The Concordia Blade

BLADE-EMPIRE
CONCORDIA
VOL. CX NO. 233 (USPS 127-880)
CONCORDIA, KANSAS 66901
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Projects approved for wind farm funds
Good Evening
Concordia Forecast
Tonight, rain showers and thunderstorms. Some thunderstorms may be
severe. Lows in the lower 50s. South winds
5 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation near
100 percent.
Wednesday, partly sunny with a 30 percent chance of rain showers and thunderstorms. Highs around 70. Southwest
winds 5 to 10 mph shifting to the west 10
to 20 mph in the afternoon.
Wednesday night, partly cloudy. Lows in
the mid 40s. West winds 10 to 20 mph.
Thursday, partly sunny. Highs in the
mid 60s. North winds 10 to 15 mph.
Thursday night, mostly cloudy with a 40
percent chance of rain showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 40s.
Friday, cloudy with a 50 percent chance
of rain showers and thunderstorms. Highs
in the lower 60s.
Sign up for Legion baseball
Anyone interested in playing baseball
for the Concordia Blues American Legion
team should contact Steve Mossburgh by
May 25 at 785-614-1487 or by email at
[email protected].
To be eligible, players must be born on
or after Jan. 1, 1997.
Cloud County board of commissioners awarded $278,120
of Wind Farm funds for 14 projects at its meeting Monday
morning.
Twenty-six applications were
submitted
totaling
$926,055.76.
Projects awarded were:
Clyde Area Foundation Grant
Program, $2,500.
Concordia Sports Complex,
Bleacher project, $22,500.
Concordia Senior Center,
Renovation of reception area,
$1,000.
National Orphan Train Complex, exhibit updates, $6,500.
Cloud County Resource Center, Cloud County Event Center,
$2,500.
Sunset Home, Behavior
Based Ergonomics Therapy Program, $21,000.
CloudCorp—Get
in
the
Cloud, $150,000Cloud County
Fair Committee, Commercial
Building Floor Epoxy, $7,500.
Cloud County Fair Committee, Discount Carnival Tickets,
$3,500.
Cloud County Home Health
Agency, Public Awareness of
County Home Health, $2,000.
Cloud County—Cloud County Health Department, $50,000.
City of Glasco Youth Center,
roof and windows, $5,000.
Jamestown City Library—
Wireless Update/electrical additions, $2,870.
Miltonvale EMS and Fire, Miltonvale EMS and Fire Communication, $1,250.
In other business, it was
reported that Sheriff Brian
Marks and the board received a
call from Wyatt Hoch, Foulston
Siefkin LLP. Hoch and Tom
Richard, Law Enforcement Center consultant, recommended
that photos be taken of the in
place insulation and one or two
roof panels in multiple places be
removed and photos taken.
Richard will be in contact
with a possible contractor in the
next couple of weeks. Hoch’s
opinion is the panels were not
installed as industry standard
and he believes quite a bit will
happen before the end of May.
Hoch also recommended that
grading on the west side of the
building be correct.
Mike Hake, Solid Waste director, reported that the trailer is
back and the replaced tarp is
better quality than the factory
tarp. He also discussed the light
at the corner of Noble Road and
Highway 81.
The monthly charge for the
light is $26 and it is included on
the Transfer Station statement
but does not benefit the Transfer Station.
Hake brought it to the board’s
attention in regard to working to
cut expenses and asked if the
light is a necessity. Hake reported that Recycling had shipped
out 44,050 pounds of paper.
Lisa Widen, highway department office clerk, was present
for the opening of tire bids.
Bids were received from
Becker Tire Wholesale, Thompson OK Tire, Inc., Commercial
Tire
Centers,
Inc.
and
Kansasland Tire/Concordia.
Highway administrator Andy
Asch will examine the bids
before making a recommendation.
Widen reported a new leak in
the county shop that will be
worked on this week with the
forecast in mind and discussed
the County’s bereavement policy.
County clerk Shella Thoman
will research other policies in
the area and report back.
Thoman discussed the County’s flexible spending benefit.
Employees participating in
unreimbursed medical plan
have requested nearly $7,000
more than contributed to date.
The plan will save more than
Across Kansas
Wheat maturing
faster than usual
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A government
report shows the Kansas winter wheat
crop is maturing at a faster rate than
usual.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that 23 percent of
the state’s wheat crop was already headed.
That is ahead of the 15 percent that would
be average for this time of year.
It also rates wheat condition as 2 percent very poor, 9 percent poor and 36 percent fair. About 48 percent is rated as good
and 5 percent as excellent.
The agency also reported corn planting
in the state is now at 43 percent, ahead of
the 27 percent which would be average at
this point in the season.
Infant dies while
sleeping with parent
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police say a 5month-old baby has died while taking a
nap in bed with his mother.
The Wichita Eagle reports that police
say it was the seventh time this year that a
child has died while sleeping in the same
bed as someone else. The practice is called
co-sleeping.
Kansas Infant Death and SIDS Network
director Christy Schunn says babies are
safest sleeping alone, on their backs in a
clutter-free crib. Some parents view cosleeping as a way to bond with their children. But experts say adult beds can be
dangerous for babies because blankets
and pillows can suffocate them.
Company cited after
employee’s death
ROSE HILL, Kan. (AP) — A federal safety agency has cited the employer of a
southeast Kansas man killed in a workplace accident with multiple violations.
The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration is seeking $59,000 in fines
from Viking Blast & Wash Systems. The
industrial cleaning equipment manufacturer is located in Rose Hill. The company
didn’t immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking
comment.
OSHA said in a news release that safety
guards may have prevented a metal bar
from striking and killing a lathe operator
in January. Rose Hill police previously
identified the man as say 24-year-old
Robert Haigler of Udall.
OSHA regional director Judy Freeman
says the man’s life “might have been saved
if the lathe had been equipped with
required safety mechanisms.”
Visit us online at www.bladeempire.com
Skimming along
Dustin Timmons, right, and Eric Johnson of Benchmark Exteriors & Insulation apply drywall
mud to a wall in the kitchen of the Cloud County Event Center, located in the Cloud County
Resource Center. (Blade photo by Jay Lowell)
“Flappers & Fellas is theme
for Chamber awards banquet
“Flappers & Fellas”, a spin on a 1920s
soiree, will be the theme for the Concordia
Area Chamber of Commerce Awards Ceremony and Business Recognition Banquet,
scheduled for June 11 at the Cloud County Fairgrounds Commercial Building.
There will be a social hour starting at
6:30 p.m. Dinner will be served at 7 p.m.,
followed by a short awards ceremony at
7:45 p.m.
The Ernie Biggs Roadshow, the allrequest, live dueling piano show, will provide entertainment beginning at 8 p.m.
Two talented pianists combine music,
entertainment and comedy for the those
in attendance.
The Chamber of Commerce has accepted support from local businesses, including Cloud County Co-op Elevator
Association and Brown Business Service,
Inc., to help with the cost of bringing the
entertainment to town.
The dinner of fried chicken, mashed
potatoes and gravy, green beans, dinner
salad and apple crisp will be catered by
Rod’s Food Store.
The Leon Gennette: Volunteer of the
Year Award, the Business Person of the
Year Award and the Kaleidoscope Award
will be presented during the banquet.
The Chamber of Commerce is accepting
nominations for each award before May
10.
The Leon Gennette: Volunteer of the
Year Award is awarded in recognition of
the many hours given in service to make
our community a better place to live and
work, today and in the future. At is discretion, the Chamber of Commerce board
of directors may choose a recipient for
Lifetime Achievement for Community Service Award.
The Business Person of the Year Award
is awarded to a member of the Chamber of
Commerce who has exhibited the following criteria: Professionalism, positivity,
good business management and efforts to
advance the community of Concordia.
The Kaleidoscope Award is presented to
a recipient who has dedicated their time
and resources to a project which improves
the community, and worked diligently to
see the project to completion.
At the banquet this year, 25 Chamber of
Commerce members are invited to sponsor a table by providing the decorations,
including table covers, centerpieces as
well as something fun for their guest to
wear during the party that is geared
toward the theme of the event.
