Progress edition 2014

Progress Edition 2014

Haysville Sun-Times

The Times-Sentinel

2014 Progress EditionPage 2 Times-Sentinel Newspaper Group

Al’s Automotive ......................................................................................................................45Anthony Medical Center/Argonia Family Clinic .........................................................62Auburn Hills Wine and Spirits ...........................................................................................59John Barrett, Attorney .........................................................................................................59The Bennett Agency .............................................................................................................29Benny’s Burgers & Shakes/D’Mario’s Pizza and Cheney Lanes ................................ 5Burwell Construction ...........................................................................................................29Central Plains Area Agency on Aging ............................................................................19Charles Engineering .............................................................................................................47Cheney Baptist Church ........................................................................................................39Cheney Golden Age Home ................................................................................................13Cheney United Methodist Church .................................................................................... 6Cherry Oaks Golf Course .....................................................................................................21Citizens State Bank ................................................................................................................12City of Argonia ........................................................................................................................18City of Cheney ........................................................................................................................56City of Clearwater ..................................................................................................................34City of Conway Springs .......................................................................................................20City of Garden Plain ..............................................................................................................30City of Goddard ......................................................................................................................14City of Haysville ......................................................................................................................50Clearwater Chamber of Commerce ................................................................................54Clearwater Family Practice ................................................................................................... 6Clearwater Nursing & Rehabilitation ..............................................................................61Conway Bank...........................................................................................................................16Conway Springs Chamber of Commerce ......................................................................43Dawson Monument Company .........................................................................................12Dental Associates ..................................................................................................................16Farmers & Merchants State Bank .....................................................................................46Farrell’s Body Shop ................................................................................................................55First Baptist Church of Goddard .......................................................................................27First Christian Church of Clearwater ...............................................................................44Fisher Lumber .........................................................................................................................10Goddard Chamber of Commerce ....................................................................................58Goddard Veterinary Clinic ..................................................................................................46Harper Hospital District No. 5 ...........................................................................................54Harper Pharmacy ...................................................................................................................27Haviland Telephone Company .........................................................................................55Hay Grinderman ....................................................................................................................11Haysville Family EyeCare .....................................................................................................36Helten Farm Repair ...............................................................................................................42Holy Spirit Catholic School.................................................................................................17Hometown Farm Supply .....................................................................................................38Horsch Trailer Sales ...............................................................................................................60Sen. Dan Kerschen ................................................................................................................42Kiser Manufacturing .............................................................................................................43

Knuckles Automotive ...........................................................................................................53Kruse Corporation .................................................................................................................13Lange Excavating ..................................................................................................................47Larry Lee, Counselor .............................................................................................................38Lubbers Cars ............................................................................................................................63Milton Baptist Church ..........................................................................................................36Mize’s Thriftway ......................................................................................................................40Prairie Seed & Supply ...........................................................................................................53Pratt Community College ...................................................................................................44Sedgwick County Farm Bureau ........................................................................................60Sedgwick County Conservation District .......................................................................40Shackelford Machine Inc.....................................................................................................26Shelter Insurance - Dana Haislett ....................................................................................18SKT ................................................................................................................................................ 4South Central Kansas Education Service Center ........................................................37St. Paul’s Lutheran School...................................................................................................62Stroot Lockers .........................................................................................................................23Times-Sentinel Newspapers ..............................................................................................32Tom Pauly Seed ......................................................................................................................58USD 261 Haysville ..................................................................................................................24USD 264 Clearwater..............................................................................................................22USD 265 Goddard..................................................................................................................48USD 267 Renwick ...................................................................................................................52USD 268 Cheney ...................................................................................................................... 8USD 356 Conway Springs ...................................................................................................41USD 359 Argonia ...................................................................................................................28Valley Offset Printing ............................................................................................................23Via Christi ..................................................................................................................................64Webb-Shinkle Mortuary......................................................................................................19

Progress Edition 2014Published by Times-Sentinel Newspapers, LLC. Distributed in The Times-Sentinel, Conway Springs Star & Argonia Argosy, Haysville Sun-Times andat participating advertisers and organizations.

EditorialPublisher Paul RhodesManaging Editor/Production Travis MountsWritten by: Michael Buhler, David Dinnell, Amy Houston, Sam Jack,Travis Mounts and Paul RhodesPhotography by: David Dinnell, Sam Jack, Travis Mounts, Paul Rhodes and Dale Stelz

Sales & BillingSales Valorie Castor, Sherry Machek and Paul RhodesBilling/Circulation Tori Vinciguera

A Division of Times-Sentinel Newspapers125 N. Main | P.O. Box 544 | Cheney, KS 67025(316) 540-0500 | www.tsnews.com | © 2014 Times-Sentinel Newspapers

Welcome to our 2014 Progress Edition! In your hands is the culmination of months of work. The current year was less than halfway done when we began contacting advertisers about taking part in this bi-annual publication. As we dutifully put out three newspa-pers every week, two more papers every month and a whole host of smaller-but-just-as-important special sections, the staff at Times-Sentinel Newspapers con-tacted business, governmental groups and organizations, interviewed and crafted stories, and took photographs. And in the past few weeks, we began putting together the 64 pages you see here. A final flurry of activity last week capped this project, which is as big as anything we’ve ever produced. What is our Progress Edition? In a nutshell, it’s a community resource tool that features a wealth of information about local government, civic and service organizations, and area businesses. We believe you’ll find yourself en-grossed in the incredible volume of information now at your fingertips. We know you’ll want to keep this publication around for months to come, using it as a resource tool for information about your community and others in the communi-ties covered by Times-Sentinel Newspa-pers. Readers of The Times-Sentinel are used to seeing this project every other year. Advertisers and readers of the Conway Springs Star & Argonia Argosy embraced it when they were introduced to it in 2012. And now we introduce the Progress Edition to the loyal readers of the Hays-ville Sun-Times. Along with the copy you received in your paper this week, additional copies will be available at City Halls, Chambers of Commerce, libraries and school district offices. These copies will be distributed to new residents in our area, prospective businesses and visitors.

A thriving group of communities You’ll know the community names found in these pages: Argonia, Cheney, Clearwater, Clonmel, Conway Springs, Garden Plain, Goddard, Haysville, Milton, Viola. We so often hear about the success of our area communities because of their proximity to Wichita, but we at Times-Sentinel Newspapers want to take this opportunity to point out the success of Wichita because of its proximity to our communities.

Take a minute to look at the map included on this page. It’s a simplistic representation of geographic informa-tion, but we think the conclusion is pretty

dramatic: Our newspaper group covers a wide area coming west and south out of Wichita, and all of the communities in this area offer a unique collection of assets. This area is blessed with a diverse range of employment opportunities, from vibrant public sector jobs with our cities and school districts, to private sector posi-tions running the gamut from agriculture, to retail and service operations, to the aerospace industry. We continue to see positive signs in all of our communities. Housing growth is flat in some areas but growing again in others. New businesses are opening their doors while others are seeing measurable if inconsistent growth.

A learning opportunity One of the best parts about putting together the Progress Edition is the things we learn about local businesses and organzations – things that may not normally qualify as news but are still important. We hope you will find that the Progress Edition helps you get to know your community and neighbors better. The folks in the Progress Edition are in many ways the glue of our community. The provide employment and they im-prove the quality of life. They help make our towns feel like home. Yes, “progress” abounds in our area. We appreciate your involvement in that progress, and hope you’ll enjoy our 2014 Progress Edition.

2014 Progress EditionTimes-Sentinel Newspaper Group Page 3

Progress is visible throughout our communities

Travis Mounts Managing Editor

“The only thing that remains constant is change.”

While we didn’t come up with this clever saying, Southern Kansas Telephone – more recently known as SKT – does abide by it. And everyone can agree that there have been lots of changes in our world since the 1940s. But that’s when SKT had its beginnings – as a local tele-phone network in Burden, Kan., operated by a young couple (the grandparents of current, third-generation owners, Kend-all Mikesell and Elaine Mikesell Webb). Progress can be defined as “develop-ment,” “growth,” “improvements,” and even “steps forward,” and those words can also be used to describe SKT’s voyage from 1940 to today.

While SKT still provides local tele-phone service, over the years it has changed greatly, or “improved” – with long distance, voicemail options, and numerous advanced calling features. Today’s technology also allows SKT to provide captioned telephone and other specialized services to customers who are sight, hearing, or voice impaired, helping them to communicate with family, friends, and others with ease. While the company began by providing telephone service in Burden, now SKT also connects the communities of Atlanta, Beaumont, Belle Plaine, Burden, Cambridge, Cedar Vale, Clearwater, Dexter, Elk Falls, Grenola, Howard, Latham, Longton, Moline, Peck, Piedmont, Reece, Rosalia, Severy, and Viola with the world.

SKT Cable TV customers have always enjoyed great service – even during our sometimes not-so-great Kansas weather! They know they can count on a clear picture with no signal loss during storms (which satellite customers sometimes ex-perience), no ugly dish on their house or in their yard, no expensive equipment to buy or repair, and all the while enjoying SKT’s unmatched, local customer care. But there are more “developments.” SKT has recently lowered the monthly fee for HDTV/DVR set-top receivers, which allows customers access to free HDTV programming. Other exciting changes this year include the addition of several new networks like Kansas 22, MSNBC, SEC Network, Big Ten Network, NBC

Sports Network, The Hallmark Movie Channel, Cooking Channel, Me-TV, and Fox News HD. And later this year, ESPN’s Fusion, FXX HD, and MSNBC HD will be added. Over the years, SKT has received customer requests for access to ESPN3, which is now available to all SKT high-speed customers via their SKT Internet connection … which is a great segue into talking about SKT’s High-Speed Internet:

There is a world of possibility out there, and the Internet can bring it all home. Since 1998, when SKT first began providing dial-up Internet service, the demand for bandwidth and speed has just continued to “grow,” as we say! SKT no longer offers dial-up Internet, and instead has moved to Cable Modem, ADSL, and Fiber to the Home broadband, which provide immensely faster connections that customers truly enjoy. SKT just completed a huge infrastructure update of vast scope, which has positioned the company to meet its Internet customers’ needs well into the future.

Speaking of “steps forward,” SKT’s newest product/service is SKT Security, with protection solutions tailored to cus-tomers, their families, homes, and business-es. The Guardian Personal Home Safety System is a must for anyone choosing to maintain their independence, yet be safe. For those would-be “Jetsons” out there (youngsters may need to Google this car-

toon), SKT now offers Total Connect and Surveillance systems, enabling customers to remotely arm and disarm their security system from a computer or smart phone, and employ video monitoring via the Internet, using up to six strategically-placed cameras in or around homes or businesses. Snapshots/clips are automatically sent anytime an event is detected. SKT’s cur-rent offer for new customers is “Six months of FREE Total Con-nect Plus, Basic and Automation Services – and Add Video for a Buck” through the end of the year. Call 888-758-8976 for details.

SKT Wireless now offers cellular phones from Apple, as well as Motorola, LG, Sam-sung, and

SKT – So much more than phone service

SKT Customer Care Representatives are ready to help you with Internet, cable television, phone, wireless, and home security services.

a wide variety of Android devices. These devices, as well as laptops and tablets, printers and cartridges, TVs and TV wall mounts, wireless routers, telephones and cords, and much more may be purchased at the SKT Solution Center in Clearwater.

For the convenience of current and potential customers, SKT has established agent relationships in Longton and Bur-den. Charlie and Diana Stroble at Charlie’s Repair in Longton, and Sherrie Conklin at Forgotten Item Market in Burden can answer questions and provide assistance on SKT services and pricing.

So, as much as things have changed and continue to “progress,” our headquarters are still at 112 S. Lee in Clearwater, and SKT will continue to connect our valued customers to the world … doing so with friendly, hometown customer care repre-sentatives and service technicians – friends and neighbors you know and trust.

Jason Gibbs oversees an SKT net-work upgrade. SKT first offered dial-up Internet in 1998 and has upgraded its services to be well-positioned to provide the bandwidth needs of the future.


Albers purchased Cheney Lanes in 1986 for sentimental reasons: his father origi-nally built the bowling alley. Equipped with a grill and fryer, Albers decided to make it a pizza place and he became the first Gambino’s Pizza franchisee. The name was later changed to D’Mario’s Pizza and lunch specials were created that run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastman said Tuesdays and Thursdays are their most popular days because they offer an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet.

“For $8 you have a choice of 12 – 14 different types of pizza including dessert pizzas,” he said. “The price also includes a salad and small drink.”

There also are specials on Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday along with eve-ning specials Tuesday through Thursday.

Winter is typically a busier time for

bowling alleys and that is the case with Cheney Lanes. Even though there are eight lanes, calling ahead to reserve is recommended.

Party packages are available to cel-ebrate birthdays or other events with pizza and bowling. Cosmic bowling, with light shows and music, runs on Saturday evenings from 9 – 11 and, according to Eastman, it is enjoyed by both children and adults. Private rooms, which may be configured to accommodate up to 80 people, may be rented for parties, meet-ings and other events. In fact, D’Mario’s Pizza usually plays host to the monthly Chamber meeting.

D’Mario’s Pizza hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Call 316-542-3126.

Local restaurants serve food and funLovin’ D’Mario’s Pizza and Benny’s Burgers & ShakesD’Mario’s Pizza and Benny’s Burgers

& Shakes are perfect examples of how supporting community-based businesses helps the local economy. Both restaurants are located in Cheney and have been serv-

ing yummy food for a long time. They also are both owned by local entrepre-neur, Don Albers. Kevin Eastman serves as general manager for both restaurants, so he keeps pretty busy.

Benny’s Burgers & Shakes was pur-chased by Don Albers in 2012. Located at 610 N. Main, this was originally Cardinal Corner, but the restaurant was renamed in honor of Benjamin “Benny” Cheney, one of Cheney’s founding fathers. In 2014 an additional storage room was added along with non-slip tile in the dining area and a new exterior paint job.

Benny’s Burgers & Shakes still offers hand-formed beef patties and added fresh cut fries. They also offer a full selection of different ice cream options, which include malts, shakes, cups, cones and Benny’s Bombs. Cones and cups have the option of adding up to four different flavors of Flavor Burst toppings. These

flavors are infused in the middle and on the edges of the ice cream when it is drawn from the ice cream machine and are very colorful and yummy. The Benny’s Bombs have candy toppings mixed into them and are sweet.

A full service breakfast is offered on Friday and Saturday mornings. The breakfast items include bacon, eggs, sausage, biscuits and sausage gravy, pan-cakes, hash browns and sandwiches that come on your choice of biscuits, crois-sants, or muffins.

Benny’s Burgers & Shakes is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Call 316-542-9934.

Benny’s Burgers & Shakes

D’Mario’s Pizza and Cheney Lanes

Bowling is a big draw at D’Mario’s Pizza and Cheney Lanes, located just north of Cheney. The menu includes pizza, burgers, salads, sandwich-es, pasta and more. Meeting rooms are available for business and civic groups as well as parties and familiy events.

Benny’s Burgers & Shakes was purchased by the Albers family in 2012. The restaurant is named after Benjamin “Benny” Cheney, one of the found-ers of the city. Lunch time is always a busy time at Benny’s (above). Right, the posts for a new canopy are visible in front of the Main Street busi-ness. The canopy should be ready in time for sum-mer 2015.


Earlier this year, a major staff transition took place at Clearwater Family Practice in Clearwater.

In June, the clinic operated by Dr. Da-vid Papish was joined by a new physician assistant, Leanna Atterbury.

“I was excited and scared at the same time,” said Atterbury. “There’s been a lot to learn, but it has been a wonderful experience so far.”

The addition of Atterbury to the staff was sparked by the departure of long-time APRN Lila Mourning. Mourning spent 19 years with Clearwater Family Practice before moving to a new position in Wichita.

Atterbury grew up in south Wichita, and now lives in Haysville with her husband Dusty and her stepson. She had been working as a PA in Hays, and was excited to land a position so close to home.

“I’d been working out in Hays for about a year with a family practice group there,” she said. “I wanted to be with a family practice group, and that was hard to find in the Wichita area. This is everything I was looking for, all wrapped up in one.”

Atterbury has become part of a family

practice team that specializes in all aspects of family medicine, and also provides specialized services unique to the area.

Dr. Papish has been studying – and helping – the human body for more than 35 years at his practice in Clearwater. Specialized services include osteopathic manipulation, prolotherapy, sclerotherapy, and a unique weight loss program that has had phenomenal success over the past few years.

“This is a true medical home,” said Dr. Papish. He enjoys working as a solo practitioner, and his wife Laura is actively involved in the day-to-day operations of the clinic. Dr. Papish is constantly looking for ways to help his patients and provide real help for their medical issues.

For patients suffering from acute and chronic pain, Dr. Papish utilizes os-teopathic principles and practices, and prolotherapy. Prolotherapy is an alterna-

tive treatment that utilizes injections of a proliferative solution that promotes the healing process in injured joints.

Dr. Papish also can help patients with spider vein issues. This process involves injecting a solution into the problem veins that literally can make them disappear.

In 2009, Dr. Papish and his staff launched the Ideal Protein physician-su-pervised weight loss program. Since then, patients have lost thousands of pounds – and are keeping them off.

Dr. Papish and Laura both have utilized the program, with remarkable success – like their patients. Most patients also find they can reduce or discontinue a variety of medications, especially those used to treat high blood pressure, type II diabetes, and high cholesterol/triglycerides.

“I’ve been blessed with a loyal, dedi-cated staff, and our patients appreciate the experience they bring to the prac-tice,” said Dr. Papish. “We genuinely love working with our patients, and seeing real results.”

For more information about Clearwater Family Practice, call the clinic at 620-584-2055, or visit www.clearwaterdoc.com.

Clearwater Family PracticeCaring staff and specialized services help define local medical practice

The staff at Clearwater Family Prac-tice provides the kind of local medical facility that many small communi-ties no longer have, as well as a physician-supervised weight loss program.

Cheney UMC PastorDoug Hasty speaks out

I am very excited about the vitality and enthusi-asm in our church. In September we looked at the “Exciting Church” based on Jorge Acevedo’s book, “Vital Churches Changing Communities and the World.” In Jorge’s story, he came to lead Grace Church in Southwestern Florida and the church didn’t meet his expectations. So he preached the Exciting Church based on the example of the First Century Church, which includes powerful preaching and teaching, dynamic worship, and an expectation that prayer empowered by the Holy Spirit changes things. We had some fun trying to envision a more Exciting Church.

Our Sunday School and small group ministry have some exciting lessons going on. The Parlor class is studying the topic, “Strengthening Your Mar-riage,” with a DVD from Adam Hamilton, while the Fireside class is looking at David Jeremiah’s study on “Spiritual Warfare.” Plus we have launched a popu-lar study called the “Daniel Plan.” It’s a program for better health emphasizing five things: Faith, Food, Fitness, Focus and Friends. People within the sup-port of a small group are encouraged to start with one or two manageable changes. We will offer an-other round of the Daniel Plan in January, so come

and join us and start 2015 with a focus on fitness.We also are excited about our Community Garden.

This spring we started with six self-contained raised plots. During this coming winter we want to add at least six more plots so more people from the com-munity will have a place to raise garden vegetables. This is an opportunity for us to share with others and give back to the community.

Our worship services are at 9:30 a.m. Sunday mornings followed by Fellowship and Sunday School for all ages. Beth Moore Bible Study groups for women meet on Thursday night and Friday morning. Children in grades 1 through 5 are welcome to join the Good News Club, which meets on Wednesdays after school. Other musical groups include the Adult Choir and the Bell Choir. We have a praise band that leads us in music during our worship once month. This band brings us talent, energy and a blend of contemporary music with some up-tempo hymns.

There are several opportunities for church youths to meet. Middle and Senior High school groups meet on Sundays at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. respective-ly. Small group Bible Studies for boys and girls also meet at various times during the week.

This is a very outreach oriented congregation and there is always something happening. It’s a lot of fun and there are a lot of good people here.

Pastor Hasty and Cheney United Methodist Church may be reached at 316-542-3511.

Exciting programs and a growing community garden at Methodist church

The Rev. Doug Hasty, pastor at the United Method-ist Church in Cheney, stands at the altar that has been decorated for Christmas. There are lots of happenings at Cheney UMC all year long.


Call today to see what East Wichita News and WestSide Story can do for you!

316-540-0500

“Our phone rang immediately!”

“Within two days after the East Wichita News and WestSide Story reached homes, I had to call owner Paul Rhodes on his cell phone. It was a Saturday and we had already received responses to our ad in that month’s issue. Over the next three weeks, the contact with new and old customers alike was exactly what we needed. In my book he’s my hero...and I told him that the next time we talked – which, of course, was to get our ad going for the next issue.”

– Mark Gross, ownerGross Tile

Why East Wichita News and WestSide Storydeliver for advertisers:

• Reach.More25,000homesintheEastWichitaneighborhoodsand22,000homesintheWestWichitaneighborhoodsthataremostcovetedbyadvertisers

• Localcontent.Ourfeature-drivenstoriesaboutpeopleandorganizationsdrawinreadersandbuildaloyalfollowingeachandeverymonth.

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Community support helps Cheney schools focus on the future

For a school district to truly be special, it takes an unwavering level of support from the community. It’s that kind of support that helps make the schools in Cheney USD 268 among the best in all of Kansas. “A lot of communities talk about being progressive. Even though this is a conservative niche of America, this is a progressive com-munity educationally,” said superintendent David Grover. “People ask, ‘How can we help? How can we make your ideas come to frui-

tion?’ There is a sense of ‘somebody did it for me’ and an expecta-tion that the community needs its education system to thrive. One measure of that, Grover said, was the most recent school board election. Eight people ran for three vacant seats and none of them were “agenda-driven candidates” he said. “They all just wanted to serve the community,” Grover said. Meanwhile, there are school districts across the state with empty board of education seats because nobody is willing to run.

Pockets of learning The Cheney School District is one of a small group of school districts nationally – just 13 percent – that offer 1:1 technology at most grade levels – meaning that the district is providing a computer or tablet for every student. In Cheney, all high school students are provided a MacBook laptop while stu-dents in grades three through eight are provided an iPad. In prekindergarten through second grade, there are seven iPads in each room. “It’s a tremendous allocation of resources, but it’s revolutionizing what’s going on in the classroom,” said Grover. “This is a very tech-rich school district. Many districts talk about it. We’re doing it. “You have to have a very forward-thinking school board working behind the scenes. It takes a coalition of people.” The technology is helping to create a 21st Century classroom with “pock-ets of learning.” Today’s classroom is more student-centered rather than the teacher-driven model that the par-ents of today’s students experienced. Students are more responsible for their learning “Evenfiveyearsagowehad‘tech-nology time.’ Now, technology is integrated into everything,” said Grover. It’s changing the profession of teaching, and Grover credited teachers for putting in the time – often on their own time – to morph themselves into teachers with new skills. Professional development is an ongoing effort. Helping students meet college- and career-ready standards works back into all grade levels. It is a piece of learning throughout every student’s education.

Planning and design work is well under way on USD 268’s $15.4 million bond project. Patrons will see work begin after spring break 2015. While every attempt is being made to do work in the summer and to not disrupt learning, there will be things that have to be done while school is in session. Every effort is being made to minimize distractions.

Here’s a look at major mile-stones:

Now - Design work being com-pleted.

March 2015 - Bids sought.

April/May 2015 - Work to begin.

August 2015 - New entries to Cheney High and Cheney Ele-mentary completed; Cheney Mid-dle School gym remodel done; New stadium and turf installed; maintenance work finished.

August 2016 - Middle school entry done; new gym and other additions completed at Cheney Elementary; Cheney High addi-tions finished; new CES addi-tions and early childhood rooms completed; baseball/softball complex done.

Construction schedule

USD 268 CheneyBOE/District Office David Grover, Superintendent 100 W 6th Avenue Cheney, KS 67025 316.542.3512

BOE members: Jason Gregory, president; Marcia Kampling, vice president; Van Dewey; Matt Voth; Jarrod Bartlett; Rusty Slusser; Brandt Ditgen.

Cheney High School Greg Rosenhagen, principal 316.542.3113

Cheney Middle School Amy Wallace, principal 316.542.0060

Cheney Elementary Sherri Conrad, principal 316.542.3137

www.usd268.com

A new baseball-softball complex will be built on Main Street at MacArthur Road. USD 268 is partnering with the city of Cheney and the Cheney Rec-reation Commission. Future plans include room for two additional softball fields and soccer fields.

MacBook computers are provided to all high school students, and students in grades 3-8 have iPads. Cheney schools are among only 13 percent of schools nationally with a 1:1 ratio of devices to students.


Planning for the future The community’s commitment to education was on display in June 2014 when voters overwhelmingly ap-proved a $15.4 million bond issue that will help take the school into the next 10-20 years. The bond issue includes a wide array of projects but they can be broken down into three main categories: 1) Safety and security. 2) Deferred maintenance and miscellaneous projects. 3) Individual additions and renovation projects. Everyone agrees on the need to keep students safe. While many people think of safety and associate it with the need to keep strangers out of school buildings, much of the safety effort in the bond is to build FEMA-rated shelters in the event of a tornado or other damaging storm. Grover said storm shelters factored into the 18-month process that preceded the bond vote. The new storm shelters listed in the bond proposal include: • The new elementary school gymnasium and bandroom addition, with room for 840 students during a storm. •Thenewhighschoolweightroom,withroomfor336students. •Additionalhighschoolclassrooms,withroomfor384 students. New, more secure entries will be constructed at all threeschoolbuildings.ThefirstoneswillbeatCheneyHighSchoolandCheneyElementarySchool.Theworkat the high school will be relatively minimal. The con-struction at the elementary school will involve moving theofficeandsomeotherroomlocations. AtCheneyMiddleSchool,wheretheofficeiscurrentlylocated in the heart of the building, the construction will bemoreinvolved.Anewofficewillbebuiltatthesouthend of the middle school, creating a new, more secure entrance into the building. The work will be done as part of a larger remodel within the middle school. The deferred maintenance and miscellaneous projects will contain a lot of the unseen improvements. The projects vary widely. One item is a $500,000 chiller for the high school. That’s an item that, if it fails, would wipe out the district’s entire capital outlay budget, Grover said. “Therearesignificantmaintenanceitemsthatareattheend of their life and need to be replaced. Without the bondissue,wewouldnothavethefinancialcapabilitytorepair some of those items. The amount of community input has been amazing and the board has had to make somedifficultdecisionsindeterminingwhattoincludeinthe overall project,” Grover said. The middle school will be the site of a couple of ma-jor projects. The gymnasium and locker rooms need mul-tiple upgrades. Grover said there are safety concerns in thegymnasiumincludingwiththefloor,whichisstilltheoriginal from roughly 50 years ago. The work will bring the gym into compliance with the Americans with Dis-abilities Act. The district will be adding a baseball/softball complex inthesouthpartof Cheneyinaprojectthatinvolvesthecityof CheneyandtheCheneyRecreationCommission.A new track and artificial turf football fieldwill be in-stalled. Theadditionof artificialturf isaboutrealestate,Gro-

ver said. The district is running out of room in all of its buildings. Twenty years ago, the district had 500 students. That total is now around 800, and it could be 1,200 in another decade or two. The BOE has used this process to do master planning, and the general consensus is that a new school building will be needed someday. That build-ing would most likely go on the open ground west of the west high school. That block of land currently houses the transportation building on one corner – the rest is used for practices and athletic events by the schools and the CheneyRecreationCommission. If that land is lost to a new building, those activities wouldneed togoelsewhere.Artificial turf wouldallowthe high school football team to practice on the game field,somethingthatdoesn’thappennow.Middleschool-erscouldthenpracticeonthecurrentpracticefield.Theturf field could be used for physical education classes,band practice and more. Last fall, Grover said, more than 30 high school, middle school and youth football games

wereplayedonthefield. The individual additions and renovation projects will be the most visible parts of the bond. There are three big-ticket itemshere.Thefirst is anewelementary gymna-sium and music room, which also could serve as a storm shelter for up to 840 occupants. Space is becoming an issue for the elementary school, both for regular classrooms and other classrooms for mu-sic and band. This addition would allow for two preschool rooms in the area currently connecting the school to the oldgymnasium.Clearly,theboardof educationiscom-mitted to early childhood education. The gym would also serve as an auditorium, relieving overcrowdingat theCHSauditoriumduringmusicpro-grams. The middle school renovations will focus primarily on thecentralsectionof theschoolof thecurrentoffice.Thegoal is a smaller tech room, a social commons, four new general classrooms and an open teaching commons space.

Images courtesy of DLR GroupCheney’s bond issue will provide a variety of visible changes – such as a new gymasium and auditorium at Cheney Elementary (top) and a new entrance at the south end of Cheney Middle School (above) – as well as less visible updates such as new coolers and HVAC updates. Cheney voters overwhelmingly ap-proved a $15.4 million bond that will provide new classrooms, FEMA-rated storm shelters, and new and upgraded athletic facilities such as a baseball/softball complex and new artificial turf at the stadium.


Fisher Lumber is always growing, changing with the times and working to meet its customers’ needs.

First, there’s the obvious growth the company has made during its long history in the area. Its lumberyard facility in Gar-den Plain has expanded to become one of the largest contractor and public suppliers in the area.

In 2007, Fisher Lumber added Gallery Expressions near Ridge Road and Kellogg in west Wichita. The 11,000-square-foot showroom offers more than 35 kitchen and bath displays, featuring several of the best cabinet and countertop lines available today.

Most recently, Andale Lumber was acquired by Fisher Lumber, and that merger has produced some real opportu-nities for customers – including a major new addition to the Gallery Expressions showroom in west Wichita, and opportu-nities for the two facilities to better serve customers.

“We have a great team working for us, and everyone is working together very well,” said Fisher Lumber co-owner Joe Fisher. He and his brother Jack Fisher are partners in the company, and each brings areas of expertise to the business.

In addition, the company’s knowledge-able employees are always working to edu-cate themselves on the newest products, and striving to supply dependable prod-ucts and new services to help customers. And their years of service to the company is extensive – between the two lumber

yards, employees have more than 420 years of experience.

One of the biggest gains from the merger has been the ability to combine resources and stop duplicating efforts, said Jack Fisher.

“This has been a tremendous service for our contractors and other customers to be able to ship from two locations,” said Jack, who works with contractors and in sales while Joe focuses on day-to-day operations. The company utilizes a dispatching software to make opera-tions more efficient, and two employ-ees work together to help coordinate deliveries.

This coming year, Fisher Lumber will mark its 60th anniversary, and Joe said plans are underway to mark that occasion.

The company was launched by Vincent and Marjorie Fisher, who purchased an existing lumber yard in Garden Plain operated by Comley Lumber Company. Several years later, Pat Reichenberger purchased a Comley facility in Andale, and the two companies competed – on a friendly and professional level – for many years.

The merger of the two lumber yards has out-performed everyone’s expecta-tions.

“Joe’s the best boss I’ve ever had,” said Pat, who continues to work for the company. “I really mean that. He’s a great leader.”

Joe takes that praise in stride, and showers it back on the people he works

with. He notes that a third generation of family members are now working for the company, and that means he and Jack are doing something right.

