The Concordia Blade

BLADE-EMPIRE
CONCORDIA
VOL. CX NO. 187 (USPS 127-880)
CONCORDIA, KANSAS 66901
Monday, February 22, 2016
Lawmakers
debate bill to
limit refugees
Good Evening
Concordia Forecast
Tonight, cloudy. A 20 percent chance of
rain after midnight. Lows in the mid 30s.
East winds 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday, mostly cloudy. Slight chance
of rain in the morning. Highs around 50.
Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph shifting to
the north 10 to 20 mph with gusts to
around 30 mph in the afternoon.
Tuesday night, partly cloudy. Lows in
the upper 20s. North winds 10 to 15 mph
with gusts to around 25 mph.
Wednesday, sunny. Highs in the upper
40s. North winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts
to around 25 mph.
Wednesday night, mostly clear. Lows in
the upper 20s.
Thursday, sunny. Highs in the mid 40s.
Thursday night, mostly clear. Lows in
the mid 20s.
Friday, mostly sunny. Highs in the
lower 50s.
Friday night, mostly clear. Lows in the
lower 30s.
Saturday, sunny. Highs in the upper
50s.
Saturday night, partly cloudy. Lows
around 30.
Sunday, partly sunny. Highs around 50.
Across Kansas
Police: Randle hit
three with his car
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police in Wichita, Kansas, say former Dallas Cowboys
running back Joseph Randle has been
arrested after hitting three people with a
car and busting into a home.
Police Lt. James Espinoza said Monday
that after Randle was ordered to leave a
housewarming party early Sunday, he hit
the two owners and another man as he
backed out of the driveway. None of them
was seriously injured.
Espinoza says Randle then returned
and broke through the front door.
Espinoza says Randle was in possession
of marijuana when he was arrested.
Randle is jailed on $100,000 bond on
suspicion of aggravated battery, drug
possession and criminal damage to property.
Adult education
participation declines
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Adult education
in Kansas is mirroring a nationwide trend
as the lowest number of people in five
years enrolled in the state’s programs in
2015.
The Kansas Board of Regents annual
report on adult education says more than
7,100 Kansas residents participated in
adult education in 2015. Lawrence Journal-World reports that more than 9,000
participated in 2010.
Susan Fish, the Regents’ director of
adult education, says the program’s target
participants include more than 225,000
adults who don’t have a high school education and more than 57,000 with limited
proficiency in English. She says this target
population has declined over the years
nationally and in Kansas as many adults
who lack high school diplomas age.
Man, 70, dies in
apartment fire
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say
one person has died in a fire that was contained to a single unit of a seven-floor
Wichita apartment building.
Wichita fire marshal Brad Crisp said a
resident called Sunday afternoon to report
that his apartment at Shadyway Plaza
Towers was on fire. The Wichita Eagle
reports that a 70-year-old man was found
dead inside the apartment. Another person who was found suffering from smoke
inhalation is in stable condition at a
Wichita hospital.
The fire was contained to the living
room space of the one-bedroom apartment. Shadyway Plaza Towers has 20
apartments on each of its seven floors.
Visit us online at www.bladeempire.com
Homecoming royalty
Zoe Mertz, right, and John Bott are crowned the Cloud County Community College Winter
Homecoming queen and king on Saturday night. (Blade photo by Jay Lowell)
Chief: System broke down
in alleged child abuse case
NORTH NEWTON, Kan. (AP) — A
Kansas police chief investigating the
alleged abuse of three adopted Peruvian
children by their parents said “somewhere, some time, the system broke
down.”
North Newton police chief Randy Jordan said numerous reports of suspected
abuse concerning the children were filed
with the Kansas Department of Children
and Families since 2014, but none were
forwarded to his department for further
investigation, The Wichita Eagle reported.
He said it also doesn’t appear that anyone
who suspected the abuse contacted law
enforcement directly, either.
The children’s parents, Jim and Paige
Nachtigal, each were charged last week
with three counts of child abuse. They
remained jailed Monday in Harvey County, each on a $300,000 bond. Authorities
said last week that they didn’t know if the
couple had an attorney, and a jail official
said Monday that was still the case.
State welfare officials have declined to
talk about the case. DCF spokeswoman
Theresa Freed said that, speaking generally, the agency works closely with law
enforcement to ensure a child’s safety
when concerns are raised.
Authorities say the children — an 11year-old boy, an 11-year-old girl and a
15-year-old girl — were severely malnourished, had broken bones and had been
beaten. Doctors who examined them diag-
nosed it as child torture.
“There’s accountability all over the
place,” Jordan said. “And somewhere,
some time, the system broke down. We’re
trying to find out how and why.”
Authorities began an investigation after
the parents reported the 11-year-old son
missing on Feb. 5. He was found later that
day by a Kansas Highway Patrol Officer
walking barefoot in a field, Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton has said. The boy told
the officer he hadn’t done his homework
and had “sinned” so he was afraid to go
home. The boy did not tell the officer
about any abuse at the time, and he was
returned home.
But six days later, the children were
placed in protective custody.
Police plan to spend the coming days
tracking down and interviewing the people involved in various stages of the
Nachtigals’ adoption process, as well as
those who made welfare reports about the
family to DCF.
Jordan says one possible source of
information in the case will be post-adoptions reports. Health and welfare updates
are among a host of strict requirements
from Peru’s government in international
adoptions.
“I’m hoping that several people were
interviewed or talked with about how that
adoption was going and how those kids
were doing and that kind of thing,” Jordan said.
This year’s Kansas Democratic Caucus
kicks off next month, beginning Saturday,
March 5, with registration closing at 3 p.m.
Participants must be in line to check in
or register at that time and no later.
Participants must be registered Democrats and may register on that day.
Counties in Senate District 36 are Marshall (western half), Washington, Republic,
Cloud, Ottawa, Lincoln, Mitchell, Jewell,
Smith, Osborne, Russell, Rooks and
Phillips.
Caucus location for this district is the
Beloit Municipal Building, 119 N. Hersey,
on the main floor gymnasium.
Those with questions may contact
Cloud County Democratic party chairman,
Sue Sutton, 785-262-4026.
More information on caucusing, locations and the next steps on the road to
nominating a Presidential candidate from
the Democratic party can be found on the
KDP
website
at
http:www.kansasdems.org.
Kansas Democrats to caucus
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers
are considering a bill that would let the governor halt refugee resettlement in communities that don’t have the law enforcement or
health care services to handle the newcomers.
Supporters say the state needs to be cautious about potential threats of terrorism,
but critics call the measure anti-Muslim.
Under the bill, which got a hearing last
week, a community could request a moratorium on resettlement from the Department
for Children and Families and the governor if
it were unable to provide services to those
arriving.
The bill also would require the department
to track where families move after initial settlement and any crimes committed by
refugees.
The bill is one among several efforts in
Kansas and nationwide to limit settlement of
refugees from Syria and elsewhere without
violating the Refugee Act of 1980, which prohibits states from rejecting refugees.
President Barack Obama’s administration
pledged in September to accept at least
10,000 refugees from war-torn Syria over a
one-year period. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback was among at least 20 governors who
opposed the resettlement after it was reported that a passport of a Syrian refugee was
found near the body of a suicide bomber
involved in the November attacks in Paris.
Brownback signed an executive order prohibiting any state entity or other organization
that receives state funding from assisting
refugee resettlement.
Rep. Peggy Mast, a Republican from
Emporia, introduced the bill after consulting
with Christopher Holton of the Center for
Security Policy, a conservative think tank.
Holton testified in the House Federal and
State Affairs Committee last week.
Mast told the committee that she became
aware of the lack of oversight in the refugee
community after speaking with resettlement
organizations about Somalian refugees in
her area. She was alarmed that domestic
abuse such as genital mutilation was undocumented, she said.
“As a woman, I find it offensive that any
female should be treated as less than equal
in our country,” Mast said.
Holton acknowledged that resettlement is
ruled by the federal government, but he said
that the program was due for reform in light
of recent terrorist attacks.
“This is not an act to stop all refugees from
coming into the country,” Holton told the
Associated Press on Friday. Instead, he said,
it’s an attempt for states to have some control over their safety.
Mast said she is also worried about terrorist activity in Kansas after a foiled plot near
Fort Riley last year.
“We’re not bringing the Christians and
Jews that are culturally similar to our culture,” she said about the Syrian refugees.
Micah Kubric, a lobbyist from the American Civil Liberties Union, told the committee
that he fears the bill would encourage discrimination.
“Denial of services based exclusively on
the innate, demographic characteristics of
alienage or national origin is a textbook
example of rank discrimination,” Kubic said,
adding that the state would be vulnerable to
lawsuits.
Kubic mentioned a similar bill in South
Dakota that was tabled after the sponsor of
the bill admitted that it wouldn’t endure a
constitutional challenge.
Tennessee was the first state to authorize
the governor to issue a moratorium on
refugee resettlement. No requests for moratoriums have been made since the law was
enacted in 2011.
Kansas House rejects convention of states bill
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Conservative
Republicans
in
Kansas who believe the federal
government is out of control
failed Monday to persuade
enough fellow legislators that
the remedy is calling a convention of the states to propose
changes in the U.S. Constitution.
The Kansas House voted 7747 for a resolution calling for
such a convention. But supporters needed a two-thirds
majority in the 125-member
chamber, or 84 votes, to adopt
the measure and send it to the
Senate. They fell seven votes
short.
The measure said the
nation’s founders empowered
state
lawmakers
to
be
“guardians of liberty,” decries
the
federal
government’s
“crushing debt” and declares
that it has “ceased to live under
a proper interpretation” of the
U.S. Constitution. Legislators in
five states have passed the same
resolution since March 2014,
according to the Virginia-based
group Convention of States.
But most of the Kansas
House’s Democrats and GOP
moderates and even a few of its
conservatives
questioned
whether a convention’s scope
could be limited once it convened. Rep. James Todd, a conservative
Overland
Park
Republican, noted that concerns about a “runaway” convention stalled similar efforts in
the past.
“I support a balanced budget
amendment, but not a convention without further restrictions,” Todd said in voting no,
specifically mentioning his
desire to protect existing constitutional guarantees for free
speech, religious freedom and
gun rights.
The U.S. Constitution says
Congress must call a convention if it gets applications from
two-thirds of the states, or 34.
Supporters of the Kansas
resolution said any fears of an
unbridled convention leading to
the loss of long-cherished liberties are unfounded. The resolution said the convention would
propose changes to lessen the
federal government’s power and
to impose term limits on members of Congress and other federal officials.
OPINION
2 Blade-Empire, Monday, February 22, 2016
DOONESBURY® by G.B. Trudeau
Concordia Blade-Empire
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By George Meyer
Jacqueline Bigar’s Stars Gun maker seeks
By Jacqueline Bigar
Today in History
50 years ago
Feb. 22, 1966—Bishop
Cyril J. Vogel, bishop of Salina Diocese of the Catholic Church announced appointments for three priests
of the Concordia area. The
Rev. Raymond Pachta, administrator of the Notre
Dame High School, would
continue as the school administrator but would also
be administrator of St. Joseph, Kan. parish; the Rev.
Louis Mattas who had been
administrator at St. Joseph,
Kan., and the mission parish at Cuba, Kan. would
continue his work at Cuba
and also be chaplain at the
St. Joseph Hospital; the Rev.
Alfred Iasillo who had been
acting chaplain at the St.
Joseph Hospital and parttime assistant parish priest
would be a full time assistant parish priest in Concordia. . . . Jarold Hayden,
farmer living on Rural Route
2, suffered a broken collarbone when a bull threw him
to the ground.
