Vol. 3: No. 04 Thursday, September 7, 2017 USPS (17818) $1.25

Mail Label

www.harveycountynow.com - Newton, KS

WENDY NUGENT/NEWTON NOWBev Hunter, left, and Sharon Cepeda traversed every street in Newton and North Newton by either running orbiking.

It all started when DarrelSchenck posted a simple request onFacebook, “Hey, anybody got aboat?”

Then, his colleague, North New-ton Deputy Chief Jim Bethards,asked him what was up.

Schenck told him he wanted totake a boat to Houston and helppeople, and Bethards decided tojoin him and take some personalvacation time.

They left Thursday morning,bound for the flooded zone, with a16-foot jon boat complete with

motor and an American flag, somedonated cash from a variety of localplaces, and food and equipment do-nated by Cabela's.

They planned to stay there foreight days but returned early be-cause people were shooting at res-cuers, mistaking them for lootersor they were just shooting in gen-eral. Things were chaotic, andsome residents even posed as res-cuers, telling folks there was amandatory evacuation, and afterthe people left their homes, they'dgo back to rob them.

“There was quite a criminal ele-ment out there by Sunday,”Bethards said Tuesday, Sept. 5.

Harvey County missed out on op-portunity for attracting nearly 200high-paying jobs to its work forcelast year due, in par,t to higherthan average electrical rates.

Beth Shelton, executive directorof the Harvey County EconomicDevelopment Council, pointed tofigures compiled by Garner Eco-nomics, LLC, showing Westar En-ergy's power rates as higher thanthe national average. She said alower electrical rate in Coloradowas a key factor for why Viega, aGerman manufacturer of plumbingequipment, didn't move its corpo-rate headquarters to Newton.

Viega announced in May 2016that it was moving from Wichita to

Broomfield, Colo.The Colorado Eco-nomic DevelopmentCommission ap-proved incentivesthat attractedViega's 190 jobs withan average wage of$85,000. Sheltonsaid the EDC hired

Garner Economics to develop a tar-get industry strategy so that Har-vey County could be morecompetitive in attracting such busi-nesses.

“McPherson already has figuredout what gives our northern neigh-bors a competitive advantage—oneof the lowest electrical rates in thenation. Industries paid 4.98 centsper kilowatt per hour in 2016,” said

Energy costs short circuitinglocal industrial recruitment

BY BLAKE SPURNEYSPECIAL TO NEWTON NOW

See ENERGY / 8

Shelton

In her quest to run all the streets inNewton and North Newton this summer,Bev Hunter ran 540 miles. Since an av-erage person walks 2,000 steps in a mile,that's about 1.08 million steps. Not badfor a woman who's almost 71.

However, all of the streets don't com-prise that many miles—some of thosemiles included her running to get to acertain destination and then returning.

“I would run to my destination andrun that and come home,” Hunter said.

At about the same time, Hunter didn't

know another of her fellow Santa Fe 5/6Center teachers, Sharon Cepeda, 60, wasriding her bike on every street in bothtowns as well. One time, they evencrossed paths during their goal-settingwalks/rides. They greeted each other andwent on their merry ways.

Cepeda, a fifth-grade teacher, andHunter, a sixth-grade teacher, after theygot to talking, later found out they bothwere traveling all the streets.

“We don't get to see each other verymuch, but we've enjoyed sharing sto-ries,” Hunter said.

Although this is Hunter's first yeardoing this, Cepeda is more seasoned, as

Meeting a challengeHunter, Cepeda run, bike every street in town

BY WENDY NUGENTNEWTON NOW STAFFwendy@harveycountynow.com

See CHALLENGE / 8

Local police officer recountsrescue operation in Houston

BY WENDY NUGENTNEWTON NOW STAFFwendy@harveycountynow.com

See HOUSTON / 13

WENDY NUGENT/NEWTON NOWBrittany Denson, left, program coordinator and parent educator with Parents as Teachers program, reads toRyker Becker, center, and Ripley Becker.

There's a lot of excite-ment at Brandon andKristin Marple's housewhen books arrive in themail from Dolly Patron'sImagination Librarythrough Harvey CountyUnited Way.

“They're usually reallyexcited,” Kristin said.“They come at differenttimes, so one is alwayslike, 'Where's mine?'”

The Marples' two chil-dren, Landyn McGonigal,4, and Madelynn Marple,3, each get books throughthe U.S. mail throughthis program, which isfor children living inHarvey County frombirth to 5 years.

Kristin said their chil-dren have been in theprogram for about a yearand a half, and the par-ents enrolled the kids forone reason.

“Just to get more

Cracking books can leadto higher graduation rates

BY WENDY NUGENTNEWTON NOW STAFFwendy@harveycountynow.com

See BOOKS / 4

District brings in newChromebooks - Page 3

Harvey Countytown fading away

Page 5

The untreated groundwater in afew parts of Harvey County is poi-soned. It's not fit for a person todrink. It's not fit for a dog. Un-treated, it could kill a young child.In recent years, the problems havegotten worse in some areas. Andthere doesn't seem to be a clear an-swer on what to do about it.

***

When Jocelyn Mendoza saw thehouse, she was in love.

She and husband Greg Bryanhad been looking for a home fortwo years.

The family wasn't necessarilytrying to get out of the City of BelAire, where they lived. But Bryanwanted his two sons, 9 and 11years old, to have the same experi-ence he did.

“I grew up on a farm,” he said. “Iwanted my kids to. I thought Sedg-wick would be a good area for us.”

The property a few miles southof Newton, at 8710 Meridian

No answer to unsafewater for residents� County, family unsure of thecause or what to do about theirwater south of Newton.

BY ADAM STRUNKNEWTON NOW STAFFadam@harveycountynow.com

See WATER / 8

Page 2 www.harveycountynow.com Newton Now September 7, 2017NEWS

TO SUBMIT NEWS: Newton Now welcomes your news and will print it as long as it fits our guidelines. The best way tosubmit news is to e-mail it to adam@harveycountynow.com. You can also drop it by our office at 706 N Main, Newton, Kan.,or mail it to P.O. Box 825, Newton, KS, 67114.

TO ADVERTISE: Newton Now offers retail and classified advertising. We also offer advertising in any newspaper in the statealong with a host of other marketing products. We can build an ad campaign that can fit your budget and reach our loyalreadership. Please contact Bruce Behymer at bbhymer@harveycountynow.com or 316-617-1095. The advertising deadlineis 5 p.m. on Monday for run of the paper ads and Noon on Monday for classified ads.

TO SUBSCRIBE: Subscription requests/renewals may be mailed to P.O. Box 825, Newton, KS, 67114. Your newspaper willbe delivered to your mailbox each Thursday if you live in county and as soon as the post office can get it to you if you live outof county. Single copy price, $1.25; subscription price per year is $50 (includes tax) in Kansas, and $65 out of state. No re-funds on cancellations.

CORRECTIONS POLICY: Newton Now strives to produce an accurate news report each week and will publish correctionswhen needed. To report corrections or clarifications, contact Adam Strunk at editor@harveycountynow.com.

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.TEKCOR PUOE HH TTIT WES DRAE CHN T

Get last slice of summer with roasted zucchiniI’ve been craving get-

ting to play around withfresh vegetables in mykitchen lately. It must besomething about fallbeing right on the horizonthat’s making me want tograsp the last bits of sum-mer gardens.

When I came into pos-session of a few zucchinithis week, I was excited totry a very simple prepara-tion for it that I found on-line. It was delicious andperfectly satisfied mycraving.

This recipe was on thewebsite “CookPad” andwas written by LaTraGuerra. You can find it athttps://cookpad.com/us/recipes/346791-roasted-zuc-chini-and-red-potatoes. Iadjusted the seasoningand the cooking procedurefor my version.

Roasted Potatoes andZucchini

Ingredients6 small red potatoes2 medium-sized zuc-

chini1 tablespoon extra vir-

gin olive oil2 tablespoons butter,

melted1 teaspoon garlic salt1 teaspoon dry basil1 teaspoon oregano1/4 teaspoon cayenne

pepperblack pepper to taste

DirectionsCut the potatoes into

one-inch pieces.In a pot, boil the pota-

toes for about 10 minutesor until tender whenpoked with a fork.

While the potatoescook, slice the zucchini

into 1/2-inch thick halfcircles and line a rimmedbaking sheet with alu-minum foil for easycleanup and set it aside.

Preheat the oven to 450degrees.

In a large bowl, com-bine the spices and thebutter and olive oil. When

the potatoes are ready,drain them well and putthem and the zucchiniinto the bowl and stir tocoat the vegetables well.

Spread them out asevenly as possible on thebaking sheet.

Roast the vegetables forabout 20 minutes. Stir thevegetables and check fortenderness. If they’re notquite to your liking, putthem in for another 10 to20 minutes until they are.

You could also use yel-low potatoes or Russets ifyou like for this recipe.You may just have to ad-just your cooking time abit. Yellow potatoes seemto cook much quicker thanred, and Russets seem totake a bit more time.

I had plenty of left-overs, too, and it reheated

well for my lunch for afew days.

I also thought I’d men-tion that I peeled my zuc-chini because the skinhad quite a few damagedspots, but you definitelywouldn’t need to do thatat all, and I certainly did-n’t peel my potatoes, be-cause I’m a big fan ofpotato skin.

Even though theweather was a bit coolerthis week, I think I stillhave time to snag somefresh veggies before it’stoo late. Of course, it’s al-most winter squash andpumpkin weather, so Idon’t have too much tocomplain about.

Lindsey Young is the co-owner of Newton Now.

She also is a graduate ofBethel College.

LINDSEY YOUNG/NEWTON NOWRoasted potatoes and zucchini is an easy way to prepare summer’s lastgarden remnants.

Nelson wavesevidentiaryhearing in triplehomicide case

After months of the date beingpostponed, Jereme Nelson, suspect ina 2016 triple homicide in northwestHarvey County, has waived his rightto an evidentiary hearing.

The hearing was meant to deter-mine if the prosecution had enoughevidence to press charges againstNelson, who was arrested on suspi-cion of murdering Richard Prouty,52, Travis Street, 33, and AngelaGraeves, 37 in October 2016 in the8600 block of North Spring LakeRoad.

Now the trail against Nelson willcontinue forward. He stands accusedof three counts of first-degree mur-der.

Nelson was arrested in Mexico fol-lowing a manhunt for him. He hasnot entered a plea, and prosecutorDavid Yoder said he waived his rightto a speedy trial.

BY ADAM STRUNKNEWTON NOW STAFFadam@harveycountynow.com

Leonard Pitts coming to North NewtonA well-known syndicated

columnist and award winningjournalist will speak on thepolitical state of the countryfollowing the election of Don-ald Trump at 7 p.m. Tuesday,Sept. 12, in Krehbiel Audito-rium in the Luyken Fine ArtsCenter at Bethel College,North Newton

The speech is part of a cel-ebration of the 30th anniver-sary celebration for KansasInstitute for Peace and Con-flict Resolution (KIPCOR). Itis free and open to the pub-

lic.Pitts is a

Pulitzer Prizewinner forcommentaryand writes asyndicatedcolumn forthe Miami Her-ald that is oneof the most popular in thecountry.

In 2001, he received theAmerican Society of Newspa-per Editors (ASNE) awardfor commentary writing, aswell as Feature of the Year-Columnist from Editor and

Publisher magazine. In 2002,the National Society ofNewspaper Columnists gavePitts its inaugural Columnistof the Year award.

He won the National Asso-ciation of Black Journalists’Award of Excellence threetimes, the Atlantic CityPress Club’s National Head-liners Award five times andthe Society of ProfessionalJournalists’ Green EyeshadeAward seven times. TheNABJ named him Journalistof the Year in 2008.

Pitts will sign books fol-lowing his Sept. 12 talk

Pitts’ appearance atBethel, which is sponsoredby the Newton law firm ofAdrian & Pankratz, and hasthe media sponsorship ofKMUW-FM.

Dan Wassink, chair of theKIPCOR anniversary plan-ning committee, said Pittswas one on the top of thegroups list for the event.

“His insightful commen-tary and unique perspectiveon the social and political is-sues that too often divide usare a perfect fit with thepeace-building mission ofKIPCOR,” Wassink said.

FOR NEWTON NOW

Pitts

NEWS BRIEFS

Retired school personnel to meet FridayHarvey County Association of Retired

School Personnel will meet at 9:30 a.m.Friday, Sept. 8, in the Sunflower Roomat the Newton Recreation Center.

Connie Rickard from Respite Care willgive the program.

Scholarship donations will be col-lected.

Anyone welcome to attendSaturday AAUW meeting

American Association of UniversityWomen (AAUW) is beginning the 2017-2018 year with a brainstorming meetingat 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, in the KIP-COR building on the Bethel College cam-pus, 2515 College Ave. in North Newton.

Interested guests and members areencouraged to come for coffeecake and

coffee/tea, bringing ideas for ways tomake AAUW relevant in the Newtoncommunity and surrounding areas.

AAUW is a nationwide organizationwith more than 100,000 members thatpromotes equity for women and girlsthrough advocacy, education, philan-thropy and research. Everyone is wel-come.

—For Newton Now

Typing just a few let-ters on a keyboard cantake students manyplaces in the world. Theycan see what the Texasflooding situation lookslike through video andphotos on the web, watchfootage from the Char-lottesville demonstrationsand look up slang wordsat urbandictionary.com.

Many students in theNewton school districtnow all have Chrome-books to work on in classor at home, as most of theNewton High School stu-dents have them.

“They're really nice de-vices,” NHS PrincipalLisa Moore said. “They'rea tablet/laptop in one witha touch screen.”

She said the highschoolers got them, andother students in the dis-trict also received them.

There are about 1,050students at the highschool, and Moore saidnow there are fewer than200 students at the schoolwho don't have them. Asof Monday, Aug. 28,Moore was working ongetting a list of studentswho still needed Chrome-books, since some mighthave transferred to an-other school or be enrolledin an online school.Chromebooks also havebeen distributed to othergrades, although whichgrades those are have notbeen released to the news-paper yet. More informa-tion will be released as itbecomes available on thatfront.

“It's been in the worksfor years getting a one-to-one device for students,”Moore said, adding mostschools in the UnitedStates have one-to-one de-vices for students. “Thereare lots of kids who could-n't afford them who paidfor them.”

Students pay a devicefee for the Chromebooks,which is based on income,so they either pay a fullfee, or they're reduced orfree.

“Even kids who are onfree lunches, they still paya fee,” Moore said.

However, for those whohave trouble paying,Moore said the highschool is working with alocal church to help payfor fees for students un-able to pay them.

On a recent Monday,

students in a couple ofNewton High School Eng-lish classes, those of ScottMcCloud and CathlinaBergman, were busyworking on and getting toknow their Chromebooks.In McCloud's ninth-gradeEnglish class, studentstook an assessment teston their devices to seewhat their reading levelis.

One student, CameronKimbrough, said he likesthe Chromebook because,well, “It's a computer.” Healso likes it better than alaptop because of thetouch screen feature.

Another student in Mc-Cloud's class, DanielHurd, also likes theChromebook.

“I like them,” he said. “Ilike that you can bend 'emback and stuff.”

The para-educator inMcCloud's class, Kather-ine Polley, said the kidshad been working withsome kind of Chromebookwhen they were atChisholm Middle Schooland that they probablyknow more about comput-ers than she does.

“I think so far, they'reworking out very well,”Polley said. “It's been veryhelpful so far. I hate tosee textbooks go strictlyonline. There's a lot moreavailable to kids online.So far, they're workingout good. Kids like 'em.”

