By MAX MCCOY <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/13/emporia-state-university-is-about-to-suspend-tenure-heres-why-you-should-care/">Courtesy Kansas Reflector</a>

It would be an improper firing, a violation of my First Amendment 
rights as a university professor, an infringement of the ability to 
pursue my discipline and state the truth as I see it in the marketplace 
of ideas. The given reason might be restructuring, a need for change, a 
response to a crisis, or even “conduct.” But I fear the underlying 
reason for my firing, and that of my colleagues, would be that it’s a 
political maneuver to end tenure.

Outspoken professors like me would ordinarily rely on the protection 
offered by tenure, but shortly after you read this column, that 
foundational protection may have already been suspended at Emporia State
 University, one of six public universities in Kansas.

A <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/07/emporia-state-university-seeks-authority-to-begin-campus-workforce-restructuring/">plan to restructure the school</a>
 and allow the firing of faculty members with only a 30-day notice is 
expected to be approved this week by the Kansas Board of Regents, which 
oversees the state’s higher education. If adopted, the “workforce 
management plan” would effectively suspend tenure for the fall 2022 
semester.

A semester doesn’t seem like much, but it’s enough time to wreck 
careers and burn down programs that have taken decades to build. It’s 
enough time to change an institution that has contributed to the common 
good in Kansas for more than 150 years to one that is dedicated to … 
well, we just don’t know yet.

There are few details in the draft “workforce management plan” 
presented to faculty just last Wednesday, no metrics by which to 
consider the closing of programs or the firing of instructors. There is a
 lot of hot air about being “forward focused and future ready.”

The draft is not a management plan, as observed by one professor at a
 faculty forum on Friday, but a blueprint to quickly terminate employees
 — and not just faculty, but classified staff, graduate assistants, 
anybody the university administration might want gone. The reasons for 
termination are so broad as to invite abuse, and range from program 
restructuring to employee conduct deemed disruptive of the work 
environment.

That could mean writing columns like this one, which are critical of 
university policy. I’ve never written much before about the university, 
at least not in column form, because I always considered it to be off 
tone. Self-serving.

But now is the time, and I do it not merely in my own self-interest, 
but to give voice to what many of my colleagues feel but cannot say for 
fear of reprisal.

Nobody denies the university is under financial pressure caused by 
COVID-19, somewhat declining enrollments, and changes in state funding 
over the past 20 years. Just about everyone, including professors, 
agrees that tuition is just too damned high. But professors aren’t the 
cause of that and, in fact, the pay for most of us who teach at Emporia 
State hasn’t even kept pace with the adjustments given across-the-board 
to state employees in the last few years. There’s been a lot of talk by 
administrators about anticipated enrollment drops, and some programs — 
especially those in the humanities — have been cut time and again. But 
from 2017 to 2021, overall enrollment at ESU has dropped only about 2%, 
according to KBOR data. The university disingenuously provided a 
misleading “fever chart” graph that, by manipulating the scale, showed 
that slight drop in enrollment as not a molehill but a mountainous 
plunge.

It’s only one of things the administration has been less than 
truthful about. Just consider the announcement that came from president 
Ken Hush on Wednesday telling faculty the emergency framework had 
already been submitted to KBOR. It hadn’t. <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/08/professors-frustrated-by-emporia-state-university-plans-to-eliminate-tenured-faculty-and-programs/">An email from the faculty president</a>
 late that night said the statement was “misleading” because the draft 
had not been submitted and feedback from the faculty had not yet been 
gathered. We were given about two business days to provide that 
feedback, an impossible deadline.

The termination policy, to call it what it is, is a desperate attempt
 to dismantle tenure at a state school and establish a cultural 
beachhead upon which others can land. Would it save money? Sure, in the 
same way that ending school lunches or cutting funds to the local fire 
department would save money. But it’s not a wise strategy, especially if
 your goal is to make your community better for everyone — or just to 
keep the town from burning down.

Tenure is no ivory tower; it’s as essential to higher education as 
the fire department is to your community. At Emporia State, as at most 
colleges, tenure is hard won. It is awarded only after a person already 
has a sufficiently advanced degree, is hired as an assistant professor, 
and puts in five to seven years of probationary time during which they 
demonstrate their ability to research, teach and contribute meaningfully
 to the campus community. Tenure isn’t given automatically, and many 
hardworking individuals fail to achieve it. It is granted based on 
rigorous university and department standards, which include student and 
peer evaluations. Tenure is not the same as promotion, although gaining 
it typically comes with an advancement in rank, usually to associate 
professor.

There’s little doubt that the university’s move to end tenure is in 
response to pressure from the deeply conservative Kansas Legislature, 
and I’ve heard the former university provost Gary Wyatt say as much. 
Once, in a department meeting, he told us that legislators viewed 
tenured professors as “the enemy.” Then again, at a faculty address this
 fall, he said the campus would have to come to grips with the reality 
that we live in a state that is mostly Republican, with a legislature 
that is GOP dominated. How much clearer could he make it? To his credit,
 Wyatt is one of the few administrators willing to speak the truth on 
the issue.

This draft policy, aimed to please most Republican lawmakers, will be
 submitted under a COVID-era KBOR plan that would allow universities to 
create alternate paths to summarily fire professors instead of adhering 
to long-established rules that required the university to either declare
 financial exigency, meaning a crisis in which there is no option but to
 terminate appointments of tenured faculty, or to follow the lengthy 
established process for program termination. Passed in January 2021 by 
KBOR, the policy was meant to give universities a tool to deal with the 
financial stress of the pandemic, lower enrollments and tight budgets. 
None of the six state universities implemented the policy, although the 
University of Kansas flirted with it before an intense backlash from 
faculty and students.

The KBOR policy was slated to expire July 1 of this year, but in June the regents extended it for another six months.

The same week KBOR extended the “workforce management” policy, it 
also hired a new president for Emporia State: Ken Hush. An ESU alum and 
former college tennis star, Hush had <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2021/12/18/at-emporia-state-a-former-grad-holds-fort-while-campus-waits/">served as interim president</a>
 since November 2021. Hush is a former CEO of Koch Carbon and, according
 to the Federal Election Commission database, a contributor of tens of 
thousands of dollars to KochPAC, which predominately funds conservative 
candidates for Congress.

Hush’s appointment as president came as a surprise to campus because 
many assumed a presidential search would select someone from the outside
 with an advanced degree. Hush holds a dual major bachelor’s, in 
business and marketing, making him <a target="_blank" href="http://www.esubulletin.com/campus_commons/hush-holds-fewest-degrees-among-kbor-chiefs/article_017d2dea-28b6-11ed-ab60-8ff9d0fdec3e.html">the least academically credentialed</a> of the leaders of the six universities in Kansas.

The presidential search process, unlike all previous searches at ESU,
 was a closed one, veiled in secrecy. There was no announcement of 
finalists or opportunities for faculty, students and staff to evaluate 
them, whoever they were. The chairman of the search committee was 
another former ESU tennis athlete, Greg Kossover — and a major donor to 
the new tennis complex on campus.

The selection of Hush at first seemed an odd fit.

Although he had served on the Wichita State University board of 
trustees, he didn’t have a deep background in public service in a 
classroom setting. He had run a Koch company that specialized in bulk 
commodities of coal and petroleum coke, and contributed heavily to a PAC
 that funded candidates who were often climate change deniers.

The libertarian Koch brothers, of course, kicked off the current 
culture war during the Obama years with their support of the Tea Party. 
The university and KBOR both refused to release a resume or curriculum 
vitae for Hush, something that most schools share with pride.

Even before school started this fall, Hush put his foot in his mouth <a target="_blank" href="http://www.esubulletin.com/campus_commons/new-prez-says-i-laugh-at-criticism-about-butcher-closure-then-he-regrets-word-choice/article_191f1e20-1b7f-11ed-8ddf-eb6b24db73d5.html">when talking to the editor of the campus newspaper</a>, saying &nbsp;“I laugh” at criticism of his decision to close a program that offered <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/07/26/emporia-state-university-to-close-child-care-center-despite-student-and-faculty-objections/">the only child care on campus</a>. Such condescension seems a feature, not a bug.

It all makes perfect sense now, considering how devalued higher 
education has become. We are quickly moving toward an oligarchy where 
only money and power matter. What has traditionally been rewarded in 
higher education, merit in the form of academic achievement and 
expertise in a discipline, is sneered at because it doesn’t make it 
rain.

There is little recognition at ESU that a public university serves a 
broader good, to the community and to the state, than just providing 
workers. I’ve always believed higher education was mostly involved in 
making citizens. But I guess the laugh is on me. Those in power are 
looting the culture of higher education like somebody would after a fire
 or a tornado or any other disaster.

It will be a loss for the students, for the community and for the state.

I’m not against change. Innovation is necessary. But one of the goals
 of tenure is to protect institutions from sudden and catastrophic 
change.

“Tenure promotes stability,” says the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aaup.org/issues/tenure">American Association of University Professors</a>.
 “Faculty members who are committed to the institution can develop ties 
with the local community, pursue ongoing research projects, and mentor 
students and beginning scholars over the long term.”

Tenure also doesn’t protect professors from being fired for the kinds
 of things you would expect others to be fired for. Professors are 
subject to termination for chronic low performance or sexually 
assaulting a student, for example. That’s how it should be.

Tenure serves the public interest because society benefits when 
teachers and researchers are free of control by corporations, religious 
groups, special interests, and the government, according to the AAUP.

“Free inquiry, free expression, and open dissent are critical for 
student learning and the advancement of knowledge,” the association 
says. “Therefore, it is important to have systems in place to protect 
academic freedom. Tenure serves that purpose.”

Academic freedom is “of special concern to the First Amendment,” 
according to Justice William Brennan in a seminal 1967 Supreme Court 
decision, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/15/keyishian-v-board-of-regents">Keyishian v. Board of Regents</a>.
 He wrote, “Our Nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic 
freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely the 
teachers concerned.”

If that statement seems a little pie-in-the-sky for you, consider those <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ei-ie.org/en/item/24856:global-index-finds-most-countries-do-not-respect-academic-freedom-and-shows-signs-of-decline">countries that do not</a>
 protect academic freedom, according to the Global Academic Freedom 
Index published by Education International. North Korea and China are 
among the worst offenders on the list.

“Academic freedom is part of the essential rights to maintain strong 
democracies,” according to EI. “High quality, independent research can 
serve as a sound basis for public decision-making and democratic debate.
 In recent years disinformation, often instantly and massively 
transmitted by social media, has distorted debate, spread hatred, and 
polarised opinion. A dramatic example is the spread of false information
 on global warming.”

But it just might be a country club for young fossil fuel 
entrepreneurs, each with a copy of “Atlas Shrugged” tucked beneath an 
elbow, drifting through an undergraduate “experience” complete with 
tennis courts and classrooms free of the inane nattering of humanities 
types like me.