“It’s great to see the next generation get involved,” said Joe. “And they’ll bring new ideas to the company, as well.”

The family owned and operated lumber yard has a rich tradition of quality prod-ucts and service, and the Gallery Expres-sions showroom in west Wichita brings that same tradition to customers through its kitchen and bath offerings. And with the addition of Andale Lumber’s exper-tise in decking materials, Gallery Expres-sions now has a deck display room that is unparalleled in Wichita.

“It’s like going out the back door of your house and onto the deck,” said Pat. The showroom features 11 stock colors from three manufacturers, and more than 30 colors that can be special ordered.

“With the deck display room, we can give customers enough of a sample area to get a realistic view of what their new deck would look like,” Joe said. “You can even see what it looks like in different lighting.”

The rest of the Gallery Expressions showroom continues to focus on qual-ity interior products, including kitchen cabinets, countertops, fireplaces, trim and windows and doors. There also is a contractor’s sales office.

“It’s a one-stop shop with us,” said Jack. A prime example is the company’s countertop department, which provides

service from start to finish.“All of our solid surface countertops

are fabricated right here in Garden Plain by a certified fabricator, providing clients with hands-on local craftsmanship,” said Jack. Products include two lines of solid surface granite and Cambria quartz.

In addition to providing a wide selec-tion of cabinet and countertop offerings for the perfect kitchen or bath, Fisher Lumber also handles several types of fireplaces and stoves. They have licensed installers, and also service the products they sell.

At its facility in Garden Plain, Fisher Lumber also is a certified UPS Shipping Center.

“We’ve taken the best ideas from all of our locations and incorporated them at our other locations,” said Joe. Examples include Andale Lumber’s expanded lines of deck materials that also are now avail-able at Fisher Lumber, and at Gallery Expressions, and fireplaces and counter-tops that are now available for customers at Andale Lumber.

For more information about all of the services that are available, check out the company’s websites. The website for the lumber company is www.fisherlumber.net, and the website for the showroom in Wichita is www.galleryexpressions.com.

Fisher Lumber in Garden Plain can be reached by calling 316-531-2295. The number for Andale Lumber is 316-444-2125, and Gallery Expressions can be reached at 316-721-1228.

Fisher Lumber continues toexpand its services to customers

The combined staff members at Fisher Lumber, Andale Lumber and Gallery Expressions have a total of more than 420 years of experience serving their customers.


What began as a means to help their own livestock has become a four-state business for the Eck family.

Based in Kingman, Hay Grinderman employs four hay grinders that travel throughout Kansas – but also serves farmers in Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas to grind hay bales on site for feed yards and cattlemen.

Hay Grinderman’s primary goal is to save their customers valuable input mon-ey. University studies show that grinding hay reduces hay costs by reducing sorting and waste, as well as increasing livestock weight gains.

Hay Grinderman’s roots run back to 1977, when founders Clint and Patti Eck were starting out farming and raising cattle in Kingman County. The couple saw a huge advantage in grinding hay for

their own livestock. To offset the capital investment of their first grinder, the Ecks began grinding for neighbors and the business quickly grew by word of mouth.

While there has been a large amount of volatility in the cattle market throughout the 37-year history of Hay Grinderman, the need for high quality feed and the means to make the most out of feed in-puts has remained and has driven the con-tinued necessity for grinding hay. Indeed, increased demand through the years has mandated the acquisition of additional grinders and trained employees to operate the machines.

While the scope of Hay Grinderman has expanded, other members of the Eck family have joined the family business. Darrin Eck, the middle son, has been a fixture with Hay Grinderman since he

was a child, getting his start while riding along with his father and earning count-less hours of hands-on experience and knowledge.

That training has served the company well as Darrin started working alongside his parents in the day-to-day operation of the business in 2004. Six years later, Darrin became a co-owner in the business and is now the acting manager.

Today, the company runs four grinders and employs seven employees who work full-time in order to ensure that they are always available to service their custom-ers.

One thing that has not changed over the years has been the importance of cus-tomer service at Hay Grinderman. The people of Hay Grinderman have made it their mission to deliver their services to

customers with minimal inconvenience. The company’s experienced operators will bring any one of their four Jones Grind-ers to a customer’s location and grind hay, corn, or even cotton burrs.

“Customer service is huge to us,” Darrin Eck said. “Regardless of weather conditions, we have always done our best to make sure we do right by our custom-ers and their livestock. We don’t want to be responsible for any animals being hungry.”

Hay Grinderman’s co-owners have a shared vision for the company’s future. “We will continue to service our custom-ers, and ensure the long-term health of our business so that future generations of the Eck family will have the same oppor-tunities in this business as we have had,” Patti Eck said.

Hay Grinderman: family ownedand operated for more than 37 years


What started out as a fairly simple re-modeling project last year at Citizens State Bank proved to be so much more.

“This all came about because we want-ed to create a better space for customers who wanted to open a new account,” said John Mies, the bank’s vice president. In the end, the project involved a complete remodeling of the bank’s lobby and teller stations, producing an environment that is functional for both the bank’s employees and its customers.

The remodeling effort was a major investment in the bank’s facility on Main Street in Cheney, which had not had much done in the way of upgrades since the facility opened in 1973. Customer trends are different now, and the way employees go about their jobs is differ-ent, too. The new lobby addresses all of those needs.

“I really underestimated how much our customers would enjoy this,” said Mies. “This will take care of us for a long time.”

The way bank officials approached the remodeling work – with caution and then a complete commitment to do what was

Citizens State BankRemodeling work is indicative of bank’s commitment to Cheney

best for customers and staff alike – runs parallel to how the bank approaches other changes in the banking industry. Citi-zens State Bank embraces technological advances that are good for customers, but always tests the waters first to make sure those products and services are safe for

their customers to utilize.That kind of concern for the wellbeing

of the bank’s customers isn’t so surpris-ing for a local bank that has remained just that – a local bank. Citizens State Bank made a conscious decision over the years to focus on the Cheney community, and

not expand with branch facilities.“We made the right decision to focus

our efforts right here in Cheney,” said Mies. “We have to wear a lot of hats be-ing a small bank, but I think that makes us more creative.”

The bank’s lending work is a substantial part of its role in the community, and some of those efforts involve some risk, said Mies.

“Commercial loans are important for us, and we have to be forward thinking – just like this community is,” said Mies. “We want this community to grow, and we want to be supportive of new business efforts that would be good for Cheney.

In recent years the bank also has gotten more involved with home loans, and Mies said that has been a positive step for the bank. It’s yet another service the bank saw as important to its customers, and so a mortgage lending expert was added to the bank’s staff.

For more information about Citizens State Bank, stop by the bank at 306 N. Main in downtown Cheney, call 316-542-3142 or visit www.csbcheneyks.com.

A remodeled bank lobby is just one sign of Citizens State Bank’s commitment to the Cheney community.


When Dawson Monument Company works with clients on monuments and memorials, the individual’s needs are at the forefront.

“We concentrate on the individual,” said owner Steve Parks. “We know they’re going through a hard time. Customer ser-vice is what we really work on – treating the customer with compassion.”

Dawson Monument Company includes locations in Wellington, Winfield and Arkansas City. The business offers grieving families a variety of options to honor their loved ones. After acquiring a laser etching machine a couple of years ago, the company expanded what it could do for customers.

Laser-etched plaques, memorials and monuments are available. Photos, vases, various colors of granite, cutouts and shapes, and even 24-carat gold leaf letter-ing are options.

“We want the customer to be happy when they’re through,” Parks said. “We want them to get what they’ve ordered. We work on that very closely.”

Winfield has been the home of Daw-son Monument Company since 1880, and that’s where equipment is located for the technical part of the work. Parks said one

Dawson Monument Company provides memorials and much more

site where work was completed allowed for better quality control.

The company designs memorials through a CAD system called the Monu-Cad system.

“We always send out a color printout for people to see what their memorial is going to look like when it’s done,” Parks explained.

He added that if a word was spelled wrong or clients didn’t like a particular

feature, changes could be made early on.“We don’t do any of the work until

they’ve actually signed off on it and are pleased with what they’re going to get,” Parks said.

Dawson Monument Company also includes marble refurbishing. Parks said that if a marble headstone had been in place for 100 years or more and the name was no longer readable, the stone could be transported to his business and then

refurbished so it was legible again.Dawson Monument Company often

works with Ebersole Mortuary in Conway Springs on vaults, mausoleums and tent setup. In addition to cemetery-related work, the company offers laser-etched plaques to commemorate weddings, an-niversaries or births. Wooden or glass plaques are available for promotional items, sports awards or employee recogni-tion, and they usually are available the day after they are ordered.

“It makes a real classy-looking award,” Parks said.

Finally, the company makes brick proj-ects for fundraisers and limestone yard signs displaying a family’s last name and other features such as military emblems.

Customers may place orders at any of the three locations. The company’s knowl-edgeable staff includes two employees of more than 30 years and three layout and design artists.

“We’re always working on different ways of doing things,” Parks said. “We’re always looking to be on the cutting edge.”

Learn more about the business at www.dawsonmonumentcompany.com or call 620-221-1800.

Dawson Monument Company has locationsin Wellington, Winfield and Arkansas City.

Cheney Golden Age Home originally opened its doors on September 5, 1963. The facility was created to offer 24-hour nursing care along with other services, mak-ing Cheney Golden Age Home a neighbor-hood within itself. Now, several remodels and additional types of care later, Cheney Golden Age Home has become a neighbor-hood within itself. The skilled nursing care facility is located at 724 Main Street and Main Street Villa, a licensed Home Plus facility, is at 802 N. Main Street.

The Main Street Villa is a relatively new model of care in senior living; Home Plus provides a combination of comfort-able home-like living with health care. Residents enjoy private rooms furnished with their own belongings and mementos, each with a full bath and roll-in shower. Telephone and cable hookups are located in each room. A shared living room and dining room provide a common space for socializing.

Main Street Villa is for those who may need more care and assistance than can be provided in their own home. Help with

Excellent care in a home-town settingCheney Golden Age Home continues to care

personal care such as getting up, going to bed, eating, bathing, dressing, using the restroom and medication management is provided in an atmosphere of casual grace, dignity and respect. The Villa is staffed 24 hours per day under the super-

vision of a licensed nurse.A number of local volunteers visit

Cheney Golden Age Home. For the religious resident, local Cheney pastors do a rotation so all churches are represented. Catholic communion and rosary is heard

every Friday and worship services are held on Sundays. A Lutheran pastor visits monthly, too.

Children from nearby Cheney schools also visit. On Thursdays, middle school students play games with the residents. High school choral groups present special performances for the music-loving resi-dents as well.

Field trips have included visits to the State Fair and the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane. A number of residents go out to eat on a regular basis.

Birthdays are celebrated with fanfare. All residents having birthdays within each month get together for a big party, but each are recognized on their own special day with a cake and balloon.

Cheney Golden Age Home provides many additional services including podia-try care, eye care, counseling, outpatient rehabilitation, barber and beauty shop and more. Inquiries and visits are welcome. For more information, visit their Website, www.cheneygoldenage.org or call 316-540-3691.

Main Street Villa, a Home Plus facility operated by Cheney Golden Age Home, offers residents the care they need in a setting that feels like their own home.

From its beginnings two decades ago as a sheet metal contracting firm in Wichita, Kruse Corporation has grown to become much more. Kruse Corporation was founded in 1994 in Wichita by Kenneth and Mary Kay Kruse with the core purpose of making the communities that they served more comfortable and healthy. Twenty years and two additional business sites later, that is still the driving force behind Kruse Corporation. From its beginning as a sheet metal contracting firm, the needs of the com-munities served by Kruse Corporation have led the company to expand the services it offers to include not only sheet metal but HVAC, plumbing, welding and computer design of mechanical systems. Kruse Corporation recently has ex-panded its reach and has added two new office locations in Manhattan (the Little Apple) and Hutchinson. By expanding beyond Wichita, Kruse Corporation now is able to better deliver the greatest asset Kruse Corporation has to its customers – its employees and their high-level skill set. That might be the reason why the origi-nal belief that employees are the strongest

asset a company will ever have is still held firm to this day by Kruse Corpora-tion. The company’s employees are highly trained in the technical fields that they work in, and the level of care and com-mitment is something that Kruse Corpo-ration takes great pride in. In addition to its highly-qualified em-ployees, Kruse Corporation is a family owned business that believes strongly in family and the rural Kansas work ethic of Kenny and Kaye was forged into the company. Over the years, Kruse Corporation has completed projects across the United States. The company’s commitment to quality – and care that the company foundation was built on – has led to Kruse Corpora-tion’s geographical reach continually expanding. Kruse Corporation also retains a long-term commit-ment to the communities served through charitable

Kruse Corporation growing as it celebrates 20 yearsorganizations, community stewardship and employment opportunities, including the Children’s Miracle Network, which is the primary charitable organization that the company supports. Perhaps the vision of Kruse Corpora-tion is best summed up in the company’s vision statement, which says that Kruse

Corporation “aspires to better the lives of our employees, customers and com-munities by consistently working hard to ensure the quality of our work and the demonstration of our character.” In other words, Kruse Corporation is big enough to do any job, but is small enough to care that it is done right.


When Brian Silcott was looking for an opportunity, he found it in Goddard, Kansas.

The specifics for that opportunity came together in early 2008, as Silcott was of-fered the job as city administrator in God-dard – the community’s first city admin-istrator. The Goddard City Council had decided it was time for such a position to be created, based on the growth the com-munity was beginning to experience.

Since Silcott’s arrival nearly seven years ago, Goddard’s growth has been just short of explosive. It was just the chal-lenge he was looking for.

“In this profession it is rare to have the opportunity to grow a community,” said Silcott. “Essentially, it was a blank can-vas.”

The task Silcott was given was to “paint this picture” based on three key criteria given to him by the Goddard City Coun-cil: commercial growth, public participa-tion and full transparency of the city’s actions.

“Our first challenge was to build trust and credibility,” said Silcott. From there, work began on actual infrastructure ele-ments that could let that growth occur. The community needed a high-capacity sewer plant, improvements to its water system, and new and improved roads.

Once those key elements were moving in a positive direction, city staff could begin working to build relationships with developers.

A huge commercial boost

Goddard had been experiencing some exciting commercial expansion over the years, but the first huge step forward came in May of 2011 when Walmart announced that it was ready to build a Supercenter in Goddard on the southwest corner of Kellogg and 183rd Street.

Construction of the Walmart Super-center moved ahead quickly, and along with that development the city upgraded the frontage road system in that area, and also widened 183rd Street going south along the Walmart site. The new discount giant opened in January of 2013, and additional commercial growth in the com-munity has been strong ever since.

Now, the city is working with develop-

Poised for the futureCity of Goddard has foundation for growth and development

ers on a major entertainment attraction, through a STAR Bond project. That development is expected to start this next spring, and will pump an estimated $70 million into the local economy, just through the construction process.

The focal point for the STAR Bond project will be a new aquatic facility that will include two Olympic standard competition pools, and a diving well for springboard, platform diving, and water polo events. The proposal also includes outdoor sports fields, and a hotel.

The state of Kansas has issued $30 million in STAR Bonds that will be paid off with sales tax revenues generated from within the district, and the city of Goddard will contribute $1.25 million for infrastructure improvements to serve the district. It is estimated that private equity

will contribute more than $44 million in financing for the facility.

“We’re poised for success,” said Silcott. “Now we have to get through the process with the STAR Bond project, and see what other projects will come from this.”

Creating its own ‘luck’One of the ways that the city of God-

dard got things rolling was through a marketing venture that helped get the city connected with outside developers.

“We’re constantly trying to sell our-selves,” said Silcott. One boost in that direction came from the Buxton market-ing study that was undertaken by the city three years ago.

“This has all been money well spent,”

said Silcott. The city initially spent $30,000 with Buxton for its marketing services, and then an additional $15,000 for an additional round of marketing ef-forts.

“One of the biggest things this did was let them (national chain retailers) know we’re a step ahead of the game,” said Silcott. “We’ve got good information available for them on a moment’s notice.”

Now that so much has happened so quickly, the city of Goddard is essen-tially working on its own in terms of marketing. Silcott said the city is ready to “create its own luck.”

“We get out, we talk to people, and the word spreads,” he said. “We’ve laid the foundation.”

The way the puzzle came together, in the end, was pretty simple, Silcott said.

The addition of a Walmart Supercenter has helped boost a wave of growth and new businesses. The city is ready to take another big step with a major aquatic center that will be a national draw.

Community members gathered at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in June 2014 to give their input on Goddard’s strategic plan.


The city’s work with Buxton brought Walmart to Goddard, and now the sales tax revenues from that facility, alone, can pay off the bonds for the STAR develop-ment.

Quality of lifeThe next focus for the city of Goddard

is on the quality of life for its residents. And that work is coming together nicely, as well.

The community earlier this year ap-proved a 1-cent sales tax that will accom-plish a couple of things: It will help fund various improvements in the community, and it will help reduce property taxes over the next few years.

“This is where citizen engagement re-ally comes into play,” said Silcott. Volun-teers helped educate the public on the im-portance of the local sales tax proposal, and more and more residents are stepping up to the table to get involved with other community improvement efforts.

A prime example was the months of work by a group of community volun-teers that earlier this year produced a Community Strategic Plan for the city of Goddard.

“We had good involvement from mem-bers of the steering committee, and over the last several months we literally have had hundreds of Goddard residents who have volunteered their time and input to help create this document,” said Corinne Bannon, a public affairs associate with the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs at

Wichita State University.Bannon said that in its simplest terms,

the document represents the community’s priorities. With the document in place, it can serve as a guide for identifying and defining goals and strategies tied to those priorities.

“This plan, designed by the people of Goddard, outlines how best to move forward and continue to create Goddard’s preferred future,” said Ban-non. She worked with eight members on the steering committee, and helped get the plan’s basic ideas in front of as many groups as possible for additional ideas.

The vision statement for the plan iden-tifies Goddard as “A vibrant community, growing and accessible; the destination for a family-oriented, active livestyle.” The plan includes five goals:

• Expand access to entertainment ame-nities, including restaurants and retail op-tions, for the enjoyment and convenience of all Goddard residents and visitors.

• Support a high-quality parks and recreation system, focused on becoming a model community for outdoor recreation opportunities.

• Support the beautification of city corridors, public spaces, and current and future neighborhoods.

• Support community connectedness through the enhancement of local gov-ernment to citizen communication, public infrastructure and public spaces.

• Assess the quality and quantity of current housing options to ensure the availability of quality, affordable housing

for all current and future residents.

Residential growth returns

Not surprisingly, Goddard grew by more than 100 percent in the decade between 2000 and 2010. With that growth came a big change in demographics: Goddard’s median age is now significantly lower than that of Sedgwick County and the state of Kansas.

Goddard’s median household income, as of 2010, was just under $70,000 per year. That put Goddard ahead of Maize, Valley Center, Park City and Derby in that statistic.

Housing units boomed during the de-cade between 2000 and 2010, with most of the growth in single-family homes. Growth in rental units was the smallest among peer cities in Sedgwick County.

Following the collapse of the housing industry, Goddard has slowly started to grow again and is looking to add more homes through both single family and rental units.

“We’re always appreciative of new rooftops in the community, and we know we are going to continue to grow,” said Silcott.

Goddard already has the lowest mill levy in Sedgwick County, and the property tax reduction that will come from the new 1-cent sales tax could help draw more residents to the community.

“We’re ready to navigate the future,” said Silcott.

| City Hall118 N. Main • P.O. Box 667Goddard, KS 67052316-794-2441www.goddardks.gov

| Elected OfficialsMarcey Gregory, MayorJoe Torske, Council PresidentLarry ZimmermanJamey BlubaughChris HahnClayton Applegate

| City StaffBrian W. Silcott City AdministratorTeri Laymon City ClerkJustin Givens Community Development Dir.Sam Houston Chief of PoliceTylor Struckman Public Works Dir.

| Other Contact InformationAfter Hours Sewer/Water Emergency 316-648-2462Police Non-Emergency 316-794-2051Fire/Police/Emergency CALL 9-1-1

Goddard is an active city with multiple celebrations, community events and volunteer opportunities. Perhaps the biggest event is the Fall Festival, which includes a carnival (above) in Linear Park. At left, a young girl enjoys watermelon at Goddard’s Independence Day celebration. Other highlights include National Night Out, the annual community Thanksgiving Dinner, the Mitten Tree wrapping party, and many church and school events.


When an ag producer conducts finan-cial business, it makes sense to work with a bank whose agricultural loan officers have worked in the farming field. Con-way Bank offers this type of knowledge through its loan officers, who have the knowledge and experience to help struc-ture the finances of production opera-tions. Even their newly hired loan officer brings experience and a good understand-ing of the business of agriculture as a living.

Drew Berry recently joined the Conway Springs branch of Conway Bank. A 2012 graduate of Kansas State with a degree in ag business, Berry spent the summer of 2012 as an intern with American AgCredit before joining the bank that fall.

“My internship with American AgCred-it was a great experience as I was able to gain an understanding of the whole loan process, and also gained experience with understanding credit analysis,” Berry said. “For example, when reviewing an ag lending proposal there are five things to consider, the five Cs of credit: character, capacity, capital, collateral and condi-tions.”

When Berry was very young, his family

farmed, but then his father went back into banking.

“He was in banking for over 20 years until he passed away in 2011,” Berry ex-plained. “That’s the main reason I didn’t think twice about going into banking too.”

In 2005 Berry started running yearling cattle on grass, and he continues that practice today. In his spare time he also helps his brother, who has a small cow herd and raises wheat.

“I chose to go into AgBusiness as a way of combining agriculture and business, both of which I thoroughly enjoy,” Berry said. “This career is very exciting for me.”

Berry joins Blake Hemberger at the Conway Springs branch. Hemberger grew up in a family farm outside of Argonia where they raised livestock and rotated wheat, corn and milo crops. He came to the bank in 2009. Both are vice presi-dents.

“The personal interaction with our customers is a great aspect of Conway Bank,” Hemberger said. “There is defi-nitely a trust factor. We want the custom-ers to know they can discuss all business matters in confidentiality.”

Banking for farmers: Agribusiness focus at Conway BankIn addition to Conway Springs at 124

W. Spring Street, Conway Bank has loca-tions in Wichita and Norwich. Right now 85 to 90 percent of the bank’s business at

the Conway Springs and Norwich branch-es is related to agriculture. For more information visit their website, www.conwaybank.net, or call 620-456-2255.

Drew Berry, left, and Blake Hemberger specialize in agricultural loans at Conway Bank in Conway Springs.

Consistency is a key factor in dental care, and Dental Associates in west Wichita has been consistently serving the needs of their patients for over 26 years. Recently doctors Jeff Miles and David Hall retired after over 20 years with the clinic, but patients do not have to worry as two new dentists have joined the team.

Dr. Brent Carpenter attended UMKC Dental School and moved back to Wichita after graduation. He became part of the Dental Associates group in December 2013. Dr. Carpenter is joined by Dr. Richard Clark, also a Kan-sas native. He graduated from dental school in Florida in 2009 and served in the Army before linking up with the Dental Associates team in August 2014.

These two doctors join Dr. Sabina May and Dr. Jeff Smith. Dr. May is a graduate of the University of Ne-braska School of Dentistry, class of 1994. She served as a dentist in the U.S. Air Force from 1995 through 1998 and has been with Dental Associates for over 16 years. Dr. Smith is a UMKC 2007 graduate and has been with the clinic for a little over seven years.

Dental Associates is a full service, family-friendly facili-ty. They provide care for all ages, from children to adults, and they are equipped to care for handicapped patients as well. Services offered include dentures and partials, teeth whitening, prevention and sealants, cosmetic dentistry, periodontics care, root canal therapy, crowns and bridgework. Sedation dentistry and nitrous oxide are

Big smiles for the new dentistsDental Associates loses two doctors but adds two more

available if needed or desired. Only registered hygienists clean teeth at Dental Associates.

“We have services from cleaning to dentures,” said of-fice manager Mike Jones. “If a patient requires a special-ist, we have a full list of doctors that we refer to.”

Dental Associates is located at 444 N. Ridge Road in Wichita. Hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday morning by appointment. For more information call 316-942-5358.

Dr. Brent Carpenter and Dr. Richard Clark have joined the team at Dental Associates, 444 N. Ridge Road in Wichita. They will practice along-side Dr. Sabina May and Dr. Jeff Smith.


More students lead to an addition in the near future The Diocesan vision to build a Roman

Catholic Church and School in Goddard, Kans. began in the late 1990s. Church of the Holy Spirit held its first mass in the Goddard High School Auditorium on August 3, 1998. In just a few short years a grace-filled journey began, form-ing students in the name of Jesus Christ when Holy Spirit Catholic School opened its doors on August 16, 2002.In that first year, Holy Spirit Catholic

Church had an enrollment of 17 students. Now there are 181 children in the halls of the school with 49 enrolled in pre-school and 132 of the remaining students enrolled in third grade or below. Com-bined classes that previously joined first and second, third and fourth, and fifth and sixth grades have split into individual classes as enrollment numbers have risen. This phenomenal growth speaks to the excellent education these students are receiving, but it also has stretched the school to its capacity.

“The vision to build a Roman Catholic Church and school in Goddard began in the late 90s,” said school administrator Kelly Bright. “The school opened in 2002 and by the fall of 2008 we had kinder-garten through eighth grade. And one short year later we started splitting our combination classes and added preschool. Our 7th and 8th grade class is the remaining combination class.”

The school started their pre-school program in 2009 when they realized there was no preschool in the Goddard area at that time. There also were neighboring Catholic schools that did not offer this opportunity.

“We have served 312 preschoolers since opening in the program 2009,” Bright said. “That is a significant number that took a classroom we hadn’t originally planned for.”

Bright, school faculty members, the 116 families represented as students in Holy Spirit Catholic School, and Church of the Holy Spirit parishioners realized the school’s monumental growth needed to be addressed. To this end, a goal was set to open a new addition to the school by fall of 2015.

Church of the Holy Spirit started a

Holy Spirit Catholic School continues to growcapital campaign, “Guided by the Spirit, Building Our Future.” A $1.1 million dol-lar goal was set for both school improve-ments and enhancements to the sanctuary. According to Bright, over $850,000 has been raised, but “we are still shooting for the goal of $1.1m.”

Of the total amount, $900,000 has been allotted for school additions including two new classrooms, a secure school entrance and administrative corridor, much-needed restrooms and school/parish specialty and meeting rooms.

New students have created some interesting challenges for Bright and her faculty.

“With (the addition of the preschool) came a shared restroom in the office,” Kelly explained. “It’s just one of the growing pains we feel. We often hear the ABCs being sung to the sound of run-ning water. I know many of you have little ones, but do you share the bathroom with all 20 of their friends? We do!”

Bright encourages visitors to the school so they can experience the overcrowding first-hand.

“We have a really nice facility,” she admitted. “Large classrooms, high ceil-ings, carpet. It’s all been taken great care of. However, we are simply out of room. Our current ‘office’ is a classroom with a partition added to it. When you walk in you will see a volunteer desk butted up to my secretary’s desk, which is right in front of the desk that belongs to our Director of Religious Education Amy Martin. Just past those three desks is teacher aide Miss Jody’s desk and my 12x12 office.”

On the other side of the classroom partition is a table where teachers eat their lunches. The “lunch room” also houses

his students run laps and do push-ups and sit-ups in the entryway of the church itself. Students in his PE class have to dodge around pre-school students who are being picked up by their parents.

“Next year I anticipate having an enroll-ment over 200 students in the school, and I know religious education classes on Wednesday night are going to continue to grow as well,” Bright said. “Every little bit of space in this building is being used by all of us. We just happen to be here the most.”

All classes taught at Holy Spirit Catholic School meet Kansas State requirements. The same standards are taught, the same assessments are taken and the school is accredited. Students are able to take part in district and statewide extra-curricular activities. The school is in the Valley 9 league, and students are welcome to par-ticipate in team sports with neighboring Catholic schools.

The Diocese of Wichita is the only diocese in the United States where every child of active parish stewards can at-tend Catholic grade and high school. Non-Catholics may inquire about paying tuition in order to receive the benefits of an education in a parochial school.

For more information, visit the school Website at www.holyspiritwichita.com Interested families are encouraged to visit the school at 18218 W. Highway 54. For more information, call 794-8139.

the copy machine, Coke machine, refrig-erator, two cabinets for office supplies, mailboxes, two carts and a sick bed that is only unfolded next to the lunch table if a student becomes ill during school hours.

Greta Maples is the music teacher and, according to Bright, has one of the big-gest challenges when it comes to class-room space.

“Let’s take a walk across the hall to what we lovingly call Mrs. Maples’ class-room/tornado shelter/library/latchkey room/meeting room/storage room/babysitting room/music ministry room,” Bright said in a recent talk. “I’m sure that list goes on with things I’m not even thinking about.”

Physical Education teacher Eli Schmidt has an ever bigger challenge. Since the school does not have a gym and there is not one on the horizon anytime soon, he makes up for lack of space by having

All classes taught at Holy Spirit Catholic School meet Kansas state requirements.

ABOVE: The Holy Spirit preschool program was started in 2009.LEFT: Facilities include a beautiful and functional playground area.


In order to get the precise insurance coverage you need, there’s simply is no substitute for a face-to-face visit with a knowledgeable insurance professional.

That’s where Dana Haislett, owner and operator of Dana Haislett Agency Inc. in Haysville, comes in.

Haislett has the experience it takes to answer all your questions, take care of all your insurance requirements and make suggestions about coverage you may not have even thought of.

Haislett not only has 27 years in the business, she is licensed to sell insurance in four states: Kansas, Oklahoma, Mis-souri and Arkansas. Haislett is assisted by Crystal Martin, who also is a licensed insurance agent. Both take 24 hours of continuing education every two years to keep in touch with industry changes.

There’s a lot to know about the rules and regulations of insurance, but it also takes someone with superb interpersonal skills to connect with clients — and that’s where Haislett really excels.

“To do this job, you have to be a people person,” she said.

She takes pride in not just knowing her customers by name, but what their special

Dana Haislett Agency offers top-quality personal servicemuch better protection, keeping their valu-able assets safe from a potential lawsuit.

Such insights are all part of Haislett’s professional calling. “Educating people is part of my job,” she said.

No one has the ability to predict the future and we all know that risk is a part of it. Having insurance to protect your assets, along with your loved ones, is what Haislett presents to her clients.

“We can offer peace of mind,” she said. If something does happen, she will be there to handle the claim and have the power of her rock-solid company, Shelter Insurance, to back it up.

Founded in 1946, Shelter is based in Columbia, Mo., does business in 17 states and is a company with more than $4 bil-lion in assets.

Haislett also is active in the community where she has lived for past 17 years. She is past president of the Haysville Chamber of Commerce, is currently on its board and is also on the board of Haysville Forward, an economic develop-ment entity.

To find out more, visit the Dana Hais-lett Agency at 260 N. Main, Suite 200A. The phone number is 316-522-5005.

needs are, too. In that regard, she works to ensure that they are adequately covered during life changes, such as marriage, divorce or even retirement.

“We call them when it’s time to renew and find out if there’s anything else we can do for them,” she said.