“This was one of my favorite aspects of
last year’s event. It was so fun to see how
clever and creative each of the businesses
was in decorating tables. I imagine this
year will be even more over the top than
last,” Chamber of Commerce president
Amanda Mocaby said.
There are still tables available to businesses to sponsor.
Those wanting to reserve a spot for the
banquet can do so by June 3 at the Chamber of Commerce office.
$4,000 in tax dollars for the
County.
Diana Gering, Health administrator, reported the County’s
car horn keeps going off and is
being looked at.
The immunization director
will be resigning at the end of
July and Gering would like to
get a replacement hired so they
can they can work together for
the month of July.
The board approved the following payroll expenses totaling
$142,664.61: General Fund,
$70,843.95;
Appraisal,
$4,708.12; Noxious Weed,
$511.54;
Solid
Waste,
$7,537.16; Road and Bridge,
$42,408.57; County Health,
$15,319.35;
Election,
$1,335.92; Payroll deductions
and benefits, $179,964.40.
In other matters the board:
•recognized the resignation of
Steve LeDuc as summer mowing
crew effective immediately.
•approved the hiring of
James Sulanka as part-time
summer mowing crew at a wage
of $8.25 an hour effective May
15.
•approved the hiring of Henry
A. Eilert as custodian at an
introductory rate of $10.30 an
hour for 90 days effective April
25.
ACLU says
Voting rolls
in “chaos”
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Voting rolls in
Kansas are in “chaos” because of the state’s
proof-of-citizenship requirements, the
American Civil Liberties Union has argued
in a court document, noting that about twothirds of new voter registration applications
submitted during a three-week period in
February are on hold.
Kansas is fending off multiple legal challenges from voting rights activists, and just
months before the state’s August primary,
the status of the “dual registration” system
remains unclear. Federal judges in separate
voter-registration lawsuits unfolding in
Kansas and Washington, D.C., could rule at
any time. There’s also greater urgency
because registrations typically surge during
an election year.
Kansas is one of four states, along with
Georgia, Alabama and Arizona, to require
documentary proof of citizenship —such as
a birth certificate, passport or naturalization
papers — to register to vote. Under Kansas’
challenged system, voters who registered
using a federal form, which hadn’t required
proof of U.S. citizenship, could only vote in
federal races and not in state or local races.
Kansas says it will keep the dual voting system in place for upcoming elections if the
courts allow its residents to register to vote
either with a federal form or at motor vehicle
offices without providing proof of citizenship.
The following things were revealed in various court filings last week:
— Of the more than 22,000 submitted
voter registration applications submitted
between Feb. 1 and Feb. 21, only 7,444 were
completed with proof of citizenship, State
Elections Director Bryan Caskey said. That
meant the majority of those registrants were
put on the suspense list, and their voting
registrations will be purged after 90 days
unless proper documents are submitted.
— Younger citizens were affected the
most. Although those between the ages of 18
and 29 comprise only 14.9 percent of registered Kansas voters, that age group makes
up more than 58 percent of applicants who
registered at motor vehicle offices and are on
the suspense list.
— Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach
contends that since the provisions went into
effect Jan. 1, 2013, a total of 244,699 people
completed their registrations, accounting for
about 94 percent of all applicants.
Since the beginning of the year, the state’s
voter registration system has been at the
forefront of legal challenges.
On Jan. 15, a Shawnee County District
Court judge ruled Kobach has no authority
to bar voters who use a federal form to register from casting ballots in local and state
elections. The judge also said the right to
vote is not tied to the method of registration.
Insure with Alliance Insurance Group
2 Blade-Empire, Tuesday, April 26, 2016
OPINION
DOONESBURY® by G.B. Trudeau
Concordia Blade-Empire
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Jacqueline Bigar’s Stars Today in History
By Jacqueline Bigar
When handling peppers, especially a pepper you have
never used before, wear gloves. Some oils found in peppers can blister the skin or result in an allergic reaction.
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.
A baby born today has a
Sun in Taurus and a Moon
in Sagittarius until 7:54
p.m., when the Moon enters
the sign of Capricorn.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY for
Tuesday, April 26, 2016:
This year you will be able
to solidify a key relationship and/or situation. You
have thought about this
type of commitment for a
while. Use care when meeting new people in general.
Your innate ability to sense
the good in people might prevent you from seeing trouble
when it appears. If you are
single, get to know the person in question well before
you even consider a commitment. Recognize if the other
party is distorting who he or
she really is. Know that he
or she wants to impress you.
You could meet someone before fall. If you are attached,
the two of you love your oneon-one time together, even
if you don’t talk but simply
share space. The connection between the two of you
is powerful. CAPRICORN understands you perfectly.
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)
**** Reach out for others and be willing to do a
reversal or change course if
it feels more expedient. Express your caring by devoting time to a loved one at a
distance. At times, you worry
about this person. Recognize
your innate limits as well as
this person’s free will. Tonight: To the wee hours.
TAURUS (April 20-May
20)
**** A loved one or a key
associate can be, and frequently is, very difficult and
demanding. This person attempts to warm up the waters between you in order to
have a closer or more reciprocal bond. Don’t stand on
ceremony; be willing to take
steps forward. Tonight: Eye
the big picture through a
change of scenery.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
**** You could be at a point
where you want to make an
impression on someone, yet
this person seems impervious. What he or she seems
to be and what he or she notices might be two different
stories. A meeting proves to
be positive. You could be delighted and surprised by the
support you receive. Tonight:
All smiles.
CANCER (June 21-July
22)
*** Dive into a project and
clear out some errands just make sure you don’t sit
on your duff right now. The
more you get done, the more
free time you will have. You
will have extra hours, if not a
whole day, for frivolous fun.
Everyone needs a break. Tonight: Have a long-overdue
chat with a roommate or
family member.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
**** You might hear news
from a distance that gives
you an a-ha moment, allowing you to head in a more
appropriate or fortunate direction. Your ability to read
between the lines helps you
make a decision about which
way to go. Tonight: Play it
easy.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
**** A partner could do a
reversal or something so out
of his or her norm that you
have to stop and think. Understand your limits within
your immediate situation.
A financial matter and decision might be necessary;
however, be as friendly as
possible. Tonight: Follow in
the footsteps of a mischievous friend.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
****You might need to defer to another person and get
down to what is basic and
necessary. You might be well
advised to expect a certain
reaction to your words, but
on the contrary, you receive
a bit of a jolt. You cannot put
this person in a box. He or
she is too eccentric on a deep
level. Tonight: Make a special effort toward a loved one.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov.
21)
**** You might feel as if
you cannot get a financial
matter loosened up. Pull
back and consider a solution
that might seem off the wall.
Let others know what you
are about to do, but express
appreciation for their efforts
and ideas. Tonight: To the
gym! Or take a walk.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21)
**** You might want to approach a matter differently
than you originally planned
to, especially after a wild
brainstorming session with a
close friend. You see options
that were not clear up until
now. A child or young person
lets you know how much he
or she appreciates you. Tonight: Pay bills.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19)
*** Know that you are
about to turn the corner and
feel much better. You could
have been tired, or perhaps
you could have been in a
funk. In any case, an unanticipated event energizes
you. Show your affection to a
child or roommate. Tonight:
Go along with another person’s plans.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb.
18)
**** A conversation you
have could take some odd
turns, such as the other party disconnecting out of the
blue if you’re on the phone.
Count on an odd response
no matter what medium you
use. You could be jolted. Remember, above all you consider this person a friend.
Ride with the moment. Tonight: Catch up on another
person’s day.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March
20)
*** Take care of a personal matter, which could
involve your feelings and/or
a gift. You might feel better
by making a caring gesture
to the other party. Thaw the
ice; you will feel much better.
Understanding goes a long
way. Touch base with a child
or young person. Tonight:
Indulge a loved one.
BORN TODAY
Actress, comedian Carol Burnett (1933), actor,
martial arts expert Jet Li
(1963), singer Bobby Rydell
(1942)
***
Jacqueline Bigar is on
the Internet at www.jacquelinebigar.com.
(c) 2016 by King Features
Syndicate Inc.