Bergman had nothingbut positive things to sayabout using the Chrome-books.

“So far, really, reallywell,” she said. “We had afew glitches. Some would-n't charge,” adding stu-dents have been very

patient.She said they haven't

had problems in herclasses so far, and it'skind of cool they can carryit around like a tablet andcan highlight and writeon it, unlike expensivetextbooks they can't writeon.

“A year from now, we'llhave it all down,”Bergman said, adding shethinks they're going tofind more possibilitieswith the devices as theyear progresses.

She said there's a web-site all students log ontowhere they can get andsubmit class assignments.There, students can sendmessages to teacher, andthis was put into placestarting Aug. 16, 2016, aspart of the district gettingChromebooks. Theywanted to have that setup before the students ob-tained their devices.

Bergman said she waspart of the tech team inthe district up until lastyear and that this hasbeen in the works foryears. As part of doing re-search for Chromebooks,Bergman said they visitedschools that were one-on-one, as well as visitingwith administrators andteachers from those dis-tricts.

She said they were aquarter of the price of lap-tops. This helped get the

process going faster.“I was really pleased,”

Bergman said about the

books. “I was really im-pressed. We got a gooddeal.”

September 7, 2017 Newton Now www.harveycountynow.com Page 3NEWS

New devices: District calculates need for Chromebooks

WENDY NUGENT/NEWTON NOWNewton High School English teacher Cathlina Bergman, center, talks to students Branwyn Brees, left, andSerenity Lymer during a recent class while the students have their Chromebooks at the ready.

BY WENDY NUGENTNEWTON NOW STAFFwendy@harveycountynow.com

WENDY NUGENT/NEWTON NOWAiden Meyer works on his Chromebook during a recent ninth-grade Eng-lish class.

Road repairs on NW 36thearn kudos in meeting

NEWTON—HarveyCounty CommissionerRandy Hague said he hadnumerous residents thankhim after a county roadcrew patched potholes onNorthwest 36th

“Positive feedback, andthat's my district,” Haguesaid Tuesday morning atthe Board of HarveyCounty Commissionersmeeting. “No, it's reallynot because it's out of thecity limits. I'm glad we gotit patched up.”

The stretch of road inquestion has been the sub-ject of a dispute betweenNorth Newton and thecounty about who ownsthe road. County Adminis-trator Anthony Swartzen-druber said he had beencommunicating withNorth Newton City Ad-ministrator John Torline.

"The dialogue betweenme and John has beenvery positive,” he said.

County Clerk RickPiepho told commissionersthat three candidatessigned up within an hourof each other on Aug. 30as officer candidates forthe Little Arkansas RiverDrainage District. They

are incum-bent PhilSchmitt,KevinWilliamsonand DavidE. Friesen.Commis-sioners dis-cussed

possible dissolution of thetaxing authority if candi-dates didn’t come forwardbefore the Sept. 1 dead-line.

In other business, com-missioners:

Approved zoning dedica-tions for Whitetail Cross-ing, a 73-acre propertythat is two miles east ofHesston on Dutch Avenue.The property consists ofsix lots. Planning and Zon-ing Director Gina Bellsaid nothing could be builton a 21-acre lot because itregularly was subject toflooding.

Authorized Swartzen-druber to sign a memoran-dum of understanding foran $11,648 grant that willbe used to purchase radiosfor the county’s drug taskforce.

Paid weekly bills total-ing $110,626.75.

Went into executive ses-sion for 10 minutes to con-sult with county counselorGreg Nye.

BY BLAKE SPURNEYSPECIAL TO NEWTON NOW

Hague

Subscribe to Newton Nowby calling 316-281-7899!

books,” Kristin said.“They like books.”

As a matter of fact, thekids like books so much,leafing through them atbedtime is almost a dailyritual.

“They enjoy doing any-thing with books,” Bran-don said. “They like lyingin bed and flippingthrough books. They can'tread yet. It's almost anightly tradition forthem.”

In addition to theyoungsters flippingthrough books them-selves, their parents alsoread to them.

“Sometimes it's hard tokeep their attention, butwe try,” Brandon said.“The opportunity to getmore books gives themmore variety and differ-ent opportunities tolearn.”

The Marples have alarge bookcase filled withjust children's books, aswell as a basket filledwith books that are baby-style books.

“If I had more bookspace, I'd probably havemore books,” Kristin said.

Landyn and Madelynnattend preschool atCooper Early EducationCenter in Newton, andUnited Way works withthe school to get kids en-rolled in the program,which is totally free.

“It's a good way to justget books into the home,”said Brittany Denson,program coordinator andparent educator with Par-ents as Teachers. “We re-ally encourage thatparent/child interaction.It helps promote thathealthy attachment be-tween parent and child.”

She added a lot of thereason they like the pro-gram is to promote lan-guage and literacy.

“This is a big exampleof the communicationskills that can go on, andthat's why we promotethe program,” Densonsaid, pointing to SandyPuckett reading to hertwin grandchildren Rip-ley and Ryker Becker,who are in the Parents asTeachers program andalso get books throughthe Dolly Parton library.

“They look forward tothese books,” said Puck-ett, who is the children'sdaycare provider, as well.“I wasn't one to watchTV. We read a lot ofbooks.”

She said this startedhappening after the twinswere born, and nowthey're 2-1/2 years old.

“They still grab booksoff the shelf,” Puckettsaid.

Dolly Parton's Imagina-tion Library is a set of 60books that starts off with“The Little Engine ThatCould,” and there's ab-solutely no cost to fami-lies. Forms to sign kidsup are available at Har-vey County United Way,103 E. Broadway, and atCooper.

“The program was obvi-ously started by DollyParton and the Dolly Par-ton Foundation,” saidTina Payne, HarveyCounty United Way direc-tor, adding Parton's fa-ther was unable to read.“She decided to do this inher own little county.”

The Imagination Li-

brary was popular, andnow the Foundation hasexpanded it across thecountry and other Eng-lish-speaking countries.

In Canada, Australia,Great Britain and theUnited States, there are1.1 million children regis-tered. As of Thursday,Aug. 31, there were 627children registered inHarvey County, with 312who graduated off of theprogram, since they fin-ish at age 5.

Even though kids onlycan start getting books atbirth, Payne said they'vehad parents register kidsbefore that.

“Actually, I've receivedregistration cards for peo-ple who haven't beenborn yet,” Payne said.

When Payne made apresentation one time,she said a man came upto her and said his wifewas pregnant andhanded her an enroll-ment card, adding he did-n't want to forget to dothat. Now, the couple isexpecting their secondchild.

The local efforts forImagination Librarystarted in April 2015, andchildren enrolled get age-appropriate books. Sometitles include “Home forBunny” and “GoodnightGorilla.” Payne said herdaughter's favorite bookis “Betty Bunny Didn'tDo It.”

Although the programis free for children, themoney to fund it has tocome from somewhere.

“Most of the cost for theprogram is covered by theDolly Parton Founda-tion,” Payne said, addingUnited Way pays $2.10per book for each child,which comes to $26 ayear.

That covers postageand some of the cost ofthe books. The UnitedWay funds come from theannual campaign andfrom anyone who wantsto sponsor a child at $26a year.

In addition, Payne saidanyone can enroll a childwho meets the criteria—being from birth to age 5and residing in HarveyCounty. There are no in-come requirements.

“[The United Way]board said we believe allchildren need access to

quality books,” Paynesaid.

They've strategicallygrown the program byworking with children atCooper Early EducationCenter, believing they'rereaching kids who are atrisk, children with spe-cial heath-care needs andother children who haveother risk factors.

“By working withCooper Early EducationCenter, I had cards goingout to their homes,”Payne said.

On Thursday, Paynehad a pile of registrationforms filled out to enrollmore children. Thereeven was an envelopemailed in from the Wi-chita Airport Authority.

“I'm going to registerall of these kids,” Paynesaid, adding the founda-tion told them it wouldtake them five years toget to the enrollmentthey're at right now,which happened in twoyears.

They're only two yearsin, and they're at 82 per-cent of what the founda-tion estimated they'd beat based on population.

Payne said those peo-ple who benefit from theprogram give her greatfeedback.

“Tremendous supportand positive feedback,”she said. “When I do in-teract with parents, I'mtold kids get so excitedwhen the book arrives inthe mail. It's somethingfor them. That's the in-tangible. Kids don't getmail.”

She said kids wanttheir books read to themimmediately and daily,and they want them readto them until the newbooks arrive.

There are a variety ofbenefits of the programand reading to children.There's the interactionbetween parents (orgrandparents or others intheir lives) and the chil-dren. The program alsohelps parents find time tospend with the kids.

“Parents are so busy,”Payne said. “Parents areworking two jobs, threejobs and by kids saying,‘Please read to me,’ par-ents are prompted tomake time.”

There's another reasonwhy United Way facili-

tates the program.“Why we do it is be-

cause the evidence [says]if there is access to booksand reading prior tokindergarten, [it] leads tokindergarten readiness,”Payne said. “Kinder-garten readiness has adirect link to third-gradereading proficiency.Third-grade reading levelhas a direct link to highschool graduation rate.”

This all helps the com-munity as a whole.

“That's why we're doingit because we believe a$26 investment in ayoung child today willoverall improve the highschool graduation rate inour community, whichleads to a healthier com-munity,” Payne said,adding people then willhave a greater chance ofbecoming employed andproviding housing fortheir families.

She said Reno Countydid a kindergarten readi-ness study and found outafter four years with theImagination Library pro-gram there, the kinder-garten readiness ratewent from 46 percent to74 percent in only four

years.“So, we've just decided

that data is good enough

for us,” Payne said. “Myboard has said we are allin on this.”

Page 4 www.harveycountynow.com Newton Now September 7, 2017NEWS

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WENDY NUGENT/NEWTON NOWKristin Marple, left, and daughter Madelynn Marple, 3, imitate some-thing in a book the two look at while they're at Cooper Early EducationCenter in Newton. The Marples' two children are enrolled in the DollyParton Foundation's Imagination Library through Harvey County UnitedWay.

BOOKSFrom Page 1

WENDY NUGENT/NEWTON NOWBrandon Marple, right, watches as Landyn McGonigal looks over a book.

The Newton City Pool isaging, future repairscould be costly, and it'stime for the city to startplanning about what to doabout it.

That's the messagefrom City Manager BobMyers. Myers said he wasdirected by the commis-sion to begin looking atplanning for the future ofthe pool. Myers said what-ever plan the city settleson—repairing the citypool, replacing it or look-ing at a different option—will take a good amount oftime to settle and involvea large amount of commu-nity input.

“All I've done is metwith Brian Bascue andsaid we need to start thediscussion and look intothe issue,” Myers saidabout recent discussion ofthe pool’s future with theNewton Recreation Board,which manages the pool.

Myers said future costsof pool repairs could becostly, and those costsneed to be figured up foran informed conversationabout the city pool's fu-ture to be had.

“We don't know howmuch longer it's going tobe until the pool requiresadditional expenses,”Myers said. “We're goingto need to look at whatthe costs are and what dowe need to do.”

He listed the main poolpumps and chlorinatorsbeing up for replacementeventually.

“Those things have acertain amount of usefullife,” he said. “There's con-cerns about at what pointare we going to have tostart replacing equip-ment. At some point, we'llbegin having some leak-age problems. What's it

going totake to fixthat?”

The citydid providesome infor-mation onthe cost ofreplace-ments onTuesday.

Numbers from the engi-neering office stated thatsand pump removal andreplacement would costan estimated $45,000.Trash pump replacementwould cost around $7,000.Other costs, such as fixingthings, replacing pooljoints, concrete cracks andbathrooms would rangeunder $10,000 whenadded together. In its list-ing of costs, the city alsostated that the estimatedvalue of the water it pro-vided the pool was $7,342for 2017.

Whatever the futureholds for the Newton Pool,attendance numbers showit's a broadly used cityamenity.

According to numbersprovided by Bascue, at-tendance at the pool thisyear was 12,546 visits.2016 attendance was16,389 visits, and 14,626visits for 2015.

A large amount of poolusers are families andchildren.

Myers said the city justclosing the pool down isnot a viable option forNewton moving forward.

“That would be a netloss for the community,”he said. “We have to havesomething. But what is itthat we need to have?There's got to be a lot ofopportunity for publicinput on this.”

The Rec Commissioncovers the operations ofthe pool, but as the cityowns it, Newton coversmajor repairs.

As with most municipalpools, the Newton City

Pool costs money to runeach year.

From 2013 to 2016, av-erage expenditures ex-ceeded revenues by$50,500, which is fundedthrough the Rec Commis-sion’s budget.

Myers said the future ofswimming in Newtoncould go a number of waysfrom his viewpoint.

One would be the citywould allocate funds even-tually for pool repairs andkeep the pool.

Another path could in-clude building a waterpark. Myers mentionedthat area cities, such asMcPherson, had waterparks, and that could bean amenity upgrade forthe future. And, in an-other scenario, the City ofNewton could work withor partner with an exist-ing entity to develop awater park.

The obvious “existingamenity” would be theNewton YMCA.

Discussion of a possiblefuture water park at theNewton YMCA swirledwhen the YMCA first an-nounced a location inNewton.

It operates outdoorwater parks with lazyrivers, large slides andzero entry pools in otherarea locations, such as theNorth West WichitaYMCA.

Any development onthat end didn't sound likeit would be happeningsoon.

Myers said he had notreached out to the YMCAto start any discussionsabout partnering on apark.

Newton YMCA DirectorTera Thomas has re-mained mum on such anissue in the past. Whenrecently asked about it,she directed the questionto Shelly Conrady of theGreater Wichita YMCA,as the decision involved

the whole group, not justthe Newton YMCA.

Conrady said a lot ofbrainstorming took placewhen the Y was coming toNewton, however she saidthere wasn't space at thecurrent facility.

“We don't have extraland,” she said. “It's not inany of our immediateplans this point in time.Our number one priorityis to fully utilize the spacethat we have. That doesinclude that amazing in-door aquatic center.”

She did say the YMCAis always willing to have aconversation on howeverit could help the commu-nity.

In all, Myers said look-ing at what to do aboutthe future of Newton'sswimming pool was some-thing he was directed todo at his annual employ-ment review with the citycommission. But he saidproceeding will be a largeamount of talk and ananalysis before any deci-sion gets made.

“Again, we're only juststarting this discussion,”he said. “I would perceivethis being a discussionthat will go on for a while.We've done better whenwe've provided a long pe-riod of time for publicinput. I don't see this asbeing a case for anythingdifferent.”

The Harvey CountyCommission will soon of-ficially vacate the roadsof Patterson, what oncewas a town south of Bur-rton. Long ago, the townhad eight blocks plotted,with a post office, barbershop and general store.Now all that will mark itas the roads fade into pri-vate property is the loneconcrete grain elevator.

Without the Red Scare,the elevator itself would-n't be standing.

John Young, who livesin the area, said his fa-ther-in-law, C.F. Murphy,was looking for a place toerect an elevator about1950. President of theMount Hope elevatorcompany, Murphy firstwent to Burrton, but themayor and a banker ex-pressed their disdain forcooperatives.

"They didn't want it inBurrton," Young said."They said cooperativeswere socialistic."

Patterson previouslyhad two grain elevators ofthe old tin variety and astockyard, along withpassenger and freight de-pots. Young said the ele-vator built by hisfather-in-law was one ofthe first concrete eleva-tors in the area. In fact,the Hutchinson construc-tion company patentedthe method for how theconcrete was poured.

"This was the onlything that kept Pattersonfrom blowing off themap," Young said.

