

Who could have imagined they’d been scamming us for a hot meal all these years when we could have been using that money to buy lottery tickets or, better yet, make a downpayment on a $2.6 billion wall between us and Mexico?

Greatness in America isn’t measured by how much we look after the least among us, but by how the least among us can learn to overcome the obstacles that we place along their path in life.

We’re fortunate to have leadership in Washington, D.C., and closer to home which understands this.

Governor Brownback’s refusal to expand Medicaid in Kansas isn’t a heartless gesture by someone more concerned with protecting tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.

It’s an act of mercy.

When Congressman Roger Marshall says “the poor will always be with us,” it’s his way of saying that poor people have no

Opioid of evidence prove that harsher punishment doesn’t stop the flow of drugs into these vulnerable communities.

In fact, it only makes the drug trade more lucrative.

When all’s said and done, the health care policy that Trump supports could increase the opioid treatment gap by 50 percent. Many more would be unable to afford substance abuse treatment or it simply wouldn’t be available in areas where there is the greatest need, according to a Harvard

Dana Milbank is a Washington Post staff writer and author

(continued from page four)

reason not to remain poor as long as the government provides such luxuries as health care.

The silence we hear from Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran is an acknowledgement that the best way to help the poor is by eliminating meal programs, making health care more difficult to obtain and, for good measure, putting Big Bird in the unemployment line.

What we have mistakenly seen as compassion, conservative Republicans have recognized for years as simply a means of enabling the poor to remain in poverty.

The enlightened thinking of leaders such as Brownback, Trump and our Kansas delegation to Congress makes it clear that until the impoverished are eliminated, you can’t eliminate poverty.

This is how a nation becomes great . . . again.

Rod Haxton can be reached at editor@screcord.com

(continued from page five)

Medical School and NYU report.

That would bring the number of people who remain untreated for addiction up to 640,000.

Trump promised his voters that he would end the opioid epidemic and “make America safe again.” But it’s those same communities in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia that trusted the president to make good on those promises who stand to lose the most.

Domenica Ghanem is the media manager at the Institute for Policy Studies

Stepping Up Hoedown • Fri., March 24, 6:00 p.m. • Bellwether Barn • Dinner • Music • Auction

The Scott County Record • Page 7 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Rates

Legislative hotline is available

(continued from page six)

By the late 1990s, China doubled its university capacity and began charging tuition. By 2004, they doubled again. And then again by 2008.

Now with 20 times the university capacity, China’s university growth is leveling off because they are producing enough academic talent to serve their future. And they want to maintain academic quality.

That is a lesson that American education policymakers are ignoring.

Not all of our secondary graduates are collegeable. Nor do some very capable students desire to pursue an academic career.

There is nothing wrong with desiring to be an auto

mechanic, farmer, electrician or plumber. We desperately need those professionals.

But, American boards and education gurus do a great disservice when they set arbitrary goals for attending college, or use college attendance as a metric in nation-to-nation competition. This places public institutions under pressure to raise college admissions, retention and graduation rates by any means possible.

When public high schools were put under pressure to raise graduation rates, they did (in many cases by finding methods to graduate every student with a heartbeat).

The pressure on universities comes not only

Raises replacing the civil service with unclassified positions that lack the same job protections and aren’t compensated according to a pay scale.

Financial Outlook The Kansas Organization of State Employees argues appropriate compensation is important both to workers and the state.

“That affects the way the state competes for workers - and the more

from unrealistic goals from above, but also from the fact that public universities have become more dependent on tuition dollars as states decrease their support.

Across the nation, more schools are advising students into easy courses the first semesters so that marginal students will persist a few semesters longer and pay more tuition before failing. Front-loading of the general education courses delays the more difficult major-field courses.

This then makes it difficult to complete the pre-requisite sequences in their major in the remaining two years. That costs the student a fifth year, but provides more tuition

to the college.

Although university teachers are supposed to have academic freedom, it is increasingly common for faculty with higher D/W/F rates to be called in and asked by higher administrators “What are you going to do about this?” The main driver in some public universities is now becoming retention and graduation rates.

The losers are students and the value of a public university degree - when a good student walks across stage to receive a degree at graduation, only to be followed by several who did very little work to receive the same degree.

Kansas residents can access information on state government, legislation, public policy issues and more by calling 1-800-432-3924.

Calls are answered by experienced reference/ research librarians at the State Library of Kansas and kept confidential. Lines are open weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Callers can also leave brief messages to be delivered to legislators as well as request copies of bills, calendars, journals, committee agendas, voting records, and other legislative documents.

In addition to calling the hotline, residents can also text questions to 785-256-0733 (standard text message rates may apply), instant message at www.kslib.info/ ask-a-librarian, or visit the State Library.

John Schrock trains biology teachers and lives in Emporia

(continued from page two)

high-quality workers,” said Brian Wood, an attorney for the union.

Wood said stagnant pay for years on end translates to a pay cut when the increasing expense of annual pension contribution rates, health costs and cost of living are factored in.

“Two percent - while it’s not as large as we’d like to see, it’s at least a starting point,” he said, referring to McGinn’s proposal.

The average classified worker in Kansas has 14 years of service, is 47 years old and earns about $38,400, according to the 2017 legislative briefing.

Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning (R-Overland Park) said state employees are “certainly due” for raises. But he expressed unease at trying to fit the expense into fiscal 2018, which starts in just a few months.

“Any spending that we do in fiscal ’18 will be

problematic because we have no funding source for it,” Denning said.

Judiciary Analysis Before the Senate budget panel agreed to McGinn’s two percent proposal, the bill targeted t$20 million in pay hikes for judiciary staff.

This included increases ranging from about 5-22 percent - adjustments that would, among other changes, put district judge pay on par with the averages in five nearby states.

March - April

Sunday

26

Attend the Church of Your Choice SCHS All School Play, 2:30 p.m.

Monday

27

SCHS Boys Golf at Buffalo Dunes, 9:00 a.m.

TOPS Meeting, First Christian Church, 5:30 p.m.

Boy Scout Troop 149 and Cub Scout Pack 66 Mtg., Scout Building, 6:30 p.m.

Today is National Spinach Day. Spinach is native to parts of Asia, but most likely originated in ancient Persia. In ancient China, it was known as “Persian vegetable”.

Tuesday

28

SCHS JV Track at Larned, 3:00 p.m.

Girl Scout Troop Mtg. (4th-12th Grade), First United Methodist Church, 4:30 p.m.

2

City Council Meeting

3

29

SCMS GWAC Music Festival, Hugoton, 8:00 a.m.

Thursday

Friday

SCHS Softball HOME vs. Goodland, 4:00 p.m.

SCHS Track at Ulysses, 3:00 p.m.

30

31

County Commission Meeting

1

SCHS Forensics at Cimarron, 6:15 a.m.

Diamonds and Champagne, Majestic Theatre, 6:00 p.m.

Storm Spotter Training, Scott County EMS Bldg., 7:00 p.m.

Dwight D. Eisenhower passed away on this day in 1969 at age 78.

Eisenhower was a WWII general and the 34th president of the United States.

Saturday

SCHS V Tennis at Great Bend, 9:00 a.m.

SCHS Baseball at Goodland, 4:00 p.m.

SCHS Junior-Senior Prom, 8:00 p.m.

SCHS All School Play, 7:30 p.m.

On this day in 1939, Oregon defeated Ohio State to win the first official NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game.

Wednesday

4

In 1974, a Chinese farmer discovered what would be known as the Terracotta Army. The 8,000 clay warrior statues were built to guard the tomb of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.

5

National Mom & Pop Business Owners Day. Small businesses are a vital part of any community. Show them how much you appreciate their hard work by shopping at a “Mom & Pop” store today!

SCES Spring Musical

6

The Eiffel Tower was completed on this day in 1889. It was constructed

by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel for the Paris Exhibition.

SCHS Baseball HOME vs. Holcomb

7

On this day in 1972, aliens landed on the football field at Scott Community High School. April Fool! April Fool’s Day is celebrated around the globe today.

However, it is not an official public holiday in any country.

8

Easter Egg Hunt at Patton Park

The Scott County Record • Page 8 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Service

Burn

(continued from page one)

(continued from page one)

was doing a repair job when an explosion and fire consumed his body, the worst of it from the waist up. He suffered third-degree burns over 20 percent of his body and second degree burns over 50 percent of his body.

“If I hadn’t dropped down immediately to extinguish the fire, and if it hadn’t been for a couple of young guys in the back shop who were right there to smother the flames, I wouldn’t have made it out of there alive,” Minnix said.

The extensive time he spent at the KU Medical Center, followed by additional recovery on the family farm south of Scott City, allowed Minnix to reflect.

“A lot of people helped us out during that time and I thought about how I

could be a better citizen . . . and a better Christian,” Minnix says. “You evaluate what is worthwhile in life and what isn’t.”

Not that a solid foundation for life wasn’t already in place.

William Lenihan, Jim’s great-grandfather, homesteaded in Scott County in the 1890s. His grandfather, Prosper Minnix, and father, Berl, continued the family farming tradition in the southwest part of the county where they grow dryland wheat, sorghum and corn.

Minnix says his father was an innovative farmer and cattleman, unafraid to try new ideas.

He was among the first to try fence-line feed bunks in the early 1960s and in the 1970s he adopted no-till techniques in wheat stubble.

Homemaker

and apply that knowledge when he returned to the family farm.

Banks, however, weren’t hiring so Minnix decided to remain in Manhattan and pursue his Master’s degree. The glass factory accident in September 1978 put those plans on hold, though he was still able to graduate with a Master’s of Business Administration degree in 1980.

Value-Added Ag Minnix is a strong advocate for value-added opportunities in agriculture. He sees that in feedlot operations as well as with his involvement in selling sorghum that meets the high standards demanded by Nu-Life Market in Scott City.

“What Nu-Life is doing to add value to a

product we grow and put that extra money into the pockets of local producers is a great concept,” says Minnix, who has been selling grain to the local company for about four years. “We need more of that in Western Kansas.”

He’s served as a county commissioner for 22 years in addition to numerous commissions and boards at the regional and state levels.

Despite the many organizations that he has been involved with for more than three decades, Minnix continues to think back to a giving and caring community that opened its hearts to him and his family nearly 40 years ago.

“I haven’t begun to repay - and I couldn’t begin to - all that’s been done for me,” he adds.

4-H Involvement Jim and Eilene are 4-H alumni, so it was only natural that their children were also active in the program.

The couple have continued their support of 4-H as a host family in an international exchange program the past two years.

“At first, we were a little reluctant because we felt we were too busy, but it has worked out great,” says Minnix. “I would recommend that more people do it.”

The Minnixes have three children, Gayle, Carl and Luke.

The youngest, Luke,

will complete his bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics this spring and then begin work on his Master’s. His fiance´, Ellie, graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in animal science and is a second year student at the KSU College of Veterinary Medicine.

Both are scheduled to graduate in 2019, at which time they plan to return to the family farm.

“We’re pretty excited about having one of our children coming back and continuing the family tradition,” Minnix says. “We hope that Luke and Ellie have the same opportunities that Jim and I have enjoyed.”

(continued from page one)

initially earned an associate’s degree in accounting after graduating from Hoxie High School.

She began working for Conoco in Ponca City, Okla., and after two months realized that she needed something more challenging.

She returned to college, earning a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Tulsa, and attended the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences at Oklahoma State University.

Minnix was hired by Sourk Veterinary Clinic following graduation. It was her second day on the job, while assisting with

than a homemaker,” notes Minnix of her upbringing in Sheridan County where she was the oldest of eight children. “When Mom was needed in the field it was up to me to take care of my brothers and sisters.”

Her farm background would also play a significant role in her decision to pursue a career in veterinary medicine - though it took awhile for Minnix to realize the opportunities available to her.

“As a woman growing up in the ‘70s, you thought your career options were pretty much limited to some type of bookkeeping or teaching,” recalls Minnix, who

“And we’ve been very proactive in how we treat background stocker calves,” he says.

Jim, however, didn’t plan to follow his father’s footsteps . . . at least not immediately. Following graduation from SCHS in 1972, Minnix earned a BS degree in ag economics (1977), followed by a BS in business finance (1978).

Upon earning his second degree, Minnix was greeted by a farm economy in crisis because of low commodity prices, declining land values and high interest rates.

Tractorcades and the American Ag Movement were in the headlines.

Minnix’s original plan was to become an agriculture loan officer with a bank for a few years, learn about different operations

pulling a calf at the clinic, that Eilene first met Jim. “He was sitting on a tractor and watching all that was going on, but that’s not the version you’ll hear from him,” she says with a laugh.

Minnix spent 16-1/2 years working part-time with the Garden City Veterinary Clinic. That ended 3-1/2 years ago when the clinic was sold and she chose to spend more time helping with the family operation.

In addition to providing veterinarian care for their calf/stocker/feeder operation, Minnix is also a consultant for a couple of other backgrounder feedlots.

s d e n n o g m a a p i D Cham and

7th Annual

Live Auction Diamond Giveaways

Saturday, April 1

Super 3 Day Sale

Thursday, March 30 - Saturday, April 1 Whole in the bag

Boston Butt Pork Roast

6:00 p.m. - Cocktails 6:30 p.m. - Dinner Majestic Theatre 420 S. Main, Scott City

50

$

1

$ Buy One, Get One

per ticket

Burns are not permitted when the surface wind speed is less than five miles per hour or more than 15 mph or at any time where projected wind speeds for the burn period will be outside this range.

The LEC dispatch office shall be authorized to approve or disapprove individual burning requests in compliance with the Fire Chief’s determination.

A person shall not burn within 1,000 feet of any occupied dwelling in rural areas of the County, unless the occupant of that dwelling has been notified before the burn. A person shall not burn within 1,000 feet of any city’s boundary, unless the Scott City clerk or other city official has been notified in advance.

Violations can carry penalties of up to $250 per day of violation, per location.

In addition, violators may be required to pay restitution for all damages done by a fire set in violation of the county order and may be required to reimburse the county for the cost of extinguishing the fire.

FREE

29 lb.

Franks 16 oz.

Limited seating, call now!

620-872-3706 for tickets or email wkcac@wkcac.com for more information

Fundraiser for Western Kansas Child Advocacy Center

1314 S. Main, Scott City

872-5854 www.heartlandfoodsstores.com

Youth/Education

Section B Page 9 Thursday, March 23, 2017

bad is good

Everything that can go wrong makes SCHS one-acts fun Forgotten lines. Missed cues. Blown sound effects.

Broken props.

They are what cause sleepless nights for directors as they prepare for a production.

So, what happens when those disasters are actually part of the production?

You get three plays for Coarse Actors that will be presented by Scott Community High School on Sunday and Monday, March 26-27.

The all-school play will feature three oneact spoofs of Streuth, Cleopatra and Julius, and Moby Dick.

Coarse actors, explains SCHS director Shairlyn Wasinger are “bad actors” - which isn’t as easy as it sounds.

“You’d think it would be easy to be a bad actor, but to be over-the-top bad isn’t an easy thing to pull off,” says Wasinger.

As a director, Wasinger has to remind herself not to stop in the middle of a scene and instinctively change something the actors have done wrong.

“They have to remind me it’s supposed to be done that way,” she says.

Wasinger had been considering this group of oneacts for several years, but felt the students who had auditioned for this year’s production provided the right mix.

“I have some actors who have a lot of stage experience and others who are new to the stage. This

is a production where they all can have fun and feel comfortable,” she notes.

With a limited pool of about a dozen actors, Wasinger says one-act plays offer a great opportunity to give different individuals lead roles without putting too much demand on any one or two actors.

“You can go from being a lead in one play and part of the ship’s crew in Moby Dick,” she says.

It’s been particularly gratifying for Wasinger to see some of her young actors offer a glimpse of their stage talent.

“Jordan (Wagner) has enjoyed experimenting with his characters. He’s always trying something new,” says Wasinger.

“Sometimes we have to rein him in a little, but that’s okay. I love actors who aren’t afraid to put themselves out there and try something different.

“And we’re getting a chance to see Abby Ford’s talent on the stage,” she says. “It’s exciting that I have these kids for a few more years.”

It’s also a final opportunity for veteran seniors Macy Berning, Emma Price and Carson Haupt to perform.

“These three have contributed so much to our theater program over the years. They are a very talented and fun group to work with,” Wasinger adds.

(Above) Ahab (Eddie Tilton) leads his crew to the whale Moby Dick. Crew members are (front to back) Kevin Herndon, Abby Ford, Macy Berning, Judy Gutierrez and Ben Catron.

(Left) Aperient (Jordan Wagner), a messenger, tells Cleopatra (Macy Berning) she is expected to go to Rome.

(Below) The inspector (Herndon) realizes the visiting monk (Carson Haupt) is actually the murderer while Tilton looks on in a scene from “Streuth.”

(Record Photos)

All-School One-Act Plays

Sunday, March 26 • 2:30 p.m.

