HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Minden, Nevada, company that was going to expand its business into Hutchinson has decided it will not go through with the move.

Public Restroom Company had postponed its expansion plans into Hutchinson following the death of president and founder Chuck Kaufman in April. At the time, the company said it was reevaluating its plans and was still in the process of leasing the building it originally purchased. Vice President Chad Kaufman said the company planned to take on the added costs of shipping products from Nevada, rather than consider start-up costs for the Hutchinson facility, until it got things in order.

In talking with Executive Vice President Katie Sherin, the company made the decision late this summer to not make the move after all. Sherin did not completely rule out an expansion in the future, but said the business platform had changed with the death of her father.

Sherin says the building that housed Mega Manufacturing is being sold to a local company.

Public Restroom Company assembles whole restrooms and then ships them to customers. Some of its products are at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and in other major parks.

The modular restrooms weigh between 30 tons and 40 tons when finished.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kroger announced today that it will stop selling all e-cigarettes. This includes all Dillons stores. Dillons spokesperson Sheila Lowrie confirmed the decision to Hutch Post.

Lowrie says the company is discontinuing the sale of electronic nicotine delivery products, or e-cigarettes, at all store and fuel center locations because of mounting questions and an increasingly-complex regulatory environment associated with the products. This does not include Kwik Shops, which are no longer a part of the Kroger company.

Lowrie says the company will exit this category after selling through its current inventory.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Reno County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating an accident that claimed the life of a 64-year-old McPherson woman.

Deputies were called around 9:40 a.m. Sunday for the report of a possible injury accident in the area of 69th Avenue and Willison Road.

The reporting party says he found a vehicle that went off an embankment at the T-intersection. He said there was possibly an occupant in the vehicle.

Deputy Mikel Bohringer arrived on scene and says he had to force entry into the locked vehicle to make contact with the sole occupant.

Evelyn Diane Black was inside and pronounced dead at the scene.

[ By AMY BICKEL ]

[ KANSAS STATE FAIR ]

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Country star Luke Bryan’s Friday night concert that was to be held in a farm field near Douglass has been moved to the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson.

Luke Bryan Farm Tour organizers reached out to fair officials Thursday after the Douglass venue received several inches of rain. The relocated concert will take place in the fair’s Parking Lot C, just east on Plum Street.

Cole Swindell, Mitchell Tenpenny and DJ Rock are all scheduled to perform.

“It’s unfortunate the rain is forcing a location change from Douglass, but we are glad we can help accommodate Luke and his fans at the Kansas State Fairgrounds,” fair General Manager Robin Jennison said.

On Friday, the fair’s parking areas will open at 2 p.m., gates to the concert area open at 5 p.m. and the concert is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.

The fair is working with the City of Hutchinson and the Hutchinson Convention and Visitors Bureau to handle the event.

This is Bryan’s 11th consecutive Farm Tour, which this year was scheduled for six farms between Sept. 6 to Oct. 5. The idea behind the tour is to bring full production concerts to small towns.

Bryan’s hits include “Country Girl (Shake It For Me),” “Drunk on You” and “Rain is a Good Thing.”

For those attending the concert, the following advice should be noted:

• All vehicles should park in Lots A and B — with limited parking in Lot C.
• All concert traffic will follow the instructions of the traffic attendants on-site.
• All motor vehicle traffic not attending the concert is urged to avoid the eastern end of the fairgrounds. Plum Street from the south end of the fairgrounds to 23rd Avenue will be closed at noon Friday.

Tickets can still be purchased at www.lukebryan.com/farmtour. Tickets will be available on-site beginning at 2 p.m. For information on local accommodations, call 800-691-4262, email visitorinfo@hutchchamber.com or visit www.visithutch.com.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — When there are stray cats and dogs, runaways or pets that are surrendered, the Hutchinson Animal Shelter is the entity that takes care of those animals within the city and surrounding area.

It is a small staff and a lot of work. Work starts early in the morning and continues throughout the morning hours until the shelter opens at noon. It includes treatment of all animals, feeding, cleaning kennels and assessing new animals that come into the shelter each day. The director of the shelter is Ronald Schlabs. He says the work each morning is never-ending and talked about a shelter technician’s day.