Patterson, named forearly settler James Pat-

terson, once consisted ofeight blocks, four on eachside of Central Avenue,according to a historywritten by Evelyn HuntJones. Her grandparents,Dr. Thomas S. and SusanBarbee Hunt, owned theland on which the townwas laid out in September1888. They also deededthe right of way to theKansas Midland RailroadCompany, the progenitorof the town's existence.The railroad ran from Wi-chita to Medora, N.D.

The old sign that oncestood in front of the Pat-terson depot still stands,but one has to use imagi-nation to see the pathonce made by railroadtracks. Ted Anderson,who works at the Farm-ers Co-Op Elevator Com-pany in Patterson,pointed south at little in-dentations in a fieldwhere one can make outthe old railroad path. Hesaid the big curve headedinto the former townclearly was visible from

atop the elevator.As Jones pointed out,

the town owed its exis-tence to the railroad. Andtrains continued rollingthrough decades afterPatterson ceased func-tioning as an incorpo-rated city. KansasMidland Railroad eventu-ally was acquired by theSt. Louis-San FranciscoRailway, and the Friscomerged into BurlingtonNorthern in 1980, theyear the train traffic died.

Jones noted that twopassenger trains used tocome through Pattersonin the early days.

"On Thursdays, ice wasshipped in by train, andneighboring farmerswould make a trip to Pat-terson with their teamand wagon to purchase itfor their ice boxes," shewrote in a June 3, 1999,story in the Mount HopeClarion. William W. Cot-ton also would drive hishorse and buggy intotown and deliver freshmilk to townsfolk.

Jones' great-grandfa-ther was one of thefounders of FriendshipBaptist Church, whichbegan holding services atStar School in 1878. Huntdonated two lots on whichthe church was built in1888. It later becameFriendship FundamentalBaptist Church, and thebuilding was moved in1960.

Young, 87, said a fewpeople might still be alivewho attend the church,which he remembered asa thriving institution. Hetold a story, which hesaid he couldn't verify,about a preacher whodrove around in the 1940swith a loud speaker atophis car. The preacher"was quite outspoken andcreated quite a stir inPatterson," Jones said.According to him, thepreacher sat on the Friscorailroad track and de-clared a train would notrun over him because theLord would protect him.

Jones noted that Pat-terson once had a generalstore, post office and ahotel with a barber shopand cafe. Julius Parkerserved as innkeeper andbarber. Patterson evenhad its own baseballteam. The town counted30 residences in the 1910census.

According to Jones,Charles Pendleton Shiveoperated the generalstore. A Mr. Bachtel lateracquired the store andran it until 1926. Afterthe store and hotel ceasedto operate, residents usedthe buildings to house ex-hibits at the town's an-nual fair. They also heldoyster suppers, cakewalks

and box suppers in theformer store. About 500people attended a Patter-son homecoming atFriendship BaptistChurch in 1939.

Young said he couldn'tthink of anyone still alivewho might know detailsabout Patterson's demise.He remembers it as a"halfway thriving commu-nity at one time." He'sheard stories abouttownsfolk banding to-gether to overcome aplague of jackrabbits thatwas destroying the crops.The town held jackrabbithunts in which peoplewould set up wire fencesand drive the rodents to

the other side where oth-ers would club them.Jones' story in the MountHope Clarion is accompa-nied by a 1903 phototaken of dozens of men infront of the general storeafter a 1903 hunt.

Now, the only activityin what was Patterson oc-curs during the wheat,soybean and corn har-vests.

"Gradually, after theclosing of the store andhotel, and as peoplemoved away or died, thetown also began to die,"Jones wrote.

"It degenerated off likeall small Kansas townsdo," Young said.

September 7, 2017 Newton Now www.harveycountynow.com Page 5NEWS

PUBLIC NOTICE

Published in the Newton Now on September 7, 14, and 21, 2017.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Published in the Newton Now on September 7, 14, and 21, 2017.

Ghost towns: Only an elevator soon will mark PattersonBY BLAKE SPURNEY

SPECIAL TO NEWTON NOWsports@harveycountynow.com

BLAKE SPURNEY/NEWTON NOWPatterson is one of the ghost towns of Harvey County.

City pool staying around, but future to be discussedBY ADAM STRUNKNEWTON NOW STAFFadam@harveycountynow.com

Myers

Page 6 www.harveycountynow.com Newton Now September 7, 2017OPINION

The Republican Ice Cream So-cial ain't what it used to be.But then again perhaps we

need boring.I've looked forward to the event

the past three years I've coveredit.

The Republican President mightview the media as the enemy ofAmerica.

But the Republican's of HarveyCounty are usually pretty friendlyto me at the event. A good manysubscribe to the paper, so thathelps.

We talk about taxes and such. Itseems that wherever you are onthe spectrum, you can agree onthings such as water rates, the vi-ability of a bond issue and theneed to hold elected officials ac-countable.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyedworking the event and writing thestory.

But I found myself let down. There was no Kris Kobach to

headline it. I don't agree with theman on anything. But he's a heckof a speaker, even if it's only togive me something to rail againstin a column the next week. And heusually draws protestors.

There was no Mike Pompeo, whoagain I didn't see eye to eye with.But he could work a crowd and didhave a way of helping clear upproblems for some of our smallergovernments.

Gone even were the chippy de-bates between local primary candi-dates that highlighted last year'ssocial.

Sen. Carolyn McGinn packs apunch when she gets going, withher dry wit and dead pan deliveryof farm sense.

Nope, in her place was justvanilla. Vanilla ice cream, too.

Ron Estes gave a long talk onthe need to repeal corporate taxesand provide large companies reliefso they can bring all their billionsof dollars stashed overseas to theU.S. to squirrel away wherever inhedge funds or trust funds fortheir over-privileged offspring.

President George the Secondtried such a tax holiday for corpo-rations, by the way. Didn't work.Get with the times, Ron.

Then there were the two gover-nor candidates. So far I think I'veinterviewed perhaps seven or so ofwhat seems like 40 candidates inthe last few years, including fourin the last few months.

I wasn't especially impressed byLieutenant Governor Colyer. Theman hates a straight answer. Hewants the ship to go a different di-rection. Meanwhile, he's been firstmate to Ahab for the last eightyears as the captain chased thegreat white whale of the LafferCurve. That metaphor was per-haps as much a labor as readingMoby Dick, but hey, sinking shipsfit when it comes to the state's ad-ministration.

He also spoke about how muchthe state has saved on KanCarepayments. The state is way behindon making KanCare payments. It'seasy to save money when you just

don't pay the bills. It's way behindon payments to most state health-care providers. That doesn't bodewell in Newton, with large indus-tries, and if he tries that line witha less friendly crowd, the man'sgoing to get roasted. I got to talk toColyer by happenstance, as I wasstanding waiting to chat with Car-olyn McGinn. She was in conversa-tion with Colyer and pulled a“Have you met Adam?” move. Ithought I saw her smirk as Colyergot stuck trying to avoid answer-ing actual questions. I didn’t get aton of concrete answers.

As for Ken Selzer, he seems likea nice enough certified public ac-countant. He's also into theChisholm Trail, so that's a plus.His brother was there and seemedlike a nice guy. And that's all I re-ally remember a few days after thefact.

If I had to pick one of the GOPbunch, I'd probably go with Ed O'-Malley. The diehards will stonehim during the primary, as heseems like he could genuinelymake the state a better place. JimBarnett is fine, too. Hearing himtalk, it's impossible to believe hewas the Republican nominee forgovernor. Now he sounds morelike a progressive. How far thatparty has moved to the right.

There didn't seem to be much ofa hard right present at the parkthat night.

At the end of the day, everyonehad a friendly, if not subdued, out-ing. No one tried to keep me in acage. No one started an im-promptu “Lock Her Up” chant oryelled about illegal people. No onebrought out shields and bodyarmor. There were no red hats.

Republican Ice Cream Social has vanilla, candidates

Columns

Editorial

Letters PolicyWRITE: Letters to the editor, Newton Now - 706 N.

Main, Newton, KS. E-MAIL: editor@harveycountynow.com

We welcome letters of general interest to the commu-nity and reserve the right to edit for clarification orlength. Letters should be fewer than 400 words, andwriters are limited to one letter every other week. Let-ters are due by noon on Monday before publication andmust be signed with the writer’s name, address andphone number for verification purposes. Only the nameand hometown will be included in the printed letter.

We do not publish poetry, open or anonymous lettersor letters printed elsewhere. Sometimes, due to volume,letters may need to hold although this is not normallythe case.

There's somethingin the water

When I go visit my parentssome weekends in Man-hattan, which is where

I’m from, I find myself reminisc-ing. This past weekend, I sat inthe living room with my dad,watching a science-fiction movie,“Book of Eli.” It was nice and re-laxing.

And then I remembered when Iwas around 10 years old, he and Iused to watch sci-fi movies to-gether while my mom took my sis-ter to go march for civil rights.This was when we lived in Wiscon-sin. Seemed like I got sick a lotwhen I was a kid, so I’d stay homewith my dad and watch scarymovies like “Green Slime” and“Monolith Monsters,” while mymom and sister were out marchingfor others.

On this past trip, my momwanted me to get some Halloweendecorations down, as well as a fewboxes, from a kitchen cupboardway up high, which I did. I put thedecorations around like she askedme to, and then she started look-ing for her mother’s birth certifi-cate, which is why she wanted meto get those boxes down. I didn’task her why she wanted or neededit. I just figured she had a reason.

In her searching, she cameacross some photos of me as a kid,one of which was a high schoolsenior portrait. I snapped a photoof said portrait with my phone andsent to it my boyfriend. Back whenthat photo was taken, I neverdreamed I’d have a little computerI’d carry around in my purse thatcould take photos, search some-thing called the Internet and sendphotos anywhere in the world. Somy boyfriend said to me after hegot the photo like, “Well, you’vebeen beautiful for a long time.” Itook it as a compliment instead ofthinking he was saying I’m old.Ha.

So I spent a nice weekend with

my parents, which I usually don’tdo by myself, as one of my kidsusually is there. It was nice hav-ing some time with my mom, shop-ping for Halloween things.However, on Sunday night, I wasexercising in my parents’ livingroom with no shoes on andslammed my foot down on some-thing hard. The only other pain Ican relate that pain to was when Ibroke my ankle a few years ago. Itwasn’t that extreme, but it was asimilar kind of pain. They saysprains hurt worse than breaks.I’ve had both, and I think breakshurt way more.

So I might have a broken toe.The bruise is a lovely shade of pur-ple running down one of my longertoes (the one next to my big toe). Italmost matches the new OPI nailpolish I got called “I’m Really Nota Waitress.” (I actually used to bea waitress, but I’m not anymore.)

Anyway, as I write this after re-turning home around 8:45 p.m. onMonday night, getting my sonRodger to come over and fix my In-ternet, trying to find an app thatwill transpose a video I made for astory a few weeks ago and havingno luck, driving to Rodger’s officeto use such an app, only to have itmisinterpret pretty much every-thing that was said to it, taking anhour to transpose about eight min-utes of tape, going to my son’shouse to get some medical tape I

can use to wrap my toe to theother toes, coming home to writethis and maybe get in some exer-cise, it’s now about 12:44 a.m. onTuesday. Yes, I’m a night person.

Anyway, someday I might remi-nisce about these days.

Back to my childhood, however.The last time I left my parents’house, for some reason, maybehunger, I thought about the neatthings I used to eat as a kid,things my parents or I made. I re-call my dad making what he calledcoffee milk for my sister and me onweekend mornings, which wasprobably 99 percent milk andsugar and one percent coffee.That’s a nice memory from mydad. He also made HamburgerHelper or something, I think,which I liked.

My mom made lots of things,like turning leftover piecrust intothese little cinnamon and sugarrollups or half circles filled withjelly, “good sandwiches,” whichwere cold cuts, pickles and mus-tard on hot dog buns cooked in theoven, Chinese food, almond-fla-vored Christmas wreath cookieswith a nice white frosting, straw-berry jam, Grandma Morford’shomemade noodles and blackberrycream pie. Those are just some ofthe things.

I think we all have good memo-ries from childhood, and some ofthose involve food. Even folks withnot-so-great childhoods have fondmemories of some things, like food.

I just want to say to my parents,thanks for making those nicememories for me. They’ve lasted along time! It's nice to have suchmemories as I get older and knowhow important it is for me as amom and possible future grandmato make comforting, good memo-ries for kids.

Wendy Nugent is the features editor for Newton Now.

A yummy trip down memory lane

Drink in some delicious bacteria and contaminants.That's the frothy taste of freedom.

We have grown used to safety in this country: saferoads, safe neighborhoods, safe food and safe drinkingwater.

Rarely do we look at the tap water in fear of para-sites or diarrhea. Those are problems we see only whenwe vacation in what we still call the “third world”. Wewon the biological lottery because we were, sing itBruce Springsteen, born in the U.S.A!

Sorry, Africans. At least you have the MennoniteCentral Committee digging you some wells in Uganda.

Their services might soon be needed closer to home. In some parts of the country, in some parts of the

state, in some parts of this county, drinking untreatedtap water could kill a child.

“What?” you say. Is this Newton Now just trying tosell copies of the newspaper?

We'll make you a deal. We pick a well in the countyfor you to feed to your toddler or grandchild, and ifthey finish the glass, we'll tell you you're right. Do youwant the ones with bacteria contamination or nitrates?

Because wells in this county have problems withboth.

Most notable, and what got us on this topic, is ni-trate contamination.

Recently, the county found nitrate levels nearly 10times the level considered safe for drinking after testson a well south of Newton. Why does that matter?High nitrate levels in water can kill newborns fromblue-baby syndrome. It's called blue, because the chil-dren suffocate due to the nitrates preventing theirblood from carrying oxygen.

The recent jump in nitrates the county found wassignificant—three times higher than levels found inthe area three years ago. For context, the City ofHaven, southwest of here, had to put in a water treat-ment plant when their nitrate levels hit 12 parts permillion. Well levels in the county tested at 95 ppm.That's the highest level County Environmental Direc-tor Gina Bell had ever seen. Normally, they'd look for afeed lot or other large nitrogen producer to explainsuch a jump. But apparently there's none in the area.Oh, well.

We only know about this jump in nitrate levels be-cause Harvey County, on its own dollar, continues totest wells involved in property sales.

The state canceled its payments for the Local Envi-ronmental Protection Plan, which funded the testing,about five years back.

It's good our local government provides at least somelimited form of protections. It can't tell people not todrink the water, but it can at least inform propertyowners of a problem.

So now, reader, you're sitting there at home saying,“Well, there's always the Kansas Department ofHealth and Environment.”

Well, perhaps. County officials are not optimistic or holding their

breath for any KDHE help. We hate regulatory organizations in this state and

regularly work to dismantle them. That is, untilthere's a legit problem. We define legit problem as onethat affects us and not other people.

There's been staff cuts with KDHE, just like every-where else, thanks to the freedoms of our limited(broke) Kansas government. Apparently there havebeen enough staff cuts that the agency couldn't bebothered to return a phone call about our water story,a phone call to ask the agency if it could or would doanything about the water pollution.

So what now? Call the EPA? The EPA's responsible for public drinking systems,

not well water.The president's budget calls to cut the EPA by 31

percent. Heading the EPA now is Scott Pruitt, whomade a career of suing the EPA for fewer regulationsas Oklahoma's attorney general. That included suingto block the Clean Water Rule, which provides moreprotections to creeks, streams and headwaters againstpollution.