Monday, March 27 • 7:30 p.m.

Scott Community High School Auditorium Sunday matinee will feature a dessert bar.

Cost is a free-will donation There is no reserved seating.

Ticket office opens 30 minutes prior to each performance Tickets: $5 for students/$7 for adults Performers: Macy Berning, Ben Catron, Lizzy Eikenberry, Abby Ford, Judy Gutierrez, Carson Haupt, Kevin Herndon, Skye Lee, Emma Price, Eddie Tilton and Jordan Wagner

KIDS o r n e r

I posted in Kids Korner that I would babysit on the weekends! It didn’t cost me anything.

Home of El Cuartelejo

8 7 2 • 2 0 9 0

Wheeler Kids Mowing Lawn mowing, trimming

Call Kale 620-214-4130 or Julie 620-214-3231

Oh yeah?!

I need to call them for my lawnmowing!

It’s never too late to learn!

• Earn your high school diploma • Take credit recovery and enrichment classes • Career certification classes are available • English language learner support Open enrollment all year long • $10 enrollment fee Adults 19 and over welcome Students 14-18 are welcome pending district approval

66 USD 4 ts s tu den 12 s 7grade

706 Washington Street • Scott City Questions?

Contact Melissa Jasnoch at 872-3785 or email her CLC.scott_city@swplains.com

The Scott County Record • Page 10 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Pastime at Park Lane We offer our sympathy to the family of Frank Leal who passed away on Holy Cross Lutheran Church hosted the March March 16. birthday party on Wednesday afternoon. Guests The First Christian of honor were Kathy Roberts and Charlotte Utley. church led Sunday afterAbbigale, Andrew and Bethany Prochnow pronoon services. vided musical entertainment. Everyone was served Residents played pitch cake. and dominoes on Monday Hosting the party were Rev. Warren and Andie afternoon. Game helpers Prochnow, Carol Latham, Velda Riddiough, and were Joy Barnett, Bert Cindy Scheuerman.

Lucas, Dorothy King, Chelsea Rose, Mandy Barnett, and Gary and The Immanuel Baptist Church hosted crafts on Janet Goodman.

Tuesday afternoon. Residents decorated crossRussell and Mary es with buttons and jewels. Helpers were Joy Webster led Bible study Barnett, Marilyn McFann, Bev Nuckolls, and on Tuesday evening.

Mandy Barnett. Bev Nuckolls furnished cookies Rev. Warren Prochnow led Lutheran Bible study Ladies received mani- on Thursday afternoon. on Wednesday morning.

Residents played games cures on Thursday morn- Mary Lou Oeser and Mandy Barnett helped of pitch on Wednesday ing.

Residents played bingo with the games. evening.

2 celebrate March birthdays

Baptist Church has craft day

by Jason Storm

Catholic Mass was held on Friday morning.

Rev. Warren Prochnow led Lutheran services on Friday afternoon.

A St. Patrick’s Day party was held on Friday afternoon. The Wright family provided music.

Thanks to Wanda Wright for making shamrock cookies.

The Country Cousins 4-H Club made centerpieces for the dining room tables.

Jim Jeffery was visited

by Libbie Joles, Jimaline Haddon, and Nathella, Bree and Jett Humburg.

Delores Brooks visitors were Raegen and Sage Wolak, Cheryl Perry and Charles Brooks.

Yvonne Spangler visitors were Yvette Mills, Jerica VanCampen and Gloria Gough.

Cecile Billings visitors were Delinda Dunagan, Linda Dunagan and Larry Billings.

Hugh McDaniel was visited by George Evans Berniece McDaniel, Tava See and Mark McDaniel.

Mike Leach and James Still were visited by Linda Dunagan and Rev. Don Martin.

Lowell Rudolph was visited by LuAnn Buehler, Tom and Kathleen Moore, and Chuck Kirk.

Doris Riner was visited by Trudy Eikenberry, Lilly Dolezal, Eli Dolezal and Bill and Sue Riner.

Lorena Turley was visited by Gracy Chambless, Kaerston Buffington, and Mike and Tracy Hess.

Arlene Beaton was visited by John Beaton and Melody Stevens.

Clifford Dearden was visited by Kirk and Janet Ottoway, Hays.

Boots Haxton was visited by Rod and Kathy Haxton.

Louise Crist was visited by Jean Burgess and Pastor Jon Tuttle.

Loretta Gorman was visited by Charlene Becht, Jane McBroom and Chuck and Barb Brobst.

Corrine Dean’s visitors were Dianna Howard, Aaron and Mandy Kropp, and Carol Ellis.

Attend the Church of Your Choice

Deaths Kenneth Eugene Breitkreutz Kenneth Eugene Breitkreutz, 68, died March 18, 2017, in Leoti.

H e was born Feb. 28, 1949, in Garden City, to Wa l t e r and Wi- Ken Breitkreutz nona Breitkreutz.

He grew up on a farm south of Leoti and attended a rural school in Lydia.

He graduated from Wichita County High School and attended Emporia University, graduating with a degree in speech and theater.

Ken was an avid volunteer in the community.

He coached minor league baseball, was a 4-H project leader and was president of the Wichita County Amusement Association.

On Nov. 9, 1974, he married Betsy Ann Janke in Stafford. She survives.

The couple moved back to Leoti where Ken joined his father, Walter, in a construction business.

Other survivors include: four children, Will, Kansas City, Mo., Judi, Junction City, Jon, Leoti, and Michael, Colorado Springs, Colo.; a brother, David, Leoti; and five grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Memorial service was held March 21 at the United Methodist Church in Leoti with Rev. Doug Olson officiating.

Memorials may be given to the Wichita County Amusement Association or Leoti EMTs in care of Price and Sons Funeral Home, Box 161, 202 N. 4th, Leoti, Ks. 67861.

Sr. Citizen Lunch Menu Week of March 27-31 Monday: Baked thyme chicken, cornbread dressing, broccoli and cauliflower, whole wheat roll, peach fruit and yogurt parfait.

Tuesday: Beef chili with beans, carrots and zucchini, cinnamon roll, pineapple tidbits.

Wednesday: Rotisserie style turkey, mashed potatoes, poultry gravy, green beans almondine, whole wheat roll, glazed strawberries and bananas.

Thursday: Apple ginger pork loin, braised cabbage, baked sweet potato with cinnamon butter, whole wheat roll, rosy applesauce.

Friday: Potato encrusted fish, au gratin potatoes, green peas, whole wheat roll, pears and apricots.

Visit the Scott County Ministerial Alliance at their Facebook site.

It includes church activities, ecuminical services and functions open to the community

(i.e., Vacation Bible School, concerts, etc.)

See us at “Scott City Ministerial Alliance”

Jericho Shout If you have been around church long, you have probably heard about the Good Samaritan. His story even became a part of our culture to encourage care of others.

If not, here is the short version: a man is left for dead after being beaten up in a robbery. Two religious people turn away from helping, and the Good Samaritan (an immigrant frowned upon) rescues the hurt man.

Jesus not only speaks about being a Good Samaritan, but Jesus acts the Good Samaritan, too. In the final days before the crucifixion, Jesus is walking to Jerusalem. He has been telling his disciples for days that he will die in Jerusalem at the end of the trip. He is focused on what is to happen shortly. And then we hear a shout at Jericho: * * * Jesus and his followers came into Jericho. As Jesus was leaving Jericho, together with his disciples and a

sizable crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, Timaeus’ son, was sitting beside the road.

When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was there, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, show me mercy!” Many scolded him, telling him to be quiet, but he shouted even louder, “Son of David, show me mercy!”

Mark 10:46-48 CEB * * * Jesus could have kept walking. He is on an important mission to save the world. He is intent on preparing the disciples for his death. But, he hears a shout.

He has mercy. Bartimaeus is healed.

As the Lenten journey to Easter enters the downhill portion, continue to focus on your chosen Lenten disciplines. It is important to keep your personal relationship with Jesus strong.

And, keep an ear out for someone near who needs a helping hand. Jesus did.

Pastor John Lewis First United Methodist Church, Scott City

Scott City Assembly of God

Prairie View Church of the Brethren

1615 South Main - Scott City - 872-2200 Ed Sanderson, Senior Pastor 9:00 a.m. - Pre-Service Prayer 10:00 a.m. - Sunday Worship Service and Children’s Church Wednesday: 7:00 p.m. - Bible Study and Prayer

4855 Finney-Scott Rd. - Scott City - 276-6481 Pastor Jon Tuttle Sunday School: 10:00 a.m.

Morning Worship: 11:00 a.m.

Men’s Fellowship • Tuesday breakfast at 6:30 a.m. will be held at the church Wednesday Bible Study, 7:00 p.m., at the church

St. Joseph Catholic Church

Holy Cross Lutheran Church

A Catholic Christian Community 1002 S. Main Street - Scott City Fr. Bernard Felix, pastor • 872-7388 Secretary • 872-3644 Masses: 1st Sunday of month - 8:30 and 11:00 a.m.

Other weekends: Sat., 6:00 p.m.; Sun., 11:00 a.m.

Spanish Mass - 2nd and 4th Sundays, 1:30 p.m.

Pence Community Church

1102 Court • Box 283 • Scott City 620-872-2294 • 620-872-3796 Pastor Warren Prochnow holycross-scott@sbcglobal.net Sunday School/Bible Class, 9:00 a.m.

Worship every Sunday, 10:15 a.m.

Wed.: Mid-Week School, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

Community Christian Church

8911 W. Road 270 10 miles north on US83; 2 miles north on K95; 9 miles west on Rd. 270 Don Williams, pastor • 874-2031 Wednesdays: supper (6:30 p.m.) • Kid’s Group and Adult Bible Study (7:00 p.m.) • Youth Group (8:00 p.m.)

Sunday School: 9:30 • Morning Worship: 10:30 a.m.

12th & Jackson • Scott City • 872-3219 Brian Thompson, pastor Sunday School, 9:30 a.m.

Sunday Morning Worship, 10:45 a.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study, 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday: God’s High School Cru, 7:30 p.m.

First Baptist Church

Immanuel Southern Baptist Church

803 College - Scott City - 872-2339

1398 S. US83 - Scott City - 872-2264

Kyle Evans, Senior Pastor Bob Artz, Associate Pastor

Robert Nuckolls, pastor - 872-5041

Sunday School, 9:30 a.m.

Sunday School: 9:45 a.m. • Worship: 11:00 a.m.

Sunday morning worship: 8:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.

Wednesday Bible Study, 7:00 p.m.

Gospel Fellowship Church 120 S. Lovers Lane - Shallow Water Bill Geurin, pastor • 874-8395 Sunday School: 9:30 a.m.

Morning Worship: 10:30 a.m.

First Christian Church

1st United Methodist Church

5th Street and College - Scott City - 872-2401 John Lewis, pastor 1st Sunday: Communion and Fellowship Sunday Services, 9:00 a.m. • Fellowship, 10:15 a.m. • Sun. School, 11:00 a.m.

All Other Sundays • Worship: 8:30 and 10:45 a.m.

Sunday School: 9:30 a.m. • MYF (youth groups) on Wednesdays Jr. High: 6:30 p.m. • Sr. High: 7:00 p.m.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church

701 Main - Scott City - 872-2937 Scotty Wagner, pastor Sunday School, 9:30 a.m.; Worship, 10:45 a.m.

Wednesday is Family Night Meal: 5:45 p.m. • Study: 6:15 p.m.

Website: www.fccscottcity.org

Elizabeth/Epperson Drives • Scott City • 872-3666

Scott Mennonite Church

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

12021 N. Eagle Rd. • Scott City Franklin Koehn: 872-2048 Charles Nightengale: 872-3056 Sunday School Worship Service: 10:00 a.m.

Sunday Evening Service: 7:00 p.m.

Holy Eucharist - 11:45 a.m.

St. Luke’s - 872-3666 (recorded message) Senior Warden Cody Brittan • (913) 232-6127 or Father Don Martin • (785) 462-3041

9th and Crescent - Scott City - 872-2334 James Yager • 620-214-3040 Sacrament, 9:30 a.m.

Sunday School, 10:50 a.m.

Relief Society and Priesthood, 11:20 a.m.

YMYW Wednesday, 8:00 p.m.

The Scott County Record • Page 11 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Don’t waste time, money going after henbit in spring The plants with the little purple flowers that are starting to make themselves known in home lawns are called henbit. If you are unsure that this is what you have, check the stems. If they are square rather than round, it’s henbit.

Though it actually comes up in the fall, most people do not pay much attention to this weed until it starts to flower.

Trying to kill it at this late stage with a herbicide is usually a waste of time and money.

Though the plant may be burned back, it will rarely be killed.

So what do we do?

Remember, this is a winter annual. It comes up in the fall, matures in the spring and dies as soon as it starts to get hot. All we can do now is keep it mowed until nature takes its course.

However, we can do something next fall that will help next spring.

Henbit usually germinates about mid-October. If we spray with 2,4-D, WeedB-Gon or Trimec in early November we can go a long way toward eliminating henbit the next spring.

The plants are small during the fall and relatively easy to control.

Choose a day that is at least 50 degrees so the henbit is actively growing and will take up the chemical. Spot treating will probably be needed in the spring to catch the few plants that germinate late.

Use Weed-B-Gon, Trimec, or one of the special henbit herbicides early before the henbit has put on much growth.

Vegetable Rotations Before you put out this year’s vegetable garden, consider cultural practices for disease control. Be sure to remove last year’s vegetable debris from the garden or till them deeply into the soil.

Many plant pathogens can overwinter on dead plant debris, so it is very important to remove these from the garden.

Also, consider a rotation plan for your veg-

etables. Try not to replant tomatoes in the same location year after year.

Even if you have a small garden, relocate the tomato plants to the opposite end of the last season’s garden. Rotate tomatoes with sweet corn or possibly cucumbers. Avoid planting potato or pepper plants where last year’s tomato crop was planted.

Some vegetables can be successfully grown in buckets or pots on the patio, but consider replacing the potting mix each season. Also clean or soak the pot in a 10 percent bleach solution for 10-30 minutes before adding fresh potting mix.

For container-grown vegetables, use commercial soil less mix. Be sure to start with clean seed or transplants. Where possible, use varieties with resistance to disease problems.

For example, select tomato varieties with resistance to wilt pathogens. Similarly, use cucumber and muskmelon varieties with resistance to powdery mildew and Fusarium wilt. Carefully check transplants for evidence of diseases.

Tomato transplants grown near or with bedding plants may be infected with the spotted wilt virus. For potatoes, start with clean, disease-free seed pieces each year.

Purchase certified seed from garden centers.

Many bacterial, viral and fungal diseases are transmitted through the seed piece, so saving tubers from last year to use as seed is not a good idea.

What do you think?

Do you want the Scott City Council to request that KDOT change the south US83 entrance to Scott City back to four lanes?

42 Yes _____ 10 No ______

Additional comments: __________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Submit your response to the Scott County website www.scottcountyrecord.com

Friendship ‘Meals to Go’ available from the Scott County VIP Center

Individual frozen/sealed trays • Good for special diets • only $3.25/meal • Call 872-3501

Stepping Up

Hoedown

Bring the whole family and join us for BBQ, live music, cowboy poetry, and a whole lot of FUN!

Benefit dinner, concert, and auction for Stepping Up, Inc. • A Life-Transforming Ministry Concert featuring

The Tones

and Heather Shelley

Friday, March 24 6:00 p.m.

Bellwether Barn 10311 Hwy. 95 Scott City

Cowboy Poet

Leonard Hitz

Auction Items

2 night cabin stay at Lake Scott State Park 2 night hotel stay at Mary’s Lake Lodge (Estes Park, Colo.)

Signed Ron Baker WSU hat • Grill Basket Quilt • Kayak • Beef Bundle Tickets Adults - $25 • Kids 12 and Under - $12 Family Package - $100 Tickets can by purchased in Scott City at: Stepping Up (104 S. Main) • First Baptist Church • County Attorney’s Office (basement of courthouse) • Scott Community Foundation (210 W. 4th) or by calling Stepping Up at 872-5353

For the Record Mistakes on your tax return can lead to an audit The Scott County Record

by Nathaniel Sillin

You’re not alone if your heart pounds when you see a letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in your mailbox.

While some lucky filers get sent a letter because they’re due a larger refund, most of us fear the worst – an audit.

The Scott County Record Page 12 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Those fears may be largely unfounded for the average household. Only about one percent of taxpayers get audited, and high-income taxpayers are disproportionately targeted.

If you are audited, it might not be like you imagine. An audit could focus on a particular line

Scott Co. LEC Report Scott City Police Department Feb. 19: Alex Depperschmidt was cited for minor in possession.

March 11: An accident was reported in the 400 block of East 4th Street when Jalisa Crapo backed into another vehicle.

March 13: Meagan Euliss, 23, was arrested on a Scott County warrant.

March 20: Nathaniel Fonseca, Jr., 20, was arrested for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He was transported to the LEC. March 20: Yvette Medina was arrested for driving on a suspended license and no vehicle insurance.

