The Great Bend Recreation Commission received a donation from the Golden Belt Community Foundation with the Kansas Health Foundation Children’s Health Endowment and the GBRC Foundation for $41,047 for two upcoming recreation projects slated to begin fall of 2018: Improvements to the 18-hole Disc Golf Course and new toddler playground located on the southeast side of Veteran’s Memorial Park.

“The Disc Golf Course Project will begin to move forward in July,” said Diann Henderson, Executive Director of the Great Bend Recreation Commission. “The scope of improvements to the current 18-hold course will include utilizing a professional consultant to provide us with a quality championship design that includes new baskets and signage and adequate concrete pads. We are hoping for a course redesign that can be challenging but fair layout with safety being a priority in the design.”

The Toddler Playground Project will commence later this fall. This project will include new toddler playground equipment and surfacing designed for active 2-5 year olds which will replace the existing toddler playground located at Veteran’s Park.

The Recreation Commission staff and City of Great Bend Park Department staff will work collectively in implementing these two projects in the fall of 2018 and spring of 2019.

When Barton County Commissioners decided not to install a four way stop at North Washington Avenue and Juco Road on May 7, they said that they would see how the planned intersection improvements worked before determining whether to take the more drastic step of installing a four way stop. That discussion may now take place sooner than later.

Monday’s accident that injured a Great Bend man followed the fatality accident that killed a Barton County teenager in April and prompted the discussion about going with a four way stop at the intersection.

This is Barton County Administrator Phil Hathcock.

Phil Hathcock Audio

Hathcock was unsure on when Commissioners would revisit the intersection issue but said he wouldn’t be surprised if that conversation took place as soon as next Monday.

Phil Hathcock Audio

Monday afternoon a 2000 Ford Ranger operated by 91-year old Francis Haberman of Great Bend was southbound on Washington Avenue when he collided with a 2004 International garbage truck operated by Michael Furrey that was westbound on Juco Road. According to the Sheriff’s Office, witnesses at the scene stated the International truck stopped at the stop sign for westbound traffic and then pulled into the path of the southbound Haberman vehicle. Haberman was transported to Great Bend Regional Hospital and later flown to a Wichita area hospital with unknown injuries.

The deadline to announce resignations has passed, and now USD 428 is in full recruitment and hiring mode before the new school year starts in August.

At Monday’s USD 428 Board of Education meeting, Assistant Superintendent John Popp said there were 12 positions yet to be hired. Out of those 12, the Great Bend school district has three psychologist positions open. Popp says trying to fill the school psych jobs will be extremely difficult so for the time being the district is planning to spread the work out.

John Popp Audio

The district has 61 position changes including 36 resignations, seven retirements, 18 building transfers, 29 new-to-district hires, three position reductions, and one position added.

Popp says the exit surveys from all the teachers that left this year are getting organized and will eventually be presented to the Board.

John Popp Audio

The positions still open include: Eisenhower kindergarten, Riley kindergarten, 1^st, 4^th, and 6^th grade, Great Bend High School ELA Coach, Great Bend Middle School social studies, three psychologist positions, one special services teacher, and one Early Childhood Special Education teacher.

BOOKED: Courtney Clark on Great Bend Municipal Court case for driving while suspended, driving without headlights, bond set at $500 C/S. Hoisington Municipal Court warrant for failure to appear, bond set at $500 C/S.

BOOKED: Matthew Cooley of Great Bend on Barton County District Court warrant for failure to appear, bond set at $1,500 cash only.

BOOKED: Trisha Johnson of Great Bend on Barton County District Court warrant for probation violation, bond set in lieu of $10,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Michael Graves of Great Bend on Great Bend Municipal Court serve sentence.

BOOKED: Brian Fellers of Great Bend on Barton County District Court warrant for probation violation, no bond.

BOOKED: Christopher Caton of Great Bend on Barton County District Court warrant for probation violation, bond set at $500 cash. BCDC warrant for probation violation, bond set at $500 cash. Ellinwood Municipal Court warrant for contempt of cour, bond set at $826.50 cash. GBMC warrant for contempt of court, bond set at $1,036 cash. GBMC warrant for failure to appear, bond set at $1,000 C/S. GBMC warrant for contempt, bond set at $726 cash. GBMC warrant for contempt of court, bond set at $327 cash. GBMC warrant for failure to appear, bond set at $1,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Christopher Adams of Great Bend on GBMC warrant for contempt of court, bond set at $892 cash only or 162 days in jail. GBMC warrant for contempt, bond set at $600 cash only or 180 days in jail. BTDC case for possession of methamphetamine, felony obstruction, and child endangerment, bond set at $10,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Gwen Finningan of Great Bend on Rush County District Court warrant for attempted theft, criminal damage to property, bond is set at $1,250 C/S. Rush County District Court warrant for burglary x2, attempted theft, theft, criminal damage to property, bond is set at $15,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Richard Fletcher of Great Bend on GBMC warrant for contempt of court, bond set at $547.50 cash only or 30 days in jail. GBMC warrant for contempt of court, bond set at $560 cash only or 30 days in jail.

