BARTON COUNTY – A suspect wanted in Colorado who fled from law enforcement in Rice County Sunday night is in custody.

Deputies arrested Michael Edward Abbott, 48, just after 2:30p.m. Wednesday in Ellinwood, according to Rice County Sheriff Bryant Evans.

A tip from the public led to the arrest, according to Evans.

Just after 5 p.m. Sunday, a Chrysler PT Cruiser driven by Abbott led a Rice County deputy in a brief pursuit.

Abbott’s vehicle failed to stop and became disabled. He fled on foot and was last seen near the intersection of Silver and 9th Streets in Geneseo until the arrest in Barton County.

Abbott is listed as a fugitive inmate with seven prior convictions, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections.

The Rice County Attorney is considering charges, according to Evans.

After several years of being put through the field trial paces, three new wheat varieties from the K-State wheat development program are making their debut this fall. Growers can now purchase certified seed of these varieties for planting in the coming weeks. These new wheats have been released through the Kansas Wheat Alliance, of which K-State is a part. The president of that alliance, Daryl Strouts says producers in southern Kansas wheat country can benefit from a new variety named Larry.

Daryl Stouts Audio

The second new entry, Zenda, is being touted as a potential successor to the leading wheat variety by acreage in Kansas over the last several years, Everest.

Daryl Stouts Audio

And yet another new entry, Tatanka, is a variety that was created for western Kansas growing conditions.

You can read up on the field trial performance of these new K-State-bred wheat lines in the K-State Wheat Variety Performance Test report, found at www.agronomy.ksu.edu.

RELEASED:  Herren, Alex of Hoisington KS on Barton County District court after serving sentence in full.

RELEASED:  Castaneira, Justin of Rush County KS to Kansas Department of Corrections, on RSHO Case for Failure to Register as Offender, Battery; Knowingly cause rude physical contact, theft less than $1,000, also on Rush County District warrant for Violation of the Offender Registration Act, driving while suspended, driving with expired plates, obstructed windshield, failure to signal and no child restraint.

RELEASED: Delgadillo, Andrew of Great Bend KS on all local charges and being released to Ellis County for Local Charges.

RELEASED: Allen, Miasha of Wichita KS on Barton County District Court Warrant for failure to appear.  Bond set at no bond after being granted probation from the District Court.

BOOKED: Butler, Kathrine of Great Bend KS on Barton County District Court case for introduction of contraband into a correctional facility.  Possession of methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia.  Bond set at $50,000.

BOOKED: Winchester, Joshua of Great Bend KS on Great Bend Municipal Court warrant for failure to appear.  Bond set at $500, also on Ford County District Court warrant for failure to appear. Bond set at $500.

BOOKED: Dearmore, Geoffrey of Ness City KS on RHDC case probation violation with no bond.

BOOKED: Stroud, Kyle of Great Bend, KS for BTDC warrant probation violation, no bond, failure to appear, bond set in lue of $2,500 C/S.

BOOKED: Wilkinson, John of Great Bend KS on BTDC case for 30 serve sentence.

BOOKED: Shaver, Tristan of Larned KS for PNDC warrant failure to appear, no bond.

BOOKED: Horn, Saige of Great Bend for BTDC case Criminal Threat bond set in lieu of $5,000.

BOOKED: Felder, Bruce of Rush Center, KS for Rush County District Court case, felony interference. LEO bond set at $5,000.

Great Bend Police Department Incident Log (8/29)

Fight

At 1:34 a.m. a fight was reported at 218 Pine St.

Theft

At 8:07 a.m. a theft was reported at 1704 Heritage Ln.

Check Subject

At 9:22 a.m. reports of a subject sleeping in his vehicle at 800 Stone St. and wanted him checked on.

Found Property

At 10:44 a.m. returned property that had been reported stolen at 2022 Jackson St.

Traffic Hazard

At 11:02 a.m. north of 7th and Williams was closed for paving and removal of rail road tracks.

Check Subject

At 12:00 p.m. reported a subject walking and and wanted her checked at 1008 Kansas Ave.  Subject stated she was walking to Wichita.

Criminal Damage

At 12:28 p.m. report of window broken out of vehicle at 5220 10th St.

Warrant Arrest

At 1:40 p.m. arrested Katrine Butler on a Barton County warrant.  Butler booked in lieu of $50,000 bond.

Buglary / Not In Progress

At 1:43 p.m. burglary reported at 902 Holland St.

Disturbance

At 1:46 p.m. reports of subjects arguing in the lobby at 514 Cleveland St.

Non-Injury Accident

At 3:06 p.m. a non-injury accident was reported at 2027 Morton St.

Criminal Damage

At 4:03 p.m. damage reported to a hotel room at 705 10th St.

Non-Injury Accident

At 5:22 p.m. Driver 1 was southbound on Plum turning onto 4th St.  Slid on some oil and laid motorcycle over.

Theft

At 6:20 p.m. reported theft of bike at 2219 Jefferson St.

Animal Complaint

At 8:52 p.m. reports of dog at large.

Check Area

At 10:50 p.m. reports of a subject in the area of a vacant house at 21st and Holland St.

Remove Subject

At 11:08 p.m. reports of two persons in the store 3503 10th St. and cussing.  Subjects were contacted and advised not to return.

Barton County Sheriff Daily Incident Log (8/29)

Found Property

At 9:59 a.m. GBPD stolen purse recovered at 10 Block of NW 60 Rd.

Trespass

At 4:10 p.m. criminal trespassing reported at NW 60 Rd & NW 65 Ave.

Theft

At 7:42 p.m. theft of property reported at 417 SW 10 Ave.

 

 

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT

A  Russell man was arrested Tuesday following a chase in Ellis County.

Joshua A. Smith, 28, Russell, was arrested northeast of Hays Tuesday night after fleeing from law enforcement officials in the Hays area, according to Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Tod Hileman.

At approximately 8 p.m. Tuesday, a KHP trooper attempted to stop a 2012 Nissan Versa in the Hays area when, according to Hileman, the driver fled the scene.

Hileman said the driver traveled north of Hays on country roads where the chase ended at 310th Avenue and Severin Road, 6 miles east of Highway 183 and approximately 6 miles north of Interstate 70.

There the driver exited the vehicle and fled on foot in a pasture between Hadley Range Avenue and 310th Avenue, Hileman said.

After about an hour, law enforcement officials located Smith and arrested him without incident.

Hileman said Smith was arrested on suspicion of speeding, fleeing and attempt to elude law enforcement and a number of traffic violations. He also had a felony warrant out for his arrest.

He was booked into the Ellis County jail.   Smith has previous convictions for burglary and drugs in Barton and Ellis County, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

According to the 2016-2017 Classification and Enrollment numbers from the Kansas State High School Activities Association, the Great Bend school district was the 9^th smallest school in Class 5A out of 32 school districts. The enrollment numbers were based from the high school last year. The 2017 official enrollment numbers are not due until September 20.

USD 428 Superintendent Khris Thexton says he would like to see a steady growth of students each year because what is good for the district is usually good for the community.

Khris Thexton Audio

Enrollment for the most part has been on a downward trend in Central and Western Kansas. Thexton says with just north of 2,800 total students in all classes this year, Great Bend has been fortunate to stay fairly flat with their enrollment.

Khris Thexton Audio

Thexton says when he first arrived in Great Bend in 2013, Riley Elementary School had three classes for each grade level. That statistic has since dropped to two classes per grade. Monitoring the class size, if any elementary classroom gets too full, USD 428 will reassign incoming or new students to a different grade school within the district.