Tony Alan Wolters, 55, of Osborne, KS passed away on Sunday, 
September 5, 2021, at the Colby Medical Center of Colby, KS. &nbsp;He was born
 on October 5, 1965, in Smith Center, KS to John L. &amp; Arlene B. 
(Pletcher) Wolters of Portis, KS.

Tony grew up in&nbsp;Portis, KS. 
&nbsp;He graduated from Osborne High School in 1984. &nbsp;Tony attended Fort Hays
 State College, and graduated from Beloit Vo-Tech.&nbsp;Tony has lived his 
whole life in the Portis/Osborne area.

Tony met and married 
Anita Seller in August of 1985 &amp;&nbsp;to this union 2 children were born.
 &nbsp;Tony enjoyed watching his children grow and attending their different 
sport events through school.

Tony has worked as a farmer/rancher
 all his working life.&nbsp; He was a faithful member of the Grace Brethren 
Church of Portis, KS all his life. &nbsp;Tony didn't know a stranger. &nbsp;He 
also was quite a shooting enthusiast &amp; participated in many local 
area shooting competitions. &nbsp;Cycling was another favorite activity Tony 
loved to do.

Tony was preceded in death by his father, John in 1989 and a brother, Christopher in 2008.

Tony
 is survived by his mother, Arlene of Portis, KS; wife, Anita of 
Osborne, KS; son: Miles (Jessica) of Salina, KS; daughter: Jeni (Josh) 
Farrell of Derby, KS; sister: Shari (Nate) Brown&nbsp;of Osborne, KS; 
brother: Curt (Joni) of Portis, KS; along with a host of other family 
and friends.

Click <a href="https://www.rfmortuaries.com/obituaries/Tony-Alan-Wolters?obId=23506666#/celebrationWall">HERE</a> for service details.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646661238215.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Tony Alan Wolters, 55, of Osborne, KS passed away on Sunday, 
September 5, 2021, at the Colby Medical Center of Colby, KS. &nbsp;He was born
 on October 5, 1965, in Smith Center, KS to John L. &amp; Arlene B. 
(Pletcher) Wolters of Portis, KS.Tony grew up in&nbsp;Portis, KS. 
&nbsp;He graduated from Osborne High School in 1984. &nbsp;Tony attended Fort Hays
 State College, and graduated from Beloit Vo-Tech.&nbsp;Tony has lived his 
whole life in the Portis/Osborne area.Tony met and married 
Anita Seller in August of 1985 &amp;&nbsp;to this union 2 children were born.
 &nbsp;Tony enjoyed watching his children grow and attending their different 
sport events through school.Tony has worked as a farmer/rancher
 all his working life.&nbsp; He was a faithful member of the Grace Brethren 
Church of Portis, KS all his life. &nbsp;Tony didn't know a stranger. &nbsp;He 
also was quite a shooting enthusiast &amp; participated in many local 
area shooting competitions. &nbsp;Cycling was another favorite activity Tony 
loved to do.Tony was preceded in death by his father, John in 1989 and a brother, Christopher in 2008.Tony
 is survived by his mother, Arlene of Portis, KS; wife, Anita of 
Osborne, KS; son: Miles (Jessica) of Salina, KS; daughter: Jeni (Josh) 
Farrell of Derby, KS; sister: Shari (Nate) Brown&nbsp;of Osborne, KS; 
brother: Curt (Joni) of Portis, KS; along with a host of other family 
and friends.Click <a href="https://www.rfmortuaries.com/obituaries/Tony-Alan-Wolters?obId=23506666#/celebrationWall">HERE</a> for service details.

Tony Alan Wolters

BANGKOK (AP) — The official global death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 6 million on Monday — underscoring that the pandemic, now entering its third year, is far from over.

The milestone, recorded by Johns Hopkins University, is the latest tragic reminder of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">unrelenting nature of the pandemic</a>&nbsp;even as people are shedding masks, travel is resuming and businesses are reopening around the globe.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-religion-new-zealand-fiji-27b40edd3d6e94c5b10185e49bbf182f">Remote Pacific islands,</a>&nbsp;whose isolation had protected them for more than two years, are just now grappling with their first outbreaks and deaths, fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant.

Hong Kong, which is seeing deaths soar, is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-china-hong-kong-400065ee2ffd08eee45411d6dc099cca">testing its entire population of 7.5 million&nbsp;</a>three times this month as it clings to mainland&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-china-hong-kong-2f6cf36849799aa67cd8ee8d4f5bfd64">China’s “zero-COVID” strategy</a>.

As death rates remain high in Poland, Hungary, Romania and other Eastern European countries, the region has seen more than 1.5 million refugees arrive from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">war-torn Ukraine</a>, a country with poor vaccination coverage and high rates of cases and deaths.

And despite its wealth and vaccine availability, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-hits-covid-deaths-milestone-coronavirus-omicron-76dc452fb7263612529e09eb23bc0f24">United States is nearing 1 million</a>&nbsp;reported deaths on its own.

Death rates worldwide are still highest among people unvaccinated against the virus, said Tikki Pang, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore’s medical school and co-chair of the Asia Pacific Immunization Coalition.

“This is a disease of the unvaccinated — look what is happening in Hong Kong right now, the health system is being overwhelmed,” said Pang, the former director of research policy and cooperation with the World Health Organization. “The large majority of the deaths and the severe cases are in the unvaccinated, vulnerable segment of the population.”

It took the world seven months to record its first million deaths from the virus after the pandemic began in early 2020. Four months later another million people had died, and 1 million have died every three months since, until the death toll hit 5 million at the end of October. Now it has reached 6 million — more than the populations of Berlin and Brussels combined, or the entire state of Maryland.

But despite the enormity of the figure, the world undoubtedly hit its 6 millionth death some time ago. Poor record-keeping and testing in many parts of the world has led to an undercount in coronavirus deaths, in addition to excess deaths related to the pandemic but not from actual COVID-19 infections, like people who died from preventable causes but could not receive treatment because hospitals were full.

Edouard Mathieu, head of data for the&nbsp;<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus" target="_blank">Our World in Data</a>&nbsp;portal, said that — when countries’ excess mortality figures are studied — as many as nearly four times the reported death toll have likely died because of the pandemic.

An&nbsp;<a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-estimates" target="_blank">analysis of excess deaths by a team at The Economist</a>&nbsp;estimates that the number of COVID-19 deaths is between 14.1 million and 23.8 million.

“Confirmed deaths represent a fraction of the true number of deaths due to COVID, mostly because of limited testing, and challenges in the attribution of the cause of death,” Mathieu told The Associated Press. “In some, mostly rich, countries that fraction is high and the official tally can be considered to be fairly accurate, but in others it is highly underestimated.”

The United States has the biggest official death toll in the world, but the numbers have been trending downward over the last month.

Lonnie Bailey lost his 17-year-old nephew, Carlos Nunez Jr., who contracted COVID-19 last April — the same month Kentucky opened his age group to vaccinations. The Louisville resident said the family is still suffering, including Carlos’ younger sibling, who had to be hospitalized himself and still has lingering symptoms. The aggressive reopening of the country has been jarring for them to witness.

“For us it is hard to let our guard down; it’s going to take a while for us to adjust,” Bailey said.

The world has seen more than 445 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and new weekly cases have been declining recently in all regions except for the Western Pacific, which includes China, Japan and South Korea, among others, the World Health Organization reported this week.

Although the overall figures in the Pacific islands seeing their first outbreaks are small compared to larger countries, they are significant among their tiny populations and threaten to overwhelm fragile health care systems.

“Given what we know about COVID ... it’s likely to hit them for the next year or so at least,” said Katie Greenwood, head of the Red Cross Pacific delegation.

Tonga reported its first outbreak after the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tonga-volcano-covid-outbreak-lockdown-73b2d73b2b41092898b3d92be3dabcc4">virus arrived with international aid vessels</a>&nbsp;following the Jan. 15 eruption of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tonga-volcano-eruption-impact-whats-next-01288e5ecc43aa9a9bf3bc2803efd7e2">massive volcano</a>, followed by a tsunami. It now has several hundred cases, but — with 66% of its population fully vaccinated — it has so far reported people suffering mostly mild symptoms and no deaths.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-solomon-islands-honiara-30d3df8cb0f809c9e3e5a0cc5c6f886f">Solomon Islands</a>&nbsp;saw the first outbreak in January and now has thousands of cases and more than 100 deaths. The actual death toll is likely much higher, with the capital’s hospital overwhelmed and many dying at home, Greenwood said.

Only 12% of Solomon Islanders are fully vaccinated, though the outbreak has provided new impetus to the country’s vaccination campaign and 29% now have at least one shot.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-vaccine-inequality-dac9c07b324e29d3597037b8dc1d908a">Global vaccine disparity continues</a>, with only 6.95% of people in low-income countries fully vaccinated, compared to more than 73% in high-income nations, according to Our World in Data.

In a good sign, at the end of last month Africa surpassed Europe in the number of doses administered daily, but only about 12.5% of its population has received two shots.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still pressing for more vaccines, though it has been a challenge. Some shipments arrive with little warning for countries’ health systems and others near the expiration date — forcing doses to be destroyed.

Eastern Europe has been particularly hard hit by the omicron variant, and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new risk has emerged as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-refugees-diversity-230b0cc790820b9bf8883f918fc8e313">hundreds of thousands of people flee</a>&nbsp;to places like Poland on crowded trains. Health officials there have been offering free vaccinations to all refugees, but have not been making them test upon arrival or quarantine.

“This is really tragic because great stress has a very negative effect on natural immunity and increases the risk of infections,” said Anna Boron-Kaczmarska, a Polish infectious disease specialist. “They are in very high stress, being afraid for their lives, the lives of their children, they family members.”

Mexico has reported 300,000 deaths, but with little testing, a government analysis of death certificates puts the real number closer to 500,000. Still, four weeks of falling infection rates have left health officials optimistic.

In India, where the world was shocked by images of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-india-coronavirus-8788a4dadc2103ec30f40111dec92f15">open-air pyres of bodies</a>&nbsp;burned as crematoria were overwhelmed, the scars are fading as the number of new cases and deaths has slowed.

India has recorded more than 500,000 deaths, but experts believe its true toll is in the millions, primarily from the delta variant. Migrants from India’s vast hinterland are now returning to its megacities in search of jobs, and the streets are packed with traffic. Shopping malls have customers, albeit still masked, while schools and universities are welcoming students after a months-long gap.

In Britain, infections have fallen since an omicron-driven surge in December, but remain high. England has now&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boris-johnson-coronavirus-pandemic-health-europe-london-6a4a2509fd5443d7b36f5331b01f7431">lifted all restrictions</a>, including mask mandates and the requirement that all who test positive isolate at home.

With about 250,000 reported deaths, the African continent’s smaller death toll is thought to stem from underreporting, as well as a generally younger and less mobile population.

“Africa is a big question mark for me, because it has been relatively spared from the worst so far, but it could just be a time bomb,” Pang said, noting its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-middle-east-africa-lifestyle-1f2c92d6a306819c363c87661dc7818d">low vaccination rates</a>.