25 years ago
Feb. 22, 1991—Debi
Pfeifer, Concordia eighth
grader, was the Cloud County Spelling Contest winner.
Jocelyn Lange, Miltonvale,
was second. Other Concordia students who placed in
the contest were Danielle
O’Connell, Teresa Payne,
Amanda Holbert, Gabe Hedstrom and Justin Hattan . .
. Heath Trost, son of Randy
and Sherry Trost, was the
Concordia High School Student of the Month.
10 years ago
Feb. 22, 2006—Trinity
United Methodist Church
was host for a Community Lenten Lunch every
Wednesday . . . Concordia
High School wrestlers participating in the 4A State
Wrestling Tournament were
Brandon Huber, Dustin
Dooley, Jeremy Thoman,
Chris Sutton-Kearn and
Dustin Dooley.
5 years ago
Feb. 22, 2011—Dan
Murray, Kansas State Director of the National Federation for Independent Business, was the speaker at the
Annual CloudCorp Dinner .
. . “Paws”itive Counts winners at Concordia Middle
School were Sierra Wright,
Jennifer Garcia, Westin
Maish and Garrett Lawrence.
1 year ago
Feb. 22, 2015—Sisters
of St. Joseph honored the
following
employees
for
their years of service at a
banquet: Vicky Thoman,
administrative assistant to
the Leadership Council, 35
years; Susan LeDuc, Manna
House of Prayer administrative services area coordinator, 25 years; Carlene Edwards, cook, 20 years; Joy
Bliss, housekeeping and
Sharon Bates, nurse aide,
15 years; Barbara Kortman, nurse aide, 10 years;
Kim Brownell, Pam Huber,
Cam Koerber, Mary Walker,
charge nurses, five years;
Tina Goff, nurse aide, five
years; and Sheri Krause,
administration assistant/
receptionist, five years. . .
. Cloud County Ducks Unlimited members accepting
the Duck Decoy Award at
the DU State Convention in
Overland Park were Steve
Williams, Joshua Meyer,
Jared LeDuc and Matt
Farmer.
SUDOKU
Sudoku is a number-placing
puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with
several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9
in the empty squares so that each
row, each column and each 3x3
box contain the same number
only once. The difficulty level of
the Conceptis Sudoku increases
from Monday to Friday.
3
4
1
6
8
9
7
5
2
5
7
8
2
4
3
6
9
1
Difficulty Level
2
6
9
7
5
1
4
3
8
9
2
7
4
1
5
3
8
6
1
3
6
9
7
8
5
2
4
4
8
5
3
2
6
9
1
7
8
5
3
1
6
7
2
4
9
6
1
4
5
9
2
8
7
3
7
9
2
8
3
4
1
6
5
2/19
2016 Conceptis Puzzles, Dist. by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Thank You for Reading the Blade-Empire
A baby born today has a
Sun in Pisces and a Moon in
Virgo.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY for
Monday, Feb. 22, 2016:
This year you often see
both sides of an argument,
but you tend to favor one
side. For this reason, you
could find yourself struggling or having arguments
about trivial matters. If you
are single, your tendency to
play devil’s advocate could
distance you from potential
suitors. Another possibility is that you hook up with
someone who likes to argue.
This person might work for
you this year, but not in the
future. If you are attached,
your significant other might
adore being with you, but
would prefer fewer black-orwhite situations. Note what
you have in common with
each other. VIRGO might be
unusually lucky to hang out
with.
The Stars Show the
Kind of Day You’ll Have:
5-Dynamic;
4-Positive;
3-Average; 2-So-so; 1-Difficult
ARIES (March 21-April
19)
* * * Confusion marks
this day, along with very different points of view. A good
place for you to be is where
controversy exists. Seeds of
better ideas often come from
working with these differences. Try to understand
where others are coming
from. Tonight: Keep the discussion going.
TAURUS (April 20-May
20)
* * * * The Full Moon today
promises many changes and
possibilities. You might wonder which way you should
go, as you are on the verge of
making a long-term dream a
reality. A new friend could
be distracting. Tonight: Let
go of what seems irritating.
Go for what you desire most.
GEMINI (May 21-June
20)
* * * You could be viewed
as a bit of a stick in the mud.
Yes, you! You can’t seem to
veer from your position,
even though someone presents an inspired idea. You
might feel as if there are no
answers that would please
everyone. At least make an
effort. Tonight: Homeward
bound.
CANCER (June 21-July
22)
* * * * Keep reaching out
to a loved one at a distance
who often presents a different point of view. Good news
surrounds this person. You
might feel as if there are no
answers that work for you so
far. Be open to working with
several different approaches. Tonight: Catch up on a
friend’s news.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
* * * Be aware of what is
going on with an emotional
issue that seems to play a
significant role in your wellbeing. You could feel as if
logic and levelheadedness
are on your side. A friend
might be so idealistic that
you worry about his or her
choices. Tonight: Run some
errands first.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
* * * * Despite some adversity and differences of
opinion, you seem impervious to the ups and downs
of the moment. You feel very
secure and on-target right
now. Your energy is at its
peak, and you won’t mind a
lively discussion about any
matter. Tonight: Beam in
what you want.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
* * You might be more
in touch with others and
their differing opinions. How
you handle a personal matter could be less successful
today than how you would
approach it in a few days.
If you’re feeling unsure of
yourself, play the waiting
game. Tonight: Take some
personal time.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov.
21)
* * * * Keep your eye on the
big picture as well as on a
long-term goal. You could be
distracted by a child or loved
one, but pleasantly so. You
might have some difficulty
balancing all the different
interests that pop up today.
Tonight: Ask, and expect to
receive what you want!
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21)
* * * * You might want to
have a discussion with an
associate who seems a bit
overloaded. You can identify with this person, but
you have chosen to prioritize your life differently, and
therefore can absorb and
disseminate
information
with greater ease. Tonight:
The only answer is “yes.”
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19)
* * * * * How you handle
a personal matter could
change with more perspective and empathy. You might
be working on a more intuitive level that could distract
you from logic and details.
You’ll need to carefully weigh
the information you receive.
Tonight: At a favorite haunt.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb.
18)
* * * * * Deal with a partner directly, and listen to his
or her logic. Your impression
of this person’s message
could be substantially different from what you are actually hearing. Some of the
information you hear might
not be grounded. Tonight:
Go along with a friend’s suggestion.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March
20)
* * * * Defer to others, and
listen to what they have to
say. It appears as if no matter how attentive you try to
be, your mind drifts to other
topics or selects only part
of what you are hearing to
work with. You might want
to figure out what is distracting you. Tonight: Say
“yes” to an offer.
BORN TODAY
Former U.S. President
George Washington (1732),
actress Drew Barrymore
(1975), singer/songwriter
James Blunt (1974)
***
Jacqueline Bigar is on
the Internet at www.jacquelinebigar.com.
(c) 2016 by King Features
Syndicate Inc.
***
A lie will easily get you out of a scrape, and yet,
strangely and beautifully, rapture possesses
you when you have taken the scrape and left out the lie.
—Charles Edward Montague
***
dismissal of lawsuit
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP)
– Lawyers for the company
that made the rifle used to
kill 20 first-graders and six
educators at Sandy Hook
Elementary School are expected to ask a Connecticut
judge to dismiss a wrongful
death lawsuit filed by families of some of the massacre
victims.
Freedom Group, the Madison, North Carolina, parent
company of AR-15 maker
Bushmaster Firearms, is
arguing that it is protected
by a 2005 federal law that
shields gun manufacturers from most lawsuits over
criminal use of their products.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs,
who include the families of
nine children and adults
who died and a teacher who
survived, say the lawsuit is
permitted under an exception to the federal law that
allows litigation against
companies that know, or
should know, that their
weapons are likely to be
used in a way that risks injury to others.
The victims’ attorneys say
the lawsuit appears to be
the first of its kind against a
manufacturer to claim that
exception.
Bridgeport
Superior
Court Judge Barbara Bellis is set to hear arguments
Monday afternoon on Freedom Group’s motion to dis-
miss.
“No lawsuit will ever bring
back any of the 26 innocent lives that were stolen
or bring peace to the families that will never recover
from this,” said Nicole Hockley, a plaintiff whose son,
Dylan, was killed. “But gun
companies must be held accountable for marketing and
selling the AR-15, a killing
machine designed only for
military use, to violenceprone young men.
“We’re bringing this lawsuit to save other families
from having to live with the
nightmare that we do every
single day,” she said.
State police say the
20-year-old gunman, Adam
Lanza, killed his victims with
a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, a model of the AR-15, on
Dec. 14, 2012. Lanza killed
his mother, Nancy Lanza, at
their Newtown home before
going to the school a few
miles away, and then killed
himself as police arrived.
Nancy Lanza legally bought
the rifle, state police said.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers,
Joshua Koskoff, Alinor Sterling and Katherine MesnerHage, argue in the lawsuit
that the Bushmaster rifle
used in the shooting is too
dangerous to sell to the general public. The families are
seeking unspecified monetary damages and other potential court actions.
Blade-Empire, Monday, February 22, 2016 3
Week Six
Senate Highlights
The Kansas Senate had a
full week of debate with 16
pieces of legislation passing
through the Senate floor with
topics ranging from expansion of government transparency to welfare reform.
Additionally, the Senate approved a final version of the
state’s budget for the next
fiscal year. The Senate voted
to confirm six appointments
from the Executive Branch
including former Kansas
Legislator and Commerce
Secretary Pat George to the
Kansas Bioscience Authority.
Budget Adjustments
The Senate, on a 22-16
vote, passed adjustments to
the current and upcoming
fiscal year budgets. Since
the bill was presented in the
form of a Conference Committee Report (CCR) amendments were agreed to during negotiations between the
House and Senate budget
committee members and
amendments were not offered during floor debate.
The agreed-to budget provides for an ending balance
of $32 million for FY 2016
and $111.8 million for FY
2017. The CCR budget provides for a $2 million appropriation to Osawatomie State
Hospital to address recertification and understaffing and
another $1 million to Larned
State Hospital for their understaffing issues. This bill
also prohibits the privatization of both hospitals without specific authorization by
the Legislature. Employer
contributions to KPERS will
be reduced but will be paid
back to the fund with 8 percent interest by September
30 of this year. The CCR also
made several adjustments
to the FY 2017 budget, included a 2.5% pay increase
for Corrections Officers and
added $378,000 for Safety
Net Clinics and a debt service cap of 19 percent to the
State Highway Fund for FY
2017.
Budget - KPERS
Under the budget negotiation KPERS, the state’s public employees’ pension fund,
would be protected from the
allotment process (across
the board cuts to balance
the budget) if state revenues
are unstable. However, if
the state were in a position
where it needs to delay a
payment, the late payments
would be made with 8% interest. This is higher than
recent investment returns
KPERS has received. In essence, if the state were to
go down this path, KPERS
would see an additional $10
million increase. Overall, the
move ensures all payments
in FY 17 due to KPERS will
be paid in full and the funds
receive some extra investment. Current benefactors of
KPERS would not be affected
by this change.
Budget - Corrections
The budget added $2.5
million to fund a 2.5 % salary
increase for correctional officers in facilities across the
state. Due to the strains of
this occupation, corrections
officers have seen heavy
turnover in this state and
in others across the country. The 2.5% increase is designed to reward and retain
those officers.
Budget - Children’s Initiative Fund
The budget will keep the
Children’s Initiative fund
(CIF) - tobacco settlement
dollars - out of the state general fund. The CIF funds a
number of literacy and early
childhood education programs. Some voiced concern
on the moving of the CIF into
the general fund stating that
the money would no longer
be used for services the CIF
funds. The budget includes
$7.2 million for TANF which
may require some programs
to be mean tested. It also
gives the Children’s Cabinet
the authority to place the
CIF’s programs but would
leave the tiny-K program with
the Department of Health.