Max McCoy is an award-winning author and journalist. A native Kansan, he started his career at the Pittsburg Morning Sun and was soon writing for national magazines. His investigative stories on unsolved murders, serial killers and hate groups earned him first-place awards from the Associated Press Managing Editors and other organizations.&nbsp;Max teaches journalism at Emporia State University.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1663100814988.png" alt="Ken Hush, president at Emporia State University, said financial realities compel ESU to consider realigning the budget through process that could include employee layoffs and changes in of academic programs. (Margaret Mellott/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Ken Hush, president at Emporia State University, said financial realities compel ESU to consider realigning the budget through process that could include employee layoffs and changes in of academic programs. (Margaret Mellott/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By MAX MCCOY <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/13/emporia-state-university-is-about-to-suspend-tenure-heres-why-you-should-care/">Courtesy Kansas Reflector</a>I may be fired for writing this.It would be an improper firing, a violation of my First Amendment 
rights as a university professor, an infringement of the ability to 
pursue my discipline and state the truth as I see it in the marketplace 
of ideas. The given reason might be restructuring, a need for change, a 
response to a crisis, or even “conduct.” But I fear the underlying 
reason for my firing, and that of my colleagues, would be that it’s a 
political maneuver to end tenure.Outspoken professors like me would ordinarily rely on the protection 
offered by tenure, but shortly after you read this column, that 
foundational protection may have already been suspended at Emporia State
 University, one of six public universities in Kansas.A <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/07/emporia-state-university-seeks-authority-to-begin-campus-workforce-restructuring/">plan to restructure the school</a>
 and allow the firing of faculty members with only a 30-day notice is 
expected to be approved this week by the Kansas Board of Regents, which 
oversees the state’s higher education. If adopted, the “workforce 
management plan” would effectively suspend tenure for the fall 2022 
semester.A semester doesn’t seem like much, but it’s enough time to wreck 
careers and burn down programs that have taken decades to build. It’s 
enough time to change an institution that has contributed to the common 
good in Kansas for more than 150 years to one that is dedicated to … 
well, we just don’t know yet.There are few details in the draft “workforce management plan” 
presented to faculty just last Wednesday, no metrics by which to 
consider the closing of programs or the firing of instructors. There is a
 lot of hot air about being “forward focused and future ready.”The draft is not a management plan, as observed by one professor at a
 faculty forum on Friday, but a blueprint to quickly terminate employees
 — and not just faculty, but classified staff, graduate assistants, 
anybody the university administration might want gone. The reasons for 
termination are so broad as to invite abuse, and range from program 
restructuring to employee conduct deemed disruptive of the work 
environment.That could mean writing columns like this one, which are critical of 
university policy. I’ve never written much before about the university, 
at least not in column form, because I always considered it to be off 
tone. Self-serving.But now is the time, and I do it not merely in my own self-interest, 
but to give voice to what many of my colleagues feel but cannot say for 
fear of reprisal.Nobody denies the university is under financial pressure caused by 
COVID-19, somewhat declining enrollments, and changes in state funding 
over the past 20 years. Just about everyone, including professors, 
agrees that tuition is just too damned high. But professors aren’t the 
cause of that and, in fact, the pay for most of us who teach at Emporia 
State hasn’t even kept pace with the adjustments given across-the-board 
to state employees in the last few years. There’s been a lot of talk by 
administrators about anticipated enrollment drops, and some programs — 
especially those in the humanities — have been cut time and again. But 
from 2017 to 2021, overall enrollment at ESU has dropped only about 2%, 
according to KBOR data. The university disingenuously provided a 
misleading “fever chart” graph that, by manipulating the scale, showed 
that slight drop in enrollment as not a molehill but a mountainous 
plunge.It’s only one of things the administration has been less than 
truthful about. Just consider the announcement that came from president 
Ken Hush on Wednesday telling faculty the emergency framework had 
already been submitted to KBOR. It hadn’t. <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/08/professors-frustrated-by-emporia-state-university-plans-to-eliminate-tenured-faculty-and-programs/">An email from the faculty president</a>
 late that night said the statement was “misleading” because the draft 
had not been submitted and feedback from the faculty had not yet been 
gathered. We were given about two business days to provide that 
feedback, an impossible deadline.The termination policy, to call it what it is, is a desperate attempt
 to dismantle tenure at a state school and establish a cultural 
beachhead upon which others can land. Would it save money? Sure, in the 
same way that ending school lunches or cutting funds to the local fire 
department would save money. But it’s not a wise strategy, especially if
 your goal is to make your community better for everyone — or just to 
keep the town from burning down.Tenure is no ivory tower; it’s as essential to higher education as 
the fire department is to your community. At Emporia State, as at most 
colleges, tenure is hard won. It is awarded only after a person already 
has a sufficiently advanced degree, is hired as an assistant professor, 
and puts in five to seven years of probationary time during which they 
demonstrate their ability to research, teach and contribute meaningfully
 to the campus community. Tenure isn’t given automatically, and many 
hardworking individuals fail to achieve it. It is granted based on 
rigorous university and department standards, which include student and 
peer evaluations. Tenure is not the same as promotion, although gaining 
it typically comes with an advancement in rank, usually to associate 
professor.There’s little doubt that the university’s move to end tenure is in 
response to pressure from the deeply conservative Kansas Legislature, 
and I’ve heard the former university provost Gary Wyatt say as much. 
Once, in a department meeting, he told us that legislators viewed 
tenured professors as “the enemy.” Then again, at a faculty address this
 fall, he said the campus would have to come to grips with the reality 
that we live in a state that is mostly Republican, with a legislature 
that is GOP dominated. How much clearer could he make it? To his credit,
 Wyatt is one of the few administrators willing to speak the truth on 
the issue.This draft policy, aimed to please most Republican lawmakers, will be
 submitted under a COVID-era KBOR plan that would allow universities to 
create alternate paths to summarily fire professors instead of adhering 
to long-established rules that required the university to either declare
 financial exigency, meaning a crisis in which there is no option but to
 terminate appointments of tenured faculty, or to follow the lengthy 
established process for program termination. Passed in January 2021 by 
KBOR, the policy was meant to give universities a tool to deal with the 
financial stress of the pandemic, lower enrollments and tight budgets. 
None of the six state universities implemented the policy, although the 
University of Kansas flirted with it before an intense backlash from 
faculty and students.The KBOR policy was slated to expire July 1 of this year, but in June the regents extended it for another six months.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1663100887867.png" alt=" After the official announcement of Ken Hush being voted the next president of Emporia State University, Hush spent time talking with the faculty, staff, students and community members who attended the event. (Margaret Mellott/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> After the official announcement of Ken Hush being voted the next president of Emporia State University, Hush spent time talking with the faculty, staff, students and community members who attended the event. (Margaret Mellott/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>The same week KBOR extended the “workforce management” policy, it 
also hired a new president for Emporia State: Ken Hush. An ESU alum and 
former college tennis star, Hush had <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2021/12/18/at-emporia-state-a-former-grad-holds-fort-while-campus-waits/">served as interim president</a>
 since November 2021. Hush is a former CEO of Koch Carbon and, according
 to the Federal Election Commission database, a contributor of tens of 
thousands of dollars to KochPAC, which predominately funds conservative 
candidates for Congress.Hush’s appointment as president came as a surprise to campus because 
many assumed a presidential search would select someone from the outside
 with an advanced degree. Hush holds a dual major bachelor’s, in 
business and marketing, making him <a target="_blank" href="http://www.esubulletin.com/campus_commons/hush-holds-fewest-degrees-among-kbor-chiefs/article_017d2dea-28b6-11ed-ab60-8ff9d0fdec3e.html">the least academically credentialed</a> of the leaders of the six universities in Kansas.The presidential search process, unlike all previous searches at ESU,
 was a closed one, veiled in secrecy. There was no announcement of 
finalists or opportunities for faculty, students and staff to evaluate 
them, whoever they were. The chairman of the search committee was 
another former ESU tennis athlete, Greg Kossover — and a major donor to 
the new tennis complex on campus.The selection of Hush at first seemed an odd fit.Although he had served on the Wichita State University board of 
trustees, he didn’t have a deep background in public service in a 
classroom setting. He had run a Koch company that specialized in bulk 
commodities of coal and petroleum coke, and contributed heavily to a PAC
 that funded candidates who were often climate change deniers.The libertarian Koch brothers, of course, kicked off the current 
culture war during the Obama years with their support of the Tea Party. 
The university and KBOR both refused to release a resume or curriculum 
vitae for Hush, something that most schools share with pride.Even before school started this fall, Hush put his foot in his mouth <a target="_blank" href="http://www.esubulletin.com/campus_commons/new-prez-says-i-laugh-at-criticism-about-butcher-closure-then-he-regrets-word-choice/article_191f1e20-1b7f-11ed-8ddf-eb6b24db73d5.html">when talking to the editor of the campus newspaper</a>, saying &nbsp;“I laugh” at criticism of his decision to close a program that offered <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/07/26/emporia-state-university-to-close-child-care-center-despite-student-and-faculty-objections/">the only child care on campus</a>. Such condescension seems a feature, not a bug.It all makes perfect sense now, considering how devalued higher 
education has become. We are quickly moving toward an oligarchy where 
only money and power matter. What has traditionally been rewarded in 
higher education, merit in the form of academic achievement and 
expertise in a discipline, is sneered at because it doesn’t make it 
rain.There is little recognition at ESU that a public university serves a 
broader good, to the community and to the state, than just providing 
workers. I’ve always believed higher education was mostly involved in 
making citizens. But I guess the laugh is on me. Those in power are 
looting the culture of higher education like somebody would after a fire
 or a tornado or any other disaster.Or a pandemic.It will be a loss for the students, for the community and for the state.I’m not against change. Innovation is necessary. But one of the goals
 of tenure is to protect institutions from sudden and catastrophic 
change.“Tenure promotes stability,” says the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aaup.org/issues/tenure">American Association of University Professors</a>.
 “Faculty members who are committed to the institution can develop ties 
with the local community, pursue ongoing research projects, and mentor 
students and beginning scholars over the long term.”Tenure also doesn’t protect professors from being fired for the kinds
 of things you would expect others to be fired for. Professors are 
subject to termination for chronic low performance or sexually 
assaulting a student, for example. That’s how it should be.Tenure serves the public interest because society benefits when 
teachers and researchers are free of control by corporations, religious 
groups, special interests, and the government, according to the AAUP.“Free inquiry, free expression, and open dissent are critical for 
student learning and the advancement of knowledge,” the association 
says. “Therefore, it is important to have systems in place to protect 
academic freedom. Tenure serves that purpose.”Academic freedom is “of special concern to the First Amendment,” 
according to Justice William Brennan in a seminal 1967 Supreme Court 
decision, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/15/keyishian-v-board-of-regents">Keyishian v. Board of Regents</a>.
 He wrote, “Our Nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic 
freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely the 
teachers concerned.”If that statement seems a little pie-in-the-sky for you, consider those <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ei-ie.org/en/item/24856:global-index-finds-most-countries-do-not-respect-academic-freedom-and-shows-signs-of-decline">countries that do not</a>
 protect academic freedom, according to the Global Academic Freedom 
Index published by Education International. North Korea and China are 
among the worst offenders on the list.“Academic freedom is part of the essential rights to maintain strong 
democracies,” according to EI. “High quality, independent research can 
serve as a sound basis for public decision-making and democratic debate.
 In recent years disinformation, often instantly and massively 
transmitted by social media, has distorted debate, spread hatred, and 
polarised opinion. A dramatic example is the spread of false information
 on global warming.”What now for ESU?Faculty members do not know.But it just might be a country club for young fossil fuel 
entrepreneurs, each with a copy of “Atlas Shrugged” tucked beneath an 
elbow, drifting through an undergraduate “experience” complete with 
tennis courts and classrooms free of the inane nattering of humanities 
types like me.Max McCoy is an award-winning author and journalist. A native Kansan, he started his career at the Pittsburg Morning Sun and was soon writing for national magazines. His investigative stories on unsolved murders, serial killers and hate groups earned him first-place awards from the Associated Press Managing Editors and other organizations.&nbsp;Max teaches journalism at Emporia State University.

OPINION: Emporia State is about to suspend tenure: Here’s why you should care

By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development&nbsp;

“Kon'nichiwa.” That is hello in Japanese. Today, a shipment from the United States is arriving in Japan. It’s some samples of specialty, high quality pork produced by a family halfway around the globe in rural Kansas.

Kaden and Emily Roush are the owners of R Family Farms and a local grocery store in Lebanon, Kan. Kaden grew up in Lebanon on a crop and livestock farm. Five generations of his family have been involved in agriculture.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hog production was a major part of the Roush family operation until the hog market crash of the 1990s. As described by the family’s website: “However, out of the ashes sprang an opportunity for an energetic little boy, a few sows, and a 4-H project.”&nbsp;

Young Kaden Roush was that little boy.&nbsp;

Roush enrolled in the swine project in 4-H, raised pigs and showed them successfully at the county fair. Soon he was selling extra pigs to fellow 4-H members.&nbsp;

In the process, Roush developed a knack for livestock evaluation. He would develop and use those skills on the livestock judging teams at Allen Community College in Iola and then Kansas State University. The national judging team tours gave Roush the opportunity to observe diversity in agriculture and potential opportunities for marketing pork.&nbsp;

Roush soon met Emily. She was raised on a three-generation wheat, corn and soybean farm near the rural community of Iola, population 5,396 people. Now, that’s rural.&nbsp;

Emily was active in FFA. After studying at Allen Community College, she finished her degree in agronomy at K-State and married Kaden. He earned a degree in agribusiness with a major in animal science.&nbsp;

Together, Kaden and Emily’s families embody more than two centuries of history of caring for the land and animals.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Kaden and Emily thought about the opportunities for niche marketing of pork and decided to move back to his home area to launch a specialty hog enterprise. They named it R Family Farms. The Roush website states about Emily: “Although pigs were not her first love (or second, for that matter), she quickly grew to love them and joyfully welcomed them as a part of her future.”&nbsp;

The Roush’s vision was to educate consumers about where their food comes from while providing a world-class culinary experience. To do so, they chose to raise the Berkshire breed of hogs.&nbsp;

In 2015, R Family Farms broke ground on a new hog facility. The first Berkshire pigs arrived in January 2016. Today, R Family Farms is home to 75 sows that farrow all year long. The resulting litters are raised to market weight.&nbsp;About half of the meat is sold by private label and half to vendors in Missouri. In 2019, they shipped samples to Japan.&nbsp;&nbsp;Meanwhile, Kaden works as a loan officer at a local bank and Emily serves as Lebanon city clerk.&nbsp;

The family needed a specific outlet for their specialty Berkshire pork. They were supplying pork to a national chain of organic whole food stores when the chain cancelled their contract. It appeared to be a disaster.&nbsp;

Then they were contacted by Paradise Locker Meats in Paradise, Mo. That company was selling Berkshire pork to high-end restaurants and suddenly found that their source could not supply it.&nbsp;

“It was divine intervention,” Emily said. “We lost our contract and he’d lost his supplier.&nbsp;&nbsp;He needed the number of hogs that we had.”&nbsp;

The Roush’s farm supplied the pork and Paradise Locker Meats filled the order. The two businesses have worked together ever since.&nbsp;

Today, R Family Farms is using old-style outdoor production practices combined with modern day technology to bring superior quality pork to market.&nbsp;

For more information, see&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rfamilyfarmsks.com/">www.rfamilyfarmsks.com</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

It’s time to leave Japan, which was the recipient of these Berkshire pork samples produced halfway around the world in Kansas. We salute Kaden and Emily Roush of R Family Farms for making a difference with innovative marketing of their products.&nbsp;

It’s time to say goodbye – or as they say in Japan, “Sayonara.”&nbsp;

And there’s more.&nbsp;&nbsp;Remember that the Roush family owns a grocery store?&nbsp;&nbsp;We’ll learn about that next week.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662555942364.png" alt="Screen Shot 2022-09-07 at 8.05.22 AM.png" />
 <figcaption>Screen Shot 2022-09-07 at 8.05.22 AM.png</figcaption>
 </figure>By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development&nbsp;“Kon'nichiwa.” That is hello in Japanese. Today, a shipment from the United States is arriving in Japan. It’s some samples of specialty, high quality pork produced by a family halfway around the globe in rural Kansas.Kaden and Emily Roush are the owners of R Family Farms and a local grocery store in Lebanon, Kan. Kaden grew up in Lebanon on a crop and livestock farm. Five generations of his family have been involved in agriculture.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hog production was a major part of the Roush family operation until the hog market crash of the 1990s. As described by the family’s website: “However, out of the ashes sprang an opportunity for an energetic little boy, a few sows, and a 4-H project.”&nbsp;Young Kaden Roush was that little boy.&nbsp;Roush enrolled in the swine project in 4-H, raised pigs and showed them successfully at the county fair. Soon he was selling extra pigs to fellow 4-H members.&nbsp;In the process, Roush developed a knack for livestock evaluation. He would develop and use those skills on the livestock judging teams at Allen Community College in Iola and then Kansas State University. The national judging team tours gave Roush the opportunity to observe diversity in agriculture and potential opportunities for marketing pork.&nbsp;Roush soon met Emily. She was raised on a three-generation wheat, corn and soybean farm near the rural community of Iola, population 5,396 people. Now, that’s rural.&nbsp;Emily was active in FFA. After studying at Allen Community College, she finished her degree in agronomy at K-State and married Kaden. He earned a degree in agribusiness with a major in animal science.&nbsp;Together, Kaden and Emily’s families embody more than two centuries of history of caring for the land and animals.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kaden and Emily thought about the opportunities for niche marketing of pork and decided to move back to his home area to launch a specialty hog enterprise. They named it R Family Farms. The Roush website states about Emily: “Although pigs were not her first love (or second, for that matter), she quickly grew to love them and joyfully welcomed them as a part of her future.”&nbsp;The Roush’s vision was to educate consumers about where their food comes from while providing a world-class culinary experience. To do so, they chose to raise the Berkshire breed of hogs.&nbsp;In 2015, R Family Farms broke ground on a new hog facility. The first Berkshire pigs arrived in January 2016. Today, R Family Farms is home to 75 sows that farrow all year long. The resulting litters are raised to market weight.&nbsp;About half of the meat is sold by private label and half to vendors in Missouri. In 2019, they shipped samples to Japan.&nbsp;&nbsp;Meanwhile, Kaden works as a loan officer at a local bank and Emily serves as Lebanon city clerk.&nbsp;The family needed a specific outlet for their specialty Berkshire pork. They were supplying pork to a national chain of organic whole food stores when the chain cancelled their contract. It appeared to be a disaster.&nbsp;Then they were contacted by Paradise Locker Meats in Paradise, Mo. That company was selling Berkshire pork to high-end restaurants and suddenly found that their source could not supply it.&nbsp;“It was divine intervention,” Emily said. “We lost our contract and he’d lost his supplier.&nbsp;&nbsp;He needed the number of hogs that we had.”&nbsp;The Roush’s farm supplied the pork and Paradise Locker Meats filled the order. The two businesses have worked together ever since.&nbsp;Today, R Family Farms is using old-style outdoor production practices combined with modern day technology to bring superior quality pork to market.&nbsp;For more information, see&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rfamilyfarmsks.com/">www.rfamilyfarmsks.com</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;It’s time to leave Japan, which was the recipient of these Berkshire pork samples produced halfway around the world in Kansas. We salute Kaden and Emily Roush of R Family Farms for making a difference with innovative marketing of their products.&nbsp;It’s time to say goodbye – or as they say in Japan, “Sayonara.”&nbsp;And there’s more.&nbsp;&nbsp;Remember that the Roush family owns a grocery store?&nbsp;&nbsp;We’ll learn about that next week.&nbsp;

Now That’s Rural: Kaden and Emily Roush, R Family Farms 

This summer felt like being trapped in a Groundhog Day movie—waking up to repeat the same blame-game politics day after day.

