By
NICK GOSNELL <a href="https://hutchpost.com">Hutch
Post</a>


HUTCHINSON — On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Kansas State Fair Assistant
 General Manager Denny Stoecklein had a problem on the fairgrounds he 
was working to fix.

"I think it was on the opening night of the 
fair, it might have been on the Saturday, I got a call, I got an 
anonymous phone call," Stoecklein said. "Somebody said, you've got some 
people working at one of your gates, actually two of your gates that are
 stealing from you. The fair hires 500 to 600 seasonal folks and a lot 
of them had been there for many, many years. The people they were saying
 were doing this were veteran employees."

After auditing tickets for a couple of days, it was time to see if they could catch anyone.

"Lt.
 Randy Moon with the Highway Patrol, Randy was officed on the 
Fairgrounds at that time," Stoecklein said. "The lieutenant in that 
office is typically the one who is kind of over the Fair for the Highway
 Patrol on site and we're talking about this and making the plan that 
we're going to park a horse trailer right next to this gate and put some
 troopers in the back with cameras and film the goings on and see if we 
can pick up on anything."

"His
 pager goes off and he looks down at it and he says, a plane just hit 
the World Trade Center," Stoecklein said. "We kind of commented that, 
you know, tragic accident, you know, and we get back to our meeting and 
we're planning and doing some things. The pager goes off again. Randy 
looks at it. He goes, another plane just hit the World Trade Center and 
then you knew. This is not an accident."

Given that everyone 
wanted information more than anything at the time and smartphones 
weren't in every pocket, the next question for the fair was easy to 
figure out, but hard to answer.

"What do we do now, do we keep 
having a fair, what's going on?" Stoecklein said. "I would say, within 
60 to 90 minutes, we were gathered on the Fairgrounds with Highway 
Patrol, city police, emergency management, you name it. Every emergency 
management, certainly at the local level and they were in touch with 
people at the state and federal level, trying to get a better 
understanding of, what are we dealing with? From that, we kind of just 
started to make plans as to what we wanted to do and tried to figure 
out, how do we continue, if we continue?"

Any decision involving the fair involves the Governor's office.

"Bill
 Graves was the governor at that time," Stoecklein said. "It just so 
happened that the governor, on that day, was in Wichita. Wichita was 
hosting what was called a midwest U.S.-Japan association conference. 
There were people from a number of states as well as Japan in Wichita. 
We were able to get in touch with the governor, because, as you would 
imagine, that conference was canceled. Now you've got people with a lot 
of anxiety at this conference that just want to get home, some of them 
to Japan, but there's no air travel."

Since getting from Wichita to Hutchinson on the ground wasn't an issue, Graves was able to visit.

"The
 governor came over to Hutch, met with the board and management of the 
fair and talked to law enforcement and the decision was made that we're 
going to continue," Stoecklein said. "We're going to have the fair. I 
don't remember all of the pros and cons and things we talked about, but,
 you know, one of the things that was commonly mentioned by all of us 
was, you know, if we shut the doors then, whoever is doing this, they 
win."

The crowd that day was understandably somber.

"One of 
the probably most visited booths at the fair, right in the heart of the 
fairgrounds is the KWCH booth," Stoecklein said. "They have all those 
windows open and they had TVs in there and you can imagine what the TVs 
were tuned to. People were just gathered around that en masse, trying to
 understand what was going on and learning everything we could. 
Obviously, we increased the security at the gates significantly, but 
decided we were going to continue through the rest of the fair."

"Blessid
 Union of Souls was scheduled to perform that night," Stoecklein said. 
"They likely were on the Fairgrounds and had arrived. I don't know that 
they were flying in that day, but, even if they were there, probably 
having a concert that night wasn't the appropriate thing to do. They did
 not perform."

There was another change to the lineup at the last minute.

"Lee
 Ann Womack was supposed to perform, I think with Keith Urban," 
Stoecklein said. "She couldn't get there. The group Lonestar, I think, 
was traveling back to Nashville. I want to say they'd been out west. 
Maybe they'd been in Utah. The Utah State Fair runs the same time as the
 Kansas State Fair, which would make sense. Our agency got in touch with
 them and said, hey, do you want to make a pit stop in Hutch and do a 
show, which they did."

Stoecklein's favorite memory surrounds another grandstand act that year.

"The
 group Styx was scheduled to perform on September 15th," Stoecklein 
said. "I don't recall where they were. For some reason, I think that 
they were maybe on a little break and they were all going to meet up 
again in Hutch. They weren't on tour buses or anything. I think they 
were going to fly into Wichita for the show. Obviously, airfare being 
shut down put a stop to that, but they were determined not to miss the 
show. They felt it was important to get there. 

"It would have 
been their first performance since the events of 9-11. They got rental 
cars, any way, any how that they could get to Hutchinson, Kansas. They 
found a way to do it and put on just an incredible show. We had a 
gentleman that worked for the agency that the fair used to book talent, 
Romeo Entertainment Group. His name was Steve Bogdanovich. We called him
 Bogie. Bogie was our guy backstage and his favorite saying, no matter 
what the situation, he would just look at you and his glasses always 
rode low on his nose and he'd look over the top of them and say, it's 
all good. It's all good. 

"Bogie called me early that day and he 
said, boss, I need a flag on a pole. An American flag on a pole. I said 
okay, what do you need that for, Bogie? He said, Styx wants it. I said 
okay. We rounded up a long wooden pole and a flag. I got with our 
carpenter and he put the screws through the grommets and got it affixed 
to the pole and I took it down to the grandstand and gave it to Bogie. I
 didn't think much of it until that night. I go down to check on the 
show. Bogie and I are near the back of the stage and I see this flag 
rolled up and it's back behind the drum kit, while the show is going on.

"Styx
 does their set. They walk off and we're waiting for the encore. People 
are getting worked up and getting excited and ready for them to come 
back. Twenty years ago, and I'm not as young as I once was, but I'm 
pretty sure I remember this pretty closely to how it happened. One of 
the members of Styx walks back to that flag and grabs it and then they 
all just walked to the front of the stage and lifted it up as high as 
they could. I have never been in a place so loud as it was when they did
 that. It just about blew the roof off the grandstand."

Stoecklein
 got the band to sign a photo of them with the flag when they returned 
later in their careers and he has that photo at home.

"There's 
never been a moment when I looked back and thought, did we make the 
right call?" Stoecklein said. "I never doubted that continuing with it 
was the right thing to do and the appropriate and safe thing to do. When
 you look at the history of the fair, it was there through the Great 
Depression, through two world wars, how many other conflicts and then 
9-11."

Stoecklein currently serves as Director of Marketing and 
Public Relations. He was with the fair until 2015 before going to the 
college.

Below is the full podcast with Stoecklein on his memories...