Thank You for Reading the Blade-Empire
50 years ago
April 26, 1966—Concordia’s women Bowling
champs were the members
of the Boogaart Supply team:
Dorothy Lone, Nadine Korthuis, Glen Shepherd, Verna Lee Pfeifer and Liz Hill. .
. . Seniors on the 4.0 Honor Roll at Concordia High
School were Emily Foster,
Janet Garlow, Linda Humes
and Ron Townsend.
25 years ago
April 26, 1991—Beth
Brummer of Wichita and
Steve Hammel of Shawnee
announced their April 20
wedding, which took place
at King Catholic Church in
Wichita . . . Boogaarts Food
Stores announced that the
store at 7th and Washington would close May 2 and
the store at 1620 S. Lincoln
would open May 3. The store
at Boogaarts /ALCO was to
remain open until 5 p.m.,
May 3.
10 years ago
April 26, 2006—Concordia Middle School students
who had the first place team
when they competed against
other schools in the region
through a Stock Market Simulation from Kansas State
University were Skyler Muff,
Devin Fleming, Cameron
Krager and Austin Dobrin-
ski . . . Alstom Power Inc.,
Air Preheater Co. announced
the promotion of Jeremy Ryser to Weld and Assembly
manager.
5 years ago
April 26, 2011—Sixth
graders who were confirmed as members of First
United Methodist Church
in Concordia were Ben Peltier, Jackson Figgs, Mallory
Thompson, Davin Strait,
Sadie Mosher and Cassidy
Brown . . . Cloud County
Commission chairman Johnita Crawford presented a
plaque to Richard Stutsman
thanking him for his years of
service with the Cloud County Sheriff’s Department. He
was retiring May 1.
1 year ago
April
26,
2015—The
team of Jan Matthew and
Rita Callaway was the high
score winner for the year
for the bridge section of the
Women’s Division of the
Concordia Area Chamber
Commerce Card Marathon
. . . Putting together the
best round of his still brief
high school career, Concordia High School sophomore
Brennen Acree earned medalist honors in the Panthers
invitational golf tournament
at the Concordia American
Legion Golf Course.
PEOPLE
Annie’s
Mailbox
by Kathy Mitchell and
Marcy Sugar
Dear Annie: My cubicle
is separated by a low wall
from "Terri," the woman who
works next to me.
Here's the problem: I
might be talking with seven
other people near me at different times and we could be
whispering, but Terri manages to hear the conversation
and always has an opinion
to add. Every associate who
works near Terri has an issue with her constant opinions, her butting into other
people's conversations, and
the incessant talk about her
failing marriage, her difficult
kids and her finances. We
don't invite these personal
conversations, especially because no matter what you
say, you are wrong and she
is right.
Management has spoken
to the rest of us, saying we
shouldn't talk about Terri
when she isn't present, because it creates negativity in
the workplace. Yet they say
nothing about her constant,
disruptive yapping during an eight-hour shift. The
sound of her voice stresses
me out so much that it's
hard to maintain a professional manner around her,
and I'm afraid that little negative remarks are slipping
out.
How can we make Terri
mind her own affairs until
she is invited into the conversation? How can we get
her to do some work (and let
us do ours) instead of blabbing all day about her personal problems? — Ready to
Tear My Hair Out
Dear Ready: Let's start
with the obvious — you
don't like Terri and you have
been excluding her from
your conversations. She responds by talking and butting in, so that she feels part
of the workplace environment. You respond with annoyance.
Imagine how you would
react if you were frozen out
of your co-workers' conversations. Have you tried including her? Doing so now
and then will make it easier
to ask for some quiet time
when you both need to finish your work. But if she
still cannot stop talking, the
next step is headphones and
a smile.
Dear Annie: I read the
letter
from
"Perplexed
Grandmother," who has
been unable to establish a
connection with her 3-yearold grandson because the
family lives with the daughter-in-law's parents and she
has limited contact.
Your advice was good, and
I agree that she should talk
to her son about taking a
more active role in his child's
safety. I have another suggestion for Grandma to get
closer. I have many friends
who live far from their children and grandchildren and
they have solved this problem with FaceTime or Skype.
Over the phone or computer, they read books to the
kids, have lunch "together"
and simply enjoy regular
conversations. This is what
military families do, and it
works just as well for everyone else who lives far away
from their grandchildren.
Please remember this as
an option. You would be
surprised how many of the
older generation manage to
make this high-tech connection. — M.
Dear M.: We have often
mentioned how easy it is to
keep in touch with far-flung
family members through
smartphones and laptops.
We hope those who haven't
yet tried the technology will
learn how.
Dear Readers: Tomorrow (Wednesday) is Administrative Professionals Day.
If you have assistants who
make your job easier, please
let them know they are appreciated.
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
Wednesday, April 27—Chicken breast, macaroni salad,
squash, pudding; 10 a.m.—Exercise; Boosters.
Thursday, April 28—Pork roast, mashed potatoes, gravy,
winter green vegetables, cookies and fruit.
Friday, April 29—Meatloaf, Baked potatoes, sour cream,
green beans, fruit; 10 a.m.—Exercise.
Milk, bread and butter served with meals
Blade-Empire, Tuesday, April 26, 2016 3
Molter gives program
on County Geocaching
Jefferson Molter gave the
program on Geocaching in
Cloud County when Nathan
Edson Chapter, Daughters
of the American Revolution
met March 19 at the Cloud
County Historical Society
Museum in Concordia.
Vice-Regent Mary Lisa
Thoman led the Chapter in
the Pledge of Allegiance and
the Star-Spangled Banner
and shared the President
General’s Message.
Amy Richardson read
the National Defense Mes-
sage, Carol McKenna read
the American Indian Minute, Eudora Petersen read
the Constitution Minute,
Shirley Coupal read the
Conservation Minute and
Mary Ann Lagemann read
the Flag Minute.
Kathryn Willis and
Thoman were elected as
delegates to Continental
Congress to be held June
15-19. Shirley Coupal, Peggi Barrett and Charlotte Lee
were elected alternate delegates.
VFW has spring convention
VFW District #4 and Auxiliary had its spring convention April 16 at the Salina Post. Officers elected to
serve for the 2016-2017 year
starting in June are District
Commander Marvin Ketterer, Manhattan, and Auxiliary president, Jane Ryser,
Clyde.
Concordia Auxiliary #588
received awards for its Hospital, Veterans and Family Support and Youth programs. The Auxiliary also
received first place in the
Teddy Bear Look Alike Contest with its buddy poppy
made by Mary Jane Hurley.
During the luncheon, the
District #4 Voice of Democracy and Patriot’s Pen winners were recognized and
received their medals and
scholarship awards, including Alex Bonebrake, Concordia, who received third place
in the VOD contest.
District #4 is composed of
24 posts and 16 auxiliaries,
including a new auxiliary in
Abilene. Attending the convention from VFW Post #588
and Auxiliary were Doug and
Betty Musick, Mary Jane
Hurley and Cheryl Sulkosky.
Club notes
Atheneum Club met
April 15 at Kristy’s with Peggy Doyen hostess. Members
recognized former member,
Betty Samuelson, who now
lives in Manhattan. Samuelson introduced her daughter, Beth Edmonds, Topeka,
and her granddaughter Avery, who also lives in Topeka with her parents, Chris
and Cindy Samuelson.
Peggy Nelson congratulated members on being
at the meeting, reminding
them that in order to be
there they had to remember
the date, the time and the
place. Some of them had to
remember where the keys
were and how to drive the
car and then, to find a parking place and hopefully,
when they left to be able to
find their car.
Nelson’s program on
memories was taken from
a journal, “Scientific American Consumer Health White
Paper,” that her husband,
Dr. Paul Nelson, had received in the mail. In reading the journal, she found
that if we worry about our
memory we are probably
just having a senior moment.
Nelson said that we could
have a dementia problem if
we do not recognize we are
forgetting. Our brains can
be affected by proper nutri-
tion, stress, fatigue, medicines or even distractions.
We need to protect our brain
so it can function well. Get
plenty of sleep as the brain
consolidates and firms up
newly acquired information during sleep. We also
should make sure that all of
our doctors know about all
medications we are taking.