Republicans blamed Democrat gubernatorial candidate and current Governor Laura Kelly for unpopular COVID policies. Democrats blamed Republican candidate Attorney General Derek Schmidt for former governor Brownback’s failed economic policies.&nbsp;

The race also includes state Sen. Dennis Pyle, a third candidate who blamed both Kelly and Schmidt as not being conservative enough.

This fall, the focus is shifting toward current issues including public education.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Last week, Schmidt promised to call for the legislature to ban trans athletes in women’s sports within the first 100 days of his taking office.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Kelly had vetoed a similar bill last year, but the legislature could not find enough votes to override.

Therefore, rules for school sports are left to the Kansas State High School Activities Association which currently allows transgender student participation.

Yet, inclusion of transgender students in athletics remains controversial.

Conservatives believe that, if allowed to participate in athletics, transgender girls would have unfair advantage when competing with girls whose sex is that assigned at birth.

The Republican voter base appears to support a belief that students are being indoctrinated into views about gender and sexuality that their parents oppose.&nbsp;

The Democratic voter base holds that excluding students from competition because of the gender identity they express is discriminatory and that respect for students to choose their gender identity is a basic right.

The International Olympic Committee took a practical viewpoint on the issue. Its new policy will leave participation of trans athletes up to each individual sport.

The governing body of swimming will bar transgender women from elite Olympic events but will work toward establishing an “open” category that would ensure all swimmers have the chance to compete.&nbsp;

The UCLA School of Law Williams Institute estimated the transgender population by state and found in Kansas approximately 2,100 youth 13 through 17 or 1.04 percent of that population identify as transgender.&nbsp;&nbsp;

It is not known how many of these youth want to play school sports, but it is quite possible that a young person could attend grades 9 through 12 in Kansas without ever having class with a transgender student.&nbsp;

Nevertheless, this fall there is at least one Kansas first-grade student assigned male at birth who identifies and dresses as a girl with support of the parents.

That child will be included in the school and supported in learning according to state equal opportunity policies.

Gender identity is a highly publicized, highly emotional issue that should not deflect attention from critical and what should be nonpartisan school problems that include:

American democracy has endured for more than 200 years, despite wide-ranging religious and belief systems of its people.&nbsp; In November, Kansans will elect the politician they believe best able to lead the state beyond cultural wars that feed mistrust and anger and toward resolution of the overarching problems that we face.&nbsp;&nbsp;

We can learn more when Kelly and Schmidt debate at a Johnson County Bar Association event scheduled for Oct. 5. Pyle did not meet the seven percent polling threshold to participate.

Sharon Hartin Iorio is Dean Emerita Wichita State University College of Education.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1593719779701.jpeg" alt="Sharon Hartin Iorio is Dean Emerita Wichita State University College of Education." />
 <figcaption>Sharon Hartin Iorio is Dean Emerita Wichita State University College of Education.</figcaption>
 </figure>This summer felt like being trapped in a Groundhog Day movie—waking up to repeat the same blame-game politics day after day.Republicans blamed Democrat gubernatorial candidate and current Governor Laura Kelly for unpopular COVID policies. Democrats blamed Republican candidate Attorney General Derek Schmidt for former governor Brownback’s failed economic policies.&nbsp;The race also includes state Sen. Dennis Pyle, a third candidate who blamed both Kelly and Schmidt as not being conservative enough.This fall, the focus is shifting toward current issues including public education.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1575913663048.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Last week, Schmidt promised to call for the legislature to ban trans athletes in women’s sports within the first 100 days of his taking office.&nbsp;&nbsp;Kelly had vetoed a similar bill last year, but the legislature could not find enough votes to override.Therefore, rules for school sports are left to the Kansas State High School Activities Association which currently allows transgender student participation.Yet, inclusion of transgender students in athletics remains controversial.Conservatives believe that, if allowed to participate in athletics, transgender girls would have unfair advantage when competing with girls whose sex is that assigned at birth.The Republican voter base appears to support a belief that students are being indoctrinated into views about gender and sexuality that their parents oppose.&nbsp;The Democratic voter base holds that excluding students from competition because of the gender identity they express is discriminatory and that respect for students to choose their gender identity is a basic right.The International Olympic Committee took a practical viewpoint on the issue. Its new policy will leave participation of trans athletes up to each individual sport.The governing body of swimming will bar transgender women from elite Olympic events but will work toward establishing an “open” category that would ensure all swimmers have the chance to compete.&nbsp;The UCLA School of Law Williams Institute estimated the transgender population by state and found in Kansas approximately 2,100 youth 13 through 17 or 1.04 percent of that population identify as transgender.&nbsp;&nbsp;It is not known how many of these youth want to play school sports, but it is quite possible that a young person could attend grades 9 through 12 in Kansas without ever having class with a transgender student.&nbsp;Nevertheless, this fall there is at least one Kansas first-grade student assigned male at birth who identifies and dresses as a girl with support of the parents.That child will be included in the school and supported in learning according to state equal opportunity policies.Gender identity is a highly publicized, highly emotional issue that should not deflect attention from critical and what should be nonpartisan school problems that include:<ul>
 <li>Improving student academic achievement,</li><li>Addressing teacher shortages without short-cutting high-quality teacher preparation,&nbsp;</li><li>Increasing school safety and&nbsp;</li><li>Finding ways to provide access for each Kansas student to computing and internet access for homework and school/parent interaction.&nbsp;</li>
 </ul>American democracy has endured for more than 200 years, despite wide-ranging religious and belief systems of its people.&nbsp; In November, Kansans will elect the politician they believe best able to lead the state beyond cultural wars that feed mistrust and anger and toward resolution of the overarching problems that we face.&nbsp;&nbsp;We can learn more when Kelly and Schmidt debate at a Johnson County Bar Association event scheduled for Oct. 5. Pyle did not meet the seven percent polling threshold to participate.Sharon Hartin Iorio is Dean Emerita Wichita State University College of Education.

INSIGHT KANSAS: Transgender student athletes and the election

History buffs&nbsp;are&nbsp;always&nbsp;in&nbsp;search&nbsp;for stories of the past. They want to&nbsp;learn&nbsp;about the landscape, animals, people and&nbsp;communities&nbsp;connected to those who came before&nbsp;them. Anytime they take a&nbsp;drive or wander about an old homestead or&nbsp;ghost&nbsp;town, their&nbsp;imaginations&nbsp;go into overdrive, wondering how those&nbsp;people’s&nbsp;lives compare to&nbsp;the&nbsp;modern world. This condition has afflicted me since childhood,&nbsp;and I&nbsp;challenge&nbsp;my husband’s patience as I distract him from looking for&nbsp;wild&nbsp;game to seek out&nbsp;evidence of these tales.&nbsp;

We recently traveled to rural area of SE Wyoming,&nbsp;once a mining and logging empire that evolved into a ranching, tourism, and wind energy&nbsp;driven economy.&nbsp;While there are plenty of updated sights to see, plenty of&nbsp;vintage&nbsp;log, stone, and brick structures remain to remind newcomers of the past.

The&nbsp;ranch&nbsp;where&nbsp;we stayed has modern log cabins with&nbsp;wi-fi, TV,&nbsp;hot and cold running water, and&nbsp;electricity&nbsp;for guests.&nbsp;As a counterbalance, it&nbsp;maintains&nbsp;the&nbsp;old homestead cabin and barn to remind&nbsp;owners and guests&nbsp;of its humble beginnings.&nbsp;

Imagine being one of the earliest pioneers in the Platte Valley where summer is short and winter is long.&nbsp;Settlers&nbsp;required&nbsp;protection from&nbsp;the elements&nbsp;in an area small enough they could&nbsp;readily&nbsp;heat it.&nbsp;As a result, these first cabins are&nbsp;small&nbsp;even though you know some families were large. All required minimal construction,&nbsp;and each has a stove pipe hole or remnants of a stone chimney even if they’re&nbsp;tumbling&nbsp;down. &nbsp;Every ranch we drove past still has original buildings on site.&nbsp;One reason,&nbsp;I’m sure,&nbsp;is for esthetics. Another has to be to remind&nbsp;them&nbsp;how hard life was for their ancestors.&nbsp;

Seeing these&nbsp;historic remnants caused me to&nbsp;compare&nbsp;my&nbsp;Great Plains ancestors to&nbsp;those mountain&nbsp;residents’ forebearers. Just&nbsp;as&nbsp;native people&nbsp;around&nbsp;the world used the resources at hand to construct homes, so did&nbsp;my&nbsp;predecessors. Those who settled mountains had forests to provide logs and rivers where they could access stone building materials. Those of us on the prairie&nbsp;struggled&nbsp;to find&nbsp;enough logs to build an&nbsp;outhouse,&nbsp;let alone a&nbsp;cabin. &nbsp;They left sod and dirt as their construction choices.

For&nbsp;prairie&nbsp;immigrants, rock&nbsp;required&nbsp;first&nbsp;a source,&nbsp;then&nbsp;quarrying, cutting, and hauling, efforts that&nbsp;required&nbsp;time&nbsp;enough&nbsp;it put folks in danger of facing winter without roof&nbsp;or&nbsp;walls. &nbsp;To outwit Mother Nature, inventive ancestors discovered they could&nbsp;build a dugout in a creek bank or&nbsp;cut sod and&nbsp;stack it into walls to build&nbsp;a home that mostly kept weather out until they could build something more substantial.&nbsp;According to family lore,&nbsp;I don’t think&nbsp;these earth dwellings&nbsp;kept out snakes and bugs.

Those first prairie homes didn’t hold up&nbsp;well&nbsp;against weather&nbsp;extremes&nbsp;so we don’t see many&nbsp;remaining&nbsp;on family&nbsp;farm sites.&nbsp;When visiting&nbsp;old homesteads, check for indentions in banks of creeks or sides of hills. &nbsp;Look for&nbsp;piles of melted sod with remnants of stove pipes, wood frames, or odd metal&nbsp;sticking out.&nbsp;Today, those interested in&nbsp;such&nbsp;stories can visit museums&nbsp;with reproduction&nbsp;soddies&nbsp;or look through old&nbsp;family&nbsp;photos to see how&nbsp;prairie&nbsp;relatives&nbsp;fared compared to those who&nbsp;lived&nbsp;back East or in the mountains.

Based on experience,&nbsp;I find&nbsp;it’s easier to&nbsp;find&nbsp;fragments&nbsp;of the past where pioneers built with long lasting resources like rock and wood. However, it’s worth&nbsp;getting permission&nbsp;to walk old farmsteads&nbsp;to find original soddy or dugout&nbsp;sites.&nbsp;Once you discover one, be careful walking around.&nbsp;Spying&nbsp;the&nbsp;lid to an old stove that great great-gramma cooked on is a Eureka moment that memorializes&nbsp;where you came from and&nbsp;the&nbsp;sturdy folk who made you.

