BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/bramsablesmith/">BRAM SABLE-SMITH</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/peggylowe/">PEGGY LOWE</a>&nbsp;

Emily Tavis was on a first date in December when she looked up and realized they were driving past the downtown Kansas City, Missouri, intersection where a bullet ripped through her leg at last year’s Super Bowl victory parade.

“Oh f—,” Tavis said, bewildering her date.

She lives 35 miles away in Leavenworth, Kansas, and hadn’t yet returned to Union Station, where the mass shooting happened. She felt like crying. Or maybe it was a panic attack. She held up a finger signaling to her date that she needed a moment. That’s when it hit him, too.

“Oh crap, I didn’t even realize,” he said, and kept driving in silence.

Tavis sucked in her tears until the station was out of view.

“So anyway,” she said aloud, while thinking to herself, “way to go. Panic attack, first date.”

A year after the Feb. 14 shooting that killed one and injured at least 24 people, the survivors and their families are still reeling. Relationships have strained. Parents are anxious about their children. The generous financial support and well wishes that poured through in early days have now dried up. And they’re ambivalent about the team they all root for; as the Chiefs moved on to another Super Bowl, many wondered why their beloved team hasn’t acknowledged what they have all been going through.

“I can’t believe the Chiefs didn’t do anything for us,” said Jacob Gooch Sr., who was shot in the foot. The team, the owner family’s foundation, and the National Football League gave a combined $200,000 to a fund for survivors, but Gooch said no one from the organization reached out to his family, three members of whom were shot.

What’s happening to these families is far from unusual. Many survivors emotionally freeze as a coping mechanism to avoid fully feeling the trauma they suffered. But with time, survivors experience what therapists call “thawing,” and the intensity of what happened can suddenly overpower them like it did Tavis.

“Trauma pulls us into the past,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-behrman-20322b7/" target="_blank">Gary Behrman</a>, a therapist who published a&nbsp;<a href="https://cretscmhd.psych.ucla.edu/nola/volunteer/EmpiricalStudies/Post-trauma%20intervention%20-%20basic%20tasks.pdf" target="_blank">model of crisis intervention</a>&nbsp;based on his work with witnesses of the 9/11 attacks in New York.

Sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and touches can all trigger flashbacks that shut down the brain like an overloaded circuit breaker. It’s a survival response, Behrman said; the brain is a friend.

The key to recovery is to help survivors find healthy ways to manage those triggers — when they are ready.

Survivors thaw at their own pace. Regaining control after a life-threatening event is a process that can take weeks, months, or years.

It can be hard not to feel forgotten when life carries on around them. As fans rallied around the Chiefs this season, survivors found it hard to watch the games. The Chiefs lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday’s Super Bowl. Philadelphia will hold its own parade on Friday, exactly one year after the shooting.

“It sucks because everybody else went on,” Jason Barton said. He performed CPR on a man he now thinks was one of the alleged shooters, his wife found a bullet slug in her backpack, and his stepdaughter was burned by sparks from a ricocheted bullet.

“If we were on the other side of that place, we would too,” he said. “It wouldn’t have affected us.”

Tavis isn’t the only survivor to have found herself unintentionally back at Union Station in the year since the shooting. Kids had field trips to Science City, located inside the station. Follow-up doctor visits were often on nearby Hospital Hill. An October dinner organized for survivors by a local faith-based group was less than a mile away, prompting one young survivor to decline the invitation.

Tavis had planned to return to Union Station as part of her healing process. She thought she would go on the one-year mark to have a moment alone to feel whatever emotions swept over her there.

Maybe God was showing her she was ready by placing her back there unexpectedly, her therapist told her. Maybe. But she didn’t feel ready in that moment.

Tavis wanted to see a therapist right after the shooting. But she didn’t seek one out until July, after the local United Way&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/kcstrong-fund-gunshot-victims-2-million-dollars/" target="_blank">distributed financial assistance</a>&nbsp;to survivors and relieved the months-long financial strain of lost work and medical bills incurred by many. Tavis and her partner at the time had&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/super-bowl-parade-shooting-survivors-donations-bills-wait-kansas-city/" target="_blank">taken out</a>&nbsp;an extra credit card to cover expenses while they waited for the promised help.

After two months of visits, her therapist started prepping Tavis for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, a technique to help trauma survivors. She now spends every other session making her way through a spreadsheet of memories from the parade, visualizing and reprocessing them one by one.

She’s nervous as the one-year mark approaches. It’s on Valentine’s Day, and she worries it’ll be depressing.

She decided to invite Gooch, her former partner, to come to Union Station with her that day. Despite everything, he’s the one who understands. They were at the parade together with their son and Jacob’s two older kids. Both Gooch Sr. and his older son, Jacob Gooch Jr., were also shot.

Gooch Sr. hasn’t worked since the parade. His job required standing for 10-hour shifts four days a week, but he couldn’t walk for months after a bullet shattered a bone in his foot and it slowly fused back together. He hoped to go back to work in July. But his foot didn’t heal correctly and he had surgery in August, followed by weeks of recovery.

His short-term disability ran out, as did his health insurance through work. His employer held his job for a while before releasing him in August. He’s applied for other jobs in and around Leavenworth: production, staffing agencies, auto repair. Nothing’s come through.

“We’ve all gone through problems, not just me,” Gooch Sr. said. “I got shot in my foot and haven’t worked for a year. There are people that have been through much worse stuff over the past year.”

He feels good walking now and can run short distances without pain. But he doesn’t know if he’ll ever play football again, a mainstay of his life since he can remember. He played safety for the semiprofessional&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kcreapersfootball.com/" target="_blank">Kansas City Reapers</a>&nbsp;and, before the parade, the 38-year-old was considering making the 2024 season his last as a player.

“A lot more than football has been stolen from me in this last year. Like my whole life has been stolen from me,” Gooch Sr. said. “I really hate that part of it.”

And those emotions are painfully real. Trauma threatens our beliefs about ourselves, said Behrman, the therapist. Every person brings their own history to a traumatic event, a different identity that risks being shattered. The healing work that comes later often involves letting go and building something new.

Recently Gooch Sr. started going to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.faithwalkersoutreach.com/" target="_blank">new church</a>, led by the husband of someone he sang with in a children’s choir growing up. At a Sunday service this month, the pastor spoke about finding a path when you’re lost.

“I’m looking for the path. I’m in the grass right now,” Gooch Sr. said at his home later that evening.

“I’m obviously on a path, but I don’t know where I’m headed.”

Every day before Jason Barton goes to work, he asks his wife, Bridget, if he should stay home with her.

She’s said yes enough that he’s out of paid time off. Jason, who’s survived cancer and a heart attack, had to take unpaid leave in January when a bad case of the flu put him in the hospital. That’s real love, Bridget said with tearful eyes, sitting with Jason and her 14-year-old daughter, Gabriella, in their home in Osawatomie, Kansas.

Bridget has connected with the mother of another girl injured in the shooting. They’ve exchanged texts and voicemails throughout the year. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who gets it, Bridget said. They’re hoping to get the girls together to build a connection as well.

Except for a trip to therapy once a week, Bridget doesn’t leave the house much anymore. It can feel like a prison, she said, but she’s too scared to leave. “It’s my own internal hell,” she said. She keeps thinking about that bullet slug that lodged in her backpack. What if she’d been standing differently? What if they’d left 10 seconds earlier? Would things be different?

A Post-it note in her kitchen reminds her: “I’m safe. Gabriella is safe. I did the best I could.”

She carries a lot of guilt. About Jason staying home. About not leaving the house, even to see her grandkids. About wanting the family to go to the parade in the first place. At the same time, she knows she kind of thrived in the chaos after the shooting, taking charge of her daughter, talking to the police. It’s confusing.

The family has carried the trauma differently. In the six months after the parade, Jason watched reality TV shows that kept him out of his head — 23 seasons of “Deadliest Catch” and 21 seasons of “Gold Rush,” including spinoffs, he estimated. Lately he’s kept his mind occupied with a new hobby: building model cars and planes. He just finished a black 1968 Shelby Mustang, and next is an F4U-4 Corsair plane that Bridget got him.

Gabriella was unfazed about returning to Union Station for a class field trip to Science City, but she was startled when she saw a group of police officers inside the station. Her mom watched her location on her phone and texted her all day.

Gabriella took up boxing after the parade, then switched to wrestling. It had been going well, even felt empowering. But she’s stopped going, and Bridget thinks it’s partly due to the emotion of the anniversary — the first is always the hardest, her therapist said. Gabriella insisted that wrestling was just exhausting her.

Because they weren’t shot, the family didn’t benefit from resources available to other survivors. They understand that other families are recovering from bullet wounds or even mourning a death.

Still, it would be nice to have some acknowledgment of their emotional trauma. Their names have been in the news. You’d think the Chiefs would have at least sent a letter saying, “We’re sorry this happened to you,” Jason said.

Jason proposed to Bridget at a Chiefs game. Now watching games on TV triggers flashbacks.

“I want to be a part of Chiefs Kingdom again,” Bridget said, “but I just can’t. And that is a huge, really lonely feeling.”