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631381103707.png" alt="STYX 2001 Kansas State Fair / Courtesy Denny Stoecklein" />
 <figcaption>STYX 2001 Kansas State Fair / Courtesy Denny Stoecklein</figcaption>
 </figure>
By
NICK GOSNELL <a href="https://hutchpost.com">Hutch
Post</a>
HUTCHINSON — On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Kansas State Fair Assistant
 General Manager Denny Stoecklein had a problem on the fairgrounds he 
was working to fix."I think it was on the opening night of the 
fair, it might have been on the Saturday, I got a call, I got an 
anonymous phone call," Stoecklein said. "Somebody said, you've got some 
people working at one of your gates, actually two of your gates that are
 stealing from you. The fair hires 500 to 600 seasonal folks and a lot 
of them had been there for many, many years. The people they were saying
 were doing this were veteran employees."After auditing tickets for a couple of days, it was time to see if they could catch anyone."Lt.
 Randy Moon with the Highway Patrol, Randy was officed on the 
Fairgrounds at that time," Stoecklein said. "The lieutenant in that 
office is typically the one who is kind of over the Fair for the Highway
 Patrol on site and we're talking about this and making the plan that 
we're going to park a horse trailer right next to this gate and put some
 troopers in the back with cameras and film the goings on and see if we 
can pick up on anything."Lieutenant Moon had a pager on his hip."His
 pager goes off and he looks down at it and he says, a plane just hit 
the World Trade Center," Stoecklein said. "We kind of commented that, 
you know, tragic accident, you know, and we get back to our meeting and 
we're planning and doing some things. The pager goes off again. Randy 
looks at it. He goes, another plane just hit the World Trade Center and 
then you knew. This is not an accident."Given that everyone 
wanted information more than anything at the time and smartphones 
weren't in every pocket, the next question for the fair was easy to 
figure out, but hard to answer."What do we do now, do we keep 
having a fair, what's going on?" Stoecklein said. "I would say, within 
60 to 90 minutes, we were gathered on the Fairgrounds with Highway 
Patrol, city police, emergency management, you name it. Every emergency 
management, certainly at the local level and they were in touch with 
people at the state and federal level, trying to get a better 
understanding of, what are we dealing with? From that, we kind of just 
started to make plans as to what we wanted to do and tried to figure 
out, how do we continue, if we continue?"Any decision involving the fair involves the Governor's office."Bill
 Graves was the governor at that time," Stoecklein said. "It just so 
happened that the governor, on that day, was in Wichita. Wichita was 
hosting what was called a midwest U.S.-Japan association conference. 
There were people from a number of states as well as Japan in Wichita. 
We were able to get in touch with the governor, because, as you would 
imagine, that conference was canceled. Now you've got people with a lot 
of anxiety at this conference that just want to get home, some of them 
to Japan, but there's no air travel."Since getting from Wichita to Hutchinson on the ground wasn't an issue, Graves was able to visit."The
 governor came over to Hutch, met with the board and management of the 
fair and talked to law enforcement and the decision was made that we're 
going to continue," Stoecklein said. "We're going to have the fair. I 
don't remember all of the pros and cons and things we talked about, but,
 you know, one of the things that was commonly mentioned by all of us 
was, you know, if we shut the doors then, whoever is doing this, they 
win."The crowd that day was understandably somber."One of 
the probably most visited booths at the fair, right in the heart of the 
fairgrounds is the KWCH booth," Stoecklein said. "They have all those 
windows open and they had TVs in there and you can imagine what the TVs 
were tuned to. People were just gathered around that en masse, trying to
 understand what was going on and learning everything we could. 
Obviously, we increased the security at the gates significantly, but 
decided we were going to continue through the rest of the fair."One fair grandstand act did not perform."Blessid
 Union of Souls was scheduled to perform that night," Stoecklein said. 
"They likely were on the Fairgrounds and had arrived. I don't know that 
they were flying in that day, but, even if they were there, probably 
having a concert that night wasn't the appropriate thing to do. They did
 not perform."There was another change to the lineup at the last minute."Lee
 Ann Womack was supposed to perform, I think with Keith Urban," 
Stoecklein said. "She couldn't get there. The group Lonestar, I think, 
was traveling back to Nashville. I want to say they'd been out west. 
Maybe they'd been in Utah. The Utah State Fair runs the same time as the
 Kansas State Fair, which would make sense. Our agency got in touch with
 them and said, hey, do you want to make a pit stop in Hutch and do a 
show, which they did."Stoecklein's favorite memory surrounds another grandstand act that year."The
 group Styx was scheduled to perform on September 15th," Stoecklein 
said. "I don't recall where they were. For some reason, I think that 
they were maybe on a little break and they were all going to meet up 
again in Hutch. They weren't on tour buses or anything. I think they 
were going to fly into Wichita for the show. Obviously, airfare being 
shut down put a stop to that, but they were determined not to miss the 
show. They felt it was important to get there. "It would have 
been their first performance since the events of 9-11. They got rental 
cars, any way, any how that they could get to Hutchinson, Kansas. They 
found a way to do it and put on just an incredible show. We had a 
gentleman that worked for the agency that the fair used to book talent, 
Romeo Entertainment Group. His name was Steve Bogdanovich. We called him
 Bogie. Bogie was our guy backstage and his favorite saying, no matter 
what the situation, he would just look at you and his glasses always 
rode low on his nose and he'd look over the top of them and say, it's 
all good. It's all good. "Bogie called me early that day and he 
said, boss, I need a flag on a pole. An American flag on a pole. I said 
okay, what do you need that for, Bogie? He said, Styx wants it. I said 
okay. We rounded up a long wooden pole and a flag. I got with our 
carpenter and he put the screws through the grommets and got it affixed 
to the pole and I took it down to the grandstand and gave it to Bogie. I
 didn't think much of it until that night. I go down to check on the 
show. Bogie and I are near the back of the stage and I see this flag 
rolled up and it's back behind the drum kit, while the show is going on."Styx
 does their set. They walk off and we're waiting for the encore. People 
are getting worked up and getting excited and ready for them to come 
back. Twenty years ago, and I'm not as young as I once was, but I'm 
pretty sure I remember this pretty closely to how it happened. One of 
the members of Styx walks back to that flag and grabs it and then they 
all just walked to the front of the stage and lifted it up as high as 
they could. I have never been in a place so loud as it was when they did
 that. It just about blew the roof off the grandstand."Stoecklein
 got the band to sign a photo of them with the flag when they returned 
later in their careers and he has that photo at home."There's 
never been a moment when I looked back and thought, did we make the 
right call?" Stoecklein said. "I never doubted that continuing with it 
was the right thing to do and the appropriate and safe thing to do. When
 you look at the history of the fair, it was there through the Great 
Depression, through two world wars, how many other conflicts and then 
9-11."Stoecklein currently serves as Director of Marketing and 
Public Relations. He was with the fair until 2015 before going to the 
college.Below is the full podcast with Stoecklein on his memories...<div><iframe title="Denny Stoecklein on 20 years since 9-11" style="border: none;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=ehexr-10d9003-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=1&font-color=&btn-skin=7" allowfullscreen="" width="100%" height="150"></iframe></div>

🎙 9/11 memories still linger from 2001 Kansas State Fair

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays High principal Shawn Henderson talks about the beginning of the 2021 school year at Hays High.

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/5dd2f46c897d147ad4bb104b">To find out more about The Post Podcast, or subscribe to mobile&nbsp;</a><a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/5dd2f46c897d147ad4bb104b">notifications click here.</a>

<div><iframe title="Hays High kicks off new year" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=x3h7w-10d8da6-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=auto&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays High principal Shawn Henderson talks about the beginning of the 2021 school year at Hays High. <a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/5dd2f46c897d147ad4bb104b">To find out more about The Post Podcast, or subscribe to mobile&nbsp;</a><a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/5dd2f46c897d147ad4bb104b">notifications click here.</a>

🎙Post Podcast: Hays High kicks off new year

By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post

Hays High School juniors in American history have been learning about 9/11.

They weren't born when the 9/11 attacks happened 20 years, but they were assigned to interview their parents or loved ones about their memories of an event that changed the course of American history.

This week, Hays Post visited with Luke Lundmark's class about what they have learned about the attacks.

The events of 9/11, although now a generation ago, are still too fresh to be recorded in textbooks. Although most of the students said they learned about 9/11 at school, they said they had watched videos or heard accounts from their teachers.

During their unit on 9/11 this week, the students in Lundmark's class also watched a video on the attacks produced by "60 Minutes" Australia.

Aspen Melvin talked with her dad about the attacks. He was a young teacher at the time. He told her he was in shock when he was told about the attacks. Televisions were wheeled into classrooms, and the teachers and students watched the news coverage of the attacks during the rest of the school day.

Blake Buckles' mother is a doctor and was in the operating room when a nurse told her about the attacks. She told her son she too was in shock when she was told.

&nbsp;"She said she never thought that type of thing would happen to the United States or anyone else," he said. ... "The whole hospital was in a state of shock, and they didn't know what might happen next or where it was going to happen. Everyone was in a state of question."

He said in the last week he learned more about how many people were touched by the 9/11 attacks.

"It wasn't just Americans," he said. "It was people all over the world."

Meg Taggart's mother told her the United States came together after 9/11 in a way she hasn't seen since. However, that nationalism had a dark side. People of Middle Eastern descent living in the United States were treated badly in the wake of the attacks.

Lundmark said he was working in a school in California with many Iraqi Christians who had relocated to the region after the invasion of Iraq.

"Even though they faced a lot of backlash in California from people who didn't understand who they were or why they were there," he said ...

"Not once did they lose their patriotism for the United States. Even when they had Americans screaming at them 'Go away, terrorists. Go back where you came from.' They said they woke up every day and said they loved America because America gave them freedom."

Lundmark also shared his own experiences with 9/11. He was a college student at the time. His adviser was supposed to be on the flight that hit the north tower, but he had taken an earlier flight home so he could make an early class.&nbsp;

Lundmark said his adviser was wracked with survivor's guilt for years after the attacks.

Cyrus Vajnar said he first learned about the attacks when he was in elementary school. His school had a day of remembrance.&nbsp;

He said he was told "bad people" flew planes into two towers in New York and a lot of people were killed.

He learned later about the attack on the Pentagon and about the heroes aboard the fourth plane that crashed in Pennsylvania later.

Jordin Myers said of the terrorist, "They wanted to scare us."

Terror is not something these students consider in the past tense.

Vajnar said he associates terror with the Middle East. He said he also has connected it with Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.

Taggart&nbsp;said she feels safe from terrorism, but her cousin who is in the Navy told her she's concerned about the possibility of terrorists entering the United States during the chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan.

Bradyn Dreher said he thought the United States leaving Afghanistan near the 20th anniversary of 9/11 is a disgrace to the people who died there.