Karen is a retired teacher, writer, photographer, outdoors lover, and
 sixth-generation Kansan. After a time away, she’s glad to be home.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662568668351.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By KAREN MADORINHistory buffs&nbsp;are&nbsp;always&nbsp;in&nbsp;search&nbsp;for stories of the past. They want to&nbsp;learn&nbsp;about the landscape, animals, people and&nbsp;communities&nbsp;connected to those who came before&nbsp;them. Anytime they take a&nbsp;drive or wander about an old homestead or&nbsp;ghost&nbsp;town, their&nbsp;imaginations&nbsp;go into overdrive, wondering how those&nbsp;people’s&nbsp;lives compare to&nbsp;the&nbsp;modern world. This condition has afflicted me since childhood,&nbsp;and I&nbsp;challenge&nbsp;my husband’s patience as I distract him from looking for&nbsp;wild&nbsp;game to seek out&nbsp;evidence of these tales.&nbsp;We recently traveled to rural area of SE Wyoming,&nbsp;once a mining and logging empire that evolved into a ranching, tourism, and wind energy&nbsp;driven economy.&nbsp;While there are plenty of updated sights to see, plenty of&nbsp;vintage&nbsp;log, stone, and brick structures remain to remind newcomers of the past.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658158605319.jpeg" alt="Karen Madorin" />
 <figcaption>Karen Madorin</figcaption>
 </figure>The&nbsp;ranch&nbsp;where&nbsp;we stayed has modern log cabins with&nbsp;wi-fi, TV,&nbsp;hot and cold running water, and&nbsp;electricity&nbsp;for guests.&nbsp;As a counterbalance, it&nbsp;maintains&nbsp;the&nbsp;old homestead cabin and barn to remind&nbsp;owners and guests&nbsp;of its humble beginnings.&nbsp;Imagine being one of the earliest pioneers in the Platte Valley where summer is short and winter is long.&nbsp;Settlers&nbsp;required&nbsp;protection from&nbsp;the elements&nbsp;in an area small enough they could&nbsp;readily&nbsp;heat it.&nbsp;As a result, these first cabins are&nbsp;small&nbsp;even though you know some families were large. All required minimal construction,&nbsp;and each has a stove pipe hole or remnants of a stone chimney even if they’re&nbsp;tumbling&nbsp;down. &nbsp;Every ranch we drove past still has original buildings on site.&nbsp;One reason,&nbsp;I’m sure,&nbsp;is for esthetics. Another has to be to remind&nbsp;them&nbsp;how hard life was for their ancestors.&nbsp;Seeing these&nbsp;historic remnants caused me to&nbsp;compare&nbsp;my&nbsp;Great Plains ancestors to&nbsp;those mountain&nbsp;residents’ forebearers. Just&nbsp;as&nbsp;native people&nbsp;around&nbsp;the world used the resources at hand to construct homes, so did&nbsp;my&nbsp;predecessors. Those who settled mountains had forests to provide logs and rivers where they could access stone building materials. Those of us on the prairie&nbsp;struggled&nbsp;to find&nbsp;enough logs to build an&nbsp;outhouse,&nbsp;let alone a&nbsp;cabin. &nbsp;They left sod and dirt as their construction choices.For&nbsp;prairie&nbsp;immigrants, rock&nbsp;required&nbsp;first&nbsp;a source,&nbsp;then&nbsp;quarrying, cutting, and hauling, efforts that&nbsp;required&nbsp;time&nbsp;enough&nbsp;it put folks in danger of facing winter without roof&nbsp;or&nbsp;walls. &nbsp;To outwit Mother Nature, inventive ancestors discovered they could&nbsp;build a dugout in a creek bank or&nbsp;cut sod and&nbsp;stack it into walls to build&nbsp;a home that mostly kept weather out until they could build something more substantial.&nbsp;According to family lore,&nbsp;I don’t think&nbsp;these earth dwellings&nbsp;kept out snakes and bugs.Those first prairie homes didn’t hold up&nbsp;well&nbsp;against weather&nbsp;extremes&nbsp;so we don’t see many&nbsp;remaining&nbsp;on family&nbsp;farm sites.&nbsp;When visiting&nbsp;old homesteads, check for indentions in banks of creeks or sides of hills. &nbsp;Look for&nbsp;piles of melted sod with remnants of stove pipes, wood frames, or odd metal&nbsp;sticking out.&nbsp;Today, those interested in&nbsp;such&nbsp;stories can visit museums&nbsp;with reproduction&nbsp;soddies&nbsp;or look through old&nbsp;family&nbsp;photos to see how&nbsp;prairie&nbsp;relatives&nbsp;fared compared to those who&nbsp;lived&nbsp;back East or in the mountains.Based on experience,&nbsp;I find&nbsp;it’s easier to&nbsp;find&nbsp;fragments&nbsp;of the past where pioneers built with long lasting resources like rock and wood. However, it’s worth&nbsp;getting permission&nbsp;to walk old farmsteads&nbsp;to find original soddy or dugout&nbsp;sites.&nbsp;Once you discover one, be careful walking around.&nbsp;Spying&nbsp;the&nbsp;lid to an old stove that great great-gramma cooked on is a Eureka moment that memorializes&nbsp;where you came from and&nbsp;the&nbsp;sturdy folk who made you.Karen is a retired teacher, writer, photographer, outdoors lover, and
 sixth-generation Kansan. After a time away, she’s glad to be home.

MADORIN: The stuff of sturdy folk

By GLENN BRUNKOW Pottawatomie County farmer and rancher Tuesday I was hauling hay; it was my fifth or sixth load of the day, and I had been hauling hay for the better part of a week. It was probably all too routine. I was making the left-hand turn off of the highway onto the county road. I looked back in my rearview mirror and did not see anyone before I started to turn. That was when I saw the Subaru had decided to pass me at that very point. Thankfully, nothing more happened than the driver squealing their brakes and shaking their fist at me, but it could have been much worse. Over the past couple of months, I have had a couple of friends who have had worse experiences sharing the highways with other motorists. Thankfully, none of them were seriously hurt, but the damage to farm equipment was not something they had planned to deal with, I am sure. Let me be the first to say I was not without fault. Upon inspection, I learned my left-turn signal was not working. However, if I remember my driver’s ed classes right, it is not permissible to pass on a double yellow line or at an intersection. Along with that, following so close to a trailer that the driver in front of you cannot see you is not good either. My point is all drivers need to share the road, and those roads are starting to get even more crowded with slow moving ag equipment as harvest starts. As ag producers we need to make sure our equipment has working lights and turn signals. We need to be aware of who is around us on the roads and have a plan of action that assumes other drivers will not do the right thing. If at all possible, move equipment at times when the road is less crowded. If you are driving during harvest, please, give the equipment plenty of room. Stay far enough back to see the rearview mirrors of the vehicle ahead of you because that will mean they can also see you. Farm equipment moves slowly so take that into account as you approach. You will close the gap much faster than you may realize. Please, never pass near an intersection, many times our turn signals don’t work. Yes, farm equipment will slow your drive down, again, please take a deep breath. Don’t be in such a rush that you pass in a bad place or at the wrong time. That farmer is growing the food you are rushing home to put on your table. I got lucky, and I am using that fortunate moment as a reminder to be more vigilant when I am on the road. It only takes a second, a blink for things to go bad. Take the time to slow down, make the right decisions and be courteous. We are all in this together, we have to share the same road, let’s all be safe and make sure we make it home.

"Insight" is a weekly column published by Kansas Farm Bureau, the state's largest farm organization whose mission is to strengthen agriculture and the lives of Kansans through advocacy, education and service.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1576508626397.png" alt="Glenn Brunkow" />
 <figcaption>Glenn Brunkow</figcaption>
 </figure>By GLENN BRUNKOW Pottawatomie County farmer and rancher Tuesday I was hauling hay; it was my fifth or sixth load of the day, and I had been hauling hay for the better part of a week. It was probably all too routine. I was making the left-hand turn off of the highway onto the county road. I looked back in my rearview mirror and did not see anyone before I started to turn. That was when I saw the Subaru had decided to pass me at that very point. Thankfully, nothing more happened than the driver squealing their brakes and shaking their fist at me, but it could have been much worse. Over the past couple of months, I have had a couple of friends who have had worse experiences sharing the highways with other motorists. Thankfully, none of them were seriously hurt, but the damage to farm equipment was not something they had planned to deal with, I am sure. Let me be the first to say I was not without fault. Upon inspection, I learned my left-turn signal was not working. However, if I remember my driver’s ed classes right, it is not permissible to pass on a double yellow line or at an intersection. Along with that, following so close to a trailer that the driver in front of you cannot see you is not good either. My point is all drivers need to share the road, and those roads are starting to get even more crowded with slow moving ag equipment as harvest starts. As ag producers we need to make sure our equipment has working lights and turn signals. We need to be aware of who is around us on the roads and have a plan of action that assumes other drivers will not do the right thing. If at all possible, move equipment at times when the road is less crowded. If you are driving during harvest, please, give the equipment plenty of room. Stay far enough back to see the rearview mirrors of the vehicle ahead of you because that will mean they can also see you. Farm equipment moves slowly so take that into account as you approach. You will close the gap much faster than you may realize. Please, never pass near an intersection, many times our turn signals don’t work. Yes, farm equipment will slow your drive down, again, please take a deep breath. Don’t be in such a rush that you pass in a bad place or at the wrong time. That farmer is growing the food you are rushing home to put on your table. I got lucky, and I am using that fortunate moment as a reminder to be more vigilant when I am on the road. It only takes a second, a blink for things to go bad. Take the time to slow down, make the right decisions and be courteous. We are all in this together, we have to share the same road, let’s all be safe and make sure we make it home."Insight" is a weekly column published by Kansas Farm Bureau, the state's largest farm organization whose mission is to strengthen agriculture and the lives of Kansans through advocacy, education and service.&nbsp;

Kansas Farm Bureau Insight: Sharing the same road

By BEN JENSEN Special to the Post

You may remember hearing about 
the Four County Fire back on Dec. 15, 2021. The fire devastated many
 acres in the counties of Ellis, Russell, Osborne and Rooks.

I remember the day vividly, despite being almost 200 
miles from those four counties. It was the strangest day I can recall in
 my entire life living in Kansas. In Manhattan, the tornado 
sirens blew in the middle of the afternoon as high winds tore roofs off 
buildings. The power went off and I could smell something burning. I 
thought at first it could be the beginning of an electrical fire. 
However, as I stepped outside, ashes were falling from the sky, and the 
air smelled of smoke.

Unfortunately, these powerful winds were occurring across the 
entirety of Kansas that day. Some wind gusts were measured at speeds of 
107 mph! This was even more frightening for western Kansas, especially 
around the Hays area, because the Kansas State Research Extension Center
 had not recorded any rainfall since Nov. 3. The area was vulnerable
 to anything that might spark a fire. Many locals concluded that the 
fire started from a spark of a broken power line in Ellis County. As it 
spread, the blaze left many people in the area wetting down their yards 
hoping to slow the fire before it took everything they had. The fire 
devastated the landscape, leaving many farmers, ranchers and other 
people fighting to save not only their lives but their livelihoods. The 
people in this area will never fully recover, but many believe it will 
take two to three years for the area to return to some sense of normal. 
It is important to remember that the Four County area still needs help! 
We must not forget how devastating this day was and that the recovery 
efforts have not ended.

Stephanie Dickerson, a multi-generational ranch owner in Paradise commented that, "Right now, the area is still in need of new 
fencing supplies and labor to recover the old fences and the debris from
 the fire."

The Four County Fire showed the Kansas Legislature a change was
 necessary for the future. In preparation for future wildfires, a bill 
passed allowing individuals to purchase fencing supplies without any 
sales tax at all. Another crucial thing to remember is that wildfires 
are hard to predict and can happen in any rural community. Insurance 
Commissioner Vicki Schmidt would like to remind people it is important 
to check your insurance plans to ensure you are covered for disasters 
like this wildfire.

On Dec. 15, rancher Chris Pelton had gotten a call that the fire 
was 7 miles southwest of Paradise and headed toward his land very 
quickly. He attempted to hold off the fires until his shop was engulfed 
in flames. Luckily, he made a quick escape but lost nearly all his 
buildings and many of his family possessions. He managed to save his 
dog, Archie, from his burning shed before he left for his own safety. 
Pelton remarked, "It was amazing to watch how people came to help with 
the recovery."

The fire did far more damage to soil than an average wildfire because
 it burned off the crop residue from many fields. This allowed powerful 
winds to blow the extremely dry topsoil away. Additionally, it took away
 people's lifelong family homes, fences, livestock and businesses. Many 
families had started these businesses from the ground up or maintained 
them for many generations.

This tragedy is significant to many people in these communities. It 
is evident they needed help and assistance in some way after this 
unpredictable and catastrophic event. An amazing saving grace effort 
came from people in the surrounding communities donating resources and 
traveling to the four counties to help with the wildfire recovery 
effort. The Kansas Livestock Foundation even managed to distribute two 
million dollars of funds to 91 Kansas applicants that were affected by 
the wildfire. The funds were donated by 2,100 generous contributors from
 41 states. Applicants lost more than 2,100 head of livestock and about 
750 miles of fencing.

Let us not forget the wildfires on Dec. 15, 2021, which show us 
that no matter how much certainty we have in our future, it can all be 
taken away by events outside of our control. However, what took place 
after the storms and wildfires are what gives me hope for our future as a
 country. There are still so many caring people who will be kind and 
helpful to people who are fighting off the worst moments of their lives.
 Please, be thankful for everything you have. If this story affects you 
in any way, please never be afraid to give to somebody who truly needs 
help in the future. It could make all the difference in the world.

Ben Jensen is a a K-State graduate from Republic County. He was Sen. Elaine Bowers' legislative intern in 2021 and 2022 and now works for KCLY/KFRM as a farm broadcaster. Originally written in the spring of 2022. Republished with permission.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662557646953.jpeg" alt="Ben Jensen" />
 <figcaption>Ben Jensen</figcaption>
 </figure>By BEN JENSEN Special to the PostYou may remember hearing about 
the Four County Fire back on Dec. 15, 2021. The fire devastated many
 acres in the counties of Ellis, Russell, Osborne and Rooks.I remember the day vividly, despite being almost 200 
miles from those four counties. It was the strangest day I can recall in
 my entire life living in Kansas. In Manhattan, the tornado 
sirens blew in the middle of the afternoon as high winds tore roofs off 
buildings. The power went off and I could smell something burning. I 
thought at first it could be the beginning of an electrical fire. 
However, as I stepped outside, ashes were falling from the sky, and the 
air smelled of smoke.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662563965448.jpeg" alt="A windmill stands alone against the burnt landscape off of Codell Road in northeast Ellis County. CRISTINA JANNEY/Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>A windmill stands alone against the burnt landscape off of Codell Road in northeast Ellis County. CRISTINA JANNEY/Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure>Unfortunately, these powerful winds were occurring across the 
entirety of Kansas that day. Some wind gusts were measured at speeds of 
107 mph! This was even more frightening for western Kansas, especially 
around the Hays area, because the Kansas State Research Extension Center
 had not recorded any rainfall since Nov. 3. The area was vulnerable
 to anything that might spark a fire. Many locals concluded that the 
fire started from a spark of a broken power line in Ellis County. As it 
spread, the blaze left many people in the area wetting down their yards 
hoping to slow the fire before it took everything they had. The fire 
devastated the landscape, leaving many farmers, ranchers and other 
people fighting to save not only their lives but their livelihoods. The 
people in this area will never fully recover, but many believe it will 
take two to three years for the area to return to some sense of normal. 
It is important to remember that the Four County area still needs help! 
We must not forget how devastating this day was and that the recovery 
efforts have not ended.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662563931969.jpeg" alt="A child's toy is all that is left after a house in Paradise was burned to the ground Wednesday as high winds ripped through Russell County. CRISTINA JANNEY/Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>A child's toy is all that is left after a house in Paradise was burned to the ground Wednesday as high winds ripped through Russell County. CRISTINA JANNEY/Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure>Stephanie Dickerson, a multi-generational ranch owner in Paradise commented that, "Right now, the area is still in need of new 
fencing supplies and labor to recover the old fences and the debris from
 the fire."The Four County Fire showed the Kansas Legislature a change was
 necessary for the future. In preparation for future wildfires, a bill 
passed allowing individuals to purchase fencing supplies without any 
sales tax at all. Another crucial thing to remember is that wildfires 
are hard to predict and can happen in any rural community. Insurance 
Commissioner Vicki Schmidt would like to remind people it is important 
to check your insurance plans to ensure you are covered for disasters 
like this wildfire.On Dec. 15, rancher Chris Pelton had gotten a call that the fire 
was 7 miles southwest of Paradise and headed toward his land very 
quickly. He attempted to hold off the fires until his shop was engulfed 
in flames. Luckily, he made a quick escape but lost nearly all his 
buildings and many of his family possessions. He managed to save his 
dog, Archie, from his burning shed before he left for his own safety. 
Pelton remarked, "It was amazing to watch how people came to help with 
the recovery."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662564035796.jpeg" alt="The burned-out shells of vehicles at a home in Paradise. CRISTINA JANNEY/Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>The burned-out shells of vehicles at a home in Paradise. CRISTINA JANNEY/Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure>The fire did far more damage to soil than an average wildfire because
 it burned off the crop residue from many fields. This allowed powerful 
winds to blow the extremely dry topsoil away. Additionally, it took away
 people's lifelong family homes, fences, livestock and businesses. Many 
families had started these businesses from the ground up or maintained 
them for many generations.This tragedy is significant to many people in these communities. It 
is evident they needed help and assistance in some way after this 
unpredictable and catastrophic event. An amazing saving grace effort 
came from people in the surrounding communities donating resources and 
traveling to the four counties to help with the wildfire recovery 
effort. The Kansas Livestock Foundation even managed to distribute two 
million dollars of funds to 91 Kansas applicants that were affected by 
the wildfire. The funds were donated by 2,100 generous contributors from
 41 states. Applicants lost more than 2,100 head of livestock and about 
750 miles of fencing.Let us not forget the wildfires on Dec. 15, 2021, which show us 
that no matter how much certainty we have in our future, it can all be 
taken away by events outside of our control. However, what took place 
after the storms and wildfires are what gives me hope for our future as a
 country. There are still so many caring people who will be kind and 
helpful to people who are fighting off the worst moments of their lives.
 Please, be thankful for everything you have. If this story affects you 
in any way, please never be afraid to give to somebody who truly needs 
help in the future. It could make all the difference in the world.Ben Jensen is a a K-State graduate from Republic County. He was Sen. Elaine Bowers' legislative intern in 2021 and 2022 and now works for KCLY/KFRM as a farm broadcaster. Originally written in the spring of 2022. Republished with permission.

