Pro tips for pork loin Page 19
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Vol 41 • No. 4
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February 2020 March 2020
Keeping the faith
Shake, shimmy and reap the benefits, dancers say
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By Amy Geiszler-Jones Nancy O’Donnell and Beryl Krueger like dancing to the beat of a Middle Eastern drum. “It helps me keep fit and maintain a healthy weight,” said Krueger, who takes belly dance classes at Amira Dance Productions (ADP), 1702 W. Douglas. “It also gives me a good social life” thanks to dinners, birthday parties and more with fellow students. O’Donnell, who turns 78 in March, agreed. “Physically, mentally and socially, I’m better off because of dancing.” The two are among almost 70 ADP dancers who will perform dance numbers ranging from belly dance, hula hooping, Polynesian, East Indian and other styles in the studio’s family-friendly 45th annual show Saturday, March 7, at the Crown Uptown The-
Beryl Krueger atre. About one-third of ADP’s students are over the age of 55, according to studio co-owner Patricia Baab, 71. While the studio attracts dancers as young as 16, it’s not unusual See Dance, page 8
City's oldest churches turn 150
Medicaid push hits roadblock
Members of First Presbyterian Church on Broadway gather after a service last month. The church marks its 150th anniversary this year along with St. John’s Episcopal and First United Methodist.
See Medicaid, page 9
See Churches, page 7
By Stephen Koranda Kansas News Service TOPEKA — The Kansas legislative session began with what seemed like a done deal for expanding Medicaid. Gov. Laura Kelly and a top Republican senator had forged a compromise to offer health coverage for up to 130,000 low-income Kansans. About a month later, the deal ground to a halt because of abortion politics. Medicaid supporters were irritated. Moderate Republicans and Democrats threatened to fight back by delaying the state budget. And abortion opponents stood firm.
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For years, a good-natured religious controversy has simmered in Wichita: Which church is the city’s oldest, First Presbyterian or St. John’s Episcopal? “The holy war,” as Gary Huffman, archivist at First Presbyterian, puts it, “was fought many years ago and we finally took the trophy.” As proof, Huffman points to the church’s articles of organization, which are dated March 13, 1870. The church will mark its 150th birthday on March 13. Not so fast, counters Rev. Liz Gomes, associate rector at St. John’s. She says that church’s founder, John Price Hilton, arrived in Wichita in 1869 and began holding services in the home of D.S. Munger. “It was actually the first church in Wichita,” Gomes said. “This is a
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long, on-going battle between the churches.” Gomes, who says that she’s “very good friends with Gary Huffman,” concedes that St. John’s wasn’t officially incorporated until after First Presbyterian. St. John’s will celebrate its 150th anniversary with a picnic May 8 at the original site of the Munger House, at Waco and Ninth streets. What can’t be disputed is that both churches have much to commemorate, as does a third congregation, First United Methodist, which also will turn 150 this year. All three churches predate Wichita, which was officially incorporated as a city in November 1870, and undoubtedly played a civilizing role during its rowdy cowtown era. Today, they remain an-
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