The Scott County Record by The Scott County Record

SCHS players begin the celebration as they win another state championship

32 Pages • Four Sections

Volume 22 • Number 32

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Published in Scott City, Ks.

$1 single copy

Making the transition to less irrigation Barring a significant reduction in water being mined from the Ogallala Aquifer - which some say needs to be in the area of 70 percent - there’s no doubt about the aquifer’s fate in Western Kansas. The aquifer’s demise as a source for crop irrigation becomes not a question of “if” but “when.” “We need to be thinking in terms of a transition from the reliance we have on crop irrigation today,” emphasizes Don Whittemore with the Kansas Geological Survey. “We need to be thinking in terms of using less water. The more significant the reduction the more time we have to adapt.” Whittemore reviewed gen-

eral trends in the aquifer across Western Kansas during the annual meeting of Groundwater Management District No. 1 that was held in Scott City on Tuesday afternoon. Data reviewed by Whittemore was part of a water model that’s still in the process of being completed by the KGS. Members of the GWMD board were hopeful the model, which will be able to identify longterm aquifer trends for specific tracts of land within the district, would be available at this meeting. Whittemore says that data should be available through the model by late summer or early fall. Perhaps just as significant as

the aquifer trends is the economic impact that can be expected as Western Kansas agriculture moves away from current irrigation practices. Whittemore says there is more data being compiled with respect to reduced irrigation, including the effects within the Sheridan 6 LEMA (local enhanced management area) in Sheridan County. A similar economic impact study has already been conducted in northwest Kansas by Kansas State University ag economists. “I would like to think that we have the ingenuity to overcome the loss of production if we were to cut our water usage by 20 percent,” noted

District-wide vote won’t decide fate of next LEMA A Local Enhanced Management Area (LEMA) is still in the future for Groundwater Management District No. 1, with one big difference from the plan that was narrowly defeated by water rights holders last June. The next time it won’t go to a vote. “We caught some flak from other groundwater districts who felt we had set a precedent,” says GWMD President Greg Graff, who noted there was no vote of landowners or water rights holders when the Sheridan 6 LEMA was formed. “I don’t have any regrets. We wanted to do everything we could to make this an open process and gather as much input as possible,” Graff said during the GWMD No. 1 annual meeting on Tuesday in Scott City. A proposal that would have led to a 20 percent reduction in irrigated water usage has been rejected by 15 votes - 173-158. (See LEMA on page eight)

(See TRANSITION on page eight)

PD officer transfer will cost county

champions once again

The latest hire by the Scott County Sheriff’s Department will cost the county a little more than it may have planned. Scott City Police Officer Jorden Funk submitted his resignation to the department so he could become a sheriff’s deputy. However, the county will be responsible for reimbursing the city the cost of sending Funk to the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center where he was a December graduate. (See TRANSFER on page eight)

Council oks water credit for complex

Scott Community High School senior Sloan Baker reminds a huge Scott City crowd that the Beavers had just captured their fourth Class 3A state basketball championship in the past five years with their 60-48 win over Wichita Collegiate on Saturday evening. That incredible run includes 12 consecutive wins in the Hutchinson Sports Arena where SCHS won titles in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015. A tournament wrap-up begins on page 17 in this week’s Record. (Record Photo)

The Scott Recreation Commission will continue to be granted a break on its water rates and overall costs during the upcoming year. The Scott City Council authorized a maximum of $34,000 in water credits in addition to selling water to the SRC at a reduced rate of (See CREDIT on page two)

USD 466 to lose $136,000 in state funding

Scott County and Wichita County schools would lose more than $130,000 in state aid this year and in the next two school years under a school funding plan approved by the Kansas Legislature and awaiting Gov. Sam Brownback’s signature. The block grant funding plan will replace the school finance formula that has been in effect since 1992. Scott County schools were supposed to receive $5.75 million in funding for the 201415 school year, based on final

$76,340 coming out of 2014-15 budget audited enrollment numbers approved by the state. USD 466 will instead see that amount reduced by $76,340 in this year’s budget as part of a legislative plan to cut $51.8 million from education spending statewide. Block grant funding will be further reduced by $53,698 in 2015-16 and in the following year it will be cut another $6,231 - a total loss of state funding amounting to $136,269

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

Youngsters show artistic skill in annual Farm Bureau poster contest Page 9

this year and through 2016-17. These figures do not include KPERS contributions at the local level which are sent to the state. Some funding figures being released by the state have wrapped KPERS money into the overall package to give the impression that state funding will actually increase even though this money is not spent on salaries, classroom instruction or other in-district costs. Even with higher enrollment,

which the USD 466 administration is projecting for the 201516 school year, the state will not increase funding under the block grant program. The legislature has pledged to have another school finance formula in place for the 2017-18 school year. $131,000 Loss for Leoti The Wichita County school district finds itself in a very similar situation with state aid

406 Main, St. Scott City • 620-872-2090 www.scottcountyrecord.com Opinion • Pages 4-6 Calendar • Page 7 Youth/education • Page 9 LEC report • Page 10 Health care • Pages 12-13

Deaths • Page 14 Church services • Page 15 Sports • Pages 17-24 Farm section • Pages 26-27 Classified ads • Pages 29-31

cuts amounting to $131,463 over the next three years. Of that, $60,722 will be cut out of the current year’s budget. The district was scheduled to receive $3.22 million in state funding for its 405 full-time equivalent enrollment. That will instead be reduced to $3.16 million this year. “That’s money we were counting on, but now we’ll have to return it to the state,” noted Supt. Keith Higgins. Next year’s block grant will provide the district with (See FUNDING on page two)

Beavers bring Class 3A hoops title back home to Scott City Page 17

The Scott County Record • Page 2 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Lower vehicle tax would hit county budgets A bill in the Kansas Legislature to overhaul the way automobiles are taxed could pit the interests of school districts against municipal governments. Senate Bill 259 would lower the assessment rate on vehicles from 20 percent to 12 percent over a five-year period, lowering overall property taxes on automobiles when people go to register them. The bill also makes automobiles subject to a statewide mill levy on property - from which they are currently exempt - that goes to school districts’ coffers. In 2017, this would result in $13.8 million additional dollars for the state’s school districts, but a loss of $80.3 million overDistrict

all for local governments, according to analysis by the Kansas Division of Budget. In 2020, when the policy is fully implemented, schools would receive $43.2 million more than they receive now, while local governments would lose a collective $174.4 million. Randall Allen, executive director of the Kansas Association of Counties, expressed frustration with the legislation at a Wednesday hearing of the Senate Tax Committee. He said that the Legislature often fails to look at the total picture when discussing tax policy and said the bill would force counties to raise property taxes on real estate.

“When you lose a revenue source in one place, such as motor vehicle taxes, it only adds pressure to something else,” Allen said. “Our position is not in opposition to public education, it’s simply in the way that it hurts counties by taking a very significant amount over the next few years,” Allen said. The Kansas Association of School Boards has not taken a position on the legislation. Sen. Les Donovan (R-Wichita), the bill’s primary proponent, argued that the Budget Division’s analysis overstated the impact to municipal governments.

“Nobody can look at our convoluted system and really put an exact number on what’s going to happen,” Donovan said. He said lowering the rate would help convince some people to trade in their automobile and get a newer one, which would result in increased sales tax revenue, noting that the majority of the state’s counties have a sales tax. “That sales tax increase is invisible,” Donovan said about the Budget Division’s analysis. The fiscal note from the Budget Division said it could not provide a precise figure on the impact from additional automobile sales, but called the increase negligible.

Donovan, however, argued that the bill would encourage people to buy new cars by reducing the cost of ownership. Don McNeely, the president of the Kansas Automobile Dealers Association, began his testimony in support of the bill by saying “Ditto.” Donovan owns a car dealership in Wichita, but he denied that he had a conflict of interest in pushing the legislation because car dealers do not pay property tax on the vehicles on their lots. “It’s a problem for our customers, for the people of Kansas, not for the dealers,” Donovan said.

2014-15 Adjusted Enrollment

2014-15 Original State Aid

2014-15 Block Grant State Aid

2014-15 Gain/ Loss

2015-16 Block Grant State Aid

Gain/Loss from 2014-15

2016-17 Block Grant State Aid

Gain/Loss from 2014-15

Total Gain or Loss

Scott City

887.0

5,750,556

5,674,216

-76,340

5,696,858

-53,698

5,744,325

-6,231

-136,269

Leoti

405.0

3,220,407

3,159,635

-60,772

3,172,049

-48,358

3,198,074

-22,333

-131,463

Healy

79.5

698,302

701,188

+2,886

707,239

+8,937

+11,823

Dighton

244.5

1,712,703

1,719,782

+7,079

1,734,623

+21,920

+28,999

Tribune

244.4

1,961,430

1,969,537

+8,107

1,986,533

+25,103

+33,210

Ness City

299.2

1,890,734

1,898,549

+7,815

1,914,932

+24,198

+32,013

Goodland

1,042.5

7,256,868

7,019,081

-237,787

7,044,432

-212,436

6,979,408

-277,460

-727,683

918.0

6,135,696

5,920,405

-215,291

5,942,380

-193,316

5,988,448

-147,248

-555,855

1,052.8

6,761,800

6,789,749

+27,949

6,848,341

+86,541

+114,490

Colby Hugoton

Funding $48,358 less in state aid than it was due to receive this year. By the 2016-17 school year, the reduction in state aid will be $22,333 below the original 201415 state aid figure. “We’re getting less money over the next two years even though expenses will increase. And how can you take care of your employees and give them the raises they deserve when you’re getting less money?” Higgins asks. Some USDs Gain Not every school district is projected to lose state funding under the block grant proposal. Neither of the Lane County schools will see

(continued from page one)

funding cuts, though their gains will be minimal over the next two years. Neither district will be asked to return money from this year’s budget. The Healy district is to receive $698,302 and the Dighton district is to receive $1,712,703 in state aid. In the 2015-16 school year, Healy will see an increase of just $2,886, plus another $8,937 in the 2016-17 school year - a total gain of $11,823. The district has an enrollment of 79.5 FTE. Dighton will get a boost of $7,079 next year and $21,920 the following year for a total of $28,999.

Credit

(See VEHICLE on page 8)

They are the exception, however. The block grant program is slated to chop $51.87 million in school funding this year. The reduction in state aid will amount to $47.8 million in 2015-16 and $30.89 million in 2016-17. Those reductions are using 2014-15 as a “base” year. In other words, the overall savings to the state of $130.65 million doesn’t take into consideration the increases in aid that would have occurred under the former school finance formula based on higher enrollment, increases in at-risk or ESL students, etc. If no permanent for-

mula is approved after two years, the legislature would then have to decide how to fund schools at that point. The absence of additional money as enrollment climbs is an element in the plan that has brought criticism from school administrators and the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB). “An increase in student enrollment typically means additional money for salaries, the ability to hire more staff and to meet the needs of at-risk students,” says Scott County Supt. Jamie Rumford. “If the grant dollars are frozen that’s going to put some limitations on us.”

Republican supporters of the block grant proposal said it would provide schools a stable source of revenue and flexibility in handling their expenses. Brownback called for a block grant plan, saying the current school finance formula was too complicated and designed to thwart accountability. But Democrats and some moderate Republicans say the bill didn’t provide enough funding, hurt all districts - especially poorer ones - and that future cuts were probable because of the state’s dire revenue situation. School officials and KASB testified in opposition to the bill.

(continued from page one)

$2.72 per thousand gallons. The terms are unchanged from 2014. Last year, the rec commission used $32,143 of the credits it was allocated. That put the SRC’s out-of-pocket costs for water at nearly $16,000,

according to director Lauren Robinson. She also pointed out that the SRC had reduced its water costs by about $10,000 from 2013. That was due to water conservation efforts that saw the commission reducing

its consumption by more than two million gallons to less than 10 million gallons in 2014. “If we can keep our usage under 10 million gallons again this year that will be within our budget,” Robinson said.

The council also asked that Robinson and the SRC board keep them informed of water issues during the summer, particularly if there continue to be major breaks in the irrigation system that serves the four ball fields.

Friendship ‘Meals to Go’ available from the VIP Center • Call 872-3501

What’s for Lunch in Scott City? Sun. - Sat., March 22-28

Majestic Theatre 420 Main • 872-3840

Hours

Lunch • Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Evenings • Thurs., Fri., Sat. 5:30 -10:00 p.m.

Tues. • Open faced prime rib sandwich with french fries. Wed. • French dip sandwich with chips. Thurs. • Chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes and corn. Fri. • Fish and chips.

What’s for Supper?

The Broiler

102 Main St. • 872-5055

1211 Main • 872-3215

5Buck Lunch 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

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

Includes Fries, 21 oz. Drink and Small Sundae

1304 S. Main • 872-5301

Buffet

Mon. - Sat. • 5:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Sun. • 5:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Mon. • Chicken fry Tues. • Hamburger steak with mushrooms and onions Wed. • Fried chicken Thurs. • Mountain oysters Fri. • Seafood specials

11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Sat. • Prime rib

Breakfast specials every night.

The Scott County Record

Community Living

Page 3 - Thursday, March 19, 2015

Think of long-term finances with your income tax refund

Heidi Pletcher and Landon Dirks

Couple plans April 11 wedding Darren and Melissa Pletcher, Sharon Springs, and Curt and Jolene Dirks, Monument, announce the engagement of their children, Heidi Pletcher and Landon Dirks. Heidi is the granddaughter of Jim and Penny Bussen, Wallace, and Donnie and Louise Pletcher, Sharon Springs. She is the great-granddaughter of Joe and Daisy Robben, Sharon Springs, and Dolores Bussen, Wallace. Landon is the grandson of Richard and Dianne Kvasnicka, Winona; and Oren Dirks, Russell Springs, and the late Kathy Dirks. He is the great-grandson of Nadine Kvasnicka, Oakley, and the late Ross Kvasnicka; Mary Elliott, Red Bluff, Calif., and the

late Richard Elliott; Geraldine Lorg, Scott City; Virgil Lorg, Pretty Prairie; and the late Abe and Ruby Dirks. The bride-to-be is a 2013 graduate of Wallace County High School plans to graduate this spring from Colby Community College with a degree in veterinary technology. The groom-to-be is a 2011 high school graduate and attended Northwest Kansas Technical College, Goodland, where he was enrolled in the diesel mechanics program. He is currently an owner in his family’s custom harvesting business. The couple plans an April 11 wedding in The Holy Ghost Catholic Church, Sharon Springs.

Committee begins plans for Whimmydiddle festival

Members of the Alpha Omega Sorority met March 12 at the home of Michelle Ann Ruth. President Diana Burr called the meeting to order with reciting of the opening ritual. Chaplain Wanda Barton presented a moment of meditation with prayer. Roll call was answered by 17 members answering, “Have you ever flown a kite?” President Diana, presented a thank you and invitation to the state convention. Committee members reported that plans are underway for this year’s Whimmydiddle arts and crafts festival. Articles

for Heartsprings were brought to be packaged for posting. The sorority has been asked to serve a meal for an event at the Catholic Church on April 26. A community concern was presented and approved for a gift card. President Diana asked which members are planning to attend the state convention and presented the slate of officers for next year. Kristi Schmitt presented the educational program on Venus Viva, a skin replenishing service offered through the Renova Center. The next meeting will be April 9.

Support Your Hometown Merchants!

Many people want to spend the money once they have finished up their taxes and know what they will be receiving as a refund. It’s tempting to think about buying that big TV with all the gadgets, going shopping because you can, or purchasing the latest phone/computer/ multi-media device. But a rush to spend your income tax refund can erode the value of the refund, especially if you spend your refund before you actually receive it. If you really need the refund to purchase a necessity, or need quick cash, arranging a shortterm loan with a financial service provider usually is less costly than a refund anticipation loan, which typically has a higher

Use the waiting time to plan how you can use your tax refund. It’s best to use the refund to improve your financial situation by choosing to pay down debts with the higher interest rates first. If you owe $2,000 on a credit card charging 18 percent interest and pay $50 a month, it will take five years to eliminate the debt. The interest due $1,077 - adds up to more than 50 percent of the original debt. If, however, you use a $1,000 tax refund to pay down the debt and continue to pay $50 a month to clear the remaining $1,000 balance, in two years, you’ll save $879 in interest.

interest rate and loan processing fees. Simply put, a refund anticipation loan requires a taxpayer to pay a hefty interest rate to borrow his or her own money for a relatively short time sometimes two weeks or less. Filing early, rather than waiting until a day or two before the annual April 15 deadline, filing electronically and/or opting for direct deposit can minimize the waiting time for a refund. So if you need your money faster, try one Needs vs Wants of those methods. Weighing needs versus

Ham, bean feed March 28

The Scott County Masons will host their annual ham and bean feed on Sat., March 28, from 5:307:30 p.m., at the Masonic Lodge Hall (600 Cedar Drive) in Scott City. Drawings will also be held for a Traeger grill and gift certificates for $50 and $100 meat bundles. The meal is open to the public. Cost is a freewill donation.

Advance voting is underway

Advance voting for the April 7 general election has begun and will continue through April 6. Voting can cast ballots at the Scott County Courthouse during regular business hours.

wants can put the brakes on spending. The family may want a big TV, but may need more dependable transportation. Taxpayers who are anticipating a refund need to consider the following: •Do I have outstanding or past due bills? •Am I carrying a balance on my credit card? •Can I use the refund to clean up holiday bills? Should I set aside part of it to eliminate holiday bills this year? •Do I have a big expense - such as property taxes, an insurance premium, loan payment or major car repair - coming up? •Do I have adequate emergency funds set aside? (See REFUND on page 7)

The Scott County Record

Editorial/Opinion

Page 4 - Thursday, March 19, 2015

editorially speaking

Fans also No. 1:

SC fans deserve credit for support at state tourney

Anyone who has followed Scott Community High School sports over the years knows that we have no rival when it comes to a fan base. In the event there was even the slightest doubt, just ask Beloit . . . or Wichita Collegiate. The number of Scott City fans who made the nearly four hour trip to the sub-state finals in Beloit a couple of weeks ago was tremendous and certainly contributed to the SCHS boys overcoming some difficult circumstances in advancing to the Class 3A state tournament. But that was just the start. Even for a first round state tournament game on Thursday, the Scott City crowd was impressive, but it only got better with each game that followed. The huge show of support for the championship game on Saturday was overwhelming, especially when compared to the size of Collegiate’s crowd. Surprised? Not hardly. We’ve seen it happen again and again over the years. As SCHS head coach Glenn O’Neil commented following the game, Scott City fans take a back seat to no one when it comes to supporting their students, whether it’s in sports or academics. So, when congratulating the coaches and athletes on another outstanding season, Scott City fans should take a moment to congratulate themselves. They also play a huge role in our success.

Showdown:

Adequate funding for education not a priority

The Kansas Legislature is apparently brewing for a battle with the courts - not because they’re right, but because they don’t like being told they’re wrong when it comes to education funding. In a week’s time, ultra-conservative Republicans in the House and Senate tossed out a school finance plan that had evolved over the course of about 23 years because it was too difficult for them to understand. The fact that it seems to work, and work well, didn’t matter. Rural schools that have greater transportation needs get extra assistance. Schools that have seen an influx of non-English speaking students get extra aid. Schools get added assistance for their at-risk students. The “weighting” factors make sense and are designed to help equalize funding between districts. Apparently, that’s more than conservative lawmakers can comprehend. They have passed a more simple-minded finance plan that provides block grants to districts. The beauty of this plan, they claim, is that it allows more “local control.” In other words, local schools can spend the money for transportation, ESL students, in the classroom, or on staff salaries . . . take your pick. Local control is another way of saying, “This is all you get. You figure out how to make it work.” The bottom line is that the legislature is providing the vast majority of the state’s 285 school districts with less money. Beginning with the current school year and continuing through the end of the 2016-17 school year, Scott County schools will lose a minimum $136,269 in state funding under the block grant program. If enrollment increases, as school officials expect, that loss will be even higher. The district will have to raise additional revenue locally in order to offset the loss of state aid. Of course, the ability to generate local dollars to make up for reductions in state aid will vary from school district to school district. This was the premise behind the school funding formula in the first place. It was designed to provide greater assistance for those districts with the greatest need (rural schools and generally southeast Kansas). The goal, according to the courts, is to provide a fair and equitable education opportunity for all Kansas students, regardless of where they live. That’s why the courts have stepped in repeatedly over the years to remind the legislature of their constitutional responsibility with respect to funding education in Kansas. And it’s why the legislature, led by conservative lawmakers, have repeatedly looked for ways to defy the courts. Block grants are the latest attempt to reduce the state’s financial obligation to education and set up another court battle. This is nothing more than a power play by the legislature which doesn’t like being told by the courts that they are in the wrong. It’s also an attempt by the legislature to find a temporary fix to a fiscal disaster of their own making by attacking the single biggest item in the state budget, which is education. Doing what’s right isn’t the issue. With ultraconservatives in the state legislature it never is.