The current administration is working to repeal theclean water rule, making America great again

All of that leads us to the simple conclusion of recom-mending that if you're not drinking public water, youget your water tested, because no one is looking out foryou.

Many of you might note that you drank well wateryour entire life and are fine. The reporter working onthe water story did, too, and holds that his family'sfarm has the best tasting water in the whole darnstate. He then called his mother and told her to get ittested.

Water is only this week's current topic. Next weekcould be our roads. The state took billions away fromfilling potholes to plug budget holes.

How about our food?The president's budget had a proposed a 30-percent

cut to the food and drug administration—though hehasn't had much luck getting even his own party to ap-prove of any of his plans.

What we've seen locally are sweeping cuts that re-move much more than fat from government and in-stead cut to the bone, crippling the safety nets thathave been in place for decades and that we take forgranted. That's good news for polluters and those hav-ing to dedicate profit margin to not ruining shared re-sources but not much good for the little guys locally,like Jocelyn Mendoza, who lives in Harvey County andhas to have a chemistry lab to make her water potable.

This reality represents our new American freedom:the freedom to pollute, the freedom to get sick, thefreedom to simply not give a damn. It's a freedom peo-ple of the developing world have long enjoyed and con-tinue to enjoy as they bury the 502,000 people whoannually die of water related illnesses.

Drink up!

—Newton Now Editorial Board

MANAGING EDITOR

ADAM STRUNK

WENDY’S WORDS

WENDY NUGENT

See STRUNK / 7

Last week, I led a session at the local library on howto spot “fake news.” Roughly 20 people attended—agroup that was genuinely concerned about how

they could be better consumers of news and fight thegrowing efforts online to mislead people and inflametheir sensitivities.

I offered as an example the now somewhat infamousphotograph of an airport in Houston, with the planes onthe terminal all nearly submerged under the floodwatersfrom Hurricane Harvey.

The image, I told them, was an artist’s Photoshop workof what LaGuardia airport in New York would look like ifsea levels rose. It was part of a project on climate change,repurposed and spread around as if it was happeningnow, in Houston.

Some in the class asked how they’d be able to tell itwas a fake. It looked like a real photo, and under the cir-cumstances, it seemed feasible. I offered an easy solution:look for the story in the local news for that area. If, infact, one of Houston’s airports was underwater, you couldbe certain that the Houston Chronicle would have a storyabout it. Without some local reporting on something thatreaches a national audience, it’s almost certain that thestory didn’t hap-pen.

In an era of in-stant communica-tion and socialnetworks thatallow news tospread across thecountry with light-ning speed, there’sa duty for readersto be thoughtfullycritical in their as-sessment of astory’s validity. And while this might seem like a newphenomenon, it isn’t. Fake news has always been around,in various forms. Recall those old photos of a man ridinga giant grasshopper in Western Kansas or the variousadvertisements for Dr. So-and-So’s cure all elixir. Some-times, even the news of the day had to be viewed with ahealthy dose of skepticism, and as always, the source car-ried consideration.

As I prepared for class, I recalled a research paper I didin college on the westward expansion of the railroad intoKansas. I read through a lot of papers from the middlepart of the 1800s, a time when there was a strong effortto recruit strong farming families to the area. Pamphletsand articles had been produced and distributed through-out the country and in Europe, talking about the greatfertility of the Kansas prairie.

This land had once been so empty it earned themoniker “The Great American Desert.” Farmers wererightly skeptical about whether they could scratch out aliving here. But the railroads and local town boosterssoon countered with news of additional rainfall. Thesteam engine had been releasing large amounts of mois-ture into the air, such articles read, increasing theamount of annual rainfall. Likewise, as farmers plowedinto the grass-covered ground, the articles said, moisturetrapped underground had been released into the air, cre-ating additional rainfall. I even remember one articlethat said a man could grow a peach tree from pit to fruitin less than five years, thanks to this robust rainfall.Thus was born the idea that “rain follows the plow.”

Technology has allowed fake news to be distributed tomore people in a rapid fashion and has, at times, made itmore difficult to uncover the truth, but fake news isn’tsomething that’s news.

The responsibility to sort out the patently false fromeverything else is today, as much as it was yesterday, onthe reader. The delivery method might be different, butthe desire of some to mislead and incite the many hasn’tchanged much over the years.

Jason Probst serves the 102nd District in the KansasHouse of Representatives. He writes his column for

Kansas Publishing Ventures newspapers after serving asan editor and writer at the Hutchinson News the last 15years. He can be reached at thatguyinhutch@gmail.com.

“Well, put on some skates. Beyour own hero.” —Whip It

Iwas chatting with a highschool friend recently, and dur-ing the course of our conversa-

tion she told me her new hobby isroller derby.

My first response was mentallyand literally, “What?!” If you knewher, knew us, back then, my reac-tion would make perfect sense. Wewere the two who kicked back onthe bleachers while our classmatesplayed dodge ball in the gym. Wemostly laid around on the grass atjunior high track meets. While themajority of our classmates ran to-ward the competition, we simplystood idly on the sidelines, noteven bothering to run the otherway.

Of course, we’re not exactly whowe were back then. Ideally, no oneshould be so many years down theroad. But this bit of news from heris exactly why I love both catchingup with my longtime friends andthis current decade of life we findourselves in.

If this friend would have told me20 years ago that she was takingup roller derby, I probably wouldhave been surprised, but afternothing more than a quickchuckle, jumped back on the Fris-bee golf course, continuing onwithout a second thought. Wewere in our early 20s after all—itwas the time of trying whatevercame our way.

But hearing this from her now,which she casually prefaced with

“call it a midlife crisis,” made mesmile and be thankful for just howunpredictable and fun this time oflife can and should be.

Writer Ayesha Pervez saidabout this phase of life, “She nowknows herself better than be-fore...her inhibitions are negligi-ble; and no longer feels the need toprove herself.... The result: sero-tonin flowing through her bloodstream. And the happy hormonecomes from doing things sheloves.”

I’m fairly sure life wants us toplateau—raising kids and main-taining a job and house are neces-sary and time-consuming choicesand responsibilities. They may beincredibly rewarding things, too,but what about all that other stuffout there?

What about roller derby?Competitive alternatives like

boredom, idleness and compla-cency are hovering not-so-pa-tiently just out of sight.

“There’s no excuse to be bored.Sad, yes. Angry, yes. Depressed,yes. Crazy, yes. But there’s no ex-

cuse for boredom, ever.” —VigoMortensen

“Idleness is to the human mindlike rust in to iron.” —Ezra Cor-nell 

“I try to put myself in uncom-fortable situations. Complacencyis my enemy.” —Trent Reznor

I would venture to say a“midlife” mom with three kidshauling herself to practices andworkouts to try out for a rollerderby team at 40-something isanything but complacent. Or idle.Or bored.

I haven’t personally tried rollerderby. And just for clarification, Iwon’t be. She can have that one allto herself. But that’s beside thepoint—the reminder is what mat-ters the most. The reminder thatplateaus aren’t dead ends butspring boards onto something justslightly out of our sights. They’reopportunities to remind our bodiesof their capabilities. And ourminds of their capacities.

And something else I find im-portant—especially helpful toward off any guilty feelings fortaking serious time for ourselves—what better gift to a family thanan adventurous, fear-facing, inde-pendent female leader?

After all, as writer Pervez alsosaid, “A happier woman is a bet-ter boss, daughter, wife andmother. But above all, she is justhappier.”

Shelley Plett in a graphic de-signer for Kansas Publishing

Ventures.

September 7, 2017 Newton Now www.harveycountynow.com Page 7OPINION

Several weeks ago, I becameafflicted with writer’s block,where the cold and unfeeling

keys on my computer desktopseemed to stare up at me in mock-ery of my cogitative void.

It really hasn’t been that I’velacked ideas for things to writeabout. Most days, one could simplyopen up a newspaper or turn on atelevision to produce a laundry listof nonsensical storylines. But I tryto stay in the middle of the roadwith regard to politics—at least asfar as what others read. So, asidefrom an unending list of folks des-tined to receive Darwin awards be-cause they tried to contribute tohuman evolution by selectingthemselves out of the gene pool, Iusually rely on my family for in-spiration.

And they’ve essentially let medown since vacation. By that, Imean we haven’t had any unusualadventures, aside from a womanwho mistakenly opened our frontdoor and stepped into our livingroom one afternoon. She had got-ten the house numbers correct butwas one street south of where afamily actually expected her ar-rival.

So I’ve been struggling to thinkof something worthy of penning…

I suppose a logical choice for astory would be my son, Brett’sstart of his senior year at NewtonHigh School and how he has al-ready been accepted into three col-leges: Kansas University, WichitaState University and Southwest-ern College. I could gush about all

the pride that I feel.I might also reflect on all the

things I wished I would have paidattention to when I was preparingto graduate from high school.Brett is approaching the momentwhen he will take his last highschool pop quiz and walk througha line for the last time in alphabet-ical order. Those moments hetakes for granted today—roamingthe hallways, filing out of thebuilding during a fire drill or eventossing things into his locker—willbecome memories and a few ran-dom photos that intermittentlypop up on a social media timelinein years to come.

There will be important peoplefrom his class today who disappearover the next few years for a vari-ety of reasons. Those who do notstay in touch with classmates willeventually become forgotten, untilone day he peers through thepages of an old yearbook and won-ders what ever happened to hisclassmate.

Hopefully, he will be the one toreach out at that point.

And, while it’s exciting rightnow focusing on a future filledwith boundless opportunities,these are among the best days,and I hope he pauses long enoughto fully appreciate them. Because,at some point, we’re all 17, lookingforward to our destiny of “some-day.” But just as suddenly, “some-day” becomes a fleeting momentetched into lines on our faces aswe look back and realize it’s actu-ally become “yesterday.”

I could write about that.But, right now, I’m still coming

to grips with becoming an emptynester with my wife and not hav-ing daily conversations with himabout all the good and not-so-goodthings that sum up the high schoolexperience.

So, instead, I’m going to con-tinue fostering storylines and re-flecting on a favorite quote fromLouis L’Amour, who said, “Startwriting, no matter what. Thewater does not flow until thefaucet is turned on.”

And, as the words begin totrickle, perhaps I’ll draft a worthysentiment for the feelings that donfrom being the parent of someonetransitioning from child to adult.I’ll recall how many years ago,“someday,” I would be a proud par-ent of a high school senior…

Ken Knepper, who has carefullyfiltered out some of the hi-jinx that

accompanied his many shards ofwisdom garnered as a graduating

senior can be reached at Ken.Knepper@gmail.com.

Empty nest takes time to come to grips with

Weigh in

Fake newsnothing new

Be adventurous no matter what your age

CONVERSATION PIECE

KEN KNEPPER

THAT GUY FROM HUTCH

JASON PROBST

PARTS OF SPEECH

SHELLEY PLETT

brought out shields andbody armor. There wereno red hats. They just ateice cream and listened topeople talk mostly aboutfinancial policy. It beck-oned to far simpler times,

when our country had apolitical system that func-tioned. Perhaps thosetimes will one day return.

Adam Strunk is themanaging editor of New-

ton Now. He can bereached at adam@harvey-

countynow.com or 316-281-7899.

STRUNKFrom Page 6

Say what?

I love the light, for it shows me theway, yet I will endure the darknessbecause is shows me the stars.

Og Mandino

Peasants can't afford healthcare? Let them start HSAsThat’s me in the photo in last week’s Newton Now, lis-

tening to Rep. Estes with my hand clenched over mymouth. There were times I had things I wanted to saythat were not indoor-voice things.

One of those times was when Estes responded to aquestioner concerned about people losing their healthinsurance if Estes and his party succeed in repealingObamacare. His advice: they should open Health Sav-ings Accounts instead. So, what’s an HSA? If you putsome of your income in an HAS, you don’t have to payincome tax on it, but you can only use those savings formedical expenses. In effect, you’ll get a tax deduction onsome of what you spend on medical care.

An HSA a good deal if you have a income that putsyou in a high tax bracket and also gives you a surplus tosock away for a need that might be years away. Other-wise, it’s useless. Saving an amount adequate to covercare for a serious illness is impossible on most people’sincomes, and even if it were possible, it would be unwiseto put money in an account that couldn’t be diverted tosome other need. And without the high tax rate thatgoes with a big income, the tax deduction is not signifi-cant, so paying for health care through an HSA wouldbe just about the same as paying cash. HSAs are a giftto people who already have good access to health care,and an insult to those who don’t.

When Marie Antoinette was advised that the peas-ants couldn’t afford bread, she is said to have replied,“then let them eat pastry.” She lived in privilege andlacked the wit to understand that her subjects didn’t.People tried to clue her in, but she wouldn’t listen.

H. David Goering,Newton

Visit harveycountynow.com!

Page 8 www.harveycountynow.com Newton Now September 7, 2017FROM PAGE ONE

this is her third year.Cepeda moved to New-

ton several years agofrom a town in Texaswith more than a 100,000population and picked upa map of Newton andNorth Newton (the twintowns).

“This is it,” she saidshe thought. “It's so fi-nite. I could bike thewhole town, and Ithought it was very excit-ing to live in a smalltown.”

Cepeda started in Maythis summer and finishedin July, going for aboutan hour each time sherode, five days a week.

“I actually biked myroutes in the morning,and then me and my hus-band went to Sand Creekat night,” Cepeda said.“He's content to ride thesame route every night.”

Hunter said she ran sixmiles for six days a week,and she didn't like to runif it was hotter than 90degrees outside. She alsoran two 11-mile days anda 12-mile day.

Hunter cited a coupleof inspirations for hersummer challenge. Onewas retired Newton artteacher Phil Epp advisingher to not do the sameroute every night—toshake things up and dosomething different. An-other was Mike Larson,who is in the process ofwalking every street in

Newton.“One day I got to think-

ing, 'I think I can dothat,'” Hunter said.

Both teachers kepttrack of their travels withhighlighters on a citymap available at theNewton Area Chamber ofCommerce. Neither knewthe other was doing that,as well.

In their separate trav-els, the two had a varietyof adventures. Hunterwas given water, andsomeone also wrote herlicense plate numberdown. Just a few times,Hunter drove out toplaces where she neededto run and parked hercar. She was afraid peo-ple might think she waschecking the area out todo nefarious activities.

Hunter said she lefttwo streets until the last,and her husband followedher in their pickup withthe hazards going. Oneman stopped and askedHunter if everything wasall right.

“I said, 'Yeah. It'sfine,'” Hunter said,adding she thinks theman thought she wasbeing chased.

“The reason I had Garyfollow me with the truckwas because people drivefast on the connectorroute and a couple ofplaces were somewhatisolated,” Hunter said. “Ifinished a week ago Fri-day,” Hunter said onMonday, Aug. 28.

One time Cepeda wasnear the water park onthe south part of town

during a hot day. “I looked,” she said. “So

inviting, and I lookedaround so closely to see ifthere were no signs 'Chil-dren Only.'”

She didn't see any, soshe jumped under a re-freshing spray.

“I just stood there,” shesaid. “No one around.”

Cepeda and Hunteralso noticed there arestreets marked on themap that aren't reallythere.

“There's a whole neigh-borhood that doesn'texist, and then there's awheat field,” Cepedasaid.

This area is south of12th Street and west of

Interstate 135. There'salso marked streets innew parts of town on themap that really aren'tthere. The two speculatedthat maybe these streetsare planned for the fu-ture.

“We really learned thetown,” Cepeda said. “Alot of beautiful architec-ture in town. It's a greattown.”

There is one thing nei-ther did on their travels.