SB 372 - The Hope Act
This bill makes several
improvements to the Kansas
Hope, Opportunity and Prosperity for Everyone (HOPE)
Act—last year’s comprehensive welfare reform legislation.
Changes to the Act include
limiting lifetime cash assistance to 24 months from 36
months, USDA work requirements for food assistance
and a cross-check of lottery
winners and identity verification. Since implementation
last year, caseloads have decreased significantly, going
from 15,507 households in
2011, to 5,600 households in
November 2015—a decrease
of 64 percent. Nearly 60% of
those who left food stamps
found employment within a
year and their incomes rose
an average of 127%.
SB 395 - Legislative Session Cap
The Senate debated SB
395, a bill that would limit
legislative sessions to 60
days in even-numbered years
(off-budget) and 100 days in
odd-numbered years. A twothirds vote of each house
would be required to extend
the session. Many states
that work on biennial budgets have shorter sessions in
off years since the workload
substantially decreases without a budget to craft.
SB 387 - Prized Linked
Savings Accounts
The Financial Institutions
and Insurance committee
held a hearing on SB 387
which would allow banks
and credit unions the ability
to offer prize-linked savings
accounts. SB 387 would incentivize individuals to save
for the future by entering
them in a drawing every time
they made a deposit over
a predetermined threshold
which would be established
by the financial institution. It
is important to note that this
is not a mandate; it simply
allows the financial institution to establish prize-linked
savings accounts. Up until
2014, the Federal Government prohibited prize-linked
savings until United States
Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas led the effort to remove
that prohibition. Now that
the Federal prohibition has
been lifted, states may now
authorize prize-linked savings accounts. Legislation
similar to SB 387 has since
been passed in 16 states,
which has granted access of
prize-linked savings accounts
to nearly 80 million consumers with over $115,000,000
being saved.
Agriculture Committee –
Commodity yearly update
Each year the grain commodities of Kansas present
their annual reports to the
state legislature and again
our crops are rated some of
the best quality and quantity
in the world. Kansas is the
number one producer of sorghum in the U.S. Sorghum is
used to create cat litter, packing peanuts, and even insulation. The crop is extremely
efficient in terms of water usage, and plays a vital role in
maintaining and growing the
state’s agricultural economy. Since last year, production
has increased 41%. In 2015,
Kansas produced its second
largest corn crop in history. The Kansas Corn Commission strongly advocates the
synergy between the corn,
livestock, and especially the
ethanol industry. Almost
every gallon of gasoline contains 10% ethanol and NASCAR has raced over eight million miles on ethanol infused
fuel without fuel-related issues. Kansas is currently
the second largest producer
of wheat in the United States.
The Kansas Wheat Commission was established by the
Kansas Legislature in 1957
in effort to improve research,
domestic marketing, international marketing, education and communication for
wheat producers. Thanks
to the commission and the
help of U.S. Wheat Associates, nearly half of the Kansas wheat crop has been
exported to other states and
foreign markets. Kansas has
also been one of the leading
producers of soybeans and
about 60% of total U.S. soybeans are exported. China is
the largest importer of American soybeans. Kansas
STARBASE
Academies – Senate District #36
The STARBASE program
(Department
of
Defense
funded) engages students
through the inquiry-based
curriculum with its "handson, mind-on" experiential
activities. Students in the
5th grade study Newton's
Laws and Bernoulli's principle and explore nanotechnology, navigation and mapping. They use the computer
to design space stations, allterrain vehicles and submersibles. Math is embedded
throughout the curriculum
and students use metric
measurement,
estimation,
calculation geometry and
data analysis to solve questions. Teamwork is stressed
as they work together to explore, explain, elaborate and
evaluate concepts. The Kansas STARBASE program is
located in five different cities
throughout the state including: Wichita, Topeka, Salina,
Kansas City and Manhattan.
At the Salina location, several schools have participated from Senate District 36.
In calendar year 2015, 261
of our students from nine
schools participated in the
STARBASE program located
in Salina. The schools that
had students participating
were Bennington, CliftonClyde, Concordia, Glasco,
Lincoln, Lucas-Sylvan, Miltonvale, Minneapolis, and
Tescott. It is exciting the program is available to the students of Senate District 36.
A special thank you to Major
General Lee Tafanelli for his
strong support of the STARBASE program in Kansas
which is administrated by
the Kansas National Guard.
2016 Keep it Clean Kansas Calendar – KDHE
This yearly calendar features the winning artwork
of Kansas students grades K
through 12 who entered the
calendar contest. The Bureau of Waste Management
has sponsored this contest
since 2000 to encourage
students, their families and
other Kansans to respect and
take care of our Kansas land,
water and air. Meiah Dominguez, a 6th grader from Ruppenthal Middle School in
Russell, drew the artwork of
a rolling landscape, sunflower and a wind turbine to be
the July calendar page win-
Texas private colleges
are saying no to guns
ner. Calendars are available
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) –
at no cost at KDHE by calling
When
Texas’ conservative
Bill Bider at 785-296-1600.
Legislature
passed a law
From the State Library of
requiring public universiKansas - Mango
With Mango Languages, ties to allow concealed guns
you can learn over 70 lan- on campus, it also gave the
guages right from your own state’s private institutions of
computer (or smartphone!). higher learning the chance
There are courses in Span- to follow suit. None has so
ish, French, Mandarin, Ger- far.
More than 20 private
man, Biblical Hebrew, and
many more. Mango uses real schools have said they won’t
life situations and conversa- lift their gun bans when the
tions to more effectively teach law takes effect this August,
a new language. Mango also including the state’s larghas courses for learning Eng- est private universities that
lish in 19 foreign languages. have religious affiliations
Link to Mango - http:// and often align with the type
kslib.info/Mango. For more of conservative values esinformation,
call
Cindy poused by the politicians beRoupe at 800-432-3919. hind the law.
The opposition has not
Our state library is located
surprised
top Texas Repubon the 3rd and 4th floor in
the North Wing of the State licans who championed the
law as a matter of constiCapitol.
Pages for Session 2016 – tutional rights and self-defense. But it reflects a wideFebruary 11th and 15th
Gunner Campbell, Minne- spread belief even among
apolis, and Colson Riemann, conservative university leadBeloit, paged on Thurs- ers that guns have no place
day and Patrick and Peyton in the classroom.
Baylor, Texas Christian
Smith from Marysville served
and
Southern Methodist
as pages for the Kansas Senuniversities
have all declined
ate the next Monday. They
to
allow
guns
on their cammet Governor Brownback,
puses.
took the Dome tour, worked
“My own view is that it is
in my office and ran errands
for the Senate during ses- a very unwise public policy,”
Baylor President Ken Starr, a
sion.
National 4-H Hall of former prosecutor and judge
best known for his work on
Fame
On February 15th, Sena- the Whitewater investigation
tor Tom Hawk and I intro- involving President Bill Clinduced Senate Resolution ton, said late last year. The
#1763 congratulating and Baptist school announced
commending Lindy Richard- this month that guns would
son Lindquist for being in- not be allowed on campus.
Previous law generally
ducted into the National 4-H
banned
concealed handHall of Fame. The National
4-H Hall of Fame was created guns from Texas’ public and
in 2002 as a 4-H Centennial private universities. That
project to recognize and cel- changed last year, when lawebrate those people who have makers passed the so-called
made a significant impact on “campus carry” law that re4-H over its 113 year history quires public universities to
as the nation’s premier youth allow concealed handgun lidevelopment
organization. cense holders to bring their
Lindy is only the 13th Kan- weapons into campus buildsan to be inducted into the ings and classrooms.
Texas will be one of at
National 4-H Hall of Fame.
least
20 states that allow
You can find more informasome
form
of campus carry.
tion about the Hall of Fame
But
only
a
few
make it a deat http://4-hhistorypreservation.com/History/H-O-F/ fined right in state law like
Visitors from Senate Dis- Texas does.
The law faced strong obtrict #36
jections
from public higher
The sixth week of session
education
officials, law enwas one of the busiest of the
forcement,
students and
legislative year so far. Students from across the state faculty across the state. Opparticipated in the 4-H Kan- ponents included University
sas Citizens in Action pro- of Texas System Chancelgram where they voted on lor William McRaven, the
bills in both Chambers after former head of U.S. Special
a 4-H dinner with Legisla- Operations Command who
tors. They served us milk directed the raid that killed
and cookies the next day and Osama bin Laden. A notable
promoted 4-H in the Capitol. exception was Texas A&M
Members from home with the University System ChancelNorth Central-Flint Hills Area lor John Sharp, who said
on Aging had lunch with us guns on campus didn’t troufor Older Kansans Day and ble him.
When
public
schools
stayed to watch the Senate
session. Kansas Livestock asked for the same choice
Association members attended their annual event and
dinner on Wednesday and
Leadership Mitchell County
invited Rep. Susan Concannon and myself to join them
for lunch and a legislative
update from us.
Thank for the honor of
serving you!
Senator Elaine Bowers
Kansas
State
Capitol
Building
Room 223-E
300 SW 10th St.
Topeka, KS 66612
elaine.bowers@senate.
ks.gov
785 296-7389
www.kslegislature.org
private schools have, state
lawmakers said no.
The author of the law,
Sen. Brian Birdwell, whose
district includes Baylor, said
he had to protect the public’s
“God-given” right of self-defense on public property, but
also private property rights.
He notes private businesses
can ban guns.
Private universities are
“no different than Starbucks
selling coffee. What they are
selling is different,” Birdwell
said.
“Now it’s up to the marketplace of free enterprise
... to make a market decision,” about guns on campus, Birdwell said. “My duty
was to preserve their ability
to make that choice.”
Lawmakers likely also
would have faced legal action from private schools
over any attempt to force
them to accept guns. Many
of the state’s private schools
are religious-based and likely would have resisted having such a major policy decision thrust on them.
“I did expect a number of
schools to try to circumvent
the law,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told WFAA-TV of Dallas.
“I don’t know why colleges
are fixated with this. I think
it makes campuses safer.”
The campus carry advocacy group Students for
Concealed Carry supported
private university choice and
expected most to initially
ban guns.
“(Our) hope is that once
the administrators of private
colleges see campus carry
safely and successfully implemented on public college
campuses, they’ll reconsider,” the group said.
The public school gun
mandate frustrates University of Texas President Greg
Fenves. On Wednesday,
Fenves begrudgingly approved rules allowing guns
in his classrooms, saying the
law gave him no alternative.
“Private universities have
made a statement that
handguns do not belong in
campus buildings. I agree,”
Fenves said. “We don’t have
a choice.”
There is an ironic twist to
the law’s Aug. 1 start date,
as it will be the 50th anniversary of sniper Charles
Whitman’s deadly attack
from the top of the University of Texas campus clock
tower and administration
building.
While some faculty warn
Texas’ public universities
will be less attractive to top
teachers, researchers and
students once guns are allowed, others are threatening to make a stand this fall
against the law.
4 Blade-Empire Monday, February 22, 2016
Sports
Broncbusters use timely three to drop T-Birds
Knocking down threepoint shots at critical
times, the Garden City
Broncbusters battled past
the Cloud County Thunderbirds 75-62 Saturday
night in Bryant Gymnasium.
Garden City set the tone
by connecting on three
threes in the first three
minutes of the game.
The Broncbusters finished 10 of 23 from threepoint range, and used the
long range shooting to fend
off a number of Cloud
County challenges.