Vajnar said, "I think it was 20 years and billions of dollars wasted."

Taggart said she thinks it's important to continue to commemorate 9/11.

"I think it is important because a lot of people lost their lives because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said. "Others lost [their lives] because they volunteered to go in and save people."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631299373623.jpeg" alt="Luke Lundmark's junior America History class has been studying the 9/11 attacks." />
 <figcaption>Luke Lundmark's junior America History class has been studying the 9/11 attacks.</figcaption>
 </figure>By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays PostHays High School juniors in American history have been learning about 9/11.They weren't born when the 9/11 attacks happened 20 years, but they were assigned to interview their parents or loved ones about their memories of an event that changed the course of American history.This week, Hays Post visited with Luke Lundmark's class about what they have learned about the attacks.The events of 9/11, although now a generation ago, are still too fresh to be recorded in textbooks. Although most of the students said they learned about 9/11 at school, they said they had watched videos or heard accounts from their teachers.During their unit on 9/11 this week, the students in Lundmark's class also watched a video on the attacks produced by "60 Minutes" Australia.Aspen Melvin talked with her dad about the attacks. He was a young teacher at the time. He told her he was in shock when he was told about the attacks. Televisions were wheeled into classrooms, and the teachers and students watched the news coverage of the attacks during the rest of the school day.Blake Buckles' mother is a doctor and was in the operating room when a nurse told her about the attacks. She told her son she too was in shock when she was told.&nbsp;"She said she never thought that type of thing would happen to the United States or anyone else," he said. ... "The whole hospital was in a state of shock, and they didn't know what might happen next or where it was going to happen. Everyone was in a state of question."He said in the last week he learned more about how many people were touched by the 9/11 attacks."It wasn't just Americans," he said. "It was people all over the world."Meg Taggart's mother told her the United States came together after 9/11 in a way she hasn't seen since. However, that nationalism had a dark side. People of Middle Eastern descent living in the United States were treated badly in the wake of the attacks.Lundmark said he was working in a school in California with many Iraqi Christians who had relocated to the region after the invasion of Iraq."Even though they faced a lot of backlash in California from people who didn't understand who they were or why they were there," he said ..."Not once did they lose their patriotism for the United States. Even when they had Americans screaming at them 'Go away, terrorists. Go back where you came from.' They said they woke up every day and said they loved America because America gave them freedom."Lundmark also shared his own experiences with 9/11. He was a college student at the time. His adviser was supposed to be on the flight that hit the north tower, but he had taken an earlier flight home so he could make an early class.&nbsp;Lundmark said his adviser was wracked with survivor's guilt for years after the attacks.Cyrus Vajnar said he first learned about the attacks when he was in elementary school. His school had a day of remembrance.&nbsp;He said he was told "bad people" flew planes into two towers in New York and a lot of people were killed.He learned later about the attack on the Pentagon and about the heroes aboard the fourth plane that crashed in Pennsylvania later.Jordin Myers said of the terrorist, "They wanted to scare us."Terror is not something these students consider in the past tense.Vajnar said he associates terror with the Middle East. He said he also has connected it with Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.Taggart&nbsp;said she feels safe from terrorism, but her cousin who is in the Navy told her she's concerned about the possibility of terrorists entering the United States during the chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan.Bradyn Dreher said he thought the United States leaving Afghanistan near the 20th anniversary of 9/11 is a disgrace to the people who died there.Vajnar said, "I think it was 20 years and billions of dollars wasted."Taggart said she thinks it's important to continue to commemorate 9/11."I think it is important because a lot of people lost their lives because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said. "Others lost [their lives] because they volunteered to go in and save people."

Hays' next generation learns the importance of 9/11

WASHINGTON, D.C.&nbsp;– The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded over $270,000 to the University of Kansas Medical Center to provide students with learning experiences that would grow their interest and knowledge about the health sciences, and in turn, build a robust health care workforce, U.S. Senators Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran, R-KS announced in a news release.&nbsp;

The project will include students in Hays.&nbsp;

The project, funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, will establish a learning consortium of teachers, students and researchers committed to bringing relevant community-based health issues into the classroom. Specifically, KUMC will establish a Teachers and Students for Community Oriented Research and Education: Linking Industry, Faculty, and Teachers (TSCORE LIFT) program.

The program&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kumc.edu/t-score-ks/meet.html" target="_blank">builds on their existing project</a>&nbsp;to create a community among five Kansas health systems, five Kansas universities, and five Kansas school districts to develop and test a series of three educational interventions along the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ksde.org/Agency/Division-of-Learning-Services/Career-Standards-and-Assessment-Services/Content-Area-F-L/Health-Sciences-CTE-Career-Cluster" target="_blank">Kansas Health and Biosciences Career Pathway</a>. The project leaders will empower 25 teachers to deliver educational content and provide experiences in the health care industry for an estimated 1,400 students in the state of Kansas.

The areas will include Hays, Topeka, Wichita, Lawrence, and Kansas City.

A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kha-net.org/DataProductsandServices/STAT/Workforce/VacancyandTurnoverRates/" target="_blank">recent report</a>&nbsp;from the Kansas Hospital Association cited numerous staffing challenges and a shortage of skilled health care workers across the state. Challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic – turnover, vacancy, and retention – further attribute to the workforce shortages.

The project is intended to develop retention strategies across the state to maintain and increase the number of underrepresented and minority students pursuing careers in health sciences. In total, the KUMC received $271,155 for this budget period. The project will run for five years. This is the second such award the KUMC team has received to serve Kansas teachers and students.

“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed many existing vulnerabilities within the health care industry and exacerbated shortages within our workforce,”&nbsp;said Marshall. “As a physician who served rural and underserved communities, I saw workforce shortages in Kansas firsthand. We need to build tomorrow’s health care heroes today. Health and biomedical sciences can offer incredibly rewarding careers, but entering into those fields can be intimidating. KUMC’s partnership will bring&nbsp;experiences and a more engaging approach that will encourage students to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in health care.”

“Training and recruiting the next generation of health care workers is essential to providing Kansans access to high quality care in every corner of the state,”&nbsp;said Moran. “Partnering with local educational programs will help recruit students to be future health care professionals while developing their appreciation for the communities where they receive their education. This grant will allow KUMC to further invest in providing adequate training for professionals to confidently care for their patients while encouraging them to stay and serve in Kansas.”

Federal funding for this award was made possible by the bipartisan&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/133" target="_blank">Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631132365473.jpeg" alt="(Photo by Pixabay)" />
 <figcaption>(Photo by Pixabay)</figcaption>
 </figure>Office of Sen. MarshallWASHINGTON, D.C.&nbsp;– The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded over $270,000 to the University of Kansas Medical Center to provide students with learning experiences that would grow their interest and knowledge about the health sciences, and in turn, build a robust health care workforce, U.S. Senators Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran, R-KS announced in a news release.&nbsp;The project will include students in Hays.&nbsp;The project, funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, will establish a learning consortium of teachers, students and researchers committed to bringing relevant community-based health issues into the classroom. Specifically, KUMC will establish a Teachers and Students for Community Oriented Research and Education: Linking Industry, Faculty, and Teachers (TSCORE LIFT) program. The program&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kumc.edu/t-score-ks/meet.html" target="_blank">builds on their existing project</a>&nbsp;to create a community among five Kansas health systems, five Kansas universities, and five Kansas school districts to develop and test a series of three educational interventions along the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ksde.org/Agency/Division-of-Learning-Services/Career-Standards-and-Assessment-Services/Content-Area-F-L/Health-Sciences-CTE-Career-Cluster" target="_blank">Kansas Health and Biosciences Career Pathway</a>. The project leaders will empower 25 teachers to deliver educational content and provide experiences in the health care industry for an estimated 1,400 students in the state of Kansas. The areas will include Hays, Topeka, Wichita, Lawrence, and Kansas City.A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kha-net.org/DataProductsandServices/STAT/Workforce/VacancyandTurnoverRates/" target="_blank">recent report</a>&nbsp;from the Kansas Hospital Association cited numerous staffing challenges and a shortage of skilled health care workers across the state. Challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic – turnover, vacancy, and retention – further attribute to the workforce shortages.The project is intended to develop retention strategies across the state to maintain and increase the number of underrepresented and minority students pursuing careers in health sciences. In total, the KUMC received $271,155 for this budget period. The project will run for five years. This is the second such award the KUMC team has received to serve Kansas teachers and students.“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed many existing vulnerabilities within the health care industry and exacerbated shortages within our workforce,”&nbsp;said Marshall. “As a physician who served rural and underserved communities, I saw workforce shortages in Kansas firsthand. We need to build tomorrow’s health care heroes today. Health and biomedical sciences can offer incredibly rewarding careers, but entering into those fields can be intimidating. KUMC’s partnership will bring&nbsp;experiences and a more engaging approach that will encourage students to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in health care.”“Training and recruiting the next generation of health care workers is essential to providing Kansans access to high quality care in every corner of the state,”&nbsp;said Moran. “Partnering with local educational programs will help recruit students to be future health care professionals while developing their appreciation for the communities where they receive their education. This grant will allow KUMC to further invest in providing adequate training for professionals to confidently care for their patients while encouraging them to stay and serve in Kansas.”Federal funding for this award was made possible by the bipartisan&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/133" target="_blank">Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021</a>.