“Neither one of us fellone time,” Hunter said. “Ididn't fall once, and youdidn't fall once,” she saidto Cepeda.

Another time, Huntersaid a car turned aroundand followed her. In it

were an older lady andolder son. When they hadfollowed Hunter to herhouse, they asked if shelived there. Hunter saidshe was a little hesitantto answer, and she saidshe did live there. Theysaid, “Thank goodness.You looked like you wereready to collapse.”

“People in this townare caring and thought-ful,” Hunter said.

Along the way, Huntertook photos of people'slawn décor, and sheended her trek at Brook-side and Ash.

“I had one street in mymind I had skipped,”Hunter said, adding herhusband, Gary, drove her

around to look for it. “Helet me out of the truckand ran that one lastblock.”

She asked Gary howfast she was going, andhe said it didn't registeron the speedometer onthe truck.

“So, I'm not fast,”Hunter said.

Outside of this chal-lenge, Cepeda andHunter have done otherthings with running andriding. One day, Cepeda,of Newton, rode her biketo Walton on Ride YourBike to Work Day. Thescariest part was beingchased by a large dog on24th Street.

“I'm more afraid ofdogs than semis,” shesaid. “That's the mostafraid I've been.”

Hunter has taken partin half marathons, one ofwhich was in New YorkCity's Central Park.

“I'm very much intodoing individual chal-lenges and setting goals,”she said.

Both Newton residentsthought it was kind of aletdown after they weredone going through thelocal streets.

“The journey was fun;the anticipation of finish-ing was really fun, but itwas kind of hard to haveit be over,” Hunter said.

They both plan to do itagain next year.

Cepeda likes riding herbike for several reasons.

“It's just fun for me andguess it's the closest Icome to flying,” she said.“It's really fun.”

WENDY NUGENT/NEWTON NOWBev Hunter, left, and Sharon Cepeda look over their maps of Newton/North Newton.

CHALLENGEFrom Page 1

Avenue, had a few issues. Bryansaid he didn't care for the age ofthe house. It creaked. And it hadhigh levels of nitrates, or pollu-tants, in the water, often causedby fertilizer run off.

But the family bought a reverseosmosis system to deal with theproblem and closed the sale.

“She was so in love with thehouse that we were going to makeit work no matter what,” he said.

Fast forward a few months later,and the reverse osmosis systemhas failed to filter out the nitrates.Another filter has failed to filterout the nitrates. A $4,000 filtermeant for removing nitrates can'thandle the nitrates. The companygave Bryan his money back, asthey didn't wish to be liable for hisfamily's health.

“I bought an eco water system toremove it. They never experiencedsomething this high,” he said.

His well is at 100 feet deep al-ready, so drilling deeper is out ofthe question.

With no immediate hookups to arural water system, Bryan’s familyis left hauling any water they ortheir dog wishes to drink in fromtown—and closing their eyes andmouths when they shower.

“We can't drink it,” he said. “Ican't feed it to my dogs. Unfortu-nately, the level it's at isn't evensafe for livestock.”

***

The well on the property had anitrate level of 95 parts per mil-lion, nearly 10 times the level of 10parts per million that's consideredsafe to drink. With reverse osmosistreatment, levels on the farmdropped to 54 parts per million.

Nitrates above the safe level areespecially harmful and sometimesfatal to children and infants andcan cause Blue Baby Syndrome,where a child asphyxiates after thenitrates prevent their blood fromcarrying oxygen, according theU.S. Government.

The only reason Bryan's familyknew about the levels, and theonly reason information is beingwritten about it right now, is be-cause Harvey County conductswell tests every time a property issold. It doesn't have to. The statestopped funding the program thathelped pay for counties to conductthe tests around five years ago,Harvey County Administrator An-thony Swartzendruber said.

But the county keeps testing, be-cause such information can be use-ful to residents. They did 59inspections so far in 2017. Whenthey find bacteria in well water orhigh nitrates or other harmfulchemicals, they send a letter to theprospective property owner, tellingthem they need to get it treated.

“The reason we do it at time ofsale, all parties are much more ex-cited about getting things done,”Harvey County Planning and En-vironment Director Gina Bell said.

Bell said they also test sewerand septic systems. While thecounty can shut those systemsdown if they aren't up to snuff,they can't do much about ground-water quality outside of informowners.

And nitrate levels in the areahave jumped in recent years.

A well test on the property fouryears prior showed a nitrate levelof 25 parts per million. In fouryears, that level more than tripled.

Bell said the levels in Bryan'sproperty are the highest she's seensince she's been at the county.

“It's popped up, which is evenscarier,” she said.

Newton Now made an openrecords request to receive watertesting records for the area of con-tamination Bell indicated.

A property north of the Bryans’in the 8100 Block of South Merid-ian had nitrate levels tested at28.6 parts per million in 2011,though when treated with reverseosmosis, those levels were safe in alater test. A property north of thatnear the intersection of Meridianand SW 60th tested at 17.10 partsper million in 2010.

And south near the corner ofMeridian and SW 125th, a prop-erty had a nitrate test of 10.9 partsper million in 2011.

For context, however, tests pro-vided from the county for threeother homes and properties in thatarea tested within safe and drink-able levels.

And, with additional context,many groundwater wells in thecounty have good water and aresafe to drink. Wichita supplies it-self in part from Harvey Countywater, tapping into the EquusBeds that extend in the west halfof Harvey County and are regu-lated and monitored by the EquusBeds Groundwater ManagementDistrict.

But the properties in questionaren't in the Equus Beds, and Bellsaid the properties fall outside ofthat monitoring area.

Bell said many of the nitrate is-sues can be treated by purchasingreverse osmosis systems.

In other areas, they need chlori-nators that come back for positivebacteria tests. There are some ofthose to the east of the area af-fected by the nitrate issues.

All of this brings to mind for Bellthe importance that everyoneusing well water gets it tested.

“People on individual wells areat greater risk than people thathave rural water,” she said, recom-mending annual well checks. “Ifone well goes bad or two go bad, noone gets excited about it.”

Bryan agreed, saying he wasthankful the test was done andthat others should get testing doneas well.

“Other people living in the areacould be drinking this stuff with-

out even knowing,” he said.

***

Since the high testing Bell hastried to figure out the source of thenitrate contamination, but thereisn't an obvious suspect at the mo-ment. Bell said that fertilizer canadd nitrates to the water. But thejump caused her to look for a big-ger source

“There's no feed lot,” she said.“Generally you get high nitratesfrom a feed lot.”

She didn't find any of those pres-ent.

Bryan said Bell and the countycontinue to work to help them withtheir situation.

Bell contacted Harvey CountyRural Water as well as SedgwickCounty Rural Water.

She didn't sound optimisticabout getting the services ex-tended to the area, and those costscould be expensive.

She said there's not a whole lotthat can be done to mitigate the ni-trate at the source in the ground-water.

She said she was reporting theproblem to the Kansas Depart-ment of Health and Environmentbut didn't know what they coulddo.

Newton Now reached out to theKDHE for answers last week butreceived no phone call about thesituation as of press time.

Bell said she did reach out to theMid-West Assistance Program, anagency which could investigate thesource of the pollution.

Bryan was hopeful that perhapsthe agency would find a source tothe pollution and help put a stop toit.

“I don't want to say that some-one's doing something malicious,but there's someone perhaps notdoing the right thing,” he saidabout the nitrate levels. “I am hop-ing we discover the source of theissue; that would be ideal.”

Without an immediate solution,Bryan has been researching betterwater filter systems. He thinkshe's found a company out in Cali-fornia that might be able help fil-ter the water. Until then, hisfamily will keep being careful totake quick showers and not get itin their eyes in the home that hiswife loved.

“Do I regret my decision at thispoint?” he said with a laugh. “Iguess I'll get a workout haulingfive gallons jugs of water. Maybe itwill keep me alive longer, I guess.”

WATERFrom Page 1

Kasi Morales, executivedirector of the McPhersonIndustrial DevelopmentCompany.

"Our main hook thatseparates us is our low-cost utilities," Moralessaid.

Morales said McPher-son counted 17 high-en-ergy consumers among itsindustries. MIDC histori-cally hasn't been aggres-sive in attracting newbusinesses, she said.Rather she and her pred-ecessors had been morefocused on retention, butthat mindset has shifted.

"When you put indus-trial-strength brainpower, head-turning elec-tric rates and a refresh-ing quality of lifetogether, you have an en-ergizing place to growyour business," the MIDCwebsite announces."That’s why McPhersonCounty has become an in-dustrial hub of the GreatPlains. Quite simply, it’selectric."

Morales said McPher-son's businesses contin-ued to grow because theyall benefited from low-cost utilities. The city canoffer a cheaper rate, be-cause the McPhersonBoard of Public Utilitiespurchases power atwholesale rates andtransfers the savings toits consumers. Moralessaid city leaders negoti-ated a long-term contractwith Kansas Power &Light, forerunner to Wes-tar.

"When a new potentialclient comes to us, it'slikely the business willbenefit from low-costpower," she said.

The Kansas Corpora-tion Commission setsrates for Westar cus-tomers. Alicia JaneskoHutchings, with theKansas Department ofCommerce, cited datafrom the U.S. Energy In-formation Administrationthat list electrical rates inKansas as the 29th high-est out of 50 states. Shesaid the average indus-trial rate was 7.37 centsper kWh.

Shelton said KCC did-n't provide the same levelof incentives for potentialindustries that they canget in other states. For in-stance, Kansas CityPower & Light can pro-vide lower rates to Mis-souri businesses.

"They're always veryhelpful, but our hands aretied when it comes to ourrates," Shelton said aboutWestar. "But it was one ofthe points we want tolook at. We just want tofigure out how we can bemore competitive."

Karen Smith, Westarbusiness manager, saidMissouri was much more

generous than Kansas forsome reason. She saidKCC didn't allow incen-tives, but Westar will pro-vide a reduced ratethrough its economic de-velopment arm for indus-tries that use a certainamount of power.

"We want to woo com-panies, but we want tomake sure we can handlethat load," she said.

Smith said Westarcouldn't provide incen-tives to every customer,but it will negotiate. Shecompared the negotia-tions to a car purchase.Westar doesn't offer itslowest possible rate onthe first offer, but thecompany always leavesthe door open. A factorthat goes into Westar'srate is whether it willneed a new substation orother infrastructure.

"A lot of times theytake [the first offer] atface value and move on,"she said.

Smith said a businesstypically didn't providefeedback as to why itchose not to relocate toKansas, so it's impossibleto tell how often energyprices play a role in busi-ness recruitment.

Susan NeuPothCadoret, acting director ofthe Business & Commu-nity Development Divi-sion of the KansasDepartment of Com-merce, said utility ratescertainly would play alarge part in the decision-making process for ahigh-utility consumer.

"Regarding the recruit-ment pitch made by thestate or local govern-ments, many times wecan offer a competitiveenough package to offseta utility cost," she said inan e-mail. "Once again, ifthe utility rate is the driv-ing factor for making thedecision there may not beenough incentive offered."

The KCC regulates theamount a utility can pro-vide through an EconomicDevelopment Rider.

"Utilities considermany factors when evalu-ating an EDR for a proj-ect, such as type ofoperation, peak demandin kW, energy consump-tion in kWh, hours of op-eration and redundantneeds," Hutchings said inan e-mail. "That basic in-formation gives them astarting point to evaluatetheir participation andcontribution to a project.

"The bottom line is weinclude our utilities part-ners in our projects as dothe locals, but if the com-pany is unable to meetthe criteria for an EDRthere is not much moreour agency can do otherthan offer the state pro-grams that fit the projectand encourage the localsto increase their partici-pation if possible," Hutch-ings said.

ENERGYFrom Page 1

COURTESY PHOTOJocelyn Mendoza and husband Greg Bryan thought Sedgwick would be a great place to raisetheir family.

September 7, 2017 Newton Now www.harveycountynow.com Page 9COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

NEWTON POLICE REPORTS OBITUARIES

NEWS BRIEFS

Friday, Sept. 83:30 p.m.—Family Movie, Lego Night at the Newton

Public Library 5:30 .m.—Ballet Wichita presents “Wizard of Oz,”

Athletic Park 6 p.m. David Haken provides folk music and story-

telling at Krehbiel Park, Oak and Sixth Street. Foodtruck will be present

7 p.m.—NHS Football at Hutchinson Gowans Sta-dium

Saturday, Sept. 98 a.m.—Harvey County Farmers Market, 121 E Sixth

St8:30 a.m.—Varsity Tennis Invitational at Salina Cen-

tral High School10 a.m.—Art Workshop Carriage Factory Gallery

Sunday, Sept. 103 p.m.—Historical Program on conscientious objectors

during WWI, Kauffman Museum, 2801 N. Main St,North Newton

Monday, Sept. 1110 a.m.—Blood Pressure Check at Grand Central 122

E Sixth St.9 a.m.—Harvey County Commission Meeting6 p.m.—American Legion Post Appreciation Night,

400 S. Spencer Road7 p.m.—Square Dance, 122 E Sixth St.7 p.m.—Adult Painting Class, Newton Rec Center7 p.m.—Newton School District Board Meeting,

McKinley Administrative Center

Tuesday, Sept. 123 p.m.—Varsity Volleyball Triangular at NHS3:30 p.m.—Open tech help at the Newton Public Li-

brary7 p.m.—What Now? America in the Age of Trump

with nationally syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts,Krehbiel Auditorium, Bethel College

7 p.m.—City Commission Meeting

Wednesday, Sept. 139:30 a.m.—Life Enrichment, Krehbiel Auditorium

Bethel5:15 p.m.—Tai Chi at Grand Central3:30 pm.—Master Builders Club at the Newton Public

Library

To submit events for the community calendar,contact Adam Strunk at adam@harveycoun-tynow.com.

Richard Lee (Dick)Holmes, 83, died Satur-day, Sept. 2, 2017, at hisNewton residence.

He was born Dec. 17,1933, in Ashland toChancey Cecil and MelbaLucy (Schulty) Homes.Dick was a 1952 graduateof Meade High School. OnDec. 29, 1957, he marriedWilma J. Blehm atMeade, and she precededhim death on Sept. 10,2013.

Dick was a longtime ac-tive member of the ZionLutheran Church in New-ton, where he joined in1971. He was an auto me-chanic, retiring after 40years, working eight ofthose years as a servicemanager in Meade,Hutchinson, Pratt andNewton. Dick also was arepresentative forLutheran Brotherhood fornearly six years. In 1995,he retired from full-timeemployment and workedpart time for Dillon’s as adelivery driver, retiringagain in 2009.

Dick was a loving hus-band, father, grandfatherand friend to many. Helooked forward to spend-ing time with those heloved and enjoyed mak-ing friends on the campus

of Kansas ChristianHome. He will be missedfor his quick smile andgentle teasing he freelygave.

Dick is survived bythree daughters, DianaBellin of Medford, Okla.,Carol Hammer and herhusband Tim of Pittsford,N.Y., and Nancy Johnsonand her husband Todd ofMulvane; four grandchil-dren; and four great-grandchildren.

Dick was preceded indeath by his parents, wifeand one brother, JackHolmes.

Memorial service willbe at 10 a.m. Friday,Sept. 8, at Zion LutheranChurch with PastorAaron Filipek presiding.Visitation will be from 6to 9 p.m. Thursday at Pe-tersen Funeral Home inNewton, with family re-ceiving friends from 6:30to 8 p.m. at the funeralhome. Graveside commit-tal with military honorswill be 11 a.m. Saturday,Sept. 9, at GracelandCemetery, Meade.