Sometimes, it seems we
do not know what is going
on because of hearing problems. It also can affect the
way we process information
about our medications.
We can practice some
habits to help our memory.
Placing items in same locations, repeating over to ourselves out loud what it is we
need to remember, using
rhymes to help recall facts
(such as where our car is
parked) or names, and even
telling the brain “This is important, please remember
this” helps.
Nelson said that we need
to exercise the brain and
that games help keep our
mind alert. She said the
newspaper crosswords and
other games are a good exercise for our brains. She also
said the AARP Brain Health
site on the computer will
take you to free games that
will stimulate the brain.
Next meeting will be May
6 at the home of Nelson.
Focus shifts to bullying after prom shooting
ANTIGO, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
on Monday called for a discussion on how to deal with
bullying in schools after
friends of a gunman who
wounded two people outside
a high school prom said the
18-year-old had been bullied.
Authorities have not revealed a motive for the
shooting outside Antigo High
School in northern Wisconsin and declined to comment
Monday on whether bullying
may have been a factor. Police fatally shot former student Jakob E. Wagner after
he opened fire on students
outside the school Saturday
night, authorities say.
Wagner’s mother, Lorrie
Wagner, told The Associated
Press that her son “wasn’t a
monster.”
“If anything, I hope it
shines light on bullying and
how deeply it affects people,”
she said, before ending the
interview.
Former classmate Dakotta Mills, who said he had
known Wagner since sixth
grade, told The Associated
Press that he had “some
rough spots now and then”
and that he had witnessed
him being bullied. Another former classmate, Emily Fisher, told the Wausau
Daily Herald that students
ganged up on Wagner and
called him names, in part
because of poor hygiene. The
bullying started in middle
school, Fisher said, and continued through high school.
Walker, a Republican,
said authorities should address bullying and mental
health, as well as teaching students how to resolve
disagreements
peacefully
rather than impose new limits on firearms. He said that
if there were a ban on rifles
in Wisconsin, “you wouldn’t
have hunting here.”
At a news conference
Monday, authorities said
they couldn’t confirm that
Wagner had been taunted
by fellow students or say
whether it was a possible
motive in the shooting.
“I can’t get into the specifics on that,” Antigo Police
Chief Eric Roller. He added,
“That’s still part of the investigation.”
However, Roller said it
didn’t appear that the victims had been specifically
targeted.
The state Department
of Justice has taken over
the case because it involves
a police shooting. Agency
spokesman Johnny Koremenos said in an email that it
was too early to offer a motive or provide other details
of the investigation.
Roller said the officers’ response “saved lives by stopping the threat” in that the
suspect “didn’t end up inside a building that was full
of prom-goers.”
Wagner arrived on a bicycle armed with a rifle and
opened fire as two couples
were leaving the dance,
Roller said. One 18-year-old
male student was struck in
the leg and a bullet grazed
his date’s thigh. The other
couple wasn’t struck. Two
officers were stationed in
front of the school and one
quickly shot the gunman.
The couple who wasn’t
shot helped the 18-year-old
male victim by wrapping a
necktie around his leg as
a tourniquet to stanch the
bleeding, Roller said.
Looking Back
Today is Tuesday, April 26, the 117th day of 2016.
There are 249 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 26, 1986, a major accident occurred at the
Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine (then part of the
Soviet Union) as an explosion and fire caused radioactive
fallout to begin spewing into the atmosphere over much of
Europe, forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes in
the most heavily hit areas.
On this date:
•In 1777, 16-year-old Sybil Ludington, sometimes referred to as “the female Paul Revere,” rode her horse into
the night through Putnam and Dutchess counties in New
York to alert militiamen that British troops were sacking
Danbury, Connecticut.
•In 1865, John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President
Abraham Lincoln, was surrounded by federal troops near
Port Royal, Virginia, and killed.
•In 1913, Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old worker at a Georgia pencil factory, was strangled; Leo Frank, the factory superintendent, was convicted of her murder and sentenced
to death. (Frank’s death sentence was commuted, but he
was lynched by an anti-Semitic mob in 1915.)
•In 1923, Britain’s Prince Albert, Duke of York (the future King George VI), married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
at Westminster Abbey.
•In 1937, German and Italian warplanes raided the
Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War; estimates of the number of people killed vary from the hundreds to the thousands.
•In 1945, Marshal Henri Philippe Petain (an-REE’ feeLEEP’ pay-TAN’), the head of France’s Vichy government
during World War II, was arrested.
•In 1952, the destroyer-minesweeper USS Hobson sank
in the central Atlantic after colliding with the aircraft carrier USS Wasp with the loss of 176 crew members.
•In 1964, the African nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania.
•In 1972, the first Lockheed L-1011 TriStar went into
commercial service with Eastern Airlines.
•In 1986, TV journalist Maria Shriver and actor Arnold
Schwarzenegger were married at a church in Hyannis, Massachusetts, with members of the Kennedy family present.
(The marriage broke up in 2011 with the revelation that
Schwarzenegger had fathered a son with a family housekeeper.)
•In 1994, voting began in South Africa’s first all-race
elections, resulting in victory for the African National Congress and the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president. China Airlines Flight 140, a Taiwanese Airbus A-300,
crashed while landing in Nagoya, Japan, killing 264 people
(there were seven survivors).
•In 2000, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean signed the nation’s
first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions.
Ten years ago: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld paid a surprise visit
to Iraq, where they embraced the country’s fledgling leaders
as independent and focused on the future. Whitney Cerak
and Laura Van Ryn, two students at Indiana’s Taylor University, were involved in a van-truck collision that killed five
people; in a tragic mix-up that took five weeks to resolve, a
seriously injured and comatose Cerak was mistakenly identified as Van Ryn, who had actually died in the crash and
was buried by Cerak’s family.
Five years ago: An 84-year-old naturalized American
from Burundi accused of participating in the 1994 Rwandan genocide went on trial in Wichita, Kansas. (While Lazare Kobagaya (luh-ZAR’ koh-bah-GY’-ah) was convicted of
making false statements on immigration forms, the jury
deadlocked on whether he’d played a role in the genocide.
Federal prosecutors later moved to dismiss all the charges
because they’d failed to disclose information about a witness who could have benefited the defense.) Phoebe Snow,
a singer, guitarist and songwriter whose song “Poetry Man”
was a defining hit of the 1970s, died in Edison, New Jersey.
One year ago: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
(shin-zoh ah-bay) arrived in Boston for a stop at the John F.
Kennedy Presidential Library and a dinner hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry as he began a weeklong U.S. visit.
“General Hospital” and “The Young and the Restless” were
the top winners of the Daytime Emmys with three trophies
each, while the latter shared the best drama series award
with “Days of Our Lives.” Actress and TV personality Jayne
Meadows, who’d often teamed with her husband Steve Allen, died in Los Angeles at age 95.
Today’s Birthdays: Architect I.M. Pei is 99. Movie composer Francis Lai is 84. Actress-comedian Carol Burnett is
83. Rhythm-and-blues singer Maurice Williams is 78. Songwriter-musician Duane Eddy is 78. Singer Bobby Rydell is
74. Rock musician Gary Wright is 73. Actress Nancy Lenehan is 63. Actor Giancarlo Esposito is 58. Rock musician
Roger Taylor (Duran Duran) is 56. Actress Joan Chen is
55. Rock musician Chris Mars is 55. Actor-singer Michael
Damian is 54. Actor Jet Li (lee) is 53. Rock musician Jimmy Stafford (Train) is 52. Actor-comedian Kevin James is
51. Record company executive Jeff Huskins is 50. Former
U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey (TREHTH’-eh-way)
is 50. Actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste is 49. Country musician Joe Caverlee (Yankee Grey) is 48. Rapper T-Boz (TLC)
is 46. Melania Trump is 46. Actress Shondrella Avery is
45. Country musician Jay DeMarcus (Rascal Flatts) is 45.
Country musician Michael Jeffers (Pinmonkey) is 44. Rock
musician Jose Pasillas (Incubus) is 40. Actor Jason Earles
is 39. Actor Leonard Earl Howze is 39. Actor Tom Welling
is 39. Actor Pablo Schreiber is 38. Actor Nyambi Nyambi
is 37. Actress Jordana Brewster is 36. Actress Stana Katic
is 36. Actress Marnette Patterson is 36. Actor Channing
Tatum is 36. Actress Emily Wickersham (TV: “NCIS”) is 32.