‘There is a word called “resilience”’

One evening last October, survivors gathered with their families at a Mexican restaurant in downtown Kansas City.

Some came dressed in their Sunday best, some in red football jerseys. All ages, toddlers to 70-somethings, some from Missouri, some from Kansas. Some spoke only Spanish, some only English. Most of the two dozen people had never met before. But as they talked, they discovered the shooting that binds them also gave them a common language.

Two young boys realized they’d tossed a football during the jubilation before the violence erupted. A woman in her early 70s named Sarai Holguin remembered watching them play on that warm February day. After a blessing and dinner, Holguin, who was shot in the knee and has had four surgeries, stood to address the room.

“I was the first victim taken to the medical tent,” she said in Spanish, her words translated by a relative of another survivor. She saw everything, she explained, as, one by one, more survivors were brought to the tent for treatment, including Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a 43-year-old mother who was killed that day.

Yet in that tragedy, Holguin saw the beauty of people helping one another.

“This showed us that humanity is still alive, that love is still alive. There is a word called ‘resilience,’” Holguin said, the translator stumbling to understand the last word, as people in the audience caught it and shouted it out. “Resilience.”

“This word helps us overcome the problems we face,” Holguin said. “To try to put the tragic moment we all lived behind us and move on, we must remember the beautiful moments.”

This&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/the-injured-kansas-city-chiefs-parade-shooting-survivors-one-year-anniversary-trauma/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/" target="_blank">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us" target="_blank">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us" target="_blank">KFF</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739298705005.png" alt="Emily Tavis in Leavenworth, Kansas, on Feb. 2. Tavis has been rebuilding her sense of safety and stability in the year since she was shot in the leg at last year’s Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration (Christopher Smith for KFF Health News)." />
 <figcaption>Emily Tavis in Leavenworth, Kansas, on Feb. 2. Tavis has been rebuilding her sense of safety and stability in the year since she was shot in the leg at last year’s Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration (Christopher Smith for KFF Health News).</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/bramsablesmith/">BRAM SABLE-SMITH</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/peggylowe/">PEGGY LOWE</a>&nbsp;Emily Tavis was on a first date in December when she looked up and realized they were driving past the downtown Kansas City, Missouri, intersection where a bullet ripped through her leg at last year’s Super Bowl victory parade.“Oh f—,” Tavis said, bewildering her date.She lives 35 miles away in Leavenworth, Kansas, and hadn’t yet returned to Union Station, where the mass shooting happened. She felt like crying. Or maybe it was a panic attack. She held up a finger signaling to her date that she needed a moment. That’s when it hit him, too.“Oh crap, I didn’t even realize,” he said, and kept driving in silence.Tavis sucked in her tears until the station was out of view.“So anyway,” she said aloud, while thinking to herself, “way to go. Panic attack, first date.”A year after the Feb. 14 shooting that killed one and injured at least 24 people, the survivors and their families are still reeling. Relationships have strained. Parents are anxious about their children. The generous financial support and well wishes that poured through in early days have now dried up. And they’re ambivalent about the team they all root for; as the Chiefs moved on to another Super Bowl, many wondered why their beloved team hasn’t acknowledged what they have all been going through.“I can’t believe the Chiefs didn’t do anything for us,” said Jacob Gooch Sr., who was shot in the foot. The team, the owner family’s foundation, and the National Football League gave a combined $200,000 to a fund for survivors, but Gooch said no one from the organization reached out to his family, three members of whom were shot.What’s happening to these families is far from unusual. Many survivors emotionally freeze as a coping mechanism to avoid fully feeling the trauma they suffered. But with time, survivors experience what therapists call “thawing,” and the intensity of what happened can suddenly overpower them like it did Tavis.“Trauma pulls us into the past,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-behrman-20322b7/" target="_blank">Gary Behrman</a>, a therapist who published a&nbsp;<a href="https://cretscmhd.psych.ucla.edu/nola/volunteer/EmpiricalStudies/Post-trauma%20intervention%20-%20basic%20tasks.pdf" target="_blank">model of crisis intervention</a>&nbsp;based on his work with witnesses of the 9/11 attacks in New York.Sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and touches can all trigger flashbacks that shut down the brain like an overloaded circuit breaker. It’s a survival response, Behrman said; the brain is a friend.The key to recovery is to help survivors find healthy ways to manage those triggers — when they are ready.Survivors thaw at their own pace. Regaining control after a life-threatening event is a process that can take weeks, months, or years.It can be hard not to feel forgotten when life carries on around them. As fans rallied around the Chiefs this season, survivors found it hard to watch the games. The Chiefs lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday’s Super Bowl. Philadelphia will hold its own parade on Friday, exactly one year after the shooting.“It sucks because everybody else went on,” Jason Barton said. He performed CPR on a man he now thinks was one of the alleged shooters, his wife found a bullet slug in her backpack, and his stepdaughter was burned by sparks from a ricocheted bullet.“If we were on the other side of that place, we would too,” he said. “It wouldn’t have affected us.”<h2>A trip back to Union Station</h2>Tavis isn’t the only survivor to have found herself unintentionally back at Union Station in the year since the shooting. Kids had field trips to Science City, located inside the station. Follow-up doctor visits were often on nearby Hospital Hill. An October dinner organized for survivors by a local faith-based group was less than a mile away, prompting one young survivor to decline the invitation.Tavis had planned to return to Union Station as part of her healing process. She thought she would go on the one-year mark to have a moment alone to feel whatever emotions swept over her there.Maybe God was showing her she was ready by placing her back there unexpectedly, her therapist told her. Maybe. But she didn’t feel ready in that moment.Tavis wanted to see a therapist right after the shooting. But she didn’t seek one out until July, after the local United Way&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/kcstrong-fund-gunshot-victims-2-million-dollars/" target="_blank">distributed financial assistance</a>&nbsp;to survivors and relieved the months-long financial strain of lost work and medical bills incurred by many. Tavis and her partner at the time had&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/super-bowl-parade-shooting-survivors-donations-bills-wait-kansas-city/" target="_blank">taken out</a>&nbsp;an extra credit card to cover expenses while they waited for the promised help.After two months of visits, her therapist started prepping Tavis for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, a technique to help trauma survivors. She now spends every other session making her way through a spreadsheet of memories from the parade, visualizing and reprocessing them one by one.She’s nervous as the one-year mark approaches. It’s on Valentine’s Day, and she worries it’ll be depressing.She decided to invite Gooch, her former partner, to come to Union Station with her that day. Despite everything, he’s the one who understands. They were at the parade together with their son and Jacob’s two older kids. Both Gooch Sr. and his older son, Jacob Gooch Jr., were also shot.<h2>Trauma changes who we are</h2>Gooch Sr. hasn’t worked since the parade. His job required standing for 10-hour shifts four days a week, but he couldn’t walk for months after a bullet shattered a bone in his foot and it slowly fused back together. He hoped to go back to work in July. But his foot didn’t heal correctly and he had surgery in August, followed by weeks of recovery.His short-term disability ran out, as did his health insurance through work. His employer held his job for a while before releasing him in August. He’s applied for other jobs in and around Leavenworth: production, staffing agencies, auto repair. Nothing’s come through.“We’ve all gone through problems, not just me,” Gooch Sr. said. “I got shot in my foot and haven’t worked for a year. There are people that have been through much worse stuff over the past year.”He feels good walking now and can run short distances without pain. But he doesn’t know if he’ll ever play football again, a mainstay of his life since he can remember. He played safety for the semiprofessional&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kcreapersfootball.com/" target="_blank">Kansas City Reapers</a>&nbsp;and, before the parade, the 38-year-old was considering making the 2024 season his last as a player.“A lot more than football has been stolen from me in this last year. Like my whole life has been stolen from me,” Gooch Sr. said. “I really hate that part of it.”And those emotions are painfully real. Trauma threatens our beliefs about ourselves, said Behrman, the therapist. Every person brings their own history to a traumatic event, a different identity that risks being shattered. The healing work that comes later often involves letting go and building something new.Recently Gooch Sr. started going to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.faithwalkersoutreach.com/" target="_blank">new church</a>, led by the husband of someone he sang with in a children’s choir growing up. At a Sunday service this month, the pastor spoke about finding a path when you’re lost.“I’m looking for the path. I’m in the grass right now,” Gooch Sr. said at his home later that evening.“I’m obviously on a path, but I don’t know where I’m headed.”<h2>‘I did the best I could’</h2>Every day before Jason Barton goes to work, he asks his wife, Bridget, if he should stay home with her.She’s said yes enough that he’s out of paid time off. Jason, who’s survived cancer and a heart attack, had to take unpaid leave in January when a bad case of the flu put him in the hospital. That’s real love, Bridget said with tearful eyes, sitting with Jason and her 14-year-old daughter, Gabriella, in their home in Osawatomie, Kansas.Bridget has connected with the mother of another girl injured in the shooting. They’ve exchanged texts and voicemails throughout the year. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who gets it, Bridget said. They’re hoping to get the girls together to build a connection as well.Except for a trip to therapy once a week, Bridget doesn’t leave the house much anymore. It can feel like a prison, she said, but she’s too scared to leave. “It’s my own internal hell,” she said. She keeps thinking about that bullet slug that lodged in her backpack. What if she’d been standing differently? What if they’d left 10 seconds earlier? Would things be different?A Post-it note in her kitchen reminds her: “I’m safe. Gabriella is safe. I did the best I could.”She carries a lot of guilt. About Jason staying home. About not leaving the house, even to see her grandkids. About wanting the family to go to the parade in the first place. At the same time, she knows she kind of thrived in the chaos after the shooting, taking charge of her daughter, talking to the police. It’s confusing.The family has carried the trauma differently. In the six months after the parade, Jason watched reality TV shows that kept him out of his head — 23 seasons of “Deadliest Catch” and 21 seasons of “Gold Rush,” including spinoffs, he estimated. Lately he’s kept his mind occupied with a new hobby: building model cars and planes. He just finished a black 1968 Shelby Mustang, and next is an F4U-4 Corsair plane that Bridget got him.Gabriella was unfazed about returning to Union Station for a class field trip to Science City, but she was startled when she saw a group of police officers inside the station. Her mom watched her location on her phone and texted her all day.Gabriella took up boxing after the parade, then switched to wrestling. It had been going well, even felt empowering. But she’s stopped going, and Bridget thinks it’s partly due to the emotion of the anniversary — the first is always the hardest, her therapist said. Gabriella insisted that wrestling was just exhausting her.Because they weren’t shot, the family didn’t benefit from resources available to other survivors. They understand that other families are recovering from bullet wounds or even mourning a death.Still, it would be nice to have some acknowledgment of their emotional trauma. Their names have been in the news. You’d think the Chiefs would have at least sent a letter saying, “We’re sorry this happened to you,” Jason said.Jason proposed to Bridget at a Chiefs game. Now watching games on TV triggers flashbacks.“I want to be a part of Chiefs Kingdom again,” Bridget said, “but I just can’t. And that is a huge, really lonely feeling.”<h2>‘There is a word called “resilience”’</h2>One evening last October, survivors gathered with their families at a Mexican restaurant in downtown Kansas City.Some came dressed in their Sunday best, some in red football jerseys. All ages, toddlers to 70-somethings, some from Missouri, some from Kansas. Some spoke only Spanish, some only English. Most of the two dozen people had never met before. But as they talked, they discovered the shooting that binds them also gave them a common language.Two young boys realized they’d tossed a football during the jubilation before the violence erupted. A woman in her early 70s named Sarai Holguin remembered watching them play on that warm February day. After a blessing and dinner, Holguin, who was shot in the knee and has had four surgeries, stood to address the room.“I was the first victim taken to the medical tent,” she said in Spanish, her words translated by a relative of another survivor. She saw everything, she explained, as, one by one, more survivors were brought to the tent for treatment, including Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a 43-year-old mother who was killed that day.Yet in that tragedy, Holguin saw the beauty of people helping one another.“This showed us that humanity is still alive, that love is still alive. There is a word called ‘resilience,’” Holguin said, the translator stumbling to understand the last word, as people in the audience caught it and shouted it out. “Resilience.”“This word helps us overcome the problems we face,” Holguin said. “To try to put the tragic moment we all lived behind us and move on, we must remember the beautiful moments.”This&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/the-injured-kansas-city-chiefs-parade-shooting-survivors-one-year-anniversary-trauma/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/" target="_blank">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us" target="_blank">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us" target="_blank">KFF</a>.