In South Africa, Soweto resident Thoko Dube said she received news of the deaths of two family members on the same day in January 2021 — a month before the country received its first vaccines.

It has been difficult, but “the family is coping,” she said. “We have accepted it because it has been happening to other families.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593379644162.png" alt="And despite&nbsp; wealth and vaccine availability, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-hits-covid-deaths-milestone-coronavirus-omicron-76dc452fb7263612529e09eb23bc0f24">United States is nearing 1 million</a>&nbsp;reported deaths on its own.-map courtesy John Hopkins University" />
 <figcaption>And despite&nbsp; wealth and vaccine availability, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-hits-covid-deaths-milestone-coronavirus-omicron-76dc452fb7263612529e09eb23bc0f24">United States is nearing 1 million</a>&nbsp;reported deaths on its own.-map courtesy John Hopkins University</figcaption>
 </figure>BANGKOK (AP) — The official global death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 6 million on Monday — underscoring that the pandemic, now entering its third year, is far from over.The milestone, recorded by Johns Hopkins University, is the latest tragic reminder of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">unrelenting nature of the pandemic</a>&nbsp;even as people are shedding masks, travel is resuming and businesses are reopening around the globe.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-religion-new-zealand-fiji-27b40edd3d6e94c5b10185e49bbf182f">Remote Pacific islands,</a>&nbsp;whose isolation had protected them for more than two years, are just now grappling with their first outbreaks and deaths, fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant.Hong Kong, which is seeing deaths soar, is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-china-hong-kong-400065ee2ffd08eee45411d6dc099cca">testing its entire population of 7.5 million&nbsp;</a>three times this month as it clings to mainland&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-china-hong-kong-2f6cf36849799aa67cd8ee8d4f5bfd64">China’s “zero-COVID” strategy</a>.As death rates remain high in Poland, Hungary, Romania and other Eastern European countries, the region has seen more than 1.5 million refugees arrive from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">war-torn Ukraine</a>, a country with poor vaccination coverage and high rates of cases and deaths.And despite its wealth and vaccine availability, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-hits-covid-deaths-milestone-coronavirus-omicron-76dc452fb7263612529e09eb23bc0f24">United States is nearing 1 million</a>&nbsp;reported deaths on its own.Death rates worldwide are still highest among people unvaccinated against the virus, said Tikki Pang, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore’s medical school and co-chair of the Asia Pacific Immunization Coalition.“This is a disease of the unvaccinated — look what is happening in Hong Kong right now, the health system is being overwhelmed,” said Pang, the former director of research policy and cooperation with the World Health Organization. “The large majority of the deaths and the severe cases are in the unvaccinated, vulnerable segment of the population.”It took the world seven months to record its first million deaths from the virus after the pandemic began in early 2020. Four months later another million people had died, and 1 million have died every three months since, until the death toll hit 5 million at the end of October. Now it has reached 6 million — more than the populations of Berlin and Brussels combined, or the entire state of Maryland.But despite the enormity of the figure, the world undoubtedly hit its 6 millionth death some time ago. Poor record-keeping and testing in many parts of the world has led to an undercount in coronavirus deaths, in addition to excess deaths related to the pandemic but not from actual COVID-19 infections, like people who died from preventable causes but could not receive treatment because hospitals were full.Edouard Mathieu, head of data for the&nbsp;<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus" target="_blank">Our World in Data</a>&nbsp;portal, said that — when countries’ excess mortality figures are studied — as many as nearly four times the reported death toll have likely died because of the pandemic.An&nbsp;<a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-estimates" target="_blank">analysis of excess deaths by a team at The Economist</a>&nbsp;estimates that the number of COVID-19 deaths is between 14.1 million and 23.8 million.“Confirmed deaths represent a fraction of the true number of deaths due to COVID, mostly because of limited testing, and challenges in the attribution of the cause of death,” Mathieu told The Associated Press. “In some, mostly rich, countries that fraction is high and the official tally can be considered to be fairly accurate, but in others it is highly underestimated.”The United States has the biggest official death toll in the world, but the numbers have been trending downward over the last month.Lonnie Bailey lost his 17-year-old nephew, Carlos Nunez Jr., who contracted COVID-19 last April — the same month Kentucky opened his age group to vaccinations. The Louisville resident said the family is still suffering, including Carlos’ younger sibling, who had to be hospitalized himself and still has lingering symptoms. The aggressive reopening of the country has been jarring for them to witness.“For us it is hard to let our guard down; it’s going to take a while for us to adjust,” Bailey said.The world has seen more than 445 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and new weekly cases have been declining recently in all regions except for the Western Pacific, which includes China, Japan and South Korea, among others, the World Health Organization reported this week.Although the overall figures in the Pacific islands seeing their first outbreaks are small compared to larger countries, they are significant among their tiny populations and threaten to overwhelm fragile health care systems.“Given what we know about COVID ... it’s likely to hit them for the next year or so at least,” said Katie Greenwood, head of the Red Cross Pacific delegation.Tonga reported its first outbreak after the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tonga-volcano-covid-outbreak-lockdown-73b2d73b2b41092898b3d92be3dabcc4">virus arrived with international aid vessels</a>&nbsp;following the Jan. 15 eruption of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tonga-volcano-eruption-impact-whats-next-01288e5ecc43aa9a9bf3bc2803efd7e2">massive volcano</a>, followed by a tsunami. It now has several hundred cases, but — with 66% of its population fully vaccinated — it has so far reported people suffering mostly mild symptoms and no deaths.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-solomon-islands-honiara-30d3df8cb0f809c9e3e5a0cc5c6f886f">Solomon Islands</a>&nbsp;saw the first outbreak in January and now has thousands of cases and more than 100 deaths. The actual death toll is likely much higher, with the capital’s hospital overwhelmed and many dying at home, Greenwood said.Only 12% of Solomon Islanders are fully vaccinated, though the outbreak has provided new impetus to the country’s vaccination campaign and 29% now have at least one shot.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-vaccine-inequality-dac9c07b324e29d3597037b8dc1d908a">Global vaccine disparity continues</a>, with only 6.95% of people in low-income countries fully vaccinated, compared to more than 73% in high-income nations, according to Our World in Data.In a good sign, at the end of last month Africa surpassed Europe in the number of doses administered daily, but only about 12.5% of its population has received two shots.The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still pressing for more vaccines, though it has been a challenge. Some shipments arrive with little warning for countries’ health systems and others near the expiration date — forcing doses to be destroyed.Eastern Europe has been particularly hard hit by the omicron variant, and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new risk has emerged as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-refugees-diversity-230b0cc790820b9bf8883f918fc8e313">hundreds of thousands of people flee</a>&nbsp;to places like Poland on crowded trains. Health officials there have been offering free vaccinations to all refugees, but have not been making them test upon arrival or quarantine.“This is really tragic because great stress has a very negative effect on natural immunity and increases the risk of infections,” said Anna Boron-Kaczmarska, a Polish infectious disease specialist. “They are in very high stress, being afraid for their lives, the lives of their children, they family members.”Mexico has reported 300,000 deaths, but with little testing, a government analysis of death certificates puts the real number closer to 500,000. Still, four weeks of falling infection rates have left health officials optimistic.In India, where the world was shocked by images of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-india-coronavirus-8788a4dadc2103ec30f40111dec92f15">open-air pyres of bodies</a>&nbsp;burned as crematoria were overwhelmed, the scars are fading as the number of new cases and deaths has slowed.India has recorded more than 500,000 deaths, but experts believe its true toll is in the millions, primarily from the delta variant. Migrants from India’s vast hinterland are now returning to its megacities in search of jobs, and the streets are packed with traffic. Shopping malls have customers, albeit still masked, while schools and universities are welcoming students after a months-long gap.In Britain, infections have fallen since an omicron-driven surge in December, but remain high. England has now&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boris-johnson-coronavirus-pandemic-health-europe-london-6a4a2509fd5443d7b36f5331b01f7431">lifted all restrictions</a>, including mask mandates and the requirement that all who test positive isolate at home.With about 250,000 reported deaths, the African continent’s smaller death toll is thought to stem from underreporting, as well as a generally younger and less mobile population.“Africa is a big question mark for me, because it has been relatively spared from the worst so far, but it could just be a time bomb,” Pang said, noting its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-middle-east-africa-lifestyle-1f2c92d6a306819c363c87661dc7818d">low vaccination rates</a>.In South Africa, Soweto resident Thoko Dube said she received news of the deaths of two family members on the same day in January 2021 — a month before the country received its first vaccines.It has been difficult, but “the family is coping,” she said. “We have accepted it because it has been happening to other families.”

Death toll surpasses 6 million for pandemic now in 3rd year

By MIKE FITZGERALD <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/03/07/former-st-louis-teacher-helping-lead-coalition-pushing-back-on-book-bans/">Missouri Independent</a>

Heather Fleming, sitting on a bench in St. Louis’ Forest Park, takes in the view on a warm early afternoon in February.&nbsp;

Behind her is the Jewel Box, the 
giant glass-paneled greenhouse that’s a park emblem. Before her are rows
 of tall trees, their branches stripped bare. And further on, on nearby 
walkways and trails, is a steady single-file flow of joggers, walkers 
and cyclists — humans of all ages, sizes, shapes and colors.

Fleming has been coming here nearly 
her whole life, since she was a little girl growing up in one of St. 
Charles County’s relatively few black families.

One reason she likes this spot is because it offers a vision of the future she’s spent her life imagining.

Fleming, 46, worked 13 years as a 
high school English teacher, and worked another three years as an equity
 and diversity consultant.&nbsp;

“That’s why I like Forest Park so 
much,” she said. “It seems the one place in St. Louis that’s neutral. 
There’s so much of St. Louis that has been steeped in racism, that it’s 
almost palpable.”

But here, in this corner of town, 
Forest Park is “a testament to what I hope all of St. Louis can become,”
 she said. “It’s a place where you get lots of different types of people
 and lots of different types of experiences…So why can’t we do that 
everywhere?”&nbsp;

It is a question that weighs on 
Fleming these days as her vision of an inclusive America is being 
challenged like never before in her lifetime.

Fleming is the founder of Missouri Equity Education Partnership, which nearly a year ago started as an informal Facebook group.&nbsp;

It has since grown into the spearhead
 of a coalition of local groups pushing back against school district 
book bans, as well as efforts in Jefferson City to pass a deluge of 
bills to exert greater control over the ways race, gender and history 
are taught in Missouri classrooms.

And it has had an immediate impact.&nbsp;

Case in point: In
 a 4-3 decision back in January, the Wentzville School Board banned 
eight books, including “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison after some 
parents complained it is not suitable for kids and contains “graphic 
sexual violence.”&nbsp;

The Morrison book, published in 1970,
 is about Pecola, a black girl growing up in rural Ohio during the World
 War II era. She wants blue eyes because she’s told she’s “ugly” because
 of her dark skin. The target of many previous attempts to ban it from 
school libraries nationwide, the novel explores the themes of racism, 
incest, rape and out-of-wedlock pregnancy.

