written by Donna Krug

How did a pin-hole leak in a main water supply line change my schedule last Sunday? As I was pressing a couple of shirts in the laundry room I heard a hissing sound. When I followed the sound to our water treatment system, I saw a puddle that led me to three boxes and a large basket of soaked items.

As my husband, John, made his list for the hardware store, I started sorting through the soaked treasures. What I found brought back a flood of memories. From the tulle left over from making my daughter, Kristen’s wedding veil, to the three shirts from my late father’s closet that I plan to make into pillows, I didn’t want to take a break for lunch. Two boxes full of denim jeans I have collected for “some day” projects and scraps of fabric leftover from quilts I have made through the years rounded out the treasures I found.

Sorting through the items that had gotten wet felt great. That thought is where I am going with this week’s news column. A publication written several years ago titled, “Cut the Clutter and Get Organized” has some great tips we can all learn from.

The fact sheet suggests using the box approach to sort clutter. Sort items into boxes labeled Keep, Store, Give Away/Sell, Throw Away and, if you are indecisive, you can use a fifth box labeled Maybe. The items you intend to keep need to be returned to their proper places. Items you no longer use or no longer fit could be the beginning of your next yard sale or donation to Goodwill.

The publication goes on to provide tips for maintaining a clutter-free home. Involve family members to help keep items picked up and put away. Remember, tasks need to be appropriate for family members’ ages and abilities. And you may need to share your ideas and expectations of what is acceptable.

Feel free to give me a call or drop by either of the offices in the Cottonwood Extension District for your copy of Cut the Clutter and Get Organized. It is also available on the KSRE web site if you search for publication number MF2879.

Donna Krug is the District Director and Family & Consumer Science Agent with K-State Research and Extension – Cottonwood District. You may reach her at: dkrug@ksu.edu or (620)793-1910.

BARTON COUNTY — One person was injured in an accident just before 9:30p.m. Sunday in Barton County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Chevy Truck driven by Ryan A. Bieberle, 26, Hoisington, was westbound on Kansas 4 just west of Hoisington. The truck left the roadway to the north and crossed the center line. It left the roadway to the south side, rolled and the driver was ejected.

Bieberle was transported to a hospital in Wichita. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

Another chilly, windy weekend with a cold, potentially snowy period to follow this week.  What a difference a year makes.  While we aren’t thrilled with the cold weather and wet soils, the upside is not one acre in Kansas is even abnormally dry.  Wheat conditions are all over the place as has been discussed before.  Wheat producers are starting to become a bit antsy for green up or even to see if late-planted wheat has emerged.  Co-Ops and Ag service operations are ready to start topdressing wheat.  The 2019 wheat crop is behind but there is a bit of a silver lining, a lessened chance of the growing point emerging too early and being damaged.  Now, onto today’s topic.

There was an article in the Tribune recently regarding an event at U.S.D. 428.  The event was to expose students to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) opportunities as career choices.  While the article may not have listed all the possible areas, it had the traditional focus on career opportunities.  In this article and other media reports on STEM there is one area/career choice almost never mentioned.  Yet it is perhaps one of the original stem career choices, the single largest employer in this country, and on the cutting edge of “STEM.”  Agriculture.

Perhaps this is simply an oversight.  Perhaps there are many schools actively relating STEM to agriculture and it is going unreported.  Perhaps it is the result of old, deeply entrenched stereotypes of those in agriculture as unsophisticated “hicks.”  Perhaps it is a lack of awareness of the breadth and scope of the science, technology, engineering, and math that makes up modern agricultural production and the possible career paths, all of which involve STEM.  Perhaps it is a lack of awareness of the role agriculture plays in modern society now.  How that role is increasing as the world population continues to grow and resource conservation becomes more and more critical.  Finally, it may be a lack of awareness of how many people are needed over the next thirty years to work in food, fiber, and fuel production.  That agriculture is and continues to experience a chronic shortage of qualified, educated individuals in all aspects of the industry.