Hays students part of program to address Kan. health care workforce shortage

Kansas’s urban areas are the only part of the state that is growing in population; the results from the 2020 Census make that clear. Despite its own self-conception as part of the heartland of America, the Sunflower State is, increasingly, a pretty “citified” place.

This dynamic — a slowly growing and diversifying urban population within a state whose political elites still mostly embrace the values of rural conservatism — can explain a lot. It helps explain the persistence of an inferiority complex in many Kansas cities, with the people of Wichita or Kansas City looking south or east, comparing themselves to cities in other states that aren’t as defined by the counties of red which surround them. It may also help explain the push by these cities and their elected representatives to make use of whatever financing they can to change, innovate, and most of all expand. And this is what leads us to STAR bonds.

Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) bonds are a strange financial instrument. Only two other states — Illinois and Nevada — have allowed their creation, and even they haven’t made use of this fiscal&nbsp;sleight of hand for over a decade. In Kansas, however, urban governments have regularly sought permission to sacrifice the sales tax revenue which ought to go to Kansas’s state and municipal programs in order to raise funds for construction which they imagine will bring major corporate attractions to Kansas. The Prairie Fire Entertainment District in Overland Park, the Sports Forum in Wichita, the Heartland Park Racetrack in Topeka—STAR bonds made them all.

But did it make them actually successful? A recent accounting of STAR bond programs concluded that only 3 of the 16 projects which the state has approved, at a cost of nearly $900 million in tax revenue, actually meet the economic requirements of the instrument. The auditors found little evidence of these projects drawing new tourism dollars to Kansas, and even less evidence that using these bonds to finance construction has led to economic development in areas that weren’t good candidates for ordinary capital investment anyway.

Defenders of the STAR program point to, among other things, the increased property tax values of the developed areas (though the unfunded maintenance liabilities which these developments have brought with them usually goes unmentioned). Often, though, the defenders fall back on a plaintive cry unfortunately common in the urban parts of Kansas: business expansion is essential to the “general economic welfare” of the state. If we’re not willing to sacrifice the sales tax revenue normally used to fund voter-approved (and universal, rather than city-centric) government programs for the sake of attracting a new&nbsp;Topgolf&nbsp;franchise to Wichita or building a new speedway in Kansas City, then aren’t we showing a lack of confidence in our future?

These are complicated decisions, to be sure. But still I wonder if urban Kansans sometimes exhibit a “build it and they will come” mentality, in the somewhat desperate hope that they can suddenly change into something other than slow-growth cities on the Great Plains. If that is so, I would simply say: the work of making Kansas’s culture and economy reflect its increasing urban reality will be a long and necessarily local one. Using needed future tax revenue to build a new waterpark may has its merits, but such top-down decisions are unlikely to provide a shortcut.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Dr. Russell&nbsp;Arben&nbsp;Fox teaches politics in Wichita.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/3/1583339056495.jpeg" alt="Dr. Russell&nbsp;Arben&nbsp;Fox teaches politics in Wichita." />
 <figcaption>Dr. Russell&nbsp;Arben&nbsp;Fox teaches politics in Wichita.</figcaption>
 </figure>Kansas’s urban areas are the only part of the state that is growing in population; the results from the 2020 Census make that clear. Despite its own self-conception as part of the heartland of America, the Sunflower State is, increasingly, a pretty “citified” place.This dynamic — a slowly growing and diversifying urban population within a state whose political elites still mostly embrace the values of rural conservatism — can explain a lot. It helps explain the persistence of an inferiority complex in many Kansas cities, with the people of Wichita or Kansas City looking south or east, comparing themselves to cities in other states that aren’t as defined by the counties of red which surround them. It may also help explain the push by these cities and their elected representatives to make use of whatever financing they can to change, innovate, and most of all expand. And this is what leads us to STAR bonds.Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) bonds are a strange financial instrument. Only two other states — Illinois and Nevada — have allowed their creation, and even they haven’t made use of this fiscal&nbsp;sleight of hand for over a decade. In Kansas, however, urban governments have regularly sought permission to sacrifice the sales tax revenue which ought to go to Kansas’s state and municipal programs in order to raise funds for construction which they imagine will bring major corporate attractions to Kansas. The Prairie Fire Entertainment District in Overland Park, the Sports Forum in Wichita, the Heartland Park Racetrack in Topeka—STAR bonds made them all.But did it make them actually successful? A recent accounting of STAR bond programs concluded that only 3 of the 16 projects which the state has approved, at a cost of nearly $900 million in tax revenue, actually meet the economic requirements of the instrument. The auditors found little evidence of these projects drawing new tourism dollars to Kansas, and even less evidence that using these bonds to finance construction has led to economic development in areas that weren’t good candidates for ordinary capital investment anyway.Defenders of the STAR program point to, among other things, the increased property tax values of the developed areas (though the unfunded maintenance liabilities which these developments have brought with them usually goes unmentioned). Often, though, the defenders fall back on a plaintive cry unfortunately common in the urban parts of Kansas: business expansion is essential to the “general economic welfare” of the state. If we’re not willing to sacrifice the sales tax revenue normally used to fund voter-approved (and universal, rather than city-centric) government programs for the sake of attracting a new&nbsp;Topgolf&nbsp;franchise to Wichita or building a new speedway in Kansas City, then aren’t we showing a lack of confidence in our future?These are complicated decisions, to be sure. But still I wonder if urban Kansans sometimes exhibit a “build it and they will come” mentality, in the somewhat desperate hope that they can suddenly change into something other than slow-growth cities on the Great Plains. If that is so, I would simply say: the work of making Kansas’s culture and economy reflect its increasing urban reality will be a long and necessarily local one. Using needed future tax revenue to build a new waterpark may has its merits, but such top-down decisions are unlikely to provide a shortcut.&nbsp;&nbsp;Dr. Russell&nbsp;Arben&nbsp;Fox teaches politics in Wichita.

INSIGHT KANSAS: Cities and their STAR bond hopes

Mark Heiner recently earned his Certified Crematory Operator designation from the National Funeral Directors Association.&nbsp; The NFDA Cremation Certification Program is a voluntary certification program that helps funeral directors better serve the needs of families that desire cremation.

Nationally, in 2012, 43.2 percent of people who died in the United States were cremated, up from 34.2 percent in 2007.&nbsp; As the cremation rate continues to increase, ensuring that funeral home and crematory staff are properly trained to meet the needs of families that choose cremation is of utmost importance.

NFDA’s Cremation Certification Program provides participants with instruction in best practices for safe, proper, and ethical crematory operations and for excellence in service to families that choose cremation.&nbsp; Seminars cover the topics required by state law and are designed to develop understanding, skills, and broad working knowledge of proper operational procedures as well as required and prudent administrative procedures.

Keithley Funeral Homes has locations in Ellis, Hays, Stockton and Victoria and offers onsite cremation in Hays.

NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving 19,700 individual members who represent more than 100,000 funeral homes in the United States and 39 countries around the world.&nbsp; NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession.&nbsp; NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals.&nbsp; NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, WI and has an office in Washington, D.C.&nbsp; For more information visit:&nbsp; <a href="http://www.nfda.org">www.nfda.org</a> and <a href="http://www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com">www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com</a>&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631119014865.jpeg" alt="Heiner" />
 <figcaption>Heiner</figcaption>
 </figure>Mark Heiner recently earned his Certified Crematory Operator designation from the National Funeral Directors Association.&nbsp; The NFDA Cremation Certification Program is a voluntary certification program that helps funeral directors better serve the needs of families that desire cremation.Nationally, in 2012, 43.2 percent of people who died in the United States were cremated, up from 34.2 percent in 2007.&nbsp; As the cremation rate continues to increase, ensuring that funeral home and crematory staff are properly trained to meet the needs of families that choose cremation is of utmost importance.NFDA’s Cremation Certification Program provides participants with instruction in best practices for safe, proper, and ethical crematory operations and for excellence in service to families that choose cremation.&nbsp; Seminars cover the topics required by state law and are designed to develop understanding, skills, and broad working knowledge of proper operational procedures as well as required and prudent administrative procedures.Keithley Funeral Homes has locations in Ellis, Hays, Stockton and Victoria and offers onsite cremation in Hays.NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving 19,700 individual members who represent more than 100,000 funeral homes in the United States and 39 countries around the world.&nbsp; NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession.&nbsp; NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals.&nbsp; NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, WI and has an office in Washington, D.C.&nbsp; For more information visit:&nbsp; <a href="http://www.nfda.org">www.nfda.org</a> and <a href="http://www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com">www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com</a>&nbsp;— Submitted

NW Kan. funeral director earns national cremation certification

Three-day weather outlook

BY STACY CAMPBELL Cottonwood Extension District

Kansas has 568,324 acres of alfalfa, which is a very important leguminous crop for the dairy and livestock industry in Kansas. Alfalfa hayfields help to supply forage that is highly digestible and high in protein. Late summer and early fall are often the best times to plant alfalfa in Kansas due to less weed pressure than spring planting.&nbsp;

Available moisture at planting is crucial for alfalfa establishment, but too much moisture can increase seedling disease incidence and reduce alfalfa nodulation and nitrogen fixation.