What is the matter with Kansas? “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” author Thomas Frank asked in the title of his best-selling book. When asking that question, Frank was puzzled as to why people would continually vote for politicians who didn’t represent their best interests. We still don’t have the answer to that question, but we have come up with a possible answer. “What’s the matter with Kansas?” It’s education. If what’s happening in Topeka is a reflection on Kansans (and to a large degree it must be since these lawmakers were elected) then it’s apparent that when it comes to education we don’t like the cost, we dislike fact-based science and we really, really hate it when our kids learn about sex. If that isn’t enough, we don’t like teacher unions, teacher tenure, the prospect of people related to teachers serving on school boards, the ability of teachers to negotiate their contracts and, just for good measure, Parents as Teachers. Apparently the only

thing that our lawmakers like about education is the poster art that ends up on our refrigerators. The only proposal we haven’t heard coming out of Topeka is a requirement that every student attend a little, red schoolhouse, take turns tending to the pot belly stove each winter morning and learn only the three ‘Rs.” But don’t worry, the legislative session isn’t over yet. We aren’t sure when the legislature officially declared war on education. We can only assume that it began when the courts first ruled in favor of public schools, declaring that they weren’t being funded adequately by the state in accordance with that outdated, yellowing document known as the state constitution. While there have been plenty of skirmishes over the years, it now seems that the legislature has

launched a full-scale offensive in an effort to show they are in control of everything from sex education to teacher tenure. If it means further undercutting education, by requiring the state to provide money to foster parents who home-school children, consider that just another reminder that the legislature can do what it wants, when it wants, regardless of what the liberal, over-reaching courts may say. Maybe that’s the most puzzling aspect of this ongoing battle. We can understand school administrators and their staff being in the front line of this battle to protect education funding. It’s their livelihood. They see what’s happening in the classrooms every day. They understand what it takes to educate the growing population of English as a Second Language (ESL) students or to give at-risk students a chance at success in school and in life. What leaves us scratching our head is how many of these people in educa-

tion across rural Kansas, and in Western Kansas, cast ballots in the last election for Gov. Sam Brownback and his legion of ultra-conservative lawmakers whose policies are responsible for a continual attack on public education in our state? It’s not as though the consequences of the state’s fiscal ineptitude and what’s happening to our schools should have blindsided anyone this side of comatose. That’s the definition of voting against your interests. And there is absolutely no fiscal justification for the legislature to strike down teacher tenure laws or attempt to prohibit the relatives of teachers from serving on boards of education. These policy decisions are dripping with vindictiveness . . . not reason. In addition, legislature’s attempt to remove legal protections for teachers so they can’t be sued because of the teaching material they present in a classroom is an attempt by a small-minded, (See KANSAS on page six)

No excuse for Senate’s 47% In September 2002, three Democratic congressmen visited Iraq in an effort to prevent a war they thought was a terrible idea. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) said very little there, explaining afterward that his sole purpose was to tell Iraqi officials that, “if they want to prevent a war, they need to prevail upon Saddam Hussein to provide unrestricted, unfettered access to the weapons inspectors.” On the other hand, nowformer Rep. David Bonior (D-Mich.), and especially Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), were quite outspoken while on Iraqi soil. McDermott urged Americans to take Saddam’s promises on weapons inspections at “face value” and charged that President Bush was willing to “mislead the

Where to Write

another view by E.J. Dionne, Jr.

American people.” Needless to say, supporters of Bush and his policies did not deal kindly with McDermott and Bonior. Writing at the time in the pro-war Weekly Standard, Stephen F. Hayes called them “The Baghdad Democrats” and said: “What apparently didn’t concern the congressmen was the damage their trip might do abroad to any U.S.-led effort to deal with Saddam.” Perhaps it’s not surprising that Republicans are now reminding everyone of the trio’s journey. To defend the 47 Republican senators who signed a letter to “the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” they invoke the everybody-does-it argu-

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

ment: that interfering with a president conducting a negotiation is as American as apple pie. The letter itself, written in strangely condescending language that a good civics teacher would never use, instructs the Iranians about our Constitution. Any deal reached by President Obama without congressional approval would be nothing more than an “executive agreement,” the senators said. It could be voided “with the stroke of a pen” by a future president, and “future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.” It was a blatant effort to blow up the negotiations. In fact, it is utterly baffling that champions of this letter would even bring up McDermott and his colleagues. For one thing, many of the very same people who

Sen. Pat Roberts 109 Hart Senate Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20510 (202) 224-4774 roberts.senate.gov/email.htm

denounced the Democratic trio are now praising the letter. Hayes, for example, in an article posted last week headlined “A Contrived Controversy,” said the letter, offered by “patriotic senators,” was “a fact-based, substantive argument, in public, about a matter of critical importance to the national security of the United States.” Let’s see: It’s patriotic if members of Congress contact a foreign leader to interfere with a president whose policies you don’t like, but outrageous for politicians to do a similar thing to undermine a president whose policies you support. Which goes to the larger point: The three members of Congress went to Iraq on their own, without any support from their party’s leaders, and were actively taken to (See EXCUSE on page six)

Sen. Jerry Moran 141 Hart Senate Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20510 (202) 224-6521 www.house.gov/moranks01/

The Scott County Record • Page 5 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Kansans could pay for Brownback’s ideology by Davis Merritt

Judging by his actions - or lack thereof - Gov. Sam Brownback believes that his only obligation to the people of Kansas is to protect us, at any cost, from the overreaching federal government. Why else would he reflexively oppose the Affordable Care Act and fail to expand Medicaid, on the federal dime, for about 150,000 Kansans? And why refuse to set up a state health insurance exchange? And why support the lawsuit aimed at gutting the ACA? Surely his reasons could not be so shallow as personal ideology or mollifying his contributors, for that could never justify the damage to Kansans he has wreaked and may wreak in the future. And that would make him just another one-dimensional

political hack. Since that cannot possibly be so (after all, Kansans twice elected him governor), one must assume he believes: •That some quarter of a million Kansans in poor and economically marginal families are better off without health insurance and increased Medicaid coverage. •That Kansans would rather see higher health insurance premiums than suffer the indignity and moral weakness of dealing with the federal government. •That Kansas hospitals are so flush with cash that they are happy to continue treating uninsured people in emergency rooms and trying to pass along or eat the uncompensated cost. •That insurers will quietly swallow their losses rather than raise premiums and cut benefits if the ACA is gutted.

If the 80,000 lower-income Kansans who bought policies through the federal exchange lose the average $214-per-month federal subsidy they qualified for, a huge portion will have to drop out.

In such a Brownbackian fantasy world, he and his legislative acolytes might be tempted to dance a victory jig should the U.S. Supreme Court this summer declare illegal the federal subsidies that enable even poorer people to buy health insurance in states (like Kansas) that refused to set up exchanges. But they would be dancing right off a steep cliff and taking most Kansans with them. Here’s why: If the 80,000 lower-income Kansans who bought policies through the federal exchange lose the average $214-permonth federal subsidy they qualified for, a huge portion

will have to drop out. That’s bad enough. But add to that the broader ripple effect that would collapse the state’s health insurance market. Insurers participating in the federal exchange based their rates for all their policies on the assumption that the $1 billion per month in subsidies would be there. Without that income, some companies will drop out and all of them will have to raise premiums substantially for everyone. Theoretically, Brownback and the Kansas Legislature could fix that: •By replacing the federal subsidies. But they already face a $600 million shortfall for the next fiscal year because of Brownback’s reckless 2012 income tax cuts. Replacing the federal subsidy

would cost another $205 million a year. •By finally establishing a state exchange. But the federal subsidies - and insurance policies - would be lost immediately, while creating an exchange could take at least two years and $40 million. Federal startup grants used by 16 smarter states to set up exchanges are long gone. •By persuading Congress to fix the part of the ACA the court overrules. Good luck with that in a U.S. House of Representatives that has voted 67 times to repeal the whole act. A bad court decision in June would lock in the damage from Brownback’s ideological intransigence. That’s nothing to dance about. Davis Merritt, a Wichita journalist and author, can be reached at dmerritt9@cox.net

Don’t let facts get in the way of an estate tax lie by Josh Hoxie

Isolated splendor of super rich by Jim Hightower

Rich people tend to live behind high walls with guarded gates. Then there are the überrich. They don’t need walls and gates, for they isolate themselves from us riff-raff the natural way - by buying their very own private islands. But holding the masses at bay is not the real reason that the swells lay out up to $30 million for these watery enclaves. Rather, says one luxury real estate expert, “It’s the ultimate ‘I’ve arrived’ statement.” Yes, but I would add that it’s also a way for an overachieving super-richie to shout to other richies: “See, mine’s bigger than yours!”

These days, there’s been a surge in sales of private islands, thanks to the convergence of two economic forces. First came rising inequality, with the privileged few at the top taking ever more of the world’s wealth. Second, according to a luxury property firm with the perfect name of Candy & Candy, prices for quality islands fell during the global financial collapse. Thus a $50-million, 43-acre island in the Lesser Antilles with a plantation house, two cottages, a protected bay for your yacht, and a landing pad for your helicopter - can now be had for only half that. Before you grab your checkbook to purchase such a bargain, however, note that the price tag

is hardly the total tab - annual upkeep on your paradise can easily run $300,000. All that for a getaway you might only get away to for a few weeks a year. Yet, with the income gap continuing to widen into a chasm, the number of those with the money to splurge on such egoboosting baubles is expected to grow from 200,000 to about 250,000 in the next two years. Instead of frittering away so much on so few, what say we find one isolated tropical island, build a big fence around it, and make all of those narcissistic egos live there in isolated splendor with each other? Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker and author

Few things sell ideas in American politics like a good farm story. Just ask Rep. Dave Reichert. He held a hearing recently on the impact of the estate tax on farms and small businesses. An outspoken critic of the tax, Reichert was inspired by a recent story featuring the McBrides - an old farming family from the town of Issaquah in his suburban Seattle district. The McBrides first got noticed over the summer, when The Seattle Times reported that they had sold the last farm in Issaquah, a sign of the changing economy and demographics of the community. The McBride family had farmed the land for over a hundred years and over the course of six generations. The 12.5acre lot sold for $4.5 million to a developer planning to build a luxury housing development called Avery Pointe, where houses start in “the low 700s.” Jim McBride - son of the 97-year-old patriarch, Ralph McBride - claimed they’d sold the land because of the estate tax. “All my parents’ wealth was in that land,” he insisted, “and we couldn’t afford to pay the taxes that come with inheriting it at the current property value.” Five days later, the paper cited the Issaquah farm in an editorial decrying the estate tax as an attack on family farms and calling for its immediate

There are 2.2 million farms and 28.2 million small businesses in the United States. In 2013, only 120 farms and small businesses owed any federal estate tax at all, and their average value topped $50 million . . .

repeal. Frank Blethen, the publisher of the paper, is an outspoken critic of the estate tax and a longtime funder of efforts to repeal it. So his embrace of the McBrides’ account is unsurprising. There’s just one thing: The story is completely false. There’s no way the McBride family sold their farm because of the estate tax. At the federal level, estates worth less than $5.4 million for individuals and $10.8 million for married couples are exempt. So if all or even most of the McBride family’s wealth was in the land that sold for $4.5 million, they’d still have fallen below the exemption and would have paid no federal estate tax. And in Washington state, farms are 100 percent exempted from the estate tax. If the family had kept the farm and the kids had inherited it, they wouldn’t have paid a dime on the bequest. In fact, critics of the estate tax have tried and failed to find a farm lost as a result of the estate tax for the past 15 years. David Cay Johnston took on the task in 2001, when the estate tax was much more robust than it is today, and couldn’t find a single one. That reporting for (See ESTATE on page six)

Congressional GOP budget is a gimmick

Six men in green ties took the stage in the House television studio Tuesday, and House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, a slight leprechaun of a man with silver hair and dark eyebrows, approached the microphone. “Good mor - top o’ the mornin’ to ya!” Price announced. “Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all.” It was altogether fitting that Republicans rolled out their budget during a festival of inebriation in honor of the man who magically (and apocryphally) banished snakes from Ireland. What Republicans have done with their budget is no less fantastic: They have employed lucky charms and mystical pots of gold to make them appear

behind the headlines by Dana Milbank

more sober about balancing the budget than they actually are. “We do not rely on gimmicks or creative accounting tricks to balance our budget,” the House Republicans say in the introduction to their fiscal 2016 budget. True, the budget does not rely on gimmicks. The budget is a gimmick. It pretends to keep strict limits on defense spending - socalled “sequestration” - but then pumps tens of billions of extra dollars into a slush fund called “Overseas Contingency Operations.” That means the funds count as emergency

spending and not as part of the Pentagon budget. It assumes that current tax cuts will be allowed to expire as scheduled - which would amount to a $900 billion tax increase that nobody believes would be allowed to go into effect. It proposes to repeal Obamacare but then counts revenues and savings from Obamacare as if the law remained in effect. It claims to save $5.5 trillion over 10 years, but in the fine print - the budget plan’s instructions to committees - it only asks them to identify about $5 billion in savings over that time. It assumes more than $1 trillion in cuts to a category known as “other mandatory” programs

- but doesn’t specify what those cuts would be. It relies on $147 billion in additional revenue from “dynamic scoring,” a more generous accounting method. It doesn’t account for the $200 billion plan now being negotiated to increase doctor payments under Medicare and to extend a children’s healthcare program. The difficulty concealing all these sleights of hand might explain why Price was in such a hurry to leave his news conference Tuesday. His predecessor, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), liked to give lengthy seminars on his conservative budgeting theories, but Price took questions for just six minutes before an aide hollered “last question.” The chairman was gone a

minute later, and reporters gave chase to the leprechaun. “Can your budget pass?” one of them asked. “I think so,” Price said, before locating his confidence. “Sure. Absolutely.” It was the latest instance of the Republicans discovering how difficult it is to govern now that they have unified control of Congress. In the past four years, budget debuts were academic exercises because there would never be agreement between the Republican House and Democratic Senate. But now the budget might actually mean something, and the firebrands elected in the past three elections need to show how they would handle the country’s finances. It turns out (See GIMMICK on page six)

The Scott County Record • Page 6 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Security means more than new, bigger guns by Richard Kirsch

From the Islamic State to the streets of Paris, Americans get bombarded daily with fresh reminders of conflicts around the world. What’s harder to figure out is what to do about it. What would actually make us safer? Some politicians urge knee-jerk reactions. Spend more on the Pentagon, they say. But one thing’s clear after years of over-relying on military force: It can actually make us less secure. You don’t have to take my word for it. When journalist Bob Schieffer asked recently

if he had regrets about invading Iraq, former President George W. Bush lamented that “a violent group of people have risen - risen up again.” Bush can find one of the culprits for this sad development by looking in the mirror. Without that invasion and the sectarian chaos it unleashed, there would be no Islamic State (ISIS). What will it take for the U.S. government to grasp that short-term military solutions create long-term crises? Sadly, our leaders remain hooked on military “solutions,” which too often make the world more dangerous.

Kansas fearful group of individuals to impose their narrow ideology onto others. What’s the matter, Kansas? Are we afraid of ideas that conflict with our own? Are we afraid our children will learn things we aren’t comfortable in teaching them? As troubling as that is, the bigger issue is the deafening silence from people who should care about our schools but aren’t speaking out. Where’s the outrage from rural communities whose schools will lose

tens of thousands of dollars in state aid which are necessary in order to continue providing a quality education? Why aren’t people challenging the mental and intellectual stability of lawmakers who have no problem with passing a school finance plan that not only steals away money that schools were expecting to receive in this year’s budget, but provides them with less money in each of the next two years? Is there anyone out there who believes they

can live on less money two years from now than what they’re living on today? Lawmakers try to spin this insanity as “local control,” which is simply another way of saying local taxpayers will have to make up the difference. Either that or cut teaching staff, reduce programs or close their doors. It’s not that complicated. Without a quality education system, our way of life is diminished in Kansas. And make no mistake,

the social fabric of a community is deeply intertwined with its schools. We still can’t answer the question asked by Thomas Frank. As we continue to see the road that our governor and conservative lawmakers seem hellbent on taking us down, we must also ask, “What is the matter, Kansas?” And we wonder, “Is this really where we want to go?” Rod Haxton can be reached at editor@screcord.com

(continued from page four)

gressional visit set back the cause of those who, at the time, were trying to get Congress to pass a far more restrained war resolution. By contrast, the 47 Republicans undercutting Obama included the Senate majority leader and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee and clearly speak for most of their party. Only seven Senate Republicans, to their credit, refused to sign, including Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Gimmick they govern much like those who came before them - with legislative smoke and mirrors. Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.), one of those on the stage, observed that “folks are playing with the opportunity for the first time in my short congressional career to actually bring a budget to the United States.” “Playing” is a good verb for the occasion. Price, a Georgia Republican who ran the conservative Republican Study Committee, deliv-

must demand a new definition of security - both at home and abroad - that means more than new and bigger guns. In the Middle East, that means diplomatically engaging countries directly threatened by the Islamic State. It also means taking common sense steps - like providing economic and humanitarian assistance - to address the “ISIS crisis” in a way that creates friends, not enemies. “What matters more to American security?” Sen. Chris Murphy asked when funding for food assistance for Syrian refugees was running out. “One day of missiles being fired at ISIS inside Syria? Or

(continued from page four)

Excuse task even by opponents of Bush’s policies. At the time, I wrote a column highly critical of the visit that I didn’t enjoy writing because I respect the three men. I also noted that, in light of all the pressures to fall into line behind Bush, “anyone with the gumption to dissent these days deserves some kudos for courage.” Nonetheless, I argued that, just as the Vietnam anti-war movement was damaged by “the open identification of some in its ranks with America’s enemies,” so did the con-

In fact, President Barack Obama’s 2016 funding request for the Pentagon’s base budget is the biggest in U.S. history. Total military expenditures, including nuclear weapons and war spending, gobble up well over half of the nation’s discretionary budget - even as we continue to draw down troops from Afghanistan. Much of that budget growth funds weapons systems unsuited to today’s battlefields. Washington’s spending billions to pad the pockets of Pentagon industry insiders who reap record profits while doing little to enhance national security. The American people

Two stipulations: While I support Obama’s effort to reach an agreement with Iran, I also believe in a strong congressional role in setting foreign policy and embrace the freedom to dissent from a president’s choices on war, peace and diplomacy. And, yes, most of us have had moments of inconsistency when our beliefs about a substantive matter distorted our views on process issues. But tossing off a letter to leaders of a foreign state plainly designed to sandbag a president in the

middle of negotiations goes far beyond normal procedural disagreements. It makes Congress and the United States look foolish to the world. It weakens our standing with allies and adversaries alike. And, yes, many Republicans seem to believe anything is permissible as long as it’s designed to foil Obama. This is far more damaging to us than what those three congressmen did in Baghdad. E.J. Dionne, Jr., is a political commentator and columnist for the Washington Post

(continued from page five)

ered a long statement, imparting his assurance that “we believe in America.” At least three times he held up the 43-page budget for the cameras. But after the 10-minute preamble, the questioning quickly got tricky for Price. Why didn’t he ask committees to come up with more than $5 billion in savings? “That’s a floor, not a ceiling,” Price said, adding something about “an opportunity to provide a

positive solution that the American people desire.” Andy Taylor of the Associated Press asked him about the $900 billion tax increase and the Obamacare revenues assumed in the budget. “Because we believe in the American people, and we believe in growth,” replied Price, predicting higher-than-expected economic growth would boost tax revenues. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times asked Price if he would detail the $1 trillion in manda-

being able to feed hundreds of thousands of hungry refugees, who, if they don’t get a square meal… are going to turn to ISIS?” Sadly, our leaders are better at finding money for weapons than for food. With budget priorities like that, we’ve got problems back home, too. Public investment in America’s future - on roads, schools, and scientific research - is at historic lows. And the government has slashed spending on a wide range of vital programs that provide security and opportunity for American families since 2010. Last year, domestic discretionary spending fell

by some $15 billion, while the Pentagon used its massive slush fund - the Overseas Contingency Operations account - to escape any significant cuts at all. As Congress ponders the federal budget, it must focus on what will really make our families more secure. Reining in wasteful Pentagon spending is one great way to get started. But cutting the security of Americans at home including our education, health care, retirement, and child care - hits us where we live. Richard Kirsch is a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and a senior adviser to USAction. USAction.org

Can’t detect Congress’s approval rating with current technology by Andy Borowitz

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) After a challenging week for the legislative body, the approval rating of the United States Congress has shrunk to a point where it is no longer detectable by the technology currently available, a leading pollster said on Friday. Davis Logsdon, who heads the highly regarded Opinion Research Institute at the University of Minnesota, said that his polling unit has developed highly sensitive measurement technology in recent years to gauge Congress’s popularity as it fell into the single digits, but added that “as of this week, Congress is basically flatlining.” “At the beginning of the week, you could still see a slight flicker of approval for Congress,” he said. “Then - bam! - the lights went out.” Logsdon said, however, that people should resist drawing the conclusion that Congress’s approval rating now stands at zero. “They may have support in the range of .0001 percent or, say, .0000001 percent,” he said. “Our equipment just isn’t advanced enough to measure it.” Logsdon said that the swift descent of Congress’s approval rating below detectable levels has surprised experts in the polling profession. “A couple of years ago, when they shut down the government, I wondered, What could they possibly do to become less popular than this?” the pollster said. “Now we know.” Andy Borowitz is a comedian and author

Estate

(continued from page five)

The New York Times won him a Pulitzer. There are 2.2 million farms and 28.2 million small businesses in the United States, according to official data. In 2013, only 120 farms and small businesses owed any federal estate tax at all, and their average value topped $50 million - more than 10 times the worth of the McBride estate. Which brings me back to Reichert. Perhaps he’s just deeply concerned about this tiny fraction of very wealthy estates. Perhaps he was misled by the intentionally misleading editorial in The Seattle Times. Or perhaps he’s doing what estate tax opponents have been doing for decades: not letting facts get in the way of a good story.

tory cuts that the budget doesn’t identify. “Take a peek at ‘A Balanced Budget for a Stronger America,’ ” Price replied, holding up the budget again for the cameras. “I’m looking at it,” Josh Hoxie is the director of the Project on Opportunity and Weisman said. “It doesn’t Taxation at the Institute for Policy Studies specify.” It didn’t - and that’s the sort of trick Republicans can no longer get away with now that they’re in charge. Dana Milbank is a Washington Post staff writer and author

The Scott County Record • Page 7 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Refund

(continued from page three)

•Have I contributed to my retirement account or IRA (Individual Retirement Account)? Adding $500 a year to an Individual Retirement Account can yield $68,100 in 30 years. Increasing your contribution by $25

each year could yield up to $113,800. People sometimes think of a tax refund as forced savings, yet, in reality, the taxpayer has provided a loan to the government without earning any interest. If your refund is sub-

stantial, adjust withholding to better match your tax liability. It really is better to let the bank house your savings and draw interest than let the government borrow it for nothing. The key is that you must

put money into a savings account each month. Don’t have an emergency fund? Better get one. Simple loans to cover unexpected cost are more difficult to obtain. A threeto six-months savings is a

goal recommended for an emergency fund, but one that may not seem easily attained. To begin an emergency fund, try to put away $5 or $10 a week to build savings. It will add up and just might be what you

will need someday. Still feel the urge to splurge? After paying down debt and adding to savings for shortand long-term goals, set aside a small amount as a reward - something you or your family will enjoy.

editor’s mail . . .

