HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A 29-year-old man charged with a serious crime involving inappropriate contact with an 11-year-old girl waived his right to a preliminary hearing and entered a guilty plea as charged.
Donovan Hall is now guilty of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. The contact occurred March 7 and again on July 21, 2018.
Sentencing will occur on Oct. 25 in front of Reno County District Judge Trish Rose.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A well-known dance teacher in Hutchinson died Friday at the age of 91.
Don Paige spent more than 40 years teaching Hutchinson youth and the young at heart to love dance from his second-floor studio.
In addition, Paige spent many years in his youth performing with such partners as Charlie Weaver. He appeared on the George Gobel show and juggled on his unicycle while dressed as BoHo the clown.
A service for Paige will be on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Riverside Baptist Church.
A follow-up will be at Smedley’s Bar and Grill for refreshments and a chance to share stories about Paige.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. – It’s Day 7 of the Kansas State Fair and it’s Thrill-O-Rama day where you can head to the North American Midway and ride as much as you want with a wristband for $30.00.
It’s also Governor’s Day where Gov. Laura Kelly will be on the grounds. Kelly will tour the Fair, then issue several proclamations to area organizations at 11 a.m. at the House of Capper.
Following the proclamataions, fairgoers will have an opportunity to take a selfie with the Governor. Meanwhile, the Governor’s Awards Ceremony takes place at 1:30 p.m. in the Domestic Arts.
Also Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the High School Forensics Showcase will be held in the Hansen Auditorium, Encampment Building.
And there will be more Navy activities at Gottschalk Park from 5 to 8 p.m.
Lindsay Ell with special guest Madison Kozak will perform at the Bretz and Young Injury Lawyers Arena.
Ell was the 2019 ACM nominee for New Female Artist. She is currently featured on a Brantley Gilbert single “What happens in a Small Town.”
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A 34-year-old man charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of THC and criminal possession of a firearm has been found guilty by a Reno County jury.
Christopher Krebbs was immediately ordered to jail by Reno County District Judge Trish Rose.
The case began when drug enforcement officers had him under surveillance on Jan. 10. Officials placed a GPS device on his car. He went to Wichita where he allegedly bought a large quantity of methamphetamine.
Once he was back in Reno County, officers performed a traffic stop on K-96 at Worthington Road. They searched the vehicle and found a bundle in the glove compartment, several cigars containing THC, two glass pipes and a Taurus 40-caliber handgun.
According to statements made in court, the total weight of the meth discovered was around one pound. He reportedly paid $5,500 for that amount.
The defense doesn’t deny that he had the drugs, but argues that he was mourning the loss of his infant son and that he simply bought the meth in bulk for his own use and had no intention of selling it. The defense asked the jury to find him guilty of possession of meth, but not distribution of meth.
With the guilty verdict, sentencing will be on Oct. 18.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Reno County Commission made an agreement with the Kansas Department of Transportation Tuesday to develop a local road safety plan. They will utilize Kirkham Michael and Associates to provide professional engineering services at an estimated cost of $50,000. The federal government will pay $45,000 of that cost with the county paying the rest.
This would be done for all major collector and paved routes in the county. This is required in order to be considered for KDOT project funding.
The commission also agreed to a contract with Kirkham Michael and Associates to provide professional engineering services for the physical year 2021 high risk rural sign project grant. This will ensure all road signs in the county are up to code and in good shape.
A special use permit for Dale Lehman for a manufacturing facility and retail sales facility at the intersection of McNew Road and K-96 was also approved.
In 2006, he applied for a zoning permit to construct a house and shed, but there was no mention of the intent to begin manufacturing accessory structures on the property. He has been adding to the facility over the years. This past spring, Lehman approached county planners about adding a retail establishment on a parcel of land he recently purchased. The land is adjacent to the manufacturing facility.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — North American Midway is a big part of the Kansas State Fair each year. The company provides plenty of rides to make up the Midway.
Pat Repp, manager of the Midway in Hutchinson, talked about how tough it is to get all the rides in place.
“It’s quite complicated. We probably have 45 or 46 rides on the Midway,” Repp said. “We came out of two locations in Illinois, one in Wisconsin and one in Missouri, so we all joined here for this event. It required almost 55 semi trucks and trailers of loads to get here. It’s quite an undertaking quite frankly to get everything here and the people and with the Labor Day holiday being before the fair, you kind of lose a day.”
In other words, it normally takes about five days to get everything in place and set up.
With some injuries occurring on rides at different venues across the country, you may be wondering how safe the rides are at the fair. Repp says they were inspected by the state, but they also have daily inspections for each ride on the grounds.