Cloud County’s Devonte
Dixon opened the game by
hitting a three-point shot,
but Garden City answered
with a triple by Aaron Ray.
Two free throws by
Demonte Ojinnaka put the
T -Birds up 5-3.
Ray and Josh Fleming
connected on consecutive
threes, and the Broncbusters led 9-5.
A three by Dixon and a
layup by Aamahne Santos
gave Cloud County the lead
back at 10-9.
Garden City put together a 9-2 run to go up 18-12,
and would not trail again.
“To their credit, they
made big shots and timely
shots,”
Cloud
County
coach Chad Eshbaugh
said, “The frustration is
there is such a fine line
between winning and losing and usually it is not a
huge play.”
The Broncbusters, 1712 overall and 9-9 in the
Jayhawk
Conference,
would extend the lead to
Over the top
Cloud County freshman Alex Martin lofts a shot over the outstretched hand of a Garden City
defender. (Blade photo by Jay Lowell)
nine points, 29-20.
Two free throws by Duby
Maduegbunam, a dunk by
Ojinnaka and a basket by
Jesse Patrick left Cloud
Turnovers prove
costly in Panthers’
loss to Wamego
When they could get
shots off, the Concordia
Panthers were able to hang
with the Wamego Red
Raiders.
Hampered by a rash of
turnovers, the Panthers
didn’t get enough looks at
the basket.
knocked
Concordia
down 25 of 48 field goal
attempts for 53 percent in
the game, but turned it
over 24 times in losing 7970 to the Red Raiders in a
North Central Kansas
League matchup Friday
night in the Concordia
Junior-Senior High School
gymnasium.
The Panthers committed
five turnovers in six possessions during a crucial
stretch late in the third
quarter and early in the
fourth
that
allowed
Wamego to extend a six
point lead to 14 points.
“What we usually do. We
have a bad quarter of
turnovers and giving up
easy layups and then in
the fourth quarter we
struggle to fight our way
back into the game,” Concordia coach Michael Roe
said.
Concordia, after leading
42-39 early in the third
quarter, fell behind by 10
points, 57-47.
Baskets by Ian Nordell
and Cooper Holmes left the
Panthers trailing Wamego,
ranked sixth in Class 4ADivision I, just 57-51.
Consecutive turnovers
by the Panthers led to
layups by Sean Nordberg
and Dillon Blain, and it
was a 61-51 Wamego lead
heading into the final eight
minutes.
Anthony Gamino got a
steal and a layup 28 seconds into the fourth quarter, and Wamego led 63-51.
Holmes got a steal and a
dunk to get Concordia
back within 10 points, 6353.
Two free throws by Landis Rowden and a steal and
layup by Gamino pushed
the Red Raiders’ lead to
67-53.
Concordia turned the
ball over five times in six
offensive possessions.
“Too many turnovers.
We turned the ball over
when shouldn’t have. We
turned the ball over when
we weren’t supposed to.
That caused us to get
behind,” Roe said.
The
Panthers,
11-7
overall and 5-4 in the
league, would get no closer
than nine points over the
final 6:27 of the game.
Concordia will wrap up
the regular season with a
league game at Clay Center
on Tuesday night.
“You have got to show
up and play well. I sound
like a broken record, but
we have to cut down on the
turnovers. That is what we
have got to do, play the
game without turning it
over,” Roe said.
Holmes hit 12 of 19 field
goal attempts and 7 of 11
free throws in scoring 31
points for Concordia. He
also pulled down 10
rebounds.
Manny Mares hit 4 of 10
three-point attempts, and
finished with 14 points.
Nordell scored 13 points
on 6 of 11 shooting, and
grabbed 10 rebounds.
Ethan Bechard finished
with seven points and 10
assists.
Blain and Nordberg
scored 25 points each for
Wamego, now 17-2 overall
and 8-1 in league play.
Gamino
and
Bryce
Patrick added 10 points
each.
There were four lead
County trailing just 29-26.
Garden City pushed the
lead to 32-26.
Ojinnaka knocked down
a three, and the T -Birds
trailed 32-29.
Two free throws by Tykei
Hallman gave the Broncbusters a 34-29 halftime
lead.
Rising up
Concordia’s Ethan Bechard rises up for a shot against
Wamego on Friday night. (Blade photo by Jay Lowell)
changes and three ties in
the first nine minutes of
the game.
A basket by Holmes
pulled Concordia even at
14-14.
Back to back threes by
Blain and Nordberg put
Wamego up 20-14.
Blain knocked down a
three 14 seconds into the
second quarter, and the
Red Raiders led 23-14.
Wamego connected on
10 three-point attempts in
the game.
“Our game plan was to
run them off the threepoint line and make them
score inside,” Roe said.
Concordia would storm
back to take a 30-28 lead
on a layup by Bechard with
3:55 to play in the first
half.
The
two
teams
exchanged the lead five
times over the next 3:45.
Mares was fouled on a
three-point attempt with
1.5 seconds on the clock.
He hit two of the three free
throws, and Concordia led
40-39.
A basket by Nordell 22
seconds into the second
half gave the Panthers a
42-39 advantage.
Wamego buried four
threes during a 16-2 run,
and led 55-44.
Concordia closed the
gap to six points, before
the Red Raiders took
advantage of a slew of
turnovers to go up by 14
points.
WAMEGO (79)
Gamino 4-0-1 10, Blain 10-2-1
25, Rowden 1-2-3 5, Keller 0-0-1 0,
Ja. Ebert 1-2-1 4, Ju. Ebert 0-0-2 0,
Nordberg 10-1-2 25, Patrick 5-0-4
10. Totals: 31-7-17 79.
CONCORDIA (70)
Mares 4-2-3 14, James 0-0-2 0,
Bechard 2-3-1 7, Nordell 6-1-4 13,
Reed 1-2-3 5, Holmes 12-7-1 31.
Totals: 25-15-14 70.
Dixon hit a three 23 seconds into the second half
to close the gap to 34-32,
but Ray answered with a
three.
Ojinnaka made two free
throws, and it was a 37-34
game.
A layup by Fleming and
a three by Ray pushed Garden City’s lead to 42-34.
Cloud County, 9-20
overall and 2-16 in the Jayhawk, got a three-point
play by Patrick to make it a
42-37 game.
Ray hit another three.
Garden City then got
baskets by Diontae Jones
and Fleming to open up a
49-37
advantage
with
16:27 to play.
Cloud County battled
back to within seven
points, 53-46, and Fleming
hit a three.
Ojinnaka made two free
throws, but Fleming made
another three, and it was a
59-48 game.
Consecutive baskets by
Patrick and Maduegbunam
got the T -Birds within
seven points, 59-52, with
8:13 to play.
The T -Birds would manage just one field goal over
the next seven minutes.
“It is a mentality. When
things go well we are fine,
but when some adversity
hits us there is a little bit of
a feeling of oh no what can
go wrong other than what
can we do to make it go
right,’ Eshbaugh said.
Garden City, which has
now won three straight
games, pushed the lead to
17 points, 75-57, on its
way to the victory.
Ojinnaka, who made 10
of 12 free throws, led Cloud
County with 15 points. He
also had six rebounds.
Dixon was three of four
from three-point range, in
scoring 14 points for the T Birds.
Cloud County was 19 of
49 from the field for 39 percent and 18 of 25 from the
free throw line for 72 percent.
Fleming hit 11 of 19 field
goal attempts, including
five of nine from threepoint range, in scoring 27
points for Garden City.
Ray, who had connected
on just six threes all season, knocked down five of
six attempts, and scored
17 points.
Jones finished with 11
points and eight rebounds.
Cloud County hosts
Dodge City in the final
game of the regular season
tonight.
Cloud County FG FT R
Sherman
1-4 0-0 1
1-7 4-4 2
Santos
5-8 1-1 4
Dixon
0-3 0-1 1
Allen
Maduegbunam 2-6 2-2 8
Ojinnaka
2-6 10-12 6
Fall
2-2 0-0 3
0-2 0-2 1
Cornelious
4-6 1-1 2
Patrick
Martin
1-3 0-2 1
Cato
1-1 0-0 1
Totals:
19-49 18-25 35
Garden City FG FT R
6-7 0-0 3
Ray
0-5 0-0 0
Beard
Bennett
0-1 0-0 1
McNeal
1-11 3-6 3
11-19 0-0 7
Fleming
Hallman
0-0 2-2 1
1-4 0-0 8
Loy
0-7 2-2 1
Ray
1-2 2-3 4
Jones
Moore
2-3 1-2 1
5-6 1-2 8
Jones
27-65 11-17 43
Totals:
A
1
4
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
0
0
14
A
2
0
1
4
3
0
0
1
0
0
1
12
T
1
2
1
0
6
4
1
2
2
1
0
20
T
2
0
0
3
3
0
0
2
0
0
2
12
Strait, Leiszler
qualify for state
LINDSBORG — Concordia High School sophomores
Zach Strait and Blake Leiszler earned trips to the Class
4A state wrestling tournament by recording top three
finishes in the regional tournament hosted by Smoky
Valley High School.
Strait, 113 pounds, is
headed back to state for the
second straight year, by
placing second in the
regional.
Leiszler finished third in
the106-pound class, and
will be making his first
appearance in the state
tournament.
“It was good to have two
qualify,” Concordia coach
Kevin Brown said.
The state tournament is
scheduled for Friday and
Saturday in the Bicentennial Center in Salina.
Concordia placed 11th in
the regional tournament
with 46 points.
Colby won the team title
with 197 points. Abilene
was second with 178 and
Goodland was third with
156.5.
Strait received a bye in
the first round of the regional. He pinned Seth Morgan,
McPherson, in the second
period in the quarterfinals
and pinned Colin Henderson, Chapman, in 1:37 in
the semifinals.
Kasey Stramel, Goodland, got an escape in the
second period, and held on
to defeat Strait 1-0 in the
championship match.
“Just a tight match,”
Brown said, “Both kids were
pretty tentative, not wanting
to make a mistake that
might cost them the match.
It came down to him riding
us out and we just couldn’t
get away.‚”
It was just the third loss
of the season for Strait, who
carries a 32-3 record into
state.
Leiszler received a bye in
the first round. He pinned
EJ Kretzer, McPherson, in
F
0
2
4
2
4
2
2
1
2
2
0
21
F
3
0
3
1
1
1
3
1
3
3
1
20
TP
3
6
14
0
7
15
4
0
9
2
2
62
TP
17
0
0
5
27
2
2
2
4
5
11
75
1:46 in the quarterfinals.
Adam Whitson, Buhler,
defeated Leiszler 6-3 in the
semifinals.
Leiszler (30-12) pinned
Corey Hale, Hays, in the
consolation semifinals. He
won a 6-1 decision over Kurt
Schroeder, Colby in thirdplace match.
“The third-place match,
that was one of the best
matches I have seen him
wrestle all year. He just really dominated that match,”
Brown said.
Brenton
Concordia’s
Edwards, 120 pounds, came
within one win of qualifying
for state.
Edwards (23-17) was
pinned by Cole Kretzer,
McPherson, in the quarterfinals. He pinned Timothy
Stoner, in 21 seconds.
Needing one more win to
move into the consolation
finals, Edwards lost by fall
to Trevor Casteel, Abilene.
Concordia’s
Kyler
Caspers, 132 pounds, was
pinned
by
Cameron
Osborne, Clay Center, in the
opening round. He lost by
fall to Jaden Raigoza, Nickerson.
Jared Knapp, wrestling in
the 182-pound class for the
Panthers, pinned Darin
McQueen, in the opening
round. He lost by fall to Connor Edmundson, Colby.