Fleming partnered with the St. Louis bookstore EyeSeeMe to deliver free copies to anyone who requested it.

Mo. EEP raised more than $3,000 in 
the first few hours after launching the book program on January 27. 
Three weeks later, the program had raised more than $19,000 and sent out
 nearly 600 copies of the “Bluest Eye,” Fleming said.

Ultimately, the Wentzville book ban backfired, said Fleming, who previously taught English at Parkway North High School.

“What is really happening is that 
it’s alerting people to the underlying malignancy of this whole thing,” 
she said. “It’s starting to wake more people up.”

In late February the Wentzville Board
 of Education held a special meeting and voted to rescind their decision
 to remove the “Bluest Eye.”&nbsp;

‘…nothing around me represented me or included me’

Fleming said she always knew she wanted to be a teacher.

Growing up in St. Charles, Fleming 
has many good memories of school. But they are tempered by the fact she 
always felt, at least in the classroom, as an outsider. When she 
graduated from St. Chiarles West High School nearly 30 years ago, she 
was one of only five black students out of a class of almost 400, she 
said.

“And I think that’s why I’m 
passionate about this,” she said. “It’s that I know that experience of 
feeling like nothing around me represented me or included me.”&nbsp;

Fleming has an older sister and a 
much younger brother. Her parents are solidly middle class: her father 
worked as a production manager at the Airwick Industries plant in St. 
Peters, while her mother worked as an office assistant at McDonnell 
Douglas aircraft company in St. Louis.

In seventh grade, Fleming invited her best friend at the time, a white girl, to come to her house for a sleepover.&nbsp;

“And the day of, she called me and 
said her dad didn’t want her staying at any black people’s house,” she 
recalls. “The reality is that as black people we deal with a lot of 
those things. So we don’t have the luxury of saying it’s all 
colorblind.”

Married with two grown sons and a 
13-year-old daughter in middle school, Fleming began teaching English at
 Parkway North High School in 2005. Soon, she began teaching salary 
credit courses for fellow teachers on diversity and inclusion.&nbsp;

“Mostly what I taught is, ‘How do we 
allow all stories into a room?’ It’s actually giving empathy to anyone 
who can be other’ed,” she said. “It was allowing each person to feel 
like they were a valued part of the classroom.”

Fleming started her equity training 
company, In Purpose Educational Services, in 2018, when she approached a
 crossroad in her life.

After earning a master’s degree in 
school administration, Fleming said she interviewed for eight school 
administration jobs — and got turned down for each one.

“I can’t tell you how many times I was told a white male candidate was a better fit,” she said.&nbsp;

So, she said, she prayed on the matter, and realized she needed to make a big change.

“Kind of the question that came to me
 was, If you could be doing anything, and money wasn’t a consideration, 
what would it be?” she said. “It was equity work.”

While Fleming’s advocacy has shown 
results at the local level, her coalition has also trained its focus on 
action in Jefferson City — specifically, a spate of bills Fleming views as
 educational gag orders seeking to undermine public trust and prevent 
honest discussions of unpleasant topics like America’s history of 
slavery and the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Supporters of these measures call 
them overdue reforms that will bolster accountability and transparency 
in Missouri classrooms. They argue the goal is simply to ensure parental
 rights are being respected.

State Rep. Doug Richey, chairman of 
the legislature’s Joint Education Committee and the sponsor of one of 
the bills, said his goal is to improve public education, not harm it.

“I’m not a grenade thrower,’ said 
Richey, R-Excelsior Springs. “I’m someone who believes it’s important to
 do what’s necessary, but I’m not looking to burn down the institution 
and celebrate that I’ve done something. That doesn’t help anybody.”

“The real impact will be that as 
teachers attempt to discuss these issues, they’re going to be fearful of
 perhaps saying something that violates one of these laws,” Fleming 
said. “They’re going either a) avoid it altogether or b) have such a 
sanitized version that it’s not the truth.”

At a Jan. 11 House Education Committee hearing in Jefferson City centered on the first
 wave of education bills this legislative session, Fleming showed up 
with nearly 150 supporters to pack the hearing room. What’s more, the 
1,600 emailed testimonies from other witnesses — the vast majority 
opposed to the bills — set a record for the sheer number of written 
testimonies submitted.

The two GOP bills that drew Fleming and her supporters were Richey’s <a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1995&amp;year=2022&amp;code=R">House Bill 1995</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1474&amp;year=2022&amp;code=R">House Bill 1474</a>, sponsored by Rep.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.house.mo.gov/MemberDetails.aspx?year=2022&amp;code=R&amp;district=107"> Nick Schroer</a>,
 R-O’Fallon. The bills were combined into a “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” 
with a section restricting the teaching of critical race theory, a 
decades-old academic framework that focuses on the idea that race and 
racism permeate America’s institutions and hurt people of color.

Republicans deride CRT as divisive 
and formulated to make white kids feel ashamed about their forebears’ 
treatment of minority groups. Educators such as Fleming, however, argue 
there’s no evidence CRT is being taught in any Missouri classrooms.

In response to the show of public 
opposition, Richey said language specifically citing CRT was removed 
from the bill, though it still refers to several topic areas that would 
be prohibited in the classroom, such as making students feel “collective
 guilt” for their ancestors’ misdeeds

“The language we’ve landed on now closes the door to that kind of chilling effect,” Richey said.

Soon after the Wentzville book ban 
took effect back in January, the ACLU of Missouri filed a lawsuit in 
U.S. District Court in St. Louis on behalf of two Wentzville school 
district students.&nbsp;

The civil liberties group sought to 
stop the removal of the books on the grounds “the decisive factor in the
 decisions to remove the Banned Books was dislike of the ideas or 
opinions contained in the books by policymakers, school officials, 
community members, or a combination of those,” according to the lawsuit.

As for rescinding the district ban on
 “The Bluest Eye,” Anthony Rothert, the ACLU’s director of integrated 
advocacy, called it “welcome news,” but added the ban remains in effect 
for the other books, while the district’s “policies make it easy for any
 community member to force any book from the shelves even when they 
shamelessly target books by and about communities of color, LGBTQ people
 and other marginalized groups.”&nbsp;

Fleming’s efforts to challenge the 
book ban and to raise money to purchase the banned books for students 
who want to read them has led to a flood of abuse on TikTok, Facebook 
and other social media, she said.

“At this point I’ve been told I’m 
pro-pornography, pro-molestation and pro-incest,” she said. “And that’s a
 ridiculous claim. What I am for is the ability to teach kids that there
 are so many experiences, and not all of them are going to be good.”

In October, a member of Concerned 
Parents of Rockwood, filed a consumer complaint against Fleming and Mo. 
EEP with Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office.&nbsp;

The woman alleged that Fleming used Mo. EEP “to disparage, silence and publicly shame parents” in the Rockwood district.

Fleming denies the allegations. Schmitt’s office has not moved on the complaint.

What’s happening in Jefferson City is being echoed nationwide.

Since Jan. 2021, nearly 160 “educational
 gag order” bills have been introduced or prefiled in 39 states, 
according to PEN America, a group that represents authors.&nbsp;

The measures span a wide gamut, from 
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would prohibit public K-12 
teachers from “encourag[ing] classroom discussion about sexual 
orientation or gender identity” in primary grade levels,” to efforts 
working through the Indiana and Iowa legislatures to
 place cameras in classrooms so that parents can view livestreams of 
their children and keep teachers under constant surveillance.

To Fleming, the engine behind these efforts is fueled by shifting demographics.

America is on its way to becoming a 
majority-minority nation at the same time its white population is 
shrinking. After centuries of dominance, white people will become a 
numerical minority over the course of the next generation. A lot of 
Americans are unhappy with that prospect, she said.&nbsp;

“When you can suddenly activate that 
fear in the majority that one day, because they might be a minority, 
they might be treated like minorities,” she said.

Critical Race Theory is an academic 
framework that few people outside law schools and graduate programs had 
heard of before mid-2020.&nbsp;

But since then it has become a 
rallying cry for conservatives who believe CRT is inherently divisive. 
In their minds, CRT has infiltrated classrooms with the aim of making 
white kids feel ashamed about unpleasant chapters in the American story.

Fleming denies that CRT is being 
taught in Missouri K-12 classrooms. They say attacks on it are part of 
an effort to turn CRT into an umbrella term that covers any serious attempt to teach about race, gender and racism in America.

Johnnie Calloway, a spokesman for the
 nonprofit Missouri Prosper, said schools should refrain from teaching 
about systemic or institutional racism.&nbsp;

His organization, according to its 
website, consists of a “group of parents dedicated to creating strong 
communities where families and individuals can have the opportunity to 
prosper and self-govern.” &nbsp;

“It has nothing to do with race at 
this point,” said Calloway, who is Black. “Much respect to Martin Luther
 King and the Civil Rights movement, but it’s disingenuous to say in 
2022 that race is stopping anybody from being successful.”&nbsp;

During public testimony before the 
legislature’s Joint Committee on Education last August, witnesses noted a
 survey by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
 to determine how many schools were teaching critical race theory.

Of the 425 Missouri schools that 
responded to the DESE survey, only one indicated it includes lessons 
about critical race theory.

Richey, based on his discussions with
 parents and school officials around the state, said he’s not surprised 
only one school district acknowledged teaching some aspect of CRT.

“When you ask the question that is 
more fitting for a K-12 school district, that number increases 
significantly because now you’re talking about using the assumptions of 
critical race theory,” he said.

He declined to cite specific evidence
 during an interview to support his assertions that CRT is being taught 
in Missouri classrooms, instead pointing to the goals of his bill.&nbsp;

“This is a bill that is responding to
 the fact that we do have public school districts supported by public 
tax dollars that are utilizing some of these concepts,” he said, “and 
that needs to stop.”

On a Saturday morning in late 
February more than 70 people gather outside the entrance to University 
City High School, located just outside of St. Louis. They have shown up 
for a “Rally for Truth in Education,” sponsored by Metropolitan 
Congregations United, a close Mo. EEP ally.

The mood is upbeat and energized. A 
series of speakers, including some high school students, read sections 
from an open letter to the Missouri General Assembly that call for the 
repudiation of the Richey bill.

A young woman, reading off a copy of 
the letter, tells her audience that a culturally “responsive education 
is student-centered and reflects students’ experiences. A public school 
should be where every student sees their identity included, represented,
 respected and honored.”&nbsp;

Lisa Thompson, a member of MCU’s 
education task force, tells the crowd the message has gotten out that 
most people will support equity and inclusion “and they will rise up and
 defend it.”

So the sponsors of HB 1995 changed the focus, she said.

“Now it’s called parents’ rights,” 
she said. “Who can oppose that? Parents should have rights, right? This 
language is a sneaky smokescreen for giving parents rights they already 
had, which also encourages a feeling of mistrust between parents and 
teachers.”

