BOOKED: Matthew Cooley of Great Bend on GBPD case for aggravated domestic battery, bond set in lieu of $20,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Karla Garcia of Great Bend on BTDC warrant for failure to appear, bond set at $410 cash only or 48-hour OR bond.

BOOKED: Juvenile of Ellinwood on BTDC case for aggravated assault, no bond.

BOOKED: Shawn D. McCollum Jr. on Claflin Municipal Court warrant for failure to appear and contempt of court, bond at $485 cash only.

BOOKED: Dakota Gray of Great Bend on BTDC case for aggravated intimidation of a witness, bond set at $40,000 C/S and KDOC order arrest and detain with no bond.

BOOKED: Roy Lee Cline on Great Bend Municipal Court warrant for contempt of court with a bond of $597 cash only or 12 days in jail.

BOOKED: Alia Lucas on Great Bend Municipal Court case for battery LEO, obstruction and disorderly conduct with a bond of $1,000 C/S or a 48-hour OR.

RELEASED: Karla Garcia of Great Bend on BTDC warrant for failure to appear, posted bond of $410 cash only paid by defendant.

RELEASED: Maynard Cain Charles on Kingman Municipal Court warrant for contempt, transported to Kingman County on their warrant.

RELEASED: Matthew Cooley of Great Bend on GBPD case for aggravated domestic battery, posted $20,000 bond through Ace Bail Bonding.

BOOKED: Juvenile male on BTDC case for aggravated assault x2, transported to Bob Johnson’s by GBPD.

RELEASED: Christopher Huges on HPD case for DWS, illegal tag, no insurance received an 18-hour OR bond.

RELEASED: Shawn McCollum Jr. on Claflin Municipal Court warrant with a $485 OR bond.

RELEASED: Garrett A. Mallow on BCDC case with a $5,000 surety bond through Dynomite Bail Bonds.

Saturday is rapidly approaching as the Barton Community College Athletic Department prepares to welcome and induct the 2019 recipients at 2:00 p.m. into its storied Sports Hall of Fame in a free and open to the public ceremony held at the Kirkman Activity Center.

The induction class of Shala Giardini, Jimmy Graham, Steve Griffin, and Joel Light provided a national champion, All-American honors, and a Jayhawk title to Barton before moving on.

Giardini rightfully becomes the first women’s soccer player inducted in the Hall, leaving her mark from the 2009 and 2010 seasons at the top of the program record book. The Greeley, Colorado, native set the 2009 season on fire with a nation leading 59 goals to earn 1st team All-American status. Standing the test of time, Giardini’s single season and career performance still dons the top spot in five of the program’s six scoring categories.

The ability to jump high while contort the body over a horizontal bar, Light was the first in school history to eclipse the seven foot high jump mark in holding the record for seventeen years. The Great Bend native earned the College its first individual national champion in 1979, as well as, became the program’s first four-time All-American award earner.

Barton was able to wave its first Jayhawk West basketball title in 1977 thanks in part, to the duo of Graham and Griffin. A key freshman addition to the squad hailing from McPherson, Kansas, Graham teamed with Hoisington, Kansas, sophomore Griffin in helping the Cougars win 24 straight games in claiming the title, completing the season 27-3 and Region VI runner-ups.

The Class of 2019 will be enshrined at a 2:00 p.m. induction ceremony Saturday, February 9, in the Kirkman Activity Center located on the Barton Campus. Induction ceremony is free and open to the public with live streaming available to those unable to attend found at BartonSports.com. Public attendance also encouraged in honoring the inductees between the women’s and men’s basketball games versus Dodge City Community College later that evening.

Schedule of Events – Saturday, February 9, 2019 at Barton Community College
2:00 p.m. – Induction Ceremony located on lower level of the Kirkman Activity Center on the Barton campus. Admission is free and public is encouraged to attend. *Live web streaming will also be available.
5:30 p.m. – Barton women’s basketball versus Dodge City Community College
*7:20 p.m. – *Approximate time. Inductees will be presented with Hall of Fame plaques in a brief ceremony between the women and men’s basketball contests.
7:30 p.m. – Barton men’s basketball versus Dodge City Community College

Challenging would be a good way to describe farming over the past six months in agriculture. In central Kansas, farmers had to work around above average precipitation in the fall during the corn, soybean and milo harvest while trying to beat the weather to get a wheat crop planted. Great Bend Coop Seed Manager Jeff Mauler says that fall precipitation will mean timely decisions will need to be made this spring when it comes to planting those crops that will be harvested next fall.