“Today (Destanee Brammer) is going to be our treatment tech and she’s going to do morning feeding for all of the dogs and treating those that need medications,” Schlabs said. “Any new animals that come in, she’ll take their initial assessment exams.” Those exams include checking an animal’s behavior, health and checking for a microchip if the animal is a stray.

“The biggest thing is to make sure they are healthy, so we do an overall physical exam and then they get at least their first round of shots (depending on the age of the animal),” technician Courtney Keazer said. The physical check-up includes blood tests for any disease or possible illness that could spread throughout the shelter. The shelter also provides spaying and neutering for all animals. Most area veterinarians help with this and the shelter also gets assistance from Kansas State University. “The nice part is K-State comes in every two weeks and they help us out a lot by keeping our shelter on their rotation,” Keazer said. “We have not had any issues with other veterinarians in town helping us out.”

The kennels for the dogs are also an area that gets attention each morning. The kennels are designed with two spaces for each dog. Those spaces can be isolated with a door. This allows employees to clean the kennels without coming in contact with the animals. The kennels are sprayed down with water and a non-toxic cleaning solution. The dogs are then fed and given medications as needed. If volunteers are available, dogs that are healthy and friendly enough are taken for walks.

Cats and kittens are a continuous challenge for the shelter. The number of cats brought in has increased this year, making things crowded. “We had a 40 percent increase in cats this year,” Schlabs said. “In August, we had 175 cats in here.” Most of those are adopted out, some are taken to other shelters and some are used for the barn cat program. The cats are too wild to adopt as pets, but are great for farms and other areas where people want to control mice. “They’re not completely feral, they’re what we call semi-feral, where they’re tolerant with people but they would not be happy living in a house,” Schlabs noted. “We have people that apply that say, ‘I have a ranch or I have acreage, I like to use a barn cat as a mouser.’ So what we do is get that cat spayed or neutered and give it a rabies shot and it is microchipped.”

The shelter also participates in the Lucky Dog program, which is part of the Hutchinson Correctional Facility and Friends of Animals in Need. Lucky dogs are rescued from the shelter and receive training from inmates at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility. The dogs are taught basic obedience commands and learn to come, sit, lay down and stay. They are housebroken, crate trained and taught to walk on a leash.

Inmates selected to participate in this program are given the opportunity to give back to the community by helping to train dogs that would likely be euthanized. The inmates that train the dogs are selected based on their performance in prison.

With the overflow of animals, especially kittens, the shelter also has volunteers who provide foster care. This gives kittens a chance to grow before being adopted. It also gives dogs that might become too stressed in a kennel environment some reprieve from the shelter.

The shelter does charge to adopt animals and there is a surrender fee. The fees help pay for the cost of keeping and caring for the animals, and can be about $300 to get an animal ready for adoption and about $16 per day while at the shelter. That includes about 100 pounds of cat food and 200 pounds of dog food per month. It also includes the costs of the medications needed to treat any animals brought in.

Many animals that are brought in are reconnected with their owners thanks to microchipping. The tiny chip can be read through the skin and provides information about the owner. Schlabs says it is one of the most important things a pet owner can do. “The biggest thing that’s so beneficial to microchipping is you can put a tag on a collar, they break, fall off, maybe for some reason, a person takes the collar off. There are too many ways a tag or a collar can just come off a dog,” Schlabs said. “That microchip is under the skin, it’s not going anywhere, so those are pretty much a lifetime ID on your dog.”

The shelter is always looking for volunteers, foster homes and items to keep the shelter running. Items that are always needed include 55-gallon trash bags, toys, cat scratchers, dog beds, paper towels, rawhide bones, dog treats and cat litter.

If you need any information on any of the programs, call the shelter at 620-694-1924 or go to hutchinsonanimalservices.com.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council discussed at great length the revamped rental inspection program during Tuesday’s meeting.