If soil moisture is available, growers in northwest Kansas can plant as early as August 10. Optimum sowing date occurs later as we move towards southeast Kansas, where growers can plant until mid- to late-September. In other parts of Kansas, the optimal planting time is late August or early September. Producers just need to plant early enough to have three to five trifoliate leaves before the first frost.

Alfalfa is a four to five-year, or longer, investment, and therefore it is crucial to ensure proper establishment. Some producers shy away from alfalfa because of its high establishment cost and risk of stand failure. In the long run, however, it’s relatively inexpensive if amortized over the life of the crop.

If managed properly and given favorable weather conditions, dryland alfalfa can produce 3 to 6 dry matter tons of forage per acre per year. Irrigated fields can produce 6 to 8 dry matter tons per acre per year or more.

When sowing alfalfa, producers should keep the following in mind:

Soil test and correct soil acidity. Alfalfa grows best in well-drained soils with a pH of 6.5 to 7.5 and does not tolerate low soil pH. If the soil is acidic, add lime to raise soil pH to 6.8 before planting. Ensuring appropriate soil pH levels before planting is essential, especially as lime is relatively immobile in the soil profile and the field will not be worked for the next 3-5 years. Remember, after spread, lime takes a few weeks in the soils to react and increase the pH.

Soil test and meet fertilization needs. Apply the needed phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) amounts according to soil test recommendations. Phosphorus fertilizer will be required if soil test P levels are below 25 ppm, and potassium fertilizer will be required if soil K levels are below 120 ppm. Even soils that test higher than these thresholds may need additional fertilizer. Small amounts of nitrogen fertilizer (15 to 20 lb/acre) as a starter at planting are beneficial for alfalfa establishment. In some fields, sulfur can also bring some yield benefits.

Plant certified, inoculated seed.&nbsp;Ensuring the correct&nbsp;Rhizobium&nbsp;inoculation is crucial for alfalfa seedlings to fix available soil nitrogen to meet the needs of growing alfalfa for optimum production.

Plant in firm, moist soil.&nbsp;A firm seedbed ensures good seed-soil contact; therefore, use a press wheel with the drill to firm the soil over the planted seed. No-till planting in small-grains stubble will usually provide a good seedbed.

Don’t plant too deeply. Plant one-fourth to one-half inch deep on medium- and fine-textured soils and three-fourths inch deep on sandy soils. Don’t plant deeper than 10 times the seed diameter.

Use the right seeding rate.&nbsp;Plant 8 to12 pounds of seed per acre on dryland in western Kansas, 12 to15 pounds per acre on irrigated medium- to fine-textured soils, 15 to 20 pounds per acre on irrigated sandy soils, and 12 to 15 pounds per acre on dryland in central and eastern Kansas.

Check for herbicide carryover that could damage the new alfalfa crop&nbsp;– especially when planting alfalfa no-till into corn or grain sorghum stubble. In areas where row crops were drought-stressed and removed for silage, that sets up a great seedbed for alfalfa but may still bring a risk of herbicide damage.

Choose pest-resistant varieties.&nbsp;Resistance to phytophthora root rot, bacterial wilt, fusarium wilt, verticillium wilt, anthracnose, the pea aphid, and the spotted alfalfa aphid is essential. Some varieties are resistant to even more diseases and insects, which could contribute to reducing costs.

Purchase alfalfa varieties with a fall dormancy rating ranging from 4 - 6 for Kansas. Fall dormancy relates to how soon an alfalfa variety will stop growing in the fall and how early it will begin growing in the spring or late winter. Simply put, it would be better not buy a variety with fall dormancy of 9-10, which can be more suitable for California and regions where alfalfa can keep growing year-round under irrigation.

More information about growing alfalfa in Kansas can be found in the&nbsp;Alfalfa Production Handbook. That information also is available on the web at:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/bookstore/pubs/c683.pdf">www.ksre.ksu.edu/bookstore/pubs/c683.pdf</a>

Also see&nbsp;Alfalfa Growth and Development, available on the web at:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3348.pdf">https://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3348.pdf</a>

Stacy Campbell is an Agriculture and Natural Resources agent in the Cottonwood District (which includes Barton and Ellis counties) for K-State Research and Extension. You can contact him by e-mail at scampbel@ksu.edu or calling 785-628-9430.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631280971606.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>BY STACY CAMPBELL Cottonwood Extension DistrictKansas has 568,324 acres of alfalfa, which is a very important leguminous crop for the dairy and livestock industry in Kansas. Alfalfa hayfields help to supply forage that is highly digestible and high in protein. Late summer and early fall are often the best times to plant alfalfa in Kansas due to less weed pressure than spring planting.&nbsp;Available moisture at planting is crucial for alfalfa establishment, but too much moisture can increase seedling disease incidence and reduce alfalfa nodulation and nitrogen fixation.If soil moisture is available, growers in northwest Kansas can plant as early as August 10. Optimum sowing date occurs later as we move towards southeast Kansas, where growers can plant until mid- to late-September. In other parts of Kansas, the optimal planting time is late August or early September. Producers just need to plant early enough to have three to five trifoliate leaves before the first frost.Alfalfa is a four to five-year, or longer, investment, and therefore it is crucial to ensure proper establishment. Some producers shy away from alfalfa because of its high establishment cost and risk of stand failure. In the long run, however, it’s relatively inexpensive if amortized over the life of the crop.If managed properly and given favorable weather conditions, dryland alfalfa can produce 3 to 6 dry matter tons of forage per acre per year. Irrigated fields can produce 6 to 8 dry matter tons per acre per year or more.When sowing alfalfa, producers should keep the following in mind:Soil test and correct soil acidity. Alfalfa grows best in well-drained soils with a pH of 6.5 to 7.5 and does not tolerate low soil pH. If the soil is acidic, add lime to raise soil pH to 6.8 before planting. Ensuring appropriate soil pH levels before planting is essential, especially as lime is relatively immobile in the soil profile and the field will not be worked for the next 3-5 years. Remember, after spread, lime takes a few weeks in the soils to react and increase the pH.Soil test and meet fertilization needs. Apply the needed phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) amounts according to soil test recommendations. Phosphorus fertilizer will be required if soil test P levels are below 25 ppm, and potassium fertilizer will be required if soil K levels are below 120 ppm. Even soils that test higher than these thresholds may need additional fertilizer. Small amounts of nitrogen fertilizer (15 to 20 lb/acre) as a starter at planting are beneficial for alfalfa establishment. In some fields, sulfur can also bring some yield benefits.Plant certified, inoculated seed.&nbsp;Ensuring the correct&nbsp;Rhizobium&nbsp;inoculation is crucial for alfalfa seedlings to fix available soil nitrogen to meet the needs of growing alfalfa for optimum production.Plant in firm, moist soil.&nbsp;A firm seedbed ensures good seed-soil contact; therefore, use a press wheel with the drill to firm the soil over the planted seed. No-till planting in small-grains stubble will usually provide a good seedbed.Don’t plant too deeply. Plant one-fourth to one-half inch deep on medium- and fine-textured soils and three-fourths inch deep on sandy soils. Don’t plant deeper than 10 times the seed diameter.Use the right seeding rate.&nbsp;Plant 8 to12 pounds of seed per acre on dryland in western Kansas, 12 to15 pounds per acre on irrigated medium- to fine-textured soils, 15 to 20 pounds per acre on irrigated sandy soils, and 12 to 15 pounds per acre on dryland in central and eastern Kansas.Check for herbicide carryover that could damage the new alfalfa crop&nbsp;– especially when planting alfalfa no-till into corn or grain sorghum stubble. In areas where row crops were drought-stressed and removed for silage, that sets up a great seedbed for alfalfa but may still bring a risk of herbicide damage.Choose pest-resistant varieties.&nbsp;Resistance to phytophthora root rot, bacterial wilt, fusarium wilt, verticillium wilt, anthracnose, the pea aphid, and the spotted alfalfa aphid is essential. Some varieties are resistant to even more diseases and insects, which could contribute to reducing costs.Purchase alfalfa varieties with a fall dormancy rating ranging from 4 - 6 for Kansas. Fall dormancy relates to how soon an alfalfa variety will stop growing in the fall and how early it will begin growing in the spring or late winter. Simply put, it would be better not buy a variety with fall dormancy of 9-10, which can be more suitable for California and regions where alfalfa can keep growing year-round under irrigation.More information about growing alfalfa in Kansas can be found in the&nbsp;Alfalfa Production Handbook. That information also is available on the web at:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/bookstore/pubs/c683.pdf">www.ksre.ksu.edu/bookstore/pubs/c683.pdf</a>Also see&nbsp;Alfalfa Growth and Development, available on the web at:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3348.pdf">https://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3348.pdf</a>Stacy Campbell is an Agriculture and Natural Resources agent in the Cottonwood District (which includes Barton and Ellis counties) for K-State Research and Extension. You can contact him by e-mail at scampbel@ksu.edu or calling 785-628-9430.