The agency underwrites the most popular types of insurance such as auto, home, renters and life. Of all those types, life insurance is one that is too often over-

looked, said Haislett said, who added that “you buy it for the people you love.”

It can be a particularly important resource in later years to assist with end-of-life expenses, she said. However, don’t overlook it for younger people, she added, especially since it can’t be bought when there’s a preexisting condition.

With auto insurance, she steers people away from the minimum requirements, as for only a few dollars more, they can buy

Shelter Insurance agent Dana Haislett of Haysville combines 27 years of experience and personal relationships with her clients to provide peace of mind to customers.


Argonia, Kansas, is a great small town to live in and to raise a family. City leaders are not resting on their laurels, however.

Like many small Kansas towns, Argonia has seen a certain loss of businesses and homeowners over the past few decades. In 2014, the city has moved forward with an aggressive effort to clean up or tear down unsightly buildings. Think of it as an urban renewal effort in a rural setting.

The effort has included working with owners of empty Main Street buildings to clean them up or tear them down to allow a rebuilding effort downtown. A handful of abandoned homes have been demolished.

“We think this will pump new energy into the town,” said city clerk Mindy Mages.

Further clean up took place at River Park along the Chikaskia River south of town and along the Memorial Walk connecting the park to the city. A summer 2013 storm caused a lot of damage to trees.

“We were able to clean up a lot of dead trees and beautify the area” after the storm, said Mages. Money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency helped fund the cleanup. Storm debris was cleared and other necessary work,

including the removal of dead trees and other debris, has left the area looking refreshed.

The city has further improved the area by investing in the park, adding several RV camping spaces. River Park is a popular camping area for some of the biggest events in the Argonia area like Argonia Daze, two rodeos sponsored by Plains Church and the Labor Day rocket festival held south of town that draws thousands of people from across the country. The park also is popular with retirees who stay for days or weeks at a time in the idyllic park.

The city recently invested $20,000 in the municipal pool to repaint it, help-ing to maintain a key city attraction and

extending its useful life. In the past two years, the city also has expanded its police presence. The department now has a full-time chief and two part-time officers.

One of the biggest efforts in recent city history will take place over the next two years as the city plans and builds a new water treatment plant. Discussions have been under way since 2009, but two years from now a new plant should be up and running. Site and plant development efforts are in full swing. The new plant will greatly improve the quality of the city’s water supply and alleviate current concerns over nitrates that are affecting several water systems in the area.

Argonia boasts other recent improve-ments that are key to the quality of life in a small town. The Chikaskia Health Care District partnered with Anthony Medical Center to bring local health care to the Argonia Family Clinic (see related story in the Progress Edition). Dr. Harold Small continues to operate his dental clinic on Main Street, too, sharing a building with the medical clinic. Other key services include the Dixon Township Library, the Argonia-Dixon Township Fire Depart-ment, and local ambulance services oper-

ated in partnership with Norwich EMS.The Salter House Museum, which

showcases the life of America’s first female mayor, Susanna Madora Salter, recently received an exterior makeover.

Despite its small size, Argonia has something that many small Kansas towns don’t have – available home sites. One of the biggest challenges for any small town trying to grow is having enough of a home inventory. The new home develop-ment on Argonia’s north side has a spec home currently available and several lots to choose from.

“These things will encourage people to come to Argonia,” Mages said.

For more information about the city of Argonia, contact the city at 620-435-6417. Visit the city’s website at www.cityofargo-nia.com.

City of Argonia works to draw new residents

The parade is one of the highlights of the annual Argonia Daze celebration.

A winter view of Argonia.

In 1912, Willis and Alice Aldridge purchased Gerlack Furniture and Under-taking from Jake Gerlack. The Aldridges owned and operated the mortuary along with their general mercantile until 1946. That year they sold the mortuary to their daughter and son-in-law, Virginia (Al-dridge) and Gip Webb.

The Webbs enlarged the mortuary and added a chapel in 1969. Their oldest son Richard, continuing in the family business, began running the mortuary in 1986.

In 1999, Richard hired Terry Shinkle as his associate. Terry formed a close bond with the community, and took the oppor-tunity in January of 2002 to purchase the mortuary from Richard.

Webb-Shinkle Mortuary has a long history in the Clearwater community, and current owner Terry Shinkle is working hard to continue that presence into the future.

The mortuary currently is undergoing a renovation project to update the facility.

Today, as current owners, Terry and his wife Kathy Shinkle continue to run the business with integrity and a commitment to the community and surrounding area. Their daughter Abbie also works at the

Webb-Shinkle Mortuary: Meeting family needs

funeral home when she is not at school.Webb-Shinkle chapel is large enough to

accommodate 125 people with seating up to 200 in the overflow areas. Renovation of the chapel has almost been completed, and Terry is pleased with the results.

“There hadn’t really been anything done to update the chapel since it was con-structed, and the look was dated,” he said. “We are very pleased with the new look.”

The mortuary’s casket showroom is one of the largest in the area, displaying 26 full-size caskets in all price ranges. The funeral home also offers monuments for its families including personalized monu-ments.

Another area of service is pre-planned and pre-paid funeral arrangements.

“We understand that the loss of a loved one can be stressful, and we want to make

each service as unique as the person who has passed,” said Terry. “We do our best to accommodate each family’s traditions and personal requests in order to make the experience just as the family expect-ed.”

The staff members at Webb-Shinkle Mortuary are caring and experienced professionals who understand that each family is unique and has its own tradi-tions and personal requests. These are of utmost importance to the staff at Webb-Shinkle, and will be handled respectfully through a variety of services designed to meet each family’s special needs.

Staff members include Mary Zier and Sandi Megli. Mary has been with the mor-tuary for 13 years. Sandi is a new addition who has 17 years of experience working with funeral homes. Other staff who help part-time are Millie Whitlow, Hugh Williamson, Natalie Machart and Richard Webb. Joshua Miller is an intern who is currently in mortuary school.

Sandi, Mary and Hugh are assistant fu-neral directors at Webb-Shinkle Mortuary.

For more information about Webb-Shinkle Mortuary, visit www.wsmortuary.com, or call 620-584-2244.

Webb-Shinkle Mortuary has a long history in Clearwater, going back to Gerlack Furniture and Undertaking in the early 1900s.

Get Options. Access Services. Maintain Your Independence.

Your Local Aging and Disability Resource Center

For Information and Options, visitwww.cpaaa.org or call 1-855-200-ADRC (2372)


For the city of Conway Springs, prog-ress doesn’t just mean change. It means preserving what residents love about the community while confidently responding to the challenges and opportunities of the present.

The citizens of this city of about 1,250 play, work and volunteer together to real-ize their vision of progress.

The Story of Conway SpringsConway Springs began when Hiram

Cranmer platted a tract in the southwest part of his quarter, with six blocks of 60-foot streets, and named it Northfield.

When the railroad was surveyed in 1883, it went about a mile east of the town. Cranmer took immediate steps to launch a new town site closer to the rail-road. The new town was named Conway Springs, after the Conway township in which it is located and the mineral springs nearby. Conway Springs was incorporated in 1886.

Two local businesses have survived from the incorporation to the present day: the Conway Springs Star and Vintage Bank, formerly the State Bank of Conway Springs. Many other successful businesses have sprung up in the years since.

RecreationConway Springs City Park is a green

space that would not look out of place as a New England town commons. The city’s iconic springhouse, in the heart of the park, was completely rebuilt and refurbished in 1999 and is listed in the Kansas Register of Historic Places. Visi-tors there can still see the flowing spring waters that gave the city its name.

The park also features playground equipment, a band shell, a shelter building and public restrooms.

From the springhouse, the Conway Springs Museum, schools, athletic facili-ties, storefronts, churches and recreation facilities such as the city pool are a short walk away.

The city pool is a summertime oasis, offering swim lessons, water aerobics, lap swimming or plain relaxation. Volunteers look for ways to improve the pool each season. A new water slide and, possibly, a new fountain are being planned.

One new recreation feature is a fitness trail, funded in part by a $52,250 grant from the Sunflower Foundation. The eight-foot-wide trail winds around the city sports complex, with 27 trees planted along its half-mile route. The city and rec-

Tradition meets the future in Conway Springs

reation commission plan to add workout stations and benches along the trail.

Emergency ServicesProviding emergency services is a chal-

lenge for many small Kansas communi-ties. Thanks to civic-minded volunteers, Conway Springs is meeting that challenge. The Conway Springs Fire Department and Conway Springs EMS are volunteer organizations that provide professional emergency and rescue services to the city and surrounding area.

The city’s new fire station has been built in stages, using cash donations and donated labor. The steel-frame station recently expanded from two to five drive-through truck bays, keeping equipment consigned to the city by the U.S. military out of the weather and providing a fitting showroom for the department’s gleaming engines. The outer frame of a two-story office, storage and training wing has been completed, and work on the second floor deck and interior fixtures is under way.

Fundraiser ‘Bikers Battling Blazes’ began in 2011. The motorcycle poker run and associated events have raised tens of thousands of dollars to assist the volun-teer fire department.

EventsConway Springs Fall Festival has been

an annual celebration for decades and is one of the biggest events each year. It takes place on the fourth Saturday in September, with the park as the center of festivities.

The festival features a packed schedule of activities, including a parade, dance, carnival, arts and crafts, live musical enter-tainment in the park band shell and a free barbecue sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. There are a multitude of at-tractions for children and adults of all ages.

Numerous groups and organizations help make Fall Festival a reality, includ-ing Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, National Honor Society, BPW (Busy Productive Women), 4-H, Lions Club, Masons and Red Hatters.

In addition to the Fall Festival, major local events include an annual rodeo, hospice tree lighting, Santa Day, citywide garage sale, clean-up day and summer concerts in the park.

SchoolsA great education for the next genera-

tion is important to everyone in Conway Springs, and local schools work hard to ensure that one is on offer.

Conway Springs High School is recog-nized for its outstanding athletic, musical, artistic and academic accomplishments, offering college-level classes through a partnership with Cowley Community College.

Conway Springs Middle School and Kyle Trueblood Elementary offer a great public education for grades K-8. St. Joseph Catholic School offers pre-kindergarten through sixth grade classes under the auspices of the Diocese of Wichita, and other preschool options are also available.

City ofConway SpringsHours:Monday - Friday 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

208 W Spring Ave • PO Box 187Conway Springs, KS 67031Ph: 620-456-2345Fax: [email protected]

Dee Pettegrew, MayorFrank Bartonek, Council MemberDan Doffing, Council MemberBob Mack, Council MemberLyn Meyers, Council MemberT.J. Sones, Council Member

Kathy Barkley, City AdminstratorChris Reed, Police ChiefJim Brozovich, EMS ChiefMike Erker, Fire ChiefSpanky Brooks, City Superintendent

A new fitness trail, partially funded by a grant, winds around the Conway Springs Sports Com-plex. Work-out stations and benches will soon be added along the half-mile trail.

Conway Springs City Park is at the physical and social heart of the city. Here, the Conway Springs High School band performs at the band shell during the annual Conway Springs Fall Fest.


Each year, more and more people discover Cherry Oaks Golf Course in Cheney. For those who are already famil-iar with the 18-hole course, however, it still feels like a wonderful secret waiting to be discovered.

Head professional Jim Richmond said Cherry Oaks’ success comes down to two things: customer service and the condi-tion of the golf course.

“That’s what separates us from other city-owned courses and some of the country clubs,” he said. “People love the greens.”

Much of the credit for the course’s condition goes to superintendent Kevin Fowler and his crew. Fowler is an officer with the Kansas Golf Course Superinten-dents Association.

“Our focus in the summer of 2014 was turf health on the front nine tees and fair-ways,” said Fowler. “We used some new chemical technologies to eradicate unde-sirable weed species such as crabgrass, goosegrass, and Bermuda grass. We then over-seeded these areas with new seed to create a healthier stand of grass and a more desirable playing surface. Thicker turf is the best defense against weeds. We had great results!”

The staff at Cherry Oaks works each year to improve the course. New trees are planted each year. The course, which opened with nine holes, expanded to a full 18 several years ago, and trees and landscaping on the back nine have ma-tured considerably.

With the help of the city, grants, busi-

ness donations and volunteer workers, a walking path was installed at the course, expanding the opportunities for Cheney residents to enjoy Cherry Oaks.

The website has been upgraded, and Cherry Oaks offers online tee times to give golfers the most convenience in scheduling their golf outings.

Other improvements in the past few years include updates to the clubhouse, which were completed in early 2012, as well as improved landscaping around the pro shop. A new fleet of golf carts was purchased in 2013, enhancing the golfing experience.

Cherry Oaks’ pavilion is a popular loca-tion during tournaments, and can also be rented out for non-golfing events. The pro shop carries a wide selection of cloth-ing and golf related merchandise.

Cherry Oaks is frequently recognized for its excellent service and facilities. In 2011, Wichita Golf Magazine named Cherry Oaks the top public golf course in the Wichita area.

Cherry Oaks continues to be a popular destination for tournaments, including regional and State high school competi-tions. The 3A boys State competition was held here in May 2014. The course hopes to host 65 to 70 events in 2014, includ-ing high school events, fundraisers and corporate events. Call today to book your next tee time!

For more information on Cherry Oaks Golf Course, visit the website at www.cherryoaksgc.com, like us on Facebook, or call 316-540-0133.

Well above parCherry Oaks Golf Course is a great family destination

Cheney High senior Trace Quick received the Eagle Scout award, the Boy Scouts of America’s highest commendation, in late October 2014.

It was a years-long journey, said Quick, with a community service project at Cheney’s public Cherry Oaks Golf Course fulfilling one of the final requirements.

Quick’s plans included six hanging birdhouses, two bird-houses mounted on poles, and a “duck house” floating on the big pond.

“I thought it was a fantastic idea,” said superintendent Kevin Fowler. “I just loved all his ideas, and so did his scout leader.”

With Fowler’s approval in hand, the project went smoothly. Quick planned out his designs and looked online for additional insight, especially for the duck house, which has Styrofoam for flotation and a counter-balancing cinder block anchor.

Fowler said he was very pleased with the result.

“As a golf course superintendent, anything that we can do to be economically friendly and environmentally friendly is what we’re all about. I’m looking forward to seeing the birds take up residence, and it also serves as a natural way to con-trol insects,” said Fowler.

Earning the Eagle Scout rank required leadership and mas-tery of Scout skills.

“There were, I think, 13 required merit badges, most of them fairly difficult. Camping, for example, you have to go on a certain number of campouts and leave the campsite how it was or better. You have to serve as a patrol leader or senior patrol leader. And then, of course, you’re required to earn all the previous ranks,” said Quick.

Quick was busy with the football team, high school classes, and college plans, but planned to participate with Troop 705 through the rest of his senior year, providing a role model for younger scouts.

Eagle Scout builds Cherry Oaks birdhouses

The Cherry Oaks Golf Course club-house, above, is a great stop for gifts, whether for Christmas, birth-days or Father’s Day. You can buy golf supplies, ap-parel or purchase gift certificates.LEFT: Cherry Oaks is a frequent host for State and re-gional high school golf tournaments.

From left, Jay Alloway, Bryce Quick, Trace Quick, Jet Alloway, Tim Quick, and Todd Thisius pose with a newly constructed birdhouse at the Cherry Oaks Golf Course.


Small cities and school districts often express a desire to grow, but established communities sometimes struggle to ac-cept newcomers who aren’t from the area – or related to someone in town.

That’s not the case in Clearwater, said Superintendent Diane Gross. She should know since she moved into town this summer after leaving her job as superin-tendent in Fort Scott.

“People grow up and they stay in the area,” said Gross, who described that as a selling point for USD 264. “People like it here and they’re committed to the community. Moving in here, I feel like I’ve been welcomed and been provided chances to introduce myself and find out about the community so that I can figure out how best to fit in and contribute.

“Honestly I would say I’ve been treated with nothing but respect,” she continued. “I think folks are sometimes eager for an outsider to come in with a different perspective and a fresh set of eyes and ears. There is always an uncertainty with someone new. There are questions of change that always come up with new and different people because it takes time to build trust and understanding of how we work together for a common cause.”

That welcoming attitude is important since Clearwater’s enrollment is declin-ing. USD 264 includes 1,179 students this year, compared to 1,194 last year. It’s important to get the word out about the advantages Clearwater offers for students. Gross said some of the people she knew in the Wichita area weren’t familiar with Clearwater or where it’s located.

“It’s a well-kept secret. I feel, from the discussions I’ve had with our staff, there’s been a realization that maybe we don’t do everything that we could to promote our school district and what’s going on,” Gross said. “I think we need to make a name for ourselves and let people know what we have to offer. We’ve had some discussion about that, especially with our administrative team, about how we gather ideas and testimo-nials, not only from our staff but from our students and community members. We have a large number of successful graduates that come out of our pro-grams. I think we need to be able to tell their stories and what’s happened as a result of the education they’ve received.”

Parents send their children to Clearwa-ter schools because they know their kids will be safe, secure and invited to learn and grow. Smaller environments usually mean that students won’t be overlooked.

“In the short time that I’ve been here,” Gross said, “what I hear continually from people in the community is that they chose to come to Clearwater because it offers a great educational opportunity for kids and it’s a great place to raise a family. The kids in our programs are identified as individuals with individual needs, and we’re able to provide a more intimate setting and one where there’s a lot of con-tact between adults and students.”

USD 264 offers quality, recognized programs for its students and the com-munity. Athletics provide an opportunity to engage a large number of students in competition, development of team concepts, and development of leadership skills that last a lifetime. The 2014 football team reached the playoffs, and the softball team was the Class 4A runner-up in the spring. The district offers involvement in various athletic programs: football, vol-leyball, basketball, wrestling, golf, cross country, and track and field.

These programs are about much more than wins and losses. Clearwater has coaches who model the kind of character and integrity expected of student-athletes. Students benefit from the teamwork involved in their participation, from the physical fitness promoted through these activities, and from the leadership skills each develops through the course of his or her participation.

USD 264 also engages students in a variety of clubs, organizations and activities. From student council, KAY, Scholars Bowl, Youth Entrepreneurs and archery, there is something for everyone. Every student has an opportunity to be involved, participate and represent the schools and community as a whole.

Clearwater’s archery program has been enthusiastically accepted by students, their families and the community.

“The program engages hundreds of kids,” Gross said. “They have done well

competing across the state. It’s unfortu-nate that it’s not recognized as a Kansas Activities Association activity. Because this activity engages so many students in our community, we’ve found ways to of-fer and support this program. This is not the type of program that requires all the strength and agility of sports like football, basketball and wrestling, but it does offer a chance for any student to learn a skill or talent that can provide entertainment and enjoyment for a lifetime.”

Many of the clubs and programs that USD 264 offers not only benefit Clearwa-ter students but are about giving back to the community or providing a service to various organizations. Examples of such giving are the Student Council/Clearwater High School Veterans Day Celebration and the C-Club’s Blue Jean Fundraiser to help fight cancer through Relay for Life.

Others venues that students may use to showcase talents as they develop are in fine arts and academic areas. Students may participate in vocal music, instrumen-tal music and drama. Others may select drawing, painting and photography. Still others choose something like the high school programming team, which traveled to Kansas State University in fall 2014 to compete in a statewide programming con-test. The Clearwater group placed 12th of 40 teams.

The school district is utilizing technol-ogy as a tool to deliver instruction and to enhance the learning experience. Using technology is no longer optional, and the school district believes it is important to give students exposure to the tools they currently see and those that they’ll be exposed to in the future.

USD 264 offers a variety of academics as well as activities – everything from col-lege preparatory curriculum and voca-tional programs to leadership programs and on-the-job training experiences. It’s all part of the idea of preparing students to be ready for college and careers. Clear-water’s goal is to produce well-rounded graduates who have options to pursue their dreams.

Facilities are important to the school district as well. When facilities look good and are in great condition, they make a terrific first impression. One of the most notable facilities in the school district is the football stadium, featuring a turf field and new home-side bleachers that were installed for the 2014-15 school year.

“It’s a pretty good-sized stadium, espe-cially for a district our size,” Gross said. “It’s been used for community events and

our local youth programs. A lot of pride has gone into creating that facility.”

Discussion continues about Elementary East, a closed school that now houses the district’s technology department, the PTO office and serves as storage space. Preliminary discussions have been started among administrators, with additional conversations among district officials and the Sedgwick County Area Educational Services Interlocal Cooperative, regarding potential use of the facility. Suggestions include use of some of the classrooms to house preschool and kindergarten, use of the facility (temporary or long term) for special education office space, or use of some of the rooms for training and inservice space.

“We don’t really have space at Elemen-tary West to add another preschool class-room,” Gross remarked.

It’s possible that Elementary East could house preschool and kindergarten classes to free up space at Elementary West.

“Right now it’s not being utilized as a school within our district,” Gross ex-plained, “but I do think there’s going to be a need for some conversation about whether we should do some renovations in that building to bring it up to code so that we can make use of at least some of the classrooms.

“Our district and our community stand to benefit if we were to house an addi-tional classroom for preschools,” Gross added. “This might invite more people to take a look at the preschool program we have and give us an opportunity to give those students a good start to their learning.”

The district counts on the support of parents, businesses, professional organiza-tions and service organizations in Clear-water. They are dedicated to the commu-nity and the local students.

“The success of our students is the success of our community – businesses, organizations, families and our future,” Gross said. “Clearwater is a place in which I plan to retire. Being very com-mitted to education and having chosen this for my profession of 32 years, I can attest to the fact there are a number of quality programs, processes and people in the Clearwater school district. I see the potential for us to grow and improve upon an already good thing. Our staff is second to none. We’ve got teachers, support staff and leaders who are com-mitted to doing what’s right for kids. I’m thrilled to work with such committed professionals.”

Clearwater schools offer quality education and a welcoming attitude

USD 264Clearwater

150 S. ProspectClearwater, KS 67026

620-584-2091www.usd264.org

Board of Education: Stephanie Carlson, Todd Dannenberg, Roger

Frischenmeyer, Roy Riggs, Eric Walter, Todd Widler


Meat is one of those food staples that can be pur-chased in a lot of places: supermarkets, warehouse discounters, even some convenience stores.

But for the tops in quality and taste, consumers need to head to a business that specializes in meat. That why people buy their meat at Stroot Lockers and return there on a regular basis for more.

The business, which has two locations – 111 N. Main in Goddard and 115 N. First in Mulvane – is a complete resource for all things meat-related.

It offers butchering and processing, including beef, hogs and wild game. It also sells retail cuts of meat, sides and quarters, and deli meat and cheeses.

Stroot’s also makes and sells a wide variety of sausages, including the popular summer sausages, along with beef jerky, which can be found in local convenience stores.

The bonus for consumers is that all this is offered at competitive prices. In other words, you don’t have to pay more to get more.

Stroot’s also has a variety of popular meat bundles for sales, ranging from 27 pounds to 54 pounds of assorted meat. Depending on the cuts, the bundles vary from $75 to $190 and are an economical and time-saving way to get a large amount of quality meat at one time.

The business is owned and operated by brothers Fred and Vince Stroot and was originally owned by their par-ents, so the family has been operating it for a long time.

“I always did like cutting meat, so this has worked out real well,” said Fred Stroot.

Although he’s 63, Fred says he’s going to be at the business for a while, as is Vince, now 65.

That’s good news for customers such as Marvin Huff-man of St. Joe. “They do a real good job here,” he said.

Fred, who works out of the Mulvane store, said the key to success is to do things the old-fashioned way.

“We don’t add a lot to it,” he said of the meat. “It’s all natural.”

On top of that is the time the meat spends in the cooler, a key factor to its fine taste, he said.

Indeed, carcasses carefully hung in the business’ cool-ing rooms are a testimony to that care. The meat hangs for about 10 days after slaughter, which helps produce an exquisite texture.

“We’re way ahead of everyone else on that,” Fred said. Most mass-produced meat is packaged shortly after slaughter, and pumped with preservatives and additives, such as flavored water.

While that benefits the seller, it’s not so good for the buyer, who doesn’t get the quality a shop like Stroot’s has. The company’s butchers also take care to cut much of the fat out of the product before sale, so the buyer gets a choice cut.

Stroot’s also will be happy to take care of whatever game you’ve shot, such as deer or even an elk. Deer season does get busy, as the business has processed up to 1,000 deer at each store.

At Stroot’s, since the animal is processed in-house, there’s always quality control in place. There are no prob-

lems with other types of low quality meats or additives entering the products to dilute them.

Like most specialists, the Stroot brothers have a pas-sion for what they do and pride themselves at being at the top of their trade. Others agree; one wall at the shop stands as testimony to their prize-winning techniques. It’s crowded with numerous plaques from the Kansas Meat Processors Association

Stroot Lockers is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. For more, call 316-794-8762 (Goddard) or 316-777-4421 (Mulvane).

Stroot Lockers concentrates on quality meat

In addition to butchering and processing services, Stroot Lockers offers retail meat sales at locations

in Goddard and Mulvane.

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Jay Shackelford can remember one of his family chores back in the fifth grade: helping out at his dad’s young and grow-ing machine shop business.

Decades later, Shackelford is still work-ing hard at the family business, only now he is chief executive officer and president of the company, Shackelford Machine, Inc.

Founded in 1967 by Jay’s, father, Carl J. Shackelford, the company, like many area machine shops, had a modest start. It literally began in a shed on Shackelford’s property and simply grew from there, due to his machining skill and emphasis on customer satisfaction.

Today, that small shed has transformed into a spacious 35,000-square-foot office and manufacturing complex at 116 S. Tracy in Clearwater that employs not just Jay Shackelford, but three other family members and more than 30 other em-ployees.

The company, with its advanced machinery and highly trained operators, supplies a variety of parts to all sectors of the aerospace industry. As anyone familiar with that business knows, aviation is a cyclical business and dealing with it takes skill – and patience.

“It has its ups and downs,” said the 52-year-old Shackelford. “There are more and more challenges.”

Those challenges are coming in the form of increased globalization, bringing forth more overseas competitors, as well as con-tinued price pressure from clients, who are now mostly publicly held corporations.

“When I was younger, we were dealing with a lot of people who founded their own companies and were true ground-breakers and leaders in the aviation world,” Shackelford said. “It (the com-pany) was their baby. Now it’s a whole different market.”

But making changes is what it takes to survive in business, and that’s what Shack-elford and his company does.

In that regard, it continues to bring in the latest and best technology in order to meet customer demands. It does a wide variety of machining operations, including turning and milling, and has 3- and 4-axis machining capacities. It’s expanding that into 5-axis. The higher the number, the more complexity it is able to undertake.

Shackelford Machining has customers in the fields of general, commercial and business aviation. While general aviation has not rebounded from its last down-turn, commercial has “never been better” and business jets continue to sell well, he said.

Shackelford Machine: going strong for almost a half century

The business also is certified to work with clients supplying the needs of the military and homeland security mar-kets through its International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) registration. By having this recognition, it complies with provisions that protect U.S. national security and mesh with U.S. foreign policy measures.

Shackelford credits much of his com-pany’s success to his many long-term employees.

“We have really good employees,” he said. The average length of experience at the business is 12 years and that counts for a lot, he said, as the skills they have are difficult to replace.

He believes the company’s location in Clearwater, population about 2,500, has a lot to do with employee satisfaction.

“We retain a lot of people who live here,” he said. “The city also has a long history of having people with manufac-turing skills living in it. So many people

here have worked at Cessna or Learjet. It’s amazing for such a little town how many skilled people live here.”

Shackelford, who was raised in Clear-water, also credits the city’s leadership for helping the business grow.

“The city is extremely easy to work with,” he said. “It also has a good school district and, considering that we’re off the beaten path, is a solid community.”

Although Carl Shackelford passed away in October 2013 and is greatly missed by Jay, his spirit – and family – live on at the company.

Along with Jay, his wife, Tracy, and their children, work at the business.

Tracy is chief financial officer and manager of business accounts, son Ryan is general manager and manager of qual-ity control, and daughter Rachelle is in charge of purchasing and invoicing. Rach-elle’s twin sister, Janelle, is one of the few Shackelfords who isn’t with the company. Production manager Gary Foster has been with the company for 25 years.

The business has won numerous awards for its work, including one each from Learjet and Cessna Aircraft, and four from Hawker Beechcraft. It has two qual-ity control certifications.

Although he has spent his entire work life – and most of his life – with the com-pany, Shackelford said he still enjoys the challenge of going to work each day and continuing to steer the company through an engaging and always-changing business environment.

Shackelford Machine employee Jeremy Hyde checks the qualify of a tool man-fuctured at the company’s facility in Clearwater.

The owners and employees of ShackelfordMachine, Inc.The Clearwater business employs more than 30 people.


Kody Koester is part of a family that has deep roots in Conway Springs. When he graduated from Conway Springs High School in 2008, he knew he wanted to do something in the medical field.

“Pharmacy is very accessible to health care,” he ex-plained. “You get to deal with a lot of patients while giv-ing back to the community.”

Koester was already in pre-pharmacy at Bethany Col-lege when Ron Giesen opened Harper Pharmacy in 2010.

“I saw that there was going to be a new pharmacy opening in the community,” Koester said, “so I called and Ron was good enough to take me on.”

Koester worked at Harper Pharmacy during school breaks and through the summer. When he graduated from KU with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, Giesen brought him on as a full-time member of the team.

And Koester comes to Harper Pharmacy just in time as the business continues to grow and offer more services.

One specialized service offered by Harper Pharmacy is compounding. This allows the licensed pharmacist to put together, or compound, the many components of a prescription in a form that is safe for the patient. Com-pounded medications are available for both humans and animals.

Another specialized service is Home Medication Man-agement. Harper Pharmacy keeps track of the medica-

tions used by patients who might have trouble managing their particular dosage forms. In addition to refilling these prescriptions on a timely basis, the pharmacy prepackages home meds in daily, weekly or monthly forms.

“We call this Bubble Packing,” Koester noted. “By packing the proper pills to be taken at specific times, our patients know which pills to take.”

“The number one reason people are admitted to nurs-ing homes is their inability to manage meds,” Giesen added. “With Home Medication Management, patients are able to stay at home longer.”

Harper Pharmacy also offers medication synchroniza-tion so patients may come to the pharmacy once instead of several times a month to get their meds. Free delivery is offered six days a week to Argonia, Conway Springs, Harper, Anthony and Attica. Mail service also is avail-able.

Additional services include hormone replacement therapy (HRT) consultation and medication therapy man-agement (MTM). Harper Pharmacy also provides durable medical equipment and other medical need items such as breathing apparatus and ostomy supplies along with ban-dages, ointments and other over-the-counter drugs.

Harper Pharmacy is located at 615 W. 12th in Harper. Call 877-570-0077 or 620-896-7700 for more informa-tion.

Coming back to his rootsKody Koester joins Harper Pharmacy

Kody Koester

Talking with Pastor Steve Sherbenou is an uplifting experience. His enthusiasm for First Baptist Church in Goddard is a perfect example of the way new methods can communicate traditional messages, especially when it’s about spreading God’s word.

“We talk about old-fashioned concepts like sin and repentance, because that is what God’s Word teaches us,” Sherbenou said. “But our most important message is that God wants a relationship with each of us. He takes us just the way we are, and then teaches us to get better.”