SRC levy putting more burden on our seniors A number of years ago, while we were contemplating the construction of a medical clinic to be connected with the Scott County Hospital, we were hearing concerns from older voters. The hospital board was going household to household, telling people that the project would be financed with bonds, not on the tax rolls. Bonds, as we know, are paid off with money raised through property taxes. At the time, however, a great many older people were struggling to get by, but were still enjoying two meals a day. Conditions have only gotten worse, so it’s more difficult than ever for our senior citizens to still afford two meals a day. The Scott Recreation Commission’s two mill levy is a way for the younger, working people to cast harder times on the generation that has already paid their way while the younger generation is the one that’s still earning a great living. Some of the older people were actually weeping as they were telling us their financial situation. This is one man who thinks we need to vote “no” in the upcoming SRC mill levy increase on April 7. Jess Cole Modoc (Editor’s note: Jess Cole was a member of the SCH board at the time the clinic was built in the early 1990s.)

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Transition George Armantrout, a retired Scott County farmer who said that he once had three irrigation wells on his land near the Scott/ Finney county line. All three wells are now dry. Whittemore says that a 20 percent reduction in water usage for irrigation, for example, doesn’t mean a 20 percent loss of income. KSU ag economist Bill Golden and a team of economists have conducted a study in northwest Kansas which measures the potential impact if irrigation were to be reduced or eliminated completely. It was no surprise that the elimination of irriga-

The Scott County Record • Page 8 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

(continued from page one)

tion would have a huge impact. But a reduction in irrigation would allow the area - and its farmers - to adjust over time. A similar study is being conducted in the Sheridan 6 LEMA. “I believe what we’re going to find is that (farm) income doesn’t decline as much as everyone would expect,” says Whittemore. “You see farmers making adjustments with different practices, improved grain varieties and better technology. “It shows that, when he has to, a farmer can adapt to limited irrigation.”

ment is how much irrigation usage would be limited? Whittemore offered three general scenarios during a power point presentation that included no change in irrigation practices, a 20 percent reduction and what would happen if all wells were shut off. Continuing irrigation at its current levels is not sustainable, even if the severe drought is over and normal rainfall patterns return. Whittemore says the Ogallala Aquifer in GWMD No. 1 declined by 7.4 inches in 2014 and How limited? has lost over 50 percent Of course, a key ele- of its original saturated

Transfer

(continued from page one)

Under state law, within one year after graduating from the KLETC, if an officer is hired by another department, the new employer is required to reimburse the former employer any costs associated with attending the academy. Salary alone amounts to more than $8,000, according to Chief of Police Chris Jurgens. That doesn’t include travel expenses and meals. “We’ll contact the county clerk and make her aware of the added cost,” said City Attorney John Shirley. The council accepted Funk’s resignation and has begun the process of filling the vacancy on the department.

Vehicle

(continued from page two)

“They complain about the sales tax, they complain about the price of the cars, they complain about a lot of things, but they really complain about the property tax,” Donovan said. “We have young people that are obviously not carrying a lot of cash with them and they find out that their sales tax is going to be $1,800 and their property tax is going to be $900, they say, ‘We don’t have $2,700.’” But when asked if dealers would benefit from increased auto sales the bill could spur, Donovan replied, “That’s not the reason for this bill.” Donovan pushed similar legislation in 2013, which passed the Senate but failed to gain traction in the House.

LEMA The proposal carried in three counties - Wichita (51-31), Scott (58-54) and Lane (21-18). It lost by just one vote in Greeley County (10-9) but suffered the biggest setback in Wallace County (60-19). Graff says a vote of stakeholders is not required when organizing a LEMA. “Some people looked at the vote and said the LEMA failed. It passed in three of the five counties,” Graff said. “I think most everyone is in agreement that something needs to be done. We can’t come up with a plan that will please everyone, but I think we can satisfy most people.” GWMD Director Kyle Spencer said efforts to form a LEMA won’t resume until after the Kansas Water Office has com-

thickness. The overall impact of doing nothing or stopping all irrigation were only meant for comparison purposes. Reducing water consumption by 20 percent would keep 18 square miles of ag land under irrigation over the next 65 years. Exactly which tracts of land would be included in that 18 square miles can be more specifically identified once the water model is complete, says Whittemore. He refers to the model as a “more intelligent” look at the aquifer’s decline. It takes into account a variety of factors from his-

torical weather patterns, rainfall amounts, and various water reduction use scenarios. The model identifies where the impact of a declining aquifer will be greatest, which areas will continue to have adequate pumping capacity and changes in the saturated thickness across GWMD No. 1 and even a larger region, Whittemore notes. Return Flow A unique anomaly in water usage and aquifer recharge, referred to as irrigation return flow, is starting to occur which may provide a small amount of relief over the

next few years. This return flow represents water that was pumped onto fields in the early days of irrigation at a time when it was a common practice to pump even heavier amounts of water than is being efficiently used today. This water is working its way through the sediment and back into the aquifer. “Normal recharge, under ideal conditions is only going to be about this much,” said Whittemore, holding his thumb and forefinger about 1-1/2 inches apart. “In areas where we see more than that it’s because of irrigation return flow.”

(continued from page one)

pleted its series of regional meetings. That probably won’t be until late summer or early fall when the GWMD also hopes to have the water modeling program in working order. “We’re leaning strongly toward a plan that’s based on (maximum) inches per acre, not a percentage reduction,” noted Graff. “There is no single, silver-bullet solution. The board will be looking at a combination of things that will reduce water usage.” With wells already drying up and with the saturated thickness of the Ogallala Aquifer within the district less than 50 percent of what it once was, Graff says there are some who will claim that any action taken by the GWMD at this time is too late.

“How can we know if we don’t try?” asked Graff. “We need to change attitudes about water.” Graff says new technology will also play a key role in water reduction measures and he says the district will look at incentive programs. “We know we have a problem and we know the solution - use less water,” said Spencer. “We don’t need more meetings.” Spencer emphasized that “the time is now” for the GWMD to take action. “The state or no one else is going to come in here and do it for us. If we want to get something done and hope to maintain some level of water for agriculture and for communities in our area, we’re the ones who will have to do it.”

Limited Irrigation A major issue that was raised in previous LEMA discussions and which has yet to be resolved is how crop insurance will be applied to limited irrigated acreage. According to Tracy Streeter, director of the Kansas Water Office, a program is being applied in the Sheridan 6 LEMA which may serve as a future model for the Risk Management Agency. Streeter expressed his frustration that the RMA has yet to arrive at a limited irrigation plan. “This would be helpful, even for those who aren’t in a LEMA,” he said. He also noted that, with the current fiscal crisis in Topeka, there is “not much state money available for conservation.”

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The Scott County Record

Youth/Education

Page 9 - Thursday, March 19, 2015

Coalition targets rural children for summer meals

The State of Kansas and four nonprofit organizations are seeking federal approval to conduct an experiment that they hope will boost participation in a summer meals program that now is serving only a fraction of eligible children. Led by the Kansas State Department of Education,

the coalition is asking the USDA to temporarily waive some rules so that it can conduct a demonstration project to feed needy children in rural parts of the state when school is out for the summer. Last year, fewer than seven percent of Kansas children who were eligible for free or reduced-

price lunches during the school year took advantage of the Summer Food Service Program. One of the biggest reasons for the low participation was the fact that there were no meal sites in 44 rural counties. Cheryl Johnson, director of child nutrition and wellness for KSDE, said

federal rules that require children to travel to congregate meal sites could be part of the problem. The waiver would test that theory by allowing KSDE and its nonprofit partners to feed children at congregate sites one day but send them home with packaged meals for the next day.

safety poster winners

Scott County winners in the annual Farm Bureau safety poster contest were recently recognized and presented their prizes. First place winners did not have their posters since they had been sent to the state level for judging. (Above, from left) Wyatt Ricker, 2nd, 3rd/4th grade division; Ross Dirks, 1st, 3rd/4th grade division; Aamyiah Unger, 1st, 5th/6th grade division; and Clare Hawkins, 2nd, 5th/6th grade division. Finishing third in the 3rd/4th grade division was Kaden Koehn and third in the 5th/6th grade division was Zach Rohrbough. (Record Photo)

“Parents wouldn’t have to drive their children to the congregate site each day,” Johnson said. “There would be the benefits of the congregate meal the socialization and the activities - on some days, but they would also have healthy nutrition the following day without the transportation costs.”

The Kansas Food Bank, Harvesters Community Food Network, Kansas Health Foundation and Kansas Appleseed joined with KSDE to submit the waiver request on Feb. 20. “Kansas ranks 48th in the nation in the number of children fed when school is not in session,” (See MEALS on page 16)

USD 466 Lunch Menu Week of March 23-27 Breakfast Monday: French toast, diced pears, fruit juice. Tuesday: Oatmeal breakfast rounds, fruit flavored yogurt, mixed fruit, fruit juice. Wednesday: Whole grain bagels, grapefruit, fruit juice. Thursday: Bubble bread, cereal (MS and HS), cantaloupe, fruit juice. Friday: Breakfast pizza, strawberries, fruit juice. Lunch Monday: Enchiladas, *egg roll, chips and salsa, capri blend veggies, pears. Tuesday: Meat loaf, *chicken fried steak, potatoes and gravy, corn, dinner roll, peaches. Wednesday: Ham and cheese pockets, *mini corndogs, potato salad, green peas, strawberries. Thursday: Beef taco supreme, *popcorn chicken, green beans, watermelon, snickerdoodles. Friday: Cheese quesadilla, *fish nuggets, oven fries, winter blend, tropical fruit. Pizza Hut pizza at SCES instead of cheese quesadilla. *second choice at SCMS and SCHS

JONES CLUB LAMBS Show Lambs for Sale!

Call for an Appointment Today! Jeremy • 620-397-1638 Stefanie • 620-397-8075 bustn2kick@st-tel.net

County Fair Champions!

Scott County

Top winners in the first and second grade division were (from left) Waylon Ricker, 2nd; Taylor Koehn, 1st; and Alexis Armendariz, 3rd.

Real Estate Auction Date: Wednesday, April 15 • 10:00 a.m. a.m. Location: William Carpenter 4-H Building, fairgrounds, north edge of Scott City Up for bid: The east half of 5-18-37 For more information contact: Lawrence and Associates Realty • 872-5267 Russell Berning • 1-800-466-5202

Earning honorable mention were (from left) Shane Koehn, 1st/2nd grade division; Dakota Green, 1st/2nd grade division; Hananel Navarette, 1st/2nd grade division; and Stephany Tena, 3rd/4th grade division. Honorable mention winners not pictured are: 1st/2nd grade division, Trey Ryan; and 3rd/4th grade division, Lauren Jantz and Evan Koehn. (Record Photo)

USD 466 accepts 3 resignations; hires Augerot

During the March 9 USD 466 (Scott County) board of education meeting Andrew Augerot was hired as the district’s assistant technology coordinator. The following resignations were accepted: •Rochelle Miller as SCMS quiz bowl sponsor. •Elise Neri as junior class sponsor •Amanda Koehn as Scott City Middle School secretary effective June 16. Support Your Schools

Show dates Friday, March 20 Saturday, March 21 Sunday, March 22 $

per person

Sequoyah Cinema 8, Garden City Tickets can be pre-ordered before March 13 at:

www.fbcscott.com For more information: First Baptist Church • 872-2339

For the Record Senate rejects limit on oil drilling near homes The Scott County Record

The Kansas Senate on Wednesday rejected a proposal that would have prevented oil companies from drilling new wells within 500 feet of an existing home or other structure. Sen. Tom Holland (D-Baldwin City) said he offered the amendment in response to concerns from constituents in southeast Douglas County, where new residential development has occurred on land where pre-existing oil leases are on record.

The Scott County Record Page 10 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Many of those oil leases had been dormant for decades. But with the development of new technology, including hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” Holland said there has been a resurgence of drilling activity, and residents have learned they have little say over where those pumps are located. “We’re talking about these jack pumps basically in somebody’s back yard or next to their barn,” Holland said. “If we had this 500-foot distance bar-

Scott County Commission Agenda Tuesday, March 24 County Courthouse 3:00 p.m.

County business Approve payroll, accounts payable Appraiser’s office space leak Roof leak at health department Discuss new programs for landfill and cemetery

County Attorney Rebecca Faurot Indigent defense contract

3:45 p.m. Register of Deeds Debbie Murphy employee wage and evaluation 4:00 p.m.

Public Works Director Richard Cramer

Agenda may change before the meeting. Contact County Clerk Alice Brokofsky for an updated agenda (872-2420) or visit www.scott.kansasgov.com

Public Notice (First published in The Scott County Record Thurs., March 19, 2015)1t BEFORE THE STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF KANSAS NOTICE OF FILING APPLICATION RE: Grand Mesa Operating Company, License #9855 - Application for a commingling of production for the SC-LR #1-33, located in Scott County, Kansas. TO: All Oil and Gas Producers, Unleased Mineral Interest Owners, Landowners and all persons concerned. You, and each of you, are hereby notified that Grand Mesa Operating Company – has filed an application for commingling production or fluids from the Altamont and the Atoka Formations. The subject well, the SC-LR #133, is located 945 feet from the north line and 2680 feet from the west line in the NW SW NW NE of Section 33, Township 16 South, Range 33 West, Scott County, Kan-

sas. Any persons who object to or protest this application shall be required to file their objections or protest with the Conservation Division of the State Corporation Commission of the State of Kansas within fifteen (15) days of the publication of this notice. These protests shall be filed pursuant to Commission regulations and must state specific reasons why granting the application may cause waste, violate correlative rights or pollute the natural resources of the State of Kansas. All persons interested or concerned shall take notice of the foregoing and shall govern themselves accordingly. Grand Mesa Operating Company Michael J. Reilly, President 1700 N. Waterfront Pkwy, Bldg 600 Wichita, KS 67206-5514 (316) 265-3000

rier, that would actually put a little bit of protection, providing safety for livestock, pets, other property and, most importantly, children.” Under current state regulations, the holders of oil and gas leases in northeast Kansas are allowed to place a well on every 2.5 acres. Many leases, however, contain restrictions that say wells cannot be placed near existing structures. But according to residents near Baldwin City,

where new drilling has taken place, oil operators interpret that clause to mean structures that existed at the time the lease was signed. Some of those leases date back to the early 1900s. Holland said he has offered a bill in each of the last two legislative sessions to address the issue, but those bills have never been given a hearing in a committee. So Wednesday, he offered the bill as an amendment to

Public Notice (First published in The Scott County Record Thurs., March 19, 2015; last published Thurs., April 2, 2015)3t IN THE TWENTY-FIFTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF SCOTT COUNTY, KANSAS CIVIL DEPARTMENT In the Matter of the Petition of: John Lee Whinery TO CHANGE HIS NAME. Case No. 15-CV-9 Pursuant to Chapter 60 of K.S.A. NOTICE OF SUIT THE STATE OF KANSAS TO ALL WHO ARE OR MAY BE CONCERNED: You are herby notified that the above-named John Lee Whinery, filed his Petition in the above court on March 7, 2015, praying for judgment and decree changing his name from John Lee Whinery to John Elisha Levi,

and that said Petitioner will be heard or assigned by the Court, 303 Court St., Scott City, Ks. 67871, on the 4th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. You are required to plead in response to the Petition or on or before May 4, 2015 (Date at least 41 days after first publication), in the Court at Scott County Courthouse, Kansas. If you fail to plead, judgment and decree will be entered in due course upon the Petition. Please take notice and govern yourself accordingly. John Lee Whinery Petitioner Rebeca J. Faurot Attorneys for Petitioner Attorney at Law, LLC 211 S. main St., Suite 118 Scott City, Ks. 67871 620-872-3600 Fax: 620-872-5666 rjflaw@att.net

another bill dealing with drilling operations. Sen. Rob Olson (R-Olathe), who chairs the Senate Utilities Committee, said those residents should have known about the oil leases when they bought their property, and that oil companies already have to file their drilling plans with the Kansas Corporation Commission. But Sen. Marci Francisco (D-Lawrence,) said the state imposes similar setback require-

ments for confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, and she argued that Holland’s proposal was no different. “It doesn’t limit drilling,” Francisco said. “We’re talking about spacing limits of two and a half acres apart, so there seems to be quite a bit of flexibility for drilling, and this would give some assurance to individuals to be able to build, or feel that they could purchase a property.”

Scott Co. LEC Report Scott City Police Department March 10: David Malchow was arrested on a warrant and transported to the LEC. March 11: A hit-and-run accident was reported in the 1100 block of South Main. March 11: Markie Brown, 27, was arrested on a Scott County warrant for use/possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia. March 12: Dustin Warta, 25, was arrested on a Scott County warrant for trafficking contraband in a correctional facility. He was transported to the LEC. March 15: Domestic battery was reported.

The Scott County Record • Page 11 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

78% of Kansans favor concealed carry permits

Nearly eight of 10 Kansans prefer people carrying concealed weapons to possess a state permit, and half would be less likely to back candidates who vote to weaken the permit system, according to polling results. A pair of national guncontrol organizations released the survey as the House debates legislation passed in February by the Senate authorizing unlicensed individuals to carry hidden, loaded fire-

arms in public without a permit. Since 2006, Kansas law has extended conceal-andcarry privileges to people who completed a firearm instructional course and paid fees. Open carry of firearms is legal statewide without a permit. “Permit holders know it’s a simple but effective safeguard to require those who carry guns on Kansas streets to complete basic handgun safety training and obtain a permit,” said

Michelle Reed, a volunteer with the Kansas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund released polling conducted March 9-11 suggesting 78 percent of Kansans wanted people carrying concealed weapons to have qualified through the permit process. The pending legislation (SB 45) would drop the

Wheatland Patrol releases results of enforcement effort rates high seatbelt The Kansas Highway Patrol joined other law agencies across the state from February in survey enforcement 23 through March 6, for an annual seatbelt enforce-

Wheatland Electric members gave the cooperative a vote of confidence in the second quarter of 2014, awarding a score of 90 points out of 100 for “providing reliable service.” Wheatland surveys roughly 250 members each quarter to try to get a feel for what it’s doing well and where improvements are needed. Another highlight from the second quarter: those surveyed gave Wheatland 90 points for “restoring electric service when power goes out.” Wheatland earned an 89 in the category “being committed to the community,” a score that has been trending upward. When General Manager Bruce Mueller joined Wheatland in 2012, he renewed the co-op’s commitment to community involvement, with initiatives like: The Sharing Success program, which awards $10,000 each year to worthy non-profit organizations doing good work in Wheatland’s service territory; the Cram-the-Van food drive, which collected 6,615 pounds of food for the hungry in 2014; a scholarship program for 13 outstanding high school seniors; as well as the Youth Tour program which sends students to Washington, D.C., or Steamboat Springs, Colo., to encourage participation in civic activities and development of life-long leadership skills. Members awarded Wheatland an “Overall Satisfaction” score of 82 out of 100, on average, during the first three quarters of 2014. (Fourth quarter figures will be available soon.) For comparison purposes, investor owned forprofit electric utilities and municipal utilities most recently earned customer satisfaction scores of 75, on average, seven points below Wheatland’s score. These scores are derived from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, a national standard.

ment campaign conducted around high schools. During this annual enforcement, the Kansas Highway Patrol issued: •Teen seat belt citations (ages 14 -17): 265, (123 in 2014) •Adult seat belt citations: 344, (493 in 2014) •Child Restraint citations: 42, (67 in 2014) •Other notable citations: 224, (47 in 2014). This includes driving while suspended, warrants, texting, registration, and speed violations

Public Notice (First published in The Scott County Record, Thurs., March 19, 2015; last published Thurs., April 2, 2015)3t IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF SCOTT COUNTY, KANSAS ANGEL ADAN BORUNDA SALAZAR, PLAINTIFF, vs. THE STATE OF KANSAS, KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, DIVISION OF MOTOR VEHICLES, 2009 CHEVROLET MALIBU VIN#1G1ZG57B594177729, and the unknown owners, heirs, executors, administrators, devisees, trustees, creditors and assigns of any deceased owner, the unknown officers, successors, trustees, creditors, and assigns of any owner which are existing, dissolved or dormant corporations; the unknown executors, administrators, devisees, trustees, creditors, successors andassigns of any owners who are or were partners or in partnership; the unknown guardians, conservators and trustees of any owners who are minors or are in any wise under legal disability of any kind; and the unknown heirs, executors, administrators, devisees, trustees, creditors or assigns of any owners alleged to be deceased, DEFENDANTS. CASE NO. 2015-CV-10 NOTICE OF SUIT The State of Kansas to the defendants above named designated and all other persons who are or

may be concerned: You are hereby notified that a Petition has been filed in the District Court of Scott County, Kansas, by Angel Adan Borunda Salazar, Plaintiff, praying for an order quieting title to the following described property: 2009 CHEVROLET MALIBU VIN#1G1ZG57B594177729

The Petitioner further seeks an order holding the Plaintiff to be the owner of the title to the above personal property, free of all right, title and interest of the above named defendants and all other persons who are or may be concerned, and that they and each of them be forever barred and foreclosed of an from all right, title, interest, lien, estate or equity of redemption in or to the above described personal property, or any part thereof. Plaintiff is seeking an Order to have a Certificate of Title issued for the above named vehicle. You are hereby required to plead to said Petition on or before the 30th day of April, 2015 at 10:00 o’clock a.m. in said Court at Scott City, Scott County, Kansas, Should you fail therein, judgment and decree will be entered in due course upon the Petition. s/s Angel Adan Borunda Salazar WALLACE, BRANTLEY & SHIRLEY 325 Main - P. O. Box 605 Scott City, Kansas 67871 (620) 872-2161 Attorneys for Petitioner

educational mandate that accompanies licensing in Kansas. The state’s permit network would remain for those who want a Kansas license so they could carry concealed in other states. The survey also showed 53 percent of Kansans would be less likely to vote for a candidate who supported the bill to amend the concealed carry permitting system. Eighteen percent of those surveyed said they would be more likely to support

such a candidate at the ballot box. In addition, polling indicated 98 percent of Kansas households in which someone had a concealed permit endorsed retention of the existing permit requirement. Seventy-eight percent of respondents would require gun buyers to pass a criminal background check no matter where or from whom they buy a gun.

