TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Department of Corrections recently honored employees in its uniformed, non-uniformed and contract divisions.

Ryan McCorkle, a corrections officer with the Hutchinson Correctional Facility, was recognized as the Uniformed Employee of the Year during that event

Kansas Senator Molly Baumgardner, R-Louisburg, who is the chair of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight, said KDOC employees work to improve Kansas every day.

Baumgardner, who called the KDOC the state’s largest mental health provider, said the KDOC also houses the largest population of Kansans who are lagging in reading ability and who grew up in an environment surrounded by poverty, abuse, and addiction.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Although no final decision has been made on the county budget, it appears commissioners want to keep the mill levy for 2019 the same as this year at 41.675 mills.

Commissioners went through all the various numbers, including a request from three departments for additional personnel.

That includes adding an attorney to the District Attorney’s Office, one Information Technology employee, and a new driver for Rcat.

Commissioner Deming was opposed to adding any new positions, including a new attorney for the D.A.’s office. Deming said they could manage their office and cases better. But Bob Bush fired back. Bush told Deming he had no way of knowing their needs without working in that office. Commissioner Hirst seemed neutral on the topic. Another attorney would also require some additional office space. Deming estimated that would cost around $12,000.

Bush and Hirst did agree with Deming in saying they don’t believe adding an additional bus driver to Rcat is necessary, but disagreed on adding a new IT person.

Deming provided the other commissioners and the media with numbers that included step increases for some county employees of 3 percent.

According to those numbers, for all of the costs including benefits, the total for new hires would come to $759,485.

Valuations for the county are up. That means it could afford the new hires without the mill levy going up. However, Deming questioned the need for even a 3 percent increase for employee salaries, which he says is more than the military increase approved by Congress and 2.7 percent more than those who received Social Security this past year.

No final decisions were made Tuesday. A special meeting on the budget is scheduled for July 23. If all goes well then, there could be a public hearing on the 2019 budget on Aug. 14.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce and Hutchinson Regional Medical Center hosted a Democratic Forum for the candidates vying for their party’s nomination for governor.

The candidates were questioned about the raiding of funds from the Transportation Department. Those dollars have been used for other items in the budget and have caused delays in some highway projects.

All agreed that this has to stop and spoke of the importance of a strong infrastructure in the state.

Candidate Joshua Svaty talked about the issue from a farmer’s perspective. Svaty was raised on a farm in Ellsworth County. He discussed what the issue means for getting goods to market. But, he also talked about his days at Sterling College and what happened to the plan to expand the K-14 and K-96 bypass west of Hutchinson:

 

Other topics included school funding, the effect tariffs will have on products from Kansas, and taxes, including sales tax on food.

Others candidates who participated in the forum were Arden Andersen, Jack Bergeson, Carl Brewer and lieutenant governor candidate Lynn Rogers.

About 100 people attended the event at the Stringer Fine Arts Center on the HutchCC campus.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Victor Pedraza Jr. was never told that he would be on post-release supervision for life when he entered a plea for a count of kidnapping.

The 21-year-old suspect was scheduled for sentencing. But his case has been delayed again after the discovery.

Pedraza entered a plea to charges of kidnapping, five counts of sexual battery, domestic battery and possession of marijuana.

He was convicted for the beating and sexual battery of the victim who attended Hutchinson Community College. He set her passport and documents on fire. Police say the victim was tied to a bed and beaten, then forced into sex twice. The state entered the agreement so that the victim — who lives in Japan — would not have to come back to the U.S. to testify.

Sarah Sweet McKinnon, who was representing Pedraza, also decided she should withdraw as his attorney. That was granted by District Judge Joe McCarville, who then assigned Wichita attorney Steve Osburn to represent the defendant.

Judge McCarville scheduled a hearing for Aug. 6. If Pedraza is allowed to withdraw his plea, the state indicated to the judge it would then proceed to prosecute him on the two rape charges, which the state dropped as part of the plea agreement.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A 51-year-old man is jailed on a $38,000 bond after he allegedly tried to flee from a South Hutchinson police officer Saturday afternoon.

Ronald Smith is jailed for felony flee and elude, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving while suspended, no insurance and failing to give information at an unattended property accident.

It apparently started in South Hutchinson when Smith failed to stop at a stop sign. He pulled over, but when the officer started to get out of his car, Smith took off. The chase proceeded into Hutchinson, where at one point, Smith struck a mailbox. The chase finally ended in the 200 block of South Elm in Hutchinson, according to statements made in court.

Smith has numerous prior convictions, most recently for theft and drug charges in Reno County and a theft conviction in Harvey County.

He’ll be back in court on July 16.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Reno County Commission will meet Tuesday to discuss the 2019 budget, which will most likely be the highlight of the meeting.

In addition to the budget, a proclamation naming the month of July as Ulster Project of Reno County month will be discussed. It is something they do every year.

The commission will also consider approval for the Youth Service Procurement plan for the Kansas State Department of Education’s Child Nutrition program.

The 4-H Ambassadors invitation to the Reno County Fair will be discussed as well.

Also on the meeting agenda, are department updates from Community Corrections and Information Service.

The Reno County Commission meeting starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Reno County Courthouse.

TOPEKA, Kan. — While there have been some recent rain showers, drought conditions for many areas of Kansas continue to worsen. On Friday, Gov. Jeff Colyer updated the Drought Declaration for Kansas counties with an executive order.

The update includes all 105 counties either in an emergency, warning, or watch status. This order places nearly half of Kansas counties in an emergency drought status.

Counties in the emergency stage are eligible for emergency use of water from certain state fishing lakes because of the KWO Memorandum of Understanding with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism. They also become eligible for water in some federal reservoirs.

Reno County is included in the drought emergency. Others also under the emergency alert include Harvey, Kingman, McPherson, Pratt, Rice, Sedgwick, and Stafford counties.