First Baptist Church has been located at Second and Main for more than 125 years. The current building was con-structed in the 1920s, while the education building next door was built in the 1960s. Sherbenou was called to become pas-tor in November 2010. His presence has brought excitement to the church.

Even with a small congregation, First Baptist Church continues to offer pro-grams and classes. They held their annual Chicken Noodle Feed at the Goddard Fall

Traditional message, new deliveryFirst Baptist Church offers much to community

month for adults and children. Food and games are the order of these evenings. There even are plans to possibly set up an after-school recreational facility for teens to go to in the afternoons.

In addition to worship/praise services, Sunday morning classes are offered to adults, middle-school and high school students, and one for elementary-age children. These take place at 9:45.

“We are looking for opportunities to be more of a presence in the Goddard com-munity,” Sherbenou explained. “We are a small church, but all are dedicated to the concept that we are here to help others in any way we can. We are not aiming at be-ing a mega-church, just a body of believ-ers who support each other and welcome any who would join us. God’s message is, “I love you, I can help you if you let me.’ That’s what we try to live – that’s what we try to share.”

Worship Service at First Baptist Church in Goddard starts at 11:00 right after Sun-day School. For more information visit their Facebook page.

Festival, a tradition that goes back over 40 years. This past summer they conducted a Vacation Bible School. Sherbenou notes that the church offered this in the past, but this was the first VBS in perhaps 20 years. The church also still adopts a fam-ily each year during the November and December holidays.

One change is in the music. “We have introduced a time for praise

music and a praise band, guitar and pia-nos, at the beginning of worship service,” Sherbenou said. “It has been well re-ceived.”

The church also offers a monthly “Fun Night” on the third Saturday of each

First Baptist Church in Goddard has been located at Second and Main for more than 125 years.


USD 359 may be a small school district, but superintendent Julie McPherron is proud that students don’t suffer because of the size.

“I feel like we have an excellent school system,” she said. “I feel like we are able to give the kids everything they need to be successful. Even though we are small, we still do that.”

One advantage for Argonia’s 180 pupils is good student-to-teacher ratios. Parents know their children are safe and super-vised when they send the kids to school.

“It would be hard for a student here to fall through the cracks because they have so much support,” McPherron said.

Argonia students received an unusual perk last year, when sixth- through 12th-graders each received an iPad Mini. It of-fers digital versions of textbooks and saves students the trouble of carrying so many large, heavy books throughout the day.

“That’s been really helpful and it stays more current,” McPherron remarked.

She explained that the textbook-replacement cycle is six years in Argonia,

but with digital versions of the material, updates occur every year.

Another change in the 2013-14 school year was the merger of Argonia High School’s football team with the Attica team. The merged squad was not eligible for playoff competition last year, but the combined team reached the 8-man Divi-sion II playoffs this fall with an unde-feated record.

“I know some of the kids were a little leery of it,” McPherron said, “but now that we’ve played together a couple years we’re seeing some success.”

She added that it was better for the ath-letes to have more teammates so the same players didn’t have to compete offensively and defensively throughout an entire game. The team is known as the Argonia-Attica Titans.

“We want it to be a team thing and not a town thing,” McPherron said. “We kept that concept in mind while we went about doing the merger and it turned out really well.”

She explained that players from Argo-

Small classes, community support help Argonia students thrive

nia and Attica picked their name, colors and uniforms. The team features co-head coaches, and school officials from Argo-nia and Attica work together to determine which community hosts each home game.

McPherron said no formal discussions have taken place about merging other sports, and no talks have occurred regard-ing consolidation.

“It’s not like we would ever consider merging school districts or anything like that,” McPherron said.

As a result, the Argonia school ad-ministrators and staff must be creative in absorbing state budget cuts. Argonia includes 10 more students than last year, which results in a little more funding from the base state aid per pupil, but many school districts expect midyear state bud-

get reductions soon.“Our community has been really sup-

portive,” McPherron said. “We try to raise a little additional money every year.”

Teachers received a two percent raise this year, but they don’t hesitate to volun-teer their time to provide extra help for students. Teachers of elementary students stay after school to work with children, and teachers at the middle school and high school established an after-school tutoring program. They are available to students even though they are not paid for the time.

“As for the teachers, it was their idea, and they didn’t ask for any type of com-pensation,” McPherron recalled. “We are really fortunate to have such an amazing staff who really care about our kids.”

The Argonia-Attica Titans football team made it to this year’s 8-Man Division II State Championship in just the second season that Argonia High School and Attica High School have shared a football team.

Matthew Harsh works to clean up storm dam-age in River Park as part of an effort bythe Argonia High School Kay Club’s community outreach.

Argonia fifth grade students portray a variety of Kansas characters, including historic figures, current day figures, athletes and an astronaut.

USD 359 Argonia Board of EducationScott Greenwood, President | Joe Allen, Vice President

Rick Nafziger | Randy Simon | Dave GaddieSarah Vineyard | Brian Fitch

Argonia High School504 North Pine Street

Argonia • 620-435-6611

Argonia Elementary202 East Allen Street

Argonia • 620-435-6311

www.argonia359.com


Very few small businesses these days celebrate their Golden Anniversary and The Bennett Insurance Agency, provid-ing insurance services to folks in Kansas since 1958, is blessed to have accom-plished this milestone.

Lawrence Bennett started the Ben-nett Agency in Conway Springs while president of the First National Bank. He served the insurance needs of regional customers for the next 38 years.

In 1996, Lawrence’s son Brad pur-chased the agency and continues to provide insurance products with offices in Conway Springs and Norwich. All associates working at the agency are agents and they include Lawrence Ben-nett, Jimmy Rowan, Mitzi Taton, Paula George, Brandon McLemore and Brad Bennett. The agency writes a full line of insurance products including Home-owners, Auto, Motorcycles, Recreational Vehicles, Farm Owners, Commercial Business, Municipalities, Life-Health, Long-Term Care, Crop Hail and Multi-Peril coverage.

Along with its variety of insurance services, as an independent agency, the Bennett Agency also can offer a variety of companies to choose from to get the best

Bennett Insurance Agency celebrates 56 years serving South-Central KansasMutual, Met Life, Progressive, Employers Mutual Companies, Kansas Mutual, Fore-most, NAU Country Insurance and Great American Insurance Company.”

By choosing The Bennett Insurance Agency as your insurance provider, you have the advantage of working with ex-perienced and knowledgeable agents who understand the needs of their clients.

“If you have any questions or would like us to provide you with new quotes, please contact our offices,” said Brad. “We would like to thank every customer for their decades of support, and our hope is to continue the personalized ser-vice everyone has come to expect. The goal of the Agency has always been to provide the customer with an immediate answer and same day service.”

For more information, please call The Bennett Insurance Agency at its toll free number, 866-456-2247, or stop by one of the agency’s offices Monday through Friday. Offices are located at 104 S. Sixth Street in Conway Springs, and 310 Main Street in Norwich. The office number in Norwich is 620-478-2161.

Brad Bennett also can be reached by email, [email protected].

possible rates.“We can select a company for you that

matches your background, needs and

desires,” said Brad Bennett. “A few of the companies we work with each day are Columbia Insurance Group, Marysville

The Bennett Agency began in Conway Springs in 1958. With locations in Con-way Springs and Norwich, The Bennett Agency continues to offer the same great service to customers as it did 56 years ago.

Burwell Construction’s website bears the motto, “If it is built well, it is Bur-well.” After 25 years as a Kansas business owner, George Burwell has established a reputation for quality craftsmanship and unimpeachable honesty.

“I tell all our guys that work for us, it’s our name on the finished product, so we have to take a lot of pride in what we do. It can be tough, but you’re putting your name on the line every day, so we have to be able to stand behind our work and be there for the customer no matter what,” said Burwell.

After working part time as a roofer dur-ing college, Burwell “hung out a shingle” of his own in 1989. He and his employees have put down millions of shingles since, not to mention gutters, siding, windows and doors, interiors and custom decks and patios.

“We install all common roof styles,” said Burwell. “Whether you’re looking for a 30 year composition shingle or a 50 year impact resistant shingle, we install what you’re looking for. We also install metal roofs, wood shake shingles, tile roofs and commercial flat roofs.”

Burwell has a dozen full-time employ-

ees, several of whom have been with the company for years.

“It’s quite a responsibility, when you’ve got employees and they have families that they’re providing for, to make sure everyone is busy, and busy doing the right things. It can be pretty hectic sometimes, but I find it rewarding,” said Burwell.

Particularly hectic are the days and weeks following severe hailstorms, when insurance companies call upon Burwell and his employees to make urgent repairs to large numbers of residential and com-mercial roofs.

The company enjoys good relationships with trusted subcontractors and is well-equipped to handle surges in demand, Burwell said.

Burwell Construction offers free esti-mates and responsive customer service. Visit their location at 19844 W. Kellogg in Goddard, or call 316-794-3430 to make arrangements. Burwell also offers services statewide, with locations in Hays and Junction City. More information, along with testimonials, photos of recent projects, a newsletter signup and a contact form, is available at www.burwellcon-struction.com

Burwell Construction has reputation for efficiency, integrity

Burwell Construction’s Goddard showroom helps customers visual-ize what their new roof or home siding might look like. The company has been delivering quality work to the area since 1989, when George Burwell opened his company.


When the economic downturn affected growth in communities nationwide, Garden Plain offered housing incentives for new con-struction in the city.

“That seemed to spark some growth,” said City Clerk Ronda Mollenkamp, “and it just keeps growing.”

In recent years, Garden Plain’s population was 839. It increased to 862 in 2013 and reached 866 in 2014. Eight new homes were built in the city in 2013, and eight more new houses were constructed in 2014.

Mollenkamp and her husband, Dwight, the city’s gas supervisor, described Garden Plain as a friendly place.

“Everybody waves,” Dwight said. “It’s a homey town.”“Everybody’s just welcomed us,” Ronda added. “It’s easy to get

involved in different things.”Garden Plain includes a high school and elementary school, a

Chamber of Commerce, two churches and various businesses and civic groups. It also features a strong library system that longtime librarian Joyce Loehr oversees.

The Mollenkamps said residents often were drawn to Garden Plain because of the small-town atmosphere and high-quality school system, but they also valued its proximity to larger cities and the easy commute for those who work outside the town.

Ronda pointed out that properties were not run down and blight was not a problem.

“We’ve really got a nice, clean town,” she said. “I think we work hard to keep it nice.”

The city features three full-time police officers, three members of the maintenance crew, and a full-time and part-time office worker.

City of Garden PlainThe jewel of Western Sedgwick County

Garden Plain’s Fourth of July parade is the city’s biggest an-nual event, drawing crowds from Wichita, Sedgwick County and points farther away. Above, children grab candy during the parade. It’s just one of many events that run from dawn until late at night. At right, fireworks light up the sky over the city’s water tower.


The city provides water, sewer and gas services to residents. Despite Sedgwick County’s efforts to encourage its com-munities to move toward trash fran-chising, Ronda said three trash companies were available for Garden Plain residents.

“Our council felt pretty strong about they wanted it to be the residents’ choice,” she continued.

Lots are still available in Pretty Flowers Estates, located on the southeast corner of town, and in the Bentwood develop-ment on the north side of town. The growth continues in Garden Plain; city officials have annexed from 295th Street, proceeding a half-mile east, and also north to Sixth Street. They took in about a half-section of land total.

The city is proud of the condition of its streets and infrastructure. It is negoti-ating with a nearby city, Cheney, to reach an agreement to supply each other water in case of an emergency.

The idea was sparked by an incident in Garden Plain about two years ago, when a major water break occurred near Cheney. Dwight said the area was close to Highway 54, and if the line had broken under the highway, it could have been

weeks before the city obtained a permit to bore underneath it. He pointed out that Garden Plain and Cheney each have a line bored under the highway. An engineering study is under way, and construction for the project is scheduled to start in 2015.

Other amenities in town include City Park and the veterans’ memorial, which moved to the park from the VFW build-ing when it was sold. Summertime in Gar-den Plain includes a baseball and softball program and a youth track program. The annual Fourth of July festivities feature a parade, dance and fireworks. Those with active lifestyles enjoy the 5K, fun run, dodgeball tournament, and softball, volleyball and basketball games. Those who prefer a slower pace on July 4 head for the washer tournament, turtle races and watermelon-eating contest. In addi-tion, inflatables, a dunk tank and a petting zoo appeal to children. The Indepen-dence Day celebration, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, is Garden Plain’s signature event.

In the winter, the Chamber of Com-

merce sponsors a Santa Day in schools. Like many small communities, the schools serve as an anchor for the town. Resi-dents enthusiastically support students, staff and various school events.

Garden Plain is part of the Renwick School District. It combines with Andale High School for sports such as baseball, softball and golf. Garden Plain High School has a strong tradition in football and volleyball; the Owls won the Class 3A State football championship in 2007 and the Class 3A State volleyball title in 2008.

Garden Plain has added a few new busi-nesses this year, including Mi Pueblito, a Mexican restaurant; Tactical Precision Arms; and Wellsprings Care Home, which houses up to eight senior citizens.

Marjorie’s Home, which opened a little more than a year ago, also houses eight senior citizens. Ronda described it as “a fabulous place.”

“They really care for their residents,” she said. “They’re not just a number here.”

Dwight said senior housing was needed in town, so he was pleased with the increased options for those looking to downsize from their homes or others needing medical care.

“We have a lot of seniors here who would love to stay here,” he added.

Garden Plain City Hall505 N. Main • P.O. Box 336

Garden Plain, KS 67050316-531-2321 • Fax 535-2207

www.gardenplain.com

Elected OfficialsMayor – Larry Lampe

Council Members:Bobby Thompson, President

Paul McPhillips Sr.Kevin Hammond

Joe FisherJenny Zoglman

City StaffCity Clerk – Ronda Mollenkamp

[email protected] Clerk – Bonnie Kopper

Police Chief – Robert [email protected] Treasurer – Darren Haukap

Police Department316-531-2222 (non-emergency)

Call 911 for all police and fire emergencies

Garden PlainCommunity Library

316-535-2990 • [email protected]

Mon.-Tues. open 3-5 p.m. Wed. open 3-5 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. open 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Water/Sewer/GasCall City Hall 316-531-2321

Electric ServiceCall Westar Energy

1-800-794-6101

ABOVE: A large crowd gathers at the Garden Plain Community Library for a program on snakes, spiders and other similar types of critters. The li-brary offers youth programs through-out the summer.LEFT: A recent expansion of the city limits will help Garden Plain plan for future commercial and residential growth.



Acquisitions mark history of Times-Sentinel Newspapers

Times-Sentinel Newspapers publisher Paul Rhodes gives a tour of the newspaper group’s newly remod-eled offices in Cheney. The renovation work was completed late last year, and an open house was held in December of 2013.

The Times-Sentinel

Haysville Sun-Times

WestSide Story

In the past four years, several acquisitions by Times-Sentinel Newspapers have defined the reach and scope of the newspaper group based in Cheney.

“We got our start on Main Street Cheney, and our headquarters office is still right there in the 100 block, but our reach and our commitment to community journalism covers so much more these days,” said Times-Sentinel publisher Paul Rhodes. “From our very start, growth and expansion of community news coverage has been our goal, and I think we’ve achieved a little success in terms of accomplishing that goal.”

In 1992, the small group of newspapers that became The Times-Sentinel was acquired by Rhodes and his then wife Amy Crouch. Rhodes continues to operate the newspaper group, which since then has acquired the WestSide Story covering west Wichita, The Con-way Springs Star and Argonia Argosy in northwestern Sumner County, the Haysville Sun-Times, and most recently the East Wichita News.

After more than two decades at the helm of the East Wichita News, owners Cathy and Mike Feemster sold the long-running monthly newspaper to Times-Sentinel Newspapers LLC earlier this year.

Times-Sentinel Newspapers publishes another monthly newspaper in west Wichita, the WestSide Story, and three weekly newspapers: The Times-Sentinel, serving western Sedgwick County and the communities of Cheney, Clearwater, Garden Plain and Goddard; the Conway Springs Star and Argonia Argosy, serving northern Sumner County; and the Haysville Sun-Times.

“When Cathy told me she was ready to retire, it didn’t take long for me to take the next step,” said Rhodes. “We needed to get together and talk.”

An agreement to purchase the East Wichita News was reached late last year, and Times-Sentinel Newspa-pers began publishing the newspaper with the Febru-ary issue.

“I knew Paul Rhodes would continue what I’ve started, and probably do a much better job,” she said. “He’s got a very professional organization and a long-running background in community newspapers.”

“I’ve dedicated my career, and much of my life, to community journalism, and the newspaper acquisi-tions we’ve made over the years truly fits that mold for me,” said Rhodes. “All of these areas are communi-ties unto themselves, and we hope we can continue to build off the foundations that were established for these newspapers.”

Acquisition of the Conway Springs Star and Ar-gonia Argosy was another decision that didn’t take long to come together. That newspaper had been in the same family for four generations, and the Cline family was not in a position to continue operating the community newspaper covering Conway Springs and


Argonia.With that newspaper, the future was a little tenuous

as owner Dalice Cline looked for someone to take over the family-owned publication. The problem was finding someone willing to take on the challenge of keeping the local newspaper going, and making a living in the process.

Cline took over the Conway Springs Star and The Argonia Argosy when her husband Jim was ill, and had been keeping the paper afloat following his death. Her son Mike, who had worked at the paper, was unable to take over the paper because of health reasons.

“So Dalice and I started talking about the prospects of Times-Sentinel Newspapers taking over the Conway Springs paper,” said Rhodes “The more we talked, the better the prospects looked.

“During that time, of course, the rumors started flying,” Rhodes said. “In response, I can assure every-one that our goal was simple: to maintain the Conway Springs Star and Argonia Argosy as an independent community newspaper, and build it into a viable com-munity resource like we had with The Times-Sentinel in western Sedgwick County and the WestSide Story in west Wichita. And I believe that’s exactly what we’ve been able to do.”

The next acquisition was the Haysville Sun-Times, where the goal of creating an independent, subscriber-based newspaper was at the heart of the challenge. That newspaper was purchased from Marc Campbell in early 2013.

“Our goal was to thrive as a subscriber-based news-paper, which was a change from the historical trend of newspapers in the Haysville community.” said Rhodes. “But we believed that could be accomplished, if we could provide a quality local newspaper delivered in-home at a reasonable cost.”

That goal was met quickly, and today the Haysville Sun-Times is continuing to be a successful subscriber-based newspaper in that community, and is a comfort-able fit with the TSN group.

Rhodes has been involved with journalism since 1975. He was editor of his high school (Smith Center, Kan.) and college (Kansas State University) news-papers, and had stints with several weekly and daily newspapers in Kansas and Georgia before launching Times-Sentinel Newspapers in 1992.

Daily news and production operations are handled by managing editor Travis Mounts, who has had many roles with the newspaper group dating back over the past two decades. Mounts has been involved with graphics and sales at the newspaper, but now focuses his attentions on news and production of the group’s various newspapers and specialty publications.

The newspaper group is headquartered in Cheney, Kan., just west of Wichita. A satellite office is main-tained in Conway Springs.

Managing editor Travis Mounts works on the

Progress Edition as it was being prepared for its

press run. Mounts has been with the

newspaper group in various capacities over the past two

decades.

December 18, 2014 Your weekly newspaper serving northwest Sumner County Vol. 131 No. 13

Conway Springs Star$1.00 and The Argonia Argosy

Star-Argosy’sWinter SportsGuideSee Pages 6-8

@Star_Argosy • www.facebook.com/starargosy • www.tsnews.com

Early deadlineNext week’s Star-Argosy will go to

press a day early. That means the deadline for all news, advertising, classifi eds and obituaries is noon on Friday. You will get next week’s newspaper in your mail on Wednesday, Dec. 24, so that you can enjoy it over Christmas.

R e g i o n a l M e d i c a l G u i d eIncluded in this week’s edition of the Conway Springs Star & Argonia Argosy is Healthy Choices, the fall regional medical guide from our newspaper group, Times-Sentinel Newspapers. In it you will fi nd the latest medical news, health and fi tness advice, and advertising from local health professionals and organizations.

Dear Santa, I want glowing stars, a wagon, a shopping cart and a baby that drinks a bottle. Please bring my mom a pret-ty dress. I love you! Love, Alannah

Dear Santa, I want a phone, a baby doll, and doll clothes. I will leave you cookies and milk. Love, Jasmine

Dear Santa, I want a bike, a Frozen doll and Olaf the snowman. I also want a robot dog. That’s all! Love, Ashlyn

Dear Santa, I want a bike, a truck, and a car. Bring my brothers a ro-bot toy and some footballs. I have tried to be a good boy. Love, Eli

Dear Santa, Please bring me a real phone, a play bunny, a cal-endar for the days of the week at my house and some music CD’s. I will leave you some Santa, reindeer, and elf cookies with some milk. Love, Lindsay

Dear Santa, I want a play walking dog, a new baby doll, a play phone, a stroller for my baby, some music CD’s, a new IPOD, and a book shelf for all my books. I will leave cookies and milk for you. Love, Adisson

Dear Santa, I would like a police trans-former, a new red tractor, a John Deere scoop tractor, and a John Deere hat. I have tried being a good boy this year. Love, Tanner

Dear Santa, I would like a heart neck-lace, a Dora chair and table with picnic things. I also want a computer with hearts that works. I want a new fi sh and new shoes. Love, Artica

Dear Santa, I would like a race track with lots of track, some race cars, a big cop truck, a big giant mega mind toy with a gun. I have been a good boy this year. Love, John

Dear Santa, I want a Rapunzel dress, a Snow White dress, and a Belle’s dress. A new baby doll that drinks from a bot-tle. I will have cookies and milk out for you. Love, Kaelynn

Dear Santa, Please bring me a Thomas toy, a play dough set, and a pooper scooper for my dog. I will leave your reindeer some carrots. Love, Henry

Dear Santa, I would like a toy robot, a fl ashlight, and a robot matching game. I have been a good boy. Love, Garrett

Dear Santa, Could you bring me a monster truck, a toy tow truck, and a Power Ranger toy. A fi re truck and a toy cop car would be nice too. Thank you! I will leave you a burger with macaroni and cheese. Love, Kyrese

Dear Santa, I want a puppy surprise toy, a kitty surprise toy, some new ballerina shoes, and a new princess video game. I have been a good girl this year. Love, Daisy

Dear Santa, Please bring me a walk-ie-talkie and an indestructi-ble helicopter. I would also like a race track. I will leave you cookies and white milk and carrots for your reindeer. Love, Corben

Students in Linda Stow’s preschool class at Argonia Ele-mentary School prepared letters to Santa Claus. Following are their letters.

Dear SantaStudents share their Christmas letters to

the North Pole

Contributed photoPictured from left are Matt Huntley, Ed Dresser and Buddy Craig. Not pictured: Kevin McCurly. Craig and McCurley are city of Argonia employees.

By Sam JackArgonia’s Dixon Township

Library replaced its front steps with a ramp that is compliant with Americans with Disabili-ties Act guidelines.

“Beforehand, we were grandfathered in, so we didn’t have to do it, but it’s a bene-fi t for quite a few of our pa-trons,” said librarian Tammy Dresser.

The work took about three days and was complete around the end of October. Argo-nia city workers helped re-move the old library steps at

Dixon Township Library adds rampno charge, and APAC Shears of Wellington provided dis-counted concrete. Ed Dresser and Matt Huntley helped with the construction of the new structure.

“Without those people doing the stuff for free, we wouldn’t have been able to do this,” said Dresser.

The old steps were attrac-tive, according to Dresser, but the needs of disabled patrons outweighed aesthetic consid-erations.

“This building’s over a hun-dred years old, so there were some people that were up-set that we took out the old brick,” said Dresser. “I have pictures of the library before and after, so we’re preserving the history of the building’s appearance in that way. We have a couple people in mo-torized wheelchairs, and this makes it easier for them to come in, instead of being lim-ited to the outreach we can do outside the building.”

The ramp will also make it easier to move materials in and out for the library’s rotat-

ing collection, Dresser said.The Dixon Township Li-

brary is open Monday through Thursday from 4:40 to 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Services include

high-speed Internet, statewide inter-library loan and pro-grams for children.

Contact Dresser during li-brary hours at 620-435-6979 for more information.

The entrance before the ramp was installed.

Three Conway Springs football players have been named to the Kansas Football Coaches Association’s all-state team for Class 3A.

On offense, lineman Logan Creek and running back Luke Fisher were honored, as was defensive lineman J.J. Fisher.

The only other Central Plains League players on the 3A list were offensive lineman Zach Drum and defensive back Troy Puetz, both of Gar-den Plain, and wide receiver Roger Clark and defensive lineman Jaden Helms, both of Chaparral. Rossville’s Derick Hammes was named coach of the year.

Other offensive members

honored were: quarterback Grant Raleigh, Hesston; line-man Breven Sondergaard, Norton; lineman David Loucks, Halstead; lineman Devon Wenger, Hesston; run-ning back Thatcher Horak, Rossville; running back Jared Tallent, Norton; wide receiver Corbin Horak, Rossville; tight end John Kelly, Minneapolis, and punter/kicker Grant Ca-son of St. Mary’s Colgan.

Other defensive players honored were: lineman Aiden Murray, Southeast of Saline; lineman R.J. Jackson, Beloit; linebacker Nate Brown, St. Mary’s Colgan; linebacker Jake Fleming, Minneapolis; line-backer Nick Reesor, Rossville;

Cardinals named all-state in footballlinebacker Jacob Carpenter, Humboldt; defensive back Gage Mortimer, Minneapo-

lis; defensive back Deon Lyle, Norton; and defensive back Mason Berryman, Neodesha.

Contributerd photoConway Springs football players Luke Fisher, left, J.J. Fisher and Logan Creek earned all-state honors.

The Conway Springs Police Department received $1,000 in grant funding from the Sumner County Commission. The grant will support Drug Abuse Resistance Edu-cation programming at Kyle Trueblood El-ementary and St. Joseph Catholic School, with $500 directed toward each school.

“The money is used to help pay Offi -cer Bill Berry of Belle Plaine for doing the class, and also for DARE T-shirts and any kind of materials that they need to do the program,” said Conway Springs police chief Chris Reed. “Bill’s been doing it ev-ery year for the last three years, and I think this’ll be his fourth. He does a great job.”

Students at St. Joseph and Kyle Trueb-lood participate in lessons from kindergar-ten through seventh grade, with the goal of reducing drug and alcohol use among youth and giving children tools to respond to peer pressure. Participants pledge not to use drugs, join gangs or engage in violent behavior.

The DARE program is offered in schools around the world and was founded in 1983. DARE graduation ceremonies for Conway Springs fi fth-grade students will be held in May 2015.

Police receive DARE grant

A Wellington mother has been for-mally charged with killing her 10-year-old son.

Lindsey Nicole Blansett, 33, has been arrested in the murder of her son, Ca-leb Chad Blansett. Police were called to a home in the 900 block of West 7th Street around 11:45 p.m. Sunday. The boy was pronounced dead shortly after midnight.

Caleb, a student at Lincoln Elemen-tary School in Wellington, was found dead with what appeared to be a punc-ture wound or wounds to the chest.

According to reports, the elder Blan-sett decided it would be better for Ca-leb to “go to heaven” than face a life full of suffering and pain. She is alleged to have stabbed her son with a knife and hit him with a rock.

Blansett was formally charged with premeditated murder on Monday. Grief counselors were at Lincoln Ele-mentary on Monday.

A 9-year-old girl was in the home at the time of the killing and was found unharmed.

Bond was set at $500,000. Blansett is expected to appear in court this Thurs-day.

Wellington mother charged with killing her

10-year-old son

Caleb Blasnett

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Body cameras see rapid adoptionBy Sam JackBody cameras are already in use in

many area police departments, includ-ing those of Haysville, Cheney, Clear-water, Goddard and Conway Springs. Garden Plain plans to purchase the equipment early in 2015.The Wichita Police Department’s

Dec. 3 announcement that it will pur-chase 444 body cameras for offi cers came in the wake of police shootings that led to protests and unrest in Fer-guson, Mo., and New York City. But Goddard, Clearwater and Haysville had deployed the cameras months or years before the current stir of interest.Goddard’s police department has

been using the cameras for around four years, according to Chief Sam Houston, who said the spur for his department was a planned protest by the Westboro Baptist Church, a hate group known for its litigiousness.“I felt that it was a good tool for

the offi cers to have, with the interac-tions being something that was going to be emotionally charged. I wanted a fair representation of what transpired between offi cers and protesters,” said Houston.

“I feel that it’s like an insurance pol-icy that’s being worn by your police offi cers,” he added. “The offi cers like it where they get cleared from com-plaints that have no merit, because we can review the tapes. It makes it a lot easier to investigate complaints from citizens. We haven’t had a sustained complaint on an offi cer regarding con-duct on camera for at least two years.”

The cameras have won support from police groups, including Wichita’s po-lice union, and from community activ-ist groups. A study conducted by Rialto, Calif.’s police department found an 88 percent decline in the number of com-plaints against offi cers and a 60 percent drop in “use of force” incidents, even though only half of offi cers were ran-domly assigned to wear the cameras.

“It’s like having your own eyewit-ness attached to you,” said Clearwater police chief Gene Garcia. “When you go back to write your report, you can quote very accurately and because it is videotaping the person, you have a complete description of them. And it also works to the benefi t of the citizen because if something is misstated by the offi cer, it’s recorded, and the of-

fi cer can go back and correct himself for next time.”Policies regarding the use of cam-

eras and the handling of the video records produced vary widely, refl ect-ing a technology that is still in an ear-ly stage of widespread adoption. The major policy questions are when the cameras should or must be activated, how long the recordings will be kept and when recordings should or must be released.

Some activists have pushed for cam-eras that are “tamper-proof,” turned on as soon as offi cers go on duty and left to record continuously until the end of shift. A few larger departments are moving in that direction, but Kan-sas departments are offering offi cers more control.Goddard requires that the cameras

be on and recording during “all citizen contacts,” according to Houston. Hays-ville, which began equipping school resource offi cers with cameras about 18 months ago, has used a squad-car-based system to record audio of all contacts for more than 20 years and

Watching the cops and the criminals

See CAMERAS, Page 6

Staff photo/Cathy Hurley

Ian McKelvey, left, and Arabella McKelvey visit with San-

ta Claus at Saturday’s HCO toy drive, held at West Hays-

ville Baptist Church, 141 Lamar Court. Santa was there

to give candy and a small toy to children who came

with their parents. Food boxes were also delivered to all

residents of Peachtree Plaza by the Boy Scouts. About

400 children from 170 families qualify according to

Salvation Army guidelines. The toys came from choos-

ing a tag from Christmas trees and returning the gift to

the West Haysville Baptist Church. The Christmas Trees

were located at the following churches, businesses and

institutions in Haysville: St. Cecelia Catholic Church,

United Methodist, West Haysville Baptist, 1st Christian,

Christian Church, Church of the Nazarene, Lutheran

Church, River of Life, The Valley State Bank, Intrust

Bank, Emprise Bank, Community Bank, Campus Honor

Society, Haysville Activity Center, Haysville Community

Library and the VFW.