COLUMN: Remembering the Four County Fire

Fall&nbsp;seems terribly slow in arriving this year, but when it does, it becomes my favorite time of the year.&nbsp;The weather&nbsp;FINALLY&nbsp;cools, the&nbsp;Kansas State Fair&nbsp;is held, fall farm crops are harvested and fall mountain man retreats and&nbsp;rendezvous&nbsp;begin.&nbsp;A&nbsp;couple years ago,&nbsp;we&nbsp;attended the annual fall mountain man&nbsp;get-together&nbsp;known as&nbsp;a&nbsp;PrairieRendezvous&nbsp;at the Maxwell Wildlife&nbsp;Refuge, near Canton.

The pungent smell of campfire smoke teased my nostrils as we sauntered into camp. It hung like a faint blue haze beneath the trees in the crisp October air. Teepees pointed skyward like white canvas steeples against the blue morning sky. Camp was tucked into and around a small grove of trees, and bordered behind by a creek. It crouched like&nbsp;an oasis amidst miles of rolling hills carpeted in prairie grass.&nbsp;

During the 1800s, the hub and headquarters of most fur and trading companies was St.&nbsp;Louis. Since mountain men and trappers were the main source of fur and revenue&nbsp;for these companies,&nbsp;annual meetings were organized all across this part of the country to more easily bring both groups together. Known as “rendezvous,” they also became the social event of the year for most mountain men. Here they would exchange their&nbsp;hard-earned&nbsp;collection of furs for rifles, ammo, traps and another&nbsp;year’s&nbsp;worth of supplies and equipment. Here also they met old friends, found temporary female companionship and hot baths, and were offered liquid refreshments to wash a&nbsp;year’s&nbsp;worth of mountain dust from their throats.&nbsp;

As we&nbsp;walked into camp, we met “Lone Wolf.” He was a towering man weighing all of 300 pounds with beautiful long white hair tied&nbsp;behind his head.&nbsp;He wore&nbsp;full length&nbsp;leather leggings&nbsp;and was bare chested with a strand of bear claws around his neck. On&nbsp;a&nbsp;leather&nbsp;belt around his waist was a bear hide pouch with&nbsp;a flap made from a real&nbsp;bear paw, claws intact. The handle of his knife was the lower jaw bone of a bear. He said his ancestry&nbsp;was Lakota, Sac Fox and Cherokee on his mother’s side, and German on his father’s. I asked his English name, and he replied that&nbsp;his Wa Che Chu&nbsp;(Lakota for “white name”) was Ken Feudner. Ken lived&nbsp;in Newton,&nbsp;where he&nbsp;worked 30 years as a postal employee.&nbsp;Lone Wolf’s rendezvous specialty&nbsp;was&nbsp;flint knapping — making tools&nbsp;and weapons from flint — which he did&nbsp;from a leather tarp spread in front of his gray and red teepee home.

Farther into camp, we met “Spoon Thrower,” aka Debby Stoddard, from Halstead.&nbsp;She made her traditional Native American tunic herself from Elk skin&nbsp;purchased in Utah.Around her waist hung a small leather pouch, plus a knife and a sewing awl, representative of what Indian women would have carried. When asked about the name Spoon Thrower, she explained that each rendezvous&nbsp;regular is eventually given&nbsp;a “rendezvous&nbsp;name,”&nbsp;usually according to some specific incident. It seems that she had a bad habit of forgetting about the silverware in the basin when washing dishes, and was constantly throwing it&nbsp;out onto the ground with the dishwater.&nbsp;Debby said&nbsp;that&nbsp;the gathering at Maxwell&nbsp;was&nbsp;an annual getaway for her, where she would set&nbsp;up her little pop-up tent and camp&nbsp;for the weekend, using it as time for herself where she could&nbsp;enjoy the get-together with no responsibilities for a change. &nbsp;

This event was billed as a&nbsp;“Prairie Retreat,” so we&nbsp;saw people garbed in a variety&nbsp;of period costumes.&nbsp;Talking Bear, however, was the real deal!&nbsp;His thick, bushy beard complimented the authentic wolf hat that spilled down his back and across his shoulders, with its face centered over&nbsp;his forehead. Tall leather moccasins completed the buckskin outfit, complete with fringe, making it completely authentic&nbsp;mountain man garb.&nbsp;AKA Gordon Welch, he&nbsp;was&nbsp;a computer tech. with Honeywell Aircraft in Wichita, and spenthis rendezvous time telling stories about Beaver trapping and other mountain man survival skills to anyone who would&nbsp;listen.&nbsp;His rendezvous name came from an incident in which the wolf hat scared a little girl. The girl’s mother told her to think of him as a “big ole’ fuzzy teddy bear,” to which the little girl questioned, “A talking bear?” Gordon sponsors a web page at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.talking-bear.com/">www.talking-bear.com</a>.&nbsp;Where&nbsp;he lists and updates mountain man get-togethers all around the country.

I love mountain man lore. Yes, there were some disparities&nbsp;there, like the row of blue and green “porta- potties,” or the&nbsp;DeWalt&nbsp;battery drill in Lone Wolfs teepee, or the fact that Talking Bear had never set a Beaver trap in his life. I’ll bet Spoon Thrower even ate lunch with plastic ware just so she could&nbsp;purposely&nbsp;throw it out! Even so, you have to admire these people’s devotion&nbsp;to keeping alive the spirit of a time that helped to shape this country.&nbsp;

Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be reached by email&nbsp;at stevenrgilliland@gmail.com.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1574696211722.png" alt="Steve&nbsp;Gilliland" />
 <figcaption>Steve&nbsp;Gilliland</figcaption>
 </figure>Fall&nbsp;seems terribly slow in arriving this year, but when it does, it becomes my favorite time of the year.&nbsp;The weather&nbsp;FINALLY&nbsp;cools, the&nbsp;Kansas State Fair&nbsp;is held, fall farm crops are harvested and fall mountain man retreats and&nbsp;rendezvous&nbsp;begin.&nbsp;A&nbsp;couple years ago,&nbsp;we&nbsp;attended the annual fall mountain man&nbsp;get-together&nbsp;known as&nbsp;a&nbsp;PrairieRendezvous&nbsp;at the Maxwell Wildlife&nbsp;Refuge, near Canton.The pungent smell of campfire smoke teased my nostrils as we sauntered into camp. It hung like a faint blue haze beneath the trees in the crisp October air. Teepees pointed skyward like white canvas steeples against the blue morning sky. Camp was tucked into and around a small grove of trees, and bordered behind by a creek. It crouched like&nbsp;an oasis amidst miles of rolling hills carpeted in prairie grass.&nbsp;During the 1800s, the hub and headquarters of most fur and trading companies was St.&nbsp;Louis. Since mountain men and trappers were the main source of fur and revenue&nbsp;for these companies,&nbsp;annual meetings were organized all across this part of the country to more easily bring both groups together. Known as “rendezvous,” they also became the social event of the year for most mountain men. Here they would exchange their&nbsp;hard-earned&nbsp;collection of furs for rifles, ammo, traps and another&nbsp;year’s&nbsp;worth of supplies and equipment. Here also they met old friends, found temporary female companionship and hot baths, and were offered liquid refreshments to wash a&nbsp;year’s&nbsp;worth of mountain dust from their throats.&nbsp;As we&nbsp;walked into camp, we met “Lone Wolf.” He was a towering man weighing all of 300 pounds with beautiful long white hair tied&nbsp;behind his head.&nbsp;He wore&nbsp;full length&nbsp;leather leggings&nbsp;and was bare chested with a strand of bear claws around his neck. On&nbsp;a&nbsp;leather&nbsp;belt around his waist was a bear hide pouch with&nbsp;a flap made from a real&nbsp;bear paw, claws intact. The handle of his knife was the lower jaw bone of a bear. He said his ancestry&nbsp;was Lakota, Sac Fox and Cherokee on his mother’s side, and German on his father’s. I asked his English name, and he replied that&nbsp;his Wa Che Chu&nbsp;(Lakota for “white name”) was Ken Feudner. Ken lived&nbsp;in Newton,&nbsp;where he&nbsp;worked 30 years as a postal employee.&nbsp;Lone Wolf’s rendezvous specialty&nbsp;was&nbsp;flint knapping — making tools&nbsp;and weapons from flint — which he did&nbsp;from a leather tarp spread in front of his gray and red teepee home.Farther into camp, we met “Spoon Thrower,” aka Debby Stoddard, from Halstead.&nbsp;She made her traditional Native American tunic herself from Elk skin&nbsp;purchased in Utah.Around her waist hung a small leather pouch, plus a knife and a sewing awl, representative of what Indian women would have carried. When asked about the name Spoon Thrower, she explained that each rendezvous&nbsp;regular is eventually given&nbsp;a “rendezvous&nbsp;name,”&nbsp;usually according to some specific incident. It seems that she had a bad habit of forgetting about the silverware in the basin when washing dishes, and was constantly throwing it&nbsp;out onto the ground with the dishwater.&nbsp;Debby said&nbsp;that&nbsp;the gathering at Maxwell&nbsp;was&nbsp;an annual getaway for her, where she would set&nbsp;up her little pop-up tent and camp&nbsp;for the weekend, using it as time for herself where she could&nbsp;enjoy the get-together with no responsibilities for a change. &nbsp;This event was billed as a&nbsp;“Prairie Retreat,” so we&nbsp;saw people garbed in a variety&nbsp;of period costumes.&nbsp;Talking Bear, however, was the real deal!&nbsp;His thick, bushy beard complimented the authentic wolf hat that spilled down his back and across his shoulders, with its face centered over&nbsp;his forehead. Tall leather moccasins completed the buckskin outfit, complete with fringe, making it completely authentic&nbsp;mountain man garb.&nbsp;AKA Gordon Welch, he&nbsp;was&nbsp;a computer tech. with Honeywell Aircraft in Wichita, and spenthis rendezvous time telling stories about Beaver trapping and other mountain man survival skills to anyone who would&nbsp;listen.&nbsp;His rendezvous name came from an incident in which the wolf hat scared a little girl. The girl’s mother told her to think of him as a “big ole’ fuzzy teddy bear,” to which the little girl questioned, “A talking bear?” Gordon sponsors a web page at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.talking-bear.com/">www.talking-bear.com</a>.&nbsp;Where&nbsp;he lists and updates mountain man get-togethers all around the country.I love mountain man lore. Yes, there were some disparities&nbsp;there, like the row of blue and green “porta- potties,” or the&nbsp;DeWalt&nbsp;battery drill in Lone Wolfs teepee, or the fact that Talking Bear had never set a Beaver trap in his life. I’ll bet Spoon Thrower even ate lunch with plastic ware just so she could&nbsp;purposely&nbsp;throw it out! Even so, you have to admire these people’s devotion&nbsp;to keeping alive the spirit of a time that helped to shape this country.&nbsp;Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be reached by email&nbsp;at stevenrgilliland@gmail.com.