CAMPBELL: Tips for fall planting of alfalfa

SHERMAN COUNTY—One person was injured in an accident just after 4p.m. Friday in Sherman County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Chevy SUV driven by Roybal, Keiah M. Roybal, 18, Burlington, CO., was westbound on Interstate 70 just west of the Kansas 27 Junction.

The driver lost control of the SUV as it was approaching another vehicle at a high rate of speed. The driver over-corrected and the SUV rolled an unknown amount of times.&nbsp;

EMS transported&nbsp;Roybal to the hospital in Goodland. She was properly restrained, according to the KHP.

SHERMAN COUNTY—One person was injured in an accident just after 4p.m. Friday in Sherman County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Chevy SUV driven by Roybal, Keiah M. Roybal, 18, Burlington, CO., was westbound on Interstate 70 just west of the Kansas 27 Junction.The driver lost control of the SUV as it was approaching another vehicle at a high rate of speed. The driver over-corrected and the SUV rolled an unknown amount of times.&nbsp;EMS transported&nbsp;Roybal to the hospital in Goodland. She was properly restrained, according to the KHP.

Teen hospitalized after SUV rolls on I-70

Click the player below or click <a href="https://team1sports.com/eaglecommunications/?B=297341/hayshigh/">HERE</a> to view the game. You can also download the Team1Sports app for your phone or connected device, including smart TVs.

TMP-M vs. Russell. Kickoff set for 7 p.m.

Click the player below or click <a href="https://team1sports.com/eaglecommunications/?B=297341/hayshigh/">HERE</a> to view the game. You can also download the Team1Sports app for your phone or connected device, including smart TVs.TMP-M vs. Russell. Kickoff set for 7 p.m.<div><iframe src="https://vcloud.blueframetech.com/broadcast/embed/297341?autoplay=1" width="640" height="360" allow="fullscreen;" style="border:0;overflow:hidden;"></iframe></div>

🏈🎥 WATCH LIVE Thomas More Prep-Marian at Russell

Click the player below or click <a href="https://team1sports.com/eaglecommunications/hayshigh/">HERE</a> to view the game. You can also download the Team1Sports app for your phone or connected device, including smart TVs.

Hays High vs. Great Bend. Kickoff set for 7 p.m.

Click the player below or click <a href="https://team1sports.com/eaglecommunications/hayshigh/">HERE</a> to view the game. You can also download the Team1Sports app for your phone or connected device, including smart TVs.Hays High vs. Great Bend. Kickoff set for 7 p.m.<div><iframe src="https://vcloud.blueframetech.com/broadcast/embed/297344?autoplay=1" width="640" height="360" allow="fullscreen;" style="border:0;overflow:hidden;"></iframe></div>

🏈🎥 WATCH LIVE Hays High Indians v. Great Bend Panthers

ELLIS — Ellis USD 388 schools reported Friday that 49 students and staff of the district are currently under quarantine.

In his weekly COVID-19 update, Superintendent Corey Burton said six positive cases were also identified in the district this week.

The biggest impact, he said, was the football team would be unable to play this week.

The majority of the positive cases are in the combined junior and senior high school, with 5 positive cases reported there and 45 students and staff quarantined.

Enrollment at the school is only 183, meaning nearly a quarter of the student body was&nbsp;quarantined this week.

The bulk of the quarantine began Tuesday, meaning with current COVID-19 mitigation plans in the district, those students will be required to complete 10 days of isolation.

With the significant number of students out, Burton said the school board would look at the current policy at its regular meeting.

"The board could adopt a policy that the county is recommending," Burton said, "which could change that on Monday."

"That would allow students that are under quarantine for school-related exposures to come back to school in a mask and to do a check-in in the morning," Burton said.

He said the new strategy would more closely align with Hays and Victoria school districts to keep&nbsp;quarantine numbers down.

"We are working closely with the Ellis County Health Department to keep our students and staff as safe as possible," Burton said. "Our goal is to keep kids in school and keep our students, staff and community healthy.&nbsp;We will continue to monitor this situation and may need to make changes in the future to adjust for outbreaks."

In the meantime, Burton is asking parents to help the situation as much as possible by keeping ill children at home, encouraging staff and students to wear masks and social distance when possible.

"We also want to take this opportunity to remind you that one of our core values as a district is respect for and among our employees and students," Burton said. "We will treat information regarding the identity of employees/students with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 as confidential to the extent feasible and we will comply with applicable laws regarding the handling of such information.&nbsp;Further, per district policy, we will not tolerate harassment of, or discrimination or retaliation against, employees and students."&nbsp;

By JAMES BELL Hays PostELLIS — Ellis USD 388 schools reported Friday that 49 students and staff of the district are currently under quarantine.In his weekly COVID-19 update, Superintendent Corey Burton said six positive cases were also identified in the district this week.The biggest impact, he said, was the football team would be unable to play this week.The majority of the positive cases are in the combined junior and senior high school, with 5 positive cases reported there and 45 students and staff quarantined.Enrollment at the school is only 183, meaning nearly a quarter of the student body was&nbsp;quarantined this week.The bulk of the quarantine began Tuesday, meaning with current COVID-19 mitigation plans in the district, those students will be required to complete 10 days of isolation.With the significant number of students out, Burton said the school board would look at the current policy at its regular meeting."The board could adopt a policy that the county is recommending," Burton said, "which could change that on Monday.""That would allow students that are under quarantine for school-related exposures to come back to school in a mask and to do a check-in in the morning," Burton said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631305133592.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>He said the new strategy would more closely align with Hays and Victoria school districts to keep&nbsp;quarantine numbers down."We are working closely with the Ellis County Health Department to keep our students and staff as safe as possible," Burton said. "Our goal is to keep kids in school and keep our students, staff and community healthy.&nbsp;We will continue to monitor this situation and may need to make changes in the future to adjust for outbreaks."In the meantime, Burton is asking parents to help the situation as much as possible by keeping ill children at home, encouraging staff and students to wear masks and social distance when possible."We also want to take this opportunity to remind you that one of our core values as a district is respect for and among our employees and students," Burton said. "We will treat information regarding the identity of employees/students with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 as confidential to the extent feasible and we will comply with applicable laws regarding the handling of such information.&nbsp;Further, per district policy, we will not tolerate harassment of, or discrimination or retaliation against, employees and students."&nbsp;

Nearly a quarter of Ellis High students quarantined; football game canceled

If you are a veteran struggling with mental health issues, you can call the High Plains Mental Health 24-hour crisis line at 1-800-432-0333. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline number is 1-800-273-8255.

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/HighPlainsMentalHealth/posts/4620836714627109?__cft__[0]=AZWN3hC0Ob2P49AfEi3qQP2CTBF2RcOvGTAADjORoM2YIkN_fKqxndvdV76uePEcKkmBZs6aXPhDSFh5LGNkXXkTDwf4aGtdfQgNIcAlz8oRKq0YV3dkXvCHNvGjBGa1qtNNs4u2jycWYkpQktxUQgb_&amp;__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R">More resources for veterans.</a>

Hays veteran Mike Morley wants fellow veterans of the last 20 years to know their sacrifices have not been in vain.

As the United States approaches the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, some veterans are struggling to put their sacrifices in perspective.

Morley served as an enlisted man from August 1989 to May 2001 and an officer from August 2001 to September 2012 in the U.S. Navy, including several deployments in the Middle East during his more than 20-year military career.

"I am of the opinion that it is never all for naught," he said. "As evidence of that, I would look back.&nbsp; We've had no attacks anywhere near the scale of 9/11 since that time. Had al-Qaeda been left unchecked ... there is no doubt they could have launched multiple, multiple attacks on the U.S.