Knapp dropped an 11-9
decision to Brad Dorzweiller,
Hays, in the consolation
bracket.
Brent Beaumont, 220
pounds, was pinned by
Chance Shull, Nickerson, in
the first round. He lost by
fall to Reyes Bustillos,
Goodland.
Austin Higbee received a
bye in the first round in the
285-pound class. He was
pinned by top-ranked Jason
Zook, Chapman, in the
quarterfinals.
Higbee pinned Thomas
Harman, Hays, and then
lost by fall to Luis Ledesma,
Goodland.
T-Birds rout Broncbusters, 81-54 T-Birds place fifth
Blade-Empire Monday, February 22, 2016 5
Doing their best to shake
things up atop the Jayhawk
Conference standings, the
Cloud County Thunderbirds reeled off 27 straight
points in the second half on
its way to an 81-54 rout of
the Garden City Community College Broncbusters
Saturday night in Bryant
Gymnasium.
Cloud County, a week
earlier, knocked off firstplace Hutchinson Community College on its home
floor.
Garden City came into
the game tied with Hutchinson for first place in the
Jayhawk, but was no match
for the T -Birds over the
final 20 minutes of the
game.
Cloud County has now
won six straight games to
improve to 20-9 overall and
12-6 in the conference.
The T -Birds are tied for
sixth place with Butler
Community College.
“We are spinning our
wheels. We are doing all we
can do, but we are not moving up very far,” Cloud
County coach Brett Erkenbrack said, “The main thing
is we are playing very well. I
am really proud of this
group.”
Cloud County will wrap
up the regular season by
hosting Dodge City Community College tonight.
The T -Birds, looking to
avenge an earlier loss to
Garden City this season,
trailed only once in the
game at 2-0.
Freshman guard Chelcie
Kizart scored the next nine
points to put Cloud County
on top to stay.
Kizart was 10 of 14 from
the field, including four of
four from three-point range,
and two of three from the
free throw line in scoring 26
points. She also had seven
Tight defense
A Garden City defender plays tight defense against Cloud
County’s Shannon Owens, left, Saturday night. (Blade photo
by Jay Lowell)
assists and no turnovers.‚
“Chelcie Kizart was fantastic. She played like an
All-American
tonight,”
Erkenbrack said.
Garden City would pull
back within three points,
11-8.
Scoring nine unanswered
points, the T-Birds went up
20-8. They would lead 20-9
heading into the second
quarter.
Getting a pair of threepoint baskets by Kaley
Broeckelman and one by
Kizart, Cloud County would
outscore the Broncbusters
15-7 over the first 5:34 of
the second period to open
up a 35-16 lead.
Fouls then started to
mount for the T-Birds.
Garden City, 20-9 overall
and 14-4 in the conference,
shot 12 free throws, and
made 10 of them, during a
13-2 spurt that cut the
deficit to 37-30.
“They are a difficult team
to defend,” Erkenbrack
said, “Anytime you play a
team that is willing to put
their heads down and drive
to the basket, that is tough
to guard against.”
Six straight points to
open the second half
extended Cloud County’s
lead to 43-30.
Garden City would battle
back to within 10 points,
47-37.
The Broncbusters would
then go better than 10 minutes without scoring.
Cloud County scored 23
points, 12 by Kizart, in less
than five minutes, and led
70-37 going into the fourth
quarter.
Baskets by Broeckelman
and Darby Price the first
1:34 of the final period
made it a 27-0 run by the TBirds.
“That was quite a run,”
Erkenbrack said, “The
game is real simple. Stop
them on one end and score
every time you get the ball
on the other end. Normally
you don’t have a 27-0 run,
but we were playing good
defense and we executed
almost everything offensively.”
Leading by 37 points, 7437, the T-Birds would coast
to the win.
Broeckelman hit four of
eight three-point attempts,
and scored 16 points.
Darby Price came off the
bench to score 14 points
and grab eight rebounds.
Shala Dobbins, the leading scorer in the conference,
led Garden City with 23
points. She was just 6 of 19
from the field, but made 11
of 13 free throws.
Donajsa Scott scored 11
points for the Broncbusters.
Cloud County FG FT
Kizart
10-14 2-3
1-4 0-0
Figgers
2-7 1-2
Farber
Bell
0-0 0-0
0-3 0-0
Thomson
Flach
0-1 0-0
2-3 0-2
Freed
Broeckelman 6-15 0-0
0-4 2-2
Jones
Alexander
3-6 2-2
6-8 2-3
Price
2-5 0-0
Owens
32-70 9-14
Totals:
Garden City FG FT
1-4 3-4
Clasen
Hawkins
1-1 1-2
2-6 0-0
Akula
6-19 11-13
Dobbins
Bernbeck
1-6 2-2
3-4 5-8
Scott
0-2 0-0
Duhart
15-47 22-29
Totals:
R
3
1
5
0
2
1
2
6
0
8
6
4
47
R
1
1
1
5
6
6
1
29
A
7
0
2
0
5
0
0
2
0
0
1
1
18
A
0
0
0
1
3
0
0
4
T
0
0
0
1
3
0
3
0
1
1
2
0
11
T
0
0
5
5
0
1
1
14
F
1
3
3
0
1
1
1
3
1
3
3
5
25
F
0
0
1
0
4
5
1
14
TP
26
2
5
0
0
0
4
16
2
8
14
4
81
TP
5
3
6
23
4
11
0
54
CHS girls down Wamego, 52-43
Putting together a dominant stretch of better than
13 minutes in the second
half the Concordia High
School girls’ basketball
team picked up its first
North
Central
Kansas
League win of the season
by knocking off Wamego
52-43 Friday night in the
Concordia Junior -Senior
High School gymnasium.
After leading by a point
at halftime, Concordia fell
behind Wamego 29-25
early in the second half.
The Panthers outscored
the Red Raiders 27-10 over
the next 13:42 to secure
the league victory.
“Being without a league
win so far it was nice to get
that,” Concordia coach
Michael Wahlmeier said.
Concordia, 3-15 overall
and 1-8 in the NCKL, has
now won two straight
games for the first time this
season.
“We now have put a
streak together. We talked
about wanting to play good
at the end of the season,”
Wahlmeier said.
The Panthers finish up
the regular season with a
league game at Clay Center
on Tuesday night.
Concordia had a 23-22
lead at halftime, but
Wamego opened the third
quarter with a 7-2 spurt,
and led 29-25 when Tessa
Seeberger knocked down a
three-point shot with 4:38
to play in the third quarter.
“Maybe a little tight,”
Wahlmeier said, “There was
a stretch where I thought
we got too loose with the
ball, but we were able to get
it back under control.”
The Red Raiders would
then go better than four
minutes without scoring.
Concordia scored eight
points during that stretch,
four by Peyton Reynolds, to
go on top to stay, 33-29.
Seeberger ended the
Wamego scoring drought
by hitting a jumper, and it
was a 33-31 game heading
into the fourth quarter.
Baskets
by
Cydney
in Region 6 meet
PITTSBURG — Producing one individual champion, the Cloud County
Community
College
women’s track and field
team placed fifth in the
Region 6 Indoor Championships.
Freshman Nayoka Clunis threw 57-9 to win the
weight throw for the Thunderbirds. She also placed
fifth in the shot put.
Cloud County scored 54
points in the meet.
Barton Community College won the women’s title
with 175 points. Coffeyville
finished second with 155
and Butler Community College was third with 116.
The Cloud County men
finished seventh in the
meet with 48.5 points.
Butler claimed the team
title with 159 points. Barton was second with 154
and Coffeyville was third
with 112.
The
Cloud
County
women had sophomore
Jade Weathersby place
third in the long jump, fifth
in the 60-meter dash (7.81)
and seventh in the 200meter dash (25.54).
Marjorie Thompson was
sixth in the 60 (7.83).
Stephanie Barrett finished third in the mile run
(5:33.22) and sixth in the
800 (2:26.37) for the T Birds.
Haley Falk picked up a
third-place finish in the
pole vault. Laramie Leakey
was seventh.
Cloud County’s 4x400
relay team of Thompson,
Raygene Minus, Chanelle
Barnett and Renee Summerville placed fifth in
4:00.96.
Leakey, Debbie Ames,
Camilla Faudez and Yasmin
Rendon teamed up to finish
sixth in the 4x800 relay for
Cloud County.
Summerville
placed
eighth in the 60-meter hurdles (9.36).
The Cloud County men
had Jared Pfeifer place second in the heptathlon with
4,348 points.
Freshman Chance Chrisman tied for third place in
the pole vault. Kyle Gierhan
placed sixth.
Freshman Kevin Philbert
placed fourth in the long
jump and in the triple jump
for the T-Birds.
Ramel Mason was eighth
in the triple jump.
Jace Coppoc, a freshman
from
Concordia,
ran
1:22.20 to finish fifth in the
600-meter run for Cloud
County.
Cloud County’s distance
medley relay team of Coppoc, Jamal Namous, Boone
Cady and Zane Downing
placed fifth (10:43.43).
Kurt van de Merwe,
Bryce Golightley, Trevontee
Garner and Nick Roark finished seventh in the 4x800
relay (9:42.76).
Chad Gross placed sixth
in the high jump for the TBirds.
Rajindra Campbell finished seventh in the shot
put.
Solomon Afful, battling a
hamstring injury placed
eighth in the 60-meter
dash.
Afful had the second
fastest qualifying time in
the 200 of 21.30, which set
a new Cloud County school
record, but was unable to
compete in the finals
because of the injury.
Namous was eighth in
the
1,000-meter
run
(2:38.35).
Five players scored eight
or more points as the Concordia Panthers knocked off
the Wamego Red Raiders
58-52 in junior varsity boys’
basketball
play
Friday
night.
Matthew James led the
way for Concordia with 17
points.
Garrett Lawrence scored
12 points.
Tyler Stupka finished
with 10 points.
Isaac Mehl and Corben
Monzon added eight points
each.
Concordia trailed 15-14
after one quarter of play.
The Panthers scored 12
points in the second period,
to 11 for Wamego, to make it
a 26-26 game at halftime.
Concordia tacked on 17
points in the third quarter,
and gave up 15, to take a
43-41 lead.
The Panthers outscored
the Red Raiders 15-11 in
the final period.
The Concordia junior varsity girls’ basketball team
rolled past Wamego 53-33 on
Friday.
Katlynn Miller led the way
for Concordia with 15 points.
Mykah Eshbaugh scored
13 points and pulled down
seven rebounds for the Panthers.
“I was proud of them. It
was a physical game and we
survived,” Concordia coach
Laura Krier said.
MCPHERSON — The Concordia Kids Wrestling Club
had 11 competitors place in
the top five at the McPherson
Tournament on Saturday.
Nathan
Brown,
105
pounds,
12-and-under;
Keyan Miller, 120 pounds,
12-and-under; and Shelby
Giersch, 150 pounds, 12and-under, recorded firstplace finshes.
Landen
Belden,
37
pounds, 6-and-under; Jaydin Morrissey, 46 pounds, 6-
and-under; and Justus
Trost, 100 pounds, 10-andunder, placed second.
Tucker Davis, 37 pounds,
6-and-under; Kamryn Price,
85 pounds, 10-and-under;
and Drew Brown, 100
pounds, 12-and-under, finished third.
Christian Belden, 58
pounds,
10-and-under,
placed fourth.
Cooper Wogomon, 46
pounds, 6-and-under, finished fifth.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP)
— Ron Baker scored 14
points and Wichita State
rolled over Indiana State 8451 on Sunday.