March 20: Officers responded to a report of transportation of alcohol and the purchase/consumption of alcohol.

March 20: Aggravated assault and battery was reported.

Scott County Sheriff’s Department March 8: Jill Lawrence, 34, was arrested for failure to appear. She bonded out.

Public Notice (First published in the Scott County Record, Thurs., March 23, 2017; last published Thurs., April 6, 2017)3t IN THE 25TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT DISTRICT COURT OF SCOTT COUNTY, KANSAS PROBATE DEPARTMENT IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF LAURA I. CROWELL, DECEASED. Case No. 2017-PR-0005 Title to Real Property Involved NOTICE OF HEARING Pursuant to K.S.A. Chapter 59 THE STATE OF KANSAS TO ALL PERSONS CONCERNED: YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that a Petition has been filed in this Court by Sandra Lee Crowell, in the Estate of Laura I. Crowell, deceased, praying that the foreign will filed with the Petition be admitted to probate and record without administration; the will be construed; and the

property described in the Petition be assigned to the persons entitled thereto in accordance with the terms of the will.

You are required to file your written defenses thereto on or before the 18th day of April, 2017, at 11 o’clock a.m. of said day, in such court, in the City of Scott City, Scott County, Kansas, at which time and place such cause will be heard. Should you fail therein, judgment and decree will be entered in due course upon the Petition.

Sandra Lee Crowell, Petitioner Cody A. Phillips, #26825 MORRIS, LAING, EVANS, BROCK & KENNEDY, Chartered 300 North Mead, Suite 200 Wichita, KS 67202-2745 (316) 262-2671

Public Notice (First published in the Scott County Record, Thurs., March 23, 2017; last published Thurs., April 6, 2017)3t IN THE 25TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT DISTRICT COURT OF SCOTT COUNTY, KANSAS PROBATE DEPARTMENT IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATES OF LYLE ELBERT CROWELL, a/k/a LYSLE ELBERT CROWELL, DECEASED, & LETHA L. CROWELL, a/k/a LETHA CROWELL, DECEASED Case No. 2017-PR-0004 Title to Real Property Involved NOTICE OF HEARING Pursuant to K.S.A. Chapter 59 THE STATE OF KANSAS TO ALL PERSONS CONCERNED: YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that a Petition has been filed in this Court by Sandra Lee Crowell, daughter and heir of Lyle Elbert Crowell a/k/a Lysle Elbert Crowell, deceased, praying for determination of descent of a certain mineral interest described in the Petition, together with all personal property and Kansas real estate owned by decedent at the time of death; and that such property and all personal property and Kansas

real estate owned by decedent at the time of death be assigned pursuant to the laws of intestate succession.

YOU ARE HEREBY FURTHER NOTIFIED that the Petition also prays in the Estate of Letha L. Crowell a/k/a Letha Crowell, deceased, that the foreign will of Letha L. Crowell be admitted to probate and record without administration; the will be construed; and the property described in the Petition be assigned to the persons entitled thereto in accordance with the terms of the will.

You are required to file your written defenses thereto on or before the 18th day of April, 2017, at 11 o’clock a.m. of said day, in such court, in the City of Scott City, Scott County, Kansas, at which time and place such cause will be heard. Should you fail therein, judgment and decree will be entered in due course upon the Petition.

Sandra Lee Crowell, Petitioner Cody A. Phillips, #26825 MORRIS, LAING, EVANS, BROCK & KENNEDY, Chartered 300 North Mead, Suite 200 Wichita, KS 67202-2745 (316) 262-2671

entry, credit or figure, and you might only need to mail or fax a copy of the relevant paperwork, such as an insurance report or receipt.

Even so, getting audited isn’t fun. In the best case, you have to take the time to dig through your records and respond. In the worst case, you have

to do all that as well as pay penalties and interest.

What can you do to help reduce your risk of audit? Audits, or examinations as they’re also referred to, could be the result of a random selection, mismatched documents, deviation from the expected “norms” for similar returns or connec-

tion to someone who’s being audited.

But there are a few things you can do to help minimize your chances of being audited.

Enter all your information correctly. Take an extra few minutes to double-check the information you entered when preparing your tax return. A

misspelled name or wrong number could lead to an examination.

Include information from every form with your return. When an organization sends you a tax form, it also sends a copy to the IRS. The IRS has an automated system that can flag a return when you (See AUDIT on page 13)

Legislators seek plan to improve foster care system Meg Wingerter Kansas News Service

Kansas has plenty of reports on problems in its foster care system but needs a plan to fix them, according to members of a House committee.

The House Children and Seniors Committee voted Tuesday to create a foster care task force that will present a plan for improvements to the foster care system by January.

Rep. Jarrod Ousley (D-Merriam) said the state needs to do more than study the foster care system.

“This task force is not for oversight. It’s for corrective action,” he said.

Since 2014, a record number of Kansas children have entered the foster care system. At the end of January, more than 6,800 children were in the state’s custody.

The Kansas Department for Children and Families oversees the system, which faced some criticism from the Legislature’s independent auditing team last summer.

The committee heard testimony over several weeks about problems in the state’s system from foster parents, law enforcement, court officials and child welfare advocates.

Those issues include difficulty getting accurate

Public Notice (First published in The Scott County Record, Thurs., March 16, 2017; last published Thurs., March 30, 2017)3t IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF SCOTT COUNTY, KANSAS ISABELLA MICHELLE MYERS, a minor child, by her mother, AMBER ESPARZA, plaintiff vs.

OSCAR HUMBERTO GUTIERREZ, defendant Case No.. 2017 DM 11 NOTICE OF SUIT The State of Kansas to the defendant above named designated and all other persons who are or may be concerned: You are hereby notified that a Petition has been filed in the District Court of Scott County, Kansas, by Amber Esparza, Petitioner, praying for sole legal custody of her

daughter, Isabella Michelle Myers. That the defendant is the natural father of the minor child, the address of Oscar Humberto Gutierrez is unknown to this Petitioner and he is a resident of the country of Mexico.

You are hereby required to plead to said Petition on or before April 11, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. in said Court at the Courthouse at the City of Scott City in the County of Scott, Kansas. Should you fail therein, judgment and decree will be entered in due course upon said petition Keen K. Brantley #7160 Attorney for Petitioner WALLACE, BRANTLEY & SHIRLEY 325 Main Street - P.O. Box 605 Scott City, Kansas, 67871 (620) 872-2161 Attorneys for Petitioner

information about children, delays for mental health care and concerns that social workers had too many cases to handle.

In addition to those issues, the committee wants the task force to examine: •The number of children placed in their home county, which can make it easier to visit family and continue school activities.

•How long children stayed in foster care.

•The number of children, if any, who were mistreated while in foster care.

•If any children were arrested after leaving foster care.

•How much school children in foster care

missed.

The task force also will examine requirements for foster parents, the legislative audit and existing reports by DCF and the two private contractors that operate the state’s foster care system: KVC Behavioral Healthcare and Saint Francis Community Services.

Theresa Freed, a DCF spokeswoman, said the department “has made substantial progress in addressing concerns raised by Legislative Post Audit, and we continue to improve upon our already safe system.”

Kathy Armstrong, assistant general counsel for prevention and protec(See FOSTER on page 13)

Public Notice (First Published in The Scott County Record Thurs., March 9, 2017; last published Thurs., March 23, 2017)3t IN THE 25TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT DISTRICT COURT OF SCOTT COUNTY, KANSAS in the Matter of the Petition of ANNE FRANCES CRANE to change her name to ANNA TEREASE FRANCES CRANE. Case No. 17-CV-04 NOTICE OF HEARING PUBLICATION (Petition Pursuant to K.S.A. Chapter 60) THE STATE OF KANSAS TO ALL WHO ARE OR MAY BE CONCERNED: You are hereby notified that Anne Frances Crane, filed a Petition in the above court on the 7th day of March,

2017, requesting a judgment and order changing her name from Anne Frances Crane to Anna Terease Frances Crane.

The Petition will be heard in Scott County District Court, 303 Court St., Scott City, Kansas, on the 4th day of May, 2017, at 10:00 a.m.

If you have any objection to the requested name change, you are required to file a responsive pleading on or before April 20, 2017 in this court or appear at the hearing and object to the requested name change. If you fail to act, judgment and order will be entered upon the Petition as requested by Petitioner.

Anne Crane Petitioner Anne Crane 604 Monroe St. Scott City, Ks. 67871 620-874-1263

Audit don’t include information from one of the forms you received.

Don’t treat a hobby as a business. You might enjoy your hobby and occasionally make some money from it, but that doesn’t make it a business. Business and hobby expenses are treated differently and you can’t claim a loss from your hobby. If you try, that could be a red flag.

Know the home-office rules. Many small business owners and contractors work from home, but that doesn’t automatically mean you can claim the home-office deduction.

You can’t claim a guest bedroom where you occasionally work, the room (or part of a room) must be used exclusively and regularly for business.

Only claim the EIC if you have earned income.

To qualify for the Earned Income Credit (EIC), you need to have earned income, such as wages or

Foster (continued from page 12)

tion services at DCF, said in written testimony to the committee that the department is neutral on establishing a task force. DCF’s foster care system already has oversight by federal agencies, Legislative Post Audit, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office and 13 task forces, work groups or boards, she said.

“It must be noted that an additional task force may result in duplication and diminished efficiency in light of all federal and state agency and court oversight of the child welfare system already in place,” she said.

Armstrong also raised concerns that DCF might have to use resources to compile data for the task force, but she said the department “supports the concept of accountability and review.”

The committee dropped the original task force bill, House Bill 2019, and put its contents into Senate Bill 126, which has to do with child care facilities.

Ousley said the legislative maneuver will prevent the task force measure from getting bogged down.

Senate leaders approve of the plan but have too many bills to consider this session, he said.

The Senate already passed SB 126, so the task force measure could head straight to Gov. Sam Brownback if the House passes the new version and the Senate concurs.

The Scott County Record • Page 13 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

(continued from page 12)

salary, for the year. Other types of income, including alimony, child support, unemployment benefits and Social Security won’t qualify you for the EIC. Working with a professional tax preparer, such as a certified public accountant (CPA) or enrolled agent (EA) could help you avoid making errors, but it doesn’t guarantee you won’t be audited.

Similar types of support are sometimes offered with online tax preparation software for a fee.

In either case, if you’re required to pay more tax, the bill may get passed on to you.

Don’t let fear cost you.

Some taxpayers shy away from claiming legitimate credits and deductions because they fear an audit.

That could be a costly choice. There’s only a small chance you’ll get audited, and it could be quick and relatively pain-

less - especially if you keep good records.

Fear also leads thousands of people to fall victim to tax-related scams.

Thieves may impersonate an IRS agent, but the IRS will never call or email you requesting a specific type of payment. The IRS only initiates contact with taxpayers by mail, and you can choose among several methods of payment when you owe money.

Bottom line: While there’s no way to guarantee the IRS won’t ask questions about your tax return, don’t let fear of an audit keep you from using the credits or deductions you can rightfully claim.

Filing a complete and accurate return could help minimize your chances of an audit, and if you do receive a notice, you may be able to quickly resolve the issue by following the instructions.

Nathaniel Sillin directs Visa’s financial education programs

Public Notice (Published in The Scott County Record, Thurs., March 23, 2017)1t BEFORE THE STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF KANSAS Before Commissioners: Pat Apple, Chair Shari Feist Albrecht, Jay Scott Emler In the Matter of the Application of Lario Oil & Gas Company for an Order Authorizing the Unitization and Unit Operations of the Feiertag Unit in Scott County, Kansas.

License No. 5214 CONSERVATION DIVISION NOTICE OF PENDING APPLICATION TO: ALL OIL AND GAS PRODUCERS, UNLEASED MINERAL INTEREST OWNERS, LANDOWNERS AND ALL PERSONS WHOMSOEVER CONCERNED. Please take notice that the above-entitled Application was filed with the Kansas Corporation Commission Conservation Division

by Lario Oil & Gas Company seeking an order authorizing the unitization and unit operations of the Feiertag Unit in Scott County, Kansas, in portions of: Section 9: SE/4 SE/4 Section 10: SW/4 Section 15: W/2, W/2 SE/4, S/2 SW/4 NE/4

Section 21: NE/4 NE/4 Section 22: N/2 NW/4, and NW/4 NE/4 all in Township 19 South, Range 33 West, Scott County, Kansas, consisting of a total of 860 surface acres.

Any person protesting this Application shall be required to file their written protest with the Conservation Division of the State Corporation Commission of the State of Kansas within fifteen (15) days of the publication of this Notice.

Any protest must be filed pursuant to the Commission’s regulations and must state specific reasons why the grant of the Application may cause waste, violation of correlative rights or pollution of natural resources of the State of Kansas. If any valid protests are timely filed, the Application will be set for hearing by the Commission.

If no protests are received, this Application may be granted through a summary proceeding.

TRIPLETT, WOOLF & GARRETSON, LLC Timothy E. McKee, #7135 Amy Fellows Cline, #19995 2959 N. Rock Road, Suite 300 Wichita, Kansas 67226 Telephone: (316) 630-8100 Facsimile: (316) 630-8101 Attorneys for Lario Oil & Gas Company

(Published in The Scott County Record on Thurs., March 23, 2017)1t SCOTT CITY MUNICIPAL AIRPORT CONSTRUCT T-HANGARS AIP Project No. 3-20-0073-16 Sealed bids subject to the conditions and provisions presented herein will be received until 1:00 pm (CDT), Monday, April 17, 2017 and then publicly opened and read at Office of the City Clerk, for furnishing all labor, materials and equipment and performing all work necessary to: Construct T-Hangars.

Copies of the bid documents including project drawings and technical specifications are on file and may be inspected at: Evans-Bierly-Hutchison & Associates, P.A., 596 Airport Road Goodland, Ks. 67735 Each proposal must be accompanied by a bid guaranty in the amount of five (5) percent of the total amount of the bid. The bid guaranty may be by certified check or bid bond made payable to City of Scott City.

Bids may be held by the City of Scott City for a period not to exceed 90 calendar days from the date of the bid opening for the purpose of evaluating bids prior to award of contract.

The right is reserved, as the City of Scott City may require, to reject any and all bids and to waive any informality in the bids received.

This project is subject to the requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act, as amended. The Contractor is required to comply with wage and labor provisions and to pay minimum wages in accordance with the schedule of wage rates established by the United States Department of Labor.

This project is subject to the requirements of 49 CFR Part 26 Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Participation. The owner has established a contract goal of 1.3% percent participation for small business concerns owned and controlled by qualified disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE). The bidder shall make and document good faith efforts, as defined in Appendix A of 49 CFR Part 26, to meet the established goal.