In lieu of flowers, me-morials are suggested toAmerican Cancer Societyor American Heart Asso-ciation in care of PetersenFuneral Home.

RICHARD HOLMESJames I.

Sprague, Jr.,86, of Newtondied Satur-day, Sept. 2,2017, at theAsbury ParkGreenhousein Newton.

He wasborn on Feb.17, 1931, in Greenville,Mich., the son of JamesIvan and Alma K. HansenSr. After graduating fromGreenville High School,James attended MichiganState University. Duringthe Korean Conflict, heserved in the U.S. Army,being discharged as a firstlieutenant. He returned toMichigan State, where hewould receive his bache-lor's and master's degreesfollowed by his doctoratein 1961 as an animal nu-tritionist.

James married A.Jeanne Reed in 1953 inHorton, Mich. They hadtwo sons, Tony and Kim.He later marriedJosephine Niernberger in1981, and she died in1997. On Dec. 10, 2000, hemarried Nancy SpanglerThompson, after which hemoved to Newton.

He was a member of theFirst Church of theNazarene in Newton andthe American Legion inWhitewater. Jim was aman who never met astranger. He loved familyand spending time attend-ing their many activitiesand celebrations.

Survivors include hiswife, Nancy of the home inNewton; his two sons, An-thony J. Sprague of Globe,Ariz., and James S. “Kim”Sprague and wife Peggy of

Horton, Mich.;and two grand-children, JulieGlover andhusband Cory,and Michael K.Sprague andwife Leta alongwith their chil-dren Dane,Cassia and

Harrison.James considered as

part of his extended fam-ily Nancy’s children,Trenna (Dave) Schulze ofOverland Park and Galen(Helen) Thompson of New-ton, as well as the grand-children, Brianna (Trent)Grissom with their chil-dren Ashtyn and Daxton,Belinda (Joe) McCulleywith their children Wyatt,Isaac, Micah, and Ava andJennifer Pearon and sonKadin, Stoney Thompson,Shandila Thompson andDaniel (Katie) Thompson.

He was preceded indeath by his parents; twosisters, Gladys Olsen andCharlotte Brown; andNancy’s grandson, SeanThompson.

The casket will be openfrom 10:30 a.m. to 10:30p.m. Friday at the funeralhome, followed by a pri-vate family interment.

A service celebratingJim’s life will be at 6:30p.m. Friday, Sept. 8, atthe First Church of theNazarene.

A memorial has been es-tablished with the FirstChurch of the Nazarene.Contributions may be sentto Broadway Colonial Fu-neral Home, 120 E. Broad-way, Newton, KS, 67114.

Arrangements are byBroadway Colonial Fu-neral Home, Newton.

JAMES SPRAGUE, JR.

Born onMay 8 1929,in El Dorado,Jack DeanEighmeywalked intothe lovingembrace ofhis parents,Paul andMyrtle;younger brother, Bill; andgrandson, Aaron, onThursday, Aug. 31, 2017.

At the time he left us,Jack was at peace, athome and surrounded byhis family.

Jack Eighmey was theeldest son of three boys.His brother, Paul WilliamJr., passed away in 2000,and he is survived by hisyoungest brother, JamesBruce Eighmey of KansasCity. He is also survivedby his wife, Judith Eigh-mey; his daughter, JanConard; his son, JamesEighmey; his grandchil-dren, Katie and SpencerConard; his nephew,Brent Eighmey; and hissister-in-law, Joan Eigh-mey.

Jack was a Naval vet-eran who served from1950-1954. He was de-ployed on the U.S.S. Mid-way for a European tourduring the Korean War.After leaving the service,Jack was employed by theDefense Contract Admin-

istration, dur-ing which timehe worked onthe team build-ing the SaturnV rocket. Heretired in 1989after 37 years.

To Judy andJack were borntwo children,

James in 1959 and Jan in1962. The family firstresided in Newton, Kan.,then Neosho, Mo., duringthe space program years,and finally Mulvane,Kan., where their childrenattended high school. Jackand Judy retired back inNeosho, Mo., before finallymoving to the Lawrence,Kan., area in 1995 to becloser to their first grand-children.

Jack Dean Eighmey re-mains always beloved byhis family as a father,friend, husband andbrother. What love we canhave in this world, wehold for him.

Graveside services wereon Tuesday, Sept. 5, atGreenwood Cemetery inNewton.

Memorial funds will beaccepted by the family fordonations to the VisitingNurses Hospice Servicesand The Aaron EighmeyEagle Fund BSA, in careof Petersen Family Fu-neral Home in Newton.

JACK EIGHMEY

Mary RuthLibhart, 95,passed awayon Thursday,Aug. 31, 2017at SandpiperHealthcare inWichita,where sheresided forover fouryears.

She was born on Nov.27, 1921, to Joseph andMary (Miller) Brown inNewton, Kan. She mar-ried William M. Libharton March 1, 1941, in New-ton. Mary was a retiredsecretary to the City Man-ager of Newton.

A public visitation wasat Petersen Funeral Homeon Sept. 5. There will notbe a funeral service, and afamily gathering will bescheduled at a later date.

She was preceded indeath by her loving hus-band of 62 years, William

“Bill” Libhart;parents,Joseph O. andMary O.Brown; broth-ers, NaamanBrown andJess Brown.

Survivors in-clude one sis-ter, Bonnie

Scheller of Springfield,Ill.; son, Martin (Toni)Libhart of Wichita; grand-daughters, Jennifer(Chad) Molen of Arvada,Colo., and Stephanie(Tim) Goscha of Wichita;great-grandchildren Han-nah Molen, ChandlerMolen, and HayleyGoscha; and many niecesand nephews.

In lieu of flowers, thefamily requests that me-morials be made to Cen-tral Christian Church(Fine Arts), 2900 NorthRock Road, Wichita, KS,67226.

MARY RUTH LIBHART

There will be a memorial service forJerold “Jerry” Wayne Donaldson, 78, at11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at First Bap-tist Church, West Sixth and Poplar.

Jerry passed away earlier this year athis home from pancreatic cancer. He onlylived 26 days after his doctor discoveredand diagnosed the disease.

He was a special agent with the FBI,working in Denver, Seattle, Springfield,Ill., and Washington, D.C. Jerry retiredafter more than 30 years with the FBI.

His last 15 years were with U.S. Airways in corpo-rate security. He was an investigator in the U.S. Air-ways plane in “9-11” that was crashed by terrorists inPennsylvania.

He also was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and waspresented with Spirit of Honor Medal from the mayorof San Diego.

Jerry was a 1956 Newton High School graduate and

also graduated from Colorado University.He will always be remembered for his kind-ness and thoughtfulness, but most of all,Jerry loved his Lord and Savior; his wife,Dale Ann Donaldson; his family, daughterRobin Tucker, DVM, and her husband, JohnTucker, Ph.D., son Erik Scott Huston Don-aldson and Jerry; and sisters, Joyce ElainePyonk of family of Memphis, Tenn., andJudy Ann Winsky and her husband Garyand their family of Newton.

He was dearly loved by his in-laws, Jim Pilkenton,Michael and Kathy Pilkenton and family, and Kenand Nancy Pilkenton and family. Also surviving is themother of his children, Carolyn Donaldson.

Jerry was preceded in death by his parents, JohnDonald and Violet “Vi” Donaldson; maternal grand-parents, Laura and Guy Alexander Huston; and pa-ternal grandparents, Otto and Maude Donaldson ofEureka.

JEROLD DONALDSON

Sept. 3Arrests:Buster Camp, 64, El

Dorado, possession ofstimulant, paraphernalia,300 Blk Windward

Terrance Rogers, 60,Newton, attempted bur-glary, 500 Blk E 10TH St,Newton

Justin Klein, 29, El Do-rado, possession of stimu-lant, paraphernalia,criminal carry of weapon,300 Blk Windward Dr.

Criminal calls:Arson, 2100 Blk Buck-

board Dr

Sept. 2Arrests:Celesta Crump, 19, pos-

session of marijuana, drugparaphernalia, fleeingand eluding, 1200 Blk NMagnolia

Kimberly Stegeman, 41,Newton, assault, obstruc-tion, battery of correctionsofficer, 400 Blk E 10th St

Daniel Stamper, 33, Wi-chita, warrant, 500 Blk WFirst St

Adrian Gutierrez, 31,Newton, DUI, US-50Eastbound Exit ramp onAnderson Rd

Sept 1Arrests:William Gage, 37, New-

ton, possession of stimu-lant, 1300 BlkWashington Rd

Louis Brouillard, 49,Park City, DUI, warrant,100 Blk N High St

Cody Partridge, 19,Peabody, possession ofmarijuana, 900 Blk Wash-ington Rd

Dedrick Thiessen, 23,Peabody, possession ofcontrolled substance, 900Blk Washington Rd

Criminal calls:Domestic Disturbance,

100 Blk W Second St.Larceny, 500 Blk W

Fifth St. Aug 31Arrests:Kieran Jarvis, 43, Win-

field, violate protectionorder, 200 Blk E Sixth St

Joseph Smith, 57, New-ton, criminal use of finan-cial card, forgery, 500 BlkN Ash St

Austin Conquest, 31,Moundridge, warrant,1100 Blk W Woodside St.McPherson

Arnoldo Deleon, 63, Eu-less Texas, warrant, 400

Blk Mechanic St, EmporiaGary Roberts, 51, New-

ton, warrant, 100 Blk ESixth St

Aug 30Arrests:Bruce Smith, 57, New-

ton, warrant, 100 Blk WEighth St, Larned

Malaysia Brown, 23,Newton, 200 Blk E Broad-way Ave, driving while ahabitual violator

Jennifer Scazzafavo, 31,Wichita, warrant, 100 BlkW Elm St

Eric Manley, 38, Wi-chita, DUI, 600 Blk Med-ical Center

Criminal calls:Motor vehicle theft, 700

Blk SE Fourth St

Aug 29Arrests:Tammy Smith, 55, New-

ton, DUI, 700 Blk WFirst-

Jonathan McDonald,18, aggravated assault,100 Blk SE Sixth St

Matthew Miller, 20,Newton, warrant, 100 BlkWheatridge Court

Cody Hoag, 26, Newton,driving with invalid li-cense, 600 Blk E Third St

Criminal calls:Burglary of motor vehi-

cle, 300 Blk Normandy Rd

Aug 28Arrests:Ted Schultz, 33, New-

ton, disorderly conduct,200 Blk Meadowbrook

Amber Shewbart, 31,Newton, disorderly con-duct, 200 Blk Meadow-brook

Kenneth Herrod, 22,Newton, I-135 mm 52, twocounts of burglary

Clifton Rosin, 28, New-ton, domestic battery, 200Blk SE Third

Billy Haffner, 37, New-ton, warrant, 500 Blk Re-formatory Street,Hutchinson

Jeremy Sampson, 27,Arma, warrant, 700 BlkSE Stone Rd, El Dorado

Jeffrey Davis, 61,FortSmith warrant, 200 Blk E10th St Salina

Anthony Hicks, 22,Junction City warrant,800 Blk N Franklin St.,Junction City

Javaris Edwards, 27,Newton, domesticbattery,300 Blk SEFourth St

Northwest 24th Street will beclosed this month

For those who use Northwest 24thStreet to get west in the county, theywill have to reroute soon. StartingWednesday, NW 24th will be closedbetween Ridge Road and EmmaCreek for bridge construction. Theproject is expected to last shorterthan a month. The project is beingconducted by Reece Constructionfrom Scandia, Kan. It will replaceexisting culverts with reinforcedconcrete boxes.

Shred day coming upFirst Bank will hold a shred day

to give people a chance to get rid ofold documents.

The event will take place from 9a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16,at 1801 W. First St. There will beon-site, secure document destruc-tion. Any type of paper, envelopes,folders or binders may be shredded.Rubber bands, staples and paper-clips do not need to be removed.The cost of this event is underwrit-ten by First Bank. Large commer-cial shreds, please contact First

Bank prior to Sept. 16. For moreinformation, call 316-283-2600 or888-283-2611.

Railer Round Table on Sept. 12Join USD 373 Superintendent

Deborah Hamm for the next RailerRound Table from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.Tuesday, Sept. 12, at Back AlleyPizza, 125 W. Sixth St.

This will be an informal time tovisit about USD 373’s Comprehen-sive Plan and the Nov. 7 bond elec-tion.

—For Newton Now

1 Employment 1 Employment 1 Employment 1 Employment 1 Employment 1 Employment

Call Natalie for help with classifiedsIn Marion County’s largest distribution newspaper620-947-5702 or Fax 620-947-5940 natalie@hillsborofreepress.com

1 Employment2 Services3 Merchandise4 Announcements5 Public Notices

6 Automotive7 Farm & Ranch8 Real Estate9 For Rent10 Too Late To Classify

FREE PRESS CLASSIFIED AD CATEGORIES:Classified Ad CategoriesCall Natalie for help with classifiedsalie forunty’s larges

lp with clasribution newspape THE HERINGTON TIMES

Your classified ad will appear in all of these papers - Hillsboro Free Press, Newton Now and The HeringtonTimes...reaching every Marion County household as well as Newton Now and Herington Times subscribers.

Line ads: $7.50 for 20 words,then 25¢ per word. Classified Display:

$12.75 per col. inch (minimum of 1x2 at $25.50) Call 620-947-5702 or email natalie@hillsborofreepress.com

Reach MORE people with our classifieds!

Truck Drivers

needed for custom harvesting.

CDL required.

Will help right person get CDL.

316-284-1663Russ in Canton, KS

200 Willow Road, Hillsboro • 620-947-2301

www.parksideks.org

Criminal background checksrun at the time of job offer.Parkside is proud to be adrug-free, EOE workplace.

If this describes you, we may have a place

for you here!We have increased our wages and are inneed of valuable employees. Check us

out & apply online at www.parksideks.org

Are you...

Honest?

Caring?

Ready tobe part

of ateam?

Want to see your stuff in Newton Now?

We're looking for a few freelancersto beef up our community coverage.

A good applicant should...

• Have an interest in the community and the

ability to snap a few photos.

• Cover some news & occasionally attend community events.

• An ability to pitch news stories would also be appreciated!

News background a plus, but not necessary.

Compensation rates negotiable.

For more info contact 316-281-7899 or email Adam@harveycountynow.com

Marion CO Road & Bridge is accepting applications for an

Equipment Operator

Employee will work out of theMarion area. Position is for thebridge & culvert crew. CDL &Drug Testing will be required.

Applications may be picked upat the Marion CO Road &Bridge Office, Courthouse

through Sept. 8, 2017. EOE

Marion CO Road & Bridge is accepting applications for

Equipment Operator

for Goessel/Hillsboro/Lehigharea in Marion County. Mustlive in assigned maintenance

section. Must have experiencein equipment operation andmaintenance. CDL license

is required.

Applications will be acceptedthrough September 8, 2017 atthe Marion CO Road & Bridge

Department, Courthouse, Marion, KS. Drug testing will

be required. EOE

If you enjoy caring forthe elderly, come be a

part of our team.

Diversicare ofCouncil Grovehas openings for

RN/LPNApply at dvcr.com

For questions, call BeckyJohnson, RN DON, at

620-767-5172.Drug Free and EOE.

Please contact Human Resources at785-366-7213 or cweis@agritrails.com

for details about how to submit an application.

ATC, a growth oriented agricultural company in centralKansas is seeking the right candidates to fill two

AGRONOMY OPERATOR positions as well asHARVEST HELP.

Qualified candidates must have a good driving record, and havethe ability to receive a Class A CDL. We offer competitive wages,

an excellent benefits package and flexible work environment.