A year after KC Super Bowl parade shooting, trauma freeze gives way to turmoil for survivors

Adolph J. Schmidt, 92, Hays, passed away on Monday, February
10, 2025. 

He was born in Catharine, KS on April 8, 1932, to Adolph and
Anna (Staab) Schmidt. He was a 1950 graduate of St. Joseph’s Military Academy
and part of the last graduating class of SJMA Junior College in 1952. On May
21, 1960, he married DeAnn Leiker at St. Francis Church in Munjor, KS. He is
survived by his wife of 64 years. 

He proudly served in the Army during the Korean War as a
Field First Sergeant at Ft. Riley, KS. He was Deputy Ellis County Treasurer,
then Ellis County Treasurer. Adolph worked for Central Kansas Power
Company/Midwest Energy as a Purchasing Manager for 35 years. He was a Sacristan
at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, assisted with funerals, served at 6:45 mass
for 28 years, and was a Eucharistic Minister for 28 years. He was a member of
the American Legion Post 173 for 70 years(!), was a volunteer for 22 years at
Hays Medical Center, and was a Knights of Columbus member, St. Mary’s
Council.&nbsp; Adolph loved playing golf,
going to coffee with friends, and watching KU, the Royals, and the Chiefs play.
He cherished his time with his grandkids.

Survivors include his wife DeAnn of Hays, his son, Andy and
wife Marie Schmidt of Olathe, KS, daughter, Joylene and husband John Kindel of
Shawnee, KS, five grandchildren, Daniel and Kelsey Kindel of Maryville, TN,
Meghan and Luke Smrt of Greenville, SC, Sam Schmidt of Kansas City, MO, Zoe and
Cole Hutchins of Overland Park, KS, and Sophie Schmidt of Lawrence, KS, two
great grandsons, Henry Fitz and William Finn Kindel of Maryville, TN, one
brother, Gerald and wife Elaine Schmidt of Hays, and his sister-in-law Rosie
Schmidt of Hays. &nbsp;Surviving in-laws are
John Leiker of Lake Worth, FL, Alan Leiker of Hays, Ella Mueggenberg of Omaha,
NE, Mark and wife Dora Leiker of Munjor, and Jane Leiker of Cedar Rapids, IA. 

He is preceded in death by his parents, two daughters,
infant daughter Katie and daughter Rachelle Schmidt, six brothers, infant
brother Elmer and brothers Celestine, Herbert (Frances), Alfred (Esther), Emery
(Shirley), Elmer, four sisters, Cyrilla (Maynard) Evans, Fidelia (Wilfred)
Rome, Irene (Ray) Dinkel and Cora (Everett) Dortland, father and mother in-law,
Henry and Regina (Kreutzer) Leiker, sisters-in-law, JoAnn (Ruder) Leiker, Janet
(Joy) Leiker and brother-in-law, Daniel H. Leiker. 

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:00 am on Monday,
February 17, 2025 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church with Fr. Nick
Parker officiating.&nbsp; Burial will follow in
St. Joseph Cemetery with military honors by the Hays VFW Post #9076 Honor
Guard.&nbsp; Visitation will be from 5:00 pm
until 8:00 on Sunday and from 9:00 am until 9:45 on Monday, all at Hays
Memorial Chapel Funeral Home.&nbsp; A
Daughters of Isabella rosary will be at 5:30 pm, and a vigil service will be at
6:30 pm followed by a Third Degree Knights of Columbus rosary, all on Sunday at
the funeral home.&nbsp; 

Memorials are
suggested to Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church for the Unify, Beautify,
Glorify Campaign or to the St. Thomas More Society at TMP-M High School.&nbsp; Condolences and memories of Adolph may be
shared with his family at www.haysmemorial.com

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739368067687.jpeg" alt="Adolph J. Schmidt" />
 <figcaption>Adolph J. Schmidt</figcaption>
 </figure>Adolph J. Schmidt, 92, Hays, passed away on Monday, February
10, 2025. He was born in Catharine, KS on April 8, 1932, to Adolph and
Anna (Staab) Schmidt. He was a 1950 graduate of St. Joseph’s Military Academy
and part of the last graduating class of SJMA Junior College in 1952. On May
21, 1960, he married DeAnn Leiker at St. Francis Church in Munjor, KS. He is
survived by his wife of 64 years. He proudly served in the Army during the Korean War as a
Field First Sergeant at Ft. Riley, KS. He was Deputy Ellis County Treasurer,
then Ellis County Treasurer. Adolph worked for Central Kansas Power
Company/Midwest Energy as a Purchasing Manager for 35 years. He was a Sacristan
at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, assisted with funerals, served at 6:45 mass
for 28 years, and was a Eucharistic Minister for 28 years. He was a member of
the American Legion Post 173 for 70 years(!), was a volunteer for 22 years at
Hays Medical Center, and was a Knights of Columbus member, St. Mary’s
Council.&nbsp; Adolph loved playing golf,
going to coffee with friends, and watching KU, the Royals, and the Chiefs play.
He cherished his time with his grandkids.Survivors include his wife DeAnn of Hays, his son, Andy and
wife Marie Schmidt of Olathe, KS, daughter, Joylene and husband John Kindel of
Shawnee, KS, five grandchildren, Daniel and Kelsey Kindel of Maryville, TN,
Meghan and Luke Smrt of Greenville, SC, Sam Schmidt of Kansas City, MO, Zoe and
Cole Hutchins of Overland Park, KS, and Sophie Schmidt of Lawrence, KS, two
great grandsons, Henry Fitz and William Finn Kindel of Maryville, TN, one
brother, Gerald and wife Elaine Schmidt of Hays, and his sister-in-law Rosie
Schmidt of Hays. &nbsp;Surviving in-laws are
John Leiker of Lake Worth, FL, Alan Leiker of Hays, Ella Mueggenberg of Omaha,
NE, Mark and wife Dora Leiker of Munjor, and Jane Leiker of Cedar Rapids, IA. He is preceded in death by his parents, two daughters,
infant daughter Katie and daughter Rachelle Schmidt, six brothers, infant
brother Elmer and brothers Celestine, Herbert (Frances), Alfred (Esther), Emery
(Shirley), Elmer, four sisters, Cyrilla (Maynard) Evans, Fidelia (Wilfred)
Rome, Irene (Ray) Dinkel and Cora (Everett) Dortland, father and mother in-law,
Henry and Regina (Kreutzer) Leiker, sisters-in-law, JoAnn (Ruder) Leiker, Janet
(Joy) Leiker and brother-in-law, Daniel H. Leiker. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:00 am on Monday,
February 17, 2025 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church with Fr. Nick
Parker officiating.&nbsp; Burial will follow in
St. Joseph Cemetery with military honors by the Hays VFW Post #9076 Honor
Guard.&nbsp; Visitation will be from 5:00 pm
until 8:00 on Sunday and from 9:00 am until 9:45 on Monday, all at Hays
Memorial Chapel Funeral Home.&nbsp; A
Daughters of Isabella rosary will be at 5:30 pm, and a vigil service will be at
6:30 pm followed by a Third Degree Knights of Columbus rosary, all on Sunday at
the funeral home.&nbsp; Memorials are
suggested to Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church for the Unify, Beautify,
Glorify Campaign or to the St. Thomas More Society at TMP-M High School.&nbsp; Condolences and memories of Adolph may be
shared with his family at www.haysmemorial.com