Award of contract is also subject to the following Federal provisions: Access To Records And Reports (2 Cfr § 200.333, 2 Cfr § 200.336, Faa Order 5100.38) Affirmative Action Requirement (41 Cfr Part 60-4, Executive Order 11246) Breach Of Contract Terms (2 Cfr § 200 Appendix Ii(A)) Buy American Preference (Title 49 Usc § 50101) Civil Rights – General (49 Usc § 47123) Civil Rights – Title Vi Assurance (49 Usc § 47123, Faa Order 1400.11) Clean Air And Water Pollution Control (2 Cfr § 200, Appendix Ii(G)) Contract Workhours And Safety Standards Act Requirements (2 Cfr § 200, Appendix Ii(E)) Copeland “Anti-Kickback” Act (2 Cfr § 200, Appendix Ii(D), 29 Cfr Parts 3 & 5) Davis-Bacon Requirements (2 Cfr § 200, Appendix Ii(D), 29 Cfr Part 5) Debarment And Suspension (2 Cfr Part 180 (Subpart C), 2 Cfr Part 1200, Dot Order 4200.5) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (49 Cfr Part 26) Distracted Driving (Executive Order 13513, Dot Order 3902.10) Energy Conservation Requirements (2 Cfr § 200, Appendix Ii(H)) Equal Employement Opportunity (E.E.O.) (2 Cfr 200, Appendix Ii(C), 41 Cfr § 60-1.4, 41 Cfr § 60-4.3, Executive Order 11246) Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (Federal Minimum Wage) (29 U.S.C. § 201, Et Seq) Lobbying And Influencing Federal Employees (31 U.S.C. § 1352 – Byrd Anti-Lobbying Amendment, 2 Cfr Part 200, Appendix Ii(J), 49 Cfr Part 20, Appendix A) Prohibition Of Segregated Facilities (41 Cfr § 60) Occupational Safety And Health Act Of 1970 (20 Cfr Part 1910) Procurement Of Recovered Materials (2 Cfr § 200.322, 40 Cfr Part 247) Seismic Safety (49 Cfr Part 41) Termination Of Contract (2 Cfr § 200 Appendix Ii(B), Faa Advisory Circular 150/5370-10, Section 80-09) Trade Restriction Certification (49 Usc § 50104, 49 Cfr Part 30) Veteran’s Preference (49 Usc § 47112(C))

(Published in The Scott County Record on Thurs., March 23, 2017)1t

Scott County Burning Ban RESOLUTION 2008-09 A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING REGULATIONS AND REQUIRED PROCEDURES FOR AGRICULTURE OPEN BURNING. WHEREAS, agricultural open burning is a common and prudent land management practice within Scott County; and, WHEREAS, agricultural open burning can present risk of harm to neighboring lands, neighboring residents, and users of public roads; and WHEREAS, it is appropriate to assist fire departments with the deployment and the utilization of equipment and personnel for actual emergency circumstances.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF SCOTT COUNTY: 1) Agricultural open burning, defined as open burning of vegetation such as grass, woody species, crop residue and other dry plant growth for the purpose of crop, range, pasture, wildlife or watershed management, shall be conducted only under the following conditions which meet or exceed K.A.R. 28-19-648. (a) The person conducting the burn shall notify the Scott County Dispatch Office (620-872-2133) before the burning begins, and shall provide the dispatcher with the proposed burn location, estimated burn time, responsible party conducting said burn, and means of contacting responsible party during the burn event; additionally the person coordinating and conducting the burn shall notify the Scott County Dispatch Office when the burn is extinguished. (b) A person shall not conduct a burn that creates a traffic safety hazard. If conditions exist that may result in smoke blowing toward a public roadway, the person conducting the burn shall give adequate notification to the highway patrol, sheriff’s office or other appropriate state or local traffic control authorities before burning. (c) A person shall not conduct a burn that creates an airport safety hazard. If smoke may affect visibility at an airport, the person conducting the burn shall give adequate notification to the appropriate airport authorities before burning. (d) The person conducting the burn shall insure that the burning is supervised until the fire is extinguished. (e) A person shall not initiate burning during the nighttime, which for the purposes of this resolution is defined as the period from two hours before sunset until one hour after sunrise. A person shall not add material to a fire or light additional fire after two hours before sunset. (f) A person shall not burn during periods when surface wind speed is less than 5 mph or more than 15 mph or at any time where projected wind speeds for the burn period will be outside this range. (g) A person shall not burn when the Scott County Dispatch Office advises that burning is not permitted due to expected weather or fire safety index ratings for the area which make burning conditions unsafe or create an unreasonable risk for burning.

The Scott County Fire Chief/Scott City Fire Chief or his designee shall be authorized to make the determination as to whether fire is to be permitted pursuant to this sub-section, and shall contact the Dispatch Office when, in this opinion, conditions change.

The Dispatch Office shall be authorized to approve or disapprove individual burning requests in compliance with the Fire Chief’s determination. (h) A person shall not burn within 1,000 feet of any occupied dwelling in rural areas of the County, unless the occupant of that dwelling has been notified before the burn.

A person shall not burn within 1,000 feet of any city’s boundary, unless the City Clerk or other appropriate City Official has been notified before the burn.

2) Violation of this resolution, upon conviction, may be punished by a fine of up to $250.00 per day of violation per location. In addition, violators may be required to pay restitution for all damages done by a fire set in violation of this Resolution and may be required to reimburse the County for the costs of fighting said fires.

3) The County Fire Chief or the local Fire Chief having jurisdiction of the involved area in the absence of the County Fire Chief or the designee of said Chief, shall have the right to issue a cease and desist order in written form or verbally with a written confirmation and request the issuance of a Citation by the Scott County Sheriff for violations of said cease and desist order. Additionally, the local fire department has the right to extinguish all fires that are in violation of this Resolution.

4) The Board of County Commissioners may, in circumstances where public burning may jeopardize the safety and welfare of the population and/or property, ban open burning in the unincorporated areas of the County. In the event said circumstances arise when the Board of County Commissioners is not in scheduled open meeting, and when a special meeting of the Board of County Commissioners is impractical or impossible, the Chairman of the Board of the Board of County Commissioners may declare an emergency and implement a ban of open burning in the unincorporated areas of the County, PROVIDED, however, such action shall be reviewed by the Board of County Commissioners at its next regular scheduled open meeting, or at a special meeting called for said purpose, and the ban imposed by the Chairman shall be endorsed or rescinded, as the case may be, by action of the Board of County Commissioners. This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon its passage and publication in the official County newspaper.

ENDORSED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE COUNTY OF SCOTT, STATE OF KANSAS, THIS 21st DAY OF MARCH, 2017.

Jim Minnix, Chairman Jerry Buxton, member Gary Skibbe, member Attest: Alice Brokofsky, County Clerk

Friendship ‘Meals to Go’ • Good for special diets • only $3.25/meal • Call 872-3501

The Scott County Record • Page 14 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Lawmakers working to reverse $56M in Brownback Medicaid cuts Jim McLean Kansas News Service

With all of the talk in recent years about Kansas’ budget problems, it can be hard to keep track of what programs have been cut and by how much.

So, some Kansans may not remember that last summer Gov. Sam Brownback ordered more than $56 million in cuts to KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program.

Including the amount of federal matching funds lost, the cuts amounted to $128 million.

Kansas lawmakers remember the cuts, and they are taking steps to reverse them.

“It’s certainly a priority for me,” said Sen. Vicki Schmidt, a Topeka Republican who chairs the Public Health and Welfare Committee.

On Thursday, the Senate took a first step by passing a bill that would raise fees that insurance companies classified as health maintenance organizations, or HMOs, pay to do business in the state. That includes the three managed care orga-

nizations that administer KanCare.

The bill would not restore all the cuts.

Instead, it would reverse a $47 million reduction in reimbursements paid to hospitals, safety net clinics, nursing homes and community mental health centers for providing care to the approximately 425,000 low-income, disabled and elderly Kansans enrolled in KanCare.

As originally written, the bill would have imposed the HMO fee increase retroactive to Jan. 1. But the Senate changed

the implementation date to July 1. That means the state will not have the money to reverse the cuts until Jan. 1, 2018, according to the Kansas Hospital Association.

Still, Tom Bell, the hospital association’s president, said his members are encouraged by the Senate’s approval of the bill on a 27-13 vote.

“We are pleased that the Kansas Senate has taken an important step toward reversing a policy that has been harmful to health care access in

House agrees to direct lottery revenue to mental health The Kansas House of Representatives altered a bill authorizing installation of Kansas Lottery ticket vending machines in retail stores Wednesday by earmarking for mental health services at least $4 million annually in state revenue arising from the new distribution option.

Rep. Chuck Weber (R-Wichita) argued for dedication of the projected increase in lottery revenue to improving the network of community and crisis intervention facilities struggling with rising demand for services and restrained financial resources.

“We are trying to get some money on the streets as quickly as possible,” Weber said. “We need to take pressure off our state mental hospitals.”

(See LOTTERY on page 15)

(See MEDICAID on page 15)

KanCare expansion now goes to Senate for vote Jim McLean Kansas News Servie

Kansas lawmakers are now a step away from what could be a showdown with Republican Gov. Sam Brownback on the political football issue of Medicaid expansion.

The Senate Public Health and Welfare

Committee on Thursday advanced an expansion bill to the full Senate for a vote supporters say will take place Monday.

“Hallelujah,” said Sen. Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat, immediately after the committee approved the bill on a voice vote with little debate.

“We finally have enough compassionate, considerate, thoughtful legislators to have had this discussion and to pass this bill out of committee,” Kelly said, referring to legislative leaders elected after the recent defeat of several conservative incumbents

by moderate Republicans and Democrats.

Sen. Jake LaTurner, a Pittsburg Republican, voted against advancing the bill, insisting that Kansas lawmakers should wait on the outcome of a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on a GOP bill to replace the Affordable Care Act.

Lawmakers at odds on economic impact, cost of KanCare expansion Jim McLean Kansas News Service

A dispute about the cost and potential benefits of expanding Medicaid eligibility is heating up ahead of a Kansas Senate committee vote on a bill.

In testimony Monday to the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, supporters of expanding eligibility for KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, said expansion would more than pay for itself.

Former Kansas Senate President Dave Kerr, a Hutchinson Republican, said in its first full year, expansion would add about $81 million to the

cost of KanCare. But he said it would generate more than $154 million in revenue and savings, enough to cover the costs of expansion with about $73 million to spare.

“The net effect of expanding Medicaid will be positive, I’m very confident of that,” said Kerr, who chaired the Senate’s budget-writing committee when he was a legislator.

On Tuesday, Susan Mosier, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the state agency that oversees KanCare, challenged Kerr’s analysis and similar estimates formulated by the Kansas Hospital Association in her testi-

mony to the Senate committee.

“The numbers they have are seriously flawed,” Mosier said, charging that Kerr’s financial figures were based on inaccurate assumptions about the economic benefits of expansion and the extent to which federal funding could be used to supplant state dollars.

“If you don’t have the right assumptions, the right data, you can come to wrong conclusions,” Mosier said.

The state’s share of expansion costs would total $67.2 million, according to KDHE. In a rebuttal memo distributed Wednesday to

Among other things, the federal bill would prohibit states that haven’t already acted from expanding their Medicaid programs.

Since 2013, 31 states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid eligibility.

Kansas and Missouri are among 19 that have not.

“I think Washington is

going the opposite direction,” LaTurner said.

“They’re going to the right and we’re going to the left it seems. This is an enormous entitlement.

We’re writing checks that we can’t cash.”

Several members of the committee disagreed, including Kelly.

(See SENATE on page 15)

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members of the committee by the hospital association, Kerr said he relied on conservative assumptions.

As an example, he cited his estimate that an influx of federal Medicaid dollars would generate a $25 million spike in state tax revenues.

“If you don’t have the right assumptions, the right data, you can come to wrong conclusions.”

“Other (expansion) states have seen 13 to 18 percent of new spending come back in tax revenues,” Kerr wrote. “We have estimated only 2.5 percent.”

After reviewing Mosier’s testimony, Kerr (See IMPACT on page 15)

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Dr. Jerod M. Grove

For more information or to book an appointment, call Dr. Grove at (785) 623-5945

Scott County Hospital is proud to welcome Dr. Jerod M. Grove, a visiting general surgeon from Hays Medical Center.

He graduated with honors from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 2010 and has more than seven years of diverse surgical experience, including: • Laparoscopy • Endoscopy • Experience in all types of skin cancer and skin lesion removal • Thyroid surgery • Hernias • Colon resection • Other advanced laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures

The Scott County Record • Page 15 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Lottery Weber said Osawatomie State Hospital stopped taking voluntary admissions in 2015 and currently has a 20-patient waiting list for people involuntarily committed by court order.

Under House Bill 2313, the Kansas Lottery could place vending machines in locations to sell tickets, but the equipment wouldn’t dispense winnings. The bill declares any lottery ticket sold to a person under 18 to be void.

(continued from page 14)

Meanwhile, the House gave final approval to a bill fast-tracking access to a marijuana-based medication with the potential to moderate seizures. The legislation would make the drug available in Kansas only if the federal government grants regulatory approval.

Rep. John Wilson (D-Lawrence) convinced colleagues to amend Senate Bill 51 to allow physicians in Kansas to begin pre-

Impact wrote that he was “more convinced than ever that KDHE has ignored most of the savings and benefits” of expansion.

Sen. Barbara Bollier, (R-Mission Hills) said Mosier’s objections to the cost estimates weren’t surprising.

“The (Brownback) administration stands opposed to expansion,” Bollier said. “So, they will do whatever they can to make it look as bad as they can. To me it discredited them more than it did Senator Kerr.”

Sen. Vicki Schmidt (R-Topeka), who chairs the health committee, had scheduled the expansion bill for a vote Thursday, the same day that the U.S. House of Representatives

(continued from page 14)

was expected to vote on a Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act that among other things would nullify the Kansas bill.

Even so, Bollier expects the committee to approve the Kansas bill for a vote in the full Senate.

“It (the federal bill) doesn’t change anything,” she said. “We have the votes in committee to pass it (the Kansas expansion bill) . . . and we have been assured by the Senate president and by the majority leader that we will run the bill.”

Impact of Expansion Expansion would qualify all Kansans earning up to 138 percent of the poverty level, annually about $16,642 for individuals

Medicaid Kansas,” Bell said.

The effort to reverse the cuts could get more complicated in the House, where some members are backing a bill that in addition to raising the HMO fee would increase a state assessment on hospitals known as the “provider tax.”

The hospital association and groups representing doctors, mental health centers and safety net clinics strongly oppose the House bill, arguing in testimony Thursday to the

Senate “We don’t know what the end result in D.C. is going to be,” she said.

“So, I think we’re better to play offense here and get Medicaid expanded in the state and then deal with whatever comes down from D.C.” Expanding eligibility for KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, would provide health insurance to an additional 150,000 to 180,000 low-income adults.

scribing Epidiolex once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration completed vetting of the substance.

The bill was sent to the Senate on a vote of 117-6.

Members of the Legislature have resisted legislation permitting consumption of a nonpsychoactive hemp oil available in other states that anecdotally reduced seizures in some children with epilepsy.

In other House action, preliminary approval was given for a bill enabling

(continued from page 14)

House Health and Human Services Committee that it “harms the providers it is intended to help.”

The House bill is thought to have the backing of the Brownback administration because the governor and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer want to use some of the additional money it would generate to provide grants to struggling rural hospitals, create more residency slots for graduating physicians and help establish a private osteopathic medical school.

(continued from page 14)

Currently, KanCare eligibility is limited to children, pregnant women, people with disabilities and seniors in need of long-term care who have exhausted their financial resources. Parents are eligible only if they earn less than a third of the federal poverty level, or about $9,200 annually for a four-person family.

Single adults without children currently are not eligible no matter their income.

and $33,465 for a family of four, for Medicaid coverage.

Currently, Kansas limits Medicaid eligibility to children and pregnant women in low-income families, people with developmental and physical disabilities, and seniors who cannot afford nursing home care. Parents are eligible only if they earn less than a third of the federal poverty level, or about $9,200 annually for a four-person family.

Single adults without children are not eligible.

An estimated 300,000 Kansans would qualify for coverage under expansion, though only about half that number would enroll in the first year, according to estimates.

adult care facility residents or their guardians to install audio or visual monitoring equipment of the resident’s room or living space. The cost of the equipment would be borne by the resident rather than the facility.

Rep. Linda Gallagher (R-Lenexa) said the bill would prohibit a nursing home facility from discharging, refusing to admit or otherwise retaliating against a resident or person based on a request

to install monitoring equipment or placement of the recording devices in a facility.

Representatives of Kansas Advocates for Better Care and Heart of America Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association testified in favor of the bill.

House Minority Leader Jim Ward (D-Wichita) sought to repeal a 2014 Kansas law committing the state to join a proposed health care compact

of states seeking to break away from the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

Ward said the compact, which hasn’t been implemented, would enable federal dollars coming to the state for Medicare, and possibly Medicaid, to be in the form of a block grant so the state could make unspecified changes to program benefits.

“A few years ago Kansas made a terrible mistake,” Ward said.

The Scott County Record • Page 16 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

State lawmakers finally get a look at school finance formula Kansas lawmakers have waited for half the session to get a look at what will probably be the basis for a new school funding formula.

Rep. Larry Campbell, the chairman of the House K-12 Education Budget Committee, released an outline of the measure Tuesday.

It looks a lot like the formula scrapped two years ago for block grants, a funding scheme ruled unconstitutional earlier this month by the Kansas Supreme Court.

Campbell’s proposal has a per-pupil base state aid and provides extra money for English language learners, at-risk students and transportation — all things educators wanted to see.

What’s unknown is how much Campbell’s plan will cost.

“It’s hard to have a real judgment on this until you see what that number is going to be,” says Mark Desetti of the Kansas National Education Association.

That number has to satisfy a lot of people.

It can’t be so high that

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Have questions about the Scott Commnity Foundation?

Call 872-3790

The one local tax, known as the local option budget, would be divided into three taxes. It appears those three taxes would prevent local districts from raising as much as they do now. In addition, some of that money would have to be used to increase spending on atrisk students and English language learners to satisfy the state high court.

That mandate doesn’t sit well with David Smith, chief of staff of the Kansas City Kansas School District.

“If we’re really going to support students who are at-risk, we’re not going to do it by simply moving money from one pocket to another,” he says.

The bill also expands the number of low-income students who are eligible for scholarships to private or religious schools funded by tax credits. This is something crucial to gaining conservative support.

But the measure requires that those schools have KSDE accreditation and perform better than public schools in the state.

“If you’re going in this

State unlikely to restore funding cuts to higher ed With a deal nearly in hand for balancing the state’s budget for the current fiscal year, House and Senate budget committees will focus their attention in the upcoming week on writing a so-called “mega” budget bill for funding state agencies for the next two fiscal years.

Heading into that process, lawmakers have all but decided two key issues: finding a way to restore the four percent cut Gov. Sam Brownback ordered for the state Medicaid program last year, and providing a significant increase in K-12 public school funding in response to a recent Kansas Supreme Court decision.