After an hour the rally ends and most
 of the crowd disperses. Fleming hangs back to talk to fellow Mo. EEP 
members. They climb a few steps to pose for a group photo, then break 
up.

&nbsp;Fleming
 acknowledges it’s possible HB 1995 could be passed into law, but if 
that happens she and the movement she leads won’t give up, she said.

“We’re going to be successful in the 
end because we have enough people that care, that are passionate about 
this” she said. “Because as we can tell by that rally, there are so many
 people that imagine a different future for America.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646670728736.png" alt="Heather Fleming in St. Louis’ Forrest Park (photo by Mike Fitzgerald). " />
 <figcaption>Heather Fleming in St. Louis’ Forrest Park (photo by Mike Fitzgerald). </figcaption>
 </figure>By MIKE FITZGERALD <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/03/07/former-st-louis-teacher-helping-lead-coalition-pushing-back-on-book-bans/">Missouri Independent</a>Heather Fleming, sitting on a bench in St. Louis’ Forest Park, takes in the view on a warm early afternoon in February.&nbsp;Behind her is the Jewel Box, the 
giant glass-paneled greenhouse that’s a park emblem. Before her are rows
 of tall trees, their branches stripped bare. And further on, on nearby 
walkways and trails, is a steady single-file flow of joggers, walkers 
and cyclists — humans of all ages, sizes, shapes and colors.Fleming has been coming here nearly 
her whole life, since she was a little girl growing up in one of St. 
Charles County’s relatively few black families.One reason she likes this spot is because it offers a vision of the future she’s spent her life imagining.Fleming, 46, worked 13 years as a 
high school English teacher, and worked another three years as an equity
 and diversity consultant.&nbsp;“That’s why I like Forest Park so 
much,” she said. “It seems the one place in St. Louis that’s neutral. 
There’s so much of St. Louis that has been steeped in racism, that it’s 
almost palpable.”But here, in this corner of town, 
Forest Park is “a testament to what I hope all of St. Louis can become,”
 she said. “It’s a place where you get lots of different types of people
 and lots of different types of experiences…So why can’t we do that 
everywhere?”&nbsp;It is a question that weighs on 
Fleming these days as her vision of an inclusive America is being 
challenged like never before in her lifetime.Fleming is the founder of Missouri Equity Education Partnership, which nearly a year ago started as an informal Facebook group.&nbsp;It has since grown into the spearhead
 of a coalition of local groups pushing back against school district 
book bans, as well as efforts in Jefferson City to pass a deluge of 
bills to exert greater control over the ways race, gender and history 
are taught in Missouri classrooms.And it has had an immediate impact.&nbsp;Case in point: In
 a 4-3 decision back in January, the Wentzville School Board banned 
eight books, including “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison after some 
parents complained it is not suitable for kids and contains “graphic 
sexual violence.”&nbsp;The Morrison book, published in 1970,
 is about Pecola, a black girl growing up in rural Ohio during the World
 War II era. She wants blue eyes because she’s told she’s “ugly” because
 of her dark skin. The target of many previous attempts to ban it from 
school libraries nationwide, the novel explores the themes of racism, 
incest, rape and out-of-wedlock pregnancy.Fleming partnered with the St. Louis bookstore EyeSeeMe to deliver free copies to anyone who requested it.Mo. EEP raised more than $3,000 in 
the first few hours after launching the book program on January 27. 
Three weeks later, the program had raised more than $19,000 and sent out
 nearly 600 copies of the “Bluest Eye,” Fleming said.Ultimately, the Wentzville book ban backfired, said Fleming, who previously taught English at Parkway North High School.“What is really happening is that 
it’s alerting people to the underlying malignancy of this whole thing,” 
she said. “It’s starting to wake more people up.”In late February the Wentzville Board
 of Education held a special meeting and voted to rescind their decision
 to remove the “Bluest Eye.”&nbsp;<h2>‘…nothing around me represented me or included me’</h2>Fleming said she always knew she wanted to be a teacher.Growing up in St. Charles, Fleming 
has many good memories of school. But they are tempered by the fact she 
always felt, at least in the classroom, as an outsider. When she 
graduated from St. Chiarles West High School nearly 30 years ago, she 
was one of only five black students out of a class of almost 400, she 
said.“And I think that’s why I’m 
passionate about this,” she said. “It’s that I know that experience of 
feeling like nothing around me represented me or included me.”&nbsp;Fleming has an older sister and a 
much younger brother. Her parents are solidly middle class: her father 
worked as a production manager at the Airwick Industries plant in St. 
Peters, while her mother worked as an office assistant at McDonnell 
Douglas aircraft company in St. Louis.In seventh grade, Fleming invited her best friend at the time, a white girl, to come to her house for a sleepover.&nbsp;“And the day of, she called me and 
said her dad didn’t want her staying at any black people’s house,” she 
recalls. “The reality is that as black people we deal with a lot of 
those things. So we don’t have the luxury of saying it’s all 
colorblind.”Married with two grown sons and a 
13-year-old daughter in middle school, Fleming began teaching English at
 Parkway North High School in 2005. Soon, she began teaching salary 
credit courses for fellow teachers on diversity and inclusion.&nbsp;“Mostly what I taught is, ‘How do we 
allow all stories into a room?’ It’s actually giving empathy to anyone 
who can be other’ed,” she said. “It was allowing each person to feel 
like they were a valued part of the classroom.”Fleming started her equity training 
company, In Purpose Educational Services, in 2018, when she approached a
 crossroad in her life.After earning a master’s degree in 
school administration, Fleming said she interviewed for eight school 
administration jobs — and got turned down for each one.“I can’t tell you how many times I was told a white male candidate was a better fit,” she said.&nbsp;So, she said, she prayed on the matter, and realized she needed to make a big change.“Kind of the question that came to me
 was, If you could be doing anything, and money wasn’t a consideration, 
what would it be?” she said. “It was equity work.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646670795360.png" alt="Heather Fleming with Mo. EEP volunteers following their legislator lobbying day event at the Missouri State Capitol on March 3, 2022 (photo submitted)." />
 <figcaption>Heather Fleming with Mo. EEP volunteers following their legislator lobbying day event at the Missouri State Capitol on March 3, 2022 (photo submitted).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Educational ‘gag orders’</h2>While Fleming’s advocacy has shown 
results at the local level, her coalition has also trained its focus on 
action in Jefferson City — specifically, a spate of bills Fleming views as
 educational gag orders seeking to undermine public trust and prevent 
honest discussions of unpleasant topics like America’s history of 
slavery and the Tulsa Race Massacre.Supporters of these measures call 
them overdue reforms that will bolster accountability and transparency 
in Missouri classrooms. They argue the goal is simply to ensure parental
 rights are being respected.State Rep. Doug Richey, chairman of 
the legislature’s Joint Education Committee and the sponsor of one of 
the bills, said his goal is to improve public education, not harm it.“I’m not a grenade thrower,’ said 
Richey, R-Excelsior Springs. “I’m someone who believes it’s important to
 do what’s necessary, but I’m not looking to burn down the institution 
and celebrate that I’ve done something. That doesn’t help anybody.”Fleming doesn’t buy it.&nbsp;“The real impact will be that as 
teachers attempt to discuss these issues, they’re going to be fearful of
 perhaps saying something that violates one of these laws,” Fleming 
said. “They’re going either a) avoid it altogether or b) have such a 
sanitized version that it’s not the truth.”At a Jan. 11 House Education Committee hearing in Jefferson City centered on the first
 wave of education bills this legislative session, Fleming showed up 
with nearly 150 supporters to pack the hearing room. What’s more, the 
1,600 emailed testimonies from other witnesses — the vast majority 
opposed to the bills — set a record for the sheer number of written 
testimonies submitted.The two GOP bills that drew Fleming and her supporters were Richey’s <a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1995&amp;year=2022&amp;code=R">House Bill 1995</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1474&amp;year=2022&amp;code=R">House Bill 1474</a>, sponsored by Rep.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.house.mo.gov/MemberDetails.aspx?year=2022&amp;code=R&amp;district=107"> Nick Schroer</a>,
 R-O’Fallon. The bills were combined into a “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” 
with a section restricting the teaching of critical race theory, a 
decades-old academic framework that focuses on the idea that race and 
racism permeate America’s institutions and hurt people of color.Republicans deride CRT as divisive 
and formulated to make white kids feel ashamed about their forebears’ 
treatment of minority groups. Educators such as Fleming, however, argue 
there’s no evidence CRT is being taught in any Missouri classrooms.In response to the show of public 
opposition, Richey said language specifically citing CRT was removed 
from the bill, though it still refers to several topic areas that would 
be prohibited in the classroom, such as making students feel “collective
 guilt” for their ancestors’ misdeeds“The language we’ve landed on now closes the door to that kind of chilling effect,” Richey said.<h2>Pushback</h2>Soon after the Wentzville book ban 
took effect back in January, the ACLU of Missouri filed a lawsuit in 
U.S. District Court in St. Louis on behalf of two Wentzville school 
district students.&nbsp;The civil liberties group sought to 
stop the removal of the books on the grounds “the decisive factor in the
 decisions to remove the Banned Books was dislike of the ideas or 
opinions contained in the books by policymakers, school officials, 
community members, or a combination of those,” according to the lawsuit.As for rescinding the district ban on
 “The Bluest Eye,” Anthony Rothert, the ACLU’s director of integrated 
advocacy, called it “welcome news,” but added the ban remains in effect 
for the other books, while the district’s “policies make it easy for any
 community member to force any book from the shelves even when they 
shamelessly target books by and about communities of color, LGBTQ people
 and other marginalized groups.”&nbsp;Fleming’s efforts to challenge the 
book ban and to raise money to purchase the banned books for students 
who want to read them has led to a flood of abuse on TikTok, Facebook 
and other social media, she said.“At this point I’ve been told I’m 
pro-pornography, pro-molestation and pro-incest,” she said. “And that’s a
 ridiculous claim. What I am for is the ability to teach kids that there
 are so many experiences, and not all of them are going to be good.”In October, a member of Concerned 
Parents of Rockwood, filed a consumer complaint against Fleming and Mo. 
EEP with Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office.&nbsp;The woman alleged that Fleming used Mo. EEP “to disparage, silence and publicly shame parents” in the Rockwood district.Fleming denies the allegations. Schmitt’s office has not moved on the complaint.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646670835949.png" alt="Heather Fleming at University City High School (photo by Mike Fitzgerald)." />
 <figcaption>Heather Fleming at University City High School (photo by Mike Fitzgerald).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Critical Race Theory</h2>What’s happening in Jefferson City is being echoed nationwide.Since Jan. 2021, nearly 160 “educational
 gag order” bills have been introduced or prefiled in 39 states, 
according to PEN America, a group that represents authors.&nbsp;The measures span a wide gamut, from 
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would prohibit public K-12 
teachers from “encourag[ing] classroom discussion about sexual 
orientation or gender identity” in primary grade levels,” to efforts 
working through the Indiana and Iowa legislatures to
 place cameras in classrooms so that parents can view livestreams of 
their children and keep teachers under constant surveillance.To Fleming, the engine behind these efforts is fueled by shifting demographics.America is on its way to becoming a 
majority-minority nation at the same time its white population is 
shrinking. After centuries of dominance, white people will become a 
numerical minority over the course of the next generation. A lot of 
Americans are unhappy with that prospect, she said.&nbsp;“When you can suddenly activate that 
fear in the majority that one day, because they might be a minority, 
they might be treated like minorities,” she said.Critical Race Theory is an academic 
framework that few people outside law schools and graduate programs had 
heard of before mid-2020.&nbsp;But since then it has become a 
rallying cry for conservatives who believe CRT is inherently divisive. 
In their minds, CRT has infiltrated classrooms with the aim of making 
white kids feel ashamed about unpleasant chapters in the American story.Fleming denies that CRT is being 
taught in Missouri K-12 classrooms. They say attacks on it are part of 
an effort to turn CRT into an umbrella term that covers any serious attempt to teach about race, gender and racism in America.Johnnie Calloway, a spokesman for the
 nonprofit Missouri Prosper, said schools should refrain from teaching 
about systemic or institutional racism.&nbsp;His organization, according to its 
website, consists of a “group of parents dedicated to creating strong 
communities where families and individuals can have the opportunity to 
prosper and self-govern.” &nbsp;“It has nothing to do with race at 
this point,” said Calloway, who is Black. “Much respect to Martin Luther
 King and the Civil Rights movement, but it’s disingenuous to say in 
2022 that race is stopping anybody from being successful.”&nbsp;During public testimony before the 
legislature’s Joint Committee on Education last August, witnesses noted a
 survey by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
 to determine how many schools were teaching critical race theory.Of the 425 Missouri schools that 
responded to the DESE survey, only one indicated it includes lessons 
about critical race theory.Richey, based on his discussions with
 parents and school officials around the state, said he’s not surprised 
only one school district acknowledged teaching some aspect of CRT.“When you ask the question that is 
more fitting for a K-12 school district, that number increases 
significantly because now you’re talking about using the assumptions of 
critical race theory,” he said.He declined to cite specific evidence
 during an interview to support his assertions that CRT is being taught 
in Missouri classrooms, instead pointing to the goals of his bill.&nbsp;“This is a bill that is responding to
 the fact that we do have public school districts supported by public 
tax dollars that are utilizing some of these concepts,” he said, “and 
that needs to stop.”<h2>‘A different future for America’</h2>On a Saturday morning in late 
February more than 70 people gather outside the entrance to University 
City High School, located just outside of St. Louis. They have shown up 
for a “Rally for Truth in Education,” sponsored by Metropolitan 
Congregations United, a close Mo. EEP ally.The mood is upbeat and energized. A 
series of speakers, including some high school students, read sections 
from an open letter to the Missouri General Assembly that call for the 
repudiation of the Richey bill.A young woman, reading off a copy of 
the letter, tells her audience that a culturally “responsive education 
is student-centered and reflects students’ experiences. A public school 
should be where every student sees their identity included, represented,
 respected and honored.”&nbsp;Lisa Thompson, a member of MCU’s 
education task force, tells the crowd the message has gotten out that 
most people will support equity and inclusion “and they will rise up and
 defend it.”So the sponsors of HB 1995 changed the focus, she said.“Now it’s called parents’ rights,” 
she said. “Who can oppose that? Parents should have rights, right? This 
language is a sneaky smokescreen for giving parents rights they already 
had, which also encourages a feeling of mistrust between parents and 
teachers.”After an hour the rally ends and most
 of the crowd disperses. Fleming hangs back to talk to fellow Mo. EEP 
members. They climb a few steps to pose for a group photo, then break 
up.&nbsp;Fleming
 acknowledges it’s possible HB 1995 could be passed into law, but if 
that happens she and the movement she leads won’t give up, she said.“We’re going to be successful in the 
end because we have enough people that care, that are passionate about 
this” she said. “Because as we can tell by that rally, there are so many
 people that imagine a different future for America.”