Exploring Outdoors Kansas: A step back in time

Abortion is on the November ballot in Kansas, at least indirectly. Our judicial and gubernatorial elections are critical for determining whether Kansas moves toward banning abortion long term.&nbsp;

But most Kansas voters are pro-choice and just rejected an anti-abortion constitutional amendment. Didn’t that settle the issue?&nbsp;

Let’s say that your goal is banning abortion in Kansas. Maybe you support Kansas House Bill 2486 that would have banned abortion except in limited circumstances, with no exception for rape, incest, or many threats to women’s life or health. How do you get that ban into law?&nbsp;

Strategy one: Constitutional amendment.&nbsp;

This was the amendment that just failed. It would have reversed the Kansas Supreme Court&nbsp;Hodes&nbsp;ruling on abortion access, allowing Kansas legislators to then ban abortion.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Kansans voted in huge numbers against that amendment, but many conservative activists are struggling to accept those results. Some have alleged imaginary large-scale voter fraud. Others have delegitimized the vote, saying that Kansans were “fooled” or “misled.” Others have said they will just find another way to ban abortion.&nbsp;

Cue strategy two: Changing the courts.&nbsp;

If voters won’t overturn the&nbsp;Hodes&nbsp;ruling, then the Kansas Supreme Court must reverse its own decision on the case to enable banning abortion. That likely requires changing the judges on the court. How does that happen?&nbsp;

When court openings occur, a nominating commission reviews applicants on merit and presents the governor with three finalists. The governor appoints one. This helps depoliticize court politics by limiting executive power, but governors often still exercise some ideological influence over their appointments.&nbsp;

Judges must then face periodic retention votes. If voters keep a judge, they serve a six-year term. If voters oust a judge, then the governor appoints a replacement.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Six of seven judges on the Kansas Supreme Court face retention elections in November, five of whom were appointed by moderate Republican or Democratic governors. If voters oust any of these judges, then the next governor picks their replacements.&nbsp;

How can conservatives use this process to ban abortion? Step one: oust judges this November. Two: elect Republican Derek Schmidt as the next governor. Three: leverage politics to the extent possible to appoint new judges who are more anti-abortion. Four: the new judges must reverse&nbsp;Hodes. Five: the Kansas legislature then passes an abortion ban. Six: Schmidt signs that ban.&nbsp;

Obviously, it would have been easier for conservatives if Kansans had passed the abortion amendment and allowed them to skip to step five immediately, but that didn’t happen. That leaves conservatives with taking a more complicated and longer route to an abortion ban.&nbsp;

No matter your position on abortion, your bottom line is this: If you keep the Kansas Supreme Court judges, that likely protects abortion access for now. If you oust the judges, you raise the odds of an abortion ban.&nbsp;&nbsp;

And, our candidates for governor should answer tough questions about abortion, even if they prefer dodging them. Will abortion affect their judicial appointments? Would they sign an abortion ban? Do they support abortion ban exceptions for rape, incest, or the life or health of women?&nbsp;

So rather than being settled, your choices in November will absolutely affect abortion access in Kansas. Now that abortion bans are a political reality in America, don’t expect this issue and its complicated politics to disappear.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Patrick R. Miller is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Kansas.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1575644168170.png" alt="Patrick R. Miller is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Kansas.&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Patrick R. Miller is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Kansas.&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>Abortion is on the November ballot in Kansas, at least indirectly. Our judicial and gubernatorial elections are critical for determining whether Kansas moves toward banning abortion long term.&nbsp;But most Kansas voters are pro-choice and just rejected an anti-abortion constitutional amendment. Didn’t that settle the issue?&nbsp;No.&nbsp;Let’s say that your goal is banning abortion in Kansas. Maybe you support Kansas House Bill 2486 that would have banned abortion except in limited circumstances, with no exception for rape, incest, or many threats to women’s life or health. How do you get that ban into law?&nbsp;Strategy one: Constitutional amendment.&nbsp;This was the amendment that just failed. It would have reversed the Kansas Supreme Court&nbsp;Hodes&nbsp;ruling on abortion access, allowing Kansas legislators to then ban abortion.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1575913663048.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Kansans voted in huge numbers against that amendment, but many conservative activists are struggling to accept those results. Some have alleged imaginary large-scale voter fraud. Others have delegitimized the vote, saying that Kansans were “fooled” or “misled.” Others have said they will just find another way to ban abortion.&nbsp;Cue strategy two: Changing the courts.&nbsp;If voters won’t overturn the&nbsp;Hodes&nbsp;ruling, then the Kansas Supreme Court must reverse its own decision on the case to enable banning abortion. That likely requires changing the judges on the court. How does that happen?&nbsp;When court openings occur, a nominating commission reviews applicants on merit and presents the governor with three finalists. The governor appoints one. This helps depoliticize court politics by limiting executive power, but governors often still exercise some ideological influence over their appointments.&nbsp;Judges must then face periodic retention votes. If voters keep a judge, they serve a six-year term. If voters oust a judge, then the governor appoints a replacement.&nbsp;&nbsp;Six of seven judges on the Kansas Supreme Court face retention elections in November, five of whom were appointed by moderate Republican or Democratic governors. If voters oust any of these judges, then the next governor picks their replacements.&nbsp;How can conservatives use this process to ban abortion? Step one: oust judges this November. Two: elect Republican Derek Schmidt as the next governor. Three: leverage politics to the extent possible to appoint new judges who are more anti-abortion. Four: the new judges must reverse&nbsp;Hodes. Five: the Kansas legislature then passes an abortion ban. Six: Schmidt signs that ban.&nbsp;Obviously, it would have been easier for conservatives if Kansans had passed the abortion amendment and allowed them to skip to step five immediately, but that didn’t happen. That leaves conservatives with taking a more complicated and longer route to an abortion ban.&nbsp;No matter your position on abortion, your bottom line is this: If you keep the Kansas Supreme Court judges, that likely protects abortion access for now. If you oust the judges, you raise the odds of an abortion ban.&nbsp;&nbsp;And, our candidates for governor should answer tough questions about abortion, even if they prefer dodging them. Will abortion affect their judicial appointments? Would they sign an abortion ban? Do they support abortion ban exceptions for rape, incest, or the life or health of women?&nbsp;So rather than being settled, your choices in November will absolutely affect abortion access in Kansas. Now that abortion bans are a political reality in America, don’t expect this issue and its complicated politics to disappear.&nbsp;&nbsp;Patrick R. Miller is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Kansas.&nbsp;

INSIGHT KANSAS: Abortion back on the ballot in November 

BY RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

At the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers in downtown Wichita stands a magnificent sculpture honoring the native American history of Kansas. This iconic sculpture is known as the Keeper of the Plains. It was created by a Wichita artist of Comanche and Kiowa descent, who had a remarkable career in the arts.&nbsp;

Blackbear Bosin is the artist who created this remarkable work. Much of the following information comes from the bookBlackbear Bosin: Keeper of the Indian Spirit, by Bosin’s stepson, David Simmonds.&nbsp;

Blackbear Bosin was born in Oklahoma in 1921 to a Kiowa father and Comanche mother. His native name, which belonged to his paternal grandfather (a Kiowa chief), means Blackbear in English.&nbsp;

Young Blackbear Bosin attended a mission school in Oklahoma where he studied the collection of Kiowa and European art objects and dabbled in painting. He went on to the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilocco_Indian_Agricultural_School">Chilocco Indian Agricultural School</a>&nbsp;where he trained to work with sheet metal and then moved to Wichita with his wife. During World War II, he enlisted in the Marines.&nbsp;

In 1943, he fell ill and was hospitalized at the naval hospital in Hawaii. There, he took up painting again. His art was so well regarded that the hospital hosted a one-man exhibition of his works before his discharge in 1945.&nbsp;

Having regained his health, he returned to Wichita where he became an industrial designer and product illustrator for Boeing. He later worked in the training aids and arts department at McConnell Air Force Base. Meanwhile, he was building his career as an artist.&nbsp;

In 1946, he entered a painting, called&nbsp;Green Corn Dance,&nbsp;in the Philbrook Art Institute’s first Indian Artists Annual competition and earned his first award.&nbsp;

From 1947-50, his work was on exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Detroit Institute of Arts, Smithsonian Institution and more. In 1953, he produced&nbsp;Prairie Fire, which would win first place from the Philbrook and was featured in the May 1955 National Geographic. This painting was said to bring him international recognition.&nbsp;

In 1959, Bosin opened the Great Plains Studio in Wichita. In 1960, he won the Grand Prize at the All-Indian Show in New York. The following year he travelled to Switzerland to receive honors after he was elected a Fellow of the International Institution of Arts and Letters.&nbsp;

Bosin was the only Native American artist to participate in the 1965 White House Festival of the Arts. After winning the Victory Trophy from the Philbrook in 1967, he chose to stop entering art competitions because he felt it was time for younger artists to gain recognition.&nbsp;

His creative work continued. He designed the logos for the Mid-America Indian Center in Wichita and the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant which is located near the rural community of Burlington, population 2,764 people. Now, that’s rural.&nbsp;

In 1969, one of Bosin’s friends at the Kansas Gas &amp; Electric Company asked if he would design a large-scale statue as tribute to the Indigenous peoples in the Wichita area.&nbsp;&nbsp;Bosin agreed. It became the iconic structure known as Keeper of the Plains, placed near the rivers in downtown Wichita.&nbsp;

A City of Wichita website describes it as a sculpture “with hands raised in supplication to the Great Spirit.” After a restoration and river beautification project, the five-ton, 44 foot tall sculpture now stands elevated on a 30-foot rock promontory, surrounded by a plaza which describes the Plains Indian way of life.&nbsp;

Bosin was commissioned to create ten designs for the Franklin Mint for a series of sterling silver medals about Native American history.&nbsp;The coins depicted various historical events with one side of the coin featuring the “traditional view” and the other side of the coin featuring the “Indian interpretation” of those events. In 1977, the state of Kansas awarded Bosin the Distinguished Service Award.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Blackbear Bosin passed away in 1980, but his magnificent sculpture still stands on what is considered sacred ground in Wichita. We commend this Kansan for making a difference with creativity in art. Like the Keeper of the Plains statue itself, the impact of Blackbear Bosin stands tall.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661954898293.png" alt="Courtesy Huck Boyd National Institute" />
 <figcaption>Courtesy Huck Boyd National Institute</figcaption>
 </figure>BY RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural DevelopmentAt the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers in downtown Wichita stands a magnificent sculpture honoring the native American history of Kansas. This iconic sculpture is known as the Keeper of the Plains. It was created by a Wichita artist of Comanche and Kiowa descent, who had a remarkable career in the arts.&nbsp;Blackbear Bosin is the artist who created this remarkable work. Much of the following information comes from the bookBlackbear Bosin: Keeper of the Indian Spirit, by Bosin’s stepson, David Simmonds.&nbsp;Blackbear Bosin was born in Oklahoma in 1921 to a Kiowa father and Comanche mother. His native name, which belonged to his paternal grandfather (a Kiowa chief), means Blackbear in English.&nbsp;Young Blackbear Bosin attended a mission school in Oklahoma where he studied the collection of Kiowa and European art objects and dabbled in painting. He went on to the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilocco_Indian_Agricultural_School">Chilocco Indian Agricultural School</a>&nbsp;where he trained to work with sheet metal and then moved to Wichita with his wife. During World War II, he enlisted in the Marines.&nbsp;In 1943, he fell ill and was hospitalized at the naval hospital in Hawaii. There, he took up painting again. His art was so well regarded that the hospital hosted a one-man exhibition of his works before his discharge in 1945.&nbsp;Having regained his health, he returned to Wichita where he became an industrial designer and product illustrator for Boeing. He later worked in the training aids and arts department at McConnell Air Force Base. Meanwhile, he was building his career as an artist.&nbsp;In 1946, he entered a painting, called&nbsp;Green Corn Dance,&nbsp;in the Philbrook Art Institute’s first Indian Artists Annual competition and earned his first award.&nbsp;From 1947-50, his work was on exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Detroit Institute of Arts, Smithsonian Institution and more. In 1953, he produced&nbsp;Prairie Fire, which would win first place from the Philbrook and was featured in the May 1955 National Geographic. This painting was said to bring him international recognition.&nbsp;In 1959, Bosin opened the Great Plains Studio in Wichita. In 1960, he won the Grand Prize at the All-Indian Show in New York. The following year he travelled to Switzerland to receive honors after he was elected a Fellow of the International Institution of Arts and Letters.&nbsp;Bosin was the only Native American artist to participate in the 1965 White House Festival of the Arts. After winning the Victory Trophy from the Philbrook in 1967, he chose to stop entering art competitions because he felt it was time for younger artists to gain recognition.&nbsp;His creative work continued. He designed the logos for the Mid-America Indian Center in Wichita and the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant which is located near the rural community of Burlington, population 2,764 people. Now, that’s rural.&nbsp;In 1969, one of Bosin’s friends at the Kansas Gas &amp; Electric Company asked if he would design a large-scale statue as tribute to the Indigenous peoples in the Wichita area.&nbsp;&nbsp;Bosin agreed. It became the iconic structure known as Keeper of the Plains, placed near the rivers in downtown Wichita.&nbsp;A City of Wichita website describes it as a sculpture “with hands raised in supplication to the Great Spirit.” After a restoration and river beautification project, the five-ton, 44 foot tall sculpture now stands elevated on a 30-foot rock promontory, surrounded by a plaza which describes the Plains Indian way of life.&nbsp;Bosin was commissioned to create ten designs for the Franklin Mint for a series of sterling silver medals about Native American history.&nbsp;The coins depicted various historical events with one side of the coin featuring the “traditional view” and the other side of the coin featuring the “Indian interpretation” of those events. In 1977, the state of Kansas awarded Bosin the Distinguished Service Award.&nbsp;&nbsp;Blackbear Bosin passed away in 1980, but his magnificent sculpture still stands on what is considered sacred ground in Wichita. We commend this Kansan for making a difference with creativity in art. Like the Keeper of the Plains statue itself, the impact of Blackbear Bosin stands tall.&nbsp;

Now That’s Rural: Blackbear Bosin, artist 

It was about this time several years ago, when our part of the country was bone-dry like today, that I took what was probably my&nbsp;last outdoor hike with our dad.&nbsp;I swooped him up&nbsp;at his retirement home apartment&nbsp;and we headed to the McPherson Valley Wetlands&nbsp;just outside Inman&nbsp;for a hike. 

The trails had recently been mowed making the walking easy, but&nbsp;I had to measure my steps so my long legs&nbsp;didn’t out-distance him. We stopped on the first rise and I pointed out all the marshes that were now dry and the ones that still held water.&nbsp;

Next,&nbsp;we meandered down into one dry pool along the trail where I had trapped muskrats&nbsp;the prior&nbsp;winter. We looked over&nbsp;a now flattened muskrat hut that had&nbsp;once&nbsp;seemed as big as a Volkswagen. We could still make out a&nbsp;muskrat&nbsp;trail in the mud that led from one big bunch of cattails to another. 

A little further,&nbsp;and we topped the dike along the drainage ditch that runs nearly a mile to the next road and drains all the marshes&nbsp;along the way, but was now so dry the ducks have to hitchhike down it.&nbsp;Just behind us,&nbsp;the drainage split as it made its way around a large grove of trees.&nbsp;The previous&nbsp;winter at that place&nbsp;there had been&nbsp;a long beaver dam&nbsp;that had since been demolished with heavy equipment. We stepped over the&nbsp;left-over&nbsp;rubble from that beaver&nbsp;dam and down into the dry drainage ditch. It was fascinating to think that&nbsp;the previous&nbsp;winter the water was deep enough where we stood that I hesitated to wade into it with chest waders. We found a beaver den or two dug into the bank deep in the bottom of the dry&nbsp;drainage. 