Baker had five rebounds,
three steals and two blocked
shots. Shaquille Morris,
Zach Brown and Markis
McDuffie all finished with 11
points for the Shockers (217, 14-2 Missouri Valley), who
have won four of five and
clinched the No. 1 seed in the
conference tournament.
Indiana State (13-15, 7-9)
was led by Brenton Scott
with 14 points, and Devonte
Brown added 11. The
Sycamores shot 31 percent,
including 5 of 26 (19 percent)
from beyond the arc and
have lost five straight.
The game was tied at
seven after 4 1/2 minutes,
but Wichita State took over
from there. A 15-4 run made
it 22-11 and the Shockers led
44-26 at the break. Wichita
State opened the second half
with a 10-2 run and the rout
was on.
Panthers top Wamego
CHS JV rolls, 53-33
Local wrestlers place
Passing it along
Concordia guard Jennifer Garcia fires a pass to a teammate during a 52-43 win over Wamego
on Friday night. (Blade photo by Jay Lowell)
Bergmann and Jordan
Eshbaugh in the first 50
seconds of the final period
gave Concordia a 37-31
cushion.
Bergmann led Concordia
with 18 points.
The Red Raiders would
stay within striking distance, and trailed just 4236, when Amanda Luthi
made one of two free
throws with 2:38 on the
clock.
Concordia got baskets
by Katlynn Miller and
Bergmann and two free
throws each by Cameron
Collins and Bergmann to
push the lead to 50-36.
“It was good to see everybody step up and play hard
at the end,” Wahlmeier
said.
Wamego would get no
closer than the final margin of nine points.
Mykah Eshbaugh scored
13 points, 11 in the the
first half, for Concordia.
Seeberger
paced
Wamego with 17 points.
Caitlyn Claussen added 15
points.
A three by Seeberger
gave Wamego a 16-15 lead
heading into the second
quarter.
The Red Raiders pushed
the lead to 18-15, but
scored just four points the
final 5:22 of the period.
Concordia, trailing 2218, scored the final five
points of the first half to go
up 23-22.
Wamego opened the second half with the 7-2 run to
reclaim the lead at 29-25,
but the Panthers took control after that.
WAMEGO (43)
Schwein 0-0-3 0, Claussen 7-1-4
15, Seeberger 6-2-2 17, Stratton 1-12 3, Luthi 1-4-1 6, Griffitt 0-0-2 0,
Faulkner 1-0-4 2. Totals: 16-8-20 43.
CONCORDIA (52)
Bergmann 7-4-1 18, Kah. Miller
0-0-1 0, Reynolds 2-0-3 4, Collins 12-2 4, M. Eshbaugh 6-0-4 13, J. Eshbaugh 3-1-2 7, Garcia 0-1-2 1, Kat.
Miller 2-1-0 5. Totals: 21-9-16 52.
Shockers thump ISU
6 Blade-Empire, Monday, February 22, 2016
ONE PLACE HAS IT ALL
THE CLASSIFIEDS
For Rent
FOR RENT
TOWER ESTATES
3 bed/2 bath and 2 bed/1bath
units at $425-$475. Modern and
well-maintained. Stove/fridge/
dishwasher, w/d hookups, some
vaulted ceilings. Call for current
specials! Affordable Housing
Property. Restrictions apply.
Equal Housing Opportunity.
620-236-3557
www.mpireproperties.com
FOR RENT
Large spacious
1 & 2 bedroom
apartments
on-site laundry facilities,
water and trash paid.
Available now.
RESTAURANT
MANAGEMENT
Now seeking qualified
applicants for restaurant
manager positions.
***Strong Leadership Skills
***Close attention to Detail
***Positive Attitude
***Ability to work in a fun, fast
paced environment
Email resume to payroll@
bbrsonics.com or mail to
BBR Sonics, P.O. Box 160,
Newton, KS 67114.
MD Properties
785-534-2070
FOR RENT-Storage spaces, various
sizes, reasonable, locally owned.
785-243-4105.
*$$AVING$! Up to 2
Month$ FREE RENT!
2 BR APTS.
Near schools & town, roomy
& warm! All electric, Hi-Eff &
Kuddly! “Small” pets and kids
welcomed. Call Frances or
Trent and say “Awesome
‘Possum”. Office 785-8185028 or cell 785-614-1078.
For Sale
FOR SALE
COMPLETE TWIN BED
New to Excellent Condition!
Slept in 2 times. Has shelf
headboard with 2 drawer
base. $400 firm.
Located in Concordia
Call 785-479-5536
Help Wanted
LPN or RN Day Shift
Full-Time
Position would include
working every other weekend.
For an opportunity to work
as a part of our team, please
apply in person at 303 E.
Buffalo St., Glasco, KS. The
Nicol Home Inc. is an Equal
Opportunity Employer. Any
questions, please call Julie
or Melissa at 785-568-2251
NEEDED: BOX CULVERT
SUPERINTENDENT.
Overnight travel may be
required at various locations
across Nebraska and some
Kansas locations. Salary
based on experience as well
as vacation, 401k, health,
dental, vision insurance
benefits package. Preemployment drug testing
and valid U.S. driver’s license
is required for employment.
Call with questions or to
request an application at
402-773-5250 or apply in
person to Van Kirk Bros.
Contracting, 1200 W. Ash
St., Sutton NE. Van Kirk
Bros. Contracting is an equal
employment opportunity
employer.
CNA 10p-6a
2p-10p Nurse/Full Time
Full-time Housekeeper
We offer benefits.
Apply in person, M-F,
8:30-4:30.
Mount Joseph Senior Village
1110 W. 11th St.
Concordia, KS. EOE
785-243-1347
DIETARY POSITION
Part-time Evening
Position Available
Every other weekend and
holidays required. If you
are interested in joining
our team, please apply in
person or call Sherry at the
Nicol Home, 303 E. Buffalo
St., Glasco, KS 67445. 785568-2251.
NOW HIRING
In a fast, fun and friendly,
Day and Night
Carhops and Cooks
Flexible schedules.
Apply online at:
HELP WANTED
Evenings and Weekends
Apply online or at the store
ORSCHELN FARM & HOME
1620 Lincoln St.
Concordia, KS 66901
THE BLADE-EMPIRE
Has Immediate Opening for
REPUBLICAN VALLEY
LANDSCAPE, LLC
Is now hiring
Landscape Installers,
Irrigation Installers and
Fertilizer Technicians.
Must be 18 years or older,
have a valid driver’s license
and pass background and
drug tests. Competitive
Wages and Benefits. Apply
at 1725 East 6th Street,
Concordia, KS 66901, Mon.,Fri. from 8am-4pm.
NOTICE- For your Classified Ad
needs, call the Blade-Empire, 785243-2424.
Kaw Valley
Greenhouses
is bringing a garden center
to Concordia and is looking
for employees to work
seasonally. Part and full
time candidates welcome,
must be able to run cash
register, put up merchandise,
water plants and work with
customers. Pays $9/hr..
More information and
online application at
kawvalleygreenhouses.
com or contact 800-2353945
Full Time
Fleet Maintenance
Technician
Applicant must meet the
following criteria:
* Possess a Class A CDL
*Have a working knowledge
of Fleet Maintenance for Air
Brakes, Tire Repair, Annual
DOT Requirements
* Have own hand Tools
* Be able to Travel
* Highly Motivated
* Safety Oriented
Salary will be based off
experience. We also offer
Quarterly Attendance
bonuses, Paid Holidays,
p a i d Va c a t i o n D a y s ,
Life Insurance, AFLAC
Supplemental Insurance,
Simple IRA, Cell Phone
Allowance. Apply in person
at 301 Cedar, Concordia,
KS or call for application.
Student of the Month
Cooper Holmes, January Student of the Month at Concordia High School, accepts his commemorative plaque from Janet Lowell, president of Central National Bank, Student of the Month
sponsor.
MUTTS® by Patrick McDonnell
CDL DRIVER
Champlin Tire Recycling
Is hiring for a full time Class
A CDL Driver to operate
truck with self-loading
boom. Sign-on bonus plus
eligible for attendance/safety
bonuses. Benefits available.
Home weekends and most
evenings. Apply in person
at 301 Cedar, Concordia
or call 785-243-3345. EOE.
ZITS® by Scott and Borgman
HELP WANTED
Robert W. Wright, Trust
needs 2 Temp Farm Laborers
in Capron, OK from 3/25/16 12/17/16, $11.15/hr., no exp
req’d to operate and maintain
agriculture equipment and
machines, monitor crops
- wheat, alfalfa and cattle
production. Treat for bugs,
weeds and level fields. Cut
with swather, rake and bale.
Haul from field to put in barn
and load on trucks. Move
cattle off to the wheat pasture
in March. Guaranteed offer
of employment for a min. of
3/4 of the workdays of the
total work contract period.
Employer will: provide
necessary tools supplies &
equipment at no cost to the
worker, provide housing for
workers who cannot return
to their permanent residence
at the end of the workday
and reimburse the worker
for transportation costs &
subsistence to work site
when worker completes 50%
of the work period. Report
to or send resume to the
nearest Kansas Department
of Commerce using job order
#OK1072126.
www.sonicdrivein.com/jobs.
Help Wanted
OFFICE/WAREHOUSE
HELP
40 hours per week, competitive
wage.
Apply in person
127 E. 6th St. , Concordia
Business Interest
WORK AT A
GARDEN CENTER!
Enjoy the outdoors?
FULL TIME
RECEPTIONIST/
CLERK POSITION
Must possess good people
and computer skills, be able to
multi-task and communicate
effectively. Some knowledge
of accounting/accounts
receivable/accounts payable
a plus. Competitive salary
and benefits offered. EOE.
Send resume to:
Blade-Empire
P.O. Box 309
Concordia, KS 66901
Sales Calendar
•Thursday, February 25,
2016 – Land Auction at
10:00 a.m. located at the
Jamestown
Community
Center, Jamestown, Kansas. 40+/– Acres Cloud
County Land. Heirs of Robert Keiser, Sellers. Greg
Askren & Mark Uhlik Auction.
•Saturday,
February
27, 2016– Public Auction
at 9:00 a.m. located at the
Kearn Auction House, 220
West 5th Street, Concordia,
Kansas. Misc., Antiques and
Misc. Dannie Kearn Auction.
•Saturday, March
5,
2016– Public Auction located at the Kearn Auction
House, 220 West 5th Street,
Concordia, Kansas. Peggy
Loveland Estate, Seller.
Dannie Kearn Auction.
•Saturday, March 12,
2016 – Optimist Club Annual Consignment Auction.
•Friday
&
Saturday,
March 18 & 19, 2016– Two
Day Public Auction located
at the Valley Rental Center,
9th and Valley Street, Concordia, Kansas. (Friday,
6:00 p.m.) Guns, Kinives,
Bows and Fishing Equipment.
(Saturday, 10:00
a.m.) Power and Hand
Tools, Furniture, Household
and Collectibles. Mrs. Oscar
(Connie) Dickinson and
Florence (Flossie) Wilkes,
Sellers. Larry Lagasse Auction.
•Saturday, March 19,
2016 – Public Auction at
10:00 a.m. located at the
Valley Rental Center, 803
Valley Street, Concordia,
Kansas. Guns, Tools, Furniture, Antiques and Misc.
Oscar Dickinson Estate,
(Connie Dickinson) Seller.
Larry Lagasse Auction.
•Saturday, April 2, 2016–
Public Auction at the farm
located 15 miles South of
Concordia, Kansas on 81
Highway to Camp Road, 4
miles East to 180 Road and
1 mile South. Tractor, Combine, Equipment, Tools, Collectibles, and Misc. Bill Garrison, Seller. Larry Lagasse
Auction.