Former Mo. teacher helping lead coalition pushing back on book bans

William “Bill” Harold Novak, age 73, passed away on Friday, March 4, 
2022, at the Wichita County Health Center in Leoti, Kansas. He was born 
in Garden City, Kansas on October 3, 1948, to Glenn Joseph and Arlene 
Ethel Miller Novak. Bill spent his entire life in Modoc, farming, 
ranching, and attending the Modoc Coffee Club. He also took up fishing, 
snow skiing, and coin collecting.

Survivors include, two brothers; Robert “Bob” Novak of Modoc, Kansas,
 David &amp; Sherry Novak of Modoc, Kansas, one sister, Deana Novak of 
Hutchinson, Kansas, two nephews; Brian &amp; Xinjie (and newborn Zane 
Nick) Novak of Modoc, Kansas, and Matt Novak of Modoc, Kansas.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents and one nephew, Nick Novak.

A graveside service will be planned at the Modoc Cemetery at a later date.

In Lieu of flowers, memorials may be written to the Wichita County 
Health Center nursing staff in care of Price &amp; Sons Funeral Homes.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646584305052.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>William “Bill” Harold Novak, age 73, passed away on Friday, March 4, 
2022, at the Wichita County Health Center in Leoti, Kansas. He was born 
in Garden City, Kansas on October 3, 1948, to Glenn Joseph and Arlene 
Ethel Miller Novak. Bill spent his entire life in Modoc, farming, 
ranching, and attending the Modoc Coffee Club. He also took up fishing, 
snow skiing, and coin collecting.Survivors include, two brothers; Robert “Bob” Novak of Modoc, Kansas,
 David &amp; Sherry Novak of Modoc, Kansas, one sister, Deana Novak of 
Hutchinson, Kansas, two nephews; Brian &amp; Xinjie (and newborn Zane 
Nick) Novak of Modoc, Kansas, and Matt Novak of Modoc, Kansas.Bill was preceded in death by his parents and one nephew, Nick Novak.A graveside service will be planned at the Modoc Cemetery at a later date.In Lieu of flowers, memorials may be written to the Wichita County 
Health Center nursing staff in care of Price &amp; Sons Funeral Homes.

William 'Bill' Harold Novak

Virginia was born April 13, 1923, in Sharon Springs. Kansas and died 
there on March 2, 2022. She was a resident of Wallace County Community 
Care Center for the last several years. The family wishes to thank John 
Kennedy and his staff for the tremendous care she received, especially 
considering the recent challenges from COVID and staff shortages.

Virginia was born to Howard and Nina Bates, following a brother 
(Warren), and in 1930, the family moved to a farm south of Sharon 
Springs. They survived the “Dirty 30’s” and moved back into town in 
1944. She had attended WCHS and graduated in 1940 as valedictorian of 
her class. She attended Hutchinson Business School for a short time and 
returned home to work as an assistant cashier at the People’s State 
Bank.

On October 2, 1946, Virginia married Charles “Irish” McNerny. They 
had two children, Nancy and Matt. They lived on Ferlen Avenue from 1948.
 Virginia belonged to the United Methodist Church, serving as treasurer 
many years. She was also a member of the VFW Auxiliary. She worked again
 at the Peoples State Bank in the 1960s and 1970s.

Virginia is survived by her son Matt (Michele) of Denver, CO and 
daughter Nancy Wells (Bill) of Helena, MT; two grandchildren: Jennifer 
Wampler (Terry) of Alta, Wyoming and Eric Wells (Emily) of Boise, Idaho;
 two great grandchildren: Charlie and Henry Wells of Boise; and many 
nephews and nieces and their families.&nbsp; Ione McNerny Brown of Sharon 
Springs was Virginia’s high school classmate and sister-in-law and 
friend for over 85 years. 

Virginia will be buried next to Irish in the 
Sharon Springs Cemetery.

Click <a href="https://www.koonsrussellfuneralhome.com/obituary/Virginia-McNerny">HERE</a> for service details.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646511147547.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Virginia was born April 13, 1923, in Sharon Springs. Kansas and died 
there on March 2, 2022. She was a resident of Wallace County Community 
Care Center for the last several years. The family wishes to thank John 
Kennedy and his staff for the tremendous care she received, especially 
considering the recent challenges from COVID and staff shortages.Virginia was born to Howard and Nina Bates, following a brother 
(Warren), and in 1930, the family moved to a farm south of Sharon 
Springs. They survived the “Dirty 30’s” and moved back into town in 
1944. She had attended WCHS and graduated in 1940 as valedictorian of 
her class. She attended Hutchinson Business School for a short time and 
returned home to work as an assistant cashier at the People’s State 
Bank.On October 2, 1946, Virginia married Charles “Irish” McNerny. They 
had two children, Nancy and Matt. They lived on Ferlen Avenue from 1948.
 Virginia belonged to the United Methodist Church, serving as treasurer 
many years. She was also a member of the VFW Auxiliary. She worked again
 at the Peoples State Bank in the 1960s and 1970s.Virginia is survived by her son Matt (Michele) of Denver, CO and 
daughter Nancy Wells (Bill) of Helena, MT; two grandchildren: Jennifer 
Wampler (Terry) of Alta, Wyoming and Eric Wells (Emily) of Boise, Idaho;
 two great grandchildren: Charlie and Henry Wells of Boise; and many 
nephews and nieces and their families.&nbsp; Ione McNerny Brown of Sharon 
Springs was Virginia’s high school classmate and sister-in-law and 
friend for over 85 years. Virginia will be buried next to Irish in the 
Sharon Springs Cemetery.Click <a href="https://www.koonsrussellfuneralhome.com/obituary/Virginia-McNerny">HERE</a> for service details.

Virginia Louise (Bates) McNerny

JACKSON COUNTY— A 21-year-old man has been charged in the deaths of three people in Kansas City, according to the Jackson County Prosecutor's office.

Joshua Bell, of Kansas City, was charged with three counts of second-degree accessory murder, unlawful use of a weapon and four counts of armed criminal action.

He is the second man charged in the Oct. 2, 2021, shooting deaths of Kanen X. Wheaton, 24; Johnnai Owens, 23; and 24-year-old Devon Key.

The victims were at a home in eastern Kansas City when the suspects drove up and fired at them, prosecutors said.

Co-defendant Lucas Baker was charged in October with nine counts, including three counts of second-degree accessory murder.

Court documents show Bell’s phone was in the area of the suspect vehicle before and after the shootings. Bell also admitted that he had earlier helped steal ammunition that was found at the shooting scene.

Prosecutors have requested a $500,000 cash-only bond for Bell.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646259190160.png" alt="Bell photo Jackson County" />
 <figcaption>Bell photo Jackson County</figcaption>
 </figure>JACKSON COUNTY— A 21-year-old man has been charged in the deaths of three people in Kansas City, according to the Jackson County Prosecutor's office.Joshua Bell, of Kansas City, was charged with three counts of second-degree accessory murder, unlawful use of a weapon and four counts of armed criminal action.He is the second man charged in the Oct. 2, 2021, shooting deaths of Kanen X. Wheaton, 24; Johnnai Owens, 23; and 24-year-old Devon Key.The victims were at a home in eastern Kansas City when the suspects drove up and fired at them, prosecutors said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646259263216.png" alt="Baker-photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>Baker-photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Co-defendant Lucas Baker was charged in October with nine counts, including three counts of second-degree accessory murder.Court documents show Bell’s phone was in the area of the suspect vehicle before and after the shootings. Bell also admitted that he had earlier helped steal ammunition that was found at the shooting scene.Prosecutors have requested a $500,000 cash-only bond for Bell.