The City of Hillsboro, Kansas seeks a qualified individual to be a fulltime

receptionist/court clerk in City Hall.To apply send resumes and applications marked “receptionist/court clerk” to City Clerk, City of

Hillsboro, P.O. Box 125, Hillsboro, KS 67063 by Friday, September 15, 2017 at 5:00 p.m.

Call 620 947-3162 for an application and job descriptionor go to http://www.cityofhillsboro.net/

job-description.html EOE

HELPWANTED

The City of Peabody is nowapplications for the position

of City Treasurer. Applications available at City Hall, 300 N. Walnut,

Peabody, KS 66866 or on-line at www.peabodyks.com.Equal Opportunity Employer.

Education: Minimum requirement of High SchoolDiploma. One to three years

similar or related experience required.

Experience: Strong under-standing of computers andtechnology; Excellent com-munication, organizational,

clerical and public relations skills.

Centre USD 397is accepting

applications for thefollowing position:

• Bus Drivers - paid $20.00 per hr. per route; training provided.

Applications available at district office,

785-983-4304 or on website, www.usd397.com. Application deadline: until

position filled. EOE

Successful candidatewill work in our Central Office in

Marion for 20 hours perweek, through

February, 2018.

Pick up applications at 1500 E. Lawrence Marion

Marion County Special Ed Coop

has an opening for temporary

Office Support.

has openings for thefollowing positions:

• Day and Night RN

Please contact Delores Johnson with any

questions at 620-947-3114.

Apply online atwww.hchks.com

or pick up an application at the front

desk at: 101 Industrial Rd.,

Hillsboro, KS E.O.E.–Drug Free Workplace

Closing Date:Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until

the position is filled.

Tabor College is a Christian liberal arts institution with a mission toprepare people for a life of learning, work, and service for Christand his kingdom. The successful candidate must be in agreementwith the mission of Tabor College (see http://tabor.edu/about/mis-sion-vision-values/). Women and Minority candidates are stronglyencouraged to apply.Tabor College is an EqualOpportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. As aneducational institution operating under the aus-pices of the United States Conference of Men-nonite Brethren Churches, Tabor College ispermitted, and reserves the right, to prefer em-ployees on the basis of Religion (Title VII, Sec-tion 702-703, United States Civil Rights Act of1964 as amended).

Tabor College seeks an

Academic Affairs Office AssistantTabor College is seeking an Academic Affairs Office Assistant to

assist campus constituents. Specific duties include, among others,

processing transcripts, assisting with multiple aspects of registra-

tion, and providing clerical assistance for the Academic Affairs Of-

fice and to faculty as needed.

Qualifications: Diploma/GED required. Some college preferred.

Proficiency in Word, Excel, and data entry required.

Rank/Salary: Commensurate with degree and experience.

Beginning Date: As soon as filled.

Candidates are requested to submit the following:Letter of application

Current curriculum vitae

A list of 3-5 references that can be contacted if necessary

400 S. Jefferson

Hillsboro, KS

Send application materials via email (preferred) toruthf@tabor.edu or by mail to:

Tabor College, Ruth Funk

Executive Administrative Assistant to the

Vice President for Business and Finance

Academic Affairs Office Assistant Search

400 S. Jefferson, Hillsboro, KS 67063

BMG of Kansas, Inc. is looking for qualified applicants for the following positions:

Fabrication Department ManagerAccounting (Part-Time or Full-Time)

Customer Service Production Support / Inventory Control

Please send Resume to doug@bmgks.com orApply in person at 606 Commerce Drive, Hesston Ks.

606 Commerce Ave.P.O. Box 698

Hesston, Ks. 67062620-327- 4038

PRODUCTION HELP WANTEDMONDAY-FRIDAY

1st shift 8:00am - 4:00pm2nd shift 4:00pm - 12:00am3rd shift 12:00am - 8:00am

Climate controlled work environment.Benefits. Drug screen required. EOE

Apply in person at:

CONTAINER SERVICES, INC220 Santa Fe • Hillsboro, KS 67063 • 620-947-2664

Manufacturing company is accepting

applications for full-time

production positions.

Must have good attendance and

work ethic. Benefits.

Apply at GMLS Industries,1658 US Hwy. 50,

Peabody. Ph: 620-983-2136

1 EmploymentHelp wanted for in home care for elderlyperson. Call 620-382-7289. 36-2tp

2 Announcements

Child CareFirst Step to Success Home Childcareopening soon in Hillsboro! 620-504-8432.35-5tp

Community Info

������������������������������������� �������� ��������������������

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Garage/Yard SalesLarge Yard Sale, Sept. 8.Sunrise to soldout! Furniture, Clothes, Baby Items, mis-cellaneous junk. 321 N Main, Hillsboro.

3 For Sale

Motorhome1987 Toyota Mini Motorhome Call 620-382-3250 for appointment to see it. 36-1tfree

FarmCertified Zenda $11.50/Bushel, CertifiedLarry $11.50/Bushel, Everest $8/Bushel.Very attractive discounts per volume.Claassen Farms. 316-990-6144. 316-993-6500. 36-5tp

4 For Rent

Homes/ApartmentsLarge 1 Bedroom Apt. Hillsboro for 1 Re-sponsible Adult. Partially furnished: Frig,stove, washer, dryer, queen bed. 620-947-3535 leave a message. 25-tfn

Federally subsidized rental apartment proj-ect now accepting applications for a two-bedroom apartment. Qualified applicantsmust be at least 62 years old or havesevere mobility impairment. EHO. KidronBethel Village, 3001 Ivy Drive, North Newton. 316-836-4859. 33-4tc

4 For Rent

Homes/ApartmentsNewton - 1-2 BEDROOM, all electric. $350-

450/month. Includes water/trash. rentnew-

ton.com 316-680-6456. 42-tfn

2 Bedroom SeniorApartment

Call 620-947-2272

• Must be 55 years old or older

* NO Maintenance fees* Utilities Included

• Lowest priced Satellite in town• 24 hour emergency

maintenance and managementservices

• Located across from the Hospital

• Small pets welcome• Income guidelines apply

Apply Mon-Th • 10 am-3 pm

Clean, spacious 1 bdrmapartments with a quiet patio entrance to your

1 level apartment.

GOLDEN AGEHOMES

has immediate openings for:

201 E. Helen St.Herington

785-258-2510

5 Salvage

1209 N. Perry, Junction City, KS

We are buying: #1 clean copper: $2.25 per pound, iron, copper, mixed farm machinery, prepared machine cast,

aluminum, aluminum cans, old cars (with clear titles, fluids drained),brass, batteries, prepared non-magnetic stainless steel,

A/C sealed units and electric motors.

(Prices subject tochange without

notice!)

***Call: 785-238-3382 (800-825-4377) for current prices.

Roll-off containers available, ask for Lanny or Jake

Reader AdvisoryThe Kansas Press Association (KCAN) and the Midwest Classified Network (MCN)havepurchased some of the following classifieds. Determining the value of the service orproduct is advised by this publication. In order to avoid misunderstandings, some ad-vertisers do not offer employment but rather supply the readers with manuals,directories and other materials designed to help their clients establish mail orderselling and other businesses at home. Under NO circumstances should you sendmoney in advance or give the client your checking account, license ID, or credit cardnumbers. Also beware of ads that claim to guarantee loans regardless of credit andnote that if a credit repair company does business only over the phone it is illegal torequest any money before delivering its services. All funds are based in US dollars.Toll free numbers may or may not reach Canada.

FinancialDo you owe over $10,000 to the IRS orState in back taxes? Our firm works to re-duce the tax bill or zero it out completelyFAST. Call now 866-758-0134 (M-F 8-8 CT)

For Sale40’ Grade A Steel Cargo Containers$1650.00 in KC. $1950.00 in Solomon Ks.20s’ 45s’ 48s & 53s’ also available Call 785655 9430 or go online to Chuckhenry.comfor pricing, availability & Freight esti-mates.

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September 7, 2017 Newton Now www.harveycountynow.com Page 11SPORTS & SCHOOLS

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Railer football keeps a positive outlook

Newton head footballcoach Chris Jaax wasblunt but not curt with histeam following a 22-19 lossto Maize last Friday.

He told them that he be-lieved the better team hadnot won the game. He toldhis team to “flush it” andmove on to the next game,against Hutchinson.

“We have a great oppor-tunity in Hutch High now.You beat Hutch High, thatmeans something,” Jaaxsaid. “If you dwell ontoday, you can’t beatHutch.”

This message was a con-tinuation of what the New-ton sideline was likethroughout the game: posi-tive, upbeat, looking for-ward to getting on thefield again, even though itseemed like for every greatplay Newton made, apenalty would move themback.

Some of it felt like thesame old song and dance;one step forward, twosteps back. But there wasa different feel on the side-line. Anytime a Newtonplayer committed apenalty, body languagerarely changed.

There was an air of posi-tivity, routine, and almostprofessionalism. Therewas an overwhelming feel-ing that every player knewthat Newton was neverout of this game.

“I felt like we had some

really good plays. Justmade some mistakes. Youcan’t do that,” Jaax said.“We didn’t even turn theball over.”

Jaax said that some ofNewton’s mistakes couldbe chalked up as first-game jitters.

“We had some confusionon some plays calls offen-sively and defensively,” hesaid.

But other mistakes werejust that.

“[We need to] cut out allthe blown coverages, allthe blown plays offen-sively,” he said.

Jaax wants his guys tohave control over whatthey can control. In his es-timation, those things areattitude, commitment, andeffort.

“I just want to see thekids play with great atti-tude, commitment and ef-fort,” Jaax said. “Thoseare the things we havecontrol over. You can’tnecessarily control if youwin or lose. You can con-trol how you approachthings.”

The future of Newtonfootball has the potentialof being a bright place.Jaax is confident a teamcan win games making bigplays, and both the offenseand defense made bigplays Friday, the problemwas that it was typicallyfollowed up with a penaltyor two.

For example, a 39-yardpass from quarterbackColton Davis to KennethHampton set up the Rail-

ers’ final score of thenight, a pass to GarrettPfannenstiel. He was meton just the wrong side ofthe goal line by a Maizedefender, but he pushedthe defender back andscored.

The sequence from thepass to Hampton to thetouchdown included multi-ple penalties, two time-outs, andmiscommunications onplay calls.

“We made plays,” Jaax

said. “Offensively and de-fensively, we made plays.We just made mistakes,too. You can win makingplays and we made playstoday, so we know we cando that. We just have tomake sure we don’t makemistakes and take advan-tage of the opportunitieswe’ve got.”

Newton will faceHutchinson on Friday.The Salthawks beatOlathe East 22-21 in weekone.

CLINT HARDEN/NEWTON NOWGarrett Pfannenstiel pushes his way into the end zone Friday against Maize. The score was set up by a 39-yard pass from Colton Davis to KennethHampton.

BY CLINT HARDENSPECIAL TO NEWTON NOW

CLINT HARDEN/SPECIAL TO NEWTON NOWQuarterback Colton Davis looks for an opening Friday against Maize.Davis finished the night with two touchdowns and 153 yards passing.

Community Pep Rally honors high school teams

The people with themost pep during theCommunity Pep Rally onWednesday night seemedto be the cheerleaders,Railiners dance groupand the drum line.Maybe it was the heat,but the sports teams did-n't seem real excited.Maybe they just hadspent the afternoon prac-ticing and were plumtuckered out.

Teams representedwere from Newton HighSchool, such as the foot-ball team, cross country,tennis, golf and soccer.At least a couple hundredpeople attended, includ-ing coaches and adminis-tration.

Allyssa Meyer on theRailiners and her sister,Becca Meyer, were two ofthe peppiest, as theydanced on the “sidelines”with cheerleaders andother Railiners while thedrum line played severaltunes. On the south sideof West Sixth Street,where the rally was, par-ents and others formed avirtual paparazzi of pho-tographers as teams werehonored one by one.

Cheerleaders did theircheers, facing west at onepoint and then south atanother. Sometimes, theRailiners joined in.

Allyssa Meyer, one of

20 Railiners this year,joined the group for acouple reasons.

“I've always loveddancing,” she said. “I'vegrown up doing it, so it'salways been my dream tobe on the high schooldance team.”

She said the group haspractices twice a week—on Tuesdays and Thurs-days—with Wednesdaysbeing conditioning days.During football season,they learn six dances,

with four being gamedances and two extra-curricular.

Last year, thereweren't as many dancerson the team.

“We've added ninesince last year,” she said.

This is Allyssa's fourthyear on the team, andshe said the coach is AmyPollard.

They perform duringhalf time and pre-gamefor home games, she said.

In addition, Railiners

all want their looks to re-semble each other, in-cluding their lipstick,hair and uniform.

Another Railiner,Amanda Smith, joinedthis year for the firsttime, although she's ajunior.

“All my friends were onthe team, and when Iwas younger, I enjoyedwatching them, so I al-ways wanted to be aRailiner, you could say,”she said after the rally.

WENDY NUGENT/NEWTON NOWAllyssa Meyer, left, and Becca Meyer dance while the drum line plays a tune on Wednesday, Aug. 30, duringthe Community Pep Rally in downtown Newton.

BY WENDY NUGENTNEWTON NOW STAFFwendy@harveycountynow.com

Two years ago, XenaZuno got into trouble atschool because she has atendency to talk to class-mates and not get herwork done.

She fell way behindand needed a secondchance. Last year, thesophomore completedthree years of math cred-its through the RailerVirtual Program.

Zuno said she wouldstill be far behind if shewere in the main build-ing at Newton HighSchool, but now sheplans on graduatingearly.

"I'm pushing it," shesaid.

"I'm proud of her," saidRailer Academy Adminis-trator Melinda Rangel."She's come a long ways."

The virtual programcurrently has 13 full-time and three part-timestudents, and disciplineis rarely an issue. Rangelhas only called theschool-resource officerover to the Brooks TradeCenter one time since theprogram began two yearsago.

"This is how we dobusiness," Rangel said."These are the expecta-tions. I think when kidshave boundaries andknow what those bound-aries are, they workwithin them."

Students who take thevirtual coursework alsolikely understand thatthey're running out of op-tions. Daryl Couser, thefirst graduate of the vir-tual academy, went outand got a job the morn-ing he earned hisdiploma, Rangel said. Hecame back to see DebHelberg, lead instructorfor the program, and tothank her.

Rangel said some stu-dents took classes at theBrooks Trade Center,while others do all oftheir coursework athome. Some are teenagemothers, and others haveanxiety issues when in aregular classroom set-ting.

"They just have—what's the word—situa-tions in their life thatthis is the better optionfor them, and there's aplethora of reasons be-hind them," Rangel said."Every kid is unique."

Helberg serves as theacademy's only licensedteacher, though she is as-sisted by paraprofes-sional Jerry Krehbiel, aretired special educationteacher. They help setstudents up on their com-puters and are availableto answer questions.Rangel said she reachedout to a teacher in themain building only oncelast year because thesubject matter was be-yond the scope of Helbergand Krehbiel.

"It's a real opportunity,because some of thesekids don't function wellin a classroom," Krehbielsaid. "It's a neat pro-gram."

And the kicker is thatthe school system getsreimbursed for the cost ofthe program. Rangel saidshe didn't know the rea-soning behind the statefunding virtual schools,but she offered a long-term lesson in economics.

"You're either going tohelp them get their diplo-mas, or you're going to bepaying for them with so-cial services the rest oftheir lives," she said.