But one area of the budget that is unlikely to see any increase, or even

a restoration of the cuts made last year, is higher education.

Last year, lawmakers passed a budget bill that included cuts to higher education, knowing at the time that there wasn’t enough revenue to pay for even that pared-back budget.

When Gov. Sam Brownback signed that bill, he ordered another $92 million in what are called “allotment” cuts statewide.

For the University of Kansas, the combined impact of those measures were a loss of $7.6 million for the Lawrence campus, compared to the previous year’s funding, and $4 million for the KU Medical Center in Kansas City.

direction of state money, you better make sure that people are providing you with data and evidence that they’re making a difference for kids,” says Desetti of the KNEA. One other thing was clear from the briefing Tuesday: Unlike previous sessions, Campbell brought all stakeholders into the process.

“I know he reached out to me the moment he became appointed to this position, before anything started, just to say his office was open. He has been true to that,” Desetti says.

Campbell has promised two days of hearings and more if needed.

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The Best Western El Quartelejo Inn and Suites in Scott City has received the hotel chain’s Chairman’s Award.

This is the highest honor given by Best Western in recognition of quality standards.

The Chairman’s Award recognizes hotels with a cleanliness and maintenance inspection score that rank in the top five percent of more than 2,100 North American properties. Hotels must also meet Best Western’s requirements for design and high customer service scores to qualify for the award.

“Receiving the Chairman’s Award from Best Western is a tremendous honor,” says Avie Barmann, general manager at the Scott City location.

“This demonstrates the commitment by El Quartelejo’s owners and management to providing quality accommodations for our guests. Our housekeeping and maintenance departments have worked hard to achieve this level of excellence.”

El Quartelejo Inn and Suites features 50 rooms and has an indoor pool and spa, as well as a fitness center.

conservatives in the Legislature will deem it dead on arrival. But it has to be high enough to gain support from moderate Republicans and Democrats.

And there must be enough new spending that the state Supreme Court will approve it.

“What we tried to do was hear what the court was telling us and build from there,” says Campbell, a Republican from Olathe.

The bill will be introduced Wednesday, and that’s when the negotiations will start. The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) also will release what it calls “runs,” which are spreadsheets that show exactly how much districts can expect under the proposed formula.

While it looks much like the old formula, there are some significant differences. This is “not a small change,” according to Rep. Ed Trimmer, the ranking Democrat on the K-12 committee.

First, it changes the way districts raise money locally.

for

Coarse aCtors

by Michael Green

Support Your Hometown Merchants!

Streuth • Moby Dick JuliuS anD cleopatra Scott Community High School Maria DeGeer Auditorium Sunday, March 26 • 2:30 p.m.

Monday, March 27 • 7:30 p.m.

Tickets available at the door 30 minutes prior to curtain

Adults • $7

Students • $5

Please note: This show features mature humor and word play.

Sunday Matinee Dessert Bar

hosted by the SCHS Forensics Team Free-will Donation

Sports The Scott County Record

statebound The Takedown Kids Wrestling Club qualifies 11 for state tournament Page 22

www.scottcountyrecord.com

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Section C • Page 17

Softball bar is set high after last season’s success

Junior shortstop Macie Price completes the relay throw to first place for a double play during practice on Wednesday.

(Record Photo)

After getting the most wins in a single season in school history (18) and narrowly missing a trip to the state tournament, what does the Scott Community High School softball team do for an encore?

“The Season g i r l s Opener k n o w Scott City vs they have Goodland (H) a really Thurs., March 30 4:00 p.m. g o o d chance of getting to state.

I just have to remind them there are a lot of games to be played before that can happen,” says head coach Erin Myers.

And some questions that need to be answered.

Even though the Lady Beavers return five starters from last year’s 18-4 squad, they lost some key

players.

The biggest impact will be felt at the plate where they lost four of their top six hitters - three to graduation and another who moved.

The top returning bats are being swung by senior Krystal Appel (.514, 37 hits, 5 triples) and junior Kaitlyn Roberts (.492, 31 hits, 7 doubles). They are followed closely by senior Nancy Wiebe (.481, 25 hits, 8 doubles) and junior Bailey Latta (.432, 32 hits).

“We’ll definitely be counting on Krystal for power. If she doesn’t hit three or four home runs I’ll be surprised,” says Myers.

(See SOFTBALL on page 20)

SCHS baseball looking for breakout season Youth and lack of numbers have made the last few years a struggle for the SCHS baseball team.

The Beavers Season haven’t had a Opener winning season Scott City at since 2013 and Goodland over the last three Thurs., March 30 seasons have 4:00 p.m. posted a combined record of 9-52, including 3-18 last year.

The Beavers are ready to put that behind them.

They are loaded with experienced seniors and have a deep roster that should put them in contention for a Great West Activities Conference title.

“A lot of these boys also played some summer ball, so we have some high expectations,” says head coach David Dirks.

Scott City will be pinning a lot of their hopes on defense - at least early in the season. And they have good reason with most of their players returning. The big question is where they will play.

We have boys capable of playing two or maybe even three positions and playing them well,” says Dirks.

Of course, the defense will also be dictated by who’s on the mound.

Senior Kyle Cure, who was selected as the Great West Activities Conference All-League first baseman will anchor the defense. Playing (See BASEBALL on page 18)

SCHS senior Chase Rumford puts down a bunt during practice drills on Tuesday. Scott City will open its season on Thursday when they travel to Goodland for league play.

(Record Photo)

KSHSAA throws curve at baseball coaches Baseball coaches are always tracking the pitch count of their staff, but the Kansas State High School Activities Association has made that an even bigger factor during the upcoming

season.

This will be the first year of a strictly enforced rule in which the number of pitches thrown by a pitcher will determine when he can again appear on the mound.

For example, if a player throws 61 pitches in a game on Tuesday they won’t be available to pitch again on Friday. If someone pitches 46-60 pitches in a game, they are required to have two full

days rest before appearing on the mound again; 61-75 pitches and they must have three full days rest.

Only actual pitches in a game will figure in that (See CURVE on page 18)

Lady Beavers will have strength in relays, distance

Scott City senior Paige Winderlin competes in the 4x800m relay at last year’s Class 3A state track meet.

(Record Photo)

It doesn’t matter whether the Scott City girls are competing in Class 3A or Class 4A, one thing remains consistent with the track team - their success will hinge primarily on their middle distance and distance individual events and relays.

“Except for Kelly (Wycoff, 2015 graduate) it doesn’t seem like we get too many sprinters,” notes head coach Jim Turner.

But, where the Lady Beavers are good, they should be very good.

They bring back a wealth of experience from state competition last year, led by senior Paige Winderlin who ran a career best in Wichita of 60.43 to earn a bronze medal.

She was also a member of the state

qualifying 4x800m (third place) and 4x400m (seventh place) relays.

“The big thing we’re going to face with Paige and Makaela (Stevens) is how far to we stretch them when it comes to regional,” says Turner. “We were able to get away with it at 3A, but at 4A we’re going to have to narrow our focus a little more.

“Paige probably won’t be able to compete in three events at state and Mikayla probably won’t be able to double up in the 1600 and 3200.

That’s something we’ll have to figure out during the season,” he says.

Stevens was a fifth place state medalist in the 3200m last season, but because weather forced all of (See BEAVERS on page 19)

The Scott County Record • Page 18 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Baseball at the other corner will likely be senior Chase Rumford.

Up the middle, Aaron Hoopes and Justin Faurot, who could rotate between second base and shortstop.

Spending most of the time behind home plate will be senior Todd Morris while senior Kevin Aguilera will also see some action as catcher.

The outfield should be very sound with Aguilera and Seth Cardenas in center and senior Drew Duff in left field. Right field will again be dictated by who’s on the mound.

“We have a lot of options and a lot of flexibility,” Dirks says.

Need More Offense The Achilles heel for SCHS the last few seasons has been lack of offense and last year was no exception. The Beavers had a team batting average of just .222.

Cure (.349) was the

(continued from page 17)

only player to hit better than .300, followed by Faurot (.283) and Hoopes (.279).

Hoopes accounted for all three home runs and, outside of those round trippers, Scott City had just seven extra base hits.

“The good news was that we made a lot of contact last year.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have much power behind a lot of them,” says Dirks.

“I feel we can hit for more power this year and once we do get on base we have some pretty good speed.”

Pitching by Committee Senior Gustavo Gonzales was, by far, the team’s most effective pitcher last year. He had a 5.52 ERA, but often times got little offensive support.

There were times when he looked stellar last year, including a no-hitter.

Dirks says just about everyone else on the ros-

ter is being looked at as a pitching prospect and many could see game time.

“We’ve got to develop some pitchers,” he emphasizes. “With so many seniors, we have the experience and strength that I’d like to think several of them could do a pretty good job for us.

“Right now, basically everyone who is on varsity is getting (bullpen) work,” he says.

The Beavers have 24 players on the squad which also gives them the luxury of playing a junior varsity schedule.

“Last year, we had only 17 boys and that meant no JV games, which really hurts the development of our young kids,” Dirks adds. “We’re going to be losing a lot of boys after this season, so this is a great opportunity for our young kids to get experience. We’re going to need them next year.”

Boat taxes are a bargain PRATT - If you’re a Kansas boat owner or are thinking of buying a boat, you should know that property taxes on recreational boats have gone down as much as 75 percent since 2013.

Before that, Kansas boat owners paid property taxes based on an assessed value that was 30 percent of the boat’s market worth. So if you owned a $30,000 boat, the assessed value was $9,000, and depending on the mill levee in the county you lived in, you could have paid more than $1,000 in annual property taxes.

Boats must be registered with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) to operate on public waters, and that registration fee is just $32.50 for three years.

Since counties use KDWPT’s registration

KDWPT Report lists to assess property taxes, many Kansans opted to register their boats in neighboring states where the property taxes were much less.

In fact, according to the Oklahoma Department of Conservation, more than 5,000 Kansas boats were registered there in 2013.

Reducing the tax rate on Kansas boats required an amendment to the state’s constitution, and the Kansas legislature put that question on the ballot in November 2012. Voters approved the amendment and a new law took effect in 2013, reducing the assessment rate in phases - 11.5 percent in 2014 to five percent in 2015 where it remains.

The result has been a significant reduction in property taxes on boats.

Take that $30,000 boat

for example. If you own that boat in Pratt County, where the mill levee is 120, you’ll pay just $180 annually.

To get the word out, KDWPT began a campaign titled: “Own It Here, Use It Here, Register It Here.” The idea is to encourage Kansas boat owners to voluntarily register their boats locally, but KDWPT law enforcement officers will also step up enforcement of the law, which requires boats to be registered in the state of principal use.

Boat registration fees fund boater education programs, construction and enhancement of boat access facilities, as well as other recreational boating programs. And Kansas counties depend on property taxes to fund county services.

Remember: Own It Here, Use It Here, Register It Here.

SCHS head coach David Dirks feeds balls into a new pitching machine that was purchased by the SCHS Booster Club and arrived on Wednesday.

(Record Photo)

Curve total - not warmup pitches.

In addition, coaches will be required to sign-off on the total pitches for each player and that will be submitted to KSHSAA. “It’s going to dramatically alter how you handle your staff for Tuesday and Friday games,” says head coach David Dirks.

And what happens if a game is postponed due to weather?

Dirks feels there’s a strong likelihood those games won’t be made up.

In most instances, that would mean playing three games in a week and most teams won’t have enough arms available.

The SCHS coach understands that the primary goal is to look after the well-being of high school athletes and this is a rule that many coaches have been anticipating in some form or another.

Last season, coaches tracked the number of pitches thrown and days rest in between pitches.

This information was sent

(continued from page 17)

to KSHSAA which arrived at the current guidelines.

On average, Dirks says his staff pitched 117 pitches per game last season.

On paper, that works out to about 60 pitches for two pitches, which would allow them to pitch on Tuesday and again on Friday. But, of course, it doesn’t work that way in the real world.

“I’m not going to pull someone out of the middle of an at-bat, or in the middle of an inning because they’ve hit 60 pitches,” he notes. “I’d prefer to make the changes between innings.”

More often than not, that means the starting pitcher will likely exit the game with fewer than 60 pitches so they will be available for their next start.

There is also another possibility. A team that produces enough offense can mercy rule their opponent and get their pitcher out of the game earlier.

Barring that luxury, Dirks says several play-

ers will likely be seeing mound duty during a double-header.

“I think pitches going five or seven full innings is going to be a rarity,” predicts Dirks. “And that’s going to make for some tough coaching decisions.

If you have a kid throwing a no-hitter, do you leave him in the game or do you pull him out so he’ll be available for the next game?”

He also sees the opportunity for batters to be more aggressive at the plate because pitchers will be throwing more strikes in order to keep their pitch count low.

“If a pitcher is ahead 0 and 2 in the count, he might throw away a pitch or two in order to get someone swinging at a ball outside the (strike) zone,” says Dirks. “How many pitches is he going to want to throw away if he’s approaching 60 or 70 pitches?

“It’s going to make for some interesting strategy.”

The Scott County Record • Page 19 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

A big bang or do we credit intelligent design?

I’d set some beaver traps in a creek near the road, and since the ditches were really deep along there, I found the best way to park near the creek was to drive down into the ditch itself and follow it clear to the creek.

When I first parked there I noticed a rather strange looking piece of what appeared to be rubber of some sort laying

Outdoors in Kansas by Steve Gilliland

there in the ditch.

“Odd,” I thought, but not earth-shattering as you’re likely to see most anything in the ditch near a stream, as some people view that as a good place to get rid of a variety of

Beavers Friday’s events to be cancelled, that meant she had to also compete in the 1600m on Saturday.

As a result, she settled for a ninth place finish in the 1600m which was run later in the day.

Stevens is also among the four returning members of the 4x800m relay,

“stuff.”

The next day though my curiosity got the best of me and I picked up that piece of “rubber” to see what it really was. I’d been looking at the inside of the object and when I turned it over it was apparent I had stumbled upon the partial remains of an armadillo.

The armor plate that covered its back was still

(continued from page 17)

joining senior Cami Patton and sophomore Dulce Ayala.

The state placing 4x400m relay is also intact with juniors Olivia Prieto and Emily Smith, along with Ayala.

Smith added a ninth place finish in the 300m low hurdles at state and is

also looking at finding a spot on a couple of relays.

Among the incoming freshmen who could make an immediate impact is Madison Shapland in the pole vault.

“We have a good group of freshmen and a couple of them could surprise us,” Turner adds.

in one piece, made up of dozens of long, narrow, armored tiles that overlapped each other slightly like shingles on a roof, and each row was connected to the next by tissue that acted like a hinge and allowed them all to flex as the animal moved.

The front and the back were each one big cupshaped piece of armor that were connected to the rest

by the same tissue and would have covered the critters hips and shoulders and extended down each side to its belly.

One smaller piece caught my eye as it was made up of hundreds of little armored tiles much smaller than any of the others. I picked it up and turned it over, and there, tucked up inside was its tiny pointed skull.

Now I could write an entire column on the unique qualities of an armadillo, but the point I wish to make here is that everything about the armored remains of that creature were designed to work just like they did; they didn’t just happen that way!

I suppose someone that has lived their entire life (See DESIGN on page 21)

The Scott County Record • Page 20 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

SC boys will again rely on distance, mid-distance Scott Community High School will turn to their bread and butter during the upcoming track season.

The SCHS boys will once again field state medal caliber relays in the 4x400m and 4x800m and which will reflect their strength in the middle and distance individual events.

Leading the way for SCHS will be sophomore Jack Thomas, a state champion in the 3200m last season. However, that was in Class 3A and the competition will be much tougher now that the Beavers are competing in 4A - which the runners discovered last fall in cross-country.

“I wish a lot of the kids had put in more miles during the winter, but Jack isn’t one of those I worry about,” says Turner. “If anything, you have to convince him to back off a little.”

His off-season conditioning was evident during the opening day of practice when he (See SC BOYS on page 21)

Softball “She’s stronger and she’s been working on her swing during the off-season. She’s changed it some and from what we’ve seen in the few practices we’ve had I think it’s going to work well for her.”

Appel and newcomer Macie Price will likely be hitting in the No. 3 or No. 4 spots. Price, who played at Dodge City last season, is a welcome addition to the squad and will be effective at the plate and in the field.

Latta will probably be hitting at the top of the order because of her ability to get on base.

“She’s very hard to strike out. She keeps the defense wondering because she can hit well and she can also put down a bunt for a hit,” notes Myers.

SCHS senior Jess Drohman competes on the 4x800m relay at last year’s Class 3A state track meet.

(Record Photo)

(continued from page 17)

Roberts and Wiebe also have the capability of hitting for average or for power which gives the Lady Beavers the ability to score a lot of runs.

Last year, the Lady Beavers averaged 10.5 runs per game and matching that production could be a challenge early in the season.