Adolph J. Schmidt

By BRENT MARTIN St. Joseph Post

It was an explosive, actually a World War I explosive, but it was inactive and posed no threat to the public.

The St. Joseph Police Department reports a fire station received an unusual visit by a woman carrying a World War I explosive devise she found among her father’s belongings. The woman wanted to know if the shell was safe.

The department says St. Joseph firefighters and police officers examined it and determined the shell to be a non-lethal projectile from a World War I-era weapon that posed no threat to the public.

The St. Joseph Police Department commended the woman for seeking guidance on the projectile rather than handling it on her own. The department urges the public to call 911 if they come upon similar devices so trained professionals can assess their lethality.

By BRENT MARTIN St. Joseph PostIt was an explosive, actually a World War I explosive, but it was inactive and posed no threat to the public.The St. Joseph Police Department reports a fire station received an unusual visit by a woman carrying a World War I explosive devise she found among her father’s belongings. The woman wanted to know if the shell was safe.The department says St. Joseph firefighters and police officers examined it and determined the shell to be a non-lethal projectile from a World War I-era weapon that posed no threat to the public.The St. Joseph Police Department commended the woman for seeking guidance on the projectile rather than handling it on her own. The department urges the public to call 911 if they come upon similar devices so trained professionals can assess their lethality.

Woman walked into fire station with WWI bomb

By TONY GUERRERO Hays Post

The 69th-annual Ellis County Spelling Bee crowned its winner Monday, who will compete in the Kansas State Spelling competition.

Sponsored by the FHSU chapter of the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the spelling contest was Monday night at the Beach-Schmidt Auditorium.

Forty-five students from third to eighth grade and from 12 different schools in Ellis County competed to determine who would represent the county at the state level.

Eighth-grader Krister Lundberg from Hays Middle School was declared the winner after correctly spelling the word "askew."

Seventh-grader Niyah Zollinger from Hays Middle School correctly spelled "ubiquity" for second place.

Lundberg moves on to the Sunflower State Spelling Bee at Kansas Wesleyan University on March 22.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739297806515.jpeg" alt="2025 Ellis County Spelling Bee winner Krister Lundberg and second place winner Niyah Zollinger. Photo By Tony Guerrero/Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>2025 Ellis County Spelling Bee winner Krister Lundberg and second place winner Niyah Zollinger. Photo By Tony Guerrero/Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure>By TONY GUERRERO Hays PostThe 69th-annual Ellis County Spelling Bee crowned its winner Monday, who will compete in the Kansas State Spelling competition.Sponsored by the FHSU chapter of the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the spelling contest was Monday night at the Beach-Schmidt Auditorium.Forty-five students from third to eighth grade and from 12 different schools in Ellis County competed to determine who would represent the county at the state level.Eighth-grader Krister Lundberg from Hays Middle School was declared the winner after correctly spelling the word "askew."Seventh-grader Niyah Zollinger from Hays Middle School correctly spelled "ubiquity" for second place.Lundberg moves on to the Sunflower State Spelling Bee at Kansas Wesleyan University on March 22.

Hays Middle School eighth-grader wins Ellis County Spelling Bee

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's most powerful adviser, Elon Musk, made a rare public appearance at the White House on Tuesday to defend the swift and extensive cuts he's pushing across the federal government while acknowledging there have been mistakes and will be more.

Musk stood next to the Resolute Desk with his young son as Trump praised Musk's work with his Department of Government Efficiency&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ies-musk-doge-education-cuts-4461d7bdbe9d55c5a411d8465999b011">to slash spending</a>&nbsp;and as the president signed an executive order to continue downsizing the federal workforce.

Despite concerns that he’s amassing unaccountable power&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-doge-secrecy-68a66370cbc67c457e0a1c6edb08c5ef">with little transparency</a>, Musk described himself as an open book. He joked that the scrutiny over his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-doge-21153a742fbad86284369bb173ec343c">sprawling influence over federal agencies</a>&nbsp;was like a “daily proctology exam.”

Despite Musk’s pledge to be “maximally transparent,” the White House on Tuesday fired the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development, a day after the watchdog’s office warned that the DOGE-directed dismantling of USAID had made it all but impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in humanitarian funds.

Musk, taking questions from reporters for the first time since joining the Trump administration as a special government employee, defended DOGE's work as “common sense” and “not draconian or radical.”

“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get,” he said. “That’s what democracy is all about.”

Musk, the world’s richest person and the owner of the social media platform X, said that he was trying to be “as transparent as possible” and claimed that the organization's work was shared on X and on DOGE's website. However, the DOGE website has no information, and the postings on X are lacking many details, including which programs are being cut and where the organization has access.

Musk acknowledged, in response to a question, that some of the claims he's made about government programs and spending have been wrong.

“Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. So nobody can bat 1,000,” he said, adding that he would act quickly to correct errors.

He acknowledged DOGE could be making errors as well.

“We are moving fast, so we will make mistakes, but we’ll also fix the mistakes very quickly,” Musk said.

Musk said there are some good people in the federal bureaucracy, but they need to be accountable. Musk referred to the federal bureaucracy as an “unelected” fourth branch that had “more power than any elected representative.”

Trump and Musk are pushing federal workers to resign in return for financial incentives, although their plan&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-federal-workers-doge-musk-buyout-522b13db0dac361a6225d289773f9c1d">is currently on hold</a>&nbsp;while a judge reviews its legality. The deferred resignation program, commonly described as a buyout, would allow employees to quit and still get paid until Sept. 30. Administration officials said more than 65,000 workers have taken the offer.

A White House fact sheet on the executive order Trump signed said that “agencies will undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency components (or agencies themselves) may be eliminated or combined because their functions aren’t required by law.”

It also said that agencies should “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart from federal service.” There are plans for exceptions when it comes to immigration, law enforcement and public safety.

Hundreds of people gathered for a rally Tuesday across the street from the U.S. Capitol in support of federal workers.

Janet Connelly, a graphic designer with the Department of Energy, said she's fed up with emails from the Office of Personnel Management encouraging people to take the deferred resignation program.

She tried to use her spam settings to filter out the emails but to no avail. Connelly said she has no plans to take the offer.

“From the get-go, I didn’t trust it,” she said.

Connelly said she thinks of her work as trying to do an important service for the American public.

“It’s too easy to vilify us," she said.

Others have said fear and uncertainty have swept through the federal workforce.

“They’re worried about their jobs. They’re worried about their families. They’re also worried about their work and the communities they serve,” said Helen Bottcher, a former Environmental Protection Agency employee and current union leader in Seattle.

Bottcher participated in a press conference hosted by Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington.

Murray said workers “deserve better than to be threatened, intimidated and pushed out the door by Elon Musk and Donald Trump.” She also said that "we actually need these people to stay in their jobs or things are going to start breaking.”

A government lawyer, who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of fears of retaliation, said it was a terrifying time to be a federal worker.

She said people are worried that their phones and computers are being monitored. She's a single mother with a young daughter, and her father is urging her to take a safer job in the private sector.

But she's skeptical of the deferred resignation program, emphasizing that accepting the offer means workers can't sue if they're not paid what they're promised.

Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Martha Bellisle in Seattle, Rebecca Santana in Washington and Brian Witte in Annapolis, Md., contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's most powerful adviser, Elon Musk, made a rare public appearance at the White House on Tuesday to defend the swift and extensive cuts he's pushing across the federal government while acknowledging there have been mistakes and will be more.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Elon Musk: &quot;At a high level, if you say what is the goal of <a href="https://twitter.com/DOGE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DOGE</a> and a significant part of the presidency, is to restore democracy...&quot; <a href="https://t.co/kdvhYlfLo4">pic.twitter.com/kdvhYlfLo4</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1889427925746811110?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Musk stood next to the Resolute Desk with his young son as Trump praised Musk's work with his Department of Government Efficiency&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ies-musk-doge-education-cuts-4461d7bdbe9d55c5a411d8465999b011">to slash spending</a>&nbsp;and as the president signed an executive order to continue downsizing the federal workforce.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Q: &quot;Your detractors...say that you&#39;re orchestrating a hostile takeover of government and doing it in a non-transparent way. What&#39;s your response to that criticism?&quot; Elon Musk: &quot;The people voted for major government reform and that&#39;s what people are going to get.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/RyugNN7ijt">pic.twitter.com/RyugNN7ijt</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1889428248091664441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Despite concerns that he’s amassing unaccountable power&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-doge-secrecy-68a66370cbc67c457e0a1c6edb08c5ef">with little transparency</a>, Musk described himself as an open book. He joked that the scrutiny over his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-doge-21153a742fbad86284369bb173ec343c">sprawling influence over federal agencies</a>&nbsp;was like a “daily proctology exam.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Q: &quot;How can we make sure that all the statements that you said were correct so we can trust what you say?&quot; Elon Musk: &quot;Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/bbVdkIeAkM">pic.twitter.com/bbVdkIeAkM</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1889430810257666359?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Despite Musk’s pledge to be “maximally transparent,” the White House on Tuesday fired the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development, a day after the watchdog’s office warned that the DOGE-directed dismantling of USAID had made it all but impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in humanitarian funds.Musk, taking questions from reporters for the first time since joining the Trump administration as a special government employee, defended DOGE's work as “common sense” and “not draconian or radical.”“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get,” he said. “That’s what democracy is all about.”Musk, the world’s richest person and the owner of the social media platform X, said that he was trying to be “as transparent as possible” and claimed that the organization's work was shared on X and on DOGE's website. However, the DOGE website has no information, and the postings on X are lacking many details, including which programs are being cut and where the organization has access.Musk acknowledged, in response to a question, that some of the claims he's made about government programs and spending have been wrong.“Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. So nobody can bat 1,000,” he said, adding that he would act quickly to correct errors.He acknowledged DOGE could be making errors as well.“We are moving fast, so we will make mistakes, but we’ll also fix the mistakes very quickly,” Musk said.Musk said there are some good people in the federal bureaucracy, but they need to be accountable. Musk referred to the federal bureaucracy as an “unelected” fourth branch that had “more power than any elected representative.”Trump and Musk are pushing federal workers to resign in return for financial incentives, although their plan&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-federal-workers-doge-musk-buyout-522b13db0dac361a6225d289773f9c1d">is currently on hold</a>&nbsp;while a judge reviews its legality. The deferred resignation program, commonly described as a buyout, would allow employees to quit and still get paid until Sept. 30. Administration officials said more than 65,000 workers have taken the offer.A White House fact sheet on the executive order Trump signed said that “agencies will undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency components (or agencies themselves) may be eliminated or combined because their functions aren’t required by law.”It also said that agencies should “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart from federal service.” There are plans for exceptions when it comes to immigration, law enforcement and public safety.Hundreds of people gathered for a rally Tuesday across the street from the U.S. Capitol in support of federal workers.Janet Connelly, a graphic designer with the Department of Energy, said she's fed up with emails from the Office of Personnel Management encouraging people to take the deferred resignation program.She tried to use her spam settings to filter out the emails but to no avail. Connelly said she has no plans to take the offer.“From the get-go, I didn’t trust it,” she said.Connelly said she thinks of her work as trying to do an important service for the American public.“It’s too easy to vilify us," she said.Others have said fear and uncertainty have swept through the federal workforce.“They’re worried about their jobs. They’re worried about their families. They’re also worried about their work and the communities they serve,” said Helen Bottcher, a former Environmental Protection Agency employee and current union leader in Seattle.Bottcher participated in a press conference hosted by Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington.Murray said workers “deserve better than to be threatened, intimidated and pushed out the door by Elon Musk and Donald Trump.” She also said that "we actually need these people to stay in their jobs or things are going to start breaking.”A government lawyer, who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of fears of retaliation, said it was a terrifying time to be a federal worker.She said people are worried that their phones and computers are being monitored. She's a single mother with a young daughter, and her father is urging her to take a safer job in the private sector.But she's skeptical of the deferred resignation program, emphasizing that accepting the offer means workers can't sue if they're not paid what they're promised.The idea, she said, was insane._____Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Martha Bellisle in Seattle, Rebecca Santana in Washington and Brian Witte in Annapolis, Md., contributed to this report.

🎥Musk appears at White House defending DOGE's work 

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT Hays Post

RUSSELL -&nbsp;The TMP-Marian Monarchs went on the road Tuesday for a Mid-Continent League matchup with their long-time rivals the Russell Broncos and it was the Russell girls earning a 49-45 &nbsp;victory while the TMP boys outlasted Russell in overtime, 67-64.

GIRLS: Russell 49, TMP 45 Similar to the first meeting between the Monarchs (10-7, 4-2 MCL) and the Broncos, earlier this year in the fifth-place game of the MCL tournament, Russell (9-9, 5-3 MCL) ran out to a double-digital lead but this time there were able to hold off the Monarchs and picked up their first win against TMP since the 2019 season, 49-45.

Russell jumped out to an early 15-3 run with only Shalee Gottschalk’s three point field on the board for TMP.

Over the final minute of the first and start of the second quarter TMP’s Brooke Koenigsman combined with Reagan Allen to score eight in-a-row, making it 15-11 Russell early in the second quarter.

Russell again extended their lead to nine but&nbsp;TMP outscored Russell in the second quarter 16 to 9 as the Monarchs made it 24-21 Broncos at halftime.

Brynn Rebel connected on a three pointer out of the quarter break tying the game briefly at 24.&nbsp;

But Russell answered with an 11-2 run and led by seven at 38-31 through three quarters of the action

The Monarchs opened the final frame by putting together a 14-6 run that allowed TMP to take the 45-44 on a Koenigsman three pointer.

Koenigsman and Hannah Rose scored 12 of the 14 points during the run.

But on the next Russell possession, Aubrey Birney scored on an offensive rebound to put the Broncos us 46-45 and they never trailed again in a 49-45 victory.

Birney led all scorers with 12 points and seven rebounds. Koenigsman led TMP with 11 points and five rebounds.

BOYS: TMP 67, Russell 64 It would take overtime to decided a winner Tuesday between the TMP boys and the Russell boys and it was TMP coming up with the 67-64 win

Jacob Seib scored the first four point of the game for the Monarchs as they jumped to an early 8-3 lead.&nbsp;

The Monarchs (9-8, 5-1 MCL) led 15-7 after the first quarter.

TMP continued to build their first-half lead and led by as many at 13 at 24-11 on an offensive rebound and put back by Seib in the second quarter.

But the Monarchs went cold to close out the first half and that allowed Russell (9-8, 4-4 MCL) to climb back within one at halftime, 26-25.

They then took the lead to open the second half at 27-26. The third quarter featured 10 lead changes and four ties before the Monarchs took a 42-41 lead into the final period of the regulation.

In the fourth quarter Russell led by as many as four and TMP by as many as three but with TMP up three at 55-52, Jake Mooney hit a three pointer to send the game to overtime.

In the extra frame, the Monarchs were six-of-eight at the line and Carson Liles was a perfect four-for-four. He scored four points and Jacob Seib scored six points in the overtime leading TMP to the 67-64 victory.

Seib scored a career-high 23 points. Ty Schmeidler added 18 points and Liles finished with 14 points.

Russell’s Trey Carlson had 31 points, 13 rebounds and blocked three shots in a losing effort.