“Each ride operator has a check sheet daily. That ride cannot open until the check sheet is turned in a daily inspection,” Repp said.
Customer safety is a priority, but Repp must also ensure the safety of workers. “Just as important as the patrons are our employees,” Repp said. “They’re working around heavy machinery and there could be injuries and there have been at different carnivals and what not, but you know, we make sure they have their hard hats on if they’re climbing, they gotta have harnesses on. Safety not only for our customers, but also for our employees is utmost for us.”
The North American Midway is the largest traveling amusement park in the world.
GODDARD, Kan. — A resolution was approved by the Goddard Board of Education Monday night authorizing filing a lawsuit against manufacturers, distributors and sellers of electronic cigarettes and vaping products.
The board says it’s important to note that this does not require the district to allocate resources to fund the process. That is the responsibility of the law firm.
Officials strongly believe electronic cigarettes and vaping products are extremely harmful to their current and future students.
They believe it’s their responsibility to support and protect the physical, social and emotional well-being of their students.
Tuesday morning, Kansas health officials confirmed the first death in the state associated with an outbreak of serious lung disease related to vaping or using e-cigarettes. A 50-year-old man died from what officials say was because of vaping. Officials also acknowledged he suffered other underlying health issues.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The USD 308 School Board received their first monthly reports from the district’s schools and programs Monday during their regular meeting.
Superintendent Mike Folks has asked district principals to put together brief summaries of school activities separated by building, for each month during the 2019-20 school year. This gives a glimpse of activities in each building and is designed to increase members’ knowledge of activities in each building. The reports also have been posted to each school’s website.
They also approved a listing agreement for the district’s 2018-19 Building Trades Program home at 2708 Morris Road. The exclusive right to sell listing agreement is with Elite Real Estate Group, LLC.
They also held an executive session for negotiations with NEA-Hutchinson.
GODDARD, Kan. – A resolution was approved by the Goddard Board of Education Monday night authorizing filing a lawsuit “against manufacturers, distributors and sellers of electronic cigarettes and vaping products.
They say it’s important to note, this does not require the district to allocate resources to fund this process. That’s the responsibility of the law firm.
Officials with that school board strongly believe electronic cigarettes and vaping products are extremely harmful to their current and future students.
They say they believe it’s their responsibility to support and protect the physical, social and emotional well-being of our students.
Tuesday morning, Kansas health officials confirmed the first death in the state associated with an outbreak of serious lung disease related to vaping or using e-cigarettes. A man age 50 apparently died from what officials say was because of vaping but also say he had suffered other underlying health issues.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The heavy rains and flooding that occurred earlier this year were a sobering reminder to many Kansans of the need to be prepared for severe weather and other emergencies.
To help Kansans be prepared, local, state and federal agencies took part Monday in the annual Kansas Preparedness Day at the Kansas State Fair.
Kansas Preparedness Month is observed each September to place a special emphasis on reminding Kansans to be prepared for tornadoes, floods, wildfires, blizzards and other disasters.
Jane Welch, the acting director of public affairs with the Adjutant’s Office in Topeka, talked about the effort to educate residents of what they should do to prepare for an emergency.
“Do they have a plan, do they have an emergency kit that consists of supplies for seven days for each member of their family?” Welch asked. “That would include water, food, you know if you have pills that you need to have, batteries, flashlights, just everything you would need to survive on your own for seven days.”
She explained that you can build that kit over time as opposed to doing it all at once.
Numerous local, state, and federal agencies, and community emergency response organizations were set up near the Administration Building to provide disaster preparedness and public safety information and display emergency response equipment. That included the Kansas Guard. Welch explained how they play a part in helping during an emergency situation or a disaster.
“The locals are always the first responders to any emergency,” Welch said. “The guard comes after that, so if the county gets to the point that all of their assets have been tapped out, they would then come to the state and say, ‘OK, this is what we need help with’ and that’s where the guard comes in.”
The latest example of that locally was when Hutchinson had wildfires north and east of town.
“The guard was a big part of the wildfire stuff,” Welch said. “They would try to suppress those fires on the ground, but then it got to the point where they were getting into areas where firefighters couldn’t reach, so that’s where the guard comes in with the buckets to drop water to help suppress the fires.”
During preparedness month, the Kansas Division of Emergency Management is also reminding the public to take part in its monthly online Preparedness Challenge at www.facebook.com/KansasEmergency. Additional information on disaster kits and family preparedness can be found at www.ready.gov.