"I think over the course of those 20 years, we have probably prevented dozens, if not hundreds, of attacks that never had the opportunity to happen because we were fighting," Morley said. "At the same time, it is not the way you want to end any conflict."

Morley said the way the U.S. left Afghanistan is going to hurt a lot of people.&nbsp;

"Did my friends die for nothing? Did I sacrifice for nothing? I think the answer to that is 'No, you didn't,' " Morley said. "Your sacrifice mattered. The people we lost — that mattered. It's just not as tidy as it has been in the past."

Now is the time for veterans to come together and be there for one another, Morley said.

"The last thing you want to see is anybody harm themself because nothing they did in life made a difference or mattered," Morley said. "It did. It definitely made a difference. It kept America and its allies safer than we would have been had we not gone to Afghanistan and did what we had to do."

Morley had just finished officer training school and been sent to serve in the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, days before 9/11. Sept. 10, 2001, was his first day in the office at the Pacific Fleet office. His family was still staying in a hotel until they could get settled.

Morley usually woke up at 5 a.m., so he could go on a run before work. However, he had an odd feeling on the morning of 9/11. He turned on the TV and flipped over to CNN. Hawaii is six hours behind New York. The south tower and the Pentagon had already been hit and fallen. The north tower fell shortly after.

"I was standing there in disbelief," he said. "How can this be happening?"

He woke up his wife and told her he had to go to work.&nbsp;

There was a long line to enter the gate to the base. The base had gone from the lowest security protocol on Sept. 10 to its highest protocol on Sept. 11. It took him a couple of hours to get into the base.

"It was surreal. The attack had been going on, for at that point, about eight hours," he said. "Everybody knew that this was different than any other situation we had ever been in."

The Pacific Fleet has a fairly senior staff, Morley said. He was working alongside commanders, captains, admirals and flag officers.

"The fact that you are overlooking Pearl Harbor where World War II started for the U.S., you are thinking this is truly a moment to be here at this place and at this point in time," he said.

"Everybody sensed that this one was going to be different than any other war that the U.S. has ever fought in. Indeed, it has been exactly that."

Morley had several deployments to the Middle East, including to Bahrain, Qatar, Aman, as well ships off of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Even in the first Gulf War, the enemy was defined and the enemy could be engaged using traditional military tactics, Morley said.

"This was completely different in that you had an enemy that was rapidly adaptable to whatever their environment was. They could easily blend in. They were very, very hard to detect and root out," he said.

"That is one of the reasons that the U.S. and the coalition had such a hard time from 2001 to 2005 trying to find the terrorist groups and to take them out because they were so well hidden and they were so well adapted to their environment."

Seth Kastle, who is now an assistant professor of leadership studies at Fort Hays State University, was a 20-year-old soldier in the Army Reserves on 9/11. He was at Fort Riley for training when attacks happened.

"You train for war, and we knew that we were going," he said. "We called family members. Everyone knew I was in the military. We knew we were ready to go that day, and we ended up going four months later."

Kastle served from 1998 to 2014. He was stationed along with other Hays soldiers in Qatar and then served in a medical logistics position with the Jordanian army in Afghanistan. In March 2003, he served with a unit during the invasion of Iraq.&nbsp;

When he was in Iraq, he worked with convoys, transporting supplies.&nbsp; IEDs and sniper fire were a constant threat.

Kastle had problems when he came home dealing with what he had experienced. He also lost a friend in Afghanistan.&nbsp;

He said watching the United States' exit from Afghanistan was initially very difficult. However, he said he also thought the war in Afghanistan deterred terrorist attacks on the U.S.

"It was pretty ugly the way everything went down," he said of the end of the war. "Initially, I thought everything was for nothing. ... But you can't look at it that way.

"It's like if a doctor recognizes that you have cancer, and they are able to treat that cancer for 20 years and you still die. There are still 20 good years there. That is the position I have had to take on it.

"There are bad people in control there now, and it is a difficult pill to swallow."

Kastle urged veterans who may be struggling at this time to reach out to their support network, including other veterans with whom they served.

"They understand you more than anyone else will ever be able to," he said.

'I wanted to do something for my country'

Derrick Crisenbery, who is now a Hays police officer, was a junior in high school on 9/11.

He served from 2003 to 2006 on active duty and then in the Reserves until 2010.

He recalled a TV being wheeled into his high school class in the small town of Fayette, Ohio, and watching the planes hit the towers.

"You're young and a lot of times your mind isn't on politics or world views and world events," he said. "It was me trying to figure out what was going on and why people would do something like that. It was shock and awe and anger and trying to figure out the why of it all."

Crisenbery said he was already considering entering the military and the events of 9/11 "sealed the deal."

"I wanted to do something for my country," he said.

Crisenbery served on an armored vehicle crew. He was deployed to Iraq for about six months and faced sniper attacks and IEDs.

"It was a surreal feeling. You go through one town and people are waving at you and smiling and there are kids playing and you go through another town and the kids and people are throwing rocks at you," he said.&nbsp;

He said he thought Americans should honor the anniversary of 9/11.

"It's a reminder to never forget," he said. "A lot of good people lost their lives that day. We owe it to them to pay our respects and honor the fallen."

Alex Broadway, who is also a Hays Police officer, was only 11 on 9/11. He entered the Marines in 2009 and served until 2013. He served on the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier.

"For a lot of people, my generation, [9/11] is the only terrorist attack they can remember," he said. "I know there were other attacks in the '90s, but for my generation, that is what really opened our eyes to the Middle East and terrorism as a whole."

Broadway said he thought remembering 9/11 remains important.

"It is important to reflect and think about the 9/11 attacks. It is important to think about why we were there in the first place and what was accomplished over that time," he said.

Morley said he would have never envisioned 20 years later the war in Afghanistan would end the way that it did.

"We've been there for 20 years," he said, "basically making Afghanistan secure and holding that place together. I think most veterans are looking at what's happening today and are absolutely stunned by the way it ended. No one likes to see that kind of an outcome. ...

&nbsp;"I can't imagine what it will be like to be an Afghani citizen from this point forward."

Morley said he has concerns about terrorist organizations regaining strengthen using Afghanistan as a haven.&nbsp;

"Afghanistan is basically going to have no central government," he said. "It's going to be this loose confederation of warlords united under the Taliban umbrella. I think that is a definite concern. 

"Where are these terrorist organizations going to gravitate? They are going to gravitate to where they can open up shop with the least amount of hassle, and currently, that is Syria and Afghanistan. There's nothing to stop them."

Kastle said he thought it is important that Americans remember 9/11 and the sacrifices of the 20-year war that followed.

"That day shaped American history forever," he said. "There were thousands of men and women who were killed that day. There were thousands of men and women who were killed over the subsequent 20 years of war that ensued following that.

"It's important that stays paramount in our minds, so we don't hastily make commitments or hastily go anywhere else. What we learn from history is important. It's important to remember not only that day, but everything that happened after that day."