How important is agriculture to Kansas?  It accounts for around seventy billion dollars of the state’s economy or over forty percent.  Around a quarter million people are employed in some aspect of agriculture.  Farmlands account for over forty million acres in Kansas, almost ninety percent of total land.  Cattle normally outnumber people in the state by almost three to one.  The number of hogs is around two million.  And the list could go on and on.

As our ability to produce food, fiber, and fuel, goes, so goes the nation.  This is a rapidly changing area on the cutting edge of STEM.  Hopefully, schools as well as the rest of us will recognize this fact.

Curtis Wolf, Director at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center near Great Bend, says if your child is out of school, there is probably something going on at the Education Center to keep them busy.

Wolf says the Education Center at Cheyenne Bottoms has experienced a lot of success and turnout with drop-in activities. He mentions the drop-in days are not a formal event but add a few activities for anyone dropping by the wetlands. In 2019, there will be more of a focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) activities.

Curtis Wolf Audio

The first STEM drop-in date will be March 11, the first day of spring break for many schools. The activities will be available through the day and no registration is required.

The Kansas Wetlands Education Center will have something planned for each day of Spring Break March 9 – March 17. Wolf says the Education Center plans to have STEM drop-in dates every quarter this year.

BUSINESS NEWS

Story by Brandon Steinert

Anyone looking to get a start after high school or switch careers should consider attending the Education and Employment Expo hosted by Barton Community College from 1-7 p.m. March 20. The event is free and open to the public. For more information or to reserve a free booth space for your business, contact Agriculture Instructor Maggie Tracy at (620) 786-1120 or tracym@bartonccc.edu.

The event is targeted towards individuals who are unemployed, underemployed or looking for a career change. The featured programs are Welding, Agriculture, Automotive, Natural Gas, Scale Technician and CDL. Each will have a booth to promote educational opportunities.

Barton’s program-specific advisory board members, community businesses and support services are invited to have a booth. Commitments have been secured for the Educational Opportunity Center, Hammel Scale, Golden Belt Feeders, Gavilon Grain, Red Barn, City of Great Bend and Skillets Trucking.

“It is our hope that individuals attending will be interested in completing a program at Barton to obtain employment at a company in attendance and the companies in attendance will develop an understanding for how Barton can benefit their businesses,” said Mary Foley, Executive Director of Workforce Training and Economic Development.

by Mary Lou Peter

A motorcyclist rides into town – and then another, and another. It’s a motorcycle rally – and not just any rally, but a rally to support a rural community and ultimately, to bring people together.

Dusty Turner is an organizer and promoter of special events in Kansas and Oklahoma. He grew up in northeastern Oklahoma where, at an early age, he discovered a passion for motorcycles.

One year he and a teenage friend decided they wanted to take a motorcycle trip. They calculated how far they could go on the gas money that they had and looked at a roadmap. “We saw the name Cedar Vale on a map and decided to go,” Dusty said.

“We were a couple of typical kids who set off totally unprepared,” Dusty said with a smile. “We got there and couldn’t afford a hotel room. We asked around if there was anyplace we could camp, and they sent us to Hewins Park. People were really nice.”

It was a memorable trip. The trip happened to take place around the time of Dusty’s birthday in late April. A late spring journey to Cedar Vale became an annual pilgrimage for Dusty as he grew up.

Dusty joined the military. After the service, he worked in the restaurant business and then did painting and contracting work in Oklahoma and Texas before moving back to Muskogee. Through it all, his love of motorcycles remained strong. After riding various kinds of motorcycles throughout his life, Dusty discovered a brand of motorcycles called Moto Guzzi. These motorcycles are produced by a company in Italy, and they have a small, but passionate following around the globe.