BABY BLUE® by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott
BARNEY GOOGLE AND SNUFFY SMITH® by John Rose
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE® by Chris Browne
PO BOX 246, Oakley, KS 67748
Well established Northwest
Kansas contractor in
business since 1961
Concrete
Superintendent/
Foreman
• Experience
and knowledge of all
aspects of Concrete Paving
• High
skills
degree of organizational
• Desire
to lead & train personnel
to produce quality work in a safe
environment
• Generous salary & relocation
expenses
• Health & Life insurance
• Matching 401 k Retirement Plan
• Paid
holidays and vacations
Apply at www.sporerland.com
Email [email protected]
Call 785/672-4319
Equal Opportunity Employer
FRANK & SUSAN WEDEL
1012 West County Road L • Leoti, KS 67861
Email: [email protected] • www.WedelRedAngus.com
(620) 375-2578 • (620) 874-1437 (cell)
16th Annual Bull &
Replacement Female Sale
March 10, 2016 - Noon CST
• 140 RED ANGUS, SimAngus &
Char-Red Angus Hybrids
• 150 Yearling Commercial Red Angus Heifers
• 100 Fall Bred Commercial Red Angus Heifers
All Heifers are OCV and reproductive tract scored
View Videos at SuperiorLivestock.com
& DVAuction.com
Email or Call for Sale Catalog!
PEOPLE
Annie’s
Mailbox
by Kathy Mitchell and
Marcy Sugar
Dear Annie: I am hoping
to retire in six years. I have
been investing some money
through my job and have
accumulated a comfortable
amount. My wife had a similar fund at her job, but took
the money out a few years
ago. She says she doesn't
know where she spent it, but
I'm pretty sure it went to her
daughter (from another marriage), the same place the
rest of her money goes. We
have our own checking accounts, because I was tired
of being broke all the time.
When I retire, I would like
to move to North Carolina. I
know that my wife will never
leave her grandchildren. I
can't take money out of my
retirement account without
her signature and I have no
idea how she managed to
empty her account without
my signature, but she did.
Can you give me some advice before the time comes?
— Soon to Retire in Florida
Dear Florida: We aren't
sure what you are asking.
You already know that your
wife is not going to abandon her daughter and the
grandchildren. So, it seems
you are willing to leave her,
but you are concerned that
she won't release the money
from your retirement account. If she gained access
to either retirement account
without authorization, talk
to someone at your bank or
to a lawyer. But ask yourself
whether moving to North
Carolina is more important
than your marriage. And if
you divorce her, would the
money in your retirement
account be split anyway? Is
there room for compromise?
Please tell your wife what
your wishes are regarding
your retirement and ask for
her input. Would she be willing to come to North Carolina part of the time? If so,
would that be a tolerable
arrangement? You seem to
have a less-than-loving relationship that you can work
on if you choose. A lot can
happen in six years.
Dear Annie: You printed
several responses to the letter from "Please Leave Animals at Home," about service
animals in public places.
I work in a clinic and
am well-aware that there
are service dogs and other
types of therapy animals out
there. Service animals have
their place. However, let
me point out that a "service
vest" can be ordered online
(as can a doctor's note), and
that there are many people
who just want to bring their
pets everywhere, regardless
of whether it is healthy for
others. We are told not to
ask whether the animal is
a service animal for fear of
offending the patient and
being accused of discriminating against those with
disabilities.
Having
an
untrained
animal in the clinic is not
healthy or sanitary. Many
of our patients come in with
real medical problems, and
are then subjected to a waiting room with an animal
circus. The trained service
animals that come into our
clinic are welcome. I wish
the others would be kept at
home. — Train Your Animals
Dear Train: Service animals are trained and acceptable (and legal) everywhere.
The problem is untrained
comfort animals, still a gray
area. Who gets precedence
— the person claiming an
emotional disability requiring a comfort animal or his
neighbor in the condo with
a serious traumatic aversion
to dogs? Or a child with a
life-threatening allergy? We
don't have the answers and
right now, it seems no one
else does, either.
Annie's Mailbox is written
by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy
Sugar, longtime editors of
the Ann Landers column.
Please email your questions
to anniesmailbox@creators.
com, or write to: Annie's
Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.
You can also find Annie on
Facebook at Facebook.com/
AskAnnies. To find out more
about Annie's Mailbox and
read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and
cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at
www.creators.com.
Senior Citizens Menu
Tuesday, Feb. 23—Turkey & Noodles, Mashed Potatoes,
Peas, Pudding
Wednesday, Feb. 24—Potato soup, ham and cheese
sandwiches, fruit; 10 a.m.—Exercise; 1 p.m.—Boosters.
Thursday, Feb. 25—Scrambled eggs, biscuits and sausage gravy, hashbrowns, Mandarin oranges.
Friday, Feb. 26—Tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, crackers, Jell-O® with fruit; 10 a.m.—Exercise; progressive cards.
Milk, bread and butter served with meals
Cinnamon rolls and fresh coffee daily, 8-11 a.m.
Call Teddy Lineberry at 243-1872 for questions or to
make reservations.
Thank You for Reading the Blade-Empire
Blade-Empire, Monday, February 22, 2016 7
Marymount alumna’s bequest
will preserve Sisters’ history
A Marymount College
alumna with a deep love
for the Sisters of St. Joseph
has left a gift of $10,000 to
show her appreciation for the
women of the Concordia congregation.
Martha Bieber died June
26, 2015, at her home in
Castle Rock, Colo. She was
65.
On Thursday (Feb. 18) her
husband Jeff and her sister
Jeanne Wessling Goodman
visited the Nazareth Motherhouse to meet some of the
Sisters and to see how Martha’s bequest will be used.
Martha was the oldest of
five siblings, all of whom attended Sacred Heart Catholic School in Salina. Martha
then went on to graduate
from Marymount College
in 1971; her sister Connie
Wessling McLoughlin also
graduated from Marymount,
and both her brother David
Wessling and her mother
Ruth Wessling attended the
college founded and operated
by the Sisters of St. Joseph.
“The strength of Martha’s
connection was the quality
of education she got from
the Sisters,” her husband
Jeff explained. “It wasn’t just
education, though, it was
also the spirituality she saw
in and learned from the Sisters.”
Martha and Jeff met
while she was at Marymount
and he was a student at
Kansas Wesleyan University,
also in Salina. They married
in 1972, and together they
owned and operated Kay
Jan Inc., a John Deere farm
equipment dealership with
multiple locations in eastern
Colorado and western Kansas. They raised their two
sons, Zachary and Jacob, in
Fort Morgan, Colo., and in
2013 retired in Castle Rock.
Throughout the years,
the Biebers had given regular donations to the Sisters
of St. Joseph. But Jeff didn’t
learn of Martha’s large gift
until after her death.
“She was very private,” he
said. “This was one of several
bequests in her individual
trust, and I know she’d be
pleased to see how much it
means to the Sisters.”
Jeff said that in conversations with Holly Brown,
the Sisters’ development
Looking back
Looking through old photographs as part of the Heritage Center tour on Thursday, Feb. 18,
were, from left, Jeanne Wessling Goodman, Sister Bernadine Pachta, Jeff Bieber, Sister Carm
Thibault and Sister Pat McLennon.
Visit to Motherhouse
Jeff Bieber talks about his late wife, Martha Wessling Bieber,
with Sister Pat McLennon during a visit to the Nazareth Motherhouse Thursday, Feb. 18.
director, he learned about
the current project to renovate and modernize a “Heritage Center” in the Nazareth
Motherhouse. This Center is
essentially a museum that
tells the story of the Sisters of
St. Joseph from their founding in 1650 France through
the present, and will be open
to tourists, family historians and other researchers.
The renovated space on the
second floor of the Mother-
house will include interactive
displays and access to digitalized records.
“Today as Sisters talked
about ‘the congregation,’
it was the same as talking about ‘family,’” Jeff said
during his visit to the Motherhouse. “Family was so
important to Martha and I
know preserving this ‘family
history’ would be something
she would love.”
He noted that Martha also
loved computers, so digitalizing records to preserve them
and make them accessible
would be another part of the
Heritage Center project she
would have supported.
As part of their visit to
the Motherhouse, Jeff and
his sister-in-law spent time
in the under-construction
Heritage Center with the
committee in charge of the
renovation: Sister Bernadine
Pachta, the congregation’s
archivist; Sister Pat McLennon; Sister Carm Thibault;
Greg Gallagher, the Sisters’
facilities administrator; and
Jane Wahlmeier, administrator services coordinator
at the Motherhouse. Also
on hand was development
director Holly Brown. Mark
Headrick of Wildside Creative in Concordia is providing design, reproduction and
graphics work but was not
able to attend the gathering.
After a tour of the Motherhouse, the two visitors were
joined for coffee and dessert
by Sister Jean Rosemarynoski, vice president of the congregation, and Sister Janice
Koelzer, who had been one of
Martha Bieber’s nursing instructors at Marymount College.
Small savings can yield big results
The 10th annual America Saves Week will take place Feb. 22-27
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The
idea of saving money can
be an intimidating concept
for some Americans. Having money saved and available can provide security in
the event of an emergency
and even reduce stress in
everyday life. However, studies have shown that one out
of three Americans does not
have sufficient savings to
cover unexpected expenses.
According to the America
Saves Week website (http://
www.americasavesweek.
org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/aswinfographic.jpg), most Americans do not have a savings
plan with specific goals. They
also don’t have a spending
plan that allows for an adequate amount of saving.
This is the 10th year of
America Saves Week, which
creates an opportunity to
promote savings and encourages people to assess
their own savings status. It
will take place February 2227.
Think small
When saving, it’s important to remember that it’s ok
to start small. Anything that
you can afford to save can go
a long way in your financial
security, said Elizabeth Kiss,
associate professor in the
Department of Family Studies and Human Services at
Kansas State University.
“We tend to think in big
terms, but it doesn’t have to
be big; it can be quite small,”
said Kiss, a K-State Research and Extension family resource management
specialist. “I could save even
$5 a pay period. It’s the idea
of living below your means,
spending less than you earn
even if it’s only $5.”
Spend smart
While it’s important to
save, Kiss said it’s just as
important to spend your
money intentionally. Eighty
percent of Americans admit
to impulse spending, which
can hinder financial security.
She said to always ask
yourself these questions before making a purchase: “If
I do this, is it contributing
to my goals? How will I then
have to do something different to still meet my goals?
Am I willing now to change
those habits and put some
money aside?”
Be consistent
Saving
a
substantial
amount of money can take
time; that is why it’s important to stay consistent and
get into the habit of saving
money each month. With
today’s banking technology,
saving is simpler than ever
and doesn’t require much
work on your end.
“When you’ve figured out
how much you can realistically save on a regular basis,
think about automating it,”
Kiss said. “Direct deposits
can be split into more than
one account, so you might
have the bulk of your money
going into a checking account. Then maybe the $5
or $20 a pay period is going into a savings account
or other account to help you
increase your savings.”
Save your raise
There is no better time to
start saving than now, Kiss
said. With many Americans
getting raises coming into
the new year, and with tax
refund money on the way,
it’s the perfect time to start a
meaningful savings plan.
“If you have new money
coming in, think about applying part of that to some
savings,” she said. “If you
get a tax refund, we encourage people to put aside a bit
to have fun, and then think
about how the rest of it can
help you achieve your longterm goals.”