Second suspect charged in Kansas City triple murder

Neta Joy Pletcher was born to Marvin George Pletcher and Mona Evelyn 
Allen on October 7, 1943, and passed away on February 27, 2022, at the 
age of 78 years.
 Neta was born in Portis, Kansas, and lived most of her life in 
Lebanon, Kansas. She grew up on a farm with her parents and brother, 
Norman, where she helped her mother with the house. Neta’s mother, Mona,
 home schooled her during her high school years. In 1967, she moved to 
town with her parents. 
 Neta had several hobbies throughout her life, including collecting 
dolls from around the world, doing beautiful cross stitch embroidery 
which won ribbons at county fairs, many other crafts and playing the 
accordion. Neta also loved cats.
 She moved to Smith Center Health &amp; Rehab after her parents passed away in 2005. 
 Neta is preceded in death by her parents, Marvin and Mona Pletcher; 
brother, Norman Pletcher; grandmother, Etta Shaffer; aunt and uncle Eula
 and John Kattenberg.
 Those that celebrate her life are her sister-in-law, Charlotte 
Pletcher, nieces and nephew, Cheryl (Pletcher) Jensen and husband (David
 Jensen), Colleen (Pletcher) Girard and husband (Bob Girard), Lester 
Pletcher, Betty (Pletcher) Corona and husband (Jose Corona), cousins 
Wayne Kattenberg, Dwayne Kattenberg, Jim Kattenberg, and Alice 
(Kattenberg) Grittman.&nbsp;

Click <a href="https://www.rfmortuaries.com/obituaries/Neta-Joy-Pletcher?obId=24155561#/celebrationWall">HERE</a> for service details.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646168691702.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Neta Joy Pletcher was born to Marvin George Pletcher and Mona Evelyn 
Allen on October 7, 1943, and passed away on February 27, 2022, at the 
age of 78 years.
 Neta was born in Portis, Kansas, and lived most of her life in 
Lebanon, Kansas. She grew up on a farm with her parents and brother, 
Norman, where she helped her mother with the house. Neta’s mother, Mona,
 home schooled her during her high school years. In 1967, she moved to 
town with her parents. 
 Neta had several hobbies throughout her life, including collecting 
dolls from around the world, doing beautiful cross stitch embroidery 
which won ribbons at county fairs, many other crafts and playing the 
accordion. Neta also loved cats.
 She moved to Smith Center Health &amp; Rehab after her parents passed away in 2005. 
 Neta is preceded in death by her parents, Marvin and Mona Pletcher; 
brother, Norman Pletcher; grandmother, Etta Shaffer; aunt and uncle Eula
 and John Kattenberg.
 Those that celebrate her life are her sister-in-law, Charlotte 
Pletcher, nieces and nephew, Cheryl (Pletcher) Jensen and husband (David
 Jensen), Colleen (Pletcher) Girard and husband (Bob Girard), Lester 
Pletcher, Betty (Pletcher) Corona and husband (Jose Corona), cousins 
Wayne Kattenberg, Dwayne Kattenberg, Jim Kattenberg, and Alice 
(Kattenberg) Grittman.&nbsp;Click <a href="https://www.rfmortuaries.com/obituaries/Neta-Joy-Pletcher?obId=24155561#/celebrationWall">HERE</a> for service details.&nbsp;

Neta Joy Pletcher

Otto Ross Rohla Jr., 89, of Colby, died Saturday, February 26, 2022, at
 Hays Medical Center. He was born on October 14, 1932, in Webber, KS to 
Otto and Minnie (Wilton) Rohla. In the 7th grade Otto moved to Mankato, 
KS, with his family. He graduated with the class of 1950 and then 
entered the United States Navy. Upon returning from service in 1953, he 
worked with sheet metal at the Reed Oven Company in Kansas City. Otto 
returned to Jewel County and on September 16, 1956, he married Rachel 
Woods at the First Christian Church in Smith Center. 

Otto worked as a 
diesel mechanic for Martin Tractor, first in Concordia, then Clay 
Center, and eventually Colby, where the family settled. After retirement
 Otto helped build the fence at Beulah Cemetery in Colby. Otto was a 
member of the V.F.W. and the American Legion. 
Otto was preceded in death by his parents and brothers Jim, Grover and David Rohla. 
He is survived by his wife, Rachel, of Colby; children Jody (Evan) 
Robertson, of Oberlin, KS, Teri (Ron) Hart, of Hays, KS and Ross Rohla, 
of Fishkill, NY; brothers, Emil Rohla of Haysville, KS and Joe (Insuk) 
Rohla, of Elsinore, UT; three grandchildren, Hayley (Matt) McGivern, 
Jesse Hart and Rayna Hart and two great grandchildren, Emmy and Madeline
 McGivern. 
Following a public viewing from 5-7:0 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, 
at Baalmann Mortuary in Colby, KS, a graveside service will take place 
at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, March 3, 2022, at the Kansas Veterans Cemetery, 
in WaKeeney, KS.

Memorials are suggested to Hospice of Hays Medical 
Center or Celebration Community Church in Colby, and sent in care of 
Baalmann Mortuary, PO Box 391, Colby, KS 67701. For information or 
condolences visit www.baalmannmortuary.com&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646150870290.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Otto Ross Rohla Jr., 89, of Colby, died Saturday, February 26, 2022, at
 Hays Medical Center. He was born on October 14, 1932, in Webber, KS to 
Otto and Minnie (Wilton) Rohla. In the 7th grade Otto moved to Mankato, 
KS, with his family. He graduated with the class of 1950 and then 
entered the United States Navy. Upon returning from service in 1953, he 
worked with sheet metal at the Reed Oven Company in Kansas City. Otto 
returned to Jewel County and on September 16, 1956, he married Rachel 
Woods at the First Christian Church in Smith Center. Otto worked as a 
diesel mechanic for Martin Tractor, first in Concordia, then Clay 
Center, and eventually Colby, where the family settled. After retirement
 Otto helped build the fence at Beulah Cemetery in Colby. Otto was a 
member of the V.F.W. and the American Legion. 
Otto was preceded in death by his parents and brothers Jim, Grover and David Rohla. 
He is survived by his wife, Rachel, of Colby; children Jody (Evan) 
Robertson, of Oberlin, KS, Teri (Ron) Hart, of Hays, KS and Ross Rohla, 
of Fishkill, NY; brothers, Emil Rohla of Haysville, KS and Joe (Insuk) 
Rohla, of Elsinore, UT; three grandchildren, Hayley (Matt) McGivern, 
Jesse Hart and Rayna Hart and two great grandchildren, Emmy and Madeline
 McGivern. 
Following a public viewing from 5-7:0 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, 
at Baalmann Mortuary in Colby, KS, a graveside service will take place 
at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, March 3, 2022, at the Kansas Veterans Cemetery, 
in WaKeeney, KS. Memorials are suggested to Hospice of Hays Medical 
Center or Celebration Community Church in Colby, and sent in care of 
Baalmann Mortuary, PO Box 391, Colby, KS 67701. For information or 
condolences visit www.baalmannmortuary.com&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Otto Ross Rohla Jr.

Marilyn Wilbur, age 89, passed away on Monday, February 28, 2022, at 
the Wichita County Hospital in Leoti, Kansas.&nbsp; She was born on October 
14, 1932, in Wichita, Kansas, the daughter of William and Gertrude 
O’Neal Vanderhoff.

Marilyn graduated from North High School in Wichita, Kansas in 1949.&nbsp;
 On April 29, 1950, she married Robert E. Wilbur in Wichita, Kansas.&nbsp; He
 passed away on February 16, 1997, in Wichita, Kansas.&nbsp; She and her 
husband farmed for many years in the Wichita, Kansas, Leoti, Kansas, 
Colorado &amp; Arkansas areas.&nbsp; She owned and operated a children’s 
clothing store, and also was a realtor for Jeff Lange Real Estate in 
Wichita, Kansas.&nbsp; She loved spending time with her family.

She was a member of EHU, PTA, Bridge Club, Dance Club, Girl Scout Leader, Sunday School Teacher, and Real Estate Association.

Marilyn is survived by her children - Gary &amp; Beth Wilbur of 
Leoti, Kansas, Janice &amp; Roxy Campas of Leoti, Kansas, Larry Wilbur 
of Leoti, Kansas, Mark &amp; Barbie Wilbur of Leoti, Kansas, Mary &amp; 
Jeff Sterling of Garden City, Kansas, Sixteen Grandchildren, 
Thirty-Three Great Grandchildren, and Four Great Great Grandchildren.

She is preceded in death by her Parents, Husband, One Sister - Betty 
Brady, One Brother - Bill Vanderhoff, One Son - Robert Alan Wilbur, One 
Daughter-In-Law - Marilyn Joyce Wilbur, and One Granddaughter - Wendy 
Marie Wilbur.

Graveside Services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, March 3, 2022,
 at the Greenwood Cemetery, 6231 W. 47th St., Wichita, Kansas with Gary 
Salmans presiding.

Visitation will be from 12:30 until 1:30 on Thursday at the cemetery.

Memorials may be written to the Wichita County Long Term Care in care
 of Price &amp; Sons Funeral Home, PO Box 161; Leoti, Kansas, 67861.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646143986731.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Marilyn Wilbur, age 89, passed away on Monday, February 28, 2022, at 
the Wichita County Hospital in Leoti, Kansas.&nbsp; She was born on October 
14, 1932, in Wichita, Kansas, the daughter of William and Gertrude 
O’Neal Vanderhoff.Marilyn graduated from North High School in Wichita, Kansas in 1949.&nbsp;
 On April 29, 1950, she married Robert E. Wilbur in Wichita, Kansas.&nbsp; He
 passed away on February 16, 1997, in Wichita, Kansas.&nbsp; She and her 
husband farmed for many years in the Wichita, Kansas, Leoti, Kansas, 
Colorado &amp; Arkansas areas.&nbsp; She owned and operated a children’s 
clothing store, and also was a realtor for Jeff Lange Real Estate in 
Wichita, Kansas.&nbsp; She loved spending time with her family.She was a member of EHU, PTA, Bridge Club, Dance Club, Girl Scout Leader, Sunday School Teacher, and Real Estate Association.Marilyn is survived by her children - Gary &amp; Beth Wilbur of 
Leoti, Kansas, Janice &amp; Roxy Campas of Leoti, Kansas, Larry Wilbur 
of Leoti, Kansas, Mark &amp; Barbie Wilbur of Leoti, Kansas, Mary &amp; 
Jeff Sterling of Garden City, Kansas, Sixteen Grandchildren, 
Thirty-Three Great Grandchildren, and Four Great Great Grandchildren.She is preceded in death by her Parents, Husband, One Sister - Betty 
Brady, One Brother - Bill Vanderhoff, One Son - Robert Alan Wilbur, One 
Daughter-In-Law - Marilyn Joyce Wilbur, and One Granddaughter - Wendy 
Marie Wilbur.Graveside Services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, March 3, 2022,
 at the Greenwood Cemetery, 6231 W. 47th St., Wichita, Kansas with Gary 
Salmans presiding.Visitation will be from 12:30 until 1:30 on Thursday at the cemetery.Memorials may be written to the Wichita County Long Term Care in care
 of Price &amp; Sons Funeral Home, PO Box 161; Leoti, Kansas, 67861.