TMP with host Plainville on Thursday and Russell travels to Trego on Friday.&nbsp;

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT Hays PostRUSSELL -&nbsp;The TMP-Marian Monarchs went on the road Tuesday for a Mid-Continent League matchup with their long-time rivals the Russell Broncos and it was the Russell girls earning a 49-45 &nbsp;victory while the TMP boys outlasted Russell in overtime, 67-64.GIRLS: Russell 49, TMP 45 Similar to the first meeting between the Monarchs (10-7, 4-2 MCL) and the Broncos, earlier this year in the fifth-place game of the MCL tournament, Russell (9-9, 5-3 MCL) ran out to a double-digital lead but this time there were able to hold off the Monarchs and picked up their first win against TMP since the 2019 season, 49-45.<div><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/2032189928&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509" title="Eagle Radio" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Eagle Radio</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/john-linn-postgame-interview-3" title="John Linn Postgame Interview vs Russell (Feb 11th 25)" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">John Linn Postgame Interview vs Russell (Feb 11th 25)</a></div></div>Russell jumped out to an early 15-3 run with only Shalee Gottschalk’s three point field on the board for TMP.Over the final minute of the first and start of the second quarter TMP’s Brooke Koenigsman combined with Reagan Allen to score eight in-a-row, making it 15-11 Russell early in the second quarter.Russell again extended their lead to nine but&nbsp;TMP outscored Russell in the second quarter 16 to 9 as the Monarchs made it 24-21 Broncos at halftime.Brynn Rebel connected on a three pointer out of the quarter break tying the game briefly at 24.&nbsp;But Russell answered with an 11-2 run and led by seven at 38-31 through three quarters of the actionThe Monarchs opened the final frame by putting together a 14-6 run that allowed TMP to take the 45-44 on a Koenigsman three pointer.Koenigsman and Hannah Rose scored 12 of the 14 points during the run.But on the next Russell possession, Aubrey Birney scored on an offensive rebound to put the Broncos us 46-45 and they never trailed again in a 49-45 victory.<div><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/2032192764&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509" title="Eagle Radio" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Eagle Radio</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/tmp-wbkb-highlights-vs-russell" title="TMP WBKB Highlights vs Russell (Feb 11th 25)" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">TMP WBKB Highlights vs Russell (Feb 11th 25)</a></div></div>Birney led all scorers with 12 points and seven rebounds. Koenigsman led TMP with 11 points and five rebounds.BOYS: TMP 67, Russell 64 It would take overtime to decided a winner Tuesday between the TMP boys and the Russell boys and it was TMP coming up with the 67-64 win<div><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/2032189608&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509" title="Eagle Radio" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Eagle Radio</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/bill-meagher-postgame-4" title="Bill Meagher Postgame Interview vs Russell (Feb 11th 25)" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Bill Meagher Postgame Interview vs Russell (Feb 11th 25)</a></div></div>Jacob Seib scored the first four point of the game for the Monarchs as they jumped to an early 8-3 lead.&nbsp;The Monarchs (9-8, 5-1 MCL) led 15-7 after the first quarter.TMP continued to build their first-half lead and led by as many at 13 at 24-11 on an offensive rebound and put back by Seib in the second quarter.But the Monarchs went cold to close out the first half and that allowed Russell (9-8, 4-4 MCL) to climb back within one at halftime, 26-25.They then took the lead to open the second half at 27-26. The third quarter featured 10 lead changes and four ties before the Monarchs took a 42-41 lead into the final period of the regulation.In the fourth quarter Russell led by as many as four and TMP by as many as three but with TMP up three at 55-52, Jake Mooney hit a three pointer to send the game to overtime.In the extra frame, the Monarchs were six-of-eight at the line and Carson Liles was a perfect four-for-four. He scored four points and Jacob Seib scored six points in the overtime leading TMP to the 67-64 victory.<div><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/2032191284&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509" title="Eagle Radio" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Eagle Radio</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/tmp-mbkb-highlights-vs-russell" title="TMP MBKB Highlights vs Russell (Feb 11th 25)" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">TMP MBKB Highlights vs Russell (Feb 11th 25)</a></div></div>Seib scored a career-high 23 points. Ty Schmeidler added 18 points and Liles finished with 14 points.Russell’s Trey Carlson had 31 points, 13 rebounds and blocked three shots in a losing effort.TMP with host Plainville on Thursday and Russell travels to Trego on Friday.&nbsp;

🏀 TMP-Marian splits MCL showdown with rival Russell

The Hays High girls’ held at No. 5 in the latest Kansas
Wrestling Coaches Association 5A rankings out Tuesday afternoon. Shawnee
Heights remains No. 1 with Basehor-Linwood second, Kapaun Mt. Carmel third and
Newton fourth.

Six Indians continue to be ranked with not changes again
this week. Sophomore Eleanor Stoffel remains second at 190, senior Tionna Napue
second at 135, sophomore Timber Lovewell third at 145, junior Lexie Barnett
third at 155, sophomore Kenlee Vehige fourth at 120 and sophomore Emersyn
Copper sixth at 100.

Dalton Meyers remains third at 175 and Johnny Rigler fourth
at 190 for the Hays High boys.

Oakley takes over the top spot in 321A girls’ poll switching
spots with Norton who dropped to second. Russell remained third, Plainville fourth,
Hoisington fifth and Stockton sixth.

Hoxie tops 321A boys with Norton second, Phillipsburg
fourth, Russell fifth and Hill City eighth.

Area 321A girls individual rankings
 100:&nbsp;3. Carolina Nortrup – Stockton, 4. Kaeleigh Klein – Plainville 105:&nbsp;2. Keleigh Ochoa – Smith Center,&nbsp;5. Kya Bell – Hill City
 110:&nbsp;6. Kia Mader – Ellis
 115:&nbsp;4. Kallan Rothchild – Trego
 130:&nbsp;1. Ashlyn Hahn – Stockton,&nbsp;5. Annika Dietz – Trego
 140:&nbsp;3. Ella Normandin – Plainville &nbsp;145:&nbsp;3. Lillian Garcia – Plainville
 155:&nbsp;2. Zoe Brown – Plainville,&nbsp;6. Johnna Ebner – Phillipsburg
 190:&nbsp;2. Caydence Carter – Plainville,&nbsp;3. Kaitlyn McCreery –
Phillipsburg
 235:&nbsp;5. Rivver Long – Stockton

Area 321A boys individual rankings 113:&nbsp;2. Tate Blackwill – Quinter
 132:&nbsp;3. Kaden Sisson – Phillipsburg
 144:&nbsp;5. Seth Keeten – Phillipsburg
 150:&nbsp;2. Cole Keeten – Phillipsburg,&nbsp;4. Sylar Rohr – Hill City
 157:&nbsp;2. Blake Buresch – Phillipsburg,&nbsp;5. Jaxson Smith – Hill City
 175:&nbsp;2. Dayton Stephen – Hill City,&nbsp;6. Kayden Hudson – Phillipsburg
 285:&nbsp;1. Kharson Montgomery – Smith Center

GIRLS
 <a href="https://5starassets.blob.core.windows.net/multi-media/2636319/hub/All%20Class%20Girls%20Week%2010.pdf">All
Class Rankings</a>
 <a href="https://5starassets.blob.core.windows.net/multi-media/2636319/hub/5A%20Girls%20Week%2010.pdf">5A
Rankings</a>
 <a href="https://5starassets.blob.core.windows.net/multi-media/2636319/hub/321A%20Girls%20Week%2010.pdf">321A
Rankings</a>

BOYS
 <a href="https://5starassets.blob.core.windows.net/multi-media/2636319/hub/24-25%20Boys%20All%20Class%20Rankings%20Database%20-%20FINAL%20SHEET%20(28).pdf">All
Class Rankings</a>
 <a href="https://5starassets.blob.core.windows.net/multi-media/2636319/hub/5A%20Boys%20Week%2010.pdf">5A
Rankings</a>
 <a href="https://5starassets.blob.core.windows.net/multi-media/2636319/hub/321A%20Boys%20Week%2010.pdf">321A
Rankings</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/11/1604497727867.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Hays PostThe Hays High girls’ held at No. 5 in the latest Kansas
Wrestling Coaches Association 5A rankings out Tuesday afternoon. Shawnee
Heights remains No. 1 with Basehor-Linwood second, Kapaun Mt. Carmel third and
Newton fourth.Six Indians continue to be ranked with not changes again
this week. Sophomore Eleanor Stoffel remains second at 190, senior Tionna Napue
second at 135, sophomore Timber Lovewell third at 145, junior Lexie Barnett
third at 155, sophomore Kenlee Vehige fourth at 120 and sophomore Emersyn
Copper sixth at 100.Dalton Meyers remains third at 175 and Johnny Rigler fourth
at 190 for the Hays High boys.Oakley takes over the top spot in 321A girls’ poll switching
spots with Norton who dropped to second. Russell remained third, Plainville fourth,
Hoisington fifth and Stockton sixth.Hoxie tops 321A boys with Norton second, Phillipsburg
fourth, Russell fifth and Hill City eighth.Area 321A girls individual rankings
 100:&nbsp;3. Carolina Nortrup – Stockton, 4. Kaeleigh Klein – Plainville 105:&nbsp;2. Keleigh Ochoa – Smith Center,&nbsp;5. Kya Bell – Hill City
 110:&nbsp;6. Kia Mader – Ellis
 115:&nbsp;4. Kallan Rothchild – Trego
 130:&nbsp;1. Ashlyn Hahn – Stockton,&nbsp;5. Annika Dietz – Trego
 140:&nbsp;3. Ella Normandin – Plainville &nbsp;145:&nbsp;3. Lillian Garcia – Plainville
 155:&nbsp;2. Zoe Brown – Plainville,&nbsp;6. Johnna Ebner – Phillipsburg
 190:&nbsp;2. Caydence Carter – Plainville,&nbsp;3. Kaitlyn McCreery –
Phillipsburg
 235:&nbsp;5. Rivver Long – StocktonArea 321A boys individual rankings 113:&nbsp;2. Tate Blackwill – Quinter
 132:&nbsp;3. Kaden Sisson – Phillipsburg
 144:&nbsp;5. Seth Keeten – Phillipsburg
 150:&nbsp;2. Cole Keeten – Phillipsburg,&nbsp;4. Sylar Rohr – Hill City
 157:&nbsp;2. Blake Buresch – Phillipsburg,&nbsp;5. Jaxson Smith – Hill City
 175:&nbsp;2. Dayton Stephen – Hill City,&nbsp;6. Kayden Hudson – Phillipsburg
 285:&nbsp;1. Kharson Montgomery – Smith CenterGIRLS
 <a href="https://5starassets.blob.core.windows.net/multi-media/2636319/hub/All%20Class%20Girls%20Week%2010.pdf">All
Class Rankings</a>
 <a href="https://5starassets.blob.core.windows.net/multi-media/2636319/hub/5A%20Girls%20Week%2010.pdf">5A
Rankings</a>
 <a href="https://5starassets.blob.core.windows.net/multi-media/2636319/hub/321A%20Girls%20Week%2010.pdf">321A
Rankings</a>BOYS
 <a href="https://5starassets.blob.core.windows.net/multi-media/2636319/hub/24-25%20Boys%20All%20Class%20Rankings%20Database%20-%20FINAL%20SHEET%20(28).pdf">All
Class Rankings</a>
 <a href="https://5starassets.blob.core.windows.net/multi-media/2636319/hub/5A%20Boys%20Week%2010.pdf">5A
Rankings</a>
 <a href="https://5starassets.blob.core.windows.net/multi-media/2636319/hub/321A%20Boys%20Week%2010.pdf">321A
Rankings</a>