Seeing Santa

Mayor Bruce Armstrong and city council members honored 10 city employees for their length of service. Fol-lowing are the employees who were honored:• 10 years – Jim Brooks, heavy equipment operator; Greg Wright, police sergeant; Cale Topinka, public works coordinator.• 15 years – Rene Lamarche, police sergeant; Kevin Sexton, police lieutenant; Georgie Car-ter, recreation director; Chad Case, master police offi cer.• 25 years – Randy Dorner, public works director.• 30 years – Bud Anthis, code enforcement offi cer; Roy Jolivet, assistant public works director.“These awards tonight truly show the longevity of our em-ployees,” said Armstrong. The mayor noted that more than 51 percent of city employ-ees have been with the city 10 years or longer and a large percentage have been with the city more than 15 years.In other business:• City council members once again tabled the pro-

posed changes to the city code. Council members had another handful of changes and questions that needed to be addressed and they wanted more time to review the latest version of the updates.• Council members ap-proved $11,445 for the pur-chase of a “dump body” truck bed from Davis Trailer and Truck Equipment, Inc. The dump bed will go onto a 2008 Chevy 5500 cab and chassis that was previously purchased.• The council approved the renewal of cereal malt bev-erage licenses for Homeland and Mini Stop (Parker Oil).• Marie Riggs was appointed to fi ll the remainder of an un-expired term on the Haysville Community Library Board of Trustees.The next city council meet-ing will be held on Monday, Dec. 29. The council normal-ly holds its second meeting of the month on the fourth Monday, but this meeting was scheduled a week later to al-low the council to take care of end-of-year business. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m.

City council honors longtime employees

R e g i o n a l M e d i c a l G u i d eIncluded in this week’s edition of the Haysville Sun-Times is Healthy Choices, the

fall regional medical guide from our newspaper group, Times-Sentinel Newspapers.

In it you will fi nd the latest medical news, health and fi tness advice, and advertising

from local health professionals and organizations.

By Sam JackCampus High School students brought some holiday cheer to families in need with “Hope That Fits,” a “garage sale” event where no money was exchanged.

The school’s Family, Career and Com-munity Leaders of America club spon-sored and coordinated the event, which took place Saturday, Dec. 13, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“We had 81 families that came through and selected items for Christmas and for their needs,” said Renae Spangler, FACS teacher and FCCLA sponsor. “It was a total of about 363 people. This is our second year doing this, and last year we had 75 families come through, so the word is getting out about this service. We’ll probably do it again next year, as long as I have students that want to.”

About 25 Campus students volun-teered to set up and man the event. In addition to FCCLA, Students Against Drunk Driving, the Tidal Wave Book Club, the Art Club and the Thespian troupe helped out, and FACS and sci-ence students donated items.“We also had our students’ auto body

shop doing free winterization on cars, for those who wanted that service,” said Spangler. “The volunteers were doing child care, gift wrap, helping to keep all the tables straight. It was over 100 box-es and bags of donations from people

‘Hope That Fits’ aids needy

Contributed photo

From left, FCCLA members CiCi Scott, Taylor Spangler, Rebecca Morse,

Katie Stolp and Emily Stolp display a small portion of the stuffed animals

donated for Hope That Fits. More than 350 people took advantage of the

free garage sale Saturday.

throughout the community, and students helped put those out on Friday night.”

Baby items, toys, clothing, shoes, coats, blankets and bedding were among the items on offer.FCCLA’s next service project is

planned for January. The club will part-ner with King Arthur Flour’s “Bake for Good” program.“King Arthur does presentations in all

See HOPE, Page 6

Times-SentinelServing the communities of Cheney, Clearwater, Garden Plain and Goddard

December 18, 2014

WWW.TSNEWS.COM

Vol. 120 No. 51The

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This week’s Newspapers In

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R e g i o n a l M e d i c a l G u i d e

Included in this week’s edition of The Times-Sentinel is Healthy Choices,

the fall regional medical guide from our newspaper group, Times-Sentinel

Newspapers. In it you will find the latest medical news, health and fitness

advice, and advertising from local health professionals and organizations.

Early deadline

Next week’s Times-Sentinel will go

to press a day early. That means the

deadline for all news, advertising,

classifieds and obituaries is noon

on Friday. You will get next week’s

newspaper in your mail on Wednesday,

Dec. 24, so that you can enjoy it over

Christmas.

By Sam Jack

After more than three

decades as owner and

pharmacist, Roger Bales

closed the doors of Clear-

water’s Bales Pharmacy

for the last time Tuesday.

The next morning, a half-

mile down Ross Avenue,

Walmart Neighborhood

Market opened the doors

of its new pharmacy.

“As a result of Mr. Bales’

decision to retire, he is sell-

ing his prescription files to

us,” said Walmart spokes-

person Sarah McKinney.

“Everybody that has been

going to Bales Pharmacy

will be able to get their pre-

scriptions at the Walmart.

All the information, includ-

ing prescriptions that have

refills left, will be there. So

it should be very seamless

for members of the com-

munity.”Bales notified customers

and friends of his retire-

ment and the sale of the

customer files in a letter.

“After we had spent

months exploring, research-

ing and pursuing all viable

options, an ‘option’ came

pursuing us,” Bales wrote.

“The conclusion that we

have reached is that selling

to Walmart is the best pos-

sible choice that is available

to us.“I could never find the

words to fully express my

gratitude and thanks to all

of you for what you have

meant to me and my fami-

ly; for all your support, your

trust, your loyalty and your

caring,” the letter contin-

ued.Bales apologized for the

short window between his

announcement and the clo-

sure of the pharmacy, citing

confidentiality agreements

that prevented him from

disclosing the negotiations

with Walmart while they

were in progress.

“Clearwater has been

so good to us,” Bales said

Monday. “The people here

have been so faithful and

supportive through the

years, and I’m grateful.”

Bales Pharmacy opened

on Nov. 1, 1978, and at

one time serviced nursing

homes in Conway Springs

and Cheney in addition to

many customers in Clear-

water.“When we first came, we

had a full drug store, and

then we chose to downsize

it into the small prescrip-

tion shop. My daughter,

Margaret, was raised at the

drug store and has worked

here as my store manag-

er since 2005. Thelma, my

wife, has been retired for

about 15 years now.

“I’m 77, so it’s time for

me to retire, and Walmart

made an offer that was very

attractive. I’m glad I’m re-

tiring with a pharmacy still

in town,” said Bales.

Bales has been an active

Bales Pharmacy

sells to Walmart

Clearwater pharmacist

retires after 36 years

Staff photo/Paul Rhodes

Long-time local pharmacist Roger Bales posed for

a picture Monday with daughter Margaret Bales,

left, and Dakari Machart. Bales Pharmacy closed its

doors Tuesday.

See BALES, Page 15

An old-fashioned Christmas

Staff photo/Travis Mounts

Saturday’s tree lighting and Christmas light display at Souders Historical Museum drew a nice crowd. The muse-

um, located a half-mile west of Cheney on MacArthur, will be open nightly 6-9 p.m. through Dec. 27.

Ariel Pinkston

won $15,000 and

met with a ‘Top

Chef Master’

By Sam Jack

A few hours of family

cooking fun led to a $45,000

grand prize for Ariel Pink-

ston, with $15,000 awarded to

Pinkston’s family and $30,000

donated to Goddard’s Clark

Davidson Elementary for a

cafeteria makeover.

Pinkston’s recipe for and

video presentation of “Sun-

flower Sushi” was chosen as

one of five national grand-

prize winners in the Ben’s

Beginners Cooking Contest,

sponsored by Uncle Ben’s

Rice.“We had a nationwide con-

test, pared it down to 25 final-

ists, and then from there we

really looked to see who came

to life, who really represented

the Ben’s Beginners move-

ment, and Ariel was really one

of them,” said Uncle Ben’s

spokesperson Matt Hurst.

“We looked for kids getting

excited about cooking. I think

Sunflower Sushi is pretty

healthy and creative.”

On Wednesday, Dec. 10,

Uncle Ben’s surprised Clark

Davidson students with an

all-school assembly announc-

ing the award, and showed a

video of Pinkston receiving

the news by telephone a few

days earlier.

Celebrity chef Marcus

Samuelsson, a frequent guest

on cooking shows and 2010

winner of “Top Chef Mas-

ters,” was on hand to present

Pinkston with the award and

work with her to demonstrate

Sunflower Sushi for the as-

sembled students.

“The creativity that Ariel

had is that it’s local, with the

sunflower, but sushi is also

something that’s very glob-

Goddard girl wins recipe contest

al and, maybe without even

thinking about it, very trendy.

It’s a fun recipe that got the

whole family involved, and

that’s something that we want

to highlight,” said Samuelsson.

Goddard mayor Marcey

Gregory, Kansas State Rep.

Joe Seiwert, and Kansas State

Sen. Dan Kerschen each de-

livered remarks congratulat-

ing Pinkston, her family and

the Goddard community. The

Sedgwick County Commis-

sion dubbed Dec. 10 “Ben’s

Beginners Day” in honor of

Pinkston’s achievement, and

the City of Goddard present-

ed Pinkston with an award

Dec. 16.

Watch itTo view Pinkston’s

prize-winning video

entry, visit bensbe-

ginnerscontest.com/

brand/gallery and

search for “Ariel.”

Staff photo/Sam Jack

Ariel Pinkston, second from left, cooks with TV chef Marcus Samuelson. Joining

them are Pinkston’s brother, Jonah, and sister, Eden, during last week’s surprise pre-

sentation at Clark Davidson School in Goddard.

Crazy for Christmas

Kevin Hammond’s yard in Garden Plain lights up like, well, like a Christmas tree

every holiday season. It takes weeks to set up the display. Read more in Garden

Plain news, Page 6.

See RECIPE, Page 12

Progress Edition 2014

Haysville Sun-Times

The Times-Sentinel

The Times-Sentinel Newspaper Group’s family of publications includes three weekly newspapers – The Times-Sentinel, the Conway Springs Star & Argonia Argosy, and the Haysville Sun-Times. Other publi-cations include the monthly East Wichta News and WestSide Story plus a host of specialty publications including two medi-cal guides and two fair guides.

125 N. Main | Cheney, KS 67025316.540.0500 | www.tsnews.comPaul Rhodes, PublisherTravis Mounts, Managing Editor

As a new year approaches, communi-ties in the suburban Wichita area are all turning their attentions to the challenges ahead. While the city of Clearwater is in that same situation, city officials have a lot to smile about.

Many of the key things that have made the community so stable and attractive to residents and business prospects alike remain in place, and new opportunities have presented themselves just within the past two years.

“We’ve been fortunate over the years that there have been a variety of housing options within the community, and we’ve seen some business growth as well over the past couple of years,” said city admin-istrator Kent Brown.

Now, the community is poised for a handful of new housing options. Those include the city taking over ownership of most of the remaining lots in the Ch-isholm Ridge housing addition in Clear-water, and a new developer for the final phase of Park Glen.

During a sheriff ’s sale for back taxes earlier this year, the city of Clearwater was the high bidder on the remaining 37 lots in the Chisholm Ridge development, in phases II and III.

“The development started out great,” said Brown. He said the original plan was to build 100 homes in three phases. Almost half of the lots were developed before the project came to a halt.

The entire subdivision was being built by one developer, Don Mertens Custom Homes. When the project stalled, a few lots were sold to another party, but those lots also haven’t been developed, said Brown.

“We bought the remaining lots because there wasn’t any attempt to maintain them, or move ahead with developing them,” said Brown. “The city invested in infrastructure there, and we want to see it used. We will try to move quickly on sell-ing those lots to another developer.”

In the Park Glen housing addition, developer Shaun Weaver has purchased the fourth addition of that project. The site totals just over 34 acres, and Weaver is ready to launch a pair of housing options there.

Weaver is planning 15 single family patio homes. Remaining lots, which will total about 54, will be larger in scale than

City of Clearwater is excited about new housing and business opportunities

normal, up to a half acre in size.“I think there’s demand for both of

these housing options,” said Weaver. “And, we’ll be the only development in town with a pool.”

Work also is continuing in the Indian Lakes development, where new twin homes are available for rent.

“It just confirms that other housing op-tions are needed in the community,” said Brown.

Business growth brings opportunities

Clearwater has long had a strong core of local businesses, and several new businesses have opened their doors in the community within the past couple of years.

“Community residents have supported their local businesses, and in turn, those businesses have supported a variety of things in the community,” said Brown.

New additions in recent years have included a new Casey’s General Store convenience center, and a Dollar General store. Now, a new Walmart Neighborhood Market has opened in the community.

Brown noted that this kind of commer-cial development also is spurring interest in other commercial ventures.

“We are anticipating some kind of new fast food operation in the near future, and there also is interest in launching a new business in the former convenience store location on the north edge of town,” said Brown.

In addition, a long-time commercial building in the downtown area, which for-

merly housed the local grocery store and most recently Duckwall’s, is now poised for renovation and a new lease on life as the new year approaches.

Shaun Weaver, who is involved with the new Park Glen expansion, is spearheading the project at the old Duckwall’s location.

“We’re getting ready to close on that building, and will be renovating it for of-fice suites and a banquet facility with mul-tiple uses,” said Weaver. The first phase of that project will be to add five office suites to the east side of the building. The rest of the 6,300-square-foot building will be converted into the banquet facility.

“We want to be done with the remodel-ing work by the end of February,” said Weaver. For more information on that project, call 316-200-0248.

Improvements coming to Sports Complex, City Park

Over the past two years, the Chisholm Trail Sports Complex has experienced major improvements, and that work is now continuing with a major upgrade to the facility’s softball fields.

In addition, the city also has agreed to move ahead with City Park improvements, including new equipment and soft surface upgrades.

The Sports Complex improvements,

Clearwater has several housing options for new residents including the Chisholm Ridge addition, which the city has a stake in.

The past two years have seen major improvements at the Chisholm Trail Sports Complex, seen above, and at City Park. The city and Clearwater Recreation Commission shared the costs for a major renovation of the main softball field.


including a major renovation of the main softball field and a new set of bat-ting cages, were approved late this year. Funding for the project will take about $60,000, to be split between the city and the recreation commission.

Several donations have been commit-ted to the project, including materials and labor.

The goal is to bring the softball field at the complex up to the standards set with the renovated baseball field to the north. The project also will address drainage is-sues at the complex.

Improvements at City Park would in-clude fall zone protection surfacing under equipment areas, sidewalks and signage, and replacement of old equipment. The estimated cost for this project would be $70,000, and the city agreed to target $35,000 for half of the cost. The Recre-ation Commission will match those funds, similar to what it is doing at the Sports Complex.

“The city and the Recreation Commis-sion are each committing $65,000 over the next two years to these projects,” said Brown. “We’re getting a lot done for the money, especially with everything that’s being donated up at the Sports Complex.”

Major staff changes at City Hall

Long-time city administrator Kent Brown has concluded 14 years in Clear-water, and is now the town administrator of Milliken, Colo.

“They’ve got a lot of challenges and a lot of opportunities,” Brown said of his new position in Milliken. The move also puts Brown and his wife closer to their parents in the Denver area.

During his tenure in Clearwater, Brown was involved with a number of com-munity improvement projects that were particularly satisfying. Those included construction of the Aquatic Center, expansion of the city’s sewer lagoons and extension of water service north of town, and construction of a new senior and community center and a city emergency shelter, purchase of the city’s industrial park, a new city entrance sign, and a new parking lot at City Park.

As the city looks to fill the administra-tor’s position, Jim Heinike has been hired as interim city administrator. Heinike had a long career in similar positions, and since his retirement has been doing consulting work for several cities, includ-ing interim administrative positions with Sterling and Rose Hill.

“Clearwater has a very strong City Hall staff and great department heads,” said Heinike, who will serve the city as long as needed until the administrator’s position is filled on a permanent basis. He has several areas of expertise, including work with planning studies, that can benefit the city in the interim.

Also new at City Hall is city clerk Courtney Meyer, who was hired recently to fill that position. Meyer lives in west Wichita, and has a background in ac-counting, inventory work and office man-agement. She most recently worked for a paving supply company in Wichita.

City of Clearwater is always busy with projects

The city of Clearwater has numerous other projects that will be tackled during 2015.

• Street work: A major reconstruction of Fourth Street, from the north edge of town to Ross Avenue, will largely be funded by Sedgwick County. The city will tackle drainage work along Fourth Street at the same time, and will take advan-tage of possible savings on other street projects at the same time. Two major intersection upgrades along Ross also will be done at the same time.

• Sewer lagoons: The city is working against some state-imposed deadlines to improve the quality of water being discharged from Clearwater’s sewer lagoon system. The city has already taken several steps to reduce algae in the la-goons, and will be tackling more improvements this next year. The city’s long-range plan is to develop a system for irrigating using the discharge water from the lagoon system.

• Fire and EMS: Sometime this next year the city will launch a major study of its fire and EMS departments. The city wants to look at the future of those services and how to best keep them in place for the community. The city council has started reviewing proposals from two different groups that could do the study work.

• Water rights. Even though the city is in good shape with its existing water wells that supply the community, the future is a big unknown. Like many other communities, Clearwater is concerned about future water rights, and is in the process of acquiring additional water rights to ensure those supplies for the community.

City of Clearwater129 E. Ross Ave. • P.O. Box 453

Clearwater, KS 67026

Phone: (620) 584-2311 • Fax: (620) 584-3119

Mayor: Mike YorkCity Council: Paul G. Clark, Chris Griffin,Laura Papish, Burt Ussery, Jim Whitney

Old West reenactors prepare for a show at Clearwater’s City Park during the annual Fall Festival, one of the biggest events in Clearwater.


Cody Hoss grew up in Haysville. He came back in 2011 to work with Dan Freeman, O.D., after graduating from Northeastern State University where he received a Doctor of Optometry degree. In 2013 he purchased the practice and now the product of Haysville schools offers primary eye care at Haysville Family EyeCare.

Haysville Family EyeCare is located at 1425 W. Grand, Suite 111, the corner of 71st and Meridian. The location has housed eye care for the past 10 years. Hoss is now the only doctor practicing at this office.

“We offer primary eye care,” Hoss said. “That includes routine vision health examina-tions, glasses and contact lenses, diagnosis and management of eye disease, co-management of ocular surgery and pediatric vision screenings.”

Haysville Family EyeCare works closely with several ophthalmologists around the area when patients are in need of surgery or other pro-cedures. The clinic then co-manages eye care with their patients to insure proper healing and ocular health.

Glasses and contact lens prescriptions are a

service of Haysville Family EyeCare. They send all of their work to a full service outside lab, so any prescription can be filled quickly. This includes sunglasses and other special orders.

In addition to quality eye care with a focus on personalized service, Haysville Family EyeCare supports the community as much as possible. They work with the local Booster Club, schools, the Fall Festival and annual Fourth of July festivities, and the business is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. They also have hosted externships from area schools.

“We are committed to providing the best care possible to the people of Haysville and surround-ing areas,” Hoss stated. “We pride ourselves on our personalized care and service, and our goal is to fulfill patients’ needs in a timely and friendly manner. Growing up in this community gives me a great sense of pride. There is no place else I would rather practice optometry.”

Haysville Family EyeCare is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday. For more information call 316-858-4558 or visit their Website, www.haysvillefamilyeyecare.com.

Local doctor, local eye careDr. Cody Hoss takes pride in his community

Dr. Cody Hoss grew up in Haysville. He came back to town to practice in 2011, and in 2013 he took over the practice now known as Haysville Family EyeCare.

The members of First Baptist Church in Milton believe strongly in doing things and welcoming the community — spread-ing the good news of their faith through good deeds and action.

“We host a lot of events,” said Pastor Mike Justice of the church at 1213 N. Sycamore Road.

They include a fish fry, a gospel con-cert and fireworks show in September, and a light display at Christmas. That cel-ebration includes 12,000 to 15,000 lights to brighten up anyone’s holiday mood.

Members also hold a mother-daughter banquet, and for males, a father-and-son fishing day.

Of course, there are Easter, Thanksgiv-ing and Christmas programs, along with a special Valentine Dinner in February.

They also provide acts of service and hold a lunch for about two dozen senior citizens in nearby Norwich.

That community spirit is simply the personality of the church and its mem-bers, Justice said. “We always get compli-ments on how friendly our church is,” he said.

One might think with all its activities, the church would be huge, but it remains a manageable size. The worship atten-

First Baptist in Milton is a welcoming, active church

dance averages 64 people, Wednesday ministry night draws in some 45 people and Sunday School usually has about 40 people in it.

Folks don’t have to be Baptist to attend the church as it’s open to any believer.

Attendees come from all over the area, are all ages and are from all walks of life. Many work in agriculture, others are students, or are retired, or are stay-at-home moms.

“We have a pretty diverse group,” Jus-tice said. The one thing they all do share, however, is a strong Christian faith.

The church is associated with the

Central Region of the American Baptist Churches and American Baptist Churches U.S.A.

As such, among its bedrock beliefs is that accepting Jesus Christ as Savior is the only way to salvation and that the Bible is God’s Holy Word and is infallible.

And, as its name implies, it believes in baptism, more specifically, by immersion as an act of obedience and public profes-sion of faith.

To join the lively group of worshippers at this church come by 1213 N. Sycamore Road in Milton for Sunday worship. The

service gets underway at 9:30 a.m., but if you’re a little early, you can visit with members before it starts. Worships lasts until 10:45 and Sunday School starts at 11 a.m. and goes until 11:45 a.m.

For those with little ones, a nursery is available.

Be sure and enjoy the many offerings on Wednesday night, too.

There’s a ministry meal at 6 p.m. with a special group for children from kinder-garden to fifth grade from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., junior and senior high school youth groups from 6:45 to 7:45 p.m. and adult Bible study from that same time.

There’s also a special women’s ministry at 6:30 p.m. each second Monday.

The church also takes part in the Mil-ton/Norwich Inter-church Council and teams up four times a year with the other churches for Vacation Bible School and special services.

So stop on by and introduce yourself to Pastor Justice, now in his thirteenth year with the church. Remember, Milton Bap-tist is the type of church that welcomes all into its flock. It’s a place to grow and develop your faith. And, don’t forget: there are enough social activities to keep anybody busy year-around.

A full house lis-tens to the 2014 gospel concert. First Baptist Church in Milton holds the concert annually, along with a fish fry and fireworks show – just one of many events that take place at the church.


In an increasingly competitive global economy, education is the key to unlock-ing future success for today’s youth. The South Central Kansas Education Service Center (SCKESC) of Clearwater sets about its daily business with results in mind, both for its direct customers, which are school districts, and the end users, thousands of area students.

As its executive director, Brad Pep-per, succinctly put it: “It’s all about the students.”

The center was formed to provide efficiencies of scale to its 28 members. By pooling their resources together and being members of one entity, the districts, along with one university, can receive cost-effective solutions to their many pressing tasks.

Staff at the center keep abreast of the latest laws and regulations concerning education, along with the most advanced and effective classroom techniques.

“It’s a constant learning curve,” Pep-per said of the nature of the profession. The staff also work to develop their own professional skills in order to help out teachers and staff at the districts.

For example, one of the agency’s five consultants may be working with an edu-cator, coaching him or her, and providing guidance in how to more effectively teach.

Furthermore, the consultants have topic specializations of their own, such as math, science or English.

A small district would ordinarily not have the funds to provide coaches but the center does, and that’s the main thrust of its work. Such availability of training is a winning formula for all involved, Pepper said.

It’s also necessary, he added, as there is an increased demand on students for higher achievement.

“Just look at the educational back-ground and skills now required in the job market,” Pepper said.

It used to be that a high school diploma was sufficient for many fields. Now a bachelor’s degree may be the minimum requirement and many careers call for ad-vanced degrees, too. Such degrees require a firm educational foundation to build on, which the agency strives to provides its clients and their students.

Founded in 1989, the center is one of seven such centers in the Kansas. The

South Central Kansas Education Service Center delivers results for its clients

agency is part of a network of education-al entities under the auspices of the Kan-sas Association of Educational Service Agencies (KAESA), and the Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA), a nationwide group. Some 48 states have these systems, all run differently.

In addition, the districts that the center serves are all different, so part of the challenge it takes on is to find out what the needs are of each member and fill those, Pepper said.

“We really customized our services,” he said. As part of that, the consultants are constantly on the go and usually out of the office at one of the districts’ schools. “Our motto is that we come to you and provide the service you need,” Pepper said.

In that regard, Clearwater, with its mid-range location in south central Kansas and easy and quick highway access, serves as an ideal location. “We love being here in Clearwater,” Pepper said. “It’s a great place.”

The center is not, as some may think, a depository of school supplies such as textbooks, although it does get involved in that area by inviting textbook publish-ers to show their products to member districts.

In addition to helping their members directly, the service center, like the others

statewide, also acts as a liaisons between local districts and the Kansas State De-partment of Education.

The center, however, is not funded by the state or any taxes. It operates through support from its members through dues and also applies for and receives grants from private, state and federal agencies. Those grants are granted on a competitive basis, so the center has to prove its value to receive that funding.

The service center has an unusual op-

erational structure: it is a public, nonprofit organization, but one that operates in a competitive, entrepreneurial fashion that one would normally find in a private, for-profit enterprise. In other words, it takes the best of each entity’s working model and merges them in order to make a nimble, highly-efficient venture that is customer-oriented.

As center officials state: “We blend the benevolence of the public sector with the spirit and ingenuity of the private sector.”

Along with the five consultants, there is a staff of about 15 professionals who work to support the center’s mission. The entity is guided by a seven-member board of directors, whom Pepper answers to.

From a personal perspective, Pepper enjoys directing the center and its staff and seeing the advancements made.

“I love this job,” he said. “Every single day is a challenge.”

The agency may not be a high-profile one, but that’s simply the nature of its work. “We’re in the background,” Pepper said.

While the public doesn’t interact much with the center, its work can be found with students who are achieving better results in their educational journey.

“It’s so rewarding talking with the su-perintendents and finding out what all the successes are in the classroom,” Pepper said.

For more information, go to their web-site, www.sckesc.org.

SCKESC staff member Shari Mills works with a student on computer skills. The South Cen-tral Kansas Education Service Cen-ter – also known as The Service Center – pools re-sources for 28 entities.

Staff members at The Service Center provide customized services for member school districts. It is centrally located in Clearwater.


Roland Elpers needed just a few words to sum up the mission for Hometown Farm Supply.

“We’re trying to be a friendly business that takes care of customers and makes them happy they came in,” he said.

The Elpers family purchased the busi-ness on Jan. 1, 2014. The business has had several names over the year – Rob-inson’s Hardware most recently, Farm Supply before that. Roland Elpers knew the original owners.

“We used this store a lot through the years,” he said.

Hometown Farm Supply is trying to cater to two audiences that sometimes have very different needs – city customers and rural/farm customers.

For farm customers, the store carries hydraulic hoses, plastic pipe and plumb-ing supplies, chisel points, field cultivator sweeps, round bale feeders and more.

Farmers and home do-it-yourself types will enjoy Hometown Farm Supply’s good selection of DeWalt power tools and Craftsman hand and mechanic tools. They have a full line of gardening and lawn supplies including mulch, fertilizer and seed, pesticides and hand tools. With

New owners have brought new life to Hometown Farm Supply

winter coming on, they have an improved inventory of snow shovels and ice melt.

They have restored some of the prod-

ucts that Farm Supply was known for, such as cookware and ovenware. The business also exchanges propane bottles.

“We stress quality as well as quantity,” Elpers said.

Other items include power washers, hard floor vacuums, a unique window washer from Karcher, shop vacs, and nor-mal hardware items. Elpers talked about the inverter generators the store has avail-able. They are small, quiet and can even charge cell phones.

“It’s a great camp tool,” he said.Finally, paint continues to be a big draw

for customers. Hometown Farm Supply carries the Valspar and Rustoleum lines.

The staff includes Roland Elpers and his wife, Mary Jane, who handles all the books. Stan Elpers, Tyler Sears and Brandon Lorenz are in the store to help customers. Roland also stated that Tyler and Brandon’s knowledge and experience of the store’s day-to-day operations and needs of the town and surrounding area were instrumental in the small success that the store experienced in its first year.

Hometown Farm Supply is open 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Visit the website at www.hometownfarmsupply.com or call 316-542-3193. New digital media sites are in the works.

Hometown Farm Supply serves the farm community as well as city customers looking for products as varied as yard supplies, snow shovels and ice melt, propane bottles and kitchen items.

Those facing major life issues such as depression, anxiety and family and marital issues need experienced help. That’s where licensed clinical specialist social worker Larry Lee comes in.

Lee, who maintains offices in Goddard and Wichita, has a wealth of experience in the form of more than 40 years in the field, including work in child welfare, adop-tion, foster care and family preservation.

Add to that his academic credentials. Lee has a bachelor’s in religion and sociology from Phillips University and a master’s of social work from the Univer-sity of Oklahoma.

With his experience and formal train-ing, clients can tap into a vast resource of knowledge to help guide them through their own life crises.

There are certainly many choices when selecting a therapist, but few, like Lee, are still active and working in their mid-70s.

Now 75, Lee continues to work because he loves the satisfaction he gets by guid-ing his clients and seeing positive change in their lives.

“I think people learn how to face their problems, take them on and change for the better,” he said.

Lee does a lot of work with people tackling depression and its related issues.

He also is experience in the Love and Logic Parenting techniques.

Along with all his formal education and work as a counselor, Lee has real-life experience that can help clients.

He’s been married for more than 30 years, has four grown children and is ac-tive in his church.

Having a Christian background may be important to some clients, and Lee will offer to pray with them, if they so choose. For those who prefer a more secular session, he will accommodate those wishes, too.

The important aspect is that the client’s needs come first as Lee is truly interested in obtaining results for them.

The big question he asks them is: “Why are we here?”

From there, the therapy travels down a productive path in which the client can gain the most benefit.

Lee takes particular pride in a trait that can be hard to find these days: confi-dence.

“People trust me,” he said, and he works hard to build and keep that trust, which is a hallmark of his practice.

Insurance is a major concern of any health care consumer, and with Lee, you can rest easy. He accepts most insurance plans along with Medicaid and Medicare.

Lee also will work with EAPs, or employee assistance programs, which are designed to help workers with personal challenges. An EAP will offer one to six office visits.

Lee’s office hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday in Wichita.

On Tuesdays, he see clients from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Goddard. He maintains the two offices for the convenience of his clients.

People on the west side of Wichita find it easier to go to Goddard and some west-siders work in Wichita and find the location near West Street to be more convenient.

Of course, people west of Goddard and in the surrounding areas are glad Lee is in their community, as there aren’t many licensed clinical specialist social worker in far western Sedgwick County.

Lee also sees clients from Kingman, Sumner and Harper counties.

Lee, originally from Nebraska, has lived in Goddard since 1991 with his wife, Donna Delaney.

Two of their children graduated from Goddard High School, so they’re well acquainted with the community.

Much of his early professional work has to do with family preservation and adop-tions, an area he found especially reward-ing as he was able to keep families intact.

Like the famed bunny in the TV bat-tery commercial, Lee plans to keep on going, and going, for as long as he can — and for a simple reason: “I like helping people.”