Morley said 9/11 also changed the way Americans see the world.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631212640109.jpeg" alt="Mike Morley of Hays was an officer in the U.S. Navy on 9/11. He served until September 2012, including deployments to the Middle East. He retired as a lieutenant commander in 2012. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Mike Morley of Hays was an officer in the U.S. Navy on 9/11. He served until September 2012, including deployments to the Middle East. He retired as a lieutenant commander in 2012. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>If you are a veteran struggling with mental health issues, you can call the High Plains Mental Health 24-hour crisis line at 1-800-432-0333. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline number is 1-800-273-8255.<a href="https://www.facebook.com/HighPlainsMentalHealth/posts/4620836714627109?__cft__[0]=AZWN3hC0Ob2P49AfEi3qQP2CTBF2RcOvGTAADjORoM2YIkN_fKqxndvdV76uePEcKkmBZs6aXPhDSFh5LGNkXXkTDwf4aGtdfQgNIcAlz8oRKq0YV3dkXvCHNvGjBGa1qtNNs4u2jycWYkpQktxUQgb_&amp;__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R">More resources for veterans.</a>By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays PostHays veteran Mike Morley wants fellow veterans of the last 20 years to know their sacrifices have not been in vain.As the United States approaches the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, some veterans are struggling to put their sacrifices in perspective.Morley served as an enlisted man from August 1989 to May 2001 and an officer from August 2001 to September 2012 in the U.S. Navy, including several deployments in the Middle East during his more than 20-year military career."I am of the opinion that it is never all for naught," he said. "As evidence of that, I would look back.&nbsp; We've had no attacks anywhere near the scale of 9/11 since that time. Had al-Qaeda been left unchecked ... there is no doubt they could have launched multiple, multiple attacks on the U.S."I think over the course of those 20 years, we have probably prevented dozens, if not hundreds, of attacks that never had the opportunity to happen because we were fighting," Morley said. "At the same time, it is not the way you want to end any conflict."Morley said the way the U.S. left Afghanistan is going to hurt a lot of people.&nbsp;"Did my friends die for nothing? Did I sacrifice for nothing? I think the answer to that is 'No, you didn't,' " Morley said. "Your sacrifice mattered. The people we lost — that mattered. It's just not as tidy as it has been in the past."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631216687979.jpeg" alt="Retired Navy Lt. Commander Mike Morley said he thinks the United States presence in the Middle East after 9/11 prevented further terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Retired Navy Lt. Commander Mike Morley said he thinks the United States presence in the Middle East after 9/11 prevented further terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>Now is the time for veterans to come together and be there for one another, Morley said."The last thing you want to see is anybody harm themself because nothing they did in life made a difference or mattered," Morley said. "It did. It definitely made a difference. It kept America and its allies safer than we would have been had we not gone to Afghanistan and did what we had to do."<h2>9/11 at Pearl Harbor</h2>Morley had just finished officer training school and been sent to serve in the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, days before 9/11. Sept. 10, 2001, was his first day in the office at the Pacific Fleet office. His family was still staying in a hotel until they could get settled.Morley usually woke up at 5 a.m., so he could go on a run before work. However, he had an odd feeling on the morning of 9/11. He turned on the TV and flipped over to CNN. Hawaii is six hours behind New York. The south tower and the Pentagon had already been hit and fallen. The north tower fell shortly after."I was standing there in disbelief," he said. "How can this be happening?"He woke up his wife and told her he had to go to work.&nbsp;There was a long line to enter the gate to the base. The base had gone from the lowest security protocol on Sept. 10 to its highest protocol on Sept. 11. It took him a couple of hours to get into the base."It was surreal. The attack had been going on, for at that point, about eight hours," he said. "Everybody knew that this was different than any other situation we had ever been in."The Pacific Fleet has a fairly senior staff, Morley said. He was working alongside commanders, captains, admirals and flag officers."The fact that you are overlooking Pearl Harbor where World War II started for the U.S., you are thinking this is truly a moment to be here at this place and at this point in time," he said."Everybody sensed that this one was going to be different than any other war that the U.S. has ever fought in. Indeed, it has been exactly that."Morley had several deployments to the Middle East, including to Bahrain, Qatar, Aman, as well ships off of Afghanistan and Pakistan.Even in the first Gulf War, the enemy was defined and the enemy could be engaged using traditional military tactics, Morley said."This was completely different in that you had an enemy that was rapidly adaptable to whatever their environment was. They could easily blend in. They were very, very hard to detect and root out," he said."That is one of the reasons that the U.S. and the coalition had such a hard time from 2001 to 2005 trying to find the terrorist groups and to take them out because they were so well hidden and they were so well adapted to their environment."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631217102319.jpeg" alt="Seth Kastle, left,&nbsp;who is now an assistant professor of leadership studies at Fort Hays State University, was a 20-year-old soldier in the Army Reserves on 9/11.&nbsp; Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Seth Kastle, left,&nbsp;who is now an assistant professor of leadership studies at Fort Hays State University, was a 20-year-old soldier in the Army Reserves on 9/11.&nbsp; Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>'I lost a friend'</h2>Seth Kastle, who is now an assistant professor of leadership studies at Fort Hays State University, was a 20-year-old soldier in the Army Reserves on 9/11. He was at Fort Riley for training when attacks happened."You train for war, and we knew that we were going," he said. "We called family members. Everyone knew I was in the military. We knew we were ready to go that day, and we ended up going four months later."Kastle served from 1998 to 2014. He was stationed along with other Hays soldiers in Qatar and then served in a medical logistics position with the Jordanian army in Afghanistan. In March 2003, he served with a unit during the invasion of Iraq.&nbsp;When he was in Iraq, he worked with convoys, transporting supplies.&nbsp; IEDs and sniper fire were a constant threat.Kastle had problems when he came home dealing with what he had experienced. He also lost a friend in Afghanistan.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631217217329.jpeg" alt="Seth Kastle, far right, served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said although watching the U.S. withdraw from Afghanistan has been difficult, his service and that of others in the Middle East has been important. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Seth Kastle, far right, served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said although watching the U.S. withdraw from Afghanistan has been difficult, his service and that of others in the Middle East has been important. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>He said watching the United States' exit from Afghanistan was initially very difficult. However, he said he also thought the war in Afghanistan deterred terrorist attacks on the U.S."It was pretty ugly the way everything went down," he said of the end of the war. "Initially, I thought everything was for nothing. ... But you can't look at it that way."It's like if a doctor recognizes that you have cancer, and they are able to treat that cancer for 20 years and you still die. There are still 20 good years there. That is the position I have had to take on it."There are bad people in control there now, and it is a difficult pill to swallow."Kastle urged veterans who may be struggling at this time to reach out to their support network, including other veterans with whom they served."They understand you more than anyone else will ever be able to," he said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631218676566.jpeg" alt="Derrick Crisenbery, who is now a Hays police officer, said 9/11 influenced his decision to join the military. He served in the Army from 2003 to 2006 and in the Reserves until 2010. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Derrick Crisenbery, who is now a Hays police officer, said 9/11 influenced his decision to join the military. He served in the Army from 2003 to 2006 and in the Reserves until 2010. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>'I wanted to do something for my country'</h2>Derrick Crisenbery, who is now a Hays police officer, was a junior in high school on 9/11.He served from 2003 to 2006 on active duty and then in the Reserves until 2010.He recalled a TV being wheeled into his high school class in the small town of Fayette, Ohio, and watching the planes hit the towers."You're young and a lot of times your mind isn't on politics or world views and world events," he said. "It was me trying to figure out what was going on and why people would do something like that. It was shock and awe and anger and trying to figure out the why of it all."Crisenbery said he was already considering entering the military and the events of 9/11 "sealed the deal.""I wanted to do something for my country," he said.Crisenbery served on an armored vehicle crew. He was deployed to Iraq for about six months and faced sniper attacks and IEDs."It was a surreal feeling. You go through one town and people are waving at you and smiling and there are kids playing and you go through another town and the kids and people are throwing rocks at you," he said.&nbsp;He said he thought Americans should honor the anniversary of 9/11."It's a reminder to never forget," he said. "A lot of good people lost their lives that day. We owe it to them to pay our respects and honor the fallen."Alex Broadway, who is also a Hays Police officer, was only 11 on 9/11. He entered the Marines in 2009 and served until 2013. He served on the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier."For a lot of people, my generation, [9/11] is the only terrorist attack they can remember," he said. "I know there were other attacks in the '90s, but for my generation, that is what really opened our eyes to the Middle East and terrorism as a whole."Broadway said he thought remembering 9/11 remains important."It is important to reflect and think about the 9/11 attacks. It is important to think about why we were there in the first place and what was accomplished over that time," he said.<h2>20 years later, terror still a threat</h2>Morley said he would have never envisioned 20 years later the war in Afghanistan would end the way that it did."We've been there for 20 years," he said, "basically making Afghanistan secure and holding that place together. I think most veterans are looking at what's happening today and are absolutely stunned by the way it ended. No one likes to see that kind of an outcome. ...&nbsp;"I can't imagine what it will be like to be an Afghani citizen from this point forward."Morley said he has concerns about terrorist organizations regaining strengthen using Afghanistan as a haven.&nbsp;"Afghanistan is basically going to have no central government," he said. "It's going to be this loose confederation of warlords united under the Taliban umbrella. I think that is a definite concern. "Where are these terrorist organizations going to gravitate? They are going to gravitate to where they can open up shop with the least amount of hassle, and currently, that is Syria and Afghanistan. There's nothing to stop them."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631218830704.jpeg" alt="Seth Kastle of Hays, right, said 9/11 shaped America forever. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Seth Kastle of Hays, right, said 9/11 shaped America forever. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>9/11 destroys nation's innocence</h2>Kastle said he thought it is important that Americans remember 9/11 and the sacrifices of the 20-year war that followed."That day shaped American history forever," he said. "There were thousands of men and women who were killed that day. There were thousands of men and women who were killed over the subsequent 20 years of war that ensued following that."It's important that stays paramount in our minds, so we don't hastily make commitments or hastily go anywhere else. What we learn from history is important. It's important to remember not only that day, but everything that happened after that day."Morley said 9/11 also changed the way Americans see the world."We grew up with this belief if we stayed strong and cooperated with other countries and treated everyone as equals that everything would be fine," he said. ..."Sept. 11, 2001, was the giant wake-up call — that's not the case. There is real evil in the world and, when it comes out, it can be very, very ugly and very deadly.&nbsp;I think it destroyed the nation's innocence."

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