Jeff Mauler Audio

As for this year’s wheat crop, Mauler says there is a big difference between the wheat that got planted early and the wheat that didn’t get planted until very late in the fall. With the wide range of winter weather we have been experiencing he hopes that crop will come out unscathed.

Jeff Mauler Audio

Mauler expects this year’s wheat acres to be down significantly in the area due to the fact that the weather kept some of the crop from even being planted. But due to the government shut down that kept USDA from providing normal crop reports, no one really knows for sure.

The USDA has reported that crop reports that were due out on January 11th are now scheduled to be published on Thursday February 8th.

Last Friday, Special Agent Supervisor Nicholas Yeager with the Kansas Department of Corrections submitted Probable Cause Affidavits to the Pawnee County Attorney’s Office for review regarding the incident of November 6, 2018, at the Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility (LCMHF).

Pawnee County Attorney Doug McNett says he believes there is sufficient evidence to charge the 20 individuals identified as being primarily responsible for the riots and damage at the Larned facility.

McNett said his office is treating this as four self-contained riots occurring within the Central Unit.

First Appearances have not yet been scheduled. The crime of Incitement to Riot is a Severity Level 8 person felony and carries a sentence between 7 and 23 months depending on a defendant’s criminal history.

LCMHF consists of two primary housing facilities – the Central Unit and the West Unit. The West Unit houses minimum security inmates.  The riots were isolated solely to the Central Unit. Currently the Central Unit has 5 housing units with a general capacity of 66 medium security inmates per housing unit.

The following individuals have been charged and warrants issued: Curtis Core, 26; Manuel Acevedo, 27; Richard Peterson, 40; Joey Terrazas-Garcia, 23; Jacob Bagby, 20; Lance Sutton, 22; Alexis Banuelos, 21; Caesar Hermosillo, 25; Nathaniel Dipman, 20; Anthony Reed, 22; Kab Issa, 20; Jesse Bellamy, 25; Leo, Wells, 22; Joshua Tucker, 22, Joshuah Blake, 21; Nicholas Aldridge, 19; Darrell Pettus, 23; Marcel Wamser, 22; and Aaron McDonald. Each identified inmate was charged with (1) Incitement to Riot; (2) Criminal Damage to Property in excess of $1,000, but less than $24,999; and (3) Rioting.

Since Charlie Suchy resigned as Great Bend Public Works Director last June, City Administrator Kendal Francis served in the position with assistance from Simon Wiley who was hired at the time to be the Assistant Public Works Director.

After seven months with that arrangement in place, the city has moved forward in promoting Wiley to become the new Public Works Director. The City Council Monday night voted 8-0 to promote Wiley to the position after Francis told them that Wiley had shown that he was more than able to handle the job.

Kendal Francis Audio

Wiley came to Great Bend after serving in a supervisory position for the city of Greenwood, Arkansas. He also has 10 years of experience with the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

The Barton County Sheriff’s Office booking activity log from Tuesday, February 5, 2019 showed that Cody Reed was arrested for murder in the second degree.

Reed is the father of the five-month old baby that was found unresponsive in Great Bend on Monday, January 28, 2019.

Emergency crews responded to an apartment in the 1300 block of Cherry Lane in Great Bend in reference to the unresponsive infant at approximately 8:30 a.m. Lettizia was transported to the emergency room at the University of Kansas Health System – Great Bend Campus. The infant was then transported to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita by air where she remained in critical condition.

The infant died as a result of her injuries at the Wichita hospital on Thursday, January 31.

Although complete autopsy results are still pending, the cause of the death has been identified as “blunt force trauma to the head.”

Formal charges against Cody Reed will be filed by the Barton County Attorney’s Office. Reed is currently incarcerated in the Barton County Detention Center in lieu of a $250,000 bond.

The incident is still under investigation by the Great Bend Police Department and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.