For more information call Larry Lee at 316-734-5670.

People in need find experience counsel with Larry Lee

Social worker Larry Lee has more than 40 years experience in a variety of areas.


Cheney Baptist Church offers

a variety of programs

Pastor Keith Peters is proud to be a part of the now 60-plus year old Cheney Baptist Church family. His own journey led him to pastor four churches in three states before he and his family moved to Cheney in June of 2010. Now he is excited to lead this active congregation in its many programs and ministries.

“Cheney Baptist Church was founded on June 6, 1953 by a handful of faith-ful believers who called Reverend Bob Jones to serve as their first pastor,” Pastor Peters related. “Harold Pipkin, a cur-rent Cheney resident and active church member, was among the original charter members.”

Pastor Peters continued the Cheney Baptist Church story: the church grew out of an old-fashioned “tent revival” held in town; then a lot on 6th Street was purchased and the building started in Oc-tober of 1953; finally the church outgrew their original building and moved into their new home at 1502 N. Main Street in August, 2001.

Now the church offers a variety of services each week. The Sunday School program at 9:30 a.m. includes classes for all ages including four different adult formats. Morning Worship takes place at 10:30 a.m. and blends familiar hymns with more contemporary worship songs followed by practical, biblical preach-ing. At the same time, “Little Church” and “Children’s Church” for three- to five-year-old children and grade school

Active congregation grows from humble beginningschildren respectively, allows youngsters to experience God at their level. In addition, the church offers a 6:00 p.m. Sunday Ser-vice where congregants dig deeper into Biblical truths and how they apply to cur-rent events. The high school youth group, “Souled Out,” meets during the Sunday evening service for their own activities, blending fun and practical scriptural ap-plications.

There are several groups that meet during the week too. Ladies meet for Bible Study on Wednesday mornings. On Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., middle school students meet for “Grounded for Life” while children aged three through the fifth grade level have their AWANA Club program. Monthly programs with dinners, fellowship times and retreats ex-ist for “Upper Class” senior saint minis-try, Ladies Ministry and Men’s Ministry. Youth camps for grade, middle, and high school students take place during the summer. Finally, Cheney Baptist Church also offers College and Career Ministry and Counseling Ministry through the Grace Counseling Center.

This last offering comes as a direct result of Pastor Peters’ background. He is a professional clinical member of the Na-tional Christian Counselors Association as well as the American Association of Christian Counselors. He holds a PhD in Counseling along with certifications as a Clinical Pastoral Counselor, Temperament Counselor and Mediator, and has Board Certification as an Integrated Marriage and Family Therapist. Suffice it to say his extensive education and experience have given him a heart for helping people come to relational as well as spiritual health.

Cheney Baptist Church also partners financially and prayerfully with 36 min-istries representing 34 nations. They sponsor periodic mission trips to allow

cross-cultural ministry opportunities for the church’s youth and adult members.

Pastor Peters is very excited about the church’s new direction in music.

“Cheney resident Melissa Schneider just began to serve as our Worship Music coordinator,” he said. “With a degree in music and a heart for worship, we’re excited to see what God will do in and through our music and worship ministry. I believe Melissa is uniquely trained to bring some new energy and experience to this important ministry.”

Schneider enjoyed her gift of sing-ing while in high school, where she was inspired by a teacher to pursue a career in music. She married during her college years and completed her bachelor’s degree in music education before becoming a full-time mother for 16 years. During that time, Schneider believes the Lord began to reveal that music education was not for her.

“We were led to Cheney Baptist Church in the fall of 2010 and became members in December of last year,” she said. “My prayer is simply to let God lead me in this ministry.”

Schneider plans to incorporate more

current praise music, but she also loves what she calls the standards.

“I believe that you never abandon your roots, and the foundation of church music is very important to me,” Schneider explained. “There is a way to allow the hymns of my grandmother’s generation to reach our youth today through more current arrangements and instrumenta-tion.”

Schneider encourages participation of church member and is excited to include their multi-faceted talents.

Pastor Peters has been married to his wife, Linda, for 33 years. Seven of their 10 children live in the Cheney area.

“I am deeply motivated to challenge people to take God more seriously,” the Pastor said. “Most people ‘know about’ God, but few seem to be interested in truly ‘knowing Him.’ I am driven and ex-cited about encouraging a more personal and intimate relationship between people and God who has wonderful plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11).”

To find out more about Cheney Baptist Church, call 316-540-6022, visit their Website at www.cheneybaptist.com or look them up on Facebook.

ABOVE: Sabrina Rich, Matthew Slusser and Mer-cedes Rich lead Vacation Bible School song time.LEFT: The Chil-dren’s Chorus sings during their Christmas celebration.

The church’s 60th anniversary celebration was

held in 2013. Past and current

ministers were honored. Pic-

tured front from left are:

Dr. Bob Davis, Dr. Keith Peters,

Rev. Charles Bartlett. Back

row: Rev. Greg Spring, Rev. Ed

Richards.


Mize’s food store first opened in downtown Clearwater in 1971. It’s a family business owned and operated by Nolan Mize and his sons, Phil, Brad and Eric. Nolan Mize has been in the grocery business for the last 70 years, and has had stores in Wichita and Turon prior to com-ing to Clearwater.

In 1991, Nolan had an opportunity to build a larger store, which is now at 449 N. Fourth St.

Nolan and his sons have enjoyed being a part of the community during the past 43 years.

They say it’s a great place to live and work,

has an excellent school system, and wonder-ful people who have treated them well.

Through the years, they have sponsored many different groups and events because they believe in giving back to their com-munity.

“We’ve enjoyed the people, getting to know them and their families, seeing the kids grow up and as they become our customers also,” Brad said.

There’s no way to count exactly how many youth have worked for Mize’s dur-ing the years they’ve been in business, although Brad estimates it at around 180.

For a lot of them, it’s their first job and

With quality, service and pricing, Mize’s Thriftway satisfies area customers

their enthusiasm for it shows as Mize’s customers say they have great employees.

Said one customer in an online review: “This is the most friendly, clean, and customer-service oriented family owned grocery store around. The prices are actually so competitive, I wonder how they stay open, let alone pay their helpful employees.”

The Mize family heritage is strong at the store as seven of Nolan’s grandchil-dren and three of his great grandchildren have worked for him at one time or an-other. In addition, three grandchildren are currently employed at the store.

The business owners are particularly proud of the service of its full-time em-ployees.

They include: David Coon, 44 years;

Everett Jackson, 25 years, Joshua Mize, 16 years; Jason Beers, 12 years; Erica Mize, 10 years; Brett Mize, 10 years; Tina Barba, eight years; Jordan Currie, four years; Becky Hare, two years; and Kristina Barker, six months.

“We have always tried to provide great customer service, quality products, and fair, competitive pricing,” Brad said.

Visit Mize’s Facebook page to see its weekly ad, which also is distributed through the mail. Another way to view the ad is at mythriftway.com, where you can also sign up for it.

For more, and to enjoy the Mize’s shop-ping experience for yourself, stop at the store at 449 N. Fourth St. The cross streets are Janet Ave. and North Rolling Hills Drive. The number is (620) 584-2279.

RIGHT: Longtime em-ployee Everett Jackson shows off some pump-kins as he stocks a fall produce display. He is one of several employ-ees with years of experi-ence.TOP: Mize’s Thriftway built its current store in 1991. Open since 1971, Mize’s has employeed countless youth over the years, too.

When it comes to conservation prac-tices that help save two of the most important resources we have – our soil and our water – the Sedgwick County Conservation District has been a leader for 69 years.

The Sedgwick County Conservation District has been assisting landowners by administering important cost-share fund-ing provided by the State of Kansas. One of the most important efforts adminis-tered by the Conservation District is the State Water Resources Cost Share Pro-gram, said Conservation District chair-man Roger Gregory.

“Each year we are allocated funds from the state to administer for cost-share proj-ects that protect our natural resources, mainly soil and water,” said Gregory. “If landowners protect their soil, they will also be making important strides toward water quality.”

Funding is provided through the Con-servation District for a variety of practic-es that can be applied to the land. These Best Management Practices include the construction of waterways, terraces, out-

lets, structures and other land and water conservation practices. When properly implemented, these efforts turn out to be a whole system, which is developed as needed for each individual farm.

The Conservation District works close-ly with the Natural Resources Conserva-tion Service. They research each proposed project. Once a project is approved by the state, the landowner can start on the work. The state provides 65 percent of the County Average Cost for funding ap-proved projects, with landowners paying the other 35 percent.

“It’s an important resource saving effort and the Sedgwick County Conser-vation District is here to administer the program and help all along the way,” said Gregory. “The Conservation District also administers the Non-Point Source Pollution Program. This program helps with on-site septic system restoration and works just like the Water Resources Program.

The Conservation District has done water-testing programs. Regular testing was performed at Lake Afton along with

a Special Intensive Cost Sharing Program that paid the landowners up 95 percent of their cost to implement best manage-ment practices on the entire watershed. The program showed an improvement in the water quality of the lake. Water testing was also conducted on storm water run-off areas, along with education in stream bank protection and storm water runoff.

In February, the SCCD presents an-

nual awards to landowners who have implemented and maintained outstand-ing conservation practices on their land for the prior year at the Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner. For more information about the Sedgwick Coun-ty Conservation District, call 316-660-7287, or visit the website at wwwssedg-wickcounty.org/conservation.

Sedgwick County Conservation DistrictAssisting landowners to develop best management, conservation practices

Virgil Hill is shown with a grass drill used for conservation projects.


Most school districts hope for sustained growth and strive to appeal to young families. USD 356 Superintendent Clay Murphy doesn’t have to guess what would attract former Conway Springs students back to their roots.

Murphy left the city when he went to college, but like many who return to their hometowns, his family drew him back. After working in Douglass and South Ha-ven, he became the principal at Conway Springs High School.

“I just felt like this place gave me a good place to grow up,” he said. “We were ready to start a family, and I couldn’t think of a better place to raise kids. One is in college and the other is a junior in high school, and I’m thankful every day that they went through school here. I still think that it’s important to give back to your community.”

Conway Springs includes about 500 students. Teachers from the district also provide physical education, vocal music and band instruction at St. Joseph Catho-lic School.

Murphy said the biggest struggle for the school district was its distance from

Wichita and high gas prices in recent years.

“We have calls every year from people that ask how far the district extends because they’re trying to get the north or northeastern corner,” he remarked.

Murphy said local realtors told him that prospective residents often move to Conway Springs because of the school district’s stellar reputation. USD 356 ex-cels in academics and athletics.

Conway Springs requires its students to take the ACT. The test reveals different information than state assessments do, Murphy explained, and colleges consider ACT scores when awarding scholarship money.

“When we’re comparing ACT scores, that’s all of our kids,” Murphy continued. “We’re one of the few schools that do that in the state. It helps us to see if what we’re teaching is working or not.”

Conway Springs High School received the Governor’s Achievement Award in 2013. The award, which honored the top 18 percent of high schools in the state, was based in part on state assessment

results.Murphy said ACT scores from Conway

Springs meet the state average of 22. That’s higher than the national-average ACT score of 21.

As for athletics, Conway Springs has a strong tradition in football and tennis. The Cardinals won the Class 3A state football championship in 2011, and the girls and boys teams each claimed state tennis titles in 2012.

Voters approved a bond issue in 1995 to build a new high school and then OK’d another one in 2001 to revamp the middle school and build a track facility.

“The community support is astronomi-cal,” Murphy said. “We’re not a wealthy district. We have a lot of farm families and things like that, but they were will-ing to put the money into education to build the facilities for the kids. We’re very thankful for that. We enjoy tremendous community support here.”

The school has hosted substate volley-ball, substate basketball and various track meets, and it never has trouble recruiting volunteers to help at the events.

Roots, community draw people to Conway Springs’ schools

USD 356110 N. MonnettConway Springs , KS 67031620-456-2961www.usd356.org

Board president: Bill DalbomBoard members:Tim Taton, Eddie D. Allen,Brad Farmer, Curtis Winter,Bruce Harrington, Aaron Lange

Conway Springs High School607 W. St. Louis620-456-2963

Conway Springs Middle School112 N. Cramner620-456-2695

Kyle Trueblood Elementary111 N. Highland620-456-2966

The Conway Springs High School Cardinal Pride Marching Band earned an outstanding “1” rating at the State Music Festival, the eighth consecutive year the band has earned the highest rating. Arts play a key role in education.

Conway Springs may be known for its football program, but the Cardinals have found success in other sports. The CSHS girls basketball team won the Sedg-wick Invititational in January 2014. The Cardinals recently have won State tennis titles, too.

The Kyle Trueblood Elementary spell-ing bee winners in September 2014 were runner-up Lorenz Patterson, left, champion Izic Billups and third-place winner Jonathan Reed.

The Conway Springs Middle School choir performs at the 2014 Fall Fest.

In addition to athletics, Conway Springs has a thriving activities program. The Scholars Bowl team at the high school has qualified to compete at the state level in recent years. The Cardinalaires are a well-regarded vocal group, and the band receives accolades at numerous competi-tions.

“Our band program is one of the best in our league and one of the best in our area,” Murphy said. “We typically receive I ratings at state, year after year after year. It’s impressive.”

The band includes fifth through 12th grades, and every four years the high school musicians perform at Disney World.

“Every student will hit a trip while they’re in high school,” Murphy ex-plained. “They start raising money in fifth grade and that money’s put in an account for them. It works out really well.”

Conway Springs staff members and ad-ministrators are willing to help students in a variety of ways, whether it’s escorting a large group of teenagers to Disney World or stepping in wherever they are needed.

“We’ve got a lot of people who do some extra duties,” Murphy said. “I spent two weeks serving lunch in the elemen-tary school kitchen this year. We have a lot of people who, if it needs to be done, they just do it. We’ve got an awfully good staff.”


Twenty-five years ago Joe Helten pur-chased the Molz Equipment Shop tools and opened Helten Farm Repair. In 2007 he moved the shop to 1050 S. McComas and the tradition of repairing farm equip-ment continues.

Helten Farm Repair is an independent, family-run farm equipment repair shop. His wife Diana still helps out with the bookkeeping. Helten, his son, Matthew Helten, and mechanic Rodger Simon continue to grow the business. In order to keep up with this growth, Helten makes sure he and his staff stay current with new trends.

“We are currently an Outback Guid-ance System dealer and are getting the latest training,” Helten said. “Computers do play a big part in the function of the newer tractors. Most computer issues have to be resolved with the original deal-ers if they have the proper equipment.”

Helten has watched many trends in farming in his 25-plus years of equipment service.

“It’s getting harder to get some repair parts on tractors, so we do offer a lot of used parts for the Versatile tractors,” he admitted. “It does fill a need. We are not

Fixing farm equipment: Helping the down-to-earth work with earth

a Versatile dealer, but we can sell new Versatiles through a dealer.”

Rather than buying new tractors, however, Helten is seeing more farmers rebuilding their older equipment.

“There are a lot of farmers who don’t care to spend money on equipment that has computerized components on the new engines,” he said. “I see farmers re-building tractors that will do all the work

they need to do with less expense and more efficiency.”

Tractors are not the only things serviced. Helten said any type of farm machinery can be repaired at his shop including combines, cultivators and more. The business also offers pick-up and delivery of most types of tractors. That feature is important to custom-ers ranging from Emporia to Medicine Lodge.

Helten really enjoys working with farm-ers. He grew up on a farm and farmed with his father until he retired.

“The farmer is one of the best people you can work for. They are hard-working, honest, and down to earth - the earth they work for a living,” he said. “Helten Farm Repair tries to follow those traits, and after 25 years we just want to thank all our customers that supported us and trusted us. I would also like to pay tribute to all the farmers we’ve had the privilege to work for, and that includes Mr. Loren Molz, who helped get us started.”

Helten Farm Repair is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information call 316-943-0203 or visit their Website, www.heltenfarmrepair.com.

Joe Helten, center, owner of Helten Farm Repair, stands in the shop with his son, Matthew Helten, left, and mechanic Rodger Simon. The crew also in-cludes Joe’s wife, Diana, who handles the bookkeeping.

January 2015 will mark the beginning of my seventh year as a state legislator. I have served four years in the House of Representatives and spent the last two years in the Senate.

Currently, I serve on five full commit-tees, of which two I am the vice-chair – the Agriculture committee and Natural Re-sources committee. The others I serve on are Financial Institutions, Ways and Means, and Education. I also chair three budget subcom-mittees dealing with the Department Of Transportation, Kansas Bureau of Investiga-tion, Highway Patrol and Adjutant General.

Appointments to commissions include the Employment First Oversight Commission, which deals with advancing employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. Another appointment, made by the chancel-lor at the University of Kansas as an adviso-ry member to the Kansas Geological Survey at the university, is a very interesting and informative board. The Survey deals with a great many industry, environmental and eco-logical issues including water management and irrigation, oil and gas production, parks and land management, as well as seismic monitoring.

In addition, I am a member of the local Food and Farm Task Force that is charged

with enhancing local food production and Farmer’s Markets with emphasis on specialty crops and fruits and vegetables.

Last summer I spent several days on the Geological Survey Field tour. We observed the drought impact on the Wetlands at Qui-vera Wildlife Fefuge and the way the water is managed to maximize waterfowl usage dur-ing migrations. We visited the Maxwell Game reserve and saw the buffaloes and met the park staff that operate the reserve. We then toured the large ethanol plant near Sterling that utilizes mostly grain sorghum to produce ethanol and distillers grains. Grain sorghum is becoming more significant as a production choice as it takes less water than corn.

We then went to McPherson to see the expansion of the refinery and observed the production of gasoline and diesel fuel, as well as the byproduct “coke.” Refinery of-ficials also explained their proposal to reduce water use by building their own recycling plant to reuse water. This project requires a significant investment, but it is part of the ef-forts of the state 50-year plan to save water. We are fortunate to have industries that are forward looking to secure our future and save our natural resources. We also visited some disposal wells in Hutchinson and

concluded with a train ride from Wichita to Hutchinson.

This fall has been impacted by the recent elections but we still managed to have three meetings of the Special Claims Committee, which I also chair. This is the committee of last resort for individuals who have exhaust-ed legal recourse and have a claim against state agencies for compensation. The bulk of the claims deal with inmates, but we also make refunds for motor fuel tax that did not apply on time.

I spent some time at Spirit Aerosystems and Textron touring their facilities as well as going to Hesston to see the AGCO manu-facturing plant where they make Gleaner combines and also have a state of the art painting facility, which is one of only three in the world.

Finally, I have visited all the school districts in this Senate district and listened to their con-cerns, as well as enjoyed hearing about their accomplishments during the school year.

I continue to welcome your thoughts and input on issues and your concerns. I look forward to serving and working for you in the upcoming session.

Wishing everyone all the best in 2015.– Dan.

Sen. Dan Kerschen to begin seventh year in office

Capitol OfficeRoom: 225-E • Seat: 15Phone: 785-296-7353Email:[email protected]

Home Information645 S. 263 W.Garden Plain, KS 67050Phone: [email protected]


Some people travel far from their hometown, open successful businesses, and proceed to forget about their roots.

This is definitely not the case with Jerry Kiser. A graduate of Argonia High School, Kiser decided to locate his aerospace parts manufacturing concern, Kiser Manufacturing, in Argonia back in September of 1996.

Kiser began his manufacturing career with what is now known as TECT in Wellington. His father had been with the company for many years and Kiser ended up working there for 30 years.

“I started at the back door and worked my way right out the front door,” he re-called. “I gained extensive experience with machining and program administration in the field while working at TECT.”

His wife and partner, Debbie, also gained a great deal of experience in sheet metal assembly through her work at Raytheon. The couple made the decision to open their own company in Jerry’s home town and built the plant, located at 601 E. US Highway 160, from the ground up.

Of the 18 employees, a majority are Ar-gonia residents with four people coming in from Harper and two from Wellington. The plant currently runs two shifts and supplies precision machining of alumi-num, steel, titanium, composites, nylon and many other products to the Aircraft Industry and others. Becoming AS9100 (the Industry Quality Rating) certified opened many doors in the aerospace industry: in fact right now their major customer is Spirit Aerosystems. Kiser also delivers parts to Israel and Romania, mak-ing the small company an international aerospace supplier.

But Kiser Manufacturing is more than just a local business. Both Jerry and Deb-bie are members of the Argonia Chamber of Commerce. Jerry even served as presi-dent of the group several years ago. Jerry and three other high school alumni joined together to create Argonia Development LLC, which was instrumental in bring-ing Argonia Mart (the local convenience store) to town. The group also, with the help of the local Farmers & Merchants State Bank, acquired 55 acres on the edge

of town. This property, just north of the high school, is now known as the local Housing Development. The development contains 24 lots, and six houses have gone up since its conception in 2007.

The Kisers are proud that the success of their business has helped the com-

munity. Kiser Manufacturing and Jerry and Debbie Kiser remain committed to Argonia community development and civic-mindedness.

To find out more about Kiser Manufac-turing, visit their Website at www.kiserm-fg.net or call 620-435-6981.

Supporting the local economyKiser Manufacturing is proud to work and serve in Argonia

Kiser Manufacturing Co. owners Jerry and Debbie Kiser are committed to growing the Argonia community. They were instrumental in bringing a conve-nience store and housing development to town.

Everyone likes to get busy in the spring, and the Conway Springs Chamber of Commerce is no exception.

Chamber members celebrate the improving weather and blooming flow-ers with a community beautification day, teaching students the importance of vol-unteerism and instilling a sense of pride in Conway Springs.

Spring is also the time for spring clean-ing. The Chamber sponsors a citywide garage sale in April, followed by a city-wide cleanup day in early May. The events offer a chance for residents to get rid of unwanted items or find them new homes.

The Chamber also sponsors the com-munity’s annual Easter egg hunt, in part-nership with BPW.

The energy level continues throughout the year for the Chamber and its mem-bers. The group keeps busy with a slate of annual projects and events that have become community staples.

“We have about 30 paid members, and a core group that is active in our proj-ects,” said Chamber vice-president Denise Worley.

Worley said the projects are a way for Chamber members to show their ap-

Chamber brings cheer to Conway Springs communityThe pace of activities slows down

slightly in the summer, but a barbecue for Chamber members is a season highlight.

The Chamber is a co-sponsor of the Conway Springs Fall Fest, held on the fourth Saturday in September. The Chamber hosts the community feed, and members help with other events.

Two holiday events put a bow on each calendar year. A Turkey Day, with draw-ings for free turkeys, is held in November. And in December, the Chamber hosts Santa Day, with fun activities and a chance for children to share their wishes with Santa and have their pictures taken. Santa Day takes place at CLG Photography.

Credit the Chamber of Commerce with the cozy glow of Christmas lights down-town and in City Park. The Chamber maintains the decorations and puts them up each year. The group plans to buy new lights in time for Christmas 2015.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Chamber can attend one of its regular meetings on the third Tuesday of each month, from 10 to 11 a.m. in Osner Hall. Contact Chamber president Evelyn Osner at 620-456-2478 or Worley at 620-456-2252 for more information.

preciation for business support from the community. And through the Chamber, members can share common goals and help keep the community alive with local businesses.

“Being businesspeople and citizens of Conway Springs is extraordinarily reward-ing, and giving back to the community through our Chamber of Commerce activities is a joy,” said Worley.

Conway Springs Chamber of Commerce members Christy Cobb and Brent Ebersole got into character for the 2014 Fall Fest parade. The Chamber is ac-tive in many events and sponsors Fall Fest each September.


Conversation about the Bible at church is not unusual, but congregants at First Christian Church of Clearwater are excited about their new project, “The Story.”

Based on a book out of Oak Hill Church in San An-tonio, Texas, “The Story” carries all the narrative por-tions of the Bible connected in chronological order. For example, psalms, which appear in one place, are moved and put where they belong in the proper time context.

“It’s a wonderful way to get a grip on the Bible, read-ing it as a novel rather than something that hops around in a disjointed way,” said Pastor Gene Eason. “The Bible itself is more like a library. This teaching series, ‘The Story,’ has doubled and sometimes tripled our Sunday School attendance.”

For 31 weeks, well into June 2015, congregants at First Christian Church of Clearwater will be studying “The Story.” The teaching modules cover all age levels, so both children and adults study the same lesson, just taught at different levels. Pastor Eason said “The Story” is an entire church project, connected through all of the Christian education venues.

“Some classes have picture books, some have novels, and some have something in between,” Pastor Eason explained. “But we are all discussing the same lesson each week.”

Coinciding with the new study program, the congrega-tion also added a new A/V system that includes large screen HD video, lights, and A/V recording capacity.

“We didn’t have this type of screen before,” Pastor

Eason said. “We have 80-inch big screens and soon we’ll be able to make better videos. Even now I’ve been able to dig through public images and have made slide shows that come up on the screens while I speak.”

A new lighting system also is scheduled to be installed, which will continue to enhance all areas of worship at First Christian Church of Clearwater.

“We are on the cutting edge of technology now,” Pas-tor Eason said proudly. “I’m happy that this is all coming together – ‘The Story’ and the technology. It should last

for at least the next two decades!”Those wanting to join in the study of “The Story” can

catch up with the congregation easily, Pastor Eason said.“Each lesson and sermon stand alone as well as being

part of the whole study project,” he explained. “The longest chapter is only 30 pages, and most are 9 to 15, so reading them to catch up is easy.”

Join the church for Sunday worship at 9:45 a.m. or Saturday nights at 4:30 p.m. To find out more, visit their Facebook page at First Christian Church Clearwater

Studying “The Story”: Bible study with a new twist

Pratt Community College is proud to have been a part of the community of South Central Kansas for more than 75 years.

Highlighting the critical importance of improving student success in America’s community colleges, the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program named PCC as one the nation’s 150 top community colleges in January of 2014. The Aspen Institute uses a quantitative formula that assesses performance and improvement in four areas: graduation rates, degrees awarded, student retention rates, and

equity in student outcomes.In September, PCC was named one of

the Top Ten Community Colleges in the Country by SmartAsset.com, a company that uses software and data to solve finan-cial problems. The rankings are based on cost of education, return on investment and success rate of graduates. PCC gradu-ates make 22.8 percent more than their college expenses as a starting salary, and have a 54 percent graduation and transfer rate.

Pratt Community College supports an energetic student body not only in their

Pratt Community College: Energy and excitement spanning more than 75 years

The 2014-15 Pratt Community College cross country team.academic but also athletic pursuits.

2014 marks 45 years of the rodeo program, one of the largest student organizations on campus. Demonstrat-ing a swift improvement in coaching and recruitment, the 2014-2015 women’s cross country team won an invitational for the first time in 12 years. In the past year, two former PCC athletes signed contracts to play at the professional level.

With a focus on providing a student-centered education, the staff members and instructors continue to develop ways to provide services and education to students of all ages. Online courses are added each semester to facilitate afford-able long-distance learning, and instruc-tional technology workshops are regularly offered free of charge to local senior citizens.


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These sensors control your vehicles stability control and handling. To provide safer and more efficient cars and trucks, the technology in today’s vehicles has become more advanced than ever.

Did you know that based upon your vehicle’s age and equipment, there may be as many as seven sensors that are required to be reset during the Alignment Process?


Farmers and Merchants State Bank may date back to 1901, but modern banking practices are part of this bank’s tradition.

Chartered on Oct. 2, 1901 in Kansas, Farmers and Merchants State Bank’s larg-est segment of lending continues to be supportive of agriculture operations.

“Following its first year of business, the bank had $5,067.25 in loans and $11,739.59 in total individual deposit accounts,” said René (Drouhard) Bro-zovich, executive vice-president and chief lending officer and compliance officer. “As of Sept. 30, 2014, the bank had $25,774,232.46 in loans and $33,514,181.82 in total deposit accounts. Farmers and Merchants State Bank continues to be locally owned and man-aged.”

Its local management can be traced back to March 15, 1949 when Leo F. Drouhard became president of the bank. His banking career started at Danville State Bank in 1922 after he graduated from eighth grade. When that bank was liquidated in 1942, Leo returned to the family farm until 1959 when he and

wife Velma sold the farm and moved to Argonia in 1960. During his presidency, the bank was first remodeled in 1951, and expanded and remodeled again in 1976. Leo retired from the presidency in 1981 and son Leon was elected bank president after having managed the bank’s insurance agency, Farmers and Merchants Insurance Agency. Leon and wife Sharon moved their family to Argonia in 1965. And now their children, Todd and Rene’, continue the family tradition of bank management.

In 2012, the bank gutted and modern-ized the entire facility, adding a drive-through lane and 24-hour ATM, several offices, and making the entries and public areas of the bank handicap-accessible. The last time the bank had been remod-eled was in 1981 when Leon took the helm.

The main office of Farmers and Mer-chants State Bank is located at the original site, 101 S. Main in Argonia. A full-ser-vice branch location has been located at the corner of K-42 Highway and 119th Street in Sedgwick County since 2003.

A tradition of rural community supportFarmers and Merchants State Bank continues to grow

Farmers and Merchants State Bank has locations in Argonia, above, and in Schulte. The bank was started in 1901 in Argonia.

Both locations have 24-hour ATMs, and drive-through services from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

“The bank has experienced steady growth, but lobby traffic actually has decreased in the past two years due to the drive-through convenience,” Brozovich

noted. “This also is due to the services that are provided electronically with on-line banking. The bank’s website, www.farmersandmerchants.com, facilitates on-line banking to our customers, and the bank anticipates launching mobile bank-ing to its customers in the near future.”

Being attentive may save a life

A year in the life of pets, just as with their human counterparts, can sometimes be stressful when it comes to celebrating holidays. Doctors Skip Koster and Josh Alberg at Goddard Veterinary Clinic want their human clients to be watchful for their furry friends as the months go by and holidays come and go.

Goddard Veterinary Clinic has been keep-ing dogs and cats happy and healthy since 1983. Located at 19912 W. Kellogg in God-dard, the clinic is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. Surgery patients may check in as early as 7:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.

Holidays provide many chances for people to get together. Unfortunately it also provides opportunities for pets to be-come stressed or sick. Starting with New Years, continuing through Valentine’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, July Fourth, and all the holidays in between including Thanks-giving and Christmas – each holiday has

its own danger for furry friends. During these festive times, pets are presented with many opportunities to eat things bad for them, or to experience times that could be frightening.

Be aware of noises that are unusual to pets. Loud music associated with summer parties is frightening, as are the explo-sions that come with fireworks. Many plants also can make dogs and cats quite ill. During the winter holidays, poinsettias are well known dangers to the tummy, but Easter brings lilies and daffodils, which also can bring on gastrointestinal dismay.

Special food associated with the holi-days can upset pet bellies too. Choco-late, candy, artificial sweeteners (such as xylitol), ham or turkey bones, macadamia nuts, grapes and raisins, spices, onions, garlic, raw yeast, and bread and pie dough should be avoided. Summer cookouts attract pets, but resist the temptation to share your s’more. Good-intentioned relatives should be told firmly that table scraps are simply not allowed. And never give a pet alcohol!

