HUTCHINSON, Kan. – John Wiens, Hutchinson-based Engineering Technician Senior, has reached 40-years of service to the Kansas Department of Transportation.

For about the last 30 years, he has taken care of highway construction plans, records and computer-aided drafting. Wiens, a pilot, also inspects 32 airports in District Five, and has been a longtime local coordinator for KDOT’s State Fair booth.

Wiens joined KDOT in 1979, working for the Hutchinson Construction Office inspecting highways and bridges.

“It must be a pretty good place to work, for a person to hang in 40 years,” Wiens said. “It just doesn’t seem like I’ve been here that long. Time just kind of gets by you.”

His supervisor, Bryan Hamel, said, “John does an excellent job of working with district and area employees as well as customers outside of the department. His knowledge and experience are vital to ensuring that the plans and files are kept up and stored properly. John is an avid aircraft enthusiast who is efficient and detailed when performing airport inspections for District Five.”

Wiens lives in Hutchinson with his wife, Michele. He is the son to late William and Koloma Wiens. He has a sister, Sue Woods, of Liberty, Mo., and two brothers, Bob Wiens, of Hutchinson, and Bill Wiens of Bruchsal, Germany.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Two of the featured neighborhoods in the Hutchinson Healthy Neighborhoods Initiative will host meetings the next two weeks.

The First neighborhood around Faris Elementary School will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday evening in the parish hall of St. Teresa Catholic Church, 211 E. 5th. This meeting will include: reviewing proposed names for the neighborhood and a voting process for the name, as well as information about neighborhood clean-up day taking place in September.

More information about the neighborhood boundaries and the upcoming clean-up day can be found on the Hutchinson Healthy Initiative Facebook page.

The second meeting is for the Creekside neighborhood. They’ll meet at 6 p.m. on Aug. 29 in the Hutchinson Public Library auditorium.

Residents will vote on a neighborhood logo, discuss ideas for a neighborhood project and share information about a garage sale hosted by the Hutchinson Public Library.

The Creekside neighborhood is between Main Street and Cow Creek from 4th to 11th Avenue.

HUTCHINSON — One of two men accused of murder for the shooting death of a Hutchinson man will be allowed to present evidence that the shooting on June 26, 2018 was done in self-defense.

Curtis Garcia claims he fired a weapon he had in self-defense which killed Norman Cushionberry. The state wanted that defense denied, claiming that he was engaged in another dangerous felony at the time, trying to make a drug transaction and under state statute should not be allowed to argue self defense. District Judge Tim Chambers ruled that it’s a jury question. Both sides can present their cases and let the jury decide the facts.

Garcia and Tristan Delaney are charged with first degree murder for the killing of Cushinberry.

There was some statements made early in the investigation that Garcia came to the home in the 500 block of Washington to sell an Xbox and accessories. When he arrived, the victim allegedly pulled a handgun and Delaney came at the vehicle with a rifle or shotgun. But there is evidence that it was a drug buy gone bad.

Police found Cushinberry in the street suffering from gunshot wounds to his upper chest, on his side around the rib cage, and around his upper arm. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

The trial for Garcia is scheduled to begin Sept. 17.

Because of the dispute between the two suspects, Delaney is being tried separately.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Laura Kelly announced the 2020 State General Fund Grant Programs funding awards for domestic violence and sexual assault programs and children’s advocacy centers.

BrightHouse in Hutchinson will receive $146,276. The Harvey County Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Task Force will receive $251,271 in grant money.

These funds support the enhancement and expansion of sexual and domestic violence programs. The funds are used for support services, outreach and training for community-based programs located in large and small communities across Kansas.

These programs provide services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including emergency safe shelter, crisis hotline calls and crisis intervention, ongoing counseling and support, and advocacy to help victims increase safety for themselves and their families. These services for victims, survivors and their families are life-saving and assist them in transforming their lives.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Reno County Public Works announced that Centennial Road between Castleton Road and Irish Creek Road is closed to all through traffic. The area is located about four miles southeast of Arlington.

Road and Bridge Superintendent Don Brittain says an overweight vehicle broke through the deck causing major damage to two pilings. Brittain says the bridge will have to be replaced.

The number of bridges being damaged by overweight vehicles is starting to become a problem according to Brittain. Replacing bridges like this is pushing scheduled projects further down the list.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The proposed northwest passage extending K-14 and K-96 onto a new super two highway from near Willowbrook to Sterling is back on the Kansas Department of Transportation list of projects.

KDOT officials believe the freeway concept will be a much safer roadway. The section of new highway once complete would be like the current Bob Dole bypass around the west side of Hutchinson and South Hutchinson.

The estimated cost for the Reno County portion of the project is $56,988.00 while the Rice County portion is estimated to cost $51,625.00. The cost could increase prior to the project start.

The project according to the KDOT website is scheduled to begin in April 2021 with bid letting on Feb. of that year.

The project has been delayed because of lack of funding and the project will proceed in 2021 assuming money is available.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Fox Theatre in Hutchinson has announced that Chuck Miller has accepted the position of Executive Director and will begin his duties on Sept. 16.

Miller comes to the Fox from Middletown, Ohio where he has been President of the Sorg Opera House for the past seven years. He has an extensive background in programming, both in live venues and radio, as well as touring, production, and stage management.

Early in his career, he lived in Hutchinson while working as a producer for Radio Kansas. From there, his career path has included several international band tours, 30 years with the Vienna (Austria) Jazz Festival, 25 years at the Saalfelden Jazz Festival, and production management for hundreds of concerts in small and medium size venues to major concert halls and 15,000 seat arenas.

Miller’s hiring follows an extensive nationwide search that produced almost 50 applicants for the position. He’ll be taking the reins from the theatre’s current Executive Director, Josh Davies, who will be returning to his previous position of Technical Director.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Reno County Commission is still waiting on one search firm to present a proposal to the county for help in finding a replacement for County Administrator Gary Meagher. Meagher announced earlier this summer that he plans to retire later this year.

Meagher told the commission that the deadline is Wednesday. He expects it to come before the commission for consideration next week.

During the meeting, Commissioner Ron Sellers proposed setting up a citizen committee to work with whatever firm they choose to help in the process, but Commission Chair Bob Bush said he didn’t believe that was needed. Bush said the commissioners could just talk with residents within their districts. He said the residents could give their thoughts on what they would like to see in a new administrator. Commissioner Ron Hirst seemed to echo that.

The commission hopes to come up with five candidates then cut that to three. There will also be public meetings for those candidates. This process was used when Meagher was hired.

Meagher will work through the end of his current contract, which ends on Dec. 27.

MANHATTAN, Kan. — The Kansas Department of Agriculture Division of Conservation announced the expansion of the Kansas Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Initiative. This initiative will provide a one-time incentive payment for Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts for grassed waterways, shallow water areas for wildlife, filter strips, riparian buffers, wetland restorations, improvements to farmable wetland and farmable wetland buffers.

Reno, Harvey, McPherson and Rice counties are included in this initiative.

The 2018 Kansas Legislative Session allocated $281,312 to the Division of Conservation to help promote the reduction of nutrients and sediment through the CRP program. The initiative is open to targeted watersheds specified for sediment and nutrient impairment. Incentive payments will range from $162.50 to $225 per acre, depending on level of the impairment as identified by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.