“Moto Guzzi produces maybe 8,000 motorcycles in a year,” Dusty said. (That’s in contrast to bigger companies which may produce 60,000 in a single quarter.) But Dusty and others are big fans of Moto Guzzi. “It’s a basic twin-cylinder motorcycle that’s simple to repair,” Dusty said. “It can eat up the miles, but also works well on curvy mountain roads.”

Dusty got his own Moto Guzzi and then joined an online forum of Moto Guzzi enthusiasts. He eventually became an administrator on the site.

One day Dusty noticed that his birthday was coming up. For old times’ sake, he decided to make a motorcycle trip to Cedar Vale. “I announced on the board, `Does anybody want to meet me?’” Dusty said. “I thought I might get one or two, but we had eight.” It was so much fun that it became an annual event. Each year on the first weekend of May, a Moto Guzzi rally is now held in the community of Cedar Vale.

In the years since, the Moto Guzzi rally has attracted as many as 70 people from 30 states, from Seattle to New Jersey and as far away as Holland and Germany.

Organizers have turned the event into a fundraiser for the city of Cedar Vale, as well as an opportunity for big city visitors to experience life in a rural community. Part of the registration fees go to the city. Donation jars are put out at all events. Funds are used to support projects like the local museum and the poolhouse at the swimming pool. More than $2,000 has been raised. The Lions Club, local chamber of commerce, and museum help provide meals for donations.

The gathering takes place primarily at Hewins Park, where Dusty first camped decades ago. “We interact with the locals,” Dusty said. “The city has been great.”

Dusty is assisted in this project by a friend from the online forum who knows rural Kansas. That friend is John Peters from the rural community of Walton, population 235 people. Now, that’s rural.

It’s time to leave this Moto Guzzi rally which is helping raise money for a rural Kansas community as well as sharing small town life. We commend all the Moto Guzzi riders for making a difference with this fun initiative. It makes for a good ride.

And there’s more. This event has inspired another gathering in Cedar Vale. We’ll learn about that next week.

The current professor, minister, and public speaker Dr. Matt Friedeman was inducted into the Great Bend High School Hall of Fame last Friday. Friedeman was a 1977 Great Bend High School graduate and former track athlete.

He came back to Great Bend for the ceremony with many family and friends in attendance at the luncheon at Stoneridge Country Club.

Matt Friedeman Audio

Friedeman still holds the record at Great Bend High School in the discus with a throw of 198 feet and 11 inches. He went on to become a Big Eight Champion and NCAA All American on the track team at the University of Kansas. He was also selected to compete at the 1980 Olympic trials in discus.

Matt Friedeman Audio

Friedeman has worked in multiple forms of media including radio and print and continues to be a public speaker. He has taught the past 32 years at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi.

Friedeman became the 23^rd inductee into the Great Bend High School Hall of Fame.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs – Wednesday cosponsored the VA Provider Accountability Act, bipartisan legislation that would bring much-needed accountability to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

“It is critical that those on the front lines of caring for our veterans are held to the highest level of accountability,” said Sen. Moran. “I am introducing this legislation to make certain no adverse medical outcome impacting a former servicemember is swept under the rug. Our veterans deserve a VA that is worthy of their service and sacrifice, and holding providers accountable is an important step to restoring trust in the VA.”

A troubling 2017 GAO report revealed an unacceptable trend of VA facilities failing to report providers who made major medical errors to the National Practitioner Data Bank and the relevant state licensing boards responsible for tracking dangerous practitioners. As a result, these practitioners can go into private practice or move across state lines without disclosing prior mistakes to patients or state regulators. A 2017 USA Today story uncovered specific, horrific medical care failures and mistakes that the VA concealed and allowed to continue.

The VA Provider Accountability Act would require the VA to inform the National Practitioner Data Bank and state licensing boards of major adverse actions committed by medical providers at the VA. Additionally, it would prevent the VA from signing settlements with fired employees to hide major medical mistakes in their personnel files.

The VA Provider Accountability Act was authored by U.S. Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and is also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Full text of the legislation can found here.