When decorating for any holiday party, whether a picnic or colder season event, keep in mind that pets are curious. Tinsel,

Goddard Veterinary Clinic: Pet care through a year of holidays

Goddard Veterinary Clinic has been keeping dogs and cats healthy since 1983. The clinic is located at 19912 W. Kellogg.

ribbons and wrapping paper may look like toys, but if eaten could cause ma-jor gastrointestinal problems. The same goes for crepe paper and other summery decorations. Electrical cords are just plain hazardous and liquid potpourris or the citronella used in outdoor torches can poison a furry loved one. Cats may find the dangling items tempting, but getting tangled in light wires is terrifying.

For those who go out of town for the holidays or summer vacations, pets may rest comfortably at Goddard Veterinary Clinic’s boarding facility. Each animal gets its own heated and air conditioned run, which has a door to the outside. Hu-man interaction is provided daily along

with blankets and Science Diet meals. Pet owners are welcome to bring special toys and diets too. Pets do need to be current on vaccinations to board at the facility. Canines need DA2PP (distemper, adenovirus Type 2, parainfluenza and parvovirus), Rabies and Bordetella, and felines have to be current on FVRCP (panleukopenia, viral rhinotracheitis and calicivirus) and Rabies. Boarding clients need to start making reservations as soon as plans have been made, as limited space fills up quickly.

Goddard Veterinary Clinic is happy to help with regular scheduled visits or emergencies. Call 794-8022 for more information or to make an appointment.


Lange Excavating of Conway Springs got its start just over 43 years ago when Fred Lange launched a part-time venture.

That was 1971, and today Fred and other workers are still moving the earth, quite liter-ally. The business has gone through many tran-sitions, and is still a family owned and operated excavating company that focuses on quality workmanship and customer satisfaction.

Two years after starting with one track loader, Fred and his brother, Roger, went into business together. They had a loader, a dump truck, a scraper and a blade, and primarily did backfill work on new basements in the Wichita area. The company expanded into dirt work for apartment complexes and housing devel-opments, and also started doing work for the Sumner County Soil Conservation District.

That work included terraces, waterways, ponds and tree clearing, and also expanded into building watershed dams in the 1980s.

“There was a lot of demand for that at the time,” said Fred. “We were traveling and doing

a lot of work in Oklahoma and eastern Kan-sas.”

By then, the company had grown into a large operation that was running five scrapers, two D8 bulldozers and two blades. When the wa-tershed program was scaled back, the company also scaled back, sold some equipment, and returned to more commercial work, as well as soil conservation work.

“That really proved to be a couple of major transitions for the business,” said Fred. In the early 1990s, he bought out his brother’s interest in the company, and his son, Keith, joined the business. Fred’s wife, Nancy, also is active with the company as a bookkeeper and office man-ager. Others on the Lange team include son-in-law James Fisher and employee Jeff Curry.

The company continues to do soil conser-vation work along including some commercial work in Sumner County and surrounding counties.

For more information about Lange Excavat-ing, call 620-456-2937.

Lange Excavating has the skills,machinery to get the job done

Pictured from left are Nancy and Fred Lange, Keith Lange, James Fisher and Jeff Curry.


Clearwater business continues to growIn August 1984, Jim Charles started

Charles Engineering. Initially Jim designed and built roll forming tooling and custom integrated roll form systems. Now, 30 years later, Jim is proud of the reputation his company has earned over that time.

Among the best pieces of advice he has for making a business successful is, “First of all tell the truth, even if it makes you look bad. Secondly always make it right even if it costs you money.”

Charles Engineering originally had its corporate office in Clearwater with the manufacturing facility located in River-dale, Kan. In August, of 1996 the busi-ness moved to a new facility in its present location one mile east of Clearwater. There have been three expansions since then with the most recent being a 20,000 square-foot addition in January of 2012. There currently is an agreement to ac-quire the property to the south, which will double their present lot size to 10 acres and give them immediate access to an ad-

Charles Engineering celebrates 30 years of production

ditional 10,000 square foot building.The year 1986 saw the beginning of

Charles Engineering’s long partnership with Boeing. Their success in solving Boeing’s quality and delivery problems resulted in a transition into a full-blown manufacturing facility and also resulted in the company being selected out of 20,000 small businesses as Boeing’s Small Business Supplier of the Year in 1997. The success with Boeing continues as the company has received Boeing’s prestigious Performance Excellence Award each of the last four years. Since 1995 Charles Engineering has been the exclusive supplier of roll formed parts to Boeing Wichita/Spirit AeroSystems

and most other major Boeing suppliers. Charles Engineering produces over 2,200 Boeing P/N’s including most of the fuselage structural sections for the 777 and 737.

In addition to Boeing, Charles Engi-neering’s customer base includes Airbus, Bombardier/Canadair, De Havilland, Gulfstream, Hawker Beechcraft, Lock-heed Martin and many more. The com-pany is always looking to expand its non-aerospace business and currently enjoys a niche market in close tolerance parts for GE land-based turbine generators.

“Producing close tolerance prod-ucts from high temperature alloys is a core competence for us,” Charles said,

“We have added some specialized non-aerospace customers but aerospace will remain our primary market.

“Our present strategic direction is to move increasingly into integrated manu-facturing,” he continued. “This will entail additional processing of current products to take them closer to finished parts. We have moved in that direction with the ac-quisition of a 33 ft. 4-axis machining cen-ter and a CNC contouring machine. That equipment went online in 2013 to support our growing business as a supplier to the space launch industry.”

For more information on Charles Engi-neer, visit their website at www.chaseeng.com.

Charles Engineering in Clearwater opened 30 years ago with an office in Clearwater and a manufacturing plant in Riverdale. A new facility opened in Clearwater in 1996.


Continued on Page 49

GODDARDCHAMBEROFCOMMERCE Goddard Public Schools201 N. Main • P.O. Box 249

Goddard, KS 67052316-794-4000 • Fax 316-794-2222

Board MembersGail A. Jamison - President

Kevin R. McWhorter - Vice PresidentSara P. McDonald - MemberDoug A. Griswold - MemberRobert J. Merritt - MemberMark A. Richards - Member

Ruth A. Wood - Member

Programs Featured• WATC CNA Program

• WATC Automotive Program• Project Lead the Way/Engineering

• Graphic Design Program


Continued from Page 48

James Oltman is a dynamic and vibrant gentleman. As Economic Development Director of the City of Haysville, he is the perfect match for encouraging potential residents and business owners to become part of Haysville. And his work is evi-denced by the increase in new homes and additional commerce, making Haysville an exciting and growing community.

Right now the biggest incentive pro-gram is Build Haysville, which was created to encourage new home construction in 2014 within the city limits.

“We had other incentive programs in the past but only received mild interest,” Oltman admitted. “This year we went all out, offering a ten-year tax rebate on the city’s portion of property taxes on a home.”

Build Haysville works like this: in the

first year, a resident will receive 100 percent of the City of Haysville’s portion of property tax on their house. Then, over the next nine years, the resident will still receive a rebate, although it will be a smaller percentage as time goes by.

“Depending on the value of a home, this could be a substantial chunk of change,” Oltman said. “For example, if a house is appraised at $350,000, then based on current numbers, a home owner could receive back $12,000 in cash over the course of ten years.”

Oltman said Build Haysville is one way that the city is stepping up population growth. Another way is by encouraging businesses to locate within the city limits.

“We had some success last year, attract-ing small businesses and entrepreneurs,” Oltman said. “Our plan is to improve the

quality of life for our residents.”Much of this improvement is already

in place by way of infrastructure. The city streets and the police department are great, and Sedgwick County recently con-structed a new fire department building in the middle of town. The public works department takes care of problems before they happen with regular inspections and maintenance on sewer and water systems.

“This year we had a water pipe break right before our fall festival,” Oltman said. “Public works people were right on it and the pipe was repaired within hours.”

Public works also takes care of snow removal, and that was a major chore in the winter of 2013-2014.

“You can have the greatest streets in the world but if they are covered with snow and ice, they are useless,” Oltman

laughed. “You could clearly tell where our public works had cleared snow compared to areas outside of Haysville.”

One thing done when Oltman started in September of 2013 was a survey utilizing print and digital media. This was prepared to see what residents wanted to improve the quality of life in their town. The picture painted was very clear in many aspects.

“For example, there was an overwhelm-ing desire for a family dining restaurant, a place to sit down and have a nice meal,” Oltman said. “Based on that feedback, the City Council created a restaurant grant of $5,000. There were specific times and other guidelines associated with the grant. We ended up attracting Calabrone’s, a restaurant from Mulvane that was looking to open a second location.”

New incentive programs encourage home and business growth

The new water fountain at Haysville PRIDE Park at the corner of Main Street and Grand Avenue has been a wonderful addition to Haysville. The park was dedicated in 2014.


Oltman said there also were a lot of commercial vacancies and properties sitting empty. Additional businesses were attracted to fill these. But Oltman has bigger names he’d like to see come to his town.

“Right now our population is sitting just under 11,000,” he said. “We would like to see some national names open here, but we know their business models are based in part on population density. Our hope is to attract businesses that we don’t already have, but we certainly won’t turn opportunities away.”

Meanwhile amenities continue to grow in the city of Haysville. The Recreation

and Parks Department have recently created new programs and services for residents. And as of September over 30 additional business license applications have come through city hall.

“Our city hall does everything in its power to encourage businesses to come here,” Oltman said. “On Nov. 3 we wel-comed Immediate Medical Care, which opened in the old Schneider clinic. We also have an O’Reilly Auto Parts store coming in.”

And city residents support Haysville. They recently approved a 1 percent sales tax addition to allow the city to plan for improvements to streets, parks and

recreation programs, and more that were above and beyond the Capital Improve-ment Plan.

“We continue to progress as a com-munity,” Oltman said. “We know we won’t double in size over night. Popula-tion growth takes time. Through Build Haysville we are focusing on home own-ership, which will benefit our residents in time.

“There is a lot of opportunity in Haysville,” he continued. “Haysville is a great place to live and do business.”

To find out more about the city of Haysville, visit their Website at www.haysville-ks.com or call 316-529-5900.

Haysville City Hall200 W. GrandP.O. Box 404Haysville, KS 67060(316) 529-5900

Elected OfficialsBruce Armstrong, MayorWard 1Keith Pierce • Steve CrumWard 2Daniel Benner • Steve KonkelWard 3Bob Rardin • Pat EwertWard 4Russ Kessler • Mike Kanaga

City StaffWill BlackChief Administrative OfficerJames OltmanEconomic Development DirectorJanie CoxCity ClerkJeff WhitfieldChief of PoliceRandy DornerPublic Works DirectorGeorgie CarterRecreation DirectorKim LandersSenior Center Director

Haysville Community Library210 S Hays(316) 524-5242

Haysville Activity Center7106 S. Broadway(316) 529-5922

Dewey Gunzelman MemorialSwimming Pool525 Sarah Lane(316) 529-5924

Haysville Chamber of Commerce150 Stewart(316) 529-2461

Haysville’s new home incentive programs makes it easier to call Haysville home.

LEFT: Strong recruitment efforts and an attractive package of incentive programs have help Haysville lure more than 30 businesses to town in 2014, including this new O’Reilly Auto Parts store.ABOVE: A large crowd gathers along Grand Avenue for the Haysville Fall Festi-val parade.


USD 267600 W. Rush

Andale, KS 67001316-444-2165

www.usd267.com

Board president: Rick HeimermanBoard members:

Greg TiceSteve BeckerBrent Dome

Chris HeimermanBill Brand

Chad Smith

The Renwick School District has a very strong tradition in academics and athlet-ics but also provides opportunities for students in music, art and other extracur-ricular clubs.

Garden Plain High School routinely has some of the best scores in Kansas on the state assessments. Most students are also involved in some sort of extracurricular activity.

“We have an extremely high rate of stu-dent participation in our activities,” said Superintendent Tracy Bourne. “We want kids to be connected and feel connected. What makes me proud is we’re about athletics but we’re also about academics; we excel in both.”

Renwick has identified a focus on im-proving ACT scores as part of its College and Career Readiness implementation. USD 267 students in sixth through 10th grades take the Aspire assessment, which is an age-appropriate version of the ACT. Every high school junior takes the ACT at the school, which serves as a national test-ing site. Seniors use Work Keys, an ACT product that gauges work readiness.

Many school districts in Kansas are focusing on college and career readi-ness. Renwick is unique in that it features schools in four different communities: Andale, Colwich, Garden Plain and St. Mark’s. That affords students plenty of opportunities to work with business lead-ers in their communities, along with busi-nesses in the Wichita metro area.

USD 267 is implementing an on-the-job training or internship program that will be rolled out during the 2015-16 school year. As part of their class schedules, seniors may enroll in a class that will help them gain experience in the career fields that interest them.

Bourne said the goal was for students to learn about work skills, workplace etiquette, and the importance of at-tendance and timeliness as well as what responsibilities they might have in their chosen profession. He expects to devote more than one block of time during the day because some seniors may drive to Goddard, Wichita or other communities to learn about possible career avenues. On days they remain at school, teachers will work with students on resume build-ing, interview skills and job-performance training.

Renwick implemented a 5x5 block schedule this year for Garden Plain and Andale high schools, which means students have five periods a day that last 75 minutes each. They were on a seven-

period day for the past several years and, prior to that, four periods a day that lasted 90 minutes each.

With the new system, Bourne said, stu-dents could choose 10 classes a year.

“Our kids will have a lot more opportu-nity in their course offerings,” he added.

They take different classes when a new semester starts, just like in college. Bourne said it was important to monitor and ensure that core classes were allotted enough time, but the new schedule al-lowed for more hands-on activities. That’s important in an era of state budget cuts to education.

Some school districts have turned to consolidation as a result of tightening budgets, but Bourne said the local school board and patrons like the district struc-ture with small-town schools.

“We have made budget cuts in the last 10 years to keep those community schools open,” Bourne said.

He explained that the district recently saw a slight enrollment increase and grew some additional cash reserves. In fact, USD 267 added a second preschool this year.

After a preschool was open for a few years in Colwich, Garden Plain Elemen-tary Principal Katie Thul approached Bourne and the school board about open-ing a second one in her community.

“I’m very proud of what they’ve done,” Bourne said. “I think it’s been a real suc-cess.”

Some school districts do not offer pre-

schools, and Bourne said that if Renwick could draw in students at a young age, parents tended to like the school district and keep their children at USD 267.

Thul said 3-year-olds attended two days a week, and 4-year-olds attended three days a week. A morning session is available for the youngest children, while morning and afternoon sessions are held for 4-year-olds. Each session lasts 2.5 hours.

“Our staff loves having them in the building. It is fun to add the youngest possible age to the building, and we go all the way up to eighth grade,” Thul said. “I think it’s been a great addition to the Garden Plain community because we typi-cally have not had a preschool.”

The Garden Plain preschool includes 46 students. Garden Plain Elementary houses 308 students, not including the preschool, while 191 teenagers attend Garden Plain High School.

The high school has a strong tradition in sports. The Owls won the Class 3A State football championship in 2007, the Class 3A State volleyball title in 2008 and the 2012 State girls track championship. Also in 2012, the girls basketball and vol-leyball teams were State runners-up, while the combined Andale-Garden Plain team won the State softball crown. There have been many State appearances in all of the activities that Garden Plain High School offers, but more importantly many great lessons that came with each success or failure.

Academic, other opportunities abound for Renwick students

Eighth-grade students at Garden Plain Middle School learn about putting together a 3-D printer. A 3-D printer is a type of industrial robot that lets a user download a model or plan and “print” an item as succes-sive layers of material are laid down.

Members of the Garden Plain girls track team celebrate winning the 2013 Class 3A State championship. The GPHS Owls have had tremendous success in a variety of sports including football, basketball, baseball and softball.


Tyrone “Ty” Peil, manager at Knuckles Automotive, has a simple but effective business slogan: “customers first.” That means taking extra time to explain to customers what the problem is with their vehicle, and what’s the easiest and most-cost effective way to fix it. “I’ll show it to them on the car itself,” he said. “Custom-ers like that.”

While the auto repair business has its share of operators who will take ad-vantage of people, to Peil, his business’ reputation for honesty is everything.

“Too many places rip people off,” he said. “I don’t want to do that. We’re here to make an honest living.”

In turn, customers appreciate that, which is why Knuckles, at 705 N. God-dard Road, continues to thrive after eight years of business.

“They have good service, good people and a good prices,” said returning cus-tomer Linda Mann of Goddard as she waited on an oil change on her Toyota. “They’re someone I can trust.”

Mann said trust is especially important for women, who feel like they can be taken advantage of by an auto repair shop

It’s not just Mann, but others who feel

Customers come first at Knuckles Automotive

the same way. A bulletin board in the shop displays

thank you letters from grateful customers, including one who needed an emergency repair and was simply grateful, not just for the job done, but the upfront manner in which he was handled.

Peil said as manager, he forges ahead with his own philosophy of doing busi-ness and doesn’t worry about big-chain shops that may offer ultra low-cost servic-es as a means of enticing customers.

“We don’t compare ourselves to oth-ers,” he said.

The shop, the oldest auto repair in

Goddard, is owned by Diana Smith and handles almost any type of auto repair or service, except alignments.

Peil also prides himself on having the latest equipment in order to handle to-day’s modern car.

The business recently added a new scanner to be able to diagnose the codes present in late-model vehicles.

It was the dream of Peil, who grew up in Dubuque, Iowa, to manage his own repair shop. He start working in the field at the tender age of 14 in a Sinclair gas station. Before coming to Knuckles two years ago, he worked at Auto Masters in

Wichita. Peil is a hands-on manager. He doesn’t

just handle the paperwork, he looks over the vehicles, too. “I have to be involved,” he said.

As for the name – well, that’s easy. It’s all about mechanics who get into

the engine and aren’t afraid to do the dirty work. Of course, that means their knuck-les are sometimes banged up a bit in the process, hence the business’ moniker.

The people-oriented side of the busi-ness is obvious in the company’s wait-ing room, where there’s a tribute to Jake Hallacy, a popular young man who was a technician at the shop. On July 27, 2014, a drunk driver took Hallacy’s life, along with two of his friends. A handsome wood plaque filled with photos stands as memory marker to Hallacy, and Peil’s voice still wavers a bit when speaking of his co-worker and friend.

“We treat people fairly and honestly,” he said. “We stand behind our work. If a rare mistake happens, we’ll take care of it.”

Sure, they take care of cars at Knuckles Automotive, but as the way they handle both employees and customers shows, they take care of people, too.

The crew at Knuckles Automotive includes, from left: Mike Woolsey, Tyrone Peil, Shad Munroe and Travis Taylor.

Visit the Kansas State Fair or Sedgwick County Fair and, between the 800-pound pumpkins and prize-winning flower arrangements, you’ll find jars of wheat seed, each kernel gleaming with the promise of the food product it will soon become.

But the seeds don’t come out of the field in such an immacu-late state. That’s where Pat Elpers, owner and operator of Prairie Seed & Supply, comes in. One of fewer than two dozen seed conditioners in south-central Kansas approved and certified by the Kansas Crop Improvement Association, Elpers cleans 50,000 bushels of wheat seed each season between around July 15 and Nov. 1.

“I clean for customers around the Cheney, Pretty Prairie and Mount Vernon area,” said Elpers. “I grew up in this area, the Mount Vernon area, so I knew a lot of the farmers already, and through this business I met a lot more that I did not know.”

The volume of grain Elpers han-dles has increased each year. When

he first bought the business, in 1996, he cleaned around 15,000 bushels of wheat. He has added one or two new customers every year since, more than tripling his annual volume.

“The farm community around here is thriving, doing pretty well over the last few years. I’m happy to be a part of that,” said Elpers.

In 2001, Elpers bought a new Clip-per brand seed cleaner and moved the operation to his home at 15371 NE 50th St., near the southwest corner of Cheney Lake.

It’s a one-man operation, accord-ing to Elpers, but he does get some assistance from his daughters, one a senior and one a freshman in college.

“I have the capability of clean-ing the wheat any way the customer wants. Some people want more stuff taken out of it than others, and I can take it all the way down to State Fair quality,” said Elpers.

Interested customers can reach Elpers by cell phone at 316-772-6090, or by emailing [email protected].

Prairie Seed & Supply upholds high standard

Pat Elpers and daughter Renee Elpers pose in front of the seed-cleaning machine at their seed conditioning operation southwest of Cheney Lake. The Mt. Vernon-area farmer purchased the massive machine in 2001. “It’ll last forever,” Elpers noted.


The Clearwater Area Chamber of Com-merce has been active in its community for a number of years, and earlier this month held its annual luncheon to recap activities from the past year and set goals for next year.

“One of the things we can be proud of is that three new businesses have joined our community over the past year,” said current president Joe Eash. “It’s impor-tant for anyone who is interested in the community to consider being involved with the Chamber of Commerce.”

The Chamber currently has about 40 members, and a variety of membership levels for businesses and individuals. Personal memberships are only $50 for a year, and business memberships start at $100. Gold and silver sponsorships for businesses also are available, and provide more voting memberships.

Members of the 2015 board of direc-tors will be Lonnie Stieben, Pamela Riggs, Kathy Merchant, Gene Eason, Kate Kinkaid-Brinkerhoff, Diane Gross, Laura Papish and Shelly Wellington. Eash will continue serving on the board as past president.

The Chamber holds coffee meetings on the third Thursday of each month.

Clearwater Chamber promotes business growth, hosts events

Those meetings are held at The Village, beginning at 9:30 a.m., and members and prospective members are always encour-aged to attend.

“This is an opportunity for businesses to get together, talk about our projects that are coming up, and even get some help,” said Eash. “Maybe it’s something as simple as getting the word out on a position that needs to be filled at your

business.”The Clearwater Area Chamber of Com-

merce has a number of projects it spon-sors each year. One of its top priorities is a $1,000 scholarship that is awarded each year to a local high school senior.

“It was incredibly gratifying to pres-ent that scholarship this past spring,” said Eash. “And it’s the hard work of our members through fundraising projects

that makes that possible.”The Chamber hosts a Night Golf

Tournament each year that is fun and rewarding for the entire community. The golf tournament, hosted at the local golf course, is a key fundraiser for the Cham-ber.

Each year at the Clearwater Fall Festi-val, the Chamber hosts a Duckie Dash, with chances to win money and prizes. Participants purchase rubber duckies that are released in the canal at City Park, and the race is on to determine winners.

One of the Chamber’s biggest social events of the year is the Downtown Hal-loween event. Businesses set up booths to give away candy and host other activities, and the Halloween parade draws hun-dreds of children each year.

“We want the Chamber to be a benefit to its members, and to the community as a whole,” said Eash. The Chamber puts out a regular newsletter that helps keep community members informed, and Eash believes that membership in the Chamber provides lots of rewards.

For more information about the Clear-water Area Chamber of Commerce, call 620-584-2271, or visit wwwclearwaterks-chamber.com.

Clearwater Chamber of Commerce members cook and serve hot dogs at the annual Downtown Halloween night, which is one of the Chamber’s biggest events of the year.

Health care in rural areas is sometimes difficult to find. Conway Springs residents are fortunate to have Conway Springs Rural Health Clinic at 111 West Spring, part of the Harper Hospital District #5 group of health care providers.

Dr. Ralph Bellar, who was associated with the Harper Hospital District #5 staff in 1962 when it opened, used to own the Conway Springs Rural Health Clinic. In 2007, the clinic was acquired and became part of the Harper Hospital District #5 family. This meant affiliation with a larger group that now includes the Attica Rural Health Clinic, Heritage Estates Assisted Living, a Wellness Center and the Harper Hospital Medical Clinic.

Conway Springs Rural Health Clinic is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 to 5:00 with a break for lunch from noon until 1:00. Providers are available from 10 to noon and for the afternoon hours.

Ralph Imlay, M.D. is the clinic’s medical director, but Conway Springs residents will probably see one of the two Registered Physician’s Assistant – Certified prac-titioners, Stan Wedman and Christy Winter. These two along with Maggie Myers, who is a Family Nurse Practitioner – Board Certified, work on a rotating basis at Conway Springs Rural Health Clinic. They provide regular routine visits, and also offer EKG tests with an EKG machine on the premises. A mobile x-ray unit will be joining the clinic in the near future.

“It is our intention to improve and add more services to Conway Springs,” said Bill Widner, CEO for Harper Hospital District #5.

To find out more about Conway Springs Rural Health Clinic, visit their Website, www.hhd5.com/conway-springs-clinic/. For appointments call 620-456-2411.

Providing health care in Conway SpringsLocal clinic linked to Harper Hospital District #5

Conway SpringsRural Health Clinic

111 W. SpringConway Springs, KS 67031

Phone: (620) 456-2411

Harper HospitalDistrict #5

700 West 13th StreetHarper, KS 67058

(620) 896-7324

Stan Wedman, RPA-C Maggie Myers, FNP-BCChristy Winter, RPA-C


In 1949, Howard and Eva Ellis bought a fledgling telephone company. Sixty-five years later, Haviland Telephone Com-pany has moved from a single switchboard operator to 20 Megabits of high speed Internet service. And the Ellis family is still involved in the company’s operations; sons Robert and Charles now sit on the Board of Directors.

Haviland Telephone Company, with its main office located at 104 N. Main Street in Havi-land, serves many of the smaller rural com-munities in south central Kansas, including Argonia, Conway Springs, Nashville, Nor-wich, Mullinville, Sawyer, Wilmore, Isabel, Riverdale, Coats and Cullison. Haviland Telephone provides telephone service to approximately 2,900 customers and Internet to about 2,000 customers. Standard download speed service is 8 Mbps (Megabits per sec-ond), but most Haviland Telephone customers are able to handle 20 Mbps. All professional DSL installations include Haviland Telephone’s stan-dard wireless modem, so customers receive wireless networking without an additional router. This allows multiple users to access the Internet on various devices

simultaneously.There currently are two offices for Haviland Telephone Company:

the main office is in Haviland, but there is a branch in Conway Springs at 211 Spring Avenue. Between these two offices there

are 20 full-time employees and two part-timers. Haviland Telephone takes great pride in the reli-ability of its service, but when customers have issues with their connections, the company does its best to offer same day response to both telephone and Internet problems. If the issue cannot be resolved over the phone, a home visit is scheduled for the next day if possible. There is an after-hours service that contacts on-call technicians with reported telephone and Internet outages during evenings and weekends.

“I believe our customers would say local cus-tomer/technical service, the unlimited data on our

high-speed Internet plans, and the reliability of our services makes Haviland Telephone the provider of

choice for their area,” said marketing coordinator Diane Thompson.

Visit their website, www.havilandtelco.com, or call the Conway Springs office at 620-456-

2211 or 800-287-7905 for more information.

Humble beginning to modern communicationHaviland Telephone Company continues to update services

Farrell’s Body Shop underwent some big changes in 2014, but in many ways the business has returned to its roots. New owner Esther Far-rell has taken over from her father, Mike Farrell, and the business is no longer in its shop located a half-block off Cheney’s Main Street.

Today, the business is back in its original lo-cation just outside of Cheney, back to the roots of where the business began 30 years ago.

“Since we’ve been out here, I’ve been swamped with regular customers,” Esther Far-rell said. While collision repair was the main focus for many years, restoration and other work has been a big part of the recent surge in business.

Farrell’s Body Shop has three main areas of service: collision repair, restoration work and buses. Over the years, the business has had an ongoing relationship with a major tour bus op-erator that does business in Wichita and Okla-homa City. While Mike is officially “retired,” he is still active in the bus work, most of which is now done in Oklahoma City.

That leaves Esther in Cheney to carry on the business’ legacy.

“My dad left me with a good reputation on the name,” she said. “People trust me enough to take care of them, just like my dad has.”

She always has had an interest in cars, and

Even with changes, quality is still the same at Farrell’s Body Shopover the past few years, her father has worked closely with her to get her ready to take over the business. She is implementing some of her own ideas – including a restoration of the “Far-rell’s” name after the business had been called OFARCO for a time – but the tradition of excellence continues.

“It’s great to be able to carry on something that he’s so passionate about. I’m happy he trusts me with what he put his whole life into,” she said.

The return to the original location means a little less space than the company had in town, although an addition to the facility is nearly complete. The paint booth at the new location is an improvement, Farrell said.

When she isn’t working on customers’ cars, Farrell spends time on her mini sprint racecar. She plans to begin racing – another Farrell fam-ily tradition – in March. She will primarily race at tracks in Beloit and Oklahoma City. While she has raced her whole life against her dad and brothers, this will be her first official racing season. She already has her sponsors lined up.

In the meantime, she’ll be busy carrying on the tradition of quality that is Farrell’s Body Shop. For more information, call 316-540-3303 or visit the Farrell’s Body Shop page on Facebook.

Esther Farrell, owner, and Rocky Bauman are continuing a 30-year tradition of excellence at Farrell’s Body Shop, now back in its original location just outside of Cheney.


The City of Cheney continues to be a dynamic and growing city. Its location just 20 miles west of Wichita is ideal – it’s close enough to Wichita that the residents can take advantage of all the metropo-lis’ advantages, but far enough away for Cheney to stand on its own and for resi-dents to enjoy life in a small but vibrant community.

Cheney’s city leaders continue to invest in the city’s infrastructure and amenities while maintaining a conservative finan-cial approach. They have been helped by the fact that Cheney’s valuation has held steady or grown during the recession while other cities saw declines. New hous-ing starts further improved the valuation.

That growth also helped Mayor Linda Ball and the city council keep the mill levy steady in 2014.

One sign of the city’s financial strength is very positive bond rating from Standard & Poor’s. Cheney was rated “AA–”, which reflects the sound financial management of the City and the strength of their re-serve funds. Very few Kansas cities match or exceed Cheney’s bond rating.

Cherry Oaks Golf Course celebrates 20 years

Cherry Oaks Golf Course, the city-owned 18-hole golf course, celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2014. The course opened as a nine-hole course and was considered one of the finest nine-hole courses in Kansas. Since adding the back nine about a decade ago, Cherry Oaks has continued to draw golfers and rave re-views. During the fall and spring, Cherry

Oaks hosts high school regional or State tournaments. Many other tournaments choose Cherry Oaks over other courses in or near Wichita because of the course’s quality, the staff ’s exceptional service and the overall experience.

City amenities continue to improve

Over the years, Cheney’s city lead-ers have shown a real commitment to improving the quality of life for its citizens. One of the newest projects is a joint effort between the city, USD 268 and the Cheney Recreation Com-mission. A June 2014 school bond issue included money to build a new baseball-softball complex on South Main Street near MacArthur Road. While the school

builds two ball fields, the city will con-struct the parking lot. In addition, the city has purchased additional land for future growth at the facility, including two more ball fields. Those fields would allow the city to host tournaments and bring new visitors to Cheney. Additional land is earmarked for soccer fields. The project is a shining example of how Cheney’s various government bodies are able to work together.

Cheney continues to make improve-ments to its city parks. In December 2014, the council approved money for a new merry-go-round at Water Tower Park. Other improvements have been made in the past few years at other Cheney parks, utilizing both city funds and donations.

Also in December, the Cheney city council approved money for a new holi-day light display at Veterans Park. Plans are still being finalized.

Taking care of business

One of the city’s most important roles is providing water, sewer and gas services. Most days, those are things the citizens don’t think about. In fact, that’s often a sign that things are going well.