“We have some young girls with big shoes to fill,” Myers says. “It’s probably going to take me a few games to settle on our batting order.”

Defense is Solid The SCHS defense could be very stingy, led by Price at shortstop.

“Nicole (Latta) was very good last year, but Macie’s

the best shortstop I’ve had the chance to coach,” Myers says.

“She has good range and a very strong arm. She’s got the ability to be a very special player.”

Latta returns at third base and Roberts will play second base when she’s not on the mound.

The right side of the infield will be a concern for the Lady Beavers as they search for another second baseman when Roberts is unavailable and first base is wide open.

The top prospects at first base appear to be sophomore Kaitlyn Wolkensdorfer and freshman Lyndi Rumford.

The number-one catcher to start the season is sophomore Aspyn Nix with Wiebe also

getting some work behind the plate.

Appel will be in centerfield and will be joined by Wiebe.

Battling for the other outfield position at this time are senior Karen Hermosillo and sophomore Kally Kough.

Roberts on the Mound Roberts was the team’s ace last season, finishing with a 3.82 ERA along with 37 strikeouts.

Even though she hasn’t pitched for the past two seasons, Latta will also have some duties on the mound.

“She’s a competitor and once she gets settled in she’ll do fine,” Myers says.

Other prospects include

Kearston Buffington, Rumford, Gabby Martinez, and Wolkensdorfer.

While there are several questions surrounding this year’s team, one thing that isn’t in question is their confidence.

“We’re starting the season with a different mindset,” says the head coach. “The girls did great last year, but they aren’t satisfied. Now they know what it’s like to win and their goal is to get to state.”

More confidence isn’t the only thing that will be different from last year.

“We’re going to be the team that everyone wants to beat,” adds Myers. “That’s something we have to be ready for every time we play.”

Stepping Up Hoedown • Fri., March 24, 6:00 p.m. • Bellwether Barn • Dinner • Music • Auction

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Limit to one router/firewall per service account.

The Scott County Record • Page 21 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Hawks have what it takes to be the national champions Reserve center Dwight Coleby’s play in KUs 90-70 win over Michigan State might prove to have been a turning point in the Jayhawks’ hopes of winning a national championship. by Coleby is more effective, by far, Mac than Carleton Bragg and it’s incon- Stevenson ceivable that Coach Bill Self won’t be using Coleby ahead of Bragg for the rest of the tournament.

Coleby’s defense and rebounding are stellar and he appears to be fully recovered from knee surgery.

It’s also good news for Jayhawk fans that Coleby has another year of eligibility.

Kansas’ fastbreak is the best in the nation and proved to be too much for Purdue’s big players in Thursday night’s Sweet 16 win.

In addition, KU has been highly effective shooting three-point shots in most of their games. If that effectiveness continues, Kansas has a chance to win it all.

Center Landen Lucas has been steady and reliable in every game; his rebounding and defense are indispensable for the Jayhawks. And his offensive play has improved slowly but surely throughout the season.

Out of the six Big 12 teams that qualified for the Big Dance, three are left in the Sweet 16 - KU, West Virginia and Baylor. That’s impressive for a league that has just 10 teams. And it’s a good argument to leave the Big 12 as is - bigger isn’t always better.

KSU Must Act Quickly President Richard Myers of Kansas State should feel a sense of urgency concerning the hiring of a new athletic director.

That supposition is predicated on the assumption that Myers and the influential alums have decided to make a head coaching change in the men’s basketball program. That may or may not be the case.

If Coach Bruce Weber is going to remain as K-State’s coach, there’s no great hurry in hiring a new AD. However, if K-State is going to hire a new coach - as they should - time is of the essence.

If K-State’s hierarchy drags their feet in hiring a new AD and then fires Weber, the new coach is going to be way behind in the 2017 recruiting class.

There’s no reason Kansas State doesn’t have a first-class basketball program comparable to Wichita State and Iowa State. That’s why the hiring of an outstanding AD is of the utmost importance.

Royals Lack Pitching Staff Baseball season is less than two weeks away and the Kansas City Royals’ pitchers that are battling for starting slots are a cause for worry.

Danny Duffy is expected to be the ace of the staff and he was sporting a 7.71 ERA through March 19.

Chris Young had a 2.13 ERA; Jason Hammel was at 4.00; Travis Wood stood at 4.05; Jason Vargas had a 6.00; and Nathan Karns struggled at 7.36.

KC’s supposed ace, Danny Duffy, had sunk to a 7.71; Kyle Zimmer was also at 7.71; and Ian Kennedy was the early ace with a 0.00 in just five innings.

The usual spring optimism must be viewed with a bit of objectivity: It looks as if the KC Royals are going to tumble back into the muddy pit of mediocrity.

Owner David Glass has tightened the purse strings and 2017 could quickly become a long season.

Design in the middle of a big city and never seen anything but asphalt and concrete could believe that all of nature resulted from some big cataclysmic explosion or crawled out from some giant pot of stew.

I don’t fall into that category.

No matter how mundane or uneventful an outdoor adventure seems, I absolutely never leave nature’s presence without being fascinated by something. Maybe it just doesn’t take much to fascinate me anymore, but my wonderment with creation starts pretty simply.

For example, does one account for all the vibrant colors around a rooster pheasants face, the shimmering green of a mallard

(continued from page 19)

drakes head, the stunning red hues of a male cardinals body or even the amazing palate of colors found on a pesky peacocks tail?

Then inversely, how do all the females of those same species end up totally dull and drab so they blend in with their surroundings as they sit on a nest filled with peculiar looking vessels called “eggs” that will hatch, and just like the corn plant, produce young that are exactly like their parents?

How do geese navigate to spots hundreds or even thousands of miles away, and yet find their way back home to nest? How do salmon end up where they were hatched to lay

SC Boys ran three repeat (back-toback) miles in 5:05, 5:10 and 5:15.

“He progressed real well last year as a freshman and he’s obviously put in a lot of miles this winter,” notes Turner.

Thomas added a fourth place finish in the 1600m in addition to being a member of the second place 4x800m relay.

One of the big questions facing Turner and his athletes is how many events they will try to spread themselves between when they get into the regional and hopefully state meets.

“With 4A, we will probably have to make some tough decisions.

That’s something we’ll be looking at all season as we see what other kids are out there and how well they’re doing,” Turner adds.

The 4x800m relay returns all four members, including senior Jess Drohman, junior Adrian Ruelas and sophomore Wyatt Hayes.

In addition, the Beavers bring back three members of the 4x400m relay that

(continued from page 20)

placed fourth at state junior Jarret Jurgens, Drohman and Hayes.

Drohman also placed sixth in the 800m and Ruelas was a state qualifier in the same event.

The other returning state medalist is sophomore Marshall Faurot who finished sixth in the 300m int. hurdles, sixth in the high jump and eighth in the 100m high hurdles.

Faurot could emerge as one of the area’s top pole vaulters this season.

“I think a realistic goal for him in the vault is 15 feet,” Turner says.

The Beavers could collect points during the season from senior Mikennon Donovan in the discus and sophomore Kyle Sherwood in the shot put.

“Mikennon could do well, but just needs more consistency,” says Turner. “I expect Kyle to be around 45 feet, which is pretty good for a sophomore.”

Scott City will open its season on Fri., March 31, when they travel to Ulysses. Field events will begin at 3:00 p.m.

eggs of their own, which you guessed it - will hatch into little salmon looking just like mom and dad.

How do ducklings know how to swim when they are barely dry after hatching, and how do hoards of baby turtles know to head straight for the ocean mere minutes after digging themselves free from their sand covered nests?

I marveled at a beaver I caught recently, how it had a broad flat tail to help navigate its thick heavy body through the water, how it had claws on both front feet to help hold and carry sticks and how it had huge webbed feet on both back legs to propel it through the water.

Had it been made with claws on all four feet, or huge webbed feet on all four legs or had a skinny little tail like a muskrat, nothing would have worked right at all. It was intelligently designed and built perfectly with everything it needed!

Some critters may appear to have been put together using spare parts, but those spare parts all have a specific purpose.

So when you are out enjoying creation, think of it as such and I bet you’ll gain a whole new appreciation for Exploring Kansas Outdoors.

Steve can be contacted by email at stevenrgilliland@ gmail.com

The Scott County Record • Page 22 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

11 Takedown kid grapplers statebound

District 4 Championships March 18, 2017 • at Garden City 8-Years and Under 52: Cooper Irvin pinned by Warric Eakins (Con Kids) 2:29; dec. Brody Schmidtt (Colby) 2-0; dec. by Easton Fink (Oakley) 6-3; dec. by Haegen Hartman (Southwest Grapplers) 6-2. Sixth Place 58: Trenton Frank dec. Nathan Cates (Colby) 4-0; dec.

by Carter Johnson (Lincoln County) 1-0; maj. dec. Tate Mcgreer (Colby) 14-0; maj. dec. Nathan Cates (Colby) 110. Third Place 61: Matthew Wheeler pinned Brant Pfannenstiel (Hays) 0:24; dec. Gavin Driggs (Phillipsburg) 7-0; dec. Preston Hittle (Ulysses) 5-2. First Place 64: Cayden Couchman maj. dec. byHolden Lind (Hays) 12-2; maj. dec. by Isaac Guerrero (Greater Gold) 11-0.

67: Easton Eisenhour dec. Kale Schroeder (Con Kids) 6-4; pinned by Jacob Gonzales (Ulysses) 0:20; pinned Seth Torres (Greater Gold) 0:23; dec. by Kale Schroeder (Con Kids) 4-0. Fourth Place 70: Blaze Gossman pinned Kai Kirchhoff (Smith County) 2:37; dec. by Layne Juenemann (Hoxie) 7-0; maj. dec.

Blake Sein (Great Bend) 14-0; pinned Blake Buresh (Phillipsburg) 0:56. Third Place 73: Brodey Rohrbough pinned by Talon Wark (Colby) 0:40; dec. by Ryan Budig (WaKeeney) 6-4.

10-Years and Under 73: Waylon Ricker dec. by Chance Jermark (Beloit) 8-2; maj. dec. by William Meyer (Hoxie) 10-0.

76: Alexander Rodriguez maj. dec. by Israel Zimmerman (Hays) 12-1; dec. by Drew Sterrett (Con Kids) 2-0.

90: Houston Frank tech fall Lennon Ninemire (Con Kids) 16-0; maj. dec. Brayden Suchy (Russell) 10-0; pinned by Luke Fischer (Junior Indians) 2:37. Second Place 95: Case Armendariz pinned Tucker Rohr (Plainville) 0:32; pinned by Damien Quint (Pratt) 0:21; pinned Trent Neuman (Ellsworth County) 2:13; pinned by Nathaniel Dold (Renegades) 0:58. Fourth Place 12-Years and Under 80: Collin McDaniel pinned Carson Ochs (Hoxie) 0:30; tech fall Cyrus Vajnar (Hays) 15-0; pinned Gannon Winter (Hays) 2:36. First Place 88: Zach Rohrbough pinned Breckin Sauvage (Oberlin) 4:02; dec. Darius Shields (Norton) 7-4; pinned by Luke Barker (Ulysses) 2:50. Second Place 150: Lance Miller pinned Luke Franklin (Smith County) 0:53; pinned by Keyan Miller (Con Kids) 2:33; pinned Carmelo Orosco (Ulysses) 2:16; pinned by Logan Erway (Junior Indians) 2:04. Fourth Place 215: Jarron Gregory pinned Ricardo Levario (Ulysses) 2:29; dec. by Ricardo Levario 5-0; pinned by Ricardo Levario 4:01. Second Place 14-Years and Under 155: Caleb VanDegrift pinned Shadryon Blanka (St. Francis) 0:53; pinned by Jordan Finnesy (Plainville) 2:52; dec. Gavon Uehlin (Oberlin) 3-2; dec. Joshua Ball (Jr. Cardinals) 3-1. Third Place

Eleven members of the Takedown Kids Wrestling Club have qualified for the Kansas Kids state tournament after finishing in the top four at the district tournament last Saturday in Garden City. Qualifiers are (front row, from left) Easton Eisenhour, Blaze Gossman, Collin McDaniel, Matthew Wheeler and Trenton Frank. (Back row) Case Armendariz, Jarron Gregory, Caleb VanDegrift, Lance Miller, Houston Frank and Zach Rohrbough.

(Record Photo)

Scott City wrestlers in district action last Saturday are (clockwise, from top) Collin McDaniel, Matthew Wheeler, Easton Eisenhour and Zach Rohrbough.

(Record Photos)

Record Xtra Scott City firefighter Wyatt Green checks water pressure before he and other volunteers enter the interior firefighting simulator during a training exercise held in Ness City last Saturday.

(Record Photo)

Volunteers near end of firefighting training Twelve firefighters from Scott and Lane counties have nearly completed a Firefighting I training course.

A final skills exam will be held on March 25, marking the conclusion of the class which began on Nov. 1. Certification is done through the University of Kansas Firefighting Training Center.

“This is the first time in Firefighter I about 10 years the course Participants has been offered here,” says Scott City: Scott class instructor Bill Fortune. Andrews, John For 4-1/2 months, volun- Fisher, Wyatt Green, teers would meet weekly for Brad Ludowese and Jordan Unruh sessions that involved selfDighton/Healy: contained breathing appa- Jeff Allen, Tyler ratus (SCBA) and bunker Dandurand, Nathan gear training, pump opera- Handy, Morgan tions, vehicle extraction, first Landgraf, Nick aid, hazardous materials and Mendez, Alex O’Rourk and Kyle more.

During a recent exercise Roberts. in Scott City, firefighters worked with instructors from KU on ceiling ventilation and rooftop firefighting through the use of a skills trailer from the KU training center. Training also included forceable entry, how to shut off a building sprinkler system in an area unaffected by a fire and a “Mayday” simulation for extracting an injured firefighter or oneself from a life-threatening situation.

Class members traveled to Ness City on March 18 where they gained experience on how to enter a building on fire with the aid of an interior firefighting simulator provided by KU. More Hands-On Training This class of firefighters had the opportunity to take part of the class on-line which eliminated the need for so much lecture time.

Fortune says participants were given one or two chapters to read on-line and they would take an accompanying test. In addition, they would review the materials and ask questions during the next class.

“In the past, lectures would last about three hours and that would be followed by about one hour of skills training,” Fortune points out. “This way the questions and discussion last about an hour which allows us about three hours of hands-on training.”

Consequently, a class that typically lasts about six months was completed 4-5 weeks sooner.

“The firefighters like it a lot better. Everyone feels we got a lot more accomplished and we spent a lot more time working on things that we’ll have to deal with in the field,” Fortune says.

The next step is Firefighter II training, but that isn’t likely to happen in the immediate future.

“Several of the guys are interested, but I think right now everyone’s ready for a break,” Fortune says. “When the time comes, we’ll need about 15 firefighters in order to offer the class.”

During a recent training session in Scott City, participants in the Firefighter I school along with other volunteers were able to practice various techniques under the supervision of instructors from the University of Kansas.

(Left) Firefighters practice ladder work for second story fires. (Right) Brad Ludowese works on ceiling ventilation. (Below) Jeff Mayer works on techniques for knocking out walls to escape an interior fire.

(Photos by Beau Harkness)

The Scott County Record Page 23 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

The Scott County Record

Farm

Page 24 - Thursday, March 23, 2017

Kansas wheat crops feeling stress from drought conditions Above average temps causing earlier than usual progress MANHATTAN, Kan. - Dry winter weather that helped fuel wildfires in Kansas and other Plains states also left many wheat fields in need of moisture even as above-average temperatures pushed wheat plants to green up earlier than usual.

The dry conditions through much of the state left some wheat fields in

tough shape, said Kansas State University agronomy assistant professor Romulo Lollato.

Total precipitation from Sept. 1, 2016, to Feb. 28, 2017, varied widely with some areas receiving far more than normal precipitation while the entire southwest quarter of Kansas received below-normal precipitation, according to the Kansas Weather Data Library.

“As a consequence of the precipitation shortage last fall in southwest Kansas, many fields there have erratic stands or are just now germinating or emerging,” said Lollato, a wheat

specialist with K-State Research and Extension.

That leaves growers facing several agronomic and economic considerations as they decide whether to maintain the crop or plant the field to a different spring-planted crop.

In fields where the wheat seed sowing depth was relatively deep (two inches), the first leaf may have started below ground, he said. Some of those plants may never push through the soil surface, so those fields may have scattered wheat stands.

In other fields that were dry last fall and now have moisture, shoots may push

through and producers could end up with a decent stand. In these cases, sowing depth, seed treatment, seed vigor, and occurrence of pests and diseases will affect the final stand.

Previous research indicates that fields that are just now emerging, months after they normally would, have about half the yield potential of a crop that emerged and tillered in the fall.

Spring weather, of course, will still be a factor, Lollato said.