Actor Aaron Weeks is 30.
Thought for Today: “A good scapegoat is nearly as
welcome as a solution to the problem.”
– Author unknown.
Thought for Today: “We are what we pretend to be, so
we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
– Kurt Vonnegut, American author, born 1922
Delaying highway
projects in Kansas
causes concerns
4 Blade-Empire, Tuesday, April 26, 2016
MUTTS® by Patrick McDonnell
Sales Calendar
ZITS® by Scott and Borgman
BABY BLUE® by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott
BARNEY GOOGLE AND SNUFFY SMITH® by John Rose
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE® by Chris Browne
•Saturday,
April
30,
2016 – Public Auction at
10:00 a.m. located at the
4-H Building at the Fairgrounds in Belleville, Kansas. Vehicle, Guns, Household, Antiques, Collectibles,
Tools and Misc. Irene Hiatt
Estate, Seller. Novak Bros.
& Gieber Auction.
•Saturday,
April
30,
2016– Public Auction at
9:00 a.m. located at the Kearn Auction House, 220
West 5th Street, Concordia,
Kansas. Furniture, Misc.,
Antiques and Tools. Dannie
Kearn Auction.
•Sunday, May 1, 2016 –
Public Auction at 1:00 p.m.
located at the home located
at 404 Teal Road ( Southeast corner) of Jamestown,
Kansas.
Guns,
Tractor,
Equipment, Horse Equipment, Tools, Collectibles and
Household. Jack Trussell,
Seller. Thummel Auction.
•Saturday, May 7, 2016–
Public Auction at 10:00
a.m. located at 502 Brandon Street in Cuba, Kansas.
Snap-On, Mac, and Craftsman Tools, Camaro Carr
Parts, Household, Antiques,
Boat, Guns and Coins. Ronald K. Kauer Estate, Seller.
Novak Bros. & Gieber Auction.
•Tuesday, May 17, 2016 –
Real Estate Auction at 7:00
p.m. located at the Glasco
Senior Center, Glasco, Kansas. The farm is located on
the NW Corner Deer and
90th Road ( Highway 24
and Delphs Corner) east
of Glasco, Kansas. 158.03
Acres with 103.48 acres crop
and 54.46 grass. Mike and
David Loy, Sellers. Thummel Auction.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) –Congested or treacherous roads
could become more so under
the Kansas Department of
Transportation’s recent announcement that 25 large,
already-scheduled highway
projects will be delayed for
over the next two years.
The delay is part of Gov.
Sam Brownback’s plan to
divert $185 million in sales
tax money that’s earmarked
for highway projects to other government programs to
help address projected budget shortfalls in the 2016
and 2017 fiscal years.
The delayed projects,
which
were
scheduled
through mid-2019, include
work that would have widened shoulders, flattened
hills, straightened curves
and added passing lanes
and greater capacity to the
state’s highway system. The
modernization and expansion projects, which are part
of the $8 billion 2010 Transportation Works for Kansas
program, will eventually
be completed, according to
transportation department
spokesman Steve Swartz.
“Our intent is to get to
them as soon as we can and
we think that the delay will
probably be 18-24 months,”
Swartz said last week, adding that the 10,000-mile
state highway system will be
repaired in the interim.
However,
Brownback
spokeswoman Eileen Hawley said Monday, there is a
chance the projects won’t
be delayed “if expenditures
were reduced by an equal
amount in another area of
state government.”
Since 2010, more than $1
billion has been shifted from
the highway fund to address
the state’s revenue shortfall,
according to the Kansas Department of Transportation.
Critics worry the latest
delays signal the end of the
10-year transportation program, which was designed to
create jobs, bolster economic
development and preserve
highway infrastructure.
“This
announcement
didn’t create jobs, it cost
jobs,” said Michael Johnston, chief executive officer
of the transportation lobbyist group Economic Lifelines.
In Crawford County, the
extension of Highway 69 has
been talked about for several
decades, said Blake Benson,
president of the Pittsburg
Area Chamber of Commerce.
But construction to make it
four lanes, which was scheduled to begin within the next
couple of years, was part of
the newly announced delays.
The increased traffic to
Pittsburg State University
could cause more congestion and endanger lives, he
said. In February, a local
high school student died in a
car crash after swerving into
traffic coming from the opposite direction on that twolane highway.
“To put more and more
people on that ... two-lane
road is something that is extremely dangerous,” Benson
said. “One fatal accident is
one too many.”
Brownback has given lawmakers three budget-balancing options to consider,
all of which slashed the highway fund. He said in a news
release last Wednesday that
the state is going to “focus
our support and attention
on controlling government
spending more efficiently.”
House
Transportation
Committee Chairman Republican Rep. Richard Proehl, of Parsons, said Thursday that the more than $125
million worth of transportation projects now stalled in
southeast Kansas will limit
job growth and the economy.
He noted that other legislators are similarly frustrated with the loss to the
highway fund, but said he
believes delaying the Kansas
Department of Transportation projects is unavoidable.
“I don’t know what other
options that they have at this
point in time,” he said. “The
money’s not there to start
them or complete them.”
Ukraine marks
30th anniversary of
Chernobyl disaster
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – With
flowers, candles, anger and
tears, Ukraine on Tuesday
marked the 30th anniversary of the explosion at the
Chernobyl nuclear plant,
the world’s worst nuclear
accident. Some survivors
said the chaos of that time
is etched in their minds forever.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko led a ceremony in Chernobyl, where
work is underway to complete a 2 billion euro ($2.25
billion) long-term shelter
over the building containing
Chernobyl’s exploded reactor. Once the structure is
in place, work will begin to
remove the reactor and its
lava-like radioactive waste.
The disaster shone a
spotlight on lax safety standards and government secrecy in the former Soviet
Union. The explosion on
April 26, 1986, was not reported by Soviet authorities
for two days, and then only
after winds had carried the
fallout across Europe and
Swedish experts had gone
public with their concerns.
“We honor those who lost
their health and require a
special attention from the
government and society,”
Poroshenko said. “It’s with
an everlasting pain in our
hearts that we remember
those who lost their lives to
fight nuclear death.”
About 600,000 people, of-
ten referred to as Chernobyl’s “liquidators,” were sent
in to fight the fire at the nuclear plant and clean up the
worst of its contamination.
Thirty workers died either
from the explosion or from
acute radiation sickness
within several months. The
accident exposed millions in
the region to dangerous levels of radiation and forced a
wide-scale, permanent evacuation of hundreds of towns
and villages in Ukraine and
Belarus.
The final death toll from
Chernobyl is subject to
speculation, due to the
long-term effects of radiation, but ranges from an
estimate of 9,000 by the
World Health Organization
to one of a possible 90,000
by the environmental group
Greenpeace.
The Ukrainian government, however, has since
scaled back benefits for
Chernobyl survivors, making many feel betrayed by
their own country.
“I went in there when everyone was fleeing, we were
going right into the heat,”
said Mykola Bludchiy, who
arrived in the Chernobyl exclusion zone on May 5, just
days after the explosion.
“And today everything is forgotten. It’s a disgrace.”
He spoke Tuesday after a
ceremony in Kiev, where top
officials were laying wreaths
to a Chernobyl memorial.
Blade-Empire Tuesday, April 26, 2016 5
Sports
Pujols powers Angels past KC
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) —
Albert Pujols claims to pay
little attention to his climb
up baseball’s career homers
list, often greeting his milestones with a dismissive
shrug.
“I
leave
that
to
(reporters), so you guys can
have something to do,” he
said Monday night.
Even Pujols had to
acknowledge his latest leap
up the standings was
impressive,
particularly
because it led to a win for
the Los Angeles Angels.
Pujols hit two homers
and Mike Trout added
another,
powering
the
Angels to a 6-1 victory over
the Kansas City Royals.