Marilyn Wilbur

Donna F.&nbsp;Dietz, 100,&nbsp;passed away&nbsp;at&nbsp;Northcare&nbsp;Hospice House in&nbsp;North Kansas&nbsp;City, MO, on February 26, 2022. She
 was&nbsp;born&nbsp;August 30, 1921, in rural Ida County, Iowa, to Henry W. and 
Olga M.&nbsp;(Grefe)&nbsp;Kuhlken.&nbsp;Donna&nbsp;grew up on a&nbsp;farm&nbsp;and graduated 
from&nbsp;Cushing&nbsp;High School.&nbsp;Afterward, she&nbsp;attended&nbsp;Nettleton&nbsp;Business 
Training College in Sioux City, IA.&nbsp;After&nbsp;graduation, Donna&nbsp;worked&nbsp;in 
the accounting&nbsp;department&nbsp;of Mid-Continent Airlines in Sioux Falls, SD, 
and then Kansas City, MO.&nbsp;There&nbsp;she&nbsp;met&nbsp;Norbert&nbsp;W.&nbsp;Dietz and&nbsp;they 
were&nbsp;united&nbsp;in&nbsp;marriage&nbsp;on October 19, 1946, at&nbsp;St. John&nbsp;Lutheran Church
 in&nbsp;Cushing, IA.&nbsp;They&nbsp;were&nbsp;married&nbsp;for 55&nbsp;years&nbsp;until his&nbsp;death&nbsp;in 2002. For
 many&nbsp;years Donna&nbsp;was&nbsp;an active member of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 
Kansas City, MO, where she faithfully served as&nbsp;church&nbsp;financial 
secretary.&nbsp;She&nbsp;also&nbsp;was&nbsp;an active member of 
the&nbsp;PTA.&nbsp;Donna&nbsp;enjoyed&nbsp;gardening, crocheting, listening to 
all&nbsp;kinds&nbsp;of&nbsp;music, feeding backyard birds, and was&nbsp;devoted&nbsp;to her 
Kansas City Royals and Chiefs.&nbsp;In&nbsp;her&nbsp;later&nbsp;years, she&nbsp;became&nbsp;a 
news&nbsp;nerd&nbsp;spending hours keeping abreast of local, national, and 
international affairs. Survivors&nbsp;include&nbsp;a&nbsp;son, 
Ken&nbsp;(Teresa)&nbsp;Dietz&nbsp;of&nbsp;Bartlesville,&nbsp;OK;&nbsp;daughters&nbsp;Glenda&nbsp;Dietz&nbsp;of 
Overland Park, KS, and Sharon&nbsp;(John)&nbsp;Iverson&nbsp;of Saline, 
MI;&nbsp;grandchildren&nbsp;William&nbsp;(Melanie)&nbsp;Dietz, Amanda&nbsp;(Kyle)&nbsp;McDonald, and 
Kendra&nbsp;(Jared)&nbsp;Seat;&nbsp;and great-grandchildren Riley and Max McDonald, 
and&nbsp;Avery and Hayden Seat;&nbsp;sister Joan&nbsp;Croxell&nbsp;of Holstein, IA, and 
sister-in-law Catherine&nbsp;Kuhlken&nbsp;of Jackson, CA, along&nbsp;with 
many&nbsp;wonderful&nbsp;nieces and&nbsp;nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Norbert, parents, and brothers Kenneth Kuhlken and Henry Kuhlken. A
 funeral service will be held in WaKeeney, KS, on Saturday, March 5, at 
10:30 a.m. at Schmitt Funeral Home following a family visitation, burial
 will follow at the WaKeeney City Cemetery. &nbsp;

Memorial contributions&nbsp;in&nbsp;memory&nbsp;of Donna may be&nbsp;made&nbsp;to Gloria Dei 
Lutheran Church,&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;City, MO,&nbsp;Northcare&nbsp;Hospice&nbsp;House,&nbsp;part&nbsp;of&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;City&nbsp;Hospice&nbsp;and Palliative 
Care, Salvation&nbsp;Army, or&nbsp;a favorite charity.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646143613647.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Donna F.&nbsp;Dietz, 100,&nbsp;passed away&nbsp;at&nbsp;Northcare&nbsp;Hospice House in&nbsp;North Kansas&nbsp;City, MO, on February 26, 2022. She
 was&nbsp;born&nbsp;August 30, 1921, in rural Ida County, Iowa, to Henry W. and 
Olga M.&nbsp;(Grefe)&nbsp;Kuhlken.&nbsp;Donna&nbsp;grew up on a&nbsp;farm&nbsp;and graduated 
from&nbsp;Cushing&nbsp;High School.&nbsp;Afterward, she&nbsp;attended&nbsp;Nettleton&nbsp;Business 
Training College in Sioux City, IA.&nbsp;After&nbsp;graduation, Donna&nbsp;worked&nbsp;in 
the accounting&nbsp;department&nbsp;of Mid-Continent Airlines in Sioux Falls, SD, 
and then Kansas City, MO.&nbsp;There&nbsp;she&nbsp;met&nbsp;Norbert&nbsp;W.&nbsp;Dietz and&nbsp;they 
were&nbsp;united&nbsp;in&nbsp;marriage&nbsp;on October 19, 1946, at&nbsp;St. John&nbsp;Lutheran Church
 in&nbsp;Cushing, IA.&nbsp;They&nbsp;were&nbsp;married&nbsp;for 55&nbsp;years&nbsp;until his&nbsp;death&nbsp;in 2002. For
 many&nbsp;years Donna&nbsp;was&nbsp;an active member of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 
Kansas City, MO, where she faithfully served as&nbsp;church&nbsp;financial 
secretary.&nbsp;She&nbsp;also&nbsp;was&nbsp;an active member of 
the&nbsp;PTA.&nbsp;Donna&nbsp;enjoyed&nbsp;gardening, crocheting, listening to 
all&nbsp;kinds&nbsp;of&nbsp;music, feeding backyard birds, and was&nbsp;devoted&nbsp;to her 
Kansas City Royals and Chiefs.&nbsp;In&nbsp;her&nbsp;later&nbsp;years, she&nbsp;became&nbsp;a 
news&nbsp;nerd&nbsp;spending hours keeping abreast of local, national, and 
international affairs. Survivors&nbsp;include&nbsp;a&nbsp;son, 
Ken&nbsp;(Teresa)&nbsp;Dietz&nbsp;of&nbsp;Bartlesville,&nbsp;OK;&nbsp;daughters&nbsp;Glenda&nbsp;Dietz&nbsp;of 
Overland Park, KS, and Sharon&nbsp;(John)&nbsp;Iverson&nbsp;of Saline, 
MI;&nbsp;grandchildren&nbsp;William&nbsp;(Melanie)&nbsp;Dietz, Amanda&nbsp;(Kyle)&nbsp;McDonald, and 
Kendra&nbsp;(Jared)&nbsp;Seat;&nbsp;and great-grandchildren Riley and Max McDonald, 
and&nbsp;Avery and Hayden Seat;&nbsp;sister Joan&nbsp;Croxell&nbsp;of Holstein, IA, and 
sister-in-law Catherine&nbsp;Kuhlken&nbsp;of Jackson, CA, along&nbsp;with 
many&nbsp;wonderful&nbsp;nieces and&nbsp;nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Norbert, parents, and brothers Kenneth Kuhlken and Henry Kuhlken. A
 funeral service will be held in WaKeeney, KS, on Saturday, March 5, at 
10:30 a.m. at Schmitt Funeral Home following a family visitation, burial
 will follow at the WaKeeney City Cemetery. &nbsp;Memorial contributions&nbsp;in&nbsp;memory&nbsp;of Donna may be&nbsp;made&nbsp;to Gloria Dei 
Lutheran Church,&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;City, MO,&nbsp;Northcare&nbsp;Hospice&nbsp;House,&nbsp;part&nbsp;of&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;City&nbsp;Hospice&nbsp;and Palliative 
Care, Salvation&nbsp;Army, or&nbsp;a favorite charity.

Donna F. Dietz

Ibendahl suggests farmers buy diesel in summer to save on costs&nbsp;

By SHELBY VARNER K-State Research and Extension News&nbsp;

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State University farm management economist Gregg Ibendahl said the average price of gasoline and diesel the past five years gives a good indication of when to expect higher and lower prices.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“You can really see the seasonality the most if you look at (past) gasoline prices,” Ibendahl said.&nbsp;&nbsp;

He said gas prices are almost guaranteed to be higher during summer when people are going on vacations. On the other hand, the lowest gasoline prices will be during the winter.&nbsp;

According to Ibendahl, that trend still holds and will likely continue.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“On the diesel side, we also see some seasonality,” Ibendahl said.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The seasonality of diesel has changed over the last decade or two because diesel used to be a close substitute for heating oil, which caused diesel prices to be highest in the winter.&nbsp;&nbsp;

In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.agmanager.info/production-economics/energy/fuel-price-outlook-2022">recent analysis</a>, Ibendahl said the best time to buy diesel would probably be during the summer.&nbsp;

“(Now) we see more of a seasonal demand for diesel fuel in the spring and fall,” Ibendahl said. “Prices are probably 15- 20 cents higher in October and November, but the rest of the year it is probably just a little bit below average.” Higher diesel prices during those times can be a bad thing for farmers as they are trying to get the crop in or out.&nbsp; “Diesel fuel doesn’t show strong seasonality like gasoline does, but it’s still there,” Ibendahl said.&nbsp;

Ibendahl said current events – such as the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine -- could push diesel and oil prices higher and result in even more price variability.&nbsp;

<h2>Ibendahl suggests farmers buy diesel in summer to save on costs&nbsp;</h2>By SHELBY VARNER K-State Research and Extension News&nbsp;MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State University farm management economist Gregg Ibendahl said the average price of gasoline and diesel the past five years gives a good indication of when to expect higher and lower prices.&nbsp;&nbsp;“You can really see the seasonality the most if you look at (past) gasoline prices,” Ibendahl said.&nbsp;&nbsp;He said gas prices are almost guaranteed to be higher during summer when people are going on vacations. On the other hand, the lowest gasoline prices will be during the winter.&nbsp;According to Ibendahl, that trend still holds and will likely continue.&nbsp;&nbsp;“On the diesel side, we also see some seasonality,” Ibendahl said.&nbsp;&nbsp;The seasonality of diesel has changed over the last decade or two because diesel used to be a close substitute for heating oil, which caused diesel prices to be highest in the winter.&nbsp;&nbsp;In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.agmanager.info/production-economics/energy/fuel-price-outlook-2022">recent analysis</a>, Ibendahl said the best time to buy diesel would probably be during the summer.&nbsp;“(Now) we see more of a seasonal demand for diesel fuel in the spring and fall,” Ibendahl said. “Prices are probably 15- 20 cents higher in October and November, but the rest of the year it is probably just a little bit below average.” Higher diesel prices during those times can be a bad thing for farmers as they are trying to get the crop in or out.&nbsp; “Diesel fuel doesn’t show strong seasonality like gasoline does, but it’s still there,” Ibendahl said.&nbsp;Ibendahl said current events – such as the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine -- could push diesel and oil prices higher and result in even more price variability.&nbsp;

K-State farm management economist tracks fuel price trends

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers of their 
reporting and potential tax obligations from working in the gig economy,
 making virtual currency transactions, earning foreign-source income or 
holding certain foreign assets. Information available on IRS.gov and 
instructions on Form 1040 can help taxpayers in understanding and 
meeting these reporting and tax requirements.