Bottles, tree limbs and strangely enough a bright yellow golf ball all lay in the mud waiting to be covered once again when the rain came.&nbsp;The grove of trees harbored&nbsp;mammoth cottonwoods probably as old as dad and I together. We clamored up out of the dry ditch, meandered through the trees and onto the road that led us back to the truck.

More often than not, a person’s love of the outdoors, especially hunting and trapping&nbsp;is&nbsp;fostered by their father or a father figure in their young life. I’ve grown used to being an exception to&nbsp;most rules, which applies in this case as well.&nbsp;Don’t get me wrong, our dad loved&nbsp;the outdoors, but was never a hunter or trapper.&nbsp;My brother used to live&nbsp;on 200 acres of Ohio wilderness,&nbsp;and dad loved&nbsp;roaming&nbsp;the many trails that&nbsp;meandered&nbsp;through his place.&nbsp;

The highlight of dad’s&nbsp;year was&nbsp;to be there at my&nbsp;brothers&nbsp;for the annual Gilliland family deer hunt that&nbsp;happened&nbsp;every November.&nbsp;Dad used to take me fishing when I was little; we’d walk to a couple ponds just up the road and catch bullheads and bass. I remember him taking me pheasant hunting one time, probably because&nbsp;I pestered him until he did. Other than that, he never took any of us hunting&nbsp;or trapping,&nbsp;I think because his dad&nbsp;didn’t hunt&nbsp;or trap&nbsp;and&nbsp;our&nbsp;dad just&nbsp;never got bitten by those&nbsp;bugs.

I&nbsp;firmly&nbsp;believe&nbsp;our families hunting “genes” came&nbsp;from our grandfather Hosafros (our mother’s father) who made many trips to Wyoming to hunt deer, elk and moose. In 1961 he harvested a moose that’s&nbsp;still&nbsp;in the Boone and Crocket record book (records of American big game animals taken with firearms.) But my brother and I first&nbsp;hunted deer with a motley crew&nbsp;of neighbor guys where&nbsp;we lived in north-central Ohio; the Beck family,&nbsp;whose numbers no one ever really knew,&nbsp;and Dave Burt, a local cop who lived on the road behind our farm.&nbsp;We’d gather in Dave’s kitchen for coffee and hot cocoa, and inevitably someone would spot a deer crossing the road and the hunt was on.&nbsp;I remember&nbsp;how jealous&nbsp;I was when my brother, who’s 11 years my junior harvested his first deer before I did&nbsp;and, on my farm,&nbsp;no less. Today he’s still the better deer hunter.

Our love of trapping began when I was in junior high and&nbsp;an older man named Mr. Wolf allowed me to tag along when he checked traps he had on our land.&nbsp;He helped me put together&nbsp;a few&nbsp;ragtag traps and the following year I trapped in the creek that ran&nbsp;through our place.&nbsp;Later in high school I caught muskrats and the occasional mink in a pond dad had built and in local creeks, and snagged a few&nbsp;foxes&nbsp;on land surrounding our place. When my brother was old enough and&nbsp;also&nbsp;wanted to trap,&nbsp;I gave him&nbsp;dad’s&nbsp;pond to trap where he also caught muskrats, mink and coon.

At 91, dad’s pace was noticeably slower&nbsp;when we&nbsp;took our hike, and I think he was glad he’d hauled along his favorite walkin’ stick. Yes, I used to wish dad had taken us kids hunting and trapping, but I’m just glad he still enjoyed&nbsp;nature. So even if you dad (or mom) is not a hunter or trapper, go snag them sometime and take them for a hike&nbsp;in God’s Creation and help them enjoy their twilight years Exploring Kansas Outdoors!

Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at stevenrgilliland@gmail.com.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1574696211722.png" alt="Steve&nbsp;Gilliland" />
 <figcaption>Steve&nbsp;Gilliland</figcaption>
 </figure>It was about this time several years ago, when our part of the country was bone-dry like today, that I took what was probably my&nbsp;last outdoor hike with our dad.&nbsp;I swooped him up&nbsp;at his retirement home apartment&nbsp;and we headed to the McPherson Valley Wetlands&nbsp;just outside Inman&nbsp;for a hike. The trails had recently been mowed making the walking easy, but&nbsp;I had to measure my steps so my long legs&nbsp;didn’t out-distance him. We stopped on the first rise and I pointed out all the marshes that were now dry and the ones that still held water.&nbsp;Next,&nbsp;we meandered down into one dry pool along the trail where I had trapped muskrats&nbsp;the prior&nbsp;winter. We looked over&nbsp;a now flattened muskrat hut that had&nbsp;once&nbsp;seemed as big as a Volkswagen. We could still make out a&nbsp;muskrat&nbsp;trail in the mud that led from one big bunch of cattails to another. A little further,&nbsp;and we topped the dike along the drainage ditch that runs nearly a mile to the next road and drains all the marshes&nbsp;along the way, but was now so dry the ducks have to hitchhike down it.&nbsp;Just behind us,&nbsp;the drainage split as it made its way around a large grove of trees.&nbsp;The previous&nbsp;winter at that place&nbsp;there had been&nbsp;a long beaver dam&nbsp;that had since been demolished with heavy equipment. We stepped over the&nbsp;left-over&nbsp;rubble from that beaver&nbsp;dam and down into the dry drainage ditch. It was fascinating to think that&nbsp;the previous&nbsp;winter the water was deep enough where we stood that I hesitated to wade into it with chest waders. We found a beaver den or two dug into the bank deep in the bottom of the dry&nbsp;drainage. Bottles, tree limbs and strangely enough a bright yellow golf ball all lay in the mud waiting to be covered once again when the rain came.&nbsp;The grove of trees harbored&nbsp;mammoth cottonwoods probably as old as dad and I together. We clamored up out of the dry ditch, meandered through the trees and onto the road that led us back to the truck.More often than not, a person’s love of the outdoors, especially hunting and trapping&nbsp;is&nbsp;fostered by their father or a father figure in their young life. I’ve grown used to being an exception to&nbsp;most rules, which applies in this case as well.&nbsp;Don’t get me wrong, our dad loved&nbsp;the outdoors, but was never a hunter or trapper.&nbsp;My brother used to live&nbsp;on 200 acres of Ohio wilderness,&nbsp;and dad loved&nbsp;roaming&nbsp;the many trails that&nbsp;meandered&nbsp;through his place.&nbsp;The highlight of dad’s&nbsp;year was&nbsp;to be there at my&nbsp;brothers&nbsp;for the annual Gilliland family deer hunt that&nbsp;happened&nbsp;every November.&nbsp;Dad used to take me fishing when I was little; we’d walk to a couple ponds just up the road and catch bullheads and bass. I remember him taking me pheasant hunting one time, probably because&nbsp;I pestered him until he did. Other than that, he never took any of us hunting&nbsp;or trapping,&nbsp;I think because his dad&nbsp;didn’t hunt&nbsp;or trap&nbsp;and&nbsp;our&nbsp;dad just&nbsp;never got bitten by those&nbsp;bugs.I&nbsp;firmly&nbsp;believe&nbsp;our families hunting “genes” came&nbsp;from our grandfather Hosafros (our mother’s father) who made many trips to Wyoming to hunt deer, elk and moose. In 1961 he harvested a moose that’s&nbsp;still&nbsp;in the Boone and Crocket record book (records of American big game animals taken with firearms.) But my brother and I first&nbsp;hunted deer with a motley crew&nbsp;of neighbor guys where&nbsp;we lived in north-central Ohio; the Beck family,&nbsp;whose numbers no one ever really knew,&nbsp;and Dave Burt, a local cop who lived on the road behind our farm.&nbsp;We’d gather in Dave’s kitchen for coffee and hot cocoa, and inevitably someone would spot a deer crossing the road and the hunt was on.&nbsp;I remember&nbsp;how jealous&nbsp;I was when my brother, who’s 11 years my junior harvested his first deer before I did&nbsp;and, on my farm,&nbsp;no less. Today he’s still the better deer hunter.Our love of trapping began when I was in junior high and&nbsp;an older man named Mr. Wolf allowed me to tag along when he checked traps he had on our land.&nbsp;He helped me put together&nbsp;a few&nbsp;ragtag traps and the following year I trapped in the creek that ran&nbsp;through our place.&nbsp;Later in high school I caught muskrats and the occasional mink in a pond dad had built and in local creeks, and snagged a few&nbsp;foxes&nbsp;on land surrounding our place. When my brother was old enough and&nbsp;also&nbsp;wanted to trap,&nbsp;I gave him&nbsp;dad’s&nbsp;pond to trap where he also caught muskrats, mink and coon.At 91, dad’s pace was noticeably slower&nbsp;when we&nbsp;took our hike, and I think he was glad he’d hauled along his favorite walkin’ stick. Yes, I used to wish dad had taken us kids hunting and trapping, but I’m just glad he still enjoyed&nbsp;nature. So even if you dad (or mom) is not a hunter or trapper, go snag them sometime and take them for a hike&nbsp;in God’s Creation and help them enjoy their twilight years Exploring Kansas Outdoors!Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at stevenrgilliland@gmail.com.

Exploring Outdoors Kansas: A walk with Dad

Just prior to the beginning of each academic year,&nbsp;Fort Hays State University&nbsp;hosts&nbsp;a convocation. We use this annual gathering to look back on our achievements, welcome new faculty and staff, discuss important campus-wide projects and programs, and provide an overview of the state of the university. We also close the ceremony with what I think is the most inspiring thing we do to kick off the new academic year&nbsp;-&nbsp;we honor outstanding faculty.&nbsp;

<a></a>Traditionally&nbsp;we&nbsp;recognize faculty in three award categories during our fall convocation. The first is the Faculty Member of the Year award. The second is the John Heinrichs Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor, and the third is the President’s Distinguished Scholar Award.&nbsp;

<a></a>The&nbsp;Faculty Member of the Year&nbsp;selection process examines&nbsp;the past year’s recipients of faculty awards for teaching, research and scholarly activity, and service.&nbsp;<a></a>This year, the award was presented to Associate Professor of Physics Dr. C.D. Clark.

<a></a>C.D. is known across this campus as a skilled problem solver and innovator in areas beyond his discipline, including&nbsp;work on&nbsp;delivering&nbsp;a high-quality educational experience for FHSU online learners. In the nomination letter submitted on C.D.’s behalf for this award, a colleague noted that while many initially rejected the idea of delivering laboratory courses online,&nbsp;C.D.&nbsp;rose to the challenge by developing the Engineering Physics II Lab as an&nbsp;online offering. C.D.’s course shifted the focus from using lab equipment to using open-source (free) analysis software widely used by scientists.

<a></a>C.D. is simply an indispensable member of this campus community. He is a highly respected and inspirational teacher and mentor to his students. All of our professors are asked to teach, conduct research, and serve in roles that advance our campus community. Few excel in these three roles better than C.D. Clark.&nbsp;

<a></a>The&nbsp;John Heinrichs Outstanding Research Mentor Award&nbsp;recognizes a faculty member for their commitment, time, and energy in promoting undergraduate research. The award is named after our esteemed former colleague, Dr. John Heinrichs, who was active in all research areas.

This year’s&nbsp;John Heinrichs Outstanding Research Mentor&nbsp;is Dr. Jeanne Sumrall.&nbsp;

An instructor in the Department of Geosciences and the Kansas Academy of Math and Science (KAMS), our two-year pre-college program for high school juniors and seniors, Jeanne&nbsp;is committed to supporting and mentoring students through the undergraduate research process.&nbsp;

<a></a>Her personal investment in her students’ growth is evidenced in their letters of support for her nomination. One student wrote: “Not only does Dr. Sumrall care immensely about promoting undergraduate projects for her students, but she also follows through as she engages with us and encourages a lifetime love of research.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

<a></a>Another student who submitted a nomination&nbsp;for this award noted how&nbsp;Jeanne&nbsp;allowed&nbsp;her&nbsp;totake the lead in directing projects by creating just the right balance between support and independence.&nbsp;

<a></a>The final award presented at our fall convocation was the 2022&nbsp;President’s Distinguished Scholar. This year, the award went to Dr. April Terry, associate professor of criminal justice.&nbsp;

April’s research focuses on issues critical to ensuring we are constantly striving to create a just and equitable society, including the areas of gender and crime, juvenile corrections, gender-based violence, and rural criminology. She&nbsp;has quickly&nbsp;become&nbsp;a widely respected expert&nbsp;in her field and serves on a number of boards and committees that focus on issues of crime and punishment.&nbsp;She has published eight book chapters, a remarkable 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, nine technical reports, and more than 100 presentations, with 48 including student researchers.