With two solo shots off
Ian Kennedy (2-2), Pujols
racked up the 564th and
565th homers of his career.
He moved out of a tie with
Reggie Jackson and into
sole possession of 13th
place on baseball’s career
list.
“To be able to even put
my name with those legends
in baseball before me is
pretty special,” Pujols said.
“I could have never thought
in my entire life that I could
do that. ... I’ve done some
crazy things in this game
and passed some unbelievable names, but I try not to
really stay focused on that.
My focus is to help this
organization to win a championship, and I think that’s
why (Angels owner) Arte
(Moreno) brought me here.
He didn’t bring me here to
try to pass all those guys.”
Pujols has shaken his
dismal start to the season
with three homers in two
games. The $240 million
slugger moved past Jackson
with a drive to the fake rock
pile beyond center field in
the third, and his fifthinning shot barely eluded a
leaping Alex Gordon in left
field.
“For us that have been in
the game a long time, it
means more, because you
know the guys he’s passing,” Angels manager Mike
Scioscia said. “It’s fun to
watch. Albert is special for a
lot of reasons.”
Trout added a solo shot
in the seventh, his fourth
homer of the season.
Garrett Richards (1-3)
pitched three-hit ball into
the seventh inning of his
first win of the season, leaving the Royals frustrated
after repeatedly escaping
self-created trouble, including five walks.
“(Richards) has got great
stuff, but he was just wild
enough to be really effective,” Royals manager Ned
Yost said. “We just couldn’t
do much with him.”
The Angels have the AL’s
worst offense in several categories, but they followed
up a three-run first inning
with the long ball. Los Angeles scored more than five
runs for the second time in
20 games this season.
“I know that this offense,
we’re just two or three hits
away from clicking,” Pujols
said. “It’s good to take the
first game of the series
against those guys. They’ve
got our number over the last
couple of years.”
Salvador Perez drove in
Kansas City’s only run. Eric
Hosmer extended his hitting
streak to 15 games for the
defending World Series
champions, who opened a
six-game West Coast trip
with just their second loss
in their last 12 meetings
with the Angels, including
the 2014 AL division series.
Kennedy is an Orange
County native and former
USC star who has never
beaten the Angels. He yielded seven hits and four
walks, allowing a baserunner in all six innings.
“Even though (Pujols)
has been struggling this
year, you can’t take him
lightly,” Kennedy said. “If
you fall behind like that
against really good hitters
like that, whether they’re
struggling or not, they’re
going to make you pay.”
MONSTER
NUMBERS
Pujols had his 52nd
career multihomer game
and his 10th with the
Angels. He has five homers
this season, but his shot on
Sunday ended an 0-for-26
skid for the three-time NL
MVP. He is closing in on
Rafael Palmeiro, who sits in
12th place in baseball history with 569 career homers.
G-RICH
Richards got off to a
rough start to his first season as the Angels’ opening
day starter, losing his headto-head matchups with
stars Jake Arrieta, Cole
Hamels and Chris Sale. The
Angels’ five runs in the first
five innings against Kansas
City equaled Richards’ total
run support in his first four
starts combined.
Avoiding a tree
Concordia’s Jager Sieben is able to avoid a tree while hitting an iron shot during the Concordia Invitational Monday at Concordia Golf and Wellness. (Blade photo by Jay Lowell)
Acree shoots sizzling 64,
cruises to individual title
three 17th hole for par. He
saved par on 18 to finish at
four under.
Marcus Willey, Abilene,
finished second individually
with a 72. Kale Johnson,
Republic County, was third
with a 77.
Jacob Palmquist shot an
89 for Concordia.
Lake Winter carded a 98,
and Jager Sieben rounded
out the top four for the Panthers with a 99.
Concordia’s Xavier Christenson shot a 102.
Needing just nine putts to
navigate the back nine, Concordia High School junior
Brennen Acree shot a sizzling 64 to easily win the
Concordia Invitational golf
tournament Monday at Concordia Golf and Wellness.
Acree made the turn at
even par, and then birdied
the first four holes on his
back nine.
Getting up and down to
save par on four of the final
five holes, Acree carded a
four-under-par 30 to finish
with a 64. That is believed to
be the lowest score ever by a
Concordia player.
Lex Deal shot a 3-underpar 65 for Concordia in winning
the
Concordia
Invitational in 2011.
“Brennen was a machine
on the back nine today, a
run that saw him play eight
holes with only eight putts.
Pretty amazing,” Concordia
coach Gene Rundus said.
Concordia finished third
as a team in the meet with a
score of 350.
Republic County captured the team title with a
320. Abilene was second
with a 332.
“It was really good to see
the team medal third overall
today. Just because you
work hard and have a good
attitude doesn’t guarantee
you anything in this sport,
and it was nice to see my
guys get rewarded today,”
Rundus said, “Medaling
third as a team is a big deal
for us, and I know Brennen
wanted to win his home
tournament.”
Acree started his back
nine by chipping in for
birdie on the 10th hole. He
birdied 11, 12 and 13 to get
to four under.
Missing three straight
greens, Acree was able to
roll in par putts.
Acree two-putted the par
CONCORDIA INVITATIONAL
Team Scores
Republic County 320, Abilene 332,
Concordia 350, Smith Center 394,
Beloit 400, Marysville 410, Clay Center 417.
Top 10 Individuals
1. Acree, Concordia, 64; 2. Willey,
Abilene, 77; 3. Kale Johnson, Republic
County, 77; 4. Tietjen, Republic County, 79; 5. Kuhlman, Republic County,
82; 6. Davis, Chapman, 82; 7. Jiles,
Abilene, 82; 8. Popelka, Republic
County, 82; 9. Kendsey Johnson,
Republic County, 84; 10. Hobelman,
Smith Center, 87.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) —
Al-Farouq Aminu scored a
career-high 30 points and
the Portland Trail Blazers
pulled away after Chris
Paul left with a broken bone
in his right hand, beating
the Los Angeles Clippers
98-84 on Monday night to
even their playoff series at
two games apiece.
Paul departed midway
through the third quarter. It
was not immediately clear
how he was hurt, although
his wrist appeared to bend
back when he guarded
Portland’s Gerald Henderson on a layup.
The Clippers were further hurt when Blake Griffin retreated to the bench
late in the game after
appearing to aggravate the
left quad injury he struggled with this season.
CJ McCollum had 19
points for the Blazers, while
Mason Plumlee added 14
rebounds and 10 assists.
Griffin had 17 points
before leaving with under 6
minutes left.
Game 5 is Wednesday at
Los Angeles.
Thunder 118,
Mavericks 104
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) —
Russell Westbrook had 36
points, 12 rebounds and
nine assists, and Oklahoma
City beat Dallas to win the
first-round playoff series 41 and advance to the Western Conference semifinals.
Westbrook was 13 of 23
from the field and 7 of 8 on
free throws. Kevin Durant
scored 33 points and
Steven Adams added 15
points and 10 rebounds for
the Thunder, who will play
the San Antonio Spurs in a
series that begins Saturday.
Oklahoma City shot 50.6
percent from the field and
outrebounded the Mavericks 42-35.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 24
points, Justin Anderson
had 14 and Zaza Pachulia
added 12 points, nine
assists and seven rebounds
for the Mavericks, who were
hampered
by
injuries
throughout the series.
Oklahoma
City
lost
Game 2 85-84 at home,
then won three straight,
including two on the road.
Hornets 89,
Heat 85
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)
— Kemba Walker scored a
playoff career-high 34
points, Jeremy Lin added
21 and Charlotte beat
Miami to even their firstround series at 2-2.
Walker
scored
11
straight Charlotte points in
the fourth quarter after
Miami had cut the lead to
two with 6:07 left. Courtney
Lee sank two free throws
with 4.6 seconds left after
being fouled on an offensive
rebound to seal the win.
Lee finished with 11
points and helped hold
Dwyane Wade to 12 points
on 4-of-11 shooting.
Game 5 is Wednesday
night in Miami.
Joe Johnson led Miami
with 16 points, while Luol
Deng had 15.
Charlotte dominated in
the paint for the second
straight game, outscoring
Miami 44-30.