The housing commission recently approved recommending a licensing rental unit rather than registration. The city has been looking for a way to better make sure landlords keep up their property while protecting tenants from eviction if they file a complaint about living conditions.

However, landlords in attendance were not interested in any type of program.

“If you think that we’re going to sign up for this again and say, ‘sure come on in and you can ridicule us on the inside of our property like you did on the outside for silly little things,’ you’re wrong,” Jill Gumble, president of the Central Kansas Landlords Association, said. “There’s not going to be any compliance from the landlords whatsoever, good or bad, because it does not benefit us in any way.”

City Planner Ryan Hvitlok says he understands landlords’ concerns, especially when it comes to costs and policing the program. But he said the program is bringing change to the housing stock.

“I think this program has made a difference, we are seeing things that are getting done,” Hvitlok said. “We are seeing an improvement. It’s a slow improvement. This is not something we got to overnight and it’s not something we’ll be able to fix overnight.”

Most of the council was in favor of keeping some type of program. John Daveline was not one of them. He expressed his frustration with the state legislature who he says is responsible for the current situation since they took home rule away from cities.

“We don’t have any other occupations other than contractors and tradespeople that are required to have a license in the city of Hutchinson,” Daveline said. “I’m concerned that this begins to set a precedent of looking at other avenues to place business licensees on businesses. And I’m troubled with that.” Daveline asked that the entire program be allowed to sunset at the end of the year.

Steve Dechant, who is a landlord, has been in support of the program and expressed his reasons for the new proposal. If put in place, he hopes it is not needed for long. Dechant expressed his support of the efforts of the Central Kansas Landlords Association for trying to improve the rental situation.

“When we see stuff that continues to happen to this day, and even though it is such a small percentage of our people who are in the business, then as a city we have got to do something,” Dechant said. “We just can’t allow that to continue to be going on. And I think to abandon (the program) would allow that to go on and on, whereas to move forward and continue . . . I’m hoping that in five years we’re not feeling the need to continue this.”

In the end, the council voted 4-1 to move forward with the program. The matter will now go back to the housing commission, then return to the council for final approval.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Two Omaha residents face an involuntary manslaughter charge following a May shooting death of a Hutchinson man in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

A grand jury returned indictments against 25-year-old Jonathan Echtinaw and 23-year-old Carissa Lynn Kendall for the death of 18-year-old Ethan Edgar.

Edgar was behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle. He was parked in a gas station lot at South Main and 9th Avenue in Council Bluffs. The car had been reported stolen. Echtinaw and several others were looking for it.

Edgar was confronted by two individuals in separate vehicles. The two parked in front and back of the stolen car. When Edgar tried to ram the two vehicles, the driver of one of the vehicles fired a number of shots, hitting Edgar twice.

Police say Edgar drove from the scene with the other two giving chase. Kendall was driving the car during that chase. Edgar was at South Main and 5th Avenue when he lost control of the car and struck a tree. He died later at the hospital.

If convicted, Echtinaw and Kendall both face up to two years in prison. They are both scheduled for arraignment on Oct. 4 with a jury trial scheduled for Nov. 12.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A hearing is set for Monday morning in the legal fight involving Pretty Prairie Wind and landowners in opposition to the proposed wind farm in southern Reno County.

Pretty Prairie Wind and NextEra Energy are challenging the validity of signatures gathered on protest petitions. That forced county commissioners to have the unanimous approval of a conditional use permit for the project. The vote ended up 2-1.

Reno County Counselor Joe O’Sullivan says the legality of the petitions won’t be heard in court Monday. Instead, Judge Tim Chambers will hear arguments from a group of citizens who want to intervene in support of the landowners.

Which way that decision goes could have an effect on Pretty Prairie Wind’s next legal option. The option is a filing by Pretty Prairie Wind for a summary judgment with the court to simply declare the protest petitions invalid. That in turn, would remove the unanimous vote of the County Commission and the permit would be granted. If that were to happen O’Sullivan sees that decision going all the way to the Supreme Court.

The hearing is set for 10:30 a.m. at the Reno County Courthouse.