COWLEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting in Cowley County.
Just before 10p.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to a residence in the 500 block of South D Street in Arkansas City for a report of a gunshot victim, according to city spokesman Andrew Lawson.
First responders arrived and located a 17-year-old Arkansas City boy with a gunshot wound. He had been struck in the face with a bullet from a 9-millimeter handgun, according to Lawson.
Police determined the victim was shot unintentionally by a family member who was handling the gun. He was transported by the Arkansas City Fire-EMS Department to South Central Kansas Medical Center and later airlifted to a Wichita-area hospital for treatment of his injuries.
The boy died Wednesday from complications related to his gunshot injury, according to Lawson. An autopsy is pending. Authorities have not released the victim’s name.
If Wichita’s new baseball team can draw fans to the stadium like it did Wednesday night for the unveiling of its name and logo, it will be in good shape.
Before a packed house at Wave, the new team was officially christened the Wichita Wind Surge.
Team officials say the name is a play on the city’s ever-present wind and because Wichita is taking “an exponential surge forward,” according to an introductory video with soaring music and quintessential images of Kansas and Wichita.
The logo features the winged horse Pegasus soaring through a red W. The team’s primary colors include navy blue and red, a nod to the colors in the Wichita flag, which will appear on the uniforms.
Logo designer Todd Radom helps introduce the Wind Surge at an event at Wave.
CREDIT NADYA FAULX / KMUW
“I think we got it right,” said Todd Radom, a nationally recognized graphic designer who created the Wichita logo. “I hope the reaction is good. Building a foundation is so important.”
Although the name was panned by many on social media after the announcement, those in attendance cheered loudly. And they formed long lines afterward to buy Wind Surge merchandise.
“Today does feel like Christmas,” said team president Jay Miller, who has been working to market a team with no name since earlier this year.
It also felt like Opening Day at the ballpark.
There were hot dogs, peanuts and beer. Elected officials roamed the crowd, along with members of the Wind Surge’s staff.
Players in the Miami Marlins’ organization — the parent club for Wichita — modeled the new uniforms.
Miss Kansas and Miss Wichita obligingly posed for photos. A barbershop quartet sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
“Make no mistake folks, Wichita is a baseball town,” said Wind Surge senior vice president Cookie Rojas.
Team owner and managing partner Lou Schwechheimer thanked Mayor Jeff Longwell for his efforts to bring the team to Wichita.
“The mayor called me three years ago and said, ‘This city deserves affiliated baseball, and we need to bring it back,’” Schwechheimer said.
Longwell was criticized for a lack of transparency in the city’s dealings with the team and the rapid decision to knock down Lawrence-Dumont Stadium and build a new $75 million baseball stadium on the west side of the Arkansas River.
The Wind Surge will take the field in April for its inaugural season in the Pacific Coast League. Wichita will be the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins, the highest level of minor league baseball. The city has not had a Triple-A team since 1984, when the Wichita Aeros left for Buffalo, New York.
When city leaders announced in September of 2018 that the New Orleans Baby Cakes were moving to Wichita, they said the team would get a new name. The team solicited suggestions from the public and received thousands of submissions, but it said team officials would make the final decision.
The team began releasing a series of names and logos in August, even though it said none would be the team’s new name. Those included the River Riders, Linemen and Doo-Dahs.
But Radom told Sportslogos.net that team officials wanted a more major-league feel.
“Wichita is the biggest city in the state of Kansas; it’s kind of a regional powerhouse,” Radom said. “So they wanted a look with a little bit more of a classic feel. We were going to look for something that would represent the team for the long term.”
Preston Wolf, left, helps James Arnold secure the door to his shelter outside of Wolf’s Furniture in Hays.
By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post
HAYS — James Arnold has been given notice to leave the only home he knows — a makeshift encampment behind Wolf’s Furniture in Hays.
If you weren’t looking for it, you probably won’t see it. The encampment is made out of shipping pallets, sheets of plastic and cardboard. The makeshift shelter has just enough space for James to crawl into for the night. He has a small space heater that kept his hideaway warm even as the temperature dipped into the single digits this week.
He has squirreled away a few possessions — dishes and a few household items he hoped to use to start a new life in his own apartment — in a couple truck toolboxes. He recently adopted a mother cat who took advantage of the warmth of his shelter to have her kittens.
Preston Wolf, owner of Wolf Furniture and James’ friend, received a letter on Oct. 30 from the City of Hays Planning Inspection and Enforcement Department saying James could no longer stay in his encampment because the area was not zoned for residential use. Wolf was given until Friday to have James out.