Trail Blazers drop Clippers
Sending it back over
Paul Frost, playing number one doubles for Concordia with Elijah Steffen hits a forehand during a triangular hosted by the Panthers on Monday. (Blade photo by Jay Lowell)
Panthers win triangular
Getting first-place finishes in number one and
number two singles, the
Concordia High School tennis team won the triangular
it hosted on Monday.
Josh Timme went 2-0 to
place first in number one
singles for the Panthers.
Ben Peltier went 2-0 to
finish first in number two
singles.
Concordia scored 12
points to win the meet. St.
John’s Military was second
with 10 points and Clay
Center was third with
eight.
“The boys played really
well. We were able to get
Zach (Vrazel) some varsity
experience as he filled in a
hole that St. John’s had,”
Concordia coach Michael
Wahlmeier said.
Timme opened with an
8-5 win over Caleb Smith,
Clay Center, He then
knocked off Marco Dunbar,
St. John’s, 8-1.
Peltier did not drop a
game in his two wins. He
shut out Braden Williams,
Clay Center, 8-0 and then
blanked Vrazel, 8-0.
“Josh and Ben continue
to get better and better, and
we are very proud of their
first-place
medals,”
Wahlmeier said.
Devin Kymer and Eric
Grogan placed second in
number two doubles for
Concordia.
They
beat
McCade Mellies and Holdon
Heigele, Clay Center, 8-6,
and fell 8-2 to St. John’s.
“Devin and Eric were
able to beat a Clay Center
team that beat them last
Tuesday,” Wahlmeier said.
Paul Frost and Elijah
Steffen, playing number
one doubles for the Panthers, fell 8-5 to Anthony
Atkinson-Enneking
and
Connor Last, Clay Center,
and 8-3 to St. John’s.
“Paul and Eli played
their best match to date
against a tough Clay Center
doubles team,” Wahlmeier
said.
6 Blade-Empire, Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Weather
Today’s weather artwork by
Keegun Beims,
a 4th grader in
Mrs. Stensaas’ class
Today’s weather artwork by
Cassidy Wachs,
a 1st grader in
Miss Anderson’s class
For the Record
Police Dept. Report
Theft—Diana
Boling,
Concordia, reported at 9:40
a.m., April 25, a theft which
had occurred in the 400
block of Cedar. Investigation continues.
Arrest–Officers arrested
a 14-year-old juvenile at
8:30 a.m., April 25, in the
400 block of West 10th for
Minor in Possession. She
was transported to the police department, screened
by juvenile intake and released to her parents.
Courthouse
District Court
CRIMINAL
Justin Todd Guy appeared April 25 and was
found Guilty and convicted
of Battery against a Law Enforcement Officer and Criminal Damage to Property.
For the battery against a law
enforcement officer violation he was sentenced to 12
months in the Cloud County
Jail and ordered to pay costs
of the action, $158, a probation supervision fee of $60,
a BIDS Administrative fee
of $100, restitution to the
Cloud County Sheriff’s Department, in the sum of $50
and all other assessed fees.
For the criminal damage to
property violation he was
sentenced to six months in
the Cloud County Jail. His
sentence was suspended
with Defendant being placed
on supervised probation
with Court Services for 10
months following specific
terms and conditions.
Markets
NEW YORK (AP) – U.S.
stocks are rising Tuesday afternoon as energy companies
climb in tandem with the
price of crude oil. Earnings
reports are driving much of
the action and sending materials companies higher.
Health care stocks are falling on continued scrutiny of
drug companies.
KEEPING SCORE: The
Dow Jones industrial average added 21 points, or
0.1 percent, to 17,998 as
of 12:20 p.m. Eastern time.
The Standard & Poor’s 500
index rose 5 points, or 0.2
percent, to 2,092. The Nasdaq composite index gained
1 point to 4,896. The Nasdaq
has fallen for three days in
a row.
OIL: Benchmark U.S.
crude jumped $1.36, or 3.2
percent, to $44 per barrel in
New York. Brent crude, used
to price international oils,
gained $1.27, or 2.9 percent, to $45.75 a barrel in
London. Wholesale gasoline
and heating oil also climbed.
Murphy Oil rose $1.07,
or 3.2 percent, to $34.59
and Devon Energy gained
79 cents, or 2.3 percent, to
$34.74.
LOCAL MARKETS -EAST
Wheat ...........................$3.99
Milo ......(per bushel) ....$2.95
Corn .............................$3.22
Soybeans .....................$9.24
CONCORDIA TERMINAL
LOADING FACILITY
LOCAL MARKETS - WEST
Wheat ..........................$3.99
Milo .....(per bushel) .....$2.95
JAMESTOWN MARKETS
Wheat ...........................$3.89
Milo ...(per bushel) ........$2.90
Soybeans .....................$9.14
Nusun .........................$14.20
F-5 tornado hit Wichita area 25 years ago
ANDOVER, Kan. (AP) –
The air was so muggy that
day. April 26, 1991.
It wore a person down,
the humidity drenching
clothes after a few moments
in the outdoors.
That humidity helped fuel
storms that would produce
killer tornadoes. One would
strike Haysville, then south
Wichita and McConnell Air
Force Base, then Andover,
just as people were running
errands after work or sitting
down to dinner, The Wichita
Eagle reports.
On that Friday, 55 tornadoes touched down – from
Texas to Minnesota.
The strongest formed
at 5:57 p.m. and began its
march through the Wichita metro area. It ended at
7:10 p.m. five miles north
of El Dorado. It was on the
ground for 69 miles and
grew to be 500 yards wide
– or about a third of mile in
width.
‘Andover tornado’
Andover’s only tornado
siren didn’t work so a police
officer drove through the
city streets urging people to
take shelter as the tornado
approached.
Many found it; others did
not.
The tornado measuring
F-5 on the Fujita Scale with
winds estimated at 260 mph
killed 17 people – four in a
rural subdivision southeast
of Wichita and 13 in the
Golden Spur mobile home
park in Andover. Hundreds
more were injured.
The tornado was so
strong it scoured the ground
and swept away entire
neighborhoods in Andover.
Thousands were left homeless and officials estimated
at least 350 homes were destroyed.
“When you look at the
totality of that event, it’s a
miracle that there weren’t
more lives lost,” said Chance
Hayes, warning coordination meteorologist with the
National Weather Service in
Wichita.
Those who survived the
tornado picked up the pieces and moved on, carrying
with them random bits of
life and a sense of gratitude.
All of them talk about having a greater awareness of
Kansas weather and how
lives can change or stop in
a heartbeat.
Although the tornado
rampaged through several
communities and changed
the course of many lives, it
became known as the Andover tornado because the city
took the brunt of the storm.
But in the storm’s aftermath, Andover became
a boom town. Rebuilding
streets, sewers and water
lines and updating codes
helped open doors to development.
The city’s population
has nearly tripled since the
storm, and Andover is full of
high-end homes and diverse
businesses.
Twenty-five years after
the fact, there is a sense of
moving on.
Some will mark Tuesday’s anniversary, others
won’t.
Haysville Chief Administrator Officer Will Black
said his city has no plans to
observe the 25th anniversary of the tornado. No plans
are in place at McConnell
either, said Justin Vergati,
wing historian.
The St. Vincent de Paul
Church in Andover will host
a memorial at the church
Tuesday night.
‘We just heard the noise’
Until the tornado, Andover was just another sleepy
little town in Butler County
with barely 4,300 residents.
Kathleen Gideon was one
of them. On that afternoon,
she had just picked up her
youngest daughter and returned to the Gideon family home at 127th East and
Harry.
The air, she said, felt
heavy and the news was
filled with tornado warnings. The family took shelter
in the house’s basement.
“We just heard the noise,”
said Gideon, now 68, as
the storm crossed over the
house.
When they left the safety
of their basement, the back
of the house was missing
and there was debris everywhere. Two of her aunts and
uncles who lived nearby and
across the creek had homes
that were leveled.
But what struck Gideon
most after seeing the tornado was the traffic – the
sightseers who came to
watch.