More information
The America Saves Week
website (http://www.americasavesweek.org/) has many
resources to help you start
saving today. The following
saving strategies will be promoted throughout the week:
Feb. 22: Save automatically
Feb. 23: Assess your savings
Feb. 24: Save for retirement
Feb. 25: Save for emergencies
Feb. 26: Saving at tax
time
Feb. 27: Pay off high-interest debt
Follow
the
hashtag
#ASW2016 for savings tips
on social media. Although
saving tips are promoted
Feb. 22-27, America Saves
(http://www.americasaves.
org/) and Kansas Saves
(http://www.kansassaves.
org/) websites operate yearround with valuable savings
information. You can also
use these websites to pledge
to save and sign up to get
savings tips through text
messages.
8 Blade-Empire, Monday, February 22, 2016
Obituaries
DORIS A. STEWARD
Doris A. Steward, 93,
Marysville and formerly
of Simpson, died Dec. 11,
2015. Memorial services
will be at 1 p.m. Saturday,
Feb. 27, 2016, at Glasco
United Methodist Church,
104 N. Spears St, Glasco.
Prior to the service, a lunch
will be served at the church
at Noon. Family and friends
are invited to celebrate her
life and share in food and
fellowship. Memorials may
be made to American Heart
Association, Glasco United
Methodist Church or Hunter Community Center, in
care of Ryan Mortuary, 137
N. Eighth, Salina KS 67401.
RUBY L. LARSEN
Ruby L. Larsen, age 90,
died Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016,
at Marquis Place, Concor-
dia, Kan. Arrangements are
pending with Chaput-Buoy
Funeral Home, Concordia.
Looking Back
Today is Monday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 2016. There
are 313 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Feb. 22, 1732 (New Style date), the first president of
the United States, George Washington, was born in Westmoreland County in the Virginia Colony.
On this date:
•In 1784, a U.S. merchant ship, the Empress of China, left
New York for the Far East to trade goods with China.
•In 1862, Jefferson Davis, already the provisional president of the Confederacy, was inaugurated for a six-year term
following his election in Nov. 1861.
•In 1865, Tennessee amended its constitution to abolish
slavery.
•In 1909, the Great White Fleet, a naval task force sent on
a round-the-world voyage by President Theodore Roosevelt,
returned after more than a year at sea.
•In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge delivered the first
radio broadcast from the White House as he addressed the
country over 42 stations.
•In 1935, it became illegal for airplanes to fly over the
White House.
•In 1940, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was enthroned at age four in Lhasa, Tibet.
•In 1959, the inaugural Daytona 500 race was held; although Johnny Beauchamp was initially declared the winner, the victory was later awarded to Lee Petty.
•In 1967, more than 25,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese
troops launched Operation Junction City, aimed at smashing
a Vietcong stronghold near the Cambodian border. (Although
the communists were driven out, they later returned.)
•In 1974, Pakistan officially recognized Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan).
•In 1980, the “Miracle on Ice” took place in Lake Placid,
New York, as the United States Olympic hockey team upset the Soviets, 4-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold
medal.)
•In 1996, the space shuttle Columbia blasted into orbit
on a mission to unreel a satellite on the end of a 12.8-mile
tether. (The cord broke just before being extended to its full
length.)
Ten years ago: Insurgents destroyed the golden dome of
one of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines, the Askariya mosque in
Samarra, setting off an unprecedented spasm of sectarian
violence. Thieves stole $96 million from a Bank of England
cash depot 30 miles southeast of London in Britain’s largest
cash robbery. (Six men were later caught and almost half
of the money was recovered.) Eight workers at a Nebraska
meatpacking plant came forward to claim a $365 million
Powerball jackpot.
Thought for Today: “It is better to offer no excuse
than a bad one.”
– President George Washington (1732-1799)
Business Interest
Thompson attends
eye care congress
Dr. Chad J. Thompson of
The EyeCare Center in Beloit, Concordia and Smith
Center, attended the Heart
of America Contact Lens
and Primary Care Congress
Feb. 14 in Kansas City, Mo.
In this, the 55th Annual Congress, the Heart
of America has grown to be
one of the largest contact
lens and primary eye care
conferences.
This complete educational experience covers
new and advanced techniques for all types of contact lenses available today,
plus the latest information
on the medical treatment of
eye diseases, several hours
featuring the latest in glaucoma management and new
innovations in enhancing
patients’ vision.
An active member of the
Heart of America Contact
Lens Society for 15 years,
Dr. Thompson is an alumnus of the Southern College
of Optometry in Memphis,
Tenn.
The Congress brings together many internationally
respected eye care specialists as well as prominent
educators in the fields of
contact lenses, eye disease
and primary eye care.
Participants were greeted this year by hundreds
of exhibitors displaying the
latest in contact lens and
vision correction technology in the Sheraton Kansas
City Hotel at Crown Center
exhibit hall. Participants at
the Congress gained valuable insight in helping provide the best vision care in
their daily practices of optometry.
Russia wants to
fly over U.S. with
digital camera
WASHINGTON (AP) – Russia will ask permission on
Monday to start flying surveillance planes equipped
with high-powered digital
cameras amid warnings
from U.S. intelligence and
military officials that such
overflights help Moscow collect intelligence on the United States.
Russia and the United
States are signatories to the
Open Skies Treaty, which
allows unarmed observation flights over the entire
territory of all 34 member
nations to foster transparency about military activity
and help monitor arms control and other agreements.
Senior
intelligence
and
military officials, however,
worry that Russia is taking
advantage of technological
advances to violate the spirit
of the treaty.
Russia will formally ask
the Open Skies Consultative Commission, based in
Vienna, to be allowed to fly
an aircraft equipped with
high-tech sensors over the
United States, according to
a senior congressional staffer, who spoke on condition
of anonymity because the
staff member wasn’t authorized to discuss the issue
publicly.
The request will put the
Obama administration in
the position of having to decide whether to let Russia
use the high-powered equipment on its surveillance
planes at a time when Moscow, according to the latest State Department compliance report, is failing to
meet all its obligations under the treaty. And it comes
at one of the most tensionfilled times in U.S.-Russia
relations since the end of
the Cold War, with the two
countries at odds over Russian activity in Ukraine and
Syria.
“The treaty has become a
critical component of Russia’s intelligence collection
capability directed at the
United States,” Adm. Cecil
D. Haney, commander of the
U.S. Strategic Command,
wrote in a letter earlier this
year to Rep. Mike Rogers, RAla., chairman of a House
subcommittee on strategic
forces.
“In addition to overflying military installations,
Russian Open Skies flights
can overfly and collect on
Department of Defense and
national security or national critical infrastructure,”
Haney said. “The vulnerability exposed by exploitation of this data and costs of
mitigation are increasingly
difficult to characterize.”
A State Department official said Sunday that treaty
nations had not yet received
notice of the Russian request, but that certification
of the Russian plane with a
“digital electro-optical sensor” could not occur until
this summer because the
treaty requires a 120-day
advance notification. The
official spoke on condition
of anonymity because he
wasn’t authorized to discuss
the issue publicly.
The official also said that
the treaty, which was entered into force in 2002,
establishes procedures for
HAVE A
NICE DAY
certifying digital sensors to
confirm that they are compliant with treaty requirements. The official said all
signatories to the treaty
agree that “transition from
film cameras to digital sensors is required for the longterm viability of the treaty.”
In December, Rose Gottemoeller,
undersecretary
of state for arms control
and international security,
sought to temper concerns
about Russian overflights,
saying that what Moscow
gains from the observation
flights is “incremental” to
what they collect through
other means.
“One of the advantages
of the Open Skies Treaty
is that information – imagery – that is taken is shared
openly among all the treaty
parties,” she said at a joint
hearing of the House Foreign
Affairs and Armed Services
committees in December.
“So one of the advantages
with the Open Skies Treaty
is that we know exactly what
the Russians are imaging,
because they must share the
imagery with us.”
Still, military and intelligence officials have expressed serious concern.
“The open skies construct
was designed for a different
era,” Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense
Intelligence Agency, told lawmakers when asked about
the Russian overflights during a congressional hearing.
“I’m very concerned about
how it’s applied today.”
Robert Work, deputy secretary of defense, told Congress: “We think that they’re
going beyond the original
intent of the treaty and we
continue to look at this very,
very closely.”
Steve Rademaker, former
assistant secretary of state
for the bureau of arms control and the bureau of international security and nonproliferation, told Congress
at a hearing on security cooperation in Europe in October that Russia complies
with the Open Skies Treaty,
but has “adopted a number
of measures that are inconsistent with the spirt” of the
accord.
The treaty, for instance,
obligates each member to
make all of its territory available for aerial observation,
yet Russia has imposed restrictions on surveillance
over Moscow and Chechnya and near Abkhazia and
South Ossetia, he said. Russian restrictions also make it
hard to conduct observation
in the Kaliningrad enclave,
said Rademaker, who believes Russia is “selectively
implementing” the treaty “in
a way that suits its interests.”
Weather
Today’s weather artwork by
Emma Bray,
a 1st grader in
Mrs. Popelka’s class
Today’s weather artwork by
Kyla Trost,
a 2nd grader in
Mrs. Moore’s class
For the Record
Police Dept. Report
Accident—Officers
investigated a two vehicle accident at 10:30 a.m., Feb.
21, in the intersection of Elmhurst and Second Avenue
involving vehicles driven
by Lisa K. Valcore, Concordia, and Teresa Jo Shore,
Glasco.
Arrest—Officers responded to a loud noise complaint
in the 500 block of West
7th St., Feb. 22, at approximately 12:30 a.m. Upon investigation officers arrested
Adam C. Bayless, 24, Concordia, charging him with
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession
of Marijuana. Bayless was
transported to Cloud County Law Enforcement Center.
Fire Dept./EMS Report
AT 10:10 a.m., Sunday,
Medic-5 went to the 900
block of Washington St.
and transported a 23-yearold male to Cloud County
Health Center.
AT 10:49 a.m., Sunday,
Medic-5 went to the 1600
block of Cedar Street and
transported a 50-year-old
female to Cloud County
Health Center.
At 5:34 p.m., Sunday,
Medic-5 went to 700 Cloud
for a 42-year-old male. No
transport was made.
At 6:26 p.m., Sunday,
Medic-1 went to Cloud
County Health Center for
long distance transfer of a
38-year-old female to Salina
Regional Health Center.
At 7:02 p.m., Sunday,
Medic-5, Truck-1 went to
the 500 block of West 6th
and transported a 73-yearold male to Cloud County
Health Center.
Markets
NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks
are jumping Monday as the
price of oil surges, lifting energy stocks as well as mining
and chemicals companies.
The stock market is coming
off its best week of the year
and has recovered its losses
from earlier in the month.
KEEPING SCORE: The
Dow Jones industrial average jumped 215 points, or
1.3 percent, to 16,607 as
of 12:25 p.m. Eastern time.
The Standard & Poor’s 500
index rose 25 points, or 1.3
percent, to 1,942. The Nasdaq composite advanced 62
points, or 1.4 percent, to
4,566. The Dow and S&P
500 are still down about 5
percent this year.
ENERGY:
Benchmark
U.S. crude climbed $1.80, or
6.1 percent, to $31.44 a bar-
rel in New York. Brent crude,
which is used to price international oils, rose $1.49, or
4.5 percent, to $34.50 a barrel in London. The price of
wholesale gasoline and heating oil also climbed.
LOCAL MARKETS -EAST
Wheat ...........................$4.04
Milo ......(per bushel) ....$3.15
Corn .............................$3.17
Soybeans .....................$8.18
CONCORDIA TERMINAL
LOADING FACILITY
LOCAL MARKETS - WEST
Wheat ..........................$4.04
Milo .....(per bushel) .....$3.15
JAMESTOWN MARKETS
Wheat ...........................$3.94
Milo ...(per bushel) ........$3.05
Soybeans .....................$8.08
Nusun .........................$14.40