James, who has been homeless for 16 years, wants to stay in Hays. His face tells the tale of those years, mostly lived in similar makeshift shelters. A long white beard stretches halfway down his tall, lean frame. The heavy lines in his weather-worn face make him appear much older than his 57 years.
James has been in Hays for the last year and half, working odd jobs, hoping to save up enough money to get an apartment of his own.
Wolf befriended James. He helped him apply for and receive a new ID and Social Security card, which took almost a year. Although James said he prefers his encampment, Wolf put James up in a hotel last winter at his own expense.
James said he doesn’t want to keep taking advantage of Wolf’s kindness.
“I can stay back there and it doesn’t cost him as much money. … I’m homeless. I’m used to this stuff back here by now,” James said. “The first three or four years I wouldn’t have made it, but now it’s been 15 years and I’m used to it. It doesn’t bother me as bad. He’s so nice. I’m not going to let him spend that much money on me this winter. I’d rather stay back there if he’ll let me and do it cheaper and save more money.
“This guy’s like a gift — like a banker, but I don’t want to abuse him,” James said.
James said he has made a connection with people in Hays.
“I have people who I like now and a lot of people I enjoy being around,” he said.
The inside of James’ shelter. There is just enough room to crawl in and lie down.
James appears to have no family ties or support system outside of what Wolf has offered him here in Hays. He has mentioned an ex-wife and kids, but James’ mind wanders from one grandiose topic to the next. It’s hard to nail down a history and tell what is truth and what is fantasy. Wolf said he suspects he might have mental health issues.
Wolf expressed great distress about what might happen to James after Friday. James said he plans to hitchhike to another encampment up north, but Wolf has tried to dissuade him.
“It’s just a field,” Wolf said.
James has COPD, a lung condition, which means he is winded easily. Wolf said he doesn’t think James will last long out on the road.
“If he leaves here, he is probably going to die because he has no place to go and no help,” Wolf said. “If there was someplace he could go where he would have a roof over his head … We understand that is not the ideal out there.”
“It’s not harming me,” James said of his Hays encampment. “If he ain’t mad about, it ain’t harming me. I have been saving a little money.”
Few resources in Hays for homeless
The City of Hays says James Arnold can no longer stay in this makeshift shelter behind Wolf’s Furniture because it is not zoned for residential use.
Linda Mills, director of First Call for Help, which helps transients in the community, said Hays unfortunately has little to no resources for a person in James’ predicament.
“It’s frustrating,” Mills said. “The thought of someone sleeping outside when it was a cold as it was last night … I couldn’t do it.”
There are housing programs for veterans, but the veterans have to have proof of service. Hays also has a housing program for people who have mental illness, but recipients must have a diagnosed mental illness and meet other criteria to qualify.
First Call needs $215,000 to remodel the rear of its building into transitional living areas for its new First Step housing program. Now that First Call has a firm bid in hand, it hopes to start applying for grants for the project. You can donate to that project by clicking here.
Even if the transitional housing project was ready, Mills said James would likely not qualify for the program because he has not been able to hold down steady work.
In addition to his COPD, which makes it difficult for him to do physical labor, his mind tends to wonder, Wolf said.
“I definitely don’t mind him staying there,” Wolf said. “He causes no problems. What we were trying to when we got his ID and his Social Security card, we were try to get him a job at Walmart or someplace. The ideal thing was to try to get him back into society to find a little one-bedroom apartment or something. We are trying. We just haven’t got that — with the job application. I don’t know if James could work eight straight hours.”
Mills said James might qualify for disability, but that process can take months or even years. Initial applications are often denied and applicants have to appeal and even employ an attorney to secure disability payments.
“If he doesn’t want to leave Hays, I’m not sure unless people are willing to set up a GoFundMe or something and match what he has saved up to get into an apartment,” Mills said. “But even if he gets into an apartment, how is he going to pay for the rent month to month? It probably doesn’t makes sense to raise money to get him into the apartment unless they are going to raise money to keep him in the apartment because he’ll get evicted.”
Mills said the best First Call could do for James is to offer him a bus ticket to Salina, the location of the nearest men’s shelter.
James said he has been in shelters in Denver and Wichita, and said they were like being in prison. He doesn’t want to go.