BOOKED: Katie Baker on Great Bend Municipal Court case for battery DV with a bond set at $1,000 C/S.

RELEASED: Courtney Clark of Great Bend on Great Bend Municipal Court case for driving while suspended and driving with no headlights after posting $500 surety bond through Ace Bail Bonding. Hoisington Municipal Court warrant for failure to appear after posting a $500 surety bond through Ace Bail Bonding.

RELEASED: Lanie Sturn on Ellinwood Municipal Court warrant for contempt of court per order of the court.

RELEASED: Katie Baker on Great Bend Municipal Court case for battery DV after posting a $1,000 surety bond through Ace Bail Bonding.

Nearly a year has passed since the last time the Great Bend community has heard about the proposal to build a memorial to honor Bill McKown. Architectural drawings for the Bill McKown Memorial statue were submitted to Great Bend city officials in July of 2017.

Friends of McKown want to build the statue in the northwest corner of Jack Kilby Square in Great Bend to honor McKown. McKown was a Great Bend resident from 1965 until the day he passed away in 2014.

Bob Feldt says the Bill McKown Memorial Committee has heard no response from the City of Great Bend on the approval of its location.

Bob Feldt Audio

McKown was a quadriplegic after suffering spine and neck injuries at the age of 19, but was heavily involved in the Great Bend community and was a Kansas delegate to the President’s Commission for the Handicapped.

The initial memorial proposal in April 2017 called for the statue to be placed in the southwest corner of the Courthouse square, but because of scheduled events and traffic on that side, Feldt says the Committee moved the intended location to the northwest.

Feldt also understood shortly after the Committee presented the idea, the City Council and the City went through a tumultuous time concerning the eventual resignation of Great Bend Police Chief Cliff Couch. Feldt believed most of the dust has settled, but the Committee has still heard no response.

Bob Feldt Audio

Feldt says it has been about a month since the Committee’s last request to speak before the Council or get confirmation on its location. The Council approved the Committee’s desire to submit an application to build the statue, but not its location.

The statue will be a life-sized scuplture of McKown in his wheelchair. Feldt estimated the project will cost $100,000 or more, money that will be raised by the Committee.

written by: Donna Krug, Family & Consumer Science Agent and District Director – Cottonwood Extension District

I hope that your family takes time to celebrate with dad on his special day. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of my own father. Even though he’s been gone more than 10 years I appreciate the role model he was to our family. A hard working farmer, he was totally outnumbered with a wife and three daughters. He taught us a lot of things and provided the opportunity for us to attend college. He even took the time to be a 4-H community club leader for many years. He was a wonderful caregiver to my mother for the 30 years that she lived with the challenges of Parkinson’s Disease.

It is so refreshing to see fathers who have become more involved with their families beyond the role of breadwinner. I saw it in my husband, John, and now in our son and son-in-law, Adam and Art. Taking the time to develop and nurture relationships with children pays off big in the end. Children with active fathers develop skills they can carry into adulthood. Self-esteem soars when dads are active participants in their children’s lives.

Children come with their own unique personalities, temperaments and developmental timetables and dads are an essential link to a child’s well-being.

As we celebrate Dads for all that they do or have done, it is important to be mindful of the influence they have on positive youth development. Summer often provides additional opportunities for families to spend time together. Family vacations and backyard barbeques are perfect events for family bonding and creating happy memories. However, Dads who do not live in the home do have to be more intentional about creating and taking advantage of opportunities to spend time together.

With blended families, scheduling and personality conflicts between adults can create barriers. A gradual cultural shift of permissiveness toward single parenting can sometimes give an impression that fathers don’t really matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Fathers play an important role in the development of their children and families. Studies show that children with involved fathers are more successful in school, more ambitious, more self-confident with their identity, self-protective and self-reliant, less likely to drop out of school and less susceptible to peer pressure.

So take time to celebrate Dad this Father’s Day!