County Election Now Official
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75¢ COLBY Thursday August 14, 2014 Volume 125, Number 127 Serving Thomas County since 1888 8 pages FFREEREE PPRESSRESS County election now official By Sam Dieter phen Shull for Rovohal, Vernon Colby Free Press Vance for Smith, Dee Olson for [email protected] Summers, Loren Guill for Menlo, Alice Wolf for Morgan and Allen County commissioners certifed Cheney for Wendell. No one ran official primary election results in East Hale. after a canvas of the vote tally Precinct Committeeman and Monday. No major changes were Committeewoman elections made from the unofficial vote tal- Joshua Faber, county Repubi- ly after the primary. can Party central committee chair- County and township man, won the precinct committee- elections man seat in Colby Ward II with County Commissioner Byron 92 votes over Kenneth Frahm’s Sowers was re-elected to his Dis- 71. His wife Rhonda Faber won trict 1 post by a wide margin with the committeewoman seat with 83 230 votes to the 181 cast for Lon- votes over 81 for Sheila Frahm, nie Wilson, the only challenger Frahm’s wife, and a former U.S. SAM DIETER/Colby Free Press in the Republican race. Wilson Senator and lieutenant governor. Aaron Horinek, vice president of the Thomas County Farm his fields at the association’s annual meeting Tuesday night. is chairman of the North Randall Mike Brown took the Ward III Bureau Association, showed off a drone he uses to look over Township, where both he and Republican seat with 191 votes, Sowers live. and Jeanene Brown won with Travis Elias kept his seat as 192. James Harms took the Ward the North Randall clerk in a race IV seat with 101 votes to the 62 against the commissioners’s wife, cast for Paul Steele, chairman of Farm Bureau members Linda Sowers, 18 votes to 11. the Thomas County Commission. Township Clerk elections Shelly Harms, the county clerk, Patrick Tinkham will be the took the committeewoman seat in clerk for Barrett Township, David Ward IV with 157 votes. Bowman for West Hale Town- Rosalie Seemann, the only hear ideas, annual wrapup ship, Don Cranston for Kingery, Democrat in the committee races, Pete Ziegelmeier for Lacey, Gary By Sam Dieter The bureau awarded its scholarships for the They said they visited several types of Ostmeyer for South Randall, Ste- See “ELECTION,” Page 2 Colby Free Press year to Marc Bremenkamp, Abigail Friesen farms, including a flower farm, a mushroom [email protected] and Kylie Jones. factory, an organic orchard, an organic dairy Lynn and Tami Goossen received the Farm farm, a strawberry farm and a winery. Bert The Thomas County Farm Bureau heard Family of the Year Award for their farming Stramel said workers at the flower farm have about some new ideas at its annual meeting operation near Mingo. Lynn Goossen com- computer chips put on their hands to make Fracking used Tuesday night. mented that the job was hard when he started sure the flowers they cut do not change hands Vernon Hurd, with Farm Bureau Financial in 1983 and still is today. more than twice, which drains efficiency. The Services, gave the financial report, noting Erma Tubbs received the Century Farm Stramels learned that strawberries are so deli- that the agency here has seen a record num- award for the family’s Triple T Farms, first cate the workers put them in the same cartons ber of insurance claims just halfway through homesteaded in 1913. Her son, Jim Tubbs, they are in at the store, so no one else touches risky chemicals the year. He urged farmers to have their em- one of the family members who accepted the them before the consumer. ployees signed up for the Affordable Care Act, award on her behalf, said he is proud to be a Vice President Aaron Horinek and his wife TOPEKA (AP) – An environ- cancer and damage to the nervous since, like other employers, farms can face a farmer and proud of the family’s land. Elisa took the Kansas Farm Bureau president’s mental group alleges that compa- system. steep penalty if they don’