It’s the law
Curtis Deines, superintendent of Planning Inspection Enforcement, said Arnold’s situation was unfortunate and he hoped Arnold would be OK, but he had to follow the law. He said the city had worked with Wolf to try to resolve the situation, noting it’s Wolf’s obligation as the property owner to remove Arnold from the property, according to Deines.
Deines said the the city was first made aware of Arnold’s encampment when police were called to the area because of a civil disturbance involving Arnold. He allegedly pulled a knife, threatened another individual and was arrested.
“I know it can seem like the city is going after somebody, and that is not the case,” Deines said. “There was an unfortunate event there and that prompted the situation.”
Wolf described James as mild-mannered and said he has never had any issues with him since he took up residence behind the store. James doesn’t drink or use drugs.
James said he just wants the city to leave him alone until summer comes and he can move to his encampment up north — home.
Wolf said, “We just don’t know what to do. That’s what it boils down to.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors have announced plans to retry a Kansas priest who was suspended from the ministry after he was accused of inappropriately touching a young girl on two occasions.
Kallal photo Wyandotte Co.
Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Jonathan Carter said on Wednesday that the Rev. Scott Kallal’s new trial will likely be held in May. The 37-year-old faces two felony counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. He was accused of inappropriately touching a 10-year-old girl in 2015 at a Kansas City, Kansas, church gymnasium and again at a graduation party in Bonner Springs.
His original trial ended in mistrial in September after the jury couldn’t agree on a verdict.
KANSAS CITY (AP) -A federal grand jury has indicted a former northwest Missouri police chief accused of striking a handcuffed man after the chief helped rescue the man’s infant daughter from a pond.
Greg Hallgrimson photo courtesy Fox4KansasCIty
Federal prosecutors said 50-year-old Greg Hallgrimson, of Kansas City, was charged Wednesday with violating the man’s civil rights. The indictment identifies the man only as “J.Z.” but Hallgrimson had previously been accused of using excessive force against Jonathon Zicarelli. Hallgrimson resigned in June.
HUTCHINSON — Investigators are working to determine the cause of a Thursday morning fire at a home in Hutchinson.
Crews on the scene of Thursday morning house fire photo courtesy Hutchinson Fire Department
Just before 2a.m., fire crews responded to a structure fire at 807 East 9th Avenue in Hutchinson, according to a media release.
Upon arrival, fire crews were faced with a one-story residential home with heavy fire coming from the front and delta (west) side of the structure of the home. All occupants were out of the home upon fire crew’s arrival.
Fire crews performed an interior attack to contain the fire to two rooms within the home. The fire did spread into the attic space above the room of origin. The home sustained heavy smoke and heat damage throughout the rest of the home. Four dogs were rescued with one dog given oxygen by HFD crews that had a successful outcome. Red Cross was notified to assist the homeowner as the home is uninhabitable at this time.
Fire crews remained on the scene completing salvage and overhaul operations to check for hidden fire in the void spaces. Fire Investigators are also on scene working to determine the cause of the fire.
The Hutchinson Fire Department was assisted by the Hutchinson Police Department, Reno County EMS, Kansas Gas, Evergy and the Red Cross.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former physical education teacher in Haysville has been sentenced to two years of probation for having sexual contact with a male student.
District Attorney Marc Bennett said 36-year-old Shari Herrs, of Andover, was sentenced Wednesday for an amended charge of attempted unlawful sexual relations.
If Herrs violates her probation, she could receive a 13-month prison sentence.
Prosecutors say Herrs committed the acts with an 18-year-old student at Campus High School between April and May of 2018.
Herrs has already registered as a sex offender and surrendered her teaching license.
The nearly 10-week-old puppy, named Narwhal, has a tail-like appendage growing from his forehead.
Narwhal was rescued over the weekend and sent to Mac’s Mission in Jackson, which specializes in fostering animals with special needs.
Mac’s Mission founder Rochelle Steffen says Narwhal doesn’t notice the extra tail and is otherwise a happy, healthy puppy. Although it looks like a tail, Narwhal cannot wag it.
Steffen says the rescue group has been flooded with requests from people wanting to adopt Narwhal since his picture hit social media. But he’ll remain at Mac’s Mission so his caretakers can be sure the tail doesn’t grow out of proportion to his face and cause him problems.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — Federal transportation safety investigators criticized the U.S. Coast Guard Wednesday for ignoring suggestions over nearly two decades to improve tourist duck boats, changes they say might have prevented last year’s Missouri accident that killed 17 people.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a “Safety Recommendation Report” on the July 2018 accident, when a Ride the Ducks of Branson boat known as Stretch Duck 7 sank during a severe storm. The boat’s captain and two company executives were indicted, and 30 lawsuits filed on behalf of victims’ families have been settled.