Sen. Forrest Knox (R-Altoona), who has championed conceal-andcarry laws for years, said the proposed bill would affirm the right of citizens to the “constitutional” carrying of concealed handguns. Attorney General Derek Schmidt recommended implementation of higher penalties for criminal possession of a firearm by felons if the permit mandate is dropped.

Kansas likely to relax laws on marijuana use Marijuana is destined to keep making headlines this year in Kansas. The Sunflower State obviously is feeling pressure from Colorado, which joined Washington state in legalizing pot for recreational use in 2012. Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C., are the latest to legalize recreational marijuana use with all of the accompanying new taxes on the pot that’s sold. On the April 7 ballot, Wichita will ask voters whether to reduce first-time marijuana penalties to a $50 fine. Gone are the days of “Reefer Madness” and the hysteria that it created. Some bills in the Kansas Legislature would also reduce penalties for an offender’s first two marijuana possession convictions. Under the current law, a second marijuana possession charge is a felony carrying prison time of up to 42 months. In addition, a medical marijuana bill is advancing in the Kansas Legislature, enabling some seizure patients to use cannabis oil as a treatment. If it passes, Kansas would join 23 states, allowing medical marijuana use.

KDHE launches environmental interest finder The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has launched the Kansas Environmental Interest Finder (KEIF). The KEIF is a web-based mapping application designed to identify sites in Kansas where there are potential environmental impacts. These sites include facilities that are permitted or registered to use or store chemicals. Links within the KEIF provide users with detailed information on contaminated sites, spills, solid waste facilities and aboveground/underground storage tanks. The KEIF can also be used to find program site identification numbers that are helpful when filing a Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) request. For more about the KEIF, see the KEIF Users Guide and KEIF Environmental Interest Program Descriptions.

ACA coverage reaches 16.4M

Since several of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage provisions took effect, about 16.4 million uninsured people have gained health insurance coverage. That includes: •14.1 million adults who gained health insurance coverage since the beginning of open enrollment in October, 2013 (including 3.4 million young adults aged 19-25) through March 4, 2015. Over that period, the uninsured rate dropped from 20.3 percent to 13.2 percent - a 35 percent (or 7.1 percentage point) reduction in the uninsured rate. •2.3 million young adults (aged 19-25) who gained health insurance coverage between 2010 and the start of open enrollment in October, 2013 due to the ACA provision allowing young adults to remain on a parent’s plan until age 26.

The Scott County Record • Page 12 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Sexual assault numbers don’t tell whole story on state campuses Ashley Booker KHI News Service

Kansas universities are working to counter underreported rates of sexual assaults by evaluating their policies to better investigate cases and assist victims. “Our society is experiencing sexual assault at epidemic levels,” said Rachel GaddNelson, director of community engagement at GaDuGi Safe Center in Lawrence, which serves sexual violence victims in Douglas, Franklin and Jefferson counties. National statistics estimate

that for every 1,000 women attending a college or university, there are 35 incidents of rape per school year. A study, published in 2000 by the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, also found that less than five percent of rapes including attempted rapes against college women were reported to law enforcement. “Even if you get a national average, you’re still leaving a lot of people out,” GaddNelson said, citing statistics that show some ethnic groups experience higher rates of sexual assault.

“I don’t think the numbers are really the end-all, be-all of understanding the issue,” said Gadd-Nelson, who estimated that one of every four people her organization serves are college-age. With the needs of victims being placed at the forefront, policies are being reviewed and adjusted at universities in Kansas - specifically at Washburn University, Kansas State University and the University of Kansas, which are among 85 higher education institutions under Title IX investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s

Office for Civil Rights for how they handle sexual assault cases. The universities must comply with the Clery Act, which mandates that all colleges and universities across the nation disclose crime on and around their campuses. The U.S. Department of Education enforces the act. Grover said victims are best served by confidential and private support services. Investigations of attacks should be adequate, reliable and impartial, she said. Victims need to know (See ASSAULT on page 13)

Medicaid expansion finally gets a hearing KHA says state would get $2.2B from 2016-2020 by Jim McLean KHI News Service

Supporters of expanding Medicaid in Kansas are finally getting an opportunity to make their case to lawmakers. Republican legislative leaders opposed to expansion have blocked hearings on the issue

for two years. They agreed to allow hearings this year only after supporters in the Kansas House threatened to force an immediate vote on the floor. A dozen carefully selected supporters of expansion were scheduled to testify on Wednesday. They represent hospitals, doctors, safety net clinics and some large businesses. Dozens of others are expected to submit written testimony. The committee

staff has been told to expect 150 pieces of written testimony in support of expansion. Approximately four opponents are expected to testify on Thursday. Rep. Dan Hawkins, the Wichita Republican who chairs the committee, is opposed to expansion but said he wants the hearings to be even-handed. “They’re going to tell us what that need is,” Hawkins said. “I don’t expect to hear

27 at Olathe school test positive for TB State and county health officials will provide free chest x-rays and antibiotics to more than two dozen Olathe Northwest High School students and staff who have tested positive for tuberculosis. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment teamed up to test more than 300 people at Olathe Northwest after a student there contracted turberculosis earlier this month. Twenty-seven, or about eight percent, tested positive. Lougene Marsh, director of the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment, said that “does not exceed what we would anticipate” in a school setting. “Of course, we had hoped we wouldn’t find any additional TB cases, but we knew this was a possibility,” Marsh said. “That’s why we took such thorough steps to test everyone who might have been in close contact with the first confirmed case of TB disease.” Chest x-rays on the 27 will be used to determine whether they have the TB bacteria in their lungs,

at which point it becomes contagious. In the mean time, Marsh said they will continue to attend school because asymptomatic carriers are not contagious. Marsh said the initial symptoms of full-blown tuberculosis disease are a persistent cough coupled with other factors like fever and general fatigue. A second blood test for the 300plus close contacts is scheduled for May 5, because tuberculosis bacteria can sometimes take up to eight weeks to show up on the test. TB is spread through the air via coughing, sneezing, speaking or singing. Symptoms include a bad cough that lasts three weeks or longer, pain in the chest, coughing up blood or sputum, weakness or fatigue, weight loss, no appetite, chills, fever and sweating at night. Kansas recorded 40 cases in 2014 and 36 in 2013. The illness is potentially serious and can be antibiotic-resistant. Tuberculosis treatments can sometimes include months of antibiotics, but catching the infection before it reaches the lungs is important.

a lot about numbers, I think it’s going to be more of an emotional plea about why it’s needed.” By that, Hawkins means he doesn’t expect to hear a lot about how much expansion may cost the state. That testimony, he said, will be provided by KDHE. Supporters will likely focus on different numbers. They will talk about how many uninsured adults will (See HEARING on page 13)

The Scott County Record • Page 13 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Tobacco-funded groups push back on tax

Several dozen legislators and lobbyists filed into a committee room Monday for a video presentation by Rich Marianos, a former agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who told those gathered that when states increase tobacco taxes well above their neighbors’ rates, it opens up an enticing

black market. “When there is that tax discrepancy, it creates a world for criminals and smugglers,” said Marianos, who works as a consultant for Altria. Tobacco companies have largely avoided trying to directly influence the Kansas Legislature’s ongoing debate over whether to raise cigarette taxes by $1.50 per pack

Assault where they can find confidential assistance and who is required to report sexual assault incidents on campus. If someone who’s been sexually assaulted seeks assistance and learns their information won’t be kept private during an investigation, they are less likely to officially report the attack, Grover said. While campuses are

smuggling from low-tax states like North Carolina to high-tax states like New York from the position of someone who has been on the front lines investigating it. “New York is just out of control,” Marianos said. “It’s $14 for a pack of cigarettes, it’s $140 for a carton. So some of the less-taxed states make it extremely lucrative for

criminals in New York.” Tracy Russell, representing the anti-tobacco coalition Kansans for a Healthy Future, questioned whether the tobacco companies Altria represents are truly concerned that tobacco taxes increase smuggling, because they get paid no matter in which state the cigarettes are purchased. Russell thinks the com-

panies’ real concern might be that increased tobacco taxes are proven to reduce smoking rates, thereby reducing profits for the industry. She said there’s little evidence that tobacco smuggling is a “widespread problem” throughout the country, which is why the industry tends to point to the Northeast corridor.

sexual assault trauma than reported. “I would say of the total students coming in for counseling, that five percent of students come in for either historical or recent sexual assault trauma,” Tim Hodges said. Hodges, like other counselors and advocates across the state, makes sure victims are encouraged to speak with the

police and hospital officials and to seek medical help, along with talking to sexual assault advocates. At the University of Kansas, Sarah Jane Russell, coordinator for Campus Assistance, Resources, Education and Engagement, helps connect students dealing with sexual assault with resources they need, on or off campus.

Russell said sexual assault policy changes in the works at KU are mainly being made due to concerns by student activists, and shouldn’t be entirely tied to the Title IX investigation. Russell, who started her position in mid-October of last year, said she has helped 23 students so far.

(continued from page 12)

on the hot seat, Grover said Kansas communities also need to consider how best to respond to sexual assault reports and assist victims in their recovery. Keeping it Confidential Statistics show more students seek confidential resources rather than reporting sexual assaults to police or officials on their campuses.

Hearing gain coverage and trumpet studies funded by the hospital association and others that show how billions of additional federal Medicaid dollars would boost the Kansas economy. A study commissioned by the hospital association estimated expansion would cost the state an additional $312 million through 2020 but said an infusion of an additional $2.2 billion from the federal government between 2016 and 2020, combined with potential savings in other programs, would more than offset that cost. After the hearings, the committee won’t have time to “work” the expansion bill and vote on whether to send it to the House floor, Hawkins said. “I’m just not sure how it goes from here because our committee time is up,” he said.

to cover a portion of the general fund’s projected $650 million budget hole. But groups and individuals funded by the industry have filled that role, warning legislators about what they say would be the consequences of the tax hike. Marianos is one of the headliners - a 27-year ATF veteran who speaks of the history of cigarette

At Baker University, a campus with more than 900 students in Baldwin City, 2013 statistics show no sexual offenses categorized as “forcible” happened on campus, in residential facilities or on pubic property. But the university’s only licensed clinical psychologist at its Health and Counseling Center said he sees more students coming in for

(continued from page 12)

Rep. Jim Ward, from Wichita, is the ranking Democrat on the health committee. He acknowledges that a committee vote is unlikely, but said he and other supporters continue to look for ways to force a vote in the full House. “We’re not done yet,” Ward said. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to have a vote on the House floor one way or the other. The tool box still has some tools in it.” Ward and other supporters were encouraged recently when Gov. Sam Brownback appeared to soften his opposition to expansion in remarks to a group of conservative lawmakers in Missouri. Despite insistence from some expansion opponents that the governor hasn’t changed his position, Ward said he believes the governor and

others are open to compromising on a proposal that takes a more conservative approach to expansion. Adults with dependent children can participate in KanCare, but only if they have incomes below 38 percent of the federal poverty level, annually a little more than $9,000 for a family of four. Adults without children aren’t eligible for coverage no matter how poor they are. Expansion would make all Kansans with incomes up to 138 percent of poverty eligible for KanCare. The eligibility cap would be set at annual income of $16,105 for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four. Estimates vary, but Medicaid expansion would extend coverage to between 140,000 and 170,000 Kansans.

Pastime at Park Lane The Gospel Fellowship church led Sunday afternoon services. Residents played pitch and dominoes on Monday afternoon. Game helpers were Madeline Murphy, Dorothy King, Hugh McDaniel, Joy Barnett and Mandy Barnett. Residents played Wii bowling on Monday evening. Pastor Bob Artz led Bible study on Tuesday morning. Doris Riner and Elsie Nagle led the hymns. Russel and Mary Webster led Bible study on Tuesday evening. Rev. Warren Prochnow led Lutheran Bible study on Wednesday morning.

Baptist Church hosts craft day

The Immanuel Baptist Church hosted craft day on Tuesday afternoon. Helping with the crafts were Sue Barber, Joy Barnett, Jennifer Murphy and Mandy Barnett. Sue Barber furnished cookies.

‘Over 50 Chorus’ performs

The Over 50 Chorus performed on Thursday afternoon. Singers were Madeline Murphy, Dorothy Milburn, Neva Jacobus, Betty Mast and Marilyn Dryer. Phebe Unruh furnished cookies. Residents played bingo on Wednesday afternoon. Helpers were Madeline Murphy, Barbara Dickhut and Mandy Barnett. Residents played trivia games on Thursday evening.

Deaths

Sr. citizens lunch menu

Beverly Arlene Davis Beverly Arlene Davis, 80, died March 14, 2015, at Medicalodge, Fort Scott. S h e was born on Jan. 9, 1935, at Mercy Hospital, Ft. Beverly Davis Scott, the daughter of Kenneth Thomas and Edna (Farmer) Thomas. Beverly graduated from Fort Scott High School and lived her entire life in the Fort Scott and Hiattville areas. She was a farm wife and homemaker. In her earlier years, she worked at Key Industries, JC Penney’s and part-time for the Hepler Bank. She was a member of the Eastern Star-Olive Chapter No. 13 OES; Ft. Scott, Hiattville United Methodist Church; United Methodist Women, Hiattville; and was a Walnut Township officer. On June 1, 1952, she married Conrad L. Davis at the Pawnee Methodist Church. He died on March 20, 1999. Survivors include: one brother, Keith Thomas,

and wife, Georgia, Lawrence; one daughter, Lynda Foster, and husband, Gary, Ft. Scott; three sons, Denny Davis, and Norma Davis, Ft. Scott, Kevin Davis, and wife, Brenda, and Mark Davis, and wife, Stacy, all of Scott City; six grandsons, four granddaughters, one step-grandson, one stepgranddaughter, 13 greatgrandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews, and two very close friends, Clara Brewer and Judy Tripp, of Ft. Scott. She was preceded in death by her parents. Funeral service was held March 19 at the Hiattville United Methodist Church with Rev. Don Flanner and Rev. Joni Raymond officiating. Burial was at Memory Gardens Cemetery, Ft. Scott. Memorials may be given to the Hiattville United Methodist Church Building Fund, in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, Box 347, Ft. Scott, Ks. 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online celebration wall at cheneywitt.com.

Recent arrivals at the

Scott County Library Leaving Before it Rains – by Alexandra Fuller – A child of the Rhodesian wars and daughter of two deeply complicated parents, Alexandra Fuller is no stranger to pain. But the disintegration of Fuller’s own marriage leaves her shattered. Looking to pick up the pieces of her life, she finally confronts the toughest question about her past, about the man she married and the family she left behind. Fiction The Maiden of Ireland - by Susan Wiggs – John Wesley Hawkins was condemned to hang for treason and heresy, but the Lord Protector steps in and offers him mercy, only if Wesley agrees to travel to Ireland on a dangerous mission into the heart of the Irish resistance. Fiction Prodigal Son – by Danielle Steele – Fraternal twin brothers Peter and Michael McDowell have spent a lifetime competing for success and affection, now competition has turned into an all-out war and made the brothers mortal enemies. Can they make peace with the past? Fiction One in a Million - by Jill Shalvis - As the brains behind wedding site “TyingTheKnot.com, Callie sees it all; from the ring to the dress, the smiles, to the tears. It’s that last part the keeps her single. Getting left at the alter will do that to any girl. Fiction The Same Sky is the timeless book you will read this year – wrenching, and honest, that puts a human face to the story of an undocumented youth desperately seeking their American dream, by Amanda Ward. Fiction

Fr. Bernard Felix led Catholic Mass on Friday morning. Rev. Warren Prochnow led Lutheran services in the afternoon. Residents frosted and decorated cupcakes on Friday afternoon.

Week of March 23-27 Monday: Sausage gravy, tri-tators, green beans, biscuit, mandarin orange. Tuesday: Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, California blend vegetables, whole wheat bread, apricots. Wednesday: Tahitian chicken, beets, steamed cabbage, whole wheat roll, pineapple. Thursday: Chili, crackers, tossed salad, fruit cocktail. Friday: Tuna salad, spinach salad, tomato slices, whole wheat bread, cinnamon apple slices. meals are $3.25 call 872-3501

110 W. 8th Street, Scott City http://scottcounty.mykansaslibrary.org If I Fall, If I Die – by Christie Michael – Will has never been outside, at least not since he can remember. And certainly has never gotten to know anyone other than his mother, who is a eccentric agoraphobic who drowns in panic at the thought of opening the front door. Will’s thirst for adventure can’t be contained. Fiction Unbecoming – by Rebecca Schern – Grace has spent three years running from her former life in Garland, TN. She is now hiding in Paris under an assumed name. She spends her days as a quiet antique restorer. Back home two men have been released from prison, both went to jail for an antique theft she had planned. Fiction The Reaper: Autobiography of one of the Deadliest Special Op Snipers – by Nicholas Irving- Nick Irving has a story to tell every American should hear. This captivating journey is about much more than just getting your hands dirty for Uncle Sam. It’s about what it means to be an American in this necessary battle against fundamental terrorism. Non-Fiction Seed Libraries: and other means of keeping seeds in the hands of the people – by Cindy Conner - Whoever controls the seeds controls the food supply. By empowering communities to preserve and protect genetic diversity of their harvest, “Seed Libraries” is the first step toward reclaiming our self-reliance while enhancing food security and ensuring that the food is healthy, vibrant, tasty and nutritious. Non-Fiction At one time or another, we all need to get an agreement in writing, but where do we start? 101 Law Forms for Personal Use makes it easy to create legal agreements, organize essential information anywhere and form legal disputes to planning your own estate.

Hugh Binns, agent 815 W. 5th St., Scott City • Office: 872-2900 Toll Free: 888-872-4070 • Fax: 872-2902 • Cell:874-0041

The Scott County Record • Page 14 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Residents watched the movie, “Walk The Line,” on Saturday afternoon and snacked on popcorn. Dottie Fouquet was visited by Jon and Anne Crane, Charles Books, Cheryl Perry, Mark Fouquet, Fritzie Rauch, Nathella Jeffrey, Monica Fouquet and Donna Gaschler. Boots Haxton was visited by Rod and Kathy Haxton. Pat Lawrence was visited by Marilyn Waters, Mary Berning, Debbie Frank, Bob Waters, Megan Yarbrough; Cindy, Braedyn and Chantz Blasi, Deb Yarbrough, Timothy Kinney and Jimmy Niles.

by Jason Storm

Frank Leal was visited by Miracle Leal and Dante, Dezmond and Camille Franco. LaVera King was visited by Gloria Gough, Kylan Stroud, Shellie Carter, Carol Latham, Harrison and Randy King, and Velda Riddiough. Cecile Billings was visited by Ann Beaton, Linda Dunagan and Donita Billings. Nella Funk was visited by Roy and Sheila Boyd. Corrine Dean was visited by Kim Smith. Darlene Richman was visited by Mary Webster. Jim Jeffery was visited by Hugh McDaniel. Bonnie Pickett was visited by Gloria Wright and

Larry and Philene Pickett. Albert Dean was visited by Carol Davey, Lynn and Jeannie Dean, and Kent Geist. Harold and Ruth White were visited by Sharon Strecker. Lorena Turley was visited by Neta Wheeler. Vivian Kreiser was visited by Sharon Lock. Clifford Dearden was visited by Dan, Elaine and Jan Daubert. Lowell Rudolph was visited by Tom and Kathy Moore, Holly Berland, Marci Knobbe, LuAnn Buehler, Rev. Don Martin and Church Kirk. James Still and Mike Leach were visited by Linda Dunagan.

