BOOKED: Colby Hopkins of Great Bend on Great Bend Municipal Court warrant for contempt of court, bond set in lieu of $1,567.50 cash only or 27 days in jail.

BOOKED: Jaimie Moore on BTDC warrant for criminal threat, bond is set at $5,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Kyle A. Dreiling on Barton County District Court warrant for possession of stolen property with a bond of $2,500 C/S. Stafford County District Court warrant for felony theft with a bond of $20,000 C/S.

BOOKED: John Lynch of Great Bend on Great Bend Municipal Court case for driving while suspended and no proof of insurance with a bond of $500 C/S or 48-hour OR.

RELEASED: William Harger on Stafford County warrant and Kansas Department of Corrections hold. He was already released on his Stafford County case.

RELEASED: John Lynch of Great Bend on Great Bend Municipal Court case for driving while suspended and no proof of insurance after posting a $500 surety bond through Dyn-O-Mite Bail Bonding.

The two candidates seeking the 4th District position on the Barton County Commission were in attendance Tuesday night at the Candidate Forum that was held at Great Bend High School and hosted by the League of Women Voters.

Current 4th District Commissioner Alicia Straub was proud of her voting record during her first term on the board.

Alicia Straub Audio

Straub is being opposed in the 4th District by Great Bend businessman Randy Suchy who plans to use his construction experience to his and the county’s advantage if elected.

Randy Suchy Audio

Kenny Schremmer in the 1st District and Jennifer Schartz in the 5th District are also up for re-election but are running unopposed as they seek yet another term on the board.

Those in attendance Tuesday night also heard from Nick Reinecker and Alan LaPolice who are seeking to unseat incumbent Roger Marshall in the 1st District U.S. House race. They also heard from several candidates who are running for Great Bend City Council, candidates we will hear from later this week.

If you couldn’t attend Tuesday night’s forum you can do so Wednesday afternoon starting at 5:30 p.m. on 1590 KVGB and 97.7 FM. KVGB will broadcast the forum in its entirety. It will also be available later on greatbendpost.com

Gaye L. Benfer, acting Kansas State Conservationist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced today that NRCS is offering technical and financial assistance to producers in Kansas suffering from ongoing drought conditions.  Drought recovery funding assistance is available through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Drought Initiative.

The State of Kansas declared a Drought Emergency for the following counties:  Barber, Barton, Butler, Chase, Clark, Clay, Coffey, Comanche, Cowley, Dickinson, Edwards, Ellsworth, Finney, Ford, Geary, Grant, Gray, Greenwood, Hamilton, Harper, Harvey, Haskell, Hodgeman, Kearney, Kingman, Kiowa, Lincoln, Lyon, Marion, McPherson, Meade, Morris, Morton, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Pottawatomie, Pratt, Reno, Rice, Riley, Saline, Sedgwick, Seward, Shawnee, Stafford, Stanton, Stevens, Sumner, and Wabaunsee.

“Through this initiative, eligible landowners and producers in declared drought emergency counties will be eligible to address livestock water shortages in their operations,” said Benfer.

Applications for assistance under the EQIP Drought Initiative are currently being accepted.  The application evaluation cut-off period will be August 24, 2018 with contract funding to occur shortly after.  Due to immediate need, applicants may apply for waivers to initiate necessary practices before contracts are funded.

Information Available

Additional information about NRCS programs is located on the Kansas NRCS website at www.ks.nrcs.usda.gov or stop by your local USDA Service Center.  To find a service center near you, check your telephone book under “United States Government” or on the Internet at offices.usda.gov.  Follow us on Twitter @NRCS_Kansas.  USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

The United Way of Central Kansas held their 4th Annual Pacesetter Luncheon Tuesday. The awards ceremony honors the leading payroll donor businesses.

United Way has a program for employers in Barton and Pawnee counties to allow employees to make contributions to United Way through payroll deductions. This method collects approximately $135,000 of the $275,000 fundraising goal each year for United Way of Central Kansas.

CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions received the gold award as the top pacesetter. Dillons was second getting the silver award, and Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball earned the bronze, coming in third.

The highest donating companies per capita were Spectrum CPA (1st), Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball (2nd), and Northern Natural Gas (3rd).

Other awards given out Tuesday at the Best Western Courtyard were:

Outstanding New Workplace Campaign
The Center for Counseling & Consultation

Media Award
Great Bend Tribune

Highest Percentage Increase
American State Bank

Leadership Award
David & Sherri Marmie
Jerry & Linda Marmie

RUSH COUNTY — One person was injured in an accident just after 6:15a.m. Tuesday in Rush County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1990 International Straight Truck driven by Matthew W. Debusk, 43, St. John, was eastbound on Kansas 4 nine miles west of La Crosse,

The truck left the roadway on the right, returned to the roadway, crossed the center line, left the roadway to the right again and overturned into the ditch.

Debusk was transported to Hays Medical Center. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

The Great Bend school district and the Kansas Reading Roadmap (KRR) visited the Kansas Department for Children and Families’ (DCF) Great Bend Service Center to thank DCF for investing over $500,000 into the Great Bend elementary schools through the Kansas Reading Roadmap Program. Officials from the Great Bend district and the KRR expressed their appreciation for DCF’s efforts to reduce poverty and support innovation in the state.

USD 428 Superintendent Khris Thexton and Asst. Superintendent John Popp, met with Economic and Employment Services staff from the Great Bend DCF office to thank them for the various programs DCF operates to serve needy local residents. KRR, an early-literacy partnership at five Great Bend schools, is funded by the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, administered by DCF.

“We are so appreciative for all the poverty-alleviating programs in the Great Bend area, and are thankful for their provision of the KRR in our schools,” said Thexton. “The KRR has been a really successful program in Great Bend at helping our students develop the skills they need to succeed.”

Through a multi-year partnership with KRR, Great Bend USD 428 has dramatically increased reading proficiency among third graders. Children that are early proficient readers are four times more likely to graduate high school on time. High school graduates have a better economic future meaning early literacy interventions helps break the cycle of poverty.

Lincoln Elementary students Brody and Bentley Corbett attended the celebration and presented a Certificate of Appreciation to the Great Bend DCF staff for their support of local poverty prevention and supporting efficient, effective strategies like KRR.

Thorpe joined the school staff to express appreciation to DCF. He said that through KRR and other Economic and Employment Services programs, DCF is helping children and their families break the cycle of poverty.

Thorpe announced that the grant which funds the Kansas Reading Roadmap was renewed for another year. He credited Gov. Jeff Colyer and DCF Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel for this investment in Great Bend schools.

“Through its support of KRR, DCF has launched a new approach that aligns social service funding with early education investments to get better results for children” said Thorpe. “This kind of cross-agency collaboration is an example of making government work better for Kansans.”

KRR is a partnership between local schools, the Kansas Technical Assistance System Network (TASN), and DCF. KRR works with more than 60 schools across the state aligning afterschool, summer and family engagement programs with school data and practice.