Former World War II amphibious vehicles known as duck boats operate around the country as tour boats. Many, like the one in Branson, begin with land tours before the vehicles goes onto water.
The NTSB says that since an Arkansas duck boat accident killed 13 people in 1999, it has repeatedly urged the Coast Guard to require the vehicles to be better able to remain afloat when flooded, and to remove impediments to escape such as canopies.
“Lives could have been saved, and the Stretch Duck 7 accident could have been prevented had previously issued safety recommendations been implemented,” NTSB Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt said in a statement.
“It is imperative that the United States Coast Guard adopt these life-saving recommendations now,” Sumwalt said.
Coast Guard Lt. Amy Midget said the Coast Guard issued guidance in 2000, after an NTSB recommendation, urging its inspectors and vessel owners to evaluate canopy design and installation and to “evaluate the design and installation of seats, deck rails, windshields, and windows as a system to ensure the overall arrangement did not restrict the ability of passengers to escape.”
In addition, the guidance “emphasized the importance of carefully evaluating proposed routes and anticipated environmental conditions and imposing appropriate safety measures and operational restrictions,” Midgett said.
A new review of amphibious vessel canopies is planned based on “the NTSB’s reissuance” of recommendations, Midgett said.
The NTSB said duck boats’ low freeboard and open interior make them “vulnerable to rapid swamping and sinking” when they are suddenly flooded. In the Branson accident, a sudden storm caused massive waves that poured over the boat, sinking it within minutes.
The safety report also found that a fixed canopy and closed side curtain impeded passenger escape and likely caused more deaths. Fourteen of Stretch Duck 7’s 31 passengers survived.
“These safety issues were identified almost 20 years prior to the sinking of the Stretch Duck 7 and remain relevant to this accident,” the report said.
In May 1999, the Miss Majestic sank in Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs, Arkansas. Three children were among the 13 victims.
A February 2000 letter from the NTSB urged the Coast Guard to take immediate action. The NTSB said the Coast Guard responded in 2002 with a letter stating that “sufficient requirements and guidance are in place to provide to amphibious passenger vessels a level of safety equivalent to other passenger vessels of similar size and capacity.”
The NTSB said it also recommended the changes to 30 duck boat operators years ago, but just one made the recommended improvements.
The Missouri boat entered the lake as part of a land-and-water tour despite severe weather warnings. The dead included five children.
Tia Coleman of Indianapolis survived the accident but lost her husband and three young children — four of the nine victims from one extended family.
“The duck boat and Coast Guard’s failure to act on the NTSB’s recommendations to remove death trap canopies and improve the buoyancy of these boats killed my family,” Coleman said in a statement through her attorney.
Ripley Entertainment, owner of the Branson boats, has settled 30 of 31 lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of the accident, Ripley spokeswoman Suzanne Smagala-Potts said.
Meanwhile, a federal grand jury has indicted the boat’s captain, Kenneth Scott McKee, along with Ride the Ducks Branson General Manager Curtis Lanham and the company’s operations supervisor, Charles Baltzell.
McKee faces several charges accusing him of failing to properly assess the weather and failing to tell passengers to don flotation devices as conditions worsened.
Lanham and Baltzell are charged with misconduct and neglect. Indictments alleged that Baltzell got onto the duck boat before it departed and directed McKee to conduct the water portion of the excursion before the land tour because of the approaching storm. At no point after that did Baltzell or Lanham communicate with McKee about the growing intensity of the storm, including that wind gusts of 70 mph were predicted, the indictment said.
The indictment accused Lanham of helping to create “a work atmosphere on Stretch Duck 7 and other duck boats where the concern for profit overshadowed the concern for safety.”
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A 22-year-old Texas woman who said she accidentally shot and killed her boyfriend has been sentenced to three years of probation.
Gregoria Baez, of Stamford, Texas, was sentenced Tuesday for involuntary manslaughter. She was convicted in September in the death of 21-year-old Feliz Florez in Manhattan, who died in September 2018.
Baez testified during her trial that she and Florez pointed guns at each other while they were joking around. She said she accidentally disengaged the grip safety and shot Florez.
Before sentencing, Baez apologized and said she still loved Florez.
But Jennifer Florez, Felix’s mother, said the family would get some comfort if Baez was sentenced to prison.
Baez will serve her probation in Texas, where she moved after the shooting.