To keep things that way, Cheney will begin a major sewer line rehabilitation.

“We’ll have a company come in and clean the lines thoroughly,” said city ad-ministrator Randall Oliver. “They will run a camera to see where all customers’ con-nections are. Then they will insert a liner that will expand with hot water or steam.

“This creates a new liner inside the

main. Then they send a robot in to cut out customers’ connections.”

The project will rehab about one-third of the city’s sewer lines, many of which are the original lines installed in 1919. About 15,000 linear feet will be rehabili-tated this way.

By doing the work this way, work crews won’t have to open trenches across doz-ens of yards. There will only be a minor disruption to service. The work will cost around $650,000.

Cheney is ahead of many other cities that have ignored their infrastructure. Many cities are facing a crisis – after years of deferred maintenance, they find themselves with crumbling services and an overwhelming cost associated with them. Cheney, however, has been active in addressing its maintenance.

“Our water and gas infrastructure are in good shape. Now it’s time to focus on the wastewater,” Oliver said.

The next couple years will bring an update to the water tower. It is slated for its first exterior paint job since it was con-structed in the mid-1990s. The interior will get a new paint job, too. That’s a task that happens more often to prevent rust from the moisture.

The city’s new 10-year comprehensive plan was finalized in December 2014, and it’s part of a larger effort that goes into long-term planning at City Hall. Cheney officials also adopted emergency plans and a debris-removal policy that address tornadoes, ice storms and other situations that the city could encounter.

Cheney and Garden Plain city councils have been working together for a water line emergency interconnect. It involves an agreement to supply each other water in case of an emergency. Oliver said the city would file for a public water supply permit application, and the construction should be finished by early 2015.

Growth continues

Oliver said Cheney’s quality of life at-tracted residents and businesses to town – good schools, clean neighborhoods, an active downtown and a sense of safety in the community.

Residents identified many of those at-tributes during a community meeting this year that was part of the comprehensive plan update. They discussed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the city.

Cheney’s future continues to look bright

New parking at the Cheney Swimming Pool has helped relieve congestion and improved safety in the area. It’s one of several quality-of-life improvements finished recently in Cheney.

Golfers warm up at the annual Friends of Cherry Oaks golf tournament. The city-owned course has a lot of community supports and draws golfers from nearby Wichita and around the area.


“It’s important to remember to shop local,” Oli-ver said.

A new business, Aviator Artisan Coffee Roasters, opened this year on Main Street. In addition, Dollar General donated about eight acres of land to the city, which it sold to Lubbers, an auto dealership in Cheney.

City news

A prominent new hire in 2014 was Ken Winter, the city’s new police chief. He replaced Howard Bishop, who retired. Winter, a Medicine Lodge native, previously served as police chief in Con-way Springs and as school district police chief in Douglass.

“My biggest goal is just community policing,” Winter said. “I’m a big advocate for community policing. That starts from waving at people when you’re out working, driving the patrol car, just going the extra mile to be friendly and just help people.”

The city’s library received attention when it was featured in the March 2014 edition of Kansas Government Journal. Cheney has a thriving library system, but it wasn’t the first time the community earned a spot in the Kansas Government Journal. A story appeared in May 2013 about volunteers help-ing complete community projects.

It’s one of many partnerships between the city and school system. After painting a mural on the east side of the pool, the high school art class fol-lowed up in May 2014 with a mural on the west side. The swimming pool received other improve-ments, too, with the construction of more than a dozen parking spaces. Money from recycling alumi-num cans was used to complete the project.

Another city-school partnership is the annual Government Day, which takes place in October. Seventh-graders visit City Hall to learn about city government.

“They elect a mayor, council members, and they do a staged enactment of what they would like to see done,” Oliver said.

In addition to their stop at City Hall, seventh-graders tour the fire department, water tower, sewer plant and golf course.

A great place to live

Cheney celebrated its 130th anniversary in 2014. A celebration was held at Souders Historical Mu-seum, which is one of Cheney’s great institutions. Souders Historical Museum showcases the history of Cheney, several other surrounding towns and Sedgwick and Kingman counties. Recent work has drastically improved the facility and its hours have been expanded.

The annexation of 117 acres of agricultural land north of town further positions Cheney for future business development.

A $15.4 million school bond issue was passed in 2014, further showing the Cheney community’s commitment to education. The Cheney School Dis-trict is among the finest in the state. It’s a small-size district with big-district opportunities.

Cheney City Hall131 N. Main

316-540-3622 • 316-542-3622

Police316-542-3173

Fire316-542-3155

Maintenance316-542-3815

Cherry Oaks Golf Course316-540-0133

www.cherryoaksgc.com

Cheney Public Library316-542-3331

www.cheneyks.org

Elected OfficialsLinda Ball, Mayor

Council Members: Jeff Albers, Carl Koster, Greg Kampling,

Judy Lehner, Phil Mize

City StaffRandall Oliver

City AdminstratorDanielle Young

City ClerkKen WinterPolice ChiefBrad Ewy

Fire Chief/Maintenance Supervisor

TOP: A 2013 project expanded the Cheney Public Library library into the second floor and provided for a remodel of the main floor. The expansion has been well received by city residents.MIDDLE: Cheney police officers help lead the annual Sedgwick County Fair parade. Community policing and 24/7 coverage help keep Cheney citizens safe.BOTTOM: A Cheney firefighter studies a fire during a recent training exercise. Cheney and the surrounding area are served by one of the state’s best volunteer fire and EMT departments.


Farming involves hard work, a deep tie to the land, a respect for weather and the ability to do business in an upright and ethical manner.

That all fits Tom Pauly, owner and op-erator of Tom Pauly Seed, just fine. “For me, it’s all about long-term relationships”, he said. “I take care of my customers and they appreciate that.”

If they require seed, they’ll call Pauly and he’ll get what’s best for their needs. Pauly knows the seed he sells, as he grows it himself. “We don’t sell anything we wouldn’t plant on our own farm,” he said.

“I’m just not a high-pressure guy,” he said. Pauly welcomes new customers and want to develop working relationships with them so they both can benefit.

Among the crop seeds Pauly sells are corn, soybean, sorghum, and wheat. He also represents and sells numerous well regarded brands from a variety of Nation-al and International Seed Suppliers.

“You are your own boss and make your

own decisions,” he said. “Nothing better than working all year to bring the crops in and reap the fruits of your labor. It’s very satisfying.”

Pauly’s business is a family one and his wife, Laura, plays a key role in making it run. She is the bookkeeper and often helps load seed. “I couldn’t run the busi-ness without her,” he said. A nephew, Andrew Devlin, whom Pauly calls “a super huge asset,” also works for the busi-ness.

Pauly’s roots extend deep into the rich Kansas soil. He was born and raised on a farm and has been in the business his entire life. He started his career at his father’s dairy farm, working with his brother. In 1987, he also started in the seed business.

In 2000, he quit the dairy farm busi-ness and focused on expanding the seed business. He also has become an expe-rienced No-till farmer. He started the practice in 1999 and has been a featured

speaker at the annual No-till on the Plains Conference. He is a board member of the Kansas Crop Improvement Associa-tion as well as the South Central Kansas Residue Alliance.

As a veteran farmer, Pauly has seen a lot of changes, especially in technology. Now, complex farm machinery features the latest in computers and GPS for ef-ficient results.

While the physical side of the business may have gotten easier, business strate-gies, such as what seed to plant and when to plant it, are more critical than ever, he said. That’s something that calls for experience. “With all the high input cost of raising a crop, making the right deci-sions at the right time is very important,” he said.

Tom and Laura Pauly have 2 children. Justin and his wife Holly, along with their two children Morgan 11, and Garrett 7, live in Thornton, Colorado. Nolan and his wife Kristy, along with their daughter

Emersyn, 2, live in Wichita. For more information, go to http://

tompaulyseed.com. You can also contact Pauly at (620) 222-8863 or email him at [email protected]

Pauly builds long-term relationshipswith the family seed business

Tomand Laura Pauly

The city of Goddard has enjoyed robust commercial growth over the last few years, and the Goddard Chamber of Commerce has grown apace, increasing their membership, level of activity and advocacy for business in the thriving Wichita suburb.

New business members of the Cham-ber include Dove Estates Senior Living Community, Orscheln Farm & Home, Hibbett Sports, Harter Physical Therapy and Williams Big Ace Outdoor Store. Businesses that are located in Wichita are also reaching out to Goddard to ex-pand their services into the community; Wichita’s Prairie Ridge Animal Hospital is one example.

“We have had a 33 percent increase in membership,” said the Chamber’s executive director, Wendy Ramirez. “That shows the vitality of our com-munity, and it allows the Chamber to be even more active in volunteerism and advocacy.”

An active board of directors spear-heads those efforts, and the group holds monthly meetings that are open both to members and to anyone in the com-munity who is interested in attending.

Those meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month at noon inside the Goddard Pizza Hut, with a few exceptions.

“In 2014 we implemented a quarterly mixer that takes the place of a gen-eral membership meeting,” Ramirez explained. “The mixers are held at a business that wants to sponsor the event in the evening, to allow those people that can’t leave their business unattended during the day to participate. We want to make sure that we are giving everyone the chance to get together and network.”

Individual memberships are just $30 a year. Nonprofits and churches can join for $60, and basic business member-ships start at $120 per year.

Those dues, plus members’ volunteer efforts, allow the Chamber to sponsor a full slate of annual community events.

“In August, the Chamber helps with National Night Out,” said Ramirez. “It’s a citywide event that everyone in our Goddard community is invited to at-tend. It’s to get to know your neighbors, get to know the city staff including the police and firemen. Last year around 550 people were served.”

In October, the Chamber is an active participant in the annual Goddard Fall Festival, with many members serving on the Goddard Activities Committee and more than two dozen business members acting as sponsors, including PostNet, Tanganyika Wildlife Park and T&T Heating and Air.

“The Chamber focuses on a few dif-ferent events, and this year we hosted the very first dodge ball tournament, sponsored by Rose Hill Bank, a cur-rent Chamber member,” said Ramirez. “It drew about 100 players and we gave away about $1,800 in prizes. Many vol-unteers are at the festival from sunrise to sunset.”

Other charitable activities include Highway 54 cleanup and beautification, “Operation Mitten Tree” at Christ-mastime and collaborations with such groups as the Lions Club and the God-dard School District.

“Ultimately we’re here to help build rapport between businesses and the community,” said Ramirez.

For more information on the Cham-ber and its activities, visit www.god-dardks.gov/chamber.

Goddard Chamber of Commerce grows with city

The Goddard Chamber of Commerce is active in many community events such as National Night Out (top) and the Goddard Fall Festival (above).


Steve Peterson had a full-service liquor store in Wichita, but he wanted to leave the rat race that invaded the West side. His move to Goddard has proven a good one: he has never looked back.

Auburn Hills Wine and Spirits, located at 19940 W. Kellogg in Goddard, is the ideal location for Peterson’s full service liquor and wine store. Right next to the Dollar General, Auburn Hills Wine and Spirits shares a 6,400 square foot building with Goodwill.

“I wanted a space big enough and on the right side of the street, the ‘going home’ side,” Peterson joked.

Peterson had his original store at 151st and Kellogg for seven and a half years before making this move in December of 2011. He says the store layout has turned out nicely and he has room in back to store excess stock.

“Basically I offer a larger variety than any other liquor store in the area,” Peter-son said. “It’s the biggest store outside of Wichita.”

Auburn Hills Wine and Spirits has a

Great location, great customersAuburn Hills Wine and Spirits serves customers west of Wichita

large walk-in beer cooler called the Beer Cave. Peterson said this cooler allows him to carry a variety of imports as well as domestic beers.

In addition to seasonal beers such as Oktoberfest, Christmas, and the ubiqui-

tous Thanksgiving pumpkin beer, Auburn Hills Wine and Spirits carries Kansas mi-crobrewery products. Customers will find Free State out of Lawrence, Tall Grass from Manhattan and Boulevard based in Kansas City in the Beer Cave.

Wine sales are a big part of Auburn Hills Wine and Spirits. The store carries over 1,000 bottles of wine.

“We carry a lot of California and Wash-ington state wines,” he said, “but we also have Australian, Italian, French, Chilean and German varieties. We stock local elderberry wine from Wyldewood Cel-lars, and we have a good variety of boxed wines.

“We are able to suggest what typical wines go with certain dishes,” Peterson continued. “In my opinion, though, you can drink any wine with anything. It’s all about what you like to drink.”

In addition to Goddard customers, Pe-terson said he has regulars from Garden Plain and Cheney. He even has customers from Kingman and Pratt who stop in be-cause of the large choice his store offers.

Auburn Hills Wines and Spirits is open Monday and Tuesday 11 a.m. – 9 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. – 11 p.m., and Sunday noon – 6 p.m. Call 316-794-2333 for more information.

Auburn Hills Wine and Spirits in Goddard is a full service liquor and wine store. The store features a large walk-in Beer Cave. Customers can find the most popular Kansas microbrews and many seasonal beers.

John Barrett has been practicing law for 31 years, and for 13 of those years he has been at 101 West First Street in Goddard. He has seen many trends come and go.

“The biggest change is the reduced number of wills I have done, especially over the last ten years,” he said. “Wills are only effective if they are probated. This takes at least eight months and is more commonly about a year. Most people can avoid the entire process with some planning ahead of time.”

Barrett is a 1976 graduate of Clearwater High School. He went to KU for both undergraduate and law schools, and then worked at a firm in Oskaloosa, Kans., where he practiced law and researched real estate records.

“Before title insurance, the abstract of title had to be updated by a licensed abstractor, and then examined by an attorney to assure good title was passed,” Barrett explained.

Barrett worked at the firm until 1989 when he came back to Wichita to serve as a prosecutor for the City of Wichita. After 16 months, Bar-rett practiced law with his father, Russel Barrett, before opening his own practice in 1998.

Barrett handles most legal matters, but real es-tate and estate planning remain important parts of Barrett’s Goddard practice.

“Planning ahead of time avoids probate and is much cheaper,” Barrett cautioned. “I get fre-quent requests to prepare trusts and I do those if warranted, but other methods of avoiding probate are frequently cheaper and better.”

Preparing powers of attorney is another facet, allowing a person to name someone he or she trusts to make financial and medical decisions for them should they become disabled. If done before needed, this can not only provide peace of mind, but also avoid the cost and trouble of a guardianship and conservatorship.

Barrett and his wife, Anita, live in Goddard. Anita is a project manager in Information Technology at Agvantis, a company providing support services to the Federal Land Bank sys-tem. They have three children. Emily is a 2007 graduate of Goddard High School and is now a labor and delivery nurse in Junction City. She is married and had their first grandchild in January 2013. Lawrence is a 2010 graduate of Goddard High School and is now at OU working on his doctorate in Chemical Engineering. Rachel is a senior at Goddard High School.

Office hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, although Barrett is available for appointments evenings and most weekends. For more information call 794-8041.

Goddard attorney stresses preparation for the future

John Barrett has spent more than one-third of his law career prac-ticing in Goddard. The Clearwater High School graduate handles most legal matters but focuses on real estate and estate planning.

John Barrett, attorney at Law101 W . First, Goddard • 316-794-8041


Everyone eats, especially rapidly-growing children, but do they know where their food comes from? Too many young people think their food comes from the supermar-ket, say officials with the Sedgwick County Farm Bureau Agricultural Association. However, they’re working hard to change that misconception.

It’s a major thrust of the grass roots association, which represents and advocates for the rights and interests of its farmer and rancher members.

“They often have no clue or concept about where their food originates,” said Gayle Ross, office administrator at Farm Bureau. “Someone has to grow the food they eat.”

In order to change that, Farm Bureau has a widespread reach in the community to help youngsters learn about the agricultural process. “Education is very important to us,” Ross said.

The outreach includes visiting schools and appearing at assemblies or in the classroom. Farm Bureau officials also work at Cowtown and other community venues to educate others about the importance of farming.

One of the group’s major events is its Ag Magic Day at the Sedgwick County Extension facility at 21st Street and Ridge Road.

The morning-long event has been held for the past 23 years and has been a hit with students and teachers.

It’s usually held in September after the Kansas State Fair and about 400 fourth graders from around Sedgwick County are bused to the facility to learn about farming and ranching. Fourth graders made the ideal target grade

because they are mature enough to comprehend the in-formation, but not so old that they think it’s too juvenile for them.

There are 11 educational stations for the students to attend, each with their own facilitator and educational mission. The association also brings in live animals for the students to see, along with a magician, Rex Getz, who entertains — and educates — the children. The feedback is tremendous, Ross said. “We received a manila envelope full of thank you letters from several classes in Goddard,” she said. “It was wonderful to see how much they appreciated it.” Teachers like it, too.

The teachers received packets of vital information on agriculture that they can take back to the classroom to review with the students.

One challenge Farm Bureau faces is that today’s students are often removed from the farm by three or more generations, Ross said, whereas in the past, if they weren’t on the farm, they had a close connection to it.

The association also shares lessons in conservation and how those in agriculture work hard to protect the earth.

“Farmers are the original environmentalists,” Ross said. “They’ve been taking care of the earth for thou-sands of years.”

For young people who want to become a farmer, there are opportunities, although, because the job has changed so much, it’s difficult and expensive to get into.

“You need the land and equipment,” Ross said, “and it also has become a very professional occupation.”

Most people in agricultural now have a college degree, and some obtain advanced degrees.

“We’ve come a long way from the farmer who simply has the overalls and a pitchfork,” she said.

One thing that hasn’t change, however, is the work. “It’s still hard work,” Ross said. “You can’t do it without a strong work ethic. Young people who grow up on a farm certainly know all about that.”

For more information about agricultural education, contact the Sedgwick County Farm Bureau at (316) 773-9851.

Farm Bureau educates youngsters about farming

Youth get an up-close lesson about caring for calves during Sedgwick County Farm Bureau’s

2014 Ag Magic Day.

Horsch Trailer Sales has built a reputation of quality over the last 23 years by offering legendary service and high-quality trailers, new and used, in many different styles, such as utility trailers, car haulers, implement, stock trailers, bale haulers, fuel trailers, and many more. The brands they stock include, but are not limited to Lamar, Haulmark, WW, Titan, Elite, and Lark.

“We do trailer sales and service mostly,” Jean Horsch said. “We also install flatbeds on trucks.”

The selection of flatbeds Horsch Trailer Sales offers include Economy (“Don’t let the name fool you!”), Butler Bale Beds, Hillsboro Aluminum, and more. In addition to trailers and flatbeds, they also install hitches in trucks and various other vehicles.

Horsch Trailer Sales is family owned and operated. Now, thanks to all of their wonderful customers, Horsch Trailers has made the decision to expand. They already have increased their lot to accommodate a larger in-ventory of trailers and will have a new shop building in the near future which will provide their employees with more

working room and their customers with faster completion time.

“We are very excited to get things rolling with this,” said everyone at Horsch Trailers. It goes without saying that Horsch Trailer Sales is eager to get this expansion started and couldn’t be happier about the growth they’re experiencing.

Horsch Trailers is located at 6901 S 183rd St. W., just north of the junction of 183rd St. W., K-42, and 71st St. S., in the small town of Clonmel. They are open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an hour break for lunch from noon to 1 p.m., and are also open on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon.

For more information, contact them at 620-545-7292 or visit their website at www.horschtrailers.com, where you can also see pictures and full descrip-tions of their current inventory.

Their slogan “We Get Behind What’s Behind You,” couldn’t be more accurate. From trailers, to hitches, to flatbeds, they do it all with quality ser-vice and a family oriented atmosphere. Go check them out today.

Horsch Trailer Sales in process of expanding

Jean and Rick Horsch stand in front of the new shop being constructed for Horsch Trailer Sales. The expansion gives their employees more space and helps improve completion time for customers’ orders.


Clearwater Village is entering a new phase of Alzheimer’s and dementia care with the opening of Harbor House, a 12-person memory care unit specializing in women’s care.

Located at 440 N. Fourth, the Clearwa-ter Village campus consists of a 40-unit assisted living facility, four independent apartments, and the 12-person home-plus care Harbor House that is in the process of being converted to a women-only unit. According to administrator Danielle Reicks, “The change is happening to meet a potential need.

“There are currently four or five brand new home-plus facilities within a 25-mile radius,” she explained.

By state definition, home-plus care pro-vides a secured unit for early Alzheimer’s and/or dementia patients. Reicks stated, “It is like assisted living for people diag-nosed with either of those diseases, but with a lock so they won’t wander away.”

In the Alzheimer’s and dementia popu-lation there are typically more women than men since women live longer. Creat-ing Harbor House exclusively for women will answer a specialized need.

“We are offering women-centered care at Harbor House,” Reicks explained. “Right now we have four ladies living at the 12-person unit. Since there are so few residents, they are basically getting one-on-one care. One lady enjoys knitting while another likes to work puzzles. Once there are more women in the unit, we will have activities throughout the day that are women-centered.”

The ladies even enjoy weekly visits by a hairdresser who also gives them mani-cures.

“We have created a small home-like environment in the Harbor homes,” said Reicks. “We are hoping to eventually offer women caregivers exclusively at Harbor House.”

Clearwater Village and the associated Clearwater Nursing and Rehabilitation offer a full continuum of care from inde-pendent living to 24-hour skilled nurs-ing care. They specialize in Alzheimer’s and dementia care along with short term rehabilitation.

“We are very passionate about caring for people with Alzheimer’s,” Reicks said.

In addition to the care they give on a daily basis, caregivers and others create

Change comes to Clearwater VillageNew facility to focus on women’s care

a team that takes part each year in the Wichita Area Alzheimer’s Walk. This year’s walk took place on Sept. 13, and on Sept. 30 Clearwater Village was given an award for being a sponsor.

“We fundraise for the event through-out the entire year,” said Reicks. “Every Friday someone donates a prize. It could be home-baked cookies or holiday deco-rations. We sell tickets to anyone who comes in and we draw a winning ticket in the afternoon.”

Since Clearwater Village is an Alzheim-er’s support group meeting site, those participants also join the team. Family members with loved ones in the facility become team members, too.

Residents of the independent living apartments enjoy the security of knowing there is care nearby should it be needed. Apartments have two bedrooms and two baths, laundry appliances and kitchen facilities. These people also may elect to have meals at the 40-unit building located just across the cul de sac. The indepen-dent living apartments are a popular op-tion for older Clearwater residents: there currently is a waiting list for these units.

Residents of the main building enjoy

studio and suite apartments with mi-crowaves, dorm-sized refrigerators and private bathrooms. Huge walk-in closets can accommodate vanities or dressers and can double as private dressing areas.

There are many activities for Clear-

water Village residents including field trips to the casino and shopping centers as well as a Lunch Club that chooses a different restaurant every month. Musi-cians come in to entertain, and there are rotating services via the five Clearwater churches.

“We even have a golf cart so on nice days residents can go to garage sales or just out cruising,” Reicks said with a smile. “The golf cart is used during the Fall Festival parade so our residents can ride in it.”

There also is a great group of volun-teers who help at Clearwater Village. One person helps get the newsletter ready to be mailed. A church group does sewing chores, repairing clothing for residents. This same group created slipcovers to go over the bed handrails making them look less institutional.

Local schools have volunteer projects too. High school choirs come over to give concerts, thus practicing their perfor-mance skills. Middle school students come and read to residents and make fun items for them, such as May baskets and Halloween pumpkins. A local home-schooling family visits and sings with resi-dents while one student plays the piano. There is even a therapy dog brought by a resident’s family.

To find out more about the facilities and services, call 620-584-2271.

Craig Davis of the Wichita chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association presents an award to Danielle Reicks of Clearwater Nursing and Rehabilitation and Clear-water Village for being the presenting sponsor of the 2014 Alzheimer’s Walk.

Clearwater Village provides opportunities for women-centered Alzheimer’s and dementia care in the Clearwater area.


Individual attention is one of the many advantages students receive at St. Paul’s Lutheran School in Cheney. There are 24 students in the preschool program and about the same number in kindergarten through eighth grade school.

With two full-time and two part-time teachers, students are ensured of lots of attention and guidance in order to meet their educational goals, said Becky Hill-man, the school administrator and its lead teacher.

In addition, unlike a public school, St. Paul’s can offer a strong grounding in the Christian faith, a vital reason why parents choose it. “We reach out with our Chris-tian education,” Hillman said.

Also, for the past five years, the school has been operating a daily bus service from west Wichita to make it easier for students from those areas to attend St. Paul’s.

Students from Andale, Goddard and Maize are thus able to conveniently attend the school.

St. Paul’s has been a part of its com-munity for more than 125 years; the school was founded as part of the strong Lutheran tradition of education. St. Paul’s is backed by financial support from the

St. Paul’s Lutheran School offers quality Christian-based educationdo, such as laptop computers and athlet-ics.

While it’s a challenge to have teams within a small school such as St. Paul’s, officials team up with other, similar-sized schools to provide healthy athletic com-petition for young people.

St. Paul’s also undertakes numerous events to round out a student’s education. They include producing a Christian musi-cal, holding a spelling bee, and coordinat-ing science and art fairs.

When students graduate from St. Paul’s and move on to high school, they are fully prepared for the next step in their educa-tional journey, Hillman said.

The cost of all this quality is surpris-ingly reasonable.

Tuition is $1,800 a school year, or $200 a month for nine months along with a $400 enrollment fee. Each additional child from the same family is $100 a month. Half day kindergarten is offered at a discounted rate and there also may be scholarships available.

Furthermore, students or their parents don’t need to be Lutherans or members of St. Paul’s to enroll.

For more, go to www.stpaulscheney.org/school or call 316-540-0115.

church, which is next door to it. Both are at 639 N. Lincoln.

One of the many benefits to a small school, points out Hillman, is that it is easy to move students to different grade levels depending on their individual needs.

If they’re progressing quickly, they can move forward quickly, and if they need more help, that can be offered, too. “We offer the opportunity to meet each child where they’re at,” she said.

St. Paul’s also strives to provide many of the same resources that larger schools

Teacher Arlene Williams gives individualized instruction to a student atSt. Paul’s Lutheran School in Cheney.

A world of information may be avail-able to anyone with a computer, but something as simple as proper health care is not always accessible to rural resi-dents. Three years ago Anthony Medical Center was approached by the Cicaskia Health Board about reopening a clinic in the Argonia area, and Argonia Fam-ily Medicine Clinic at 102 N. Main Street was born.

“Anthony Medical Center agreed to open the Argonia Family Medicine Clinic because providing health care to rural citizens is at the heart of what we do,” said Shea Lounsbury, director of market-ing and development. “Central to AMC’s mission is to make health care available to rural communities. We believe that rural communities need and deserve to have access to local health care.”

Since opening, Argonia Family Medi-cine Clinic has treated patients from Sumner, Harper and Kingman counties. Hours are by appointment but walk-ins are welcome if the schedule allows.

Practitioners Rebecca Carter, APRN, and Anna Jennings, PA-C, work out of the clinic along with Sherry Owen, LPN.

Argonia Family Medicine Clinic offers primary family medicine along with Well Child checks and Well Woman exams, annual physicals and preventative health care, DOT physicals, sports physicals, minor injury and urgent care (by ap-pointment only), coordination of care with specialists, disease management, injections, impact testing and more. Emergency treatment is available at the location, but transport capabilities also are possible.

Argonia Family Medicine Clinic is open Monday from 9 a.m. to noon, Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on Friday from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. except on holidays.

“We provide care for all ages, from newborns to the elderly,” Lounsbury said.

For more information visit their web-site, amcks.org, or call the clinic directly at 620-435-6356.

Rural health care for Argonia and moreLocal care for rural communities

Practitioner Rebecca Carter, APRN, cares for baby Kyndel Moore at the Argonia Family Medicine Clinic.


Work recently concluded on a state-of-the-art remodeling of Lubbers Cars’ Ford dealership in Cheney.

“Ford had a program that they an-nounced around June of 2013, to get a new look for Ford stores, and they of-fered to help with some of the expense if you did it to their specifications,” said Ford new sales manager Chris Lubbers. “So a Ford architect came in here, did some drawings, and we agreed on every-thing. It looks really nice.”

The showroom, the customer lounge, part of the service department, and the building facade all received a facelift.

“All the parts of the facility that the customers see have been completely redone, with new flooring, new furniture,

new lights, new everything,” said Lubbers.A delivery center to the north, attached

to the Ford building, provides a sheltered venue for car shoppers when the weather is less than clement.

Lubbers Cars, which includes a Ford dealership and a Chevrolet dealership, has been a stalwart of the Cheney business scene for decades, thriving through mul-tiple economic upturns and downturns.

“This year I would say that things have been flat, but the economy is getting bet-ter so we’re looking for growth next year,” said Lubbers. “We’ve got the best facilities around to have that happen, and a great bunch of people too.”

Lubbers Cars is committed to making the car buying process as quick and hassle

free as possible. They offer financing op-tions to fit any situation and are happy to work with customers who are first-time car buyers, have bad credit, or have no credit.

Sales hours are Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Service hours are Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. Lub-bers is closed Sundays to allow employees to spend time with their families and faith communities.

Call 877-326-6992 to schedule a test drive or connect with a sales associate, or visit LubbersCars.com to find more infor-mation or chat with an associate online.

Ford and Chevrolet

stores are a family affairNo fewer than 12 members of the

Lubbers family work at the Ford and Chevrolet dealerships in Cheney, ac-cording to Chris Lubbers.

“My dad, Denny Lubbers, came out here in October of 1985 and started kind of running the Ford store,” said Chris Lubbers. “He was one of four Lubbers brothers that agreed to buy the store from the Ford dealer at the time. The brothers used to be in the van conversion business here in Cheney.”

The brothers, Denny, Jim, Larry and Alan Lubbers, purchased the local Chevrolet dealership in 1988.

“We moved to our current loca-tion in ‘91. The Ford store used to be in where Cheney Electric is now, and Chevy was right across the street from where China Bar is now. In ‘94 we built the current Ford building, and Chevrolet moved down to their current location in ‘94,” Chris Lubbers said.

Lubbers said working with family is a valuable reminder.

“Like we do with one another, we just try to be up front with customers and take care of people,” he said.

Lubbers updates Ford facility

Chris Lubbers shows off the new Ford showroom at Lubbers Cars in Cheney.


Home to west Wichita’s only 24/7 ER in a hospital

Ranked in the top 10 percent in the nation for service excellence*

We take pride in your care,

and it shows

Andrew Fields, MDHospitalist

Via Christi Hospital St. Teresa

Adolfo Villanueva, MDHospitalist

*Via Christi Hospital St. Teresa was recognized by Armstrong Institute at Johns Hopkins as being in the top 10% of large-sized hospitals in the United States in the areas of Nurse Communication, Doctor Communication, Staff Responsiveness, Pain Management, and Communication about Medicines, based upon data collected from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAPS) survey, March 2011-March 2012.

Katherine WolfePhysical Therapy

316.796.7000viachristi.org/st-teresa

14800 W. St. TeresaWichita, KansasThree miles west of 21st and Maize

Critical care Pediatrics Orthopedics and rehab Ear, eye, nose and throat Comprehensive diagnostic imaging


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