The Scott County Record • Page 15 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Attend the Church of Your Choice

Beginning Beginnings. We have all had many beginnings. Our birth. Our first day at school. Our driver’s license. Our first job. Marrying our spouse. Seeing our first child. We have had many beginnings. How our day begins and the plans we have for that day can rapidly change without notice! Sometimes or usually your day will not go as you thought it would. Sometimes the day goes better than you thought it would go. And sometimes it goes worse than you had ever thought it would. Sometimes our days can be really stinky! Things change so fast! One minute things are going good, no worries, no troubles. Life is good. The next minute, in just one breath, in one heartbeat, your life can be changed forever! Laughing, joking then the phone rings and what you hear turns your laughter into sorrow. Things can change so quickly and your future plans can be changed forever. Honestly, we are not promised a good life. We have no guarantee that we will always be happy. It’s a fact, things can change quickly. Not always for good. Do you ever blame God for the bad stuff in your life? Do you blame God for the bad days, when the good day you had planned turns out rotten? Do you blame God when your laughter turns to sorrow? Yeah, it’s easy to blame God for the bad things, isn’t it? But, how many times do we thank God for the good days we have? Not so much, huh? We are quick to blame God for bad stuff and to call it good luck when good things happen. It says in Romans 8:28, ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.’ ‘In all things…’ The good things and the bad things. Almighty God works ALL things together into something good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. In those stinky times, good things can happen. Through the bad times, good times can happen. Even in death we can see life. Romans 6:23 says, ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, sin entered into the world and death was the result. There wasn’t any death until their disobedient act. Then animals had to die to make clothes to cover up Adam and Eve’s nakedness. Jesus became the sacrifice for our sin and brought us life. Sin brings death! Jesus brings eternal life! It’s All About Jesus! (John 14:6) Pastor Larry Taylor Gospel Fellowship Church, Scott City

Scott City Assembly of God

Prairie View Church of the Brethren

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

4855 Finney-Scott Rd. - Scott City - 276-6481 Pastor Jon Tuttle Sunday School: 10:00 a.m. Morning Worship: 11:00 a.m. Men’s Fellowship • Tuesday breakfast at 6:30 a.m. Held at Precision Ag Bldg. west of Shallow Water Wednesday Bible Study, 7:00 p.m., at the church

St. Joseph Catholic Church

Holy Cross Lutheran Church

A Catholic Christian Community 1002 S. Main Street - Scott City Fr. Bernard Felix, pastor • 872-7388 Secretary • 872-3644 Masses: 1st Sunday of month - 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. Other weekends: Sat., 6:00 p.m.; Sun., 11:00 a.m. Spanish Mass - 2nd and 4th Sundays, 1:30 p.m.

1102 Court • Box 283 • Scott City 620-872-2294 • 620-872-3796 Pastor Warren Prochnow holycross-scott@sbcglobal.net Sunday School/Bible Class, 9:00 a.m. Worship every Sunday, 10:15 a.m. Wed.: Mid-Week School, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

Pence Community Church

Community Christian Church

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

12th & Jackson • Scott City • 872-3219 Shelby Crawford, pastor Sunday School, 9:30 a.m. Sunday Morning Worship, 10:45 a.m. Wednesday Night Bible Study, 7:00 p.m. Wednesday: God’s High School Cru, 7:30 p.m.

First Baptist Church

Immanuel Southern Baptist Church

803 College - Scott City - 872-2339

1398 S. US83 - Scott City - 872-2264

Kyle Evans, Senior Pastor Bob Artz, Associate Pastor

Robert Nuckolls, pastor - 872-5041

Sunday School, 9:30 a.m.

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

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

Wednesday Bible Study, 7:00 p.m.

Gospel Fellowship Church

1st United Methodist Church

Morning Worship: 10:30 a.m.

5th Street and College - Scott City - 872-2401 Dennis Carter, pastor 1st Sunday: Communion and Fellowship Sunday Services at 9:00 a.m. • Sunday School, 10:30 a.m. All Other Sundays • Worship: 8:30 and 10:45 a.m. Sunday School: 9:30 a.m. • MYF (youth groups) on Wednesdays Jr. High: 6:30 p.m. • Sr. High: 7:00 p.m.

First Christian Church

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church

701 Main - Scott City - 872-2937 Scotty Wagner, pastor Sunday School, 9:30 a.m.; Worship, 10:45 a.m. Wednesday is Family Night Meal: 5:45 p.m. • Study: 6:15 p.m. Website: www.fccscottcity.org

Elizabeth/Epperson Drives • Scott City • 872-3666 Father Don Martin Holy Eucharist - 11:45 a.m. St. Luke’s - 872-5734 (recorded message) Senior Warden Bill Lewis • 872-3347 or Father Don Martin - (785) 462-3041

Scott Mennonite Church

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

12021 N. Eagle Rd. • Scott City

9th and Crescent - Scott City - 872-2334 Bishop Irvin Yeager • 620-397-2732 Sacrament, 9:30 a.m. Sunday School, 10:50 a.m. Relief Society and Priesthood, 11:20 a.m. YMYW Wednesday, 8:00 p.m.

120 S. Lovers Lane - Shallow Water Larry Taylor, pastor Sunday School: 9:30 a.m.

Franklin Koehn: 872-2048 Charles Nightengale: 872-3056 Sunday School Worship Service: 10:00 a.m. Sunday Evening Service: 7:00 p.m.

The Scott County Record • Page 16 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

County Plat Maps

appreciation award

• Finney • Gove • Greeley • Kearney • Lane • Logan • Ness • Scott • Wichita • Wallace Pick them up today at:

Landon Frank (center), president of the Scott City Lions Club, was recently presented the Lions International Presidential Certificate of Appreciation from 17-K District Governor Don Keihl (left) and International Director Yves Léveillé of Quebec, Canada. Frank was recognized for his service to the community, particularly with respect to promoting vision clinics within several school districts in Western Kansas.

Meals

406 Main • Scott City 620 872-2090

(continued from page nine)

the applicants wrote in the justification section of the proposal. “We would like to evaluate in specific rural communities in Kansas whether the opportunity to provide meals at a congregate site a minimum of two to three days per week with shelf-stable meals for the other days of the week would encourage and increase participation in rural areas of Kansas and thus decrease food insecurity among Kansas children.” KSDE and its partners hope to use the demonstration project and other initiatives to increase the number of meals served this summer to 1.4 million, a 20 percent increase over last year. The overall cost of the summer meals program would rise if participation increased, but the demonstration project wouldn’t generate any additional administrative costs, according to the waiver application.

The food bank, which is based in Wichita, and the Harvesters network, which is based in the Kansas City area, would recruit volunteers to staff 12 demonstration-project sites. A Summer Meals Summit convened in January by the Kansas Health Foundation helped prompt the idea for the demonstration project. At that summit, Audrey Rowe, the administration of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, said many of the tens of thousands of Kansas children who qualify for free and reduced-price meals during the school year go hungry in the summer. “Summer is when food insecurity among children increases dramatically,” Rowe said. “With our partners in the states, we’re looking at ways to address that gap.” Filling the gaps in rural areas of the state may not be the only challenge faced by state officials and

the more than 120 sponsors of the summer meals programs. Recent cuts in K-12 funding ordered by Gov. Sam Brownback to help avert state budget shortfalls have prompted the Topeka school district and some others to contemplate shutting down their meal sites. KSDE is working on a contingency plan, Johnson said. “We are working with community organizations in advance trying to come up with ways we can still try to meet the need if we do have reduced school sites,” she said. In addition, Johnson said, KSDE is waiting to see if USDA offers funding to help states and volunteer organizations transform buses and vans into rolling meal dispensaries. If funding is available, Johnson said, several school districts and site sponsors are eager to take meals to “wherever kids might be during the summer.”

Tabor College Concert Choir Dr. Bradley Vogel, Director Tuesday, March 24 7:00 p.m. Holy Cross Lutheran Church 1102 Court St., Scott City

Great Buys at Heartland Foods Buy of the Week

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Sports

to nationals Four Scott City grapplers qualify for middle school nationals • Page 21

state champs! The Scott County Record

www.scottcountyrecord.com

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Page 17

SCHS seniors raising the championship plaque at the Class 3A state tournament are (from left) Brett Meyer, Sloan Baker, Trey O’Neil and Chantz Yager. (Record Photo)

Beavers crush Collegiate to reclaim Class 3A state title

Even after playing the entire 32 minutes of the state title game, the last thing a sweatsoaked Sloan Baker wanted to do was come off the court. The Scott Community High School senior was charged with Scott City 60 Collegiate 48 emotion as he raced to the far end of the Hutchinson Sports Arena, holding up four fingers towards the Scott City fans that filled one side of the arena. Working his way to the other end of the floor, Baker kept shouting, “Four in five years! That’s four in five years!” The SCHS fans were standing and applauding in appreciation of the Beavers who had just completed an incredible run of four state championships in the past five seasons with Saturday’s 60-48 win over Wichita Collegiate in the Class 3A finals. “Defense wins championships, just like the banner says,” noted a more subdued Baker afterwards, pointing to the banner that hung over the Collegiate student section. “I guess we did it better than they did tonight.”

Baker, who finally got to play a full game after experiencing early foul trouble in his three previous games, going back to the sub-state finals - made the most of his opportunity. In addition to a double-double - 12 points (6-of-7 FG) and 10 rebounds - Baker added four assists and three blocked shots.

Defensive Pressure The key to this game, however, was quickly adapting to Collegiate’s steady diet of full-court pressure that’s made possible by their two-platoon system. “There’s no way you can fully prepare for that in a 40 or 45 minute practice session,” said senior guard Chantz Yager, referring to the Saturday morning walk-through. “Coach told us that it would probably take two or three minutes to adjust.” Senior guard Trey O’Neil felt it may have taken most of the first half as the Beavers committed 10 turnovers that led to 11 points for the Spartans. However, six of those turnovers came in the first eight minutes with the Beavers committing just seven more turnovers the remainder of the night. (See CHAMPS on page 19)

An emotional Brett Meyer hugs senior teammate Trey O’Neil in the moments following the conclusion of their state tournament championship win over Wichita Collegiate. (Record Photo)

The Scott County Record • Page 18 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Outdoors in Kansas by Steve Gilliland

Sticks, cow poop and shed, oh, my! We had our grandson, Jacob, for a recent visit and we always try to plan some “in-the-woods” time when he’s here. We needed to bring our deer blind trailer in for the summer, so the afternoon was planned around that trip. We were also hoping for the unlikely possibility of finding an elusive dropped deer antler, known as a “shed,” as we tromped through the woods. His dad’s last instructions when dropping him off were, “Find a good stick. Every boy needs a good stick” He loves going to our deer blind tower, so that was our first stop. The first hurdle was talking him into leaving his Kindle electronic tablet in the truck, which Grandma Joyce accomplished with her mix of wisdom, patience and suggestion. For the next hour, we all went back to school. There are still cattle in the stalk field around our tower blind, so the lessons began by discussing all the intricacies of cow poop; the difference between fresh cow pies you don’t step on and the old, dry ones you can; why bugs were crawling around on them and why wild turkeys would eventually visit them to pick out undigested grain. Next was a lesson on the big cow tracks in the dust that he thought were deer tracks. The farmer had just burned the pasture next door and cut a bunch of trees for firewood in the process. We talked about and marveled at the huge thorns on the locust trees he’d cut. We discussed why he had burned all the tall dead grass and how it would soon (See STICKS on page 21)

second to none Sense of community an added edge for SC in state title game It’s often said that the difference between professional and college sports is that athletes in one are playing for the name on the back of the jersey and in the other they’re playing for the name on the front. We saw a slightly different version of that during the Class 3A state championship game. The Spartans were playing for Wichita Collegiate. There’s nothing wrong with that. But it doesn’t begin to compare with the Beavers playing for an entire community. Don’t take our word for it. Just ask anyone who was there and could view the massive community support on one side of the Hutchinson Sports Arena as opposed to the other. And you could hear it. As the Beavers inched closer and closer to a championship with their late scoring run in the third period and following Trey O’Neil’s three-point dagger at the 5:12 mark in the fourth quarter, the roar coming out of the Scott City fans was more than deafening . . . it was downright chilling. “It’s a huge roar. Even if it’s a simple layup you

O’Neil is tournament MVP, 3 Beavers on tourney team

Rod Haxton, sports editor

support at the sub-state tournament a week earlier, it’s possible that the state championship might not have been possible. You’re surprised . . . but then again, not. We’ve seen it happen too often over the years to expect otherwise. “It’s pretty awesome to see the numbers who travel. You look into the crowd and they want you to succeed. You can see their passion for us in their faces,” says Meyer. During the state tournament, the Beavers couldn’t help but notice the community’s support. “Before the game, we’re talking to each other about the number of people who are there to watch us,” Meyer continues. “We said, ‘Look at the Collegiate side and look at our side.’ Everyone in town must be here. We were wondering who turned out the lights in town.” In addition, the show of support from players on previous SCHS teams is also an inspiration. “It pumps us up and makes us play better,” Meyer adds.

hear the crowd roar. You get goose bumps on the court,” says senior Brett Meyer. “It’s something to hear the fans and the student section erupt like that. “To hear a crowd like ours at Beloit and in the state tournament . . . there’s no other feeling like it.” This is what high school sports is about. There’s no other event that brings a community together like a state championship. And while other schools may think they can rival the show of support that Scott City shows for its athletes . . . sorry, it’s no contest. We’ve seen it repeatedly during football games - regular season and the playoffs - and it’s evident during basketball. How many high school teams could look into the stands and expect to see several hundred Scott City fans who traveled nearly four hours to Beloit for a sub-state champion- Dreams of a Community ship basketball game? If Of course, there’s also not for the community’s a flip-side. Scott City senior guard Trey O’Neil was named “Most Valuable Player” of the Class 3A state tournament by KPreps.com and Sports in Kansas. O’Neil was an easy choice for the award with 58 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists, two steals and a blocked shot in Scott City’s run to a state title. He scored 33 points in a semi-final win over Wellsville. Also named to the All-Tournament team were

It’s pretty awesome to see the numbers who travel. You look into the crowd and they want you to succeed. You can see their passion for us in their faces. Brett Meyer SCHS senior

When you are playing for a community you are also, in a sense, carrying their hopes and dreams. While state runner-up finishes in last year’s state basketball tournament and in football this fall were great accomplishments and would be the pinnacle of achievement for many high school programs, SCHS athletes weren’t satisfied. “We felt we’d let the community down. We came into the tournament with a chip on our shoulders,” says Trey O’Neil. Anything short of a state championship wasn’t even an option. “Not for all this community has done for us,” says O’Neil. “There’s no other place that I could imagine playing.” Of course, that added expectation was self-inflicted “The community never made you feel like you disappointed them. Everyone knows how hard we work and that even a sec-

ond place finish is a great accomplishment,” says senior Sloan Baker. “But you know they’re just as bummed out as we are when we don’t win it all. “It’s not until you win a championship that you really know the difference between second and first. It’s a huge difference,” says Baker. “We get a lot of support from the community and we’ve always tried our hardest to give back.” And Scott City fans acknowledge that hard work and commitment by being there, even when KSHSAA sends our teams halfway across the state. When you play the Beavers you’re up against more than an athlete in a uniform. You’re playing against tradition. You’re facing athletes who understand they are part of something much greater than themselves. The name on the front of the jersey means everything.

SCHS seniors Sloan Baker (39 points, 25 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, 5 blocks) and Brett Meyer (37 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists). Other tournament team picks were: Cole Silsby, sr., Wellsville (42 points, 2 rebounds, 15 assists, 5 steals); Dalton Verhulst, sr., Wellsville (68 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals); and Austin Waddell, junior, Wichita Collegiate (44 points, 29 rebounds, 6 assists).

Champs Head coach Glenn O’Neil acknowledged that Scott City’s preparation for the Spartans actually began a few weeks ago. “You can’t prepare for that kind of pressure in an hour of practice. We’ve been working on it for three weeks basically, going five on eight in practice,” he said. While adjusting to Collegiate’s defensive pressure, Scott City was able to keep pace during the first quarter with threepointers from T. O’Neil and Yager along with four early free throws. SCHS (25-1) was 4-of-5 from the field in the opening period and weathered the defensive storm by taking a narrow 14-13 lead at the break. The Beavers opened up a 2015 lead following a pair of Brett Meyer free throws with 5:35 remaining in the first half. However, it appeared the Spartans’ defensive pressure was starting to have an effect when they put together a 13-2 scoring blitz during the next three minutes that gave Collegiate its biggest lead of the night, 28-22, with 2:29 on the clock. The main goal at that point in the game, says T. O’Neil, was to cut into the lead as much as possible before the intermission. Long-Range Comeback Scott City answered with what was probably the most critical two minute stretch of the game. Junior guard Dylan Hutchins, who had missed his first two attempts from beyond the arc, spotted up for a third time on the right side of the key and drilled a trey at the 2:01 mark. That was only a warm-up for O’Neil who followed with two long-range bombs that were worthy of top 10 highlights on ESPN. With a Collegiate defender in his face, O’Neil stepped back a couple of feet beyond the three-point line and hit nothing but the bottom of the net at the 1:13 mark, cutting the deficit to 30-28. Moments later, from nearly the same spot, but another foot farther back, O’Neil swished another three-pointer that brought an even more thunderous roar from the Scott City crowd as the Collegiate fans could only watch in silence.

The Scott County Record • Page 19 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

(continued from page 17)

Just when it appeared that Collegiate might be gaining some momentum, O’Neil and the Beavers had stolen it back, trailing only 32-31 at halftime. “I just wanted to put my team in the best possible position to win,” O’Neil said. “If they were going to guard the three, then I was going to step out to the college three. If they were going to cover the college three, then I was going to step out even farther. Second Half Surge The game was tied three times in the first 3-1/2 minutes of the second half before Scott City seized control with an 11-2 scoring run to close out the third period. Baker started the scoring surge with a basket that tied the game, 39-39, followed by three consecutive scores by Meyer. His putback at the 4:07 mark gave the Beavers a 41-39 lead which they would never again give up. Moments later, Meyer was on the receiving end of an assist from O’Neil. Scott City had gone from the team just trying to survive against Collegiate’s pressure to being the aggressor. “We were the attackers,” says T. O’Neil. “Dad said that once we get the one-on-one pressure we can beat them. We wanted to get two quick passes and then we were off to the races.” Another basket from Meyer and a three-pointer by Hutchins opened up a 48-41 lead with :52 seconds left in the third period and had the Scott City crowd believing another state championship was within reach. “I was pretty angry with myself and the way things had gone in the first half,” noted Meyer, a senior guard who scored eight of his game high 17 points in the third quarter. “I didn’t want this game to end the way it did last year. I was finally making my shots.” One Final Surge There were still eight minutes to play, however, and Collegiate quickly climbed back into the game by forcing two turnovers and scoring five points to cut the deficit to a lone basket, 48-46, with 6:04 left in the contest. O’Neil, who was limited to just three of his 14 points in

Scott City’s Trey O’Neil drives inside for a basket against Collegiate’s Jacob Newlin during the Class 3A state championship game. (Record Photo)

SCHS Player Stats vs Wichita Collegiate Scott City

3 pt.

PTS

ORB

DRB

AST

Min

Chantz Yager Bo Hess Dylan Hutchins Trey O’Neil Brett Meyer Drake McRae Sloan Baker

1-1 2-2 2-4 4-9 5-9 0-1 6-7

1-1 0-0 2-4 4-6 0-3 0-1 0-0

0-0 4-4 0-0 2-2 7-9 0-0 0-1

3 8 6 14 17 0 12

0 0 0 0 2 0 3

0 1 0 3 1 0 7

0 1 0 3 3 0 10

0 2 1 4 2 0 4

0 1 0 1 0 0 1

11:28 29:12 22:47 32:00 25:50 5:04 32:00

the second half, delivered with a momentum-killing threepointer at the 5:12 mark that put SCHS back on top, 51-46. Even Collegiate head coach Mitch Fiegel viewed that shot as the turning point of the game. “That was the game changer.

That’s what go-to guys do. They make big time shots,” said Fiegel. Baker, who was unstoppable when driving to the basket, followed with back-to-back field goals that extended the lead to nine points, 55-46.

SCHS head coach Glenn O’Neil acknowledges the huge Scott City crowd during the championship awards ceremony on Saturday evening. (Record Photo)

Collegiate added a bucket with just over four minutes remaining which would be their final score of the night. Bo Hess laid in a shot off the glass that again put Scott City on top by nine and when O’Neil followed with a steal, the strategy was pretty simple . . . run clock and prepare to collect your state championship trophy. The Spartans tried to force a turnover with their swarming pressure defense, but finally had to foul with 1:20 left in the game. That put Meyer on the line where he made two free throws. Baker would add the final point of his high school career and of the game at the charity stripe with 56.3 seconds to play. It was a very efficient shooting night for the Beavers who were 20-of-33 from the field, including 7-of-15 from beyond the three point line. Collegiate held a huge advantage in field goal attempts (18-of-53) and offensive rebounds (19 compared to six for SCHS), but were just 1-of-15 from three-point range. After scoring 11 points from turnovers in the first half, Collegiate added just four more in the second half. “We tried to make some (halftime) adjustments, but the main thing was to do the things that got us here. And we did,” says Coach O’Neil. “We made some shots and we passed the ball to the open guy. Unfortunately, we had some turnovers, but you aren’t going to go turnover free against Collegiate. “It also helped that they weren’t scoring so they could get their pressure set,” he added.