“If the weather turns cool and moist during the spring, these fields might still yield okay, but if we have a more

Heartland tries to steer Trump away from trade war Farmers in the U.S. agricultural heartland that helped elect Donald Trump are now pushing his administration to avoid a trade dispute with Mexico, fearing retaliatory tariffs that could hit over $3 billion in U.S. exports.

The value of exports at risk is based on a Reuters analysis of a tariff list which Mexico used in a trucking dispute six years ago and which Mexican officials have said could serve as a model if President Trump sets new barriers to Mexican goods.

Pork producers contacted Trump’s transition team soon after the Nov. 8 election to stress that tariff-free access to Mexico has made it their top export market by volume, said John Weber, president of the National Pork Producers Council.

(See WHEAT on page 25)

(See TRADE WAR on page 25)

Budget issues stall funding of state water plan Efforts to fund Kansas’ long-term water plan are at a standstill, at least for now, as legislators face massive revenue shortfalls, as well as a Supreme Court order to increase school funding.

A new committee tasked with dealing with water and environmental policy has made little progress and has come to a virtual standstill, at least for now.

“There is agreement among all the committee members and the stakeholders - I mean the ag groups, the municipal representatives, conservation districts, everybody - that we need to be investing more in protecting the water supply and water quality,” said Rep. Tom Sloan (R-Lawrence) who chairs the committee.

He said the problem is that the funding plan

originally offered by Gov. Sam Brownback’s “Blue Ribbon Task Force” on water issues called for funneling 1/10 of one cent of the state’s existing sales tax to water projects, something Sloan said cannot pass the House and which House leaders won’t even consider with an estimated $755 million revenue shortfall facing the state over the next two years.

Sloan said the only funding plan that would stand a chance of passing is increasing fees stakeholder groups all now pay into the State Water Fund, something stakeholders won’t agree to until the state resumes paying $6 million in state general fund money, which hasn’t been contributed for several years even though it is required under law.

Kent Askren, direc-

Brazil meat scandal will likely shift Asian imports Fallout from a meatpacking industry scandal in Brazil, the world’s biggest exporter of beef and poultry, widened on Monday as China, the EU, South Korea and Chile curtailed meat imports from the country after inspectors were accused of taking bribes to allow sales of tainted food.

With other import curbs expected to follow, the scandal stemming from a Brazilian police operation codenamed “Weak Flesh” could deal a heavy blow

to one of the few sectors of Latin America’s largest economy that has thrived during a two-year recession.

The police investigation of Brazil’s meatpacking industry is the latest to cast a spotlight on unsavory business practices in the country. Brazil is still reeling from massive graft scandals involving statecontrolled oil company Petrobras and construction and engineering firm Odebrecht.

Police have named

BRF SA and JBS, along with dozens of smaller rivals, in a two-year probe into how meatpackers allegedly paid off inspectors and politicians to overlook practices including processing rotten meat and shipping exports with traces of salmonella.

JBS is the world’s largest meat producer and BRF the biggest poultry exporter.

The companies have denied any wrongdoing, and authorities have said no cases of death or ill-

Fed cattle see March rally Fed cattle and boxed beef markets have rallied nicely the past month.

After a strong January, fed cattle prices dropped below $120/cwt. in February before the recent rally.

Mid-March live fed cattle prices pushed up to $128/cwt. with some trades over $130/cwt. reported.

Choice boxed beef has increased from a February low below $188/cwt. to a recent high over $223/cwt. There

JONES CLUB LAMBS

Jeremy • 620-397-1638 Stefanie • 620-397-8075 113 W. Hwy 4, Healy, Ks bustn2kick@st-tel.net

is no clear indication that the rally is over, but a top or at least a plateau in these markets is likely soon before markets move seasonally lower in the second quarter.

The rally has been all the more impressive given the growing supplies. Cattle slaughter is up more than 4.5 percent year over year with beef production up 3.7 percent for the year to date.

ness have been linked to the tainted meat investigation.

Brazil’s President Michel Temer has sought to downplay the scandal, saying it involved only 21 of Brazil’s more than 4,800 meat processing units. But Francisco Turra, head of Brazilian beef producers association ABPA, says it has put the entire meat industry in jeopardy and “destroyed” a hard-won image of quality products.

(See BRAZIL on page 25)

tor of public policy with the Kansas Farm Bureau agreed with Sloan’s assessment.

“It’s really tough to try to sell any type of a fee or new tax to folks when the state hasn’t been living up to its share of the obligation for many years, and many tens of millions of dollars,” he said.

The State Water Fund was established in the 1980s to fund projects

addressing water quantity and water quality issues in Kansas.

People who use municipal water systems pay a fee of $3 a month into that fund. There are also fees on farm chemicals and fertilizers, livestock facilities and a variety of other things that affect water in Kansas.

The fees generate about $12 million per year, but

Market Report

Weather

Closing prices on March 22, 2017 Bartlett Grain Red Wheat............ $ 3.17 White Wheat ....... $ 3.17 Milo .................... $ 2.49 Corn ................... $ 3.04 Soybeans (new crop) $ 8.75 Scott City Cooperative Wheat.................. $ 3.18 White Wheat ....... $ 3.18 Milo (bu.)............. $ 2.49 Corn.................... $ 3.04 Soybeans ........... $ 8.75 Sunflowers.......... $ ADM Grain Wheat..................

Milo (bu.).............

Corn....................

Soybeans............

Sunflowers..........

$ 3.23 $ 2.52 $ 3.06 $ 8.77 $ 12.20

(See WATER on page 25)

H

L

March 14

56 20

March 15

75 22

March 16

88 31

March 17

72 40

March 18

77 37

March 19

88 44

March 20

77 44

P

Moisture Totals

February 0.12 2017 Total

0.12

Food Facts Eggs age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the refrigerator.

Trade War The council has sent the administration multiple letters, including one signed in January by 133 agricultural organizations, and is arranging for several hog farmers to fly to Washington next month to talk to officials.

“We just keep pounding them on how critical trade is to us,” said Weber, who fears Mexico could revive the list of mostly agricultural products it successfully used to push Washington into letting Mexican truckers on U.S. highways in 2011.

Pork products topped that list and, if revived, the tariffs would apply to over $800 million of annual pork exports, according to data compiled by IHS Markit’s Global Trade Atlas.

“We’ll be the first to take the hit,” Weber said.

The lobbying effort by U.S. businesses which rely on the Mexican mar-

Wheat normal warm and dry year, the yield reduction could be even worse than half.”

Spring-emerged wheat will likely have thinner stands across the field which could give weeds a greater chance to thrive and pressure the wheat.

Some spring-emerged wheat may also have problems vernalizing.

Some varieties need six to eight weeks of soil temperatures below 50 degrees.

If a grower’s wheat doesn’t emerge until spring but the stand is decent, the crop will still have reduced yield potential compared to a normal fall-emerged crop, as spring tillers are less productive than fall tillers, Lollato said.

Producers in this situation should take a stand count to determine the final number of plants emerged per row foot and compare it with a target stand. Information about taking a stand count and

Brazil China, which accounted for nearly one-third of the Brazilian meatpacking industry’s $13.9 billion in exports last year, suspended imports of all meat products from Brazil as a precautionary measure.

The European Union suspended imports from four Brazilian meat processing facilities.

Ricardo Santin,

The Scott County Record • Page 25 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

(continued from page 24)

ket shows how Mexico can press its case in Washington despite having an economy 1/17 the size of America’s and relying on the U.S. market for nearly 80 percent if its exports.

In Iowa, where pigs outnumber people seven to one, hog and grain farmer Jamie Schmidt voted for Trump in part on his promise to cut regulatory burdens for businesses.

Now he and others who farm the flat, rich land around Garner, Iowa, worry about trade.

Schmidt gets about half of his income from hogs, earning $4-5 for each of the 425 pigs he sells per week, usually to a Tyson Foods packing plant in nearby Perry, Ia. Tariffs from Mexico could depress U.S. wholesale prices and wipe out his profits, Schmidt said.

“It would be devastating.”

In the Crosshairs In December, after fears of a trade dispute fueled a deep peso slump, Mexico started mapping out U.S. states that are most reliant on its market, replicating the strategy it used in the trucking dispute, said two senior Mexican officials.

Mexican officials also prepared briefs on Mexico’s own risks in a dispute, including losing much of its cost advantage in building cars, such as the Ford Fusion made in Hermosillo, Mexico.

Reuters could not verify a complete list of products and states Mexico considered targeting this time around.

But the country’s foreign minister said last month tariffs could target Iowa, which raises a third of U.S. hogs and exports about a quarter of its pork production, $100 million of which went to Mexico last year.

The minister also said tariffs could aim at Wisconsin, the center of U.S. cheese production, and has singled out Texas for its “notable” trade surplus with Mexico. All three states voted for Trump in the 2016 election, with the president taking Iowa and Wisconsin by slim margins.

Trump has accused Mexico of destroying U.S. jobs and has vowed to leave the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico if he cannot renegotiate better terms with Mexico. United States went from running a small trade surplus with Mexico in the early 1990s to a $63 billion deficit in 2016.

Besides pork, cheese was also a top target in the trucking dispute in which Mexico retaliated with

Water

(continued from page 24)

how to compare it with a target stand is available online in the March 3 K-State Agronomy eUpdate newsletter or by contacting a local Extension office.

“If the stand is decent compared to the target stand, consider whether having a reduced yield potential is affordable,” Lollato said. “If the stand is not decent or producers cannot afford the reduced yield potential, terminating the crop and going into a summer crop may be an option, herbicide restrictions allowing.”

Wheat Jointing Above-normal winter temperatures resulted in an early greening of wheat fields, with some already past the jointing stage of development in south-central areas.

“The early spring green-up will require producers to make certain management practices, such as nitrogen fertilization, earlier than normal,”

the agronomist said.

“Winter wheat turns from vegetative to reproductive development after its vernalization requirements are met - normally in early spring, so the number of spikelets per head is determined at greenup. Having nitrogen in the root zone by then is critical to ensure good head formation and to maximize the number of spikelets per head.”

Insect management is another important consideration in warmer-thanusual conditions.

Another major consequence of the early start to this growing season is the heightened risk of freeze injury to the developing crop, Lollato said.

If the crop escapes freeze injury, either by a mismatch between freeze occurrence and highly sensitive growth stages or due to the absence of a freeze, an early spring green-up might signify an early grain fill period.

“During the 2015-

(continued from page 24)

ABPA’s vice president of markets, said two of the suspended plants process poultry, one beef and the other horse meat. One of the poultry plants is operated by BRF, said Santin.

In a statement, BRF said the company has not received any formal notice from Brazilian or foreign authorities related to the suspension of its plants.

South Korea’s agriculture ministry said in a statement that it would tighten inspections of imported Brazilian chicken meat and temporarily bar sales of chicken products by BRF. More than 80 percent of the 107,400 tons of chicken that South Korea imported last year came from Brazil, and BRF supplied almost half of that.

tariffs against rules that banned its trucks from U.S. roads.

Some $200 million in current annual exports of cheese would be targeted if the tariff list were revived, according to the IHS database, which the U.S. government uses to measure the impact of trade disputes. The full tariff list would apply to $3.25 billion in current U.S. exports.

John Holevoet, the director of government affairs at Wisconsin’s Dairy Business Association, said he has attended multiple meetings with Wisconsin federal lawmakers this year where risks of Mexican trade were discussed.

Weber of the pork producers group said he believed the Trump administration “gets it” when it comes to the vulnerability of U.S. farm

2016 growing season, the Kansas crop avoided three major freeze events due to a mismatch between freeze occurrence and sensitive stages of development, and yields were generally very good since the crop experienced good grain-filling conditions,” Lollato said. “It will all depend on the weather moving forward.”

He said many fields are showing yellowing of older leaves, typically from a combination of drought and nitrogen deficiency stresses.

“In many cases, producers were timely applying the nitrogen to the wheat crop, but the lack of moisture did not distribute the nitrogen to the root zone, where it needs to be in order for uptake.

“If this week’s precipitation forecast materializes, it will be beneficial to the crop to reduce some of the drought stress and ensure nitrogen is in the root zone for plant uptake.”

exports.

Republican Congressman Steve King, who represents Iowa’s agriculture-focused fourth district, also pointed out that Iowa’s role as the first state to hold presidential primaries helps keep farm interests in Washington’s view.

But King told Reuters he was worried the White House is still not taking trade risks seriously enough.

A possible 20 percent tax on Mexican imports, which White House spokesman Sean Spicer has said could also pay for Trump’s proposed border wall, would cause a trade war, he said.

King said he has been in contact with the White House on the matter but has yet to secure a one-on-one meeting with the president. “I’m making sure that here in Washington they know what this means.”

(continued from page 24)

the fund is supposed to receive $6 million from the State General Fund and $2 million from state Lottery proceeds, which the state has not been contributing.

The money is used for a variety of projects such as water conservation programs, stream-bank stabilization and wetlands management that are aimed at preserving the

state’s supply of water or protecting water quality.

Sloan said this past week that he and other committee members will urge the Appropriations Committee to restore the $6 million annual payment from the general fund into the water plan.

However, he is not optimistic, despite the fact that it’s such a tiny portion of the state’s $6 billion general fund budget.

$

7

The Scott County Record • Page 26 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Call 872-2090 today!

Per Week

The Scott County Record Professional Directory

There’s no better way to reach your potential customers in Scott County and the surrounding areas.

Agriculture

Preconditioning and Growing

• 45 Years Experience • Managed and owned by full-time DVM • 2,000 Head capacity Office - 872-5150 • Scott City Stuart Doornbos Home - 872-2775 Cell - 874-0951

Berning Tree Service David Berning • Marienthal

620-379-4430

Tree Trimming and Removal Hedge and Evergreen Trimming Stump Removal

Fully Insured

Pro Ex II

Over 20 Years Experience

Professional Extermination Commercial & Residential

• Termites • Rodents • Soil Sterilization • Pre Treats • Lawn Care • Fly Parasites

John Kropp, Owner • Scott City 874-2023 (cell) • 872-3400 (office) • prox2@live.com

Sager’s Pump Service • Irrigation • Domestic • Windmills • Submersibles

Cell: 874-4486 • Office 872-2101

Construction/Home Repair

Walker Plumbing, Inc. Backhoe & Trenching services • Irrigation & gas leak repairs • Full-line irrigation parts T-L center pivot dealer Floor heat systems Pump & install septic systems Boring equipment

423 S. Mesquite Rd. • Scott City • 872-2130

RT Plumbing

ELLIS AG SERVICES

Rex Turley, Master Plumber

• Custom Manure Conditioning • Hauling and Spreading • Custom Swathing and Baling • Rounds-Net or Twine • Gyp and Sand Sales • Custom Harvesting

Residental and Commercial Plumbing Water Systems, water lines, sewer cleaning faucets and fixtures, garbage diposals and more

Marienthal, Ks.

620-909-5014 (H) • 620-874-4128 (C)

Call Brittan Ellis • 620-874-5160

Automotive

CHAMBLESS ROOFING Residential

All Types of Roofing

Commercial

Cedar Shake and Shingle Specialists Return to Craftsmanship Attention to Detail and Quality Guaranteed 620-872-2679 • 1-800-401-2683

Landscaping • Lawn/Trees

Faurot Electric, Inc. Office • 620-872-5344 Jeromy Lisenby • 620-214-3247

P.O. Box 14 • Scott City

SPENCER PEST CONTROL RESIDENTIAL – COMMERCIAL Termite Baiting Systems • Rodents Weed Control • Structural Insects Termite Control Box 258, Scott City • (620) 872-2870

$

7

Call 872-2090 today!

Per Week

The Scott County Record • Page 27 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Professional Directory Continued

Medical

Charles Purma II D.D.S. P.A. General Dentistry, Cosmetics, and Insurance Accepted

We welcome new patients.

324 N. Main • Scott City • 872-2389 Residence 872-5933 Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

www.reganjewelers.com

412 N. Main • Garden City • 620-275-5142

Brent Rogers

Sales Consultant b.rogers@officesolutionsinc.biz

Dr. Jeffrey A. Heyd Optometrist 20/20 Optometry

Treatment of Ocular Disease • Glaucoma Detection Children’s Vision • Glasses • Contact Lenses

Office (620) 276-3131 Toll Free 1-800-794-9052 Cell (620) 874-0014 Fax (620) 276-8876 1007 N. 8th, Garden City, KS 67846 www.officesolutionsinc.biz

Complete family eye center!

106 W. 4th • Scott City • 872-2020 • Emergencies: 214-1462

Pro Health Chiropractic Wellness Center (Scott City Chiropractic) “TLC”...

Technology Lead Chiropractic

Dr. James Yager 110 W. 4th St. • Scott City • 872-2310 Toll Free: 800-203-9606

Services

Kansas Classifieds Ad Network

The classified ads below are appearing in 147 Kansas newspapers with a total circulation of 500,000 the classified display ads appear in 142 Kansas newspapers with a total circulation of 457,000. KCAN line ad is $300 for up to 25 words and $12 each additional word. A 2x2 display ad is $800 per insertion and a 2x4 display ad is $1,650 per insertion. To find out more, contact The Scott County Record at 872-2090.