If you have read the news over the past several years, you know that seismic changes are coming to higher education. One thing that will never change at FHSU is our focus on core values&nbsp;-&nbsp;knowledge and scholarship, innovation and entrepreneurship, and global engagement.&nbsp;<a></a>These values guide us, shape us, and influence how we work together to create an unmatched educational experience for our students.&nbsp;

Not a day goes by that I am not reminded of the remarkable people who make this university a special place. Our fall convocation award winners&nbsp;are another reminder of something that makes me proud to serve as the president of Fort Hays State University.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1575302014229.png" alt="Dr. Tisa Mason, FHSU president" />
 <figcaption>Dr. Tisa Mason, FHSU president</figcaption>
 </figure>Just prior to the beginning of each academic year,&nbsp;Fort Hays State University&nbsp;hosts&nbsp;a convocation. We use this annual gathering to look back on our achievements, welcome new faculty and staff, discuss important campus-wide projects and programs, and provide an overview of the state of the university. We also close the ceremony with what I think is the most inspiring thing we do to kick off the new academic year&nbsp;-&nbsp;we honor outstanding faculty.&nbsp;<a></a>Traditionally&nbsp;we&nbsp;recognize faculty in three award categories during our fall convocation. The first is the Faculty Member of the Year award. The second is the John Heinrichs Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor, and the third is the President’s Distinguished Scholar Award.&nbsp;<a></a>The&nbsp;Faculty Member of the Year&nbsp;selection process examines&nbsp;the past year’s recipients of faculty awards for teaching, research and scholarly activity, and service.&nbsp;<a></a>This year, the award was presented to Associate Professor of Physics Dr. C.D. Clark.<a></a>C.D. is known across this campus as a skilled problem solver and innovator in areas beyond his discipline, including&nbsp;work on&nbsp;delivering&nbsp;a high-quality educational experience for FHSU online learners. In the nomination letter submitted on C.D.’s behalf for this award, a colleague noted that while many initially rejected the idea of delivering laboratory courses online,&nbsp;C.D.&nbsp;rose to the challenge by developing the Engineering Physics II Lab as an&nbsp;online offering. C.D.’s course shifted the focus from using lab equipment to using open-source (free) analysis software widely used by scientists.<a></a>C.D. is simply an indispensable member of this campus community. He is a highly respected and inspirational teacher and mentor to his students. All of our professors are asked to teach, conduct research, and serve in roles that advance our campus community. Few excel in these three roles better than C.D. Clark.&nbsp;<a></a>The&nbsp;John Heinrichs Outstanding Research Mentor Award&nbsp;recognizes a faculty member for their commitment, time, and energy in promoting undergraduate research. The award is named after our esteemed former colleague, Dr. John Heinrichs, who was active in all research areas.This year’s&nbsp;John Heinrichs Outstanding Research Mentor&nbsp;is Dr. Jeanne Sumrall.&nbsp;An instructor in the Department of Geosciences and the Kansas Academy of Math and Science (KAMS), our two-year pre-college program for high school juniors and seniors, Jeanne&nbsp;is committed to supporting and mentoring students through the undergraduate research process.&nbsp;<a></a>Her personal investment in her students’ growth is evidenced in their letters of support for her nomination. One student wrote: “Not only does Dr. Sumrall care immensely about promoting undergraduate projects for her students, but she also follows through as she engages with us and encourages a lifetime love of research.”&nbsp;&nbsp;<a></a>Another student who submitted a nomination&nbsp;for this award noted how&nbsp;Jeanne&nbsp;allowed&nbsp;her&nbsp;totake the lead in directing projects by creating just the right balance between support and independence.&nbsp;<a></a>The final award presented at our fall convocation was the 2022&nbsp;President’s Distinguished Scholar. This year, the award went to Dr. April Terry, associate professor of criminal justice.&nbsp;April’s research focuses on issues critical to ensuring we are constantly striving to create a just and equitable society, including the areas of gender and crime, juvenile corrections, gender-based violence, and rural criminology. She&nbsp;has quickly&nbsp;become&nbsp;a widely respected expert&nbsp;in her field and serves on a number of boards and committees that focus on issues of crime and punishment.&nbsp;She has published eight book chapters, a remarkable 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, nine technical reports, and more than 100 presentations, with 48 including student researchers.If you have read the news over the past several years, you know that seismic changes are coming to higher education. One thing that will never change at FHSU is our focus on core values&nbsp;-&nbsp;knowledge and scholarship, innovation and entrepreneurship, and global engagement.&nbsp;<a></a>These values guide us, shape us, and influence how we work together to create an unmatched educational experience for our students.&nbsp;Not a day goes by that I am not reminded of the remarkable people who make this university a special place. Our fall convocation award winners&nbsp;are another reminder of something that makes me proud to serve as the president of Fort Hays State University.&nbsp;

Heart of a Tiger: Celebrating exceptional faculty at convocation

By GREG DOERING Kansas Farm Bureau The biggest bets aren’t made at a card table, racetrack or during the Super Bowl. Instead, they happen every day on farms and ranches across the country. While most bettors place their hopes (and a few dollars) on a single event, those who grow our food face a successive series of wagers with the fate of the farm in the balance. It takes a lot of optimism to grow a crop from seed or raise an animal from birth when so much is often out of your control. Perils from Mother Nature abound — heat, cold, drought, flood, insects, diseases, storms and fires are just some of the potentially devastating events that can cause a bet to go south. Even if you successfully navigate all of those, you may still find yourself receiving a payout that doesn’t seem to justify all the risk, let alone the expense of production. Resolve is necessary in a business where just breaking even sometimes counts as a remarkable achievement. Not losing everything means you get to stay at the table. There’s always a reason that next year will be better, fewer repairs needed, better weather, higher prices and so on. Thankfully, farmers and ranchers have access to risk management tools and other programs through the farm bill. Their jobs still take plenty of optimism, resolve and courage, but it makes the lean years a little more bearable. With work on the 2023 farm bill already underway, it’s important to remember the difficulties that come with food production. The farm bill doesn’t just offer protection for farmers and ranchers, it’s also a national security package. A robust domestic food supply strengthens our country while offering consumers the benefit of high-quality, affordable food. The farm bill’s nutrition component provides help to&nbsp;our most vulnerable brethren. Other aspects of the bill fund conservation programs and make investments in agricultural research. The farm bill has a long history of broad, bipartisan support in Congress because it comprehensively addresses the threats inherent in producing food. Cynics like to claim it merely buys votes with programs aimed at both rural (crop insurance) and urban populations (nutrition programs), but the two are linked. This is something the skeptics misunderstand. What happens at farm level can’t be separated from the food going to towns and cities. The unity of nutrition and farm programs has been one of the greatest successes of the farm bill, and it should be the bedrock of the upcoming legislation. These safety nets don’t eliminate all the risks that come with production agriculture, but they do tilt the odds ever so slightly. Just as homeowners buy insurance hoping it’s never needed; farmers don’t plant a crop with the intention of it failing. Similarly, nobody sets out with the goal of needing the nutrition programs offered under the farm bill. Farming will always be a big gamble. The safest bet the rest of us can make is ensuring those who grow and raise the food we eat have the tools they need to continue providing us with healthy, safe, nutritious and affordable food for years to come.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1574694551876.png" alt="Greg Doering&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Greg Doering&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>By GREG DOERING Kansas Farm Bureau The biggest bets aren’t made at a card table, racetrack or during the Super Bowl. Instead, they happen every day on farms and ranches across the country. While most bettors place their hopes (and a few dollars) on a single event, those who grow our food face a successive series of wagers with the fate of the farm in the balance. It takes a lot of optimism to grow a crop from seed or raise an animal from birth when so much is often out of your control. Perils from Mother Nature abound — heat, cold, drought, flood, insects, diseases, storms and fires are just some of the potentially devastating events that can cause a bet to go south. Even if you successfully navigate all of those, you may still find yourself receiving a payout that doesn’t seem to justify all the risk, let alone the expense of production. Resolve is necessary in a business where just breaking even sometimes counts as a remarkable achievement. Not losing everything means you get to stay at the table. There’s always a reason that next year will be better, fewer repairs needed, better weather, higher prices and so on. Thankfully, farmers and ranchers have access to risk management tools and other programs through the farm bill. Their jobs still take plenty of optimism, resolve and courage, but it makes the lean years a little more bearable. With work on the 2023 farm bill already underway, it’s important to remember the difficulties that come with food production. The farm bill doesn’t just offer protection for farmers and ranchers, it’s also a national security package. A robust domestic food supply strengthens our country while offering consumers the benefit of high-quality, affordable food. The farm bill’s nutrition component provides help to&nbsp;our most vulnerable brethren. Other aspects of the bill fund conservation programs and make investments in agricultural research. The farm bill has a long history of broad, bipartisan support in Congress because it comprehensively addresses the threats inherent in producing food. Cynics like to claim it merely buys votes with programs aimed at both rural (crop insurance) and urban populations (nutrition programs), but the two are linked. This is something the skeptics misunderstand. What happens at farm level can’t be separated from the food going to towns and cities. The unity of nutrition and farm programs has been one of the greatest successes of the farm bill, and it should be the bedrock of the upcoming legislation. These safety nets don’t eliminate all the risks that come with production agriculture, but they do tilt the odds ever so slightly. Just as homeowners buy insurance hoping it’s never needed; farmers don’t plant a crop with the intention of it failing. Similarly, nobody sets out with the goal of needing the nutrition programs offered under the farm bill. Farming will always be a big gamble. The safest bet the rest of us can make is ensuring those who grow and raise the food we eat have the tools they need to continue providing us with healthy, safe, nutritious and affordable food for years to come."Insight" is a weekly column published by Kansas Farm Bureau, the state's largest farm organization whose mission is to strengthen agriculture and the lives of Kansans through advocacy, education and service.&nbsp;

Kansas Farm Bureau Insight: Betting on the farm

Our house faces west, it’s brick, and the flower bed in front is filled with river rock. If only one of these ingredients were our reality, the sun would work its magic and multiply the heat. Tripled, the thermometer can’t keep up with the increasing temperatures by 5 p.m. Though the previous owners chose plants that do well in heat and require less water than most,&nbsp;I&nbsp;wetthem down several times a week during blast furnace days that&nbsp;don’t remember&nbsp;when&nbsp;the last raindrop fell.

A couple of weeks ago, I was dousing those wilted lilies and salvia when a thin cottontail hopped into the hose stream. It stood under the water, getting plenty damp. As I continued down the line of plants, it&nbsp;stood on its hind legs, preening and polishing its fur. I thought it was odd behavior, but it was 105 in the shade that day and out front was even hotter. She wasn’t there the next time I watered on a cooler day so I put&nbsp;her behavior&nbsp;down to a weird coincidence, even though NCIS’s Gibbs has drilled into me there are no coincidences.&nbsp;

No more bunny for the next few waterings. That is until this morning when&nbsp;cottontails&nbsp;shrank and multiplied. I went out early to take advantage of the cool morning and early pastel light.&nbsp;In the smaller bed north of the porch,&nbsp;helianthus and&nbsp;the&nbsp;bush next to it guzzled their&nbsp;refreshment before I tugged the hose over to the bigger rock garden on the&nbsp;south&nbsp;side. Those lilies, roses, and salvia looked pretty dry so I gave them an extra count of ten as I watered.&nbsp;

While the drought and heat wilt my garden plants, weeds thrive. As I counted&nbsp;40 for&nbsp;each plant’s drink time, I was&nbsp;calculating&nbsp;how much time I’d need to spend weeding once things dried out.&nbsp;At that point, I got to the salvia where I’d earlier seen the&nbsp;showering rodent.&nbsp;My plant&nbsp;looked&nbsp;even&nbsp;more spread out and leggy&nbsp;than before&nbsp;so I directed a head-on shot of water toward it.

Imagine my surprise when four tiny, tiny fur-covered&nbsp;cottontails exploded out of it! Aha, mom may have taken an inadvertent shower two weeks before but what she was really doing was guarding her nest&nbsp;that probably contained still naked newborns with closed eyes. I can’t believe I never thought of that, but it’s so hot out front I couldn’t imagine anything but a snake turning that into a nursery.

Naturally, I&nbsp;turned the&nbsp;water&nbsp;toward other plants while those babies made their escape.&nbsp;Once I turned off the&nbsp;spigot&nbsp;and rolled up&nbsp;the hose, I returned to the house and opened the living room shades. I kept&nbsp;peaking&nbsp;out the window to see if&nbsp;any bunnies were&nbsp;returning to their cozy nest.&nbsp;For the next few&nbsp;days&nbsp;I never saw hide nor hare!

About a week afterward, I discovered why. Mom moved her bouncing babes to our backyard and hid them in the pumpkin patch. Now that I know they are there, I’ll be more careful when&nbsp;and where&nbsp;I water.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661545554426.jpeg" alt="DSCN0533.JPG" />
 <figcaption>DSCN0533.JPG</figcaption>
 </figure>By KAREN MADORINOur house faces west, it’s brick, and the flower bed in front is filled with river rock. If only one of these ingredients were our reality, the sun would work its magic and multiply the heat. Tripled, the thermometer can’t keep up with the increasing temperatures by 5 p.m. Though the previous owners chose plants that do well in heat and require less water than most,&nbsp;I&nbsp;wetthem down several times a week during blast furnace days that&nbsp;don’t remember&nbsp;when&nbsp;the last raindrop fell.A couple of weeks ago, I was dousing those wilted lilies and salvia when a thin cottontail hopped into the hose stream. It stood under the water, getting plenty damp. As I continued down the line of plants, it&nbsp;stood on its hind legs, preening and polishing its fur. I thought it was odd behavior, but it was 105 in the shade that day and out front was even hotter. She wasn’t there the next time I watered on a cooler day so I put&nbsp;her behavior&nbsp;down to a weird coincidence, even though NCIS’s Gibbs has drilled into me there are no coincidences.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658158605319.jpeg" alt="Karen Madorin" />
 <figcaption>Karen Madorin</figcaption>
 </figure>No more bunny for the next few waterings. That is until this morning when&nbsp;cottontails&nbsp;shrank and multiplied. I went out early to take advantage of the cool morning and early pastel light.&nbsp;In the smaller bed north of the porch,&nbsp;helianthus and&nbsp;the&nbsp;bush next to it guzzled their&nbsp;refreshment before I tugged the hose over to the bigger rock garden on the&nbsp;south&nbsp;side. Those lilies, roses, and salvia looked pretty dry so I gave them an extra count of ten as I watered.&nbsp;While the drought and heat wilt my garden plants, weeds thrive. As I counted&nbsp;40 for&nbsp;each plant’s drink time, I was&nbsp;calculating&nbsp;how much time I’d need to spend weeding once things dried out.&nbsp;At that point, I got to the salvia where I’d earlier seen the&nbsp;showering rodent.&nbsp;My plant&nbsp;looked&nbsp;even&nbsp;more spread out and leggy&nbsp;than before&nbsp;so I directed a head-on shot of water toward it.Imagine my surprise when four tiny, tiny fur-covered&nbsp;cottontails exploded out of it! Aha, mom may have taken an inadvertent shower two weeks before but what she was really doing was guarding her nest&nbsp;that probably contained still naked newborns with closed eyes. I can’t believe I never thought of that, but it’s so hot out front I couldn’t imagine anything but a snake turning that into a nursery.Naturally, I&nbsp;turned the&nbsp;water&nbsp;toward other plants while those babies made their escape.&nbsp;Once I turned off the&nbsp;spigot&nbsp;and rolled up&nbsp;the hose, I returned to the house and opened the living room shades. I kept&nbsp;peaking&nbsp;out the window to see if&nbsp;any bunnies were&nbsp;returning to their cozy nest.&nbsp;For the next few&nbsp;days&nbsp;I never saw hide nor hare!About a week afterward, I discovered why. Mom moved her bouncing babes to our backyard and hid them in the pumpkin patch. Now that I know they are there, I’ll be more careful when&nbsp;and where&nbsp;I water.Karen is a retired teacher, writer, photographer, outdoors lover, and
 sixth-generation Kansan. After a time away, she’s glad to be home.

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