🤼‍♀️ HHS girls hold at No. 5 in latest KWCA 5A rankings

The undefeated Hays High girls’ basketball team remained fourth
in the latest Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Class 5A rankings out Tuesday
afternoon. The Indians are 15-0 and will host state-ranked Liberal Friday. The Redskins girls returned to the 6A poll at No. 9.

The Hoxie girls moved up a spot to No. 5 in Class 2A. Oakley
also moved up a spot to No. 9.&nbsp; The Quinter girls held at No. 7 in 1A Division 1.
Wheatland-Grinnell jumped two spots to No. 8 in 1A Division 1.

The Victoria boys are ranked for the first time this season at No. 10 in 1A Division 2. The Knights ate 10-7 but have won three-straight and four of their last five games.

Logan-Palco held at No. 3 in 1A Division 1.

6A Girls 1. Derby 2. Blue Valley North 3. Wichita Heights 4. Olathe South 5. &nbsp;Blue Valley Northwest 6. Topeka-Washburn Rural 7. Olathe North 8. Wichita East 9. &nbsp;Liberal 10. Olathe West

5A Girls 1. Topeka Seaman 2. Lenexa-St. James Academy 3. Andover 4. Hays 5. Kansas City Piper 6. Maize South 7. De Soto 8. OP-St. Thomas Aquinas 9. Wichita-Bishop Carroll 10. Spring Hill

4A Girls 1. Topeka Hayden 2. Wellington 3. Eudora 4. Roeland Park-Bishop Miege 5. Fort Scott 6. Altamont-Labette County 7. Clay Center 8. St. George-Rock Creek 9. Buhler 10. Pratt

3A Girls 1. Hesston 2. Halstead 3. Osage City 4. Colby 5. Riley County 6. Silver Lake 7. Girard 8. Cheney 9. Kismet-Southwestern Heights 10. Haven

2A Girls 1. Pittsburg-St. Mary's Colgan 2. Leoti-Wichita County 3. Moundridge 4. Inman 5. Hoxie 6. Highland-Doniphan West 7. Bennington 8. Ellinwood 9. Oakley 10. Eureka

1A Division 1 Girls 1. Little River 2. Centralia 3. Clyde-Clifton Clyde 4. Claflin-Central Plains 5. Montezuma-South Gray 6. Troy 7. Quinter 8. Atwood-Rawlins County 9. St. John-Hudson 10. Mankato-Rock Hills

1A Division 2 Girls 1. Lebo 2. Hanover 3. Wallace County-Sharon Springs 4. South Haven 5. Bucklin 6. Attica 7. Jetmore-Hodgeman County 8. Wheatland-Grinnell 9. Hartford 10. Cheylin

6A Boys 1. Derby 2. Shawnee Mission Northwest 3. Shawnee Mission South 4. Shawnee-Mill Valley 5. Wichita Heights 6. Blue Valley North 7. Blue Valley 8. Olathe North 9. Wichita Northwest 10. Blue Valley Northwest

5A Boys 1. Topeka-Highland Park 2. Kansas City Piper 3. Wichita-Kapaun Mt. Carmel 4. Great Bend 5. Bonner Springs 6. Andover 7. Topeka Seaman 8. Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights 9. Emporia 10. Kansas City-Washington

4A Boys 1. Ottawa 2. McPherson 3. St. George-Rock Creek 4. Topeka-Hayden 5. Baldwin 6. Chanute 7. Andale 8. Pratt 9. Concordia 10. Clay Center

3A Boys 1. Goodland 2. Haven 3. Wichita Collegiate 4. Lakin 5. Cheney 6. Hesston 7. Nemaha Central 8. Galena 9. St. Mary's 10. Holcomb

2A Boys 1. Moundridge 2. Salina-Sacred Heart 3. Sterling 4. Brookville-Ell Saline 5. Atchison-Maur Hill Mount Academy 6. Rossville 7. Bennington 8. Elbing-Berean Academy 9. Hillsboro 10. Syracuse

1A Division 1 Boys 1. Coldwater-South Central 2. Olpe 3. Lawrence-Seabury Academy 4. Montezuma-South Gray 5. Burlingame 6. Burden-Central 7. Oxford 8. Claflin-Central Plains 9. Macksville 10. Lincoln

1A Division 2 Boys 1. Cunningham 2. Axtell 3. Logan-Palco 4. Hanover 5. McPherson-Elyria Christian 6. Dighton 7. Jetmore-Hodgeman County 8. Weskan 9. St. John-Tipton 10. &nbsp;Victoria

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/4/1712064660369.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Hays PostThe undefeated Hays High girls’ basketball team remained fourth
in the latest Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Class 5A rankings out Tuesday
afternoon. The Indians are 15-0 and will host state-ranked Liberal Friday. The Redskins girls returned to the 6A poll at No. 9.The Hoxie girls moved up a spot to No. 5 in Class 2A. Oakley
also moved up a spot to No. 9.&nbsp; The Quinter girls held at No. 7 in 1A Division 1.
Wheatland-Grinnell jumped two spots to No. 8 in 1A Division 1.The Victoria boys are ranked for the first time this season at No. 10 in 1A Division 2. The Knights ate 10-7 but have won three-straight and four of their last five games.Great Bend remained fourth in 5A.Logan-Palco held at No. 3 in 1A Division 1.6A Girls 1. Derby 2. Blue Valley North 3. Wichita Heights 4. Olathe South 5. &nbsp;Blue Valley Northwest 6. Topeka-Washburn Rural 7. Olathe North 8. Wichita East 9. &nbsp;Liberal 10. Olathe West5A Girls 1. Topeka Seaman 2. Lenexa-St. James Academy 3. Andover 4. Hays 5. Kansas City Piper 6. Maize South 7. De Soto 8. OP-St. Thomas Aquinas 9. Wichita-Bishop Carroll 10. Spring Hill4A Girls 1. Topeka Hayden 2. Wellington 3. Eudora 4. Roeland Park-Bishop Miege 5. Fort Scott 6. Altamont-Labette County 7. Clay Center 8. St. George-Rock Creek 9. Buhler 10. Pratt3A Girls 1. Hesston 2. Halstead 3. Osage City 4. Colby 5. Riley County 6. Silver Lake 7. Girard 8. Cheney 9. Kismet-Southwestern Heights 10. Haven 2A Girls 1. Pittsburg-St. Mary's Colgan 2. Leoti-Wichita County 3. Moundridge 4. Inman 5. Hoxie 6. Highland-Doniphan West 7. Bennington 8. Ellinwood 9. Oakley 10. Eureka1A Division 1 Girls 1. Little River 2. Centralia 3. Clyde-Clifton Clyde 4. Claflin-Central Plains 5. Montezuma-South Gray 6. Troy 7. Quinter 8. Atwood-Rawlins County 9. St. John-Hudson 10. Mankato-Rock Hills1A Division 2 Girls 1. Lebo 2. Hanover 3. Wallace County-Sharon Springs 4. South Haven 5. Bucklin 6. Attica 7. Jetmore-Hodgeman County 8. Wheatland-Grinnell 9. Hartford 10. Cheylin6A Boys 1. Derby 2. Shawnee Mission Northwest 3. Shawnee Mission South 4. Shawnee-Mill Valley 5. Wichita Heights 6. Blue Valley North 7. Blue Valley 8. Olathe North 9. Wichita Northwest 10. Blue Valley Northwest5A Boys 1. Topeka-Highland Park 2. Kansas City Piper 3. Wichita-Kapaun Mt. Carmel 4. Great Bend 5. Bonner Springs 6. Andover 7. Topeka Seaman 8. Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights 9. Emporia 10. Kansas City-Washington4A Boys 1. Ottawa 2. McPherson 3. St. George-Rock Creek 4. Topeka-Hayden 5. Baldwin 6. Chanute 7. Andale 8. Pratt 9. Concordia 10. Clay Center3A Boys 1. Goodland 2. Haven 3. Wichita Collegiate 4. Lakin 5. Cheney 6. Hesston 7. Nemaha Central 8. Galena 9. St. Mary's 10. Holcomb2A Boys 1. Moundridge 2. Salina-Sacred Heart 3. Sterling 4. Brookville-Ell Saline 5. Atchison-Maur Hill Mount Academy 6. Rossville 7. Bennington 8. Elbing-Berean Academy 9. Hillsboro 10. Syracuse 1A Division 1 Boys 1. Coldwater-South Central 2. Olpe 3. Lawrence-Seabury Academy 4. Montezuma-South Gray 5. Burlingame 6. Burden-Central 7. Oxford 8. Claflin-Central Plains 9. Macksville 10. Lincoln1A Division 2 Boys 1. Cunningham 2. Axtell 3. Logan-Palco 4. Hanover 5. McPherson-Elyria Christian 6. Dighton 7. Jetmore-Hodgeman County 8. Weskan 9. St. John-Tipton 10. &nbsp;Victoria