“By the time we got out
of the basement, the traffic
was so heavy, we couldn’t
get out of our driveway to
check on our friends,” Gideon said. “My husband and I
ran through the pasture to
my aunts and uncles.”
Her relatives survived.
The other thing that
struck Gideon was the city’s
landmarks, like St. Vincent
de Paul Church, were gone,
as was the mobile home
park. Both have been rebuilt.
But in the days following
the storm, the landscape
was overwhelming and disconcerting.
“It was shocking,” Gideon
said. “You are numb. We
didn’t know what to do next.
There wasn’t a focal point to
go to.”
Steve Weldon, a founding pastor at Hope Community Church in Andover,
had just ordered pizza. He
and his wife and two children were listening to the
news when Rod and Linda
Hulstine and their two children dropped by. The Hulstines – members of Weldon’s
church – lived at the Golden
Spur mobile home park,
and Weldon had offered
them a standing invitation
that whenever there was severe weather, they were welcome to seek shelter in his
family’s basement.
After the storm hit, emergency medical personnel
set up a triage station in a
parking lot north of the intersection of Central and
Andover Road. Helicopters
came in and flew those injured to nearby hospitals.
A Sunday School room in
Hope Community Church,
which was then located in
the Meadow Plaza Shopping
Center, was used as a temporary morgue.
“We had a lot of debris
from the McConnell Air
Force Base hospital and
were told to not touch anything – you didn’t know
what it was,” Gideon said.
“There was debris in the
yard, debris in the pasture.
It took years to pick up the
stuff.
“It was something you
wish no one would ever go
through.”
In the tornado’s aftermath, there are two ways,
Gideon said, of how the tornado still affects her hometown:
Her daughters – now
grown women – are petrified
of tornadoes.
The tornado showed the
powerful will of Kansans to
rebuild.
‘Everything’s gone’
Mary Reece was working
as a claims officer in the
legal office at McConnell
Air Force Base. Twenty-five
years ago, she was 29 years
old, planning a wedding and
building a house with her fiance.
“We had just gotten off
work,” Reece said. “I was at
home, and we were getting
ready to go somewhere. But
the storm was big, and I was
like, ‘Let’s just stay put.’ “
But then she got a phone
call from one of the airmen
on base.
“He was working at the
base theater and talking
about 50 miles a minute
and saying, ‘Oh my God, the
base was hit by a tornado,
you’ve got to come back to
work. Everything’s gone.’ “
As she drove back to the
base, Reece noticed there
was no one at the front or
back gates.
“I thought this was re-
ally weird. As I was driving,
I was thinking where did the
base get hit? Because from
the backside everything
looked good,” Reece said.
“The planes were still in
displays. I passed the flight
line, the planes were all in
a row.
“Then, when I rounded
the corner, you could see
debris everywhere.”
She remembers seeing a
man walking in the parking
lot with just his dog. The
man was wearing no shirt.
“His house had been totally taken off and he was
with his dog and he was
like, ‘I don’t know where to
go. Everything is gone.’ “
The tornado arrived at
McConnell Air Force Base
at 6:29 p.m., swiping a path
from the southwest, according to Vegati, the wing
historian. It cut across the
southern tip of the runway
and into the central area of
the base, wiping out a number of buildings: the base
hospital, the gym and several other buildings. It damaged the base exchange, the
legal office, the Burger King,
and proceeded through
Rock Road to the eastern
side of base housing where
it destroyed 102 homes and
damaged about 80 others.
Some of the base housing was in the middle of
being remodeled, Vergati
said. The newer homes toward the western part of the
main entrance were being
built with basements; the
existing homes did not have
basements. People hid in
staircases, in bathtubs and
in closets.
Afterward, Reece interviewed the survivors, did inventories and assessed the
damage.
“The thing I remember
most is the look on people’s
faces as they came in, they
were just so devastated and
shocked to lose everything,”
Reece said.
The tornado taught her to
cherish her loved ones – to
know that in one heartbeat,
things can change.
The base reported 16 injuries – all minor – from the
tornado. Twenty-five years
later, nearly every building
at McConnell has a storm
shelter.
A time for prayer
Weldon, the minister, remembers stepping out on
his front porch and watching the tornado approach.
“It was large,” he said. “It
was still half a mile from us
and above us, things were
up in the sky. It wasn’t
good.”
He
remembers
going
down to his basement, getting under the staircase
where the others had gathered and singing children’s
songs for the kids and praying with his friends and
family.
“I figured we would see
what happens — whether
we live or die. It was just
that feeling,” Weldon said.
“We heard it, and it rumbled
on by.”
Linda Hulstine’s family
was in the basement with
the Weldons. The tornado,
Hulstine recalls, seemed to
last forever.
When it was finally over,
Rod Hulstine and Weldon
walked to the mobile home
park.
“We walked down and
crossed Kellogg, all the power lines were down – just
snap, snap, snap,” Weldon
said. “We walked through
the Andover neighborhood
and everything looked fine
and then we walked in front
of one house and . there was
nothing there.
“People were wandering
around dazed. We finally
found where the mobile
home park was and it was
a dizzying thing for me because all the markers were
gone. There was nothing.
The trees were gone.
“We finally found where
his home should have been
but it wasn’t there. He later
found it a day later a couple
lots down.”
When Rod Hulstine and
Weldon returned to the Weldon home, Linda Hulstine
recalls her husband saying,
“There is nothing left; no
sense going back.”
The tornado had indeed
swept up their mobile home
but left their shed with tools
and Christmas ornaments
untouched.
Before the tornado, Ron
and Linda Hulstine had
built a play area with a slide
for their children. The slide
survived the storm but was
stolen in the following days.
“I was like – are you kidding me? But then, we had
so many friends and family
come and people from our
church,” Ron Hulstine said.
“It was overwhelming.”
Karen Janzen remembers
waiting with her daughter at
Carol’s Kitchen in Andover
for her son and husband to
join them for dinner. As the
tornado approached, she
and her daughter rushed to
the storm shelter at the mobile home park.
“It was very loud,” Janzen said. “We were hearing
the corrugated metal from
homes in the shelter, the
bricks from the Catholic
Church.
“We ached for days afterward because we were trying to anchor ourselves and
holding on.”
Her husband and son
took refuge in a drainage
ditch. They all survived.
“I remember trying to
come out of the park,” Janzen said. “We were wearing
flip-flops. We were in shock.
You can’t prepare yourself.
I don’t care if you have seen
it on TV or in pictures, you
can’t prepare yourself.”
They remember the little
things that were huge at
the time. Linda Hulstine
remembers going into the
local Methodist Church,
which had set up a place
people could go and get
things they needed. She remembers finding a brightly
colored hand-sewn quilt.
“I picked it up for the girls
and there was a note on it
from the lady who had made
it,” Hulstine said. “She said
she had lost her home in a
fire and had made that.
“I remember going to another place and getting food.
I wasn’t a big fan of plums in
a can but there was a little
note from this elderly lady
saying, ‘I can’t afford much
but I would like to help.’ “
Both she and Janzen
kept the notes of those
well-wishers for years afterwards.
The survivors remember
the Andover smell after the
tornado – how everything
was covered in fiberglass
and an oily, moldy smell
and how now, years later,
the smell returns when
keepsakes are brought out
of storage. Holding those
items – the only semblance
from their lives before – is a
treasure.
But even those material
possessions, the survivors
say, are just that – stuff that
pales in comparison to love
and faith.
The Janzens rebuilt their
lives only to have their house
burn down a few years after
the tornado.
Finding Jesus
Linda Hulstine could not
find her Nativity set after
the tornado. Three days later, she found Mary, Joseph,
two Wise Men, camels and
some shepherds. She kept
searching.
Long after the Golden
Spur mobile home park was
bulldozed, a friend found
the ceramic Baby Jesus and
returned it to Hulstine.
“To me, that said it all,”
Hulstine said. “A friend of
mine whose home didn’t
get destroyed made a list
of things we were missing,
and she would go back and
find a lot of things that we
were missing. Afterward, we
didn’t have much left. There
was my baby spoon and
my husband’s great-grandmother’s spoon.”
And the Baby Jesus.
She has kept him with
her ever since.