Truck Driving

For Sale

CLASS A OTR. Regional, home weekly.

End dump drivers for newly expanded business.

Late model Peterbilts and Raven trailers, Vacation pay, health ins., 401K. (800) 776-5672.

––––––––––––––––––––– CONVOY SYSTEMS is hiring Class A drivers to run from Kansas City to the west coast. Home weekly. Great benefits. www.convoysystems.com.

Call Tina, ext. 301, or Lori, ext. 303, at 1-800926-6869.

40-FOOT GRADE A steel cargo containers. $1,600 in KC. $2,100 in Solomon, Ks. 20s, 45s, 48s and 53s also available.

Call (785) 655-9430 or go on-line to Chuckhenry. com for pricing, availability and freight estimates.

Medical LIVING WITH KNEE or back pain? Medicare recipients may qualify to receive a pain relieving brace at little or no cost.

Call now. 855-796-7301.

––––––––––––––––––––– OXYGEN. Anytime.

Anywhere. No tanks to refill. No deliveries. The all new Inogen One G4 is only 2.8 pounds. FAA approved! Free info kit: 844-359-3973.

––––––––––––––––––––– LUNG CANCER? And 60+ years old? If so, you and your family may be entitled to a significant cash award. Call 866-3272721 to learn more. No risk. No money out of pocket.

––––––––––––––––––––– DIGITAL HEARING aids. Now offering a 45-day risk free offer. Free batteries for life. Call to start your free trial. 877687-4650.

––––––––––––––––––––– VIAGRA/CIALIS users.

There’s a cheaper alternative than high drug store prices. 50 pills. Special $99. Free shipping. 100% guaranteed. Call now.

855-850-3904.

Education

Horizon Health Berning Auction For your home medical supply and equipment needs!

We service and repair all that we sell.

1602 S. Main • Scott City • 872-2232 Toll Free : 1-866-672-2232

“Don’t Trust Your Auction to Just Anyone”

For all your auction needs call:

(620) 375-4130

Russell Berning Box Q • Leoti

ENTRY LEVEL heavy equipment operator career.

Get trained. Get certified.

Get hired. Bulldozers, backhoes and excavators.

Immediate lifetime job placement. VA benefits.

1-866-362-6497.

Sports/Outdoors WORLD’S LARGEST gun show. April 1-2.

Saturday, 8:00-6:00; Sunday 8:00-4:00.

Wanenmacher’s Tulsa Arms Show, Tulsa, Okla., Fairgrounds. Free appraisals. Bring your guns.

TulsaArmsShow.com ––––––––––––––––––––– OUR SPORTSMEN will pay top $$$ to hunt your land. Call for a free base camp leasing info packet and quote.

1-866-309-1507. www.

BaseCampLeasing.com.

Misc.

DONATE YOUR CAR to charity. Receive maximum value of write off for your taxes. Running or not. All conditions accepted. Free pick-up. Call for details. 844-268-9386.

Homes SAVE YOUR HOME! Are you behind paying your mortgage? Denied a loan modification?Is the bank threatening foreclosure? Call Homeowner’s Relief Line now for help!

855-401-4513.

––––––––––––––––––––– LENDERS OFFERING special government programs for mobile homes and $0 down for landowners. Promo homes with reduced down payments.

Use tax refund for additional incentives. Singles from $39,900. Doubles from $59,900. 866-8586862.

Is your subscription paid?

Retail

Gene’s Appliance Over 200 appliances in stock!

COMPARE OUR PRICES!

We have Reverse Osmosis units in stock.

Remember us for parts in stock for all brands of all appliances.

Sales and Service Days • Mon. - Sat. Deliveries • Mon.-Sat.

Largest Frigidaire appliance dealer in Western Ks. 508 Madison • Scott City • 872-3686

Networktronic, Inc.

Computer Sales, Service and Repair Custom computers!

Networking solutions!

Mon. - Fri. 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

402 S. Main, Scott City • 872-1300

Northend Revcom Electronics Your RadioShack Dealer Disposal All Under One Roof

Two-way Radio Sales & Service

A garbologist company.

Locally owned and operated since 1990

1104 Main • Scott City • 872-2625

Scott City • 872-1223 • 1-800-303-3371

Dining

Classifieds

The Scott County Record • Page 28 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Buy, sell, trade, one call does it all 872-2090 ot fax 872-0009

Classified Ad Deadline: Monday at 5:00 p.m.

Classified Ad Rate: 20¢ per word. Minimum charge, $5.

Blind ad: $2.50 per week extra. Card of thanks: 10¢ per word. Minimum charge, $3. Classified Display Ad rate: $6.50 per column inch.

Classified advertising must be paid in advance unless business account is established.

If not paid in advance, there will be a $1 billing charge.

Tear sheet for classified ad will be $1 extra.

Thank you I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the staff for the excellent care that I received while I was a patient at Scott County Hospital.

Dean Fairchild

Agriculture

Rentals

Garage Sale

WANT TO BUY. Stored corn. Call for basis and contract information.

1-800-579-3645.

Lane County Feeders, Inc. 32tfc ––––––––––––––––––––– WANT TO BUY. Wheat straw delivered. Call for contracting information.

Lane County Feeders, 44tfc 397-5341.

––––––––––––––––––––– BLACK ANGUS BULLS, Registered, Tested, 2 year olds, Yearlings, Heifer Bulls, Delivery, Conformation, Performance. Call: Black Velvet Ranch, Aaron Plunkett, Syracuse 620-384-1101.

HIDE AND SEEK STORAGE SYSTEMS. Various sizes available.

Virgil and LeAnn Kuntz, 41tfc 620-874-2120.

––––––––––––––––––––– PLAINJAN’S RENTAL houses and duplexes. Stop by the office or call 62005tfc 872-5777.

––––––––––––––––––––– PRIME RETAIL SPACE AVAILABLE in Downtown Garden City.

309 N. Main, 1,800 sq/ft. $1,400 per month. Call 620-276-0891.

––––––––––––––––––––– NICE, 2-BEDROOM home for rent. Central air.

All new appliances. No pets. Call (620) 872-5844.

3117t4p ––––––––––––––––––––– VERY NICE, REMODLED house for rent. 3 bedrooms 1 bath plus utilities. No pets. No smoking. Call (620) 397-8075.

YARD SALE Saturday, March 25. 9:00 a.m. - 1 :00 p.m. 711 Church St., Scott City, in back under carport.

Women’s clothing, including scrubs, Pink Zebra fragrances, Hand-Made crafts 3317t1p and more.

Help Wanted FARM WORKER 5/1/17 - 10/15/17, Ben and Donna Walter Farms, LTD, Capron, Okla. 35 temp jobs. Operate harvesting machines to harvest crops in Okla./Ks./ Colo./Mont. Drive truck to transport produce and haul harvesting machines between work sites. Service machinery/make infield repairs. Clean MVR, obtain appropriate DL with air brake endorsements. $3,500 per month plus R&B, 3/4 work guarantee, tools/epuip/housing provided at no cost, trans and subsistence experience reimbursed. Apply at Kansas Works, 620-2272149. Job #ok1310667.

3317t1c ––––––––––––––––––––– FARM WORKER 5/1/17 - 11/15/17, Lamle Harvesting, Okeene, Okla. 4 temp jobs. Operate harvesting machines to harvest crops in Okla./ Colo./Mont/S.D. Drive truck to transport produce and haul harvesting machines between work sites.

Service machinery/make in-field repairs. Three months experience, employment references, driver’s license, clean MVR, English required. $11.00 per hour-$2,200 per month plus R&B, depending on location, 3/4 work guarentee, tools/equip/housing provided at no cost, trans and subsistence exp reimbursed. Apply at Kansas Works, 620-227-2149. Job 3317t1c #OK1310471.

For Sale FRIGIDAIRE STAINLESS STEEL REFRIGERATOR for sale. Tradition top freezer, bottom fridge. Purchased in Fall of 2013. Has been in storage for two years. Works perfectly. $500. Call 316-2594150.

1716tfc Support Your Hometown Merchants

3317tfc

––––––––––––––––––––– SPACIOUS 2 CAR garage avaliable for rent. $300 per month. Electricity included in rent. Call PlainJan’s today! 6203317t2c 872-5777.

Services WANTED: Yards to mow and clean up, etc.

Trim smaller trees and bushes too. Call Dean Riedl, (620) 872-5112 or 874-4135.

34tfc –––––––––––––––––––– FURNITURE REPAIR and refinishing. Lawn mower tune-up and blade sharpening. Call Vern Soodsma, 872-2277 or 874-1412.

4015tfc –––––––––––––––––––– MOWER REPAIR, tune-up and blade sharpening. Call Rob Vsetecka at 620-214-1730.

4515tfc –––––––––––––––––––– SUNNY DAZE cleaning, cooking, assisting with all your daily needs! If you need help, call Linda at 360-355-4085. Affordable and satisfaction guaran3217t8p teed.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS If you want to drink, that’s your business.

If you want to stop, that’s ours.

Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Tuesday nights at 8:00 p.m. at the United Methodist Church basement (use west door).

412 College, Scott City.

Al-Anon at same time and location.

Contact: 874-0472 or 872-3137. 25tfc

Reduced Main level completely remodeled! 3+2 bedrooms with family room in basement, 1+3/4 baths and a 24’X34’ garage for dad. $139,900

Lots

5 lots behind Wendy’s for mobile homes or modulars, $9,900 each.

Residential lots in the new addition on the southwest corner of Scott City, very nice area for your new home! ONLY $13,500 each.

County Plat Maps Scott

Logan

Ness

Wichita

Gove

Wallace

Lane

Greeley

Finney

Kearney

406 Main • Scott City 620 872-2090

Lawrence and Associates

Deb Lawrence, GRI Broker Shorty Lawrence, Sales Assoc.

513 Main • Scott City 872-5267 ofc. 872-7184 hm. lawrenceandassocrealty.com Sheila Ellis, Broker Assoc.

872-2056 Kerry Gough, Sales Assoc.

872-7337 Russell Berning, 874-4405 www.berningauction.com Maranda Cersovsky, 874-8332 Serving Dighton and Healy

District 11 AA Meetings

Scott City

Unity and Hope Mon., Wed. and Fri. 8:00 p.m.

807 Kingsley Last Saturday of the month Birthday Night • 6:30 p.m.

All open meetings 214-4188 • 214-2877

Dighton Thursday • 8:30 p.m.

535 Wichita St. All open meetings 620-397-2647

We have room for you!

The Scott County Record • Page 29 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Employment Opportunities Best Western El Quartelejo Inn and Suites

Destiny Supports Come join our devoted team of caregivers and earn a competitive wage enriching the lives of others.

is accepting applications for:

Guest Services Agent 7:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Must be able to work weekends and holidays Please pick up application at: 1610 S. Main St. Scott City

Part-time position available in Scott City.

Call 620-272-0564 ext. 3# (push pound sign after 3) for more information 3217t2p

Scott County Health Department

3217t2c

is accepting applications for a Full-Time RN Applicants must: • Have a nursing license in Kansas

Maintenance Engineer Local 24/7 business is looking for a part-time Maintenance Engineer to work 20-25 hours/week.

Position offers: • 40 hour work week (8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., M-F) • Excellent benefits • Vacation time and sick days accrued • Paid holidays • Competitive salary Applications may be obtained at and returned to: Scott County Health Department 204 S. College Scott City, Ks. 67871

Must be knowledgeable in all facets of maintenance including: • Plumbing • Electrical • Painting • Lawn care.

Please send resumes and three references to: Maintenance Engineer P.O. Box 377 Scott City, Ks 67871

3217tfc

Scott County Hospital Has Openings for the Following Positions PATIENT CARE Acute Care RNs - FT Night Shift Physical Therapist - FT PACU/Circulating RN - FT Operating Room Supervisor RN - FT Full Time CNA Clinic Receptionist - FT Dietary Aide - FT

3317t2c

Casey’s General Store

Wheatland Electric

Casey’s General Stores is looking for friendly and energetic individuals for the positions of:

Is accepting applications for a: Billing Specialist Garden City Office

Applicants for these positions are required to be able to read, speak and understand English. Pre-employment physical, drug/alcohol screening, immunization titer, physical assessment and TB skin test required. We are a tobacco free campus.

We offer competitive pay and great benefits.

Applications are available on our website at www.scotthospital.net or call 620-872-7772 for more information.

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City of Scott City is accepting applications for two seasonal positions: Street Department Parks Department

Sales Associate/Food Service Specialists Scott City Kansas, Starting Pay $10.00

Wheatland Electric is looking for a person with strong attention to detail. This position is responsible for helping members with billing questions and backup for monthly billing process.

Must have an Associate Degree in Accounting or related field or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience. The successful applicant must be able to meet deadlines, have excellent organizational and communication skills, and be knowledgeable in Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Qualified applicants will possess excellent customer service skills, knowledge of convenience store operations including prepared foods and have team building abilities.

Apply online at www.caseys.com/careers

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We offer competitive wages and excellent benefits.

Please send cover letter and resume to resumes@weci.net by April 4th at 5:00 p.m.

To view full job description log onto http://www.weci.net/content/careers

Park Lane Nursing Home Has openings for the following positions: RN/LPN - PT/PRN CNA/CMA - FT

EVENING SHIFT CNA - FT

Applicants must be 18 years of age.

Pick up and return applications to: City Hall 221 W. 5th, Scott City Applications will be accepted until positions are filled.

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E.O.E.

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CMA - PT Shift differential pay offered for evening and night shifts!

Great opportunity to serve the elderly of our community!!!

Willing to work with student schedules!

Great benefits package!

Please apply in person at: Park Lane Nursing Home 210 E. Parklane Scott City, KS 67871 Or visit us at our website: www.parklanenursinghome.org “Quality Care Because We Care”

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The Scott County Record • Page 30 • Thursday, March 23, 2017

Easter Ham Give-away er t s i g Re se e h t at g n i t a cip i t r a ! p s e s s e busin

During the next two weeks Scott City merchants will be sponsoring a FREE ham drawing for the upcoming holiday.

It’s easy to register. Simply clip out one of these entry forms. You must use an original form (no copies, please).

Take each form to the appropriate sponsoring business before the drawing deadline on Tuesday, April 4 at noon.

Drawing winners will be announced in the April 6 issue of The Scott County Record. One winner per family please.

Participants must be at least 16 years of age.

WIN

Your Easter Ham Sonic Drive-In

WIN

WIN

Your Easter Ham Richards Financial Services 411 S. Main St., Scott City 620-872-5949 www.richards-financial.com

Name: ______________________________ Address: ____________________________ City: ________________________________ Phone: ______________________________ Limit 1 Ham Per Family

WIN

Your Easter Ham

Your Easter Ham

Chambless Roofing

Turner Sheet Metal

1720 S. Main Street, Scott City 620-874-9655

1005 W. 5th Street, Scott City 620-872-2679 • 800-401-2683 www.chamblessroofing.com

1851 S. Highway 83, Scott City 620-872-2954

Name: ______________________________

Name: ______________________________

Name: ______________________________

Address: ____________________________

Address: ____________________________

Address: ____________________________

City: ________________________________

City: ________________________________

City: ________________________________

Phone: ______________________________

Phone: ______________________________

Phone: ______________________________

Limit 1 Ham Per Family

Limit 1 Ham Per Family

Limit 1 Ham Per Family

WIN

WIN

WIN

Your Easter Ham First National Bank

Your Easter Ham

Your Easter Ham

Heartland Foods

Percival Packing

501 S. Main Street, Scott City 620-872-2143 www.fnbscott.com

1314 S. Main Street, Scott City 620-872-5854 www.myheartlandfoods.com

710 W. 5th Street, Scott City 620-872-7199

Name: ______________________________

Name: ______________________________

Name: ______________________________

Address: ____________________________

Address: ____________________________

Address: ____________________________

City: ________________________________

City: ________________________________

City: ________________________________

Phone: ______________________________

Phone: ______________________________

Phone: ______________________________

Limit 1 Ham Per Family

Limit 1 Ham Per Family

Limit 1 Ham Per Family

WIN

WIN

WIN

Your Easter Ham

Your Easter Ham

Gene’s Appliance

Spencer Pest Control

Your Easter Ham Wheatland Broadband

508 Madison Street, Scott City 620-872-3686

620-872-2870 Drop off entry at Scott County Record, 406 S. Main Street

416 S. Main Street, Scott City 620-872-0006 www.wbsnet.org

Name: ______________________________

Name: ______________________________

Name: ______________________________

Address: ____________________________

Address: ____________________________

Address: ____________________________

City: ________________________________

City: ________________________________

City: ________________________________

Phone: ______________________________

Phone: ______________________________

Phone: ______________________________

Limit 1 Ham Per Family

Limit 1 Ham Per Family

Limit 1 Ham Per Family