The Scott County Record • Page 20 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

WSU-KU game may finally be a reality KU should win their opening round game against New Mexico State. It’s the next game that has everyone talking. KU has been dodging Wichita State for some time, but that may no longer be possible. If Kansas and Wichita win Friday, the Jayhawks and Shockers will collide in Omaha on Sunday. Let’s assume that’s going to happen. No. 7 seed WSU will play No. 10 Indiana in the first round of the Midwest Regional on Friday. The Shockers will showcase their superb backcourt of Ron Baker, Fred VanVleet and Tekele Cotton. Coach Glenn Marshall’s teams always play stellar defense and this year’s club is no exception. The guards are among the best in the nation on defense. Wichita’s problem is lack of size in the pivot. Darius Carter (6-7, 220) is too small to play center, but that’s where he has to be. But Marshall has developed some inside depth and Wichita is capable of beating most of the teams in the NCAA field when their guards are hitting their outside shots. The Shockers’ ball handling is excellent and that’s vital in tournament games. Comparing the starters, the point guards are VanVleet for Wichita and Frank Mason for Kansas. Both are fine guards, with VanVleet having a slight edge. Wayne Selden is the shooting guard for KU and Baker for Wichita - another edge for the Shockers. Small forward Cotton for Wichita and Kelly Oubre for KU are close to even. Cotton is better on defense and Oubre is a more effective scorer. In the pivot, Kansas has an advantage in size and depth and talent. Evan Wessel is Wichita’s power forward and Perry Ellis plays there for KU. Carter is Wichita’s center and Landen Lucas is starting for KU. Kansas has an edge at both positions and the Jayhawks have more depth with Mickelson and Jamari Traylor. Wichita has Rashard Kelly and Shaquille Morris in reserve. (See REALITY on page 23)

Defense, as if there was any doubt, still wins championships It’s been easy throughout the season to get caught up in what the Scott City boys were able to do offensively - their three-point shooting, scoring in transition or Trey O’Neil’s ability to take over a game. But the Beavers never forget that defense wins championships. And, perhaps a bit surprisingly, it was Scott City’s defense - not Collegiate’s highly-touted full-court press - that was the difference in the Class 3A title game. When looking at the difference between the first half, when Collegiate held a 32-31 scoring edge, and the second half when SCHS outscored the Spartans 29-16, two stats are significant. •The Beavers committed just three second half turnovers compared to 10 in the first half. And only two of those could be attributed to the press, notes head coach Glenn O’Neil. •Collegiate was just 7-of-30 (23.3%) from the field in the second half. “Our defense won that game more than our offense,” emphasizes O’Neil. “By not allowing them to score, we were able to get the rebound and get into the press-breaker a little quicker. That meant we didn’t have to worry so much about facing three-on-two pressure with the inbounds pass. That same formula for success was also evident in the semi-finals when the Beavers shutdown Wellsville, allowing just 6-of-21 field goals (28.6%) over the final 16 minutes. O’Neil was real pleased with the team’s defensive play in all three state tournament games, and going back to the sub-state title game where they held Beloit 13 points below their season average. “The boys have bought into the defense. Even though they don’t like doing defensive drill after defensive drill, by the time they look back on things they should realize that’s probably what won them the state tournament,” O’Neil says. Tournament Similarities For whatever reason, the sub-state

and state tournaments had eerily-similar outcomes. In the semi-finals of both tournaments, Trey O’Neil carried the Beavers offensively with 42 points (vs Minneapolis) and 33 points (vs Wellsville). In the championship games when it was evident that O’Neil was going to face either a box-and-one defense or a lot of doubleteams, everybody else realize they had to make some open shots. Against Beloit, Dylan Hutchins responded with 3-of-6 from three-point range, Chantz Yager added a trey and Drake McRae scored 10 points in the biggest game of his high school career. In the state championship game, Hutchins and Yager combined for three treys, Brett Meyer had his biggest game of the post-season (17 points) and Sloan Baker added a double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds). “In the championship game, we knew that Trey was going to get a lot of the attention, that Sloan would have to do the dirty work with rebounds and Brett was who we wanted on the free throw line at the end,” says Coach O’Neil. Statistical Anomalies If a team gets 20 more field goal attempts and 19 offensive rebounds over an opponent - especially in a state championship game - that’s going to add up to a win almost every time . . . almost. Collegiate wasn’t able to do so despite 53 field goal attempts (compared to 33 for SCHS) and holding a 19-6 advantage under the offensive boards. “We’ve been beat on the offensive boards all year long,” notes Coach O’Neil. Blocked shots often times result in the offense maintaining possession and the Beavers had six blocked shots against the Spartans. Collegiate was also able to get credit

for offensive rebounds from many of their missed three-point attempts and they had plenty of those after shooting 0-of-10 from beyond the arc in the second half. Momentum Shifts Maintaining momentum, and stealing it back from an opponent, are going to be critical in a game of this caliber. Collegiate relies on their defense to create early momentum and the Beavers understood that. The players knew how important it was to adjust to the fullcourt press quickly. “We were able to do that by basically exchanging baskets with them in the first quarter,” says Coach O’Neil. There’s no doubt that the three treys by SCHS to close out the first half were monumental. T. O’Neil’s back-to-back three-pointers that were beyond the college arc stunned the Collegiate crowd. The next turning point, says Coach O’Neil, came after Collegiate had scored five unanswered points to cut the lead to 48-46 with 6:04 left in the game. T. O’Neil again delivered with a threepointer from the corner that stopped Collegiate’s momentum dead in its tracks. Again, credit the SCHS defense for limiting the Spartans to just two points over the final six minutes. Also give credit to Bo Hess and Sloan Baker for responding with three big baskets down the stretch. “Collegiate was trying to trap us with two-on-one pressure and (Sloan and Bo) were able to get the ball on the baseline and go up and score before someone could come over the top of them,” says O’Neil. “This championship was definitely a team effort.”

Kansas has no firearms-related fatalities

Each year, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) compiles a summary of all reported hunting incidents as a way to assess safety issues afield and address any potential areas for improvement in Hunter Education programs. The 2014 Hunting Incident Report is now available and although the total number of incidents has slightly increased from 2013, Kansas has had no

KDWP Report firearms-related fatalities for three years running. A total of 12 reported hunting incidents took place during the 2014 hunting seasons, and although the details surrounding each incident vary, all were preventable. A breakdown of the 2014 incidents is as follows: •Five incidents of hunters unsafely swinging on game.

•Three incidents of careless gun handling. •Two incidents of victims moving into the line of fire. •One incident of a hunter stepping onto his own broadhead that was left on the ground. •One incident of a hunter injured by a dog stepping on a shotgun left on the ground Hunting remains one of the safest outdoor activities when compared to the millions of hunter days recorded by Kan-

sas hunters each fall. It’s because of the efforts of volunteer Kansas Hunter Education instructors, and the thousands of students who have learned from them, that Kansans can safely enjoy and continue our great hunting heritage. Anyone interested in taking a hunter education course and continuing good hunting practices can visit ksoutdoors.com and click “Services/Education/ Hunter” for more information.

The Scott County Record • Page 21 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

O’Neil named to Wichita Eagle All-State roster

district and national qualifiers

Trey O’Neil, a senior at Scott Community High School, has been named to the Wichita Eagle/ VarsityKansas.com AllState boys basketball team. Members of the AllState team will be featured in the Wichita Eagle on Sun., March 22, along with the All-Class teams. “Coach of the Year” is Joe Jackson of Wichita East. Also selected to the All-State roster are: Zach Jackson, sr., Wichita East. Samajae Jones, sr., Wichita East. Kyler Kinnamon, sr., McPherson. Dean Wade, sr., St. John.

Members of the Takedown Kids Wrestling Club in Scott City who placed in the sub-district tournament and advanced to the district tournament this weekend in Dodge City include (front row, from left) Zachary Rohrbough (1st), Conner Armendariz (3rd), Matthew Wheeler (2nd), Trenton Frank (1st) and Collin McDaniel (1st). (Middle row) Jarron Gregory (1st), Kale Wheeler (1st), Ronnie Weathers (1st), Lance Miller (1st), Case Armendariz (4th) and Braylin Heim (5th). (Back row) Justus McDaniel (1st), Kyle Sherwood (1st), Wyatt Hayes (1st), Kaden Wren (2nd), Theron Tucker (2nd) and Cale Goodman (1st). Not pictured is Houston Frank (1st). (Record Photo)

Four Takedown Wrestling Club members who competed in the Kansas Middle School Championships qualified for the national duel tournament to be held April 11-12 in Council Bluff, Ia. National qualifiers are (from left) Kyle Sherwood, 6th; Jack Thomas, 4th; Wyatt Hayes, 1st; and Kaden Wren, 5th. (Record Photo)

Sticks grow back lush and green and make better feed for the cows. To keep from walking through all the black ash from the burnt grass, we walked down in the now-dry creek bed that wound and snaked its way through the pasture. We talked about the distinct trail in the middle of the creek bed made by all the various animals that used it as a convenient highway, making for easy traveling and keeping them out of sight in the process. We made certain to dodge all the “pokey things” that stuck out into the creek. We saw lots of neat stuff and by that time had quite a collection of “good sticks,” but alas, no antlers, so Jacob soon lost

(continued from page 18)

interest and back to the truck we went. After a picture of him on top of the row of big round hay bales, we were off to collect the hunting trailer which was parked on the other end of the property. After quickly hooking up the trailer in the back corner of a hay field, I asked Jacob to come along for a hike through the adjacent woods, but staying in the truck with the Kindle tablet was winning out. At Grandma’s suggestion to try and find her an antler, he reluctantly came along. We slid down into the creek bed and up the other side into the woods and began walking. We had only gone a few yards when there it was . . . lying

along the creek gleaming in the sun like an ivory colored . . . well, deer antler! After another quick lesson, he took off by himself like a shot to try and find another. We ended the adventure with a great shed antler, the jawbone of a dead cow complete with teeth, a dried Catalpa bean-pod shaped like a mustache and a collection of “good” sticks. I can see in the future it’s going to be a challenge to compete with technology for Jacob’s company in the woods, but as long as I still have strength and breath, I’ll keep trying! Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors! Steve can be contacted by email at stevegilliland@idkcom.net

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208 W. 5th St., Scott City 620-872-2103 800-886-2103

Sharp on WKLL Academic Team Kiara Sharp, a senior at Healy High School, was named honorable mention to the Western Kansas Liberty League AllLeague basketball team. In addition, Sharp was also named to the WKLL All-League Academic Team.

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The Scott County Record • Page 22 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

surviving the Eagles

O’Neil scores 33 to send SC into title game After scoring 11 points in the opening game of the Class 3A state tournament on Thursday, Trey O’Neil apologized to his father and head coach. “Tr ey s a i d before the game ‘I let you Wellsville 55 Scott City 63 d o w n yesterday. I’ll come out today,’” said Coach Glenn O’Neil. “He came out on fire - not quite like the Minneapolis game, but pretty close. We definitely needed that boost early.” The senior guard scored a game high 33 points in a 63-55 win over Wellsville during Friday’s state semi-final game played at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. The win advances the Beavers to their fifth consecutive state championship game - four in Class 3A and one in Class 4A-Division II. Apology accepted. “I felt bad about my play last night,” says T. O’Neil. “I came out today with a chip on my shoulder. “I didn’t feel I came out with the right mindset yesterday. It was something I thought about all day. I wanted to make sure I was mentally prepared for a big game,” says O’Neil. O’Neil drained three treys in the opening period and after being fouled on another three-point attempt he hit all three free throws. By the time the senior added another three-pointer with 6:18 left in the first half he had already accounted for 17 of Scott City’s first 23 points. O’Neil’s outstanding offensive performance included 5-of-7 from beyond the arc to go along with six rebounds and four assists.

Senior center Sloan Baker, who re-entered the game early in the second period after collecting two quick fouls and going to the bench for the final 5:42 of the first period, powered his way to the rim on consecutive possessions. Baker turned one of those into a three-point play and settled for a basket the second time to give Scott City their largest lead of the game, 28-18, with 4:15 left in the half. Scott City’s 10-0 scoring run to start the third quarter was aided by the defense. “Our defense wasn’t very good to start the game, but then we started playing better and keeping them out of the lane in the second quarter,” says senior guard Brett Meyer. “When it seemed that we were finally stopping them, we started letting their drivers get the ball and take it to us again.” Wellsville was able to regain the momentum and close out the half with a 10-2 scoring run, cutting the halftime deficit to 30-28. The Eagles also took advantage of a five point scoring advantage at the charity stripe, but that difference would become even more lopsided in the second half. Wellsville made more free throws (23-of-29) than Scott City attempted (12-of-16) which allowed them to stay within striking distance of SCHS. Scott City’s largest lead in the third quarter was 41-35 following a tip-in by Baker which accounted for two of his 16 points.

Senior Sloan Baker calls timeout as he dives on a loose ball during second half action against Wellsville in the state semi-finals last Friday. (Record Photo)

SCHS Player Stats vs Wellsville Scott City Chantz Yager Bo Hess Dylan Hutchins Trey O’Neil Brett Meyer Drake McRae Sloan Baker

FG 0-0 4-4 0-1 10-16 3-12 0-2 6-7

senior guard Brett Meyer ended a frustrating night with a fadeaway baseline jumper early in the fourth quarter to give Scott City a 43-38 lead. O’Neil’s drive into the lane and shot off the glass with 4:08 remaining extended the advantage to six points, 48-42. Both teams exchanged baskets down the stretch with Meyer scoring on back-to-back possessions that kept bumping the SCHS lead back to six points, 56-50 and 58-52 the last coming with 1:15 to play. “I knew I’d have to find a way to contribute late in the game. Even when my shots weren’t falling early Meyer Comes to Life After missing his first in the game I just tried nine shots from the field, to play hard defense and

3 pt.

PTS

ORB

DRB

AST

Min

0-0 0-0 0-1 5-7 0-3 0-0 0-0

0-0 0-0 0-0 8-9 0-0 0-0 4-7

0 8 0 33 6 0 16

0 1 1 1 1 1 4

0 4 1 5 3 1 4

0 5 2 6 4 2 8

0 4 1 4 3 0 2

1 2 0 0 1 0 1

14:29 29:40 18:35 31:47 31:09 6:32 25:22

stay positive for my teammates,” Meyer says. When he was finally able to hit a couple of late shots, Meyer says “they were leaving me alone, so I did the quick crossover and I was able to get to the basket.” “It’s a shot he’s probably done a thousand times,” says Coach O’Neil. “They came at a big time.” However, Wellsville had one final gasp when guard Cole Silsby hit the last of his team’s two three-pointers with 1:08 remaining that cut the lead to three, 58-55. After that, it came down to free throws for the Beavers. Of the 12 free throws they made in the game, five came during the final 36 seconds.

In a repeat of the tournament opener - and going back to the final two games of sub-state play - the Beavers have been plagued with fouls. They were called for 22 fouls in the semi-finals, compared with 17 against Wellsville, though several of the fouls against the Eagles came late in the contest when they were forced to. Coach O’Neil said he hasn’t been given a good explanation by the officials as to why fouls are being called the way they are. “Western Kansas basketball is a lot more physical than eastern Kansas,” observed Trey O’Neil. The Beavers say they will continue to make

adjustments as they prepare for the championship game. “Right now, I’m just relieved to be in the championship game for the fifth time in a row. It’s pretty awesome,” says Meyer. Coach O’Neil acknowledged that the senior players didn’t want to be the ones to let the streak end. He pointed out that this is the seventh time since the 2006 state tournament that the Beavers have played in the championship game. “That’s a pretty amazing streak for anybody,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate to be in the position to coach not only my own kids, but other great young men.”

SCHS head coach Glenn O’Neil shows his frustration while Scott City fans react to a call by officials during Friday’s game against Wellsville. (Record Photo)

The Scott County Record • Page 23 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Takedown Kids Wrestling USAWKS 2015 District 4 North Subdistrict March 14, 2015 • at Phillipsburg 7-8-Years-Old 49: Trenton Frank pinned Hayden Watt (Phillipsburg), 0:36; pinned Ryker Schmidtberger (Colby), 0:37; pinned Trayven Conger (Goodland), 0:42. First place 55: Matthew Wheeler dec. Talon Andreasen (Colby), 7-0; dec. Braxton Munk (Hoxie), 6-2; pinned Ty Schmeidler (Hays), 1:52; dec. by Kaeden McCarty (Colby), 6-0. Second place 73: Case Armendariz pinned by Cole Keeten (Phillipsburg), 0:41; pinned by Houston Frank (Scott City), 0:40; pinned by Ace Plummer (Oakley), 0:28. Fourth place 73: Houston Frank maj. dec. Ace Plummer (Oakley), 100; pinned Case Armendariz (Scott City), 0:40; pinned Cole Keeten (Phillipsburg), 1:20. First place 9-10-Years-Old 70: Collin McDaniel pinned Breckin Sauvage (Oberlin), 0:22; tech. fall Ryan Shaw (Hoxie), 15-0; dec. Andrew Bretz (Hoxie), 6-0. First place 73: Zachery Rohrbough maj. dec. Jake Taliaferro (Hays), 14-0; maj. dec. Kolton Field (Norton), 12-4; dec. Aaron Weigel (Hays), 6-2. First place 76: Conner Armendariz tech. fall Bailey Kraft (Colby), 16-0; dec. Aiden Amrein (Ellis), 2-0; tech. fall Keden Frahm (Colby), 17-0; maj. dec. Justin Knoll (Stockton), 13-1. Third place 100: Leightyn Heim pinned by Garrison Spoonts (Russell), 0:17. 120: Ronnie Weathers dec. Brandon Baker (Hoxie), 7-0; pinned Rylan Basart (Stockton), 1:45; pinned Preston Bearley (Atwood), 0:48; pinned Ashton Bearley (Atwood), 0:20. First place 130: Lance Miller dec. Ivan Jirak (Oakley), 7-0; pinned Luke Franklin (Smith Co.), 1:56. First place 150: Jarron Gregory pinned Brock Buresh (Phillipsburg), 2:55; pinned Brock Buresh (Phillipsburg), 0:43. First place 11-12-Years-Old 96: Kale Wheeler pinned Rojelio Loya (Colby), 1:25; pinned Rojelio Loya (Colby), 0:31. First place 115: Jeffrey Nix pinned by Gavon Uehlin (Oberlin), 0:38; maj. dec. by Cameron Delaney (Osborne), 12-0. 130: Caleb VanDegrift dec. by Aaron moss (Smith Co.), 13-7; dec. by Hunter Price (WaKeeney), 8-1; dec. Blayze Standley (Hays), 7-6; pinned by Cole Amlong (Norton), 2:16. Fifth place 140: Cale Goodman pinned Hagan Booi (Colby), 1:21; pinned Cyrus Green (Atwood), 1:27. First place 13-14-Years-Old 95: Braylin Heim pinned by Corey Hale (Hays), 2:03; pinned by Colton Ketterl (Oberlin), 1:48; pinned Corey Hale (Hays), 0:19. Fifth place 95: Theron Tucker pinned Trystan Johnson (Hays), 3:00; pinned Colton Ketterl (Oberlin), 1:11; pinned by Chandler Schoenberger (Russell), 3:41. Second place 100: Justus McDaniel pinned Tyler Martin (Phillipsburg), 0:27; pinned Jacob Sisson (Phillipsburg), 0:52. First place 110: Kaden Wren pinned Alyzae Fulton-Moreno (Hill City), 0:28; tech. fall Joseph Stocker (Smith Co.), 18-2; tech. fall Taron Burkhart (Hays), 17-0; maj. dec. by Dayton Porsch (Hoxie), 13-0. Second place 140: Wyatt Hayes pinned Blaine Russell (Phillipsburg), 0:30; pinned Ethan Peterson (Smith Co.), 0:26; tech. fall Noah Hansen (Plainville), 16-0. First place 175: Kyle Sherwood pinned Cauy Hayes (Atwood), 0:35; pinned Tyrel Hafliger (WaKeeney), 0:26. First place Kansas Middle School State Championships March 14, 2015 • at Lindsborg 95: Theron Tucker tech. fall Elijah Aouad (Brawlers), 15-0; pinned by Gabe Buckbee (Ark City), 3:48; pinned Derek Boxberger (Hoisington), 0:59; maj. dec. by Cooper Ross (Derby). 110: Kaden Wren pinned Brady McDonald (Chanute), 0:45; maj. dec. by Trevor Dopps (Ks. Young Guns), 9-1; tech. fall Daniel Hershberger (Team Lightning), 18-0; dec. Joseph Irwin (Leavenworth Co.), 5-2; maj. dec. by Dayton Porsch (Hoxie), 9-1; pinned Couy Weil (Dodge City), 2:13. Fifth place 125: Justin Hundertmark pinned by Cameron Bates (Turner), 1:48; pinned by Landon Willard (Jr. Vikings), 3:14. 132: Jack Thomas maj. dec. Weston Hutchings (Turner), 10-0; dec. by Ryan Murphy (Carroll), 5-4; dec. Wyatt Pedigo (Hoisington), 12-6; tech. fall Morgan Rains (Oakley), 16-0; sudden victory Jacob Ormsby (Derby), 3-1; dec. Stanley Holder (Lawrence), 3-1; dec. Joseph Hancock (Legacy), 4-2; maj. dec. by Dylan Newton (Gray Co.), 10-0. Fourth place 140: Cale Goodman pinned by Dakotah Whiteley (Abilene), 2:46; pinned Brian Troutman, 2:46; dec. by Zachary Gonzales (Trailhands), 6-2. 140: Wyatt Hayes pinned KJ St. Pierre, (Lawrence), 0:53; pinned Dax Hopp (Smoky Valley), 0:54; pinned Brenden Ishimura (Frontenac), 0:26; dec. Dakotah Whiteley (Abilene), 5-2. First place 175: Kyle Sherwood dec. Colby Beer (Newton), 5-2; dec. Hadley Panzer (Lakin), 6-0; dec. by Chandler Eaton (Hutchinson), 7-4; pinned by Jake Quiggle (Maize), 3:28; dec. by Drake Graybeal (Jr. Vikings), 6-5. Sixth place

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Reality In the unlikely event that the NCAA decides to let Cliff Alexander play, that would make KU’s edge on the inside even more decided. If Wichita and KU make it to the second round, it will be one exciting night for basketball in Kansas. It’s high time these two programs began playing a game every season. KU Needs Ellis Memories of the conference basketball tournaments fade as quickly as an early morning fog. It’s NCAA Tournament time. Kansas and Wichita State will represent the Sunflower State. One thing became clear during KU’s loss to Iowa State in the Big 12 championship game: Perry Ellis is ineffective playing on one leg. He can’t cover on defense and Ellis is easy to guard by opposing defenders. Coach Self will have to use him as a spot player if his knee doesn’t improve by Friday. Centers Landen Lucas and Hunter Mickelson have played well during

(continued from page 20)

the NCAA-forced absence of Cliff Alexander. Self hasn’t given Mickelson a chance to get untracked on offense, although he’s been effective on defense. Mickelson gets to play a few minutes and then he’s jerked before he has an opportunity to settle down and get into the flow of the offense. In addition, Mickelson sat on the bench all season - this is all new. Svi Mykhailiuk played superbly and sparked KU in his minutes on the floor in the TCU game. Like Mickelson, he doesn’t see enough action to relax and gain some confidence. Mykhailiuk sat on the bench until the very end of the Iowa State game and he’s a much better ball handler and defender than Brannen Green. And Mykhailiuk is a deadly outside shooter. Green has been in an awful slump and he’s a liability with his defense and poor ball handling. Baseball Nearly Here In just about three weeks, the Kansas City Royals open their 2015 major league baseball sea-

son with an April 6 game in Kauffman Stadium against the Chicago White Sox. How time flies. Through March 15, the Royals were leading the Cactus League with a sparkling 10-3 record. We learned the hard way in 2014 that spring training stats are fools’ gold. Nevertheless, winning trumps losing. Two newcomers that will play prominent roles are right fielder Alex Rios and designated hitter Kendrys Morales. In seven exhibition games Rios had a .368 average with three homers. Morales was hitting .276 in nine games and had one homer. Morales is a switch hitter, which is a significant advantage for any DH. If these two guys have outstanding seasons, KC will be an exceptional ball club. Kansas City’s pitching staff has been up and down during the spring games. However, stats are deceiving because most pitchers just throw fast balls and changeups and work on their control during spring training.

The Scott County Record • Page 24 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

looking back at the 3A tourney (Clockwise, from top) While the bench celebrates the final moments in the title game, head coach Glenn O’Neil encourages the Scott City fans to give the players on the floor a standing ovation. Senior Trey O’Neil signals five consecutive state title games as he leaves the court following Friday’s semi-final win over Wellsville. SCHS students Nick Nowak (left) and Reid Brunswig cheer on the Beavers. The SCHS team raises their championship plaque and looks to the Scott City fans. Sophomore Bo Hess blocks a shot during first half action against Collegiate. (Record Photos)

The Scott County Record • Page 25 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

state tourney party time

Having been to so many state tournaments in recent years, the Scott City student section knows how to bring fun and excitement to the weekend. (Clockwise, from top) The student section mimics a group leader during their pregame preparation. Each day of the tournament had a different theme with Saturday’s championship game based on spring break at the beach. Drummer Connor LeBeau is dressed as a banana and is accompanied by a flamingo. Abe Wiebe has stylish glasses on red/white/blue day. Playing the saxophone is Porter Irwin. Reid Brunswig has a patriotic hair style. Enjoying the championship semi-finals on Friday is Jack Thomas. (Record Photos)

The Scott County Record

Farm

Annual review of payment eligibility for new crop year All participants of FSA programs who request program benefits are required to submit a completed CCC-902 (Farming Operation Plan) and CCC941 Average Gross Income (AGI) Certification and Consent to Disclosure of Tax Information to be considered for payment eligibility and payment limitation applicable for the program benefits. A valid CCC-902 filed by the participant is considered to be a continuous certification used for all payment eligibility and payment limitation determinations applicable for the program benefits requested. Participants are not required to annually submit new CCC-902’s for payment eligibility and payment limitation purposes unless a change in the farming operation occurs that may affect the determination of record. Participants are responsible for ensuring that all CCC-902’s and CCC-941’s and related forms on file in the County Office are correct at all times. Participants are required to timely notify the County Office of any changes in the farming operation that may affect the determination of record by filing a new or updated CCC-902 as applicable. Changes that may require a NEW determination include, but are not limited to, a change of: Shares of a contract, which may reflect: •A land lease from cash rent to share rent (See REVIEW on page 27)

Page 26 - Thursday, March 19, 2015

Farms are battleground in renewable energy fight Andy Marso KHI News Service

Grant Bannister came to testify before the Kansas Legislature last week, traveling to Topeka from Alexander, in Rush County, population 65. Bannister said his family had a typical Kansas farm - mostly wheat, some cattle. But he was addressing the Senate Utilities Committee about an entirely different income source. “I grew up in rural Kansas, a simple farm boy,” Bannister said. “Now I’m selling wind energy to Yahoo.” Bannister’s family joined with OwnEnergy, a New York-based community wind farm company, to build the Alexander Community Wind Farm, which is expected to provide about $7.3 million in revenue to Rush County

farmers and ranchers. The farm is set to go online this year and the energy buyers already include the Kansas City Board of Utilities and Yahoo, the internet search company . Bannister said the project might not have been possible without the state’s renewable portfolio standards (RPS), and asked senators to reject the latest in an annual line of attempts to end the standards. “Wind energy is one of the few bright spots in rural areas’ economic activity right now,” Bannister said. “I’d ask that it not be impaired.” The RPS, passed in 2009, requires that state utilities glean 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by next year and 20 percent by 2020.

The biggest beneficiary of the mandate has been the wind industry and, by extension, communities in the mostly agrarian central and western part of the state where the wind blows hard and consistently. Opponents of the standards have tried for years to have them repealed, arguing that they represent an unfair distortion of the free market. About $500,000 was spent lobbying on the issue last year, resulting in a House vote that fell three tallies short of approving a phase-out of the standards. This year’s bill would end the standards as of Jan. 1, 2016. Its success will depend largely on the votes of Republicans who represent rural areas like Rush County. The state’s largest and most influential agricul-

tural lobbying groups have come down on opposite sides of the RPS repeal bills, Senate Bill 253 and House Bill 2373. ‘Free Market’ Policies The Kansas Livestock Association, which represents ranchers and feedyards, submitted written testimony saying it has a “long history of favoring free market policies and discourages government policies that interfere with market principles.” The livestock association’s 5,600 members include hundreds of dairy farms and dozens of feedlots, two of the most energy-intensive sectors of the agriculture industry. Aaron Popelka, the association’s vice president of legal and government affairs, also wrote that favoring renewables over other fossil fuels (See ENERGY on page 27)

Sorghum research could diversify cattle feed

As winter soon comes to a close, it is never too early to start planning feedstuffs production for cattle next winter. Forage sorghum offers a variety of benefits that help secure its place as one of those major feedstuffs. “Interest in forage sorghum is definitely on the rise,” said John Holman,

Sorghum referendum vote begins on March 23 The USDA is announcing procedures and dates for the upcoming referendum regarding the continuation of the Sorghum Checkoff Program. Local producers can vote from March 23 through April 21 at the Scott County FSA office. Ballots may be obtained in person, by mail or fax at county FSA offices or by the Internet. Any eligible person engaged in the production of sorghum since Jan. 1, 2011, is eligible to participate. Individuals are required to provide documentation such as sales receipt or remittance form that shows they engaged in production. The Sorghum Checkoff Program is intended to be a national, coordinated, self-help marketing program designed to strengthen the position of sorghum in the marketplace, maintain and expand existing domestic and foreign markets and uses for sorghum, and develop new markets and uses for sorghum. Procedures and additional information about the referendum can be found at www.ams.usda. gov/SorghumReferendum.

K-State Extension agronomist in Garden City. “There is a lot of interest in general to supply cowcalf, feedlot and dairy industries in the region.” The growing interest is in part due to the versatility of forage sorghums, he said. Other advantages of sorghum include that it uses less water than some

other traditional forage crops and, when managed correctly, contains highquality nutrients for cattle. “Depending on what the producer’s goal is, with sorghum we have the ability to graze, hay or put it into silage,” Holman said. “It’s one of the advantages of sorghum, with all of the dif-

ferent sorghum types that are available. Once a producer identifies what his or her goal is, then we can select a sorghum type and variety to match the grower’s needs.” Sorghum has better heat and drought tolerance than corn or alfalfa, and requires less irrigation than corn silage.

KSU, General Mills allot $400k for wheat development

Kansas State University officials are hailing a recent partnership with food giant General Mills as a winwin proposition that ultimately will benefit the state’s farmers and consumers worldwide. The two groups have formed a research agreement to develop wheat varieties with improved nutritional, milling and baking qualities. The multi-year project will pump more than $400,000 into wheat development at the university. “Kansas State has unique capabilities to connect wheat research all the way from genomics to milling and baking, which makes us a strong partner for these types of research

projects,” said Jesse Poland, K-State assistant professor of plant pathology. Poland is also director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Applied Wheat Genomics - a fiveyear, $5 million project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development - and associate director of the university’s Wheat Genetics Resource Center. Since forming the agreement, General Mills has placed two fulltime scientists in the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center on the north end of Kansas State’s Manhattan campus to help with this and other projects. (See WHEAT on page 27)

“Particularly in the Ogallala Aquifer region, there are advantages of sorghum over corn when we are working with limited irrigation wells or dryland,” Holman said. “Sorghum has good drought tolerance and high water use efficiency.” However, for producers

who have adequate water, corn silage may suit their forage needs better than sorghum. “If you are able to fully irrigate, you will obtain higher quality forage with corn silage due to its grain production, but if you are working with limited irrigation, sorghum silage

Market Report

Weather

Closing prices on March 17, 2015 Bartlett Grain Wheat.................. $ 5.03 White Wheat ....... $ 5.18 Milo .................... $ 4.21 Corn ................... $ 3.79 Soybeans (new crop) $ 8.74 Scott City Cooperative Wheat.................. $ 5.03 White Wheat ....... $ 5.18 Milo (bu.)............. $ 4.21 Corn.................... $ 3.79 Soybeans ........... $ 8.75 Sunflowers.......... $ 16.80 ADM Grain Wheat.................. Milo (bu.)............. Corn.................... Soybeans............ Sunflowers..........

$ 5.11 $ 4.21 $ 3.84 $ 8.91 $ 17.35

(See SORGHUM on page 27)

March 10

March 11

76 31

March 12

March 13

March 14

65 33

March 15

March 16

92 31

Moisture Totals March

0.00

2015 Total

0.99

Ag Facts Microwave popcorn is the same as other popcorn except the kernels are usually larger and the packaging is designed for maximum popability.

The Scott County Record • Page 27 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Energy caused higher electricity prices for the group’s members. “While wind may be free, the infrastructure and land used to generate and transport the electricity is not,” Popelka said. “As a result of the RPS mandate, wind energy was given a guaranteed share that supplants potentially lower-cost generation.” The Kansas Corporation Commission,

(continued from page 26)

in past reports, has estimated that the RPS requirement raised most ratepayers’ costs by one or two percent. The position of the state’s other agriculture lobbying giant, the Kansas Farm Bureau, could not be more different. Kansas Farm Bureau, which represents 40,000 farmers and ranchers, not only urged legislators to oppose the repeal of the

Sorghum is an excellent choice,” Holman said. “Sorghum grown under limited irrigation can produce more biomass, and by selecting the right variety, can produce good feed quality.” Producers may view sorghum tonnage as the most important factor, he said, because they are paid on tons produced, like any biomass crop. But, feed quality is also important. “When we evaluate feed quality, we measure components such as crude protein, fiber content, energy and digestibility of that forage,” Holman said. “There are several things to consider when it comes to feed quality.”

Wheat

RPS, it supports extending the mandate to 25 percent by 2025. Ryan Flickner, the bureau’s senior director of public policy, wrote that the development of wind energy spurred by the mandate had been an economic boon for rural Kansas especially. “It has created numerous opportunities for production and construction jobs, it has produced a

revenue stream for our members as well as other landowners around the state, it has developed maintenance jobs at wind farms and it has shaped our state into being a leader in the renewable energy industry,” Flickner said. While Kansas Farm Bureau also represents dairy farmers and feedlots, the bulk of its members are crop farmers and ranchers, some of whom

(continued from page 26)

Continuing Research As with all crops, having a good nutrient management program is highly important. Over-applying nitrogen can be hazardous, which has been shown in work Holman and others at K-State have done the last several years that examined nitrogen response with these sorghum crops. “Sorghum requires a good nutrient management plan, not just for yield but to minimize the risk of high nitrate also,” Holman said. “Producers should soil sample and make sure all of the macronutrient needs are met. Make sure to not over-

fertilize with nitrogen. Otherwise, we run the risk of elevating nitrate in the plant.” K-State is adding a forage testing program for producers to aid them in their variety selection decision-making. “Years ago, K-State had a forage variety testing program, but we are reinitiating it this year,” Holman said. “There isn’t a good university-wide testing program anywhere in our region, and we have producers asking for that information. “We will have five sites across the state (Garden City, Hays, Hutchinson, Mound Valley and Scandia) where we will

be evaluating both corn and sorghum silages, as well as sorghum and millet hay types. The success of this program is going to be based on the industry’s desire to enter varieties.” “I would encourage producers and county agents to make sure that their seed supplier is entering the test, so they can see how varieties they are interested in compare to everyone else’s out there,” he added. “In addition, we’ve had a lot of cropping systems research projects that include forage sorghum over the last several years, because it is such an important crop for producers in the state.”

(continued from page 26)

“The overall goal of this project is to identify and develop improved wheat varieties that have superior nutritional and processing quality,” said Eric Jackson, a geneticist and systems biologist with General Mills Crop Biosciences, and one of the two scientists now in Manhattan. “It’s our belief that this approach will increase the quality of consumer products through decreasing additives in processing, and increasing the utility and function of whole grain products.” “The expectation,” Poland noted, “is that

Kansas wheat farmers will benefit directly from this research. Through these projects, we are focused on developing and delivering wheat varieties with superior quality that (might) be grown as highvalue, contract acres.” He added that while new varieties would help to increase yields, researchers also intend to develop wheat that contains more of the vitamins and minerals that are needed in developing parts of the world, thus addressing a global food challenge. “With consumer food values changing and popu-

Review

(continued from page 26)

•A land lease from share rent to cash rent (subject to the cash rent tenant rule) •A modification of a variable/fixed bushel-rent arrangement The size of the producer’s farming operation by the addition or reduction of cropland that may affect the application of a cropland factor The structure of the farming operation, including any change to a member’s share The contribution of farm inputs of capital, land, equipment, active personal labor, and/or

active personal management Farming interests not previously disclosed on CCC-902 including the farming interests of a spouse or minor child Financial status that may affect the 3-year average for the determination of average AGI or other changes that affects eligibility under the average adjusted gross income limitations. Participants are encouraged to file or review these forms within the deadlines established for each applicable program for which program benefits are being requested.

lar trends leading the consumer away from grains, General Mills thought it was a critical time to expand our research and develop a plan for the future of wheat,” Jackson said. “In partnership with Kansas State, we’re connecting wheat variety development with targeted, novel consumer quality. In this project, we will implement focused approaches for characterizing and improving milling and baking qualities in wheat, combined with improving its nutritional quality.”

This is not the first time Kansas State and General Mills have worked together. Poland said the university has provided expertise in milling to General Mills for many years: “We are now connecting this research across the spectrum,” he said. The research agreement is a dollar-for-dollar match, with both groups also providing expertise and staff time toward variety development. Kansas State is providing money awarded by the Kansas Department of Commerce to leverage strengths in food and agriculture.

have been able to lease their land for wind turbines. Mark Richardson, a farmer from Hutchinson, said the state should retain the RPS. Richardson said his family has depended on non-farm income for years in the form of oil and gas royalties, but they’re now down to one well. Wind, Richardson said, is the next logical source

of supplemental income to keep rural communities going as aquifers used for irrigation deplete. “It is easy to recognize how valuable wind energy is becoming to the rural Kansas economy,” Richardson said, “and especially valuable to western Kansas, where water resources are diminishing.” Andy Marso is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka

The Scott County Record • Page 28 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Call 872-2090 today!

The Scott County Record Professional Directory

Per Week

There’s no better way to reach your potential customers in Scott County and the surrounding areas.

Walker Plumbing, Inc.

Agriculture

Preconditioning and Growing

Backhoe & Trenching services • Irrigation & gas leak repairs • Full-line irrigation parts T-L center pivot dealer Floor heat systems Pump & install septic systems Boring equipment

• 45 Years Experience • Managed and owned by full-time DVM • 2,000 Head capacity Oﬃce - 872-5150 • Scott City Stuart Doornbos Home - 872-2775 Cell - 874-0951

423 S. Mesquite Rd. • Scott City • 872-2130

Clifton Smith Construction

Construction/Home Repair

Sager’s Pump Service CHAMBLESS • Irrigation • Domestic • Windmills • Submersibles

Cell: 874-4486 • Oﬃce 872-2101

ELLIS AG SERVICES • Custom Manure Conditioning • Hauling and Spreading • Custom Swathing and Baling • Rounds-Net or Twine • Gyp and Sand Sales • Custom Harvesting Call Brittan Ellis • 620-874-5160

ROOFING Residential

All Types of Roofing

Commercial

Cedar Shake and Shingle Specialists Return to Craftsmanship Attention to Detail and Quality Guaranteed 620-872-2679 • 1-800-401-2683

Dirks Earthmoving Co.

Formerly J.R. Smith, Handyman Call:

620-214-2674

20 years experience See us for any type of work!

Painting • Remodeling • Handicap Bath Remodels

Licensed and Bonded

SPENCER PEST CONTROL RESIDENTIAL – COMMERCIAL

Precision Land Forming of terraces and waterways; feed lot pens and ponds; building site preparation; lazer equipped

Termite Baiting Systems • Rodents Weed Control • Structural Insects Termite Control

Richard Dirks • Scott City, Ks.

Box 258, Scott City • (620) 872-2870

(Home) 872-3057 • 877-872-3057 (Cell) 872-1793

Automotive

Gary Miller

Millrod’s

Rental Equipment Pre-owned Cars and Trucks Windshield Repair/Replacement

201 Main, Scott City millrods@wbsnet.org

Phone: 620-872-5655 Cell: 620-874-1057 Fax: 620-872-7210

Landscaping • Lawn/Trees

Berning Tree Service David Berning • Marienthal

620-379-4430

Tree Trimming and Removal Hedge and Evergreen Trimming Stump Removal

Fully Insured

Contact:

SCOT AYTES • 874-1646 t Paint i

Red

Medical

Specializing in all coatings

or any other color Paint inside and out residential, commercial, and industrial. Free estimates and 16 plus years of experience.

PC Painting, Inc. Paul Cramer 620-290-2410 620-872-8910 www.pcpaintinginc.com

Pro Ex II

Over 20 Years Experience

Professional Extermination Commercial & Residential

• Termites • Rodents • Soil Sterilization • Pre Treats • Lawn Care • Fly Parasites

John Kropp, Owner • Scott City 874-2023 (cell) • 872-3400 (office) • prox2@live.com

RT Plumbing Rex Turley, Master Plumber

Residental and Commercial Plumbing Water Systems, water lines, sewer cleaning faucets and fixtures, garbage diposals and more

Marienthal, Ks.

620-909-5014 (H) • 620-874-4128 (C)

Charles Purma II D.D.S. P.A. General Dentistry, Cosmetics, and Insurance Accepted

We welcome new patients. 324 N. Main • Scott City • 872-2389 Residence 872-5933

Pro Health Chiropractic Wellness Center (Scott City Chiropractic) “TLC”... Technology Lead Chiropractic

Dr. James Yager 110 W. 4th St. • Scott City • 872-2310 Toll Free: 800-203-9606

The Scott County Record • Page 29 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Call 872-2090 today!

Per Week

Professional Directory Continued

Horizon Health For your home medical supply and equipment needs!

Services

Berning Auction “Don’t Trust Your Auction to Just Anyone”

We service and repair all that we sell. 1602 S. Main • Scott City • 872-2232 Toll Free : 1-866-672-2232

For all your auction needs call:

(620) 375-4130

Russell Berning Box Q • Leoti

Kansas Classifieds Ad Network

The classified ads below are appearing in 147 Kansas newspapers with a total circulation of 500,000 the classified display ads appear in 142 Kansas newspapers with a total circulation of 457,000. KCAN line ad is $300 for up to 25 words and $12 each additional word. A 2x2 display ad is $800 per insertion and a 2x4 display ad is $1,650 per insertion. To find out more, contact The Scott County Record at 872-2090.

Auction

Truck Driving

LAND AUCTION. Thurs., March 26. 360 acres +/-. Dickinson County. Offered in 5 tracts, expired CRP and pasture. 6 miles north of Chapman, Ks. Ruckertauctions.com. 785-565-8293.

CONVOY SYSTEMS is hiring Class A drivers to run from Kansas City to the west coast. Home weekly. Great benefits. www.convoysystems.com. 1-800-926-6869, ext. 303. ––––––––––––––––––––– NAVAJO HIRING CDL-A truck drivers. Plenty of miles. No-touch freight, new equipment. Great benefits. 6 months recent tractor/trailer exp. in last 3 years. Call 866913-3701. ––––––––––––––––––––– BUTLER TRANSPORT. Your partner in excellence. Drivers needed. Great hometime. $650 sign-on bonus. All miles paid. 1-800-528-7825. www.butlertransport.com. ––––––––––––––––––––– NO EXPERIENCE? Some or lots of experience? Let’s talk. No matter what stage in your career, its time. Call Central Refrigerated Home (888) 670-0392. www. CentralTruckDrivingJobs. com.