Rangel said studentsended up in the virtualprogram a variety ofways. Some are referredto her by a school coun-selor, and some are try-ing to recover a credit.Parents sometimes callRangel about gettingtheir child in the pro-gram, and some studentsseek it out themselves.She said the programwasn't for everybody, butit fills an important needfor certain students.

"You're just doing goodto get through school,most of them," she said.

Zuno said she didn't

have the motivation tostudy when she logged onat home, so she comes tothe Brooks Trade Centerfor her lessons.

"I like being out herebecause there's fewerpeople, and it's on me toget my work done," shesaid.

Zuno walks around thetrack during lunch hour,or she'll go out to eat. Oc-casionally, her old habitsreturn to form.

"Every now and then,Mrs. Helberg will tell meto be quiet," she said."I'm happy to stay outhere ’til I graduate. It's a

lot easier."Zuno said the distrac-

tions were fewer in thevirtual program, and sheappreciates that she canstudy at her own paceand not have to wait awhole semester or year togo on to another subject.She said she worked on

her harder classes in themorning because shetended to get tired in theafternoons. She's pro-gressed far enough in thecore requirements thatshe's started taking elec-tives.

"If I want to graduateearly, I've got to do thework," she said. "It wasjust like the light switch,the light bulb turned on."

Zuno's mother has no-ticed a big change athome.

"She tells me I'm a lotmore grown up than Iwas a few years ago, andI know I am," Zuno said."I'm not like an averagehigh school student."

Zuno said she was try-ing to play out her life alittle bit. She hopes toget a college scholarshipor attend cosmetologyschool in Wichita.

"I have goals," shesaid. "I just have toknock school out of theway and start life."

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BLAKE SPURNEY/SPECIAL TO NEWTON NOWXena Zuno takes in a computer science lesson Friday at the Railer Virtual Academy at Brooks Trade Center.

BY BLAKE SPURNEYSPECIAL TO NEWTON NOW

Visit harveycoun-tynow.com!

Newton Tennis finishedfifth at the McPhersonBullpout invitational, car-ried on the back of foreignexchange student RaiNormas.

Normas defeated allcomers to be the singleschampion of the tourna-ment, which featuredeight teams, includingValley Center, Derby andEisenhower HighSchools.

Coach Nick Sisson saidNormas strong run in-cluded a victory over aseventh place singles ath-lete at last year's satechampionships.

Normas performance

served as the bright spotfor the Newton team.Newton's other singlesperformer Kenzie Gille-spie lost a close match toKatlyn Owens of ValleyCenter in the first round

of the tournament and an-other close match to Lau-ren Towns of Derby on ascore of 8-5.

On the doubles side,Newton's team of QuinnRhodes and Cattie Arrow-smith finished in eighth

place. Ashley Schmidt andFaye Smith finished in13th place.

The next tennis matchwill be at 8:30 a.m. Satur-day at Salina CentralHigh School.

The Wichita BombSquad again intervenedin Harvey County onAug. 18 to diffuse whatended up being a pop canwith some gunpowder init.

Newton Police Lt. ScottPowell said police re-ceived the report of abreak in on Aug. 18 at abuilding located in the

400 Block of Main Streetthat was being used forstorage.

Powell said the ownerreported that someone inrecent days broke intothe building, stole scrapmetal, damaged items inthe building, dischargedfire extinguishers,watched pornographicmovies and played videogames.

Upon inspection, the

building's owner found apop can with a fuse tapedto the side of it. The fusehad been lit.

Following procedure,the police departmentcalled the Wichita BombSquad, which dealt withthe pop can, which con-tained gunpowder.

Police believe the cannever lit inside the build-ing, because the fuse wastaped to the outside, not

the inside. Powell said police were

investigating the inci-dent.

That's two times re-cently that the WichitaBomb Squad's made thetrip north in HarveyCounty. They were alsocalled up Aug. 21 to dealwith two improvised ex-plosive devices found in atraffic stop north of NorthNewton.

Other things were crazythere, as well.

“It was a mess,”Bethards said after return-ing home. “It was moreflood water than I could'veimagined. A lot of peoplestranded and animalsstranded.”

Looking at posts of theirFacebook page, Hell orHigh Water, things weredifferent the moment theyarrived, and they spenttime going on wild-goosechases.

“Yesterday, drove intoTexas and witnessed gashoarding like crazy,” theywrote on the Facebookpage on Friday afternoon.“Got into south Houstonand learned that nothinggoing on there. Anyone leftthere wants to be there.Stayed at a close familyfriend's house and got anearly start this morning.”

The water already hadstarted receding there, andBethards said it seemedlike they were a day be-hind the storm.

They headed toward theTexas towns of Vidor andOrange, arriving at Beau-mont and got directions foropen roads, so they wenttoward Port Arthur. There,they dropped their boat inthe water right behind amall in three to four feet ofwater. Bethards said therewere no water rescues atthat point, so they servedas a water taxi, taking peo-ple back to their homes.

“There were a lot of peo-ple who wanted to get backto their homes,” he said.“People were pretty devas-tated seeing their homes.”

“Heard that the Na-tional Guard wanted peo-ple with boat[s] at alocation about 15 minutesfrom where we were, so weturned around and wentthere,” they wrote. “One ofmany misinformation thatis going around. They did-n't ask for anyone.Launched in a neighbor-hood, helped one lady getto her house, and mosteveryone was out. Plentyof boats all over. We left tohead to Orange where itsounded busy and heard ofa location in Orange whereboats were being re-quested.”

This also was misinfor-mation, but they got direc-tions from an emergencymanagement man to theemergency managementheadquarters.

“Finally someone thatmight be able to use us,”they wrote. “We are wait-ing right now for a little di-rection. It seems like allwe have been doing ischasing the storm. Theamount of volunteer boatshave been doing an amaz-ing job. If we could haveleft 24 hours sooner, wewould have been in themiddle of the most rescues.They are waiting for a cou-ple rivers to crest and an-other round of floods.”

On their way to Orange,they got a call from Beau-mont for an animal rescue

and later found out an-other boat had taken careof that, so off to Orangethey went again.

“They seemed really ex-cited to have us there,”Bethards said, addingthere were about 1,000 Na-tional Guardsmen there,and the command post wasat the Expo Center andthat they never got an as-signment.

Their next stop wasVidor, where the waterwas deep.

“It wasn't uncommon tosee vehicles submerged,”Bethards said.

Their other travels in-cluded finding cattle andhorses stranded where anolder gentleman took themthrough an old ATV trailthrough treetops all thewhile seeing various crea-tures like floating piles offire ants, helping railroadworkers check out a train,searching homes for de-ceased and live individu-als, being sent to homeswhere there were reportsto people or animals thereonly to find the homes va-cant, Bethards translatingfor a woman who was deafbecause he can sign, andfinding dogs, all the whilehaving to deal with smelly,nasty flood water contain-ing oil, gas, sewage and“every type of biting ani-mal,” Bethards said.

“It was pretty nasty,” headded.

Bethards and Schenckjoined up with a crew ofabout four to six boats.

One thing they foundwas some people didn'twant to leave their homes,since they had food andwater—even if they werestranded on their rooftops.

“These same people justflat out refused to leavetheir home,” Bethardssaid, adding then they'dcall for food and water,and the sheriff told res-cuers not to bring themfood and water becausethen they wouldn't leavetheir houses. It was a dou-ble-edged sword. “Therewere calls of suicidal peo-ple in their homes.”

So, crisis interventionteam folks talked to themon the phone, and there

also were a lot of animalrescue folks out there,Bethards said.

On Sunday, the opera-tion switched from that ofrescue to recovery, mean-ing they then looked fordeceased people.

Bethards said the folksin Texas he ran acrosswere great, including aman who lost his vehicles,home and business.

“He wanted to give usmoney,” Bethards said.“We didn't accept it. Good-hearted people.”

Schenck and Bethardshave known each other foryears and both had been inthe Marine Corps.Bethards wasn't worriedabout what he'd encounterin Texas, he said Wednes-day, Aug. 30, the day be-fore he left.

“We're both Marines, sothis shouldn't be too bad,”Bethards said. “We'regoing to take some vaca-tion time and do what wecan. We're going down todo what we can to help.”

Bethards and Schenck,both law enforcement offi-cers, with Schenck work-ing for Caldwell andSedgwick, planned to havetheir firearms with themto help with the lootingproblem. They planned todo rescues during the dayand security operations atnight.

Bethards helped becauseit's the decent thing to do.

“We both have friendsand family down there,and I know for a fact if thesituation was happeninghere, they'd come here,”Bethards said. “I can't seenot helping.”

However, the NorthNewton police officer had-n't done anything like thiskind of rescuing before, al-though he said Schenckhas.

The duo returned toKansas on Monday, sev-eral days earlier than theyhad planned.

“Looks like our missionhas come to an end,” theywrote on Sunday, Sept. 3,on their Facebook page.“Residents are activelyshooting at rescuers. Onewas shot last night aftercurfew. Those who wanted

rescue have been rescued.Watched ATF TacticalTeams deploy with Na-tional Guard. We're goingto clean up and pack up.Thank you to all our sup-porters. We could not havebeen able to do this with-out you!”

On Wednesday morning,Aug. 30, Cabela's donatedto them a variety of sup-plies, including 12 cases ofwater, first aid kits, fuel,fuel tanks, 16 emergencymeals, a five-gallon bucketcontaining 60 meals and afloatation device.

“They also supplied uswith a camp stove and fuelfor that, batteries, spot-light,” Bethards said.

They had planned to dorescue operations with theCajun Navy, who dis-patches boats to strandedfolks.

“The Cajun Navy is allvolunteers fromLouisiana,” Bethards said.

Bethards said they weretaking supplies to be self-sufficient.

While people likeSchenck and Bethardswere lending a hand, oth-ers are taking advantageof the flooding situation,since water is selling for$42 to $99 a case while gashovers around $9 a gallon.

“It's really bad,”Bethards said. “It's goingto be interesting watchingthe gas prices rise as weget further south. Thisisn't about me or Darrel.It's about the 7 millionpeople who lost their houseand their truck.”

Bethards feared theywouldn't have enoughmoney for the trip. How-ever, a person from theCity of Newton, who didn'twant to be named, came induring Bethards' initial in-terview and handed him acouple of envelopes to helpwith finances. One wasfrom city and county em-ployees, who pitched in atotal of $550, and anotherwas from the Kurt FordScholarship Foundationand private individuals forabout $800.

Bethards said he wasworried they'd run out ofmoney.

“Wow,” he said after get-ting the funds. “That'sawesome. Now money'snot an issue. That will getus through.”

Bethards is glad hewent.

“Absolutely,” he said.“I'm so glad that I went. Itwas a very difficult thingto see. At the same time, itwas good to see peoplecoming from all over thecountry.” He added thosewith boats helped eachother out, loaning toolsand fixing boats.

People came from acrossthe states, like Nebraska,Wisconsin and Arizona.

“Thousands of 'em,”Bethards said. “It waspretty amazing. I wasworn out. It was a hugelearning experience. It wasa fantastic experience, I'lltell ya.”

Bethards wasn't the onlylocal resident headingforth to Houston to renderaid.

Andy Ortiz began a cam-paign collecting water andother items to bring to thearea.

He has a friend andclient living in the area.He has another friend, aMarine who is workingdown there.

On Thursday, Ortizrolled out of Newton,headed for a Freddy'sFrozen Custard parkinglot in Houston.

He pulled an old cattletrailer behind his truckfilled with bottled water,diapers and other necessi-ties for flood victims.

Much of what Ortizhauled came from other

Newton residents whobegan donating after Ortizasked for donations on so-cial media platforms.

Local students got intothe mix, as well. Studentsfrom Santa Fe 5/6 Centercollected supplies for thehurricane. “Not All Har-veys are Bad,” read thelabel on a number of bot-tles of water.

Walton Rural Life Cen-ter got in the mix, as well,loading up a van full ofsupplies. Principal JasonCharlatanry helped organ-ize the giving effort.

—Adam Strunk con-tributed to this article.

September 7, 2017 Newton Now www.harveycountynow.com Page 13NEWS

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COURTESY PHOTONorth Newton Deputy Chief of Police Jim Bethards stands in flood wa-ters.

HOUSTONFrom Page 1

Bomb squad diffuses pop can in 400 Block of Main NEWTON NOW STAFF

Newton tennis team takes fifth at McPherson invitationalNEWTON NOW STAFF

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Drug-free coalition movingforward with grant, new director

A cross section of Har-vey County residents areteaming up to fix a grow-ing community problem:drug and alcohol use inyouth.

And they are tacklingthe issue from its roots.

The local Drug FreeYouth Coalition is emerg-ing out of concerns aboutthe growing problem ofyouth substance abuse inHarvey County. DesMartens, who works inprevention services withMirror Inc., a Newtondrug counseling andtreatment organization,has been instrumental instarting the coalition,which will emphasize pre-vention of underagedrinking and illegaldrugs, particularly mari-juana.

The public is invited toa meeting of the DrugFree Youth Coalition,scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30p.m. on Thursday, Sept.14, at the Harvey CountyHealth Department.

Martens mentioned theviolence and crime in thecounty associated withdrugs.

“As we hack away atthe branches, we have tostart working toward theroots of the problem,” shesaid.

In 2016, a survey by theorganization Communi-ties That Care revealedunderage drinking andmarijuana use by youngpeople under 18 washigher in Harvey Countythan the state average. A“groundswell of interest”arose in the county aboutcombating the problem.

During a town hallmeeting, USD 373 Super-intendent DeborahHamm said the publicperception is that 70 per-cent of the county's youthare using marijuana.

Martens does not believethe percentage is thathigh, but the perceptionthat it is, itself, is a riskfactor, she said.

When young people be-lieve the number of usersis high, they are morelikely to abuse sub-stances, Martens said.

Concern in the commu-nity has brought togetherindividuals from law en-forcement, health care,business, education, thefaith community andmedia. Civic organiza-tions, parents and youthare also joining the stillforming coalition.

The coalition, workingwith the Harvey CountyHealth Department, ap-plied for, and received, a$25,000 grant from theKansas Department ofDisability Services(KDADS) to help launchthe organization. While

the coalition will work toreduce all drugs in thecounty, its primaryfocus—a requirement ofthe grant—is on alcoholand marijuana. The em-phasis will be preventingtheir use among youth.

Neurobiology studieshave shown that there isa direct link betweenyouth usage and chronicaddiction, Martens said.

“Ninety percent of ad-dicted people use beforethey're 18,” she said.

With the grant money,the coalition hired KimStahly to work part-timeas a coordinator of the or-ganization.

“I've lived here all mylife, and I feel like it'ssomething I can give backto my community, and it'sa positive way of helpingour kids succeed,” Stahlysaid.

Martens said she has

seen drug free coalitionshave positive impacts inother counties, and shesees potential in HarveyCounty but is quick toadd that it will take helpfrom everybody to make ita success.

“People have to come tothe table and care,” shesaid. “As communitymembers, we need toshare the message. Ittakes a lot of people get-ting on board, becauseeveryone has a differentcircle of influence.”

Martens believes thetime is right for a drugfree coalition to take rootin Harvey County.

“If not now, when?” shesaid. “If not us, who?”

Anyone wishing to be-come involved with theDrug Free Youth Coali-tion can contact Martensatdmartens@mirrorinc.org.

BY JEFF GUYSPECIAL TO NEWTON NOW

FOR NEWTON NOWFrom left, Laura Thompson and Lydia Enge, members of Youth as Resources, a youth organization started byMirror Inc., promote the group's anti-drug message. Youth are welcome to join Harvey County's newly form-ing Drug Free Youth Coalition.