Generally, income earned from the gig economy is taxable and must be 
reported to the IRS. The gig economy is activity where people earn 
income providing on-demand work, services or goods. Often, it's through a
 digital platform like an app or website. Taxpayers must report income 
earned from the gig economy on a tax return, even if the income is:

For more information on the gig economy, visit the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/businesses/gig-economy-tax-center">gig economy tax center</a>.

Understand virtual currency reporting and tax requirements

The IRS reminds taxpayers that once again there is a question at the 
top of Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR asking about virtual currency 
transactions. All taxpayers filing these forms must check the box 
indicating either "yes" or "no." A transaction involving virtual 
currency includes, but is not limited to:

If an individual disposed of any virtual currency that was held 
as a capital asset through a sale, exchange or transfer, they should 
check "Yes" and use Form 8949 to figure their capital gain or loss and 
report it on Schedule D (Form 1040).

If they received any virtual currency as compensation for services or
 disposed of any virtual currency they held for sale to customers in a 
trade or business, they must report the income as they would report 
other income of the same type (for example, W-2 wages on Form 1040 or 
1040-SR, line 1, or inventory or services from Schedule C on Schedule 
1). More information on virtual currency can be found in Instruction for
 Form 1040 and on IRS.gov.

A U.S. citizen or resident alien's worldwide income is generally 
subject to U.S. income tax, regardless of where they live. They're also 
subject to the same income tax filing requirements that apply to U.S. 
citizens or resident aliens living in the United States.

U.S. citizens and resident aliens must report unearned income, such 
as interest, dividends, and pensions, from sources outside the United 
States unless exempt by law or a tax treaty. They must also report 
earned income, such as wages and tips, from sources outside the United 
States. An income tax filing requirement generally applies even if a 
taxpayer qualifies for tax benefits, such as the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/foreign-earned-income-exclusion">Foreign Earned Income Exclusion</a> or the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/foreign-tax-credit">Foreign Tax Credit</a>,
 which substantially reduce or eliminate U.S. tax liability. These tax 
benefits are only available if an eligible taxpayer files a U.S. income 
tax return.

A taxpayer is allowed an automatic 2-month extension to June 15 if 
both their tax home and abode are outside the United States and Puerto 
Rico. Even if allowed an extension, a taxpayer will have to pay interest
 on any tax not paid by the regular due date of April 18, 2022.

Those serving in the military outside the U.S. and Puerto Rico on the
 regular due date of their tax return also qualify for the extension to 
June 15. IRS recommends attaching a statement if one of these two 
situations apply. More information can be found in the<a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf"> Instructions for Form 1040 and 1040-SR</a>&nbsp;PDF, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-54">Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad</a> and <a href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p519">Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens</a>.

Reporting required for foreign accounts and assets

Federal law requires U.S. citizens and resident aliens to report 
their worldwide income, including income from foreign trusts and foreign
 bank and other financial accounts. In most cases, affected taxpayers 
need to complete and attach <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-schedule-b-form-1040">Schedule B</a>
 to their tax return. Part III of Schedule B asks about the existence of
 foreign accounts, such as bank and securities accounts, and usually 
requires U.S. citizens to report the country in which each account is 
located.

In addition, certain taxpayers may also have to complete and attach to their return <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8938">Form 8938, Statement of Foreign Financial Assets</a>.
 Generally, U.S. citizens, resident aliens and certain nonresident 
aliens must report specified foreign financial assets on this form if 
the aggregate value of those assets exceeds certain thresholds. See the 
instructions for this form for details.

Further, separate from reporting specified foreign financial assets 
on their tax return, taxpayers with an interest in, or signature or 
other authority over foreign financial accounts whose aggregate value 
exceeded $10,000 at any time during 2020, must file electronically with 
the Treasury Department a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) <a href="https://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/NoRegFBARFiler.html">Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)</a>.
 Because of this threshold, the IRS encourages taxpayers with foreign 
assets, even relatively small ones, to check if this filing requirement 
applies to them. The form is only available through the <a href="https://www.fincen.gov/bsa-e-filing-system">BSA E-filing System website</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599869632873.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>IRSWASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers of their 
reporting and potential tax obligations from working in the gig economy,
 making virtual currency transactions, earning foreign-source income or 
holding certain foreign assets. Information available on IRS.gov and 
instructions on Form 1040 can help taxpayers in understanding and 
meeting these reporting and tax requirements.<h2>Gig economy earnings are taxable</h2>Generally, income earned from the gig economy is taxable and must be 
reported to the IRS. The gig economy is activity where people earn 
income providing on-demand work, services or goods. Often, it's through a
 digital platform like an app or website. Taxpayers must report income 
earned from the gig economy on a tax return, even if the income is:<ul>
 <li>From part-time, temporary or side work,</li><li>Not reported on an information return form - like a Form 1099-K, 1099-MISC, W-2 or other income statement or</li><li>Paid in any form, including cash, property, goods or virtual currency.</li>
 </ul>For more information on the gig economy, visit the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/businesses/gig-economy-tax-center">gig economy tax center</a>.<h2>Understand virtual currency reporting and tax requirements</h2>The IRS reminds taxpayers that once again there is a question at the 
top of Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR asking about virtual currency 
transactions. All taxpayers filing these forms must check the box 
indicating either "yes" or "no." A transaction involving virtual 
currency includes, but is not limited to:<ul>
 <li>The receipt of virtual currency as payment for goods or services provided;</li><li>The receipt or transfer of virtual currency for free (without 
providing any consideration) that does not qualify as a bona fide gift;</li><li>The receipt of new virtual currency as a result of mining and staking activities;</li><li>The receipt of virtual currency as a result of a hard fork;</li><li>An exchange of virtual currency for property, goods or services;</li><li>An exchange/trade of virtual currency for another virtual currency;</li><li>A sale of virtual currency; and</li><li>Any other disposition of a financial interest in virtual currency.</li>
 </ul>If an individual disposed of any virtual currency that was held 
as a capital asset through a sale, exchange or transfer, they should 
check "Yes" and use Form 8949 to figure their capital gain or loss and 
report it on Schedule D (Form 1040).If they received any virtual currency as compensation for services or
 disposed of any virtual currency they held for sale to customers in a 
trade or business, they must report the income as they would report 
other income of the same type (for example, W-2 wages on Form 1040 or 
1040-SR, line 1, or inventory or services from Schedule C on Schedule 
1). More information on virtual currency can be found in Instruction for
 Form 1040 and on IRS.gov.<h2>Report Foreign Source Income</h2>A U.S. citizen or resident alien's worldwide income is generally 
subject to U.S. income tax, regardless of where they live. They're also 
subject to the same income tax filing requirements that apply to U.S. 
citizens or resident aliens living in the United States.U.S. citizens and resident aliens must report unearned income, such 
as interest, dividends, and pensions, from sources outside the United 
States unless exempt by law or a tax treaty. They must also report 
earned income, such as wages and tips, from sources outside the United 
States. An income tax filing requirement generally applies even if a 
taxpayer qualifies for tax benefits, such as the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/foreign-earned-income-exclusion">Foreign Earned Income Exclusion</a> or the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/foreign-tax-credit">Foreign Tax Credit</a>,
 which substantially reduce or eliminate U.S. tax liability. These tax 
benefits are only available if an eligible taxpayer files a U.S. income 
tax return.A taxpayer is allowed an automatic 2-month extension to June 15 if 
both their tax home and abode are outside the United States and Puerto 
Rico. Even if allowed an extension, a taxpayer will have to pay interest
 on any tax not paid by the regular due date of April 18, 2022.Those serving in the military outside the U.S. and Puerto Rico on the
 regular due date of their tax return also qualify for the extension to 
June 15. IRS recommends attaching a statement if one of these two 
situations apply. More information can be found in the<a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf"> Instructions for Form 1040 and 1040-SR</a>&nbsp;PDF, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-54">Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad</a> and <a href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p519">Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens</a>.<h2>Reporting required for foreign accounts and assets</h2>Federal law requires U.S. citizens and resident aliens to report 
their worldwide income, including income from foreign trusts and foreign
 bank and other financial accounts. In most cases, affected taxpayers 
need to complete and attach <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-schedule-b-form-1040">Schedule B</a>
 to their tax return. Part III of Schedule B asks about the existence of
 foreign accounts, such as bank and securities accounts, and usually 
requires U.S. citizens to report the country in which each account is 
located.In addition, certain taxpayers may also have to complete and attach to their return <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8938">Form 8938, Statement of Foreign Financial Assets</a>.
 Generally, U.S. citizens, resident aliens and certain nonresident 
aliens must report specified foreign financial assets on this form if 
the aggregate value of those assets exceeds certain thresholds. See the 
instructions for this form for details.Further, separate from reporting specified foreign financial assets 
on their tax return, taxpayers with an interest in, or signature or 
other authority over foreign financial accounts whose aggregate value 
exceeded $10,000 at any time during 2020, must file electronically with 
the Treasury Department a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) <a href="https://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/NoRegFBARFiler.html">Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)</a>.
 Because of this threshold, the IRS encourages taxpayers with foreign 
assets, even relatively small ones, to check if this filing requirement 
applies to them. The form is only available through the <a href="https://www.fincen.gov/bsa-e-filing-system">BSA E-filing System website</a>.The deadline for filing the annual <a href="https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/report-of-foreign-bank-and-financial-accounts-fbar">Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)</a>
 is the same as that of Form 1040. FinCEN grants filers who missed the 
original deadline an automatic extension until October 15, 2022, to file
 the FBAR. There is no need to request this extension.This news release is part of a series called the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-time-guide">Tax Time Guide</a>, a resource to help taxpayers file an accurate tax return. Additional help is available in <a href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17">Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax</a>.