Education MEDICAL BILLING trainees needed. Become a medical office assistant. No experience needed. Online training can get you job ready. HS diploma/GED and PC/Internet needed. 1-888-589-9683.

Dr. Jeffrey A. Heyd

Homes

Optometrist

AVOID TAX REFUND regret. Invest in new 3-4 BR Clayton Mfd.modular home and receive up to $7,500 gift card. Lenders offering $0 down for land owners. Less than perfect credit OK. 866-858-6862.

20/20 Optometry

Treatment of Ocular Disease • Glaucoma Detection Children’s Vision • Glasses • Contact Lenses

Complete family eye center! 106 W. 4th • Scott City • 872-2020 • Emergencies: 214-1462

Bolen Enterprises Prairie Dog Control •34 years experience •Bonded/Licensed

Scott City Myofascial Release

Bob Bolen 785-821-0042 • Fax 785-852-4275

Sandy Cauthon RN

105 1/2 W. 11th St., Scott City 620-874-1813 scottcitymfr@gmail.com FB: Scott City Myofascial Release

Call me to schedule your Myofascial Release

Gary Miller

Millrod’s

Retail

Gene’s Appliance Over 200 appliances in stock! COMPARE OUR PRICES!

We have Reverse Osmosis units in stock. Remember us for parts in stock for all brands of all appliances. Sales and Service Days • Mon. - Sat. Deliveries • Mon.-Sat.

Largest Frigidaire appliance dealer in Western Ks. 508 Madison • Scott City • 872-3686

201 Main, Scott City millrods@wbsnet.org

Rental Equipment Pre-owned Cars and Trucks Windshield Repair/Replacement

Phone: 620-872-5655 Cell: 620-874-1057 Fax: 620-872-7210

Medical

GOT KNEE PAIN? Back pain? Shoulder pain? Get a pain-relieving brace at little or no cost Construction to you. Medicare patients ALL STEEL! Great call Health Hotline now. deals on Sentinel build1-800-824-2041. ings. Specifically engineered for you. Highest Help Wanted quality. Value priced. Expert guidance start to C O N T R A C T finish. Sentinel Building SALESPERSONS to Systems. 800-327-0790. sell aerial photography of www.sentinelbuildings. farms. Commission basis, com. $5,000-$8,000/mo. Proven product and earnings. Travel required. More info For Sale at msphotosd.com or call FRESH PIANO inven877-882-3566. tory. We’ve been all over the country rounding up Legal Aid new (and “like new”) pianos. 17 new arrivSOCIAL SECURITY als. Mid-America Piano, disability benefits. Unable Manhattan. 800-950-3774. to work? Denied benewww.piano4u.com. fits? We can help! Win or pay nothing. Contact Bill Have questions about the Gordon and Associates at Scott Commnity Foundation? 1-800-737-4275 to start Call 872-3790 your application today.

Northend Disposal A garbologist company. Scott City • 872-1223 • 1-800-303-3371

District 11 AA Meetings

Networktronic, Inc.

Scott City

Computer Sales, Service and Repair

Unity and Hope Mon., Wed. and Fri. • 8:00 p.m. 807 Kingsley Last Sat., Birthday Night, 6:30 p.m. All open meetings, 874-8207 • 874-8118

Custom computers! Networking solutions!

Dighton Thursday • 8:30 p.m. 535 Wichita St. All open meetings, 397-2647

Mon. - Fri. 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. 402 S. Main, Scott City • 872-1300

Dining

Brent Rogers

Sales Consultant b.rogers@officesolutionsinc.biz

Office (620) 276-3131 Toll Free 1-800-794-9052 Cell (620) 874-0014 Fax (620) 276-8876 1007 N. 8th, Garden City, KS 67846 www.officesolutionsinc.biz All Under One Roof

Revcom Electronics

Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Your RadioShack Dealer Two-way Radio Sales & Service

C-Mor-Butz BBQ

Barbecue, the only sport where a fat bald man is a GOD...

& Catering

Kyle Lausch www.reganjewelers.com

412 N. Main • Garden City • 620-275-5142

620-872-4209

Locally owned and operated since 1990

1104 Main • Scott City • 872-2625

Support your hometown merchants who back your school and community activities throughout the year!

Bryan Mulligan & Chris Price 620-874-8301 & 620-874-1285

www.cmorbutzbbq.com • cmorbutzbbq@gmail.com

Classifieds

The Scott County Record • Page 30 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Buy, sell, trade, one call does it all 872-2090 ot fax 872-0009

Classified Ad Deadline: Monday at 5:00 p.m. Classified Ad Rate: 20¢ per word. Minimum charge, $5. Blind ad: $2.50 per week extra. Card of thanks: 10¢ per word. Minimum charge, $3. Classified Display Ad rate: $6.00 per column inch. Classified advertising must be paid in advance unless business account is established. If not paid in advance, there will be a $1 billing charge. Tear sheet for classified ad will be $1 extra.

GREAT AREA

LOVELY BRICK HOME Two large bedrooms, one average bedroom, plus 1 3/4 baths up with full

basement and 3/4 bath, 2 car garage, on corner lot.

Nice brick home with a lot of really neat features! 2+2 bedrooms, 2 baths, really

NEW LISTING

nice family room with wet bar, wood burning

fireplace, very unique

kitchen, you have to see it

Well kept 1 1/2 story

home with 5 bedrooms, 2 baths, large family room

and detached garage on a large corner lot. Stucco

exterior with new windows throughout. $72,500

Thomas Real Estate

www.thomasreal-estate.com

914 W. 12th Scott City, Ks. 67871 (620)-872-7396 Cell: (620)-874-1753 or Cell: (620)-874-5002

to appreciate it! $139,900.

Lawrence and Associates

Deb Lawrence, GRI Broker Shorty Lawrence, Sales Assoc. 513 Main • Scott City 872-5267 ofc. 872-7184 hm. lawrenceandassocrealty.com Sheila Ellis, Broker Assoc. 872-2056 Kerry Gough, Sales Assoc. 872-7337 Russell Berning, 874-4405 www.berningauction.com

Real Estate

Services

Agriculture

Help Wanted

COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS for sale 40’x60’ metal shop building and a 133’x45’ (approx.) round top building. Serious inquiry’s only seller is a real estate agent selling own property 87426tfc 5109 or 874-2124. ––––––––––––––––––––– 4-BEDROOM HOME FOR SALE, 2 baths, 2 living rooms, 1 car attached garage, fenced-in backyard and covered patio. Motivated sellers asking $102,000! Schedule a showing today 620-21429t4c 1681.

WANTED: Yards to mow and clean up, etc. Trim smaller trees and bushes too. Call Dean Riedl, (620) 872-5112 or 8744135. 34tfc ––––––––––––––––––––– FURNITURE REPAIR and refinishing. Lawn mower tune-up and blade sharpening. Call Vern Soodsma, 872-2277 or 874-1412. 36tfc ––––––––––––––––––––– MOWER REPAIR, tuneup and blade sharpening. Call Rob Vsetecka at 620214-1730. 36tfc ––––––––––––––––––––– METAL ROOFING, SIDING and TRIMS at direct-to-the-public prices. Call Metal King Mfg., 620-872-5464. Our prices will not be beat! 37tfc ––––––––––––––––––––– “JEN’S GROOMING” also offering boarding. By Jennifer Milner, hours: 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. call 620-214-0097. Located in Shallow Water. 09tfc ––––––––––––––––––––– INSULATION THAT LASTS. Home, Ag Shop or Business. Call Spray Foam It, LLC, Ryan Koehn 620-872-1517 or Dwight Koehn 620-8721496. 31t4c

WANTED TO BUY. Stored corn. Call for basis and contract information. 1-800-579-3645. Lane County Feeders, Inc. 32tfc ––––––––––––––––––––– WANTED TO BUY. Wheat straw delivered. Call for contracting information. Lane County Feeders. 397-5341. 44tfc

USD 466 NEEDS substitute route bus drivers. For applications and additional information contact Lance Carter at 620-872-7655.

Rentals HIDE AND SEEK STORAGE SYSTEMS. Various sizes available. Virgil and LeAnn Kuntz, 41tfc (620)874-2120. ––––––––––––––––––––– MULTIPLE HOUSES FOR RENT. 1 bedroom homes available. Also 8x10 storage units available. Stop by PlainJans to fill out an application or 01tfc call 872-5777. ––––––––––––––––––––– STORAGE UNITS in various sizes available at The Storehouse, Don and Trudy Eikenberry 62007tfc 872-2914. ––––––––––––––––––––– 3-BEDROOM, 2-bath house for rent in Dighton. Great floor plan with lots of room and nice yard. Large corner lot. Call 78532t2p 798-2160.

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––––––––––––––––––––– POSITION AVAILABLE in swine finish facility in Scott County. Good schedule and benefits. Call 620-874-1017 or 620-21428tfc 1864. ––––––––––––––––––––– FA R M W O R K E R , 4/18/15-12/1/15, Rockin R Farms, Fairview, Okla., 5 temp., jobs. Operate harvesting machines to harvest crops in Okla.,/Tex.,/ Ks.,/Colo.,/S.D. Adjust speed of cutters, blowers, conveyors, and weight of cutting head. Change cutting head for crop. Drive truck to transport produce to storage area. Drive truck to haul harvesting machines b/w work sites. Service machinery/make in-field repairs. $10.35/ hr.,-$2200 month plus R&B, depending on location, ¾ work guarantee, tools/equipment/housing provided, trans and subsistence expense reimbursed. Apply at Kansas Works, 620-227-2149. 32t1c Job #OK1024857. ––––––––––––––––––––– DRIVERS NEEDED, combine and truck. Starts May 10. Call Gerald Baker 620-874-2060 or 620-3794693 evenings. 32t4c ––––––––––––––––––––– DIRECT SUPPORT WORKERS are needed in Scott City to work for an individual with a disability in their home. Starting wage is $9.60 an hour. Duties may include personal care, household chores, meal preparation, etc. For an application, please contact LINK, Inc., at 1-800569-5926 and leave your name and mailing address. 32t2c

––––––––––––––––––––– F U L L - T I M E POSITIONS for Landfill and Road Department. For application stop by Wichita County Road Department, 501 E. Broadway, Leoti. Inquiries may call 620-375-2814.

JONES CLUB LAMBS Now offering excellent quality show lambs at a great price. Call for an appointment to take a look.

Jeremy • 620-397-1638 Stefanie • 620-397-8075 113 W. Hwy 4, Healy, Ks bustn2kick@st-tel.net

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UPCOMING AUCTION SCOTT CITY, KS

“Dan” Depperschmidt Estate

• SAT., MAR. 21ST 10:00 a.m. • 507 COURT

TOOLS • HOUSEHOLD • COLLECTIBLES • BOOKS • 1990 GMC Sierra PICKUP

New on the Market-Built 2014 Corner lot, 3-bedroom, 2-bath, full unfinished basement, large family room, 2 car garage. Call for your private showing today!

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS If you want to drink, that’s your business. If you want to stop, that’s ours. Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Tuesday nights at 8:30 p.m. at the United Methodist Church basement (use west door). 412 College, Scott City. Al-Anon at same time and location. Contact: 874-0472 or 872-3137. 30t52

BRITTAN AUCTION Fred Brittan, Auctioneer SCOTT CITY, KS

620-872-2957

paragons@wbsnet.org auctionzip.com/brittan

Pine Village Apartments 300 E. Nonnamaker

Apartments available for qualifying tenants 62+ or disabled with rental assistance available. Hours: Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. by appointment Call Steve 872-2535 or (620) 255-4824. 19tfc

AL OR S

Cute, cozy home, 3 bedrooms, 1 3/4 baths, large family room and fenced backyard on a large corner lot. Close to Main St., in a west location. New tile in main bath, new paint, new flooring in kitchen and laundry room. Central heat and air, garbage disposal, fridge, stove and dishwasher included. Listed for only $79,900! Call Maranda at 620-874-8332 for a private showing today !

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The Scott County Record • Page 31 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Employment Opportunities MAINTENANCE WORKER The City of Scott City is accepting applications for a full-time maintenance worker in the Parks Department. Benefits include: BC/BS, vacation, and sick leave. Applications may be obtained at City Hall, 221 W. 5th St., Scott City. Applications will be accepted until position is filled.

EOE Employer

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MAINTENANCE WORKER The City of Scott City is accepting applications for a maintenance worker in the street, water and sewer department. Benefits include: BC/BS, vacation, and sick leave. Applications may be obtained at City Hall, 221 W. 5th St., Scott City. Applications will be accepted until position is filled.

EOE Employer

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DIRECTOR Grisell Memorial Hospital is seeking a qualified candidate to serve as the Director of Lab and Radiology. GMH is a non-profit, 12 bed, critical access hospital with outpatient clinics and an attached LTCU in Ransom. Candidates must possess an Associate’s Degree in Medical Lab Technology from an accredited institution with a current ASCP or equivalent certification. Interested candidates should send their resume, cover letter and salary requirements to: Kris Ochs, Administrator, Grisell Memorial Hospital, 210 South Vermont, Ransom, Ks. 67572 or email: kochs@grisell.org 31t2c

PARK LANE NURSING HOME Has openings for the following positions: Full-time CNA/CMA Full-time/part-time RN/LPN Full-time Cook/Dietary Aide Full-time Housekeeping Aide Shift differential pay offered for evening and night shifts! Please apply in person at:

Park Lane Nursing Home

210 E. Parklane Scott City, KS 67871 Or visit us at our website: www.parklanenursinghome.org “Quality Care Because We Care”

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SERVICE TECHNICIAN

SPECIAL EDUCATION PARA-PROFESSIONAL For High Plains Educational Cooperative Unified School District No. 466 is seeking a special education Para-Professional in each school building to work with students. The positions are available as soon as possible. For more information and applications please contact: Susan Carter Board of Education Building 704 College, Scott City, KS 67871 24tfc

SECRETARY USD 466 is seeking a secretary at Scott City Middle School. Applicant must have a High School Diploma, be organized, dependable, have good computer skills, positive attitude, good communication skills, and willingness to work with students and the public. Responsibilities include answering the phone, monitoring student attendance and data, and duties assigned by the principals. Job begins August 3, but would need to be available for paid training part of May and June. For more information contact: Jana Irvin at 872-7640. Applications may be picked up at: Scott City Middle School 809 W. 9th St. Scott City, Ks. 67871 Applications and Resumes need to be turned in by April 20, to Scott City Middle School.

American Implement, Inc., a progressive John Deere agricultural dealership in Southwest Kansas, is experiencing significant growth and is currently seeking qualified individuals to fill the position of Service Technician in the Scott City location. Responsibilities are to analyze, troubleshoot and perform electrical and mechanical repairs on agricultural equipment. Experience in maintenance and repair of automotive, diesel or heavy equipment required. Qualified applicants must own a set of tools to perform the functions of the job. American Implement offers competitive wages and an excellent benefits package, which includes life, health and supplemental insurance, 401(k) plan and a quarterly incentive bonus program. Interested applicants may send a cover letter and resume to: Tyler Kough Location Manager PO Box 20, Scott City, KS, 67871 or Call: (800) 779-7244 or (620)872-7244.

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INSURANCE BILLING CLERK Scott County Hospital is looking for an Insurance Billing Clerk. This is a full-time Monday-Friday, position. Applicants must be responsible, dependable and interested in long term employment. Applicants must have computer skills and be attentive to detail. Excellent customer service and phone skills a must. Job duties include billing Medicare, Commercial, Blue Cross and Medicaid insurance, covering front desk when necessary and other duties as assigned. Pre-employment physical, drug screen and TB skin test required. We offer competitive wages and excellent benefits. SCH is a tobacco free facility. Applications available our website at www.scotthospital.net or call 620-872-7772 for more information.

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MATERIALS MANAGEMENT ASSISTANT Scott County Hospital is looking for a Materials Management Assistant. This is a full-time Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m., position. Applicants must have excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Computer experience essential. Applicants must be in good physical health and able to lift and move heavy supply boxes routinely, stand and walk frequently. Job responsibilities include, but are not limited to, maintaining stocking levels on the nursing floor and the emergency department, checking in and putting away freight, assisting with filling requisitions, placing orders, inventory, processing invoices and requisitions, researching products, pricing and vendors as assigned. Experience preferred but will to train the right person. Pre-employment physical, drug and alcohol screening, physical assessment and TB skin test required. We offer competitive wages and excellent benefits. SCH is a tobacco free facility. Applications available through Human Resources, Scott County Hospital, 310 East 3rd, Scott City, Ks. 67871. 620-872-7796 or on our website at www.scotthospital.net. Return completed applications to: Human Resources.

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SCOTT COUNTY HOSPITAL HAS OPENINGS FOR THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS PATIENT CARE Acute Care RNs Physical Therapist Respiratory Therapist Operating Room RN C.N.A.s CLERICAL Ward Clerk HIM Clerk Materials Management Assistant SERVICE PRN Cashier Aide/Cook Evening Cook Housekeeping Aide Applicants for these positions are required to be able to read, speak and understand English. Pre-employment physical, drug/alcohol screening, immunization titer, physical assessment and TB skin test required. We are a tobacco free campus. We offer competitive pay and great benefits. Due to our recent expansion of services and rapid growth, we are in need of Acute Care RNs and are offering financial incentives. Applications are available on our website at www.scotthospital.net or call 620-872-7772 for more information.

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The Scott County Record • Page 32 • Thursday, March 19, 2015

Congratulations! 2015 Class 3A State Champions

Scott Community High School Beavers

Members of the 2015 Class 3A state champion Scott Community High School basketball team are (front row, from left) Brett Meyer, Justin Faurot, Matthew Jenkins, Sloan Baker, Drew Duff, Jess Drohman and Kyle Cure. (Back row) assistant coach Jordan Carter, assistant coach Brian Gentry, Dylan Hutchins, Bo Hess, Chantz Yager, Drake McRae, Trey O’Neil, Draven McRae and head coach Glenn O’Neil.

1st Place • Orange and Black Classic in Colby Great West Activities Conference Co-Champions Class 3A Sub-State Champions Season Record: 25-1 We are proud of you. You are great ambassadors of your school and your community! Scott Cooperative Association 410 E 1st St. 872-5823 • 800-931-COOP www.scottcoop.com

Scott City Chiropractic 1101 Main • 872-2310

Chambless Roofing, Inc. 1102 S. Main St. 872-2679 or 800-401-2683

Midwest Energy

Stevens Veterinary Services 872-2727

Eisenhour & Graff 509 Church St., Scott City 224 N. 4th St., Leoti 872-3471 • 375-2272

501 Main St. • 872-1143

1130 W. Hwy 96 872-2315

State Farm Insurance Michael Trout, agent 112 W. 3rd • 872-5374

Berning Farms

1314 Main St. • 872-5854 www.heartlandfoodsstores.com

325 Main • 872-2161

D-214-0653 • M-214-0652

J&R Car and Truck Center

Spencer Pest Control

208 W 5th St. • 872-2103 JRCARandTRUCK.com

Box 258 • 200 E. Rd. 140

Rodenbeek & Green Agency

872-2870

601 S. Main St. • 872-5803

3171 W. Hwy 96, Scott City

910 W. 5th • 872-3508

620-872-5503

Precision Ag and Seed Services

Norder Supply, Inc.

Sager Pump Service

250 N. Pawnee Rd 872-3058

303 Glenn St., Scott City

1550 W. Rd 70 • 872-5242

Sourk Veterinary Clinic 1801 S. Hwy 83 • 872-7211 Fax: 872-7212

Helena Chemical 1711 S. Main St., Scott City 872-2156

Turner Sheet Metal 1851 S. Hwy 83 • 872-2954

823 S. Main, Scott City 872-2372

101 S. Main • 872-5885 www.weci.net

416 S. Main St. • 872-0006 www.wbsnet.org

Braun’s Butcher Block

AgMax Crop Insurance

Dairy Queen

212 Main St., Scott City 872-7238

815 W. 5th • 872-2900 www.hughbinns.com

1211 S. Main St. • 872-3215

HRC Feed Yard LLC

408 Main • 872-2449 decmart@wbsnet.org

201 Main, Scott City 872-5655

807 N. Main • 872-7244 americanimplement.com

1301 S. Hwy. 83 • 872-3722

J.F. Beaver Advertising

Networktronic, Inc.

Dirk’s Earthmoving

Bling

181 N. Front St., Scott City 872-2174

Scott Recreation Commission

872-2101 • 874-4486

American Implement

ADM Grain

506 Main, Scott City 872-7224

habiger@wbsnet.org

Wheatland Broadband

Millrod’s

402 S. Main St. 872-1300

Security State Bank

40 Pitman Ln • PO Box 243 872-7222

Wheatland Electric

Dec-Mart Furniture

Joe and Jay Beaver Scott City • 872-2340

Platinum H Insurance

Wallace, Brantley & Shirley

Heartland Foods

Faurot Heating & Cooling, Inc.

www.VFFARMS.com

First National Bank

MTM Siding & Glass, Inc.

BK Auto Body

872-3057 • 872-1793

306 W. 5th St. 872-7214

Office Solutions, Inc.

L&M Western Tire

Scott County Hospital

1007 N. 8th St., Garden City 620-874-0014 www.officesolutionsinc.biz

1503 S. Main., Scott City 872-3393

201 Albert Ave., Scott City 620-872-5811 www.scotthospital.net

6550 W. Hwy 96 872-5328 www.hrcfeed.com

The Rec (Pool Hall)

Bartlett Grain 305 W. Bellevue • 872-3456

Percival Packing

318 Main, Scott City

710 W. 5th St. • 872-7199

Western State Bank

Midwest Mixer, LLC

1425 S. Main St., Scott City 872-2227 • www.wsbks.com

40 East Rd. 160 872-7251 • 800-280-7251 www.midwestmixer.com