🏀 HHS girls hold, Victoria boys debut in latest KBCA rankings

The Environmental Services Director discussed a proposal for implementing unsecured load fees at the county landfill at Tuesday's Ellis County Commission meeting.

Justin Craig, director of Environmental Services, said the fees to improve road cleanliness and safety rather than profit.

"The intent would not be to generate any additional revenue at the landfill, but it's something that we possibly just need to address as a community," he said.

Craig said other counties that have implemented similar fees. In Ellis County, unsecured loads frequently spill trash and debris onto the roads.

Craig said potential fee options include a 50% increase in tipping fees or a $10 flat fee.

Concerns were raised about enforcement, such as defining a secured load and the potential for increased illegal dumping, which Sheriff Scott Braun said is already a frequent issue.

This is a continuation of a past discussion. Craig will draft a tentative policy for consideration.

County Administrator Darin Myers presented on multiple topics, including United Way funding and a support letter for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant.

The county commission approved a $5,000 contribution to the United Way of Ellis County to support the Care Council.

The commission also signed a letter of support for the city of Hays' application for a&nbsp;Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant. The grant aims to help fund the R9 Ranch in Edwards County.

Myers said Hays received a FEMA technical assistance grant, which helped enhance their application.

City Manager Toby Dougherty provided an update on the project, saying the design is 60% complete, cost estimates have stabilized and land acquisition for pipeline easements will begin in two months.

Jay Harris, executive director of the Cottonwood Extension District, provided updates on new initiatives and community concerns.

Harris said the district intends to hire a community health worker for Ellis County to focus on various health issues, including mental health and the aging population's needs.

The district plans to obtain funding through grants and other sources but may request county support if necessary.

The Cottonwood District also wants to join the Extension Disaster Education Network program to improve coordination with emergency response efforts and work with Ellis County's disaster response plan.

Human Resources Manager Jennifer Taylor presented the annual Employee Service Awards program for the commission to recognize county employees for their years of service.

Employees were honored for reaching milestones from five to 40 years of employment with Ellis County.

Employees reaching eight-year and 16-year anniversaries were recognized with Kansas Association of Counties awards.

"Thank you very much for the service and work you do for the public. The years of experience that we put into our county shows every day,"&nbsp;County Commission Chairman Michael Berges said.&nbsp;

A list of recognized employees are below.

5 years with Ellis County Aaron Cunningham (Attorney’s Office), Austin Tammen (Fire), Ben Mettlen (Fire), Chris Browning (Fire), Dean Klaus (Solid Waste), Dustin Karlin (Information Technology), Greg Timmons (Fire), Justin Craig (Environmental Services), Justin Miller (Public Works), Katelynn Keiswetter (EMS), Lyle Pantle (Fire &amp; Emergency Management), Shane Sulzman (Public Works)

10 years with Ellis County Emma Scofield (EMS), Jayson Dinkel (Communications), Larry Rohr (Public Works), Meagan Stremel (Public Works), Rusty Lindsay (Fire)

15 years with Ellis County Cole Dinges (Fire), David Fitzhugh (EMS), Kami Weber (Fire)

20 years with Ellis County Garrett Brening (Sheriff’s Office), Kay Rohr (Solid Waste), Mike Weber (Appraiser’s Office), Tabatha Deines (Sheriff’s Office)

25 years with Ellis County Danita Schroeder (EMS), Gary Haas (Noxious Weed)

30 years with Ellis County Roberta Oborny (Sheriff’s Office)

35 years with Ellis County Greg Erbert (Buildings &amp; Grounds)

40 years with Ellis County Chris Vonlintel (Public Works)

8 year KAC Awards Braden Parke (Sheriff’s Office), Brandon Kuhn (Public Works), Ty Mcculloch (Sheriff’s Office)

16 year KAC Awards Becky Schumacher (Attorney’s Office), Brian Meis (Communications Center)

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1684183971486.png" alt="Ellis County" />
 <figcaption>Ellis County</figcaption>
 </figure>By TONY GUERRERO Hays PostThe Environmental Services Director discussed a proposal for implementing unsecured load fees at the county landfill at Tuesday's Ellis County Commission meeting.Justin Craig, director of Environmental Services, said the fees to improve road cleanliness and safety rather than profit."The intent would not be to generate any additional revenue at the landfill, but it's something that we possibly just need to address as a community," he said.Craig said other counties that have implemented similar fees. In Ellis County, unsecured loads frequently spill trash and debris onto the roads.Craig said potential fee options include a 50% increase in tipping fees or a $10 flat fee.Concerns were raised about enforcement, such as defining a secured load and the potential for increased illegal dumping, which Sheriff Scott Braun said is already a frequent issue.This is a continuation of a past discussion. Craig will draft a tentative policy for consideration.<h2>United Way and grant support letter</h2>County Administrator Darin Myers presented on multiple topics, including United Way funding and a support letter for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant.The county commission approved a $5,000 contribution to the United Way of Ellis County to support the Care Council.The commission also signed a letter of support for the city of Hays' application for a&nbsp;Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant. The grant aims to help fund the R9 Ranch in Edwards County.Myers said Hays received a FEMA technical assistance grant, which helped enhance their application.City Manager Toby Dougherty provided an update on the project, saying the design is 60% complete, cost estimates have stabilized and land acquisition for pipeline easements will begin in two months.<h2>Cottonwood extension district update</h2>Jay Harris, executive director of the Cottonwood Extension District, provided updates on new initiatives and community concerns.Harris said the district intends to hire a community health worker for Ellis County to focus on various health issues, including mental health and the aging population's needs.The district plans to obtain funding through grants and other sources but may request county support if necessary.The Cottonwood District also wants to join the Extension Disaster Education Network program to improve coordination with emergency response efforts and work with Ellis County's disaster response plan.<h2>Recognized employees</h2>Human Resources Manager Jennifer Taylor presented the annual Employee Service Awards program for the commission to recognize county employees for their years of service.Employees were honored for reaching milestones from five to 40 years of employment with Ellis County.Employees reaching eight-year and 16-year anniversaries were recognized with Kansas Association of Counties awards."Thank you very much for the service and work you do for the public. The years of experience that we put into our county shows every day,"&nbsp;County Commission Chairman Michael Berges said.&nbsp;A list of recognized employees are below.5 years with Ellis County Aaron Cunningham (Attorney’s Office), Austin Tammen (Fire), Ben Mettlen (Fire), Chris Browning (Fire), Dean Klaus (Solid Waste), Dustin Karlin (Information Technology), Greg Timmons (Fire), Justin Craig (Environmental Services), Justin Miller (Public Works), Katelynn Keiswetter (EMS), Lyle Pantle (Fire &amp; Emergency Management), Shane Sulzman (Public Works)10 years with Ellis County Emma Scofield (EMS), Jayson Dinkel (Communications), Larry Rohr (Public Works), Meagan Stremel (Public Works), Rusty Lindsay (Fire)15 years with Ellis County Cole Dinges (Fire), David Fitzhugh (EMS), Kami Weber (Fire)20 years with Ellis County Garrett Brening (Sheriff’s Office), Kay Rohr (Solid Waste), Mike Weber (Appraiser’s Office), Tabatha Deines (Sheriff’s Office)25 years with Ellis County Danita Schroeder (EMS), Gary Haas (Noxious Weed)30 years with Ellis County Roberta Oborny (Sheriff’s Office)35 years with Ellis County Greg Erbert (Buildings &amp; Grounds)40 years with Ellis County Chris Vonlintel (Public Works)8 year KAC Awards Braden Parke (Sheriff’s Office), Brandon Kuhn (Public Works), Ty Mcculloch (Sheriff’s Office)16 year KAC Awards Becky Schumacher (Attorney’s Office), Brian Meis (Communications Center)40 year KAC Awards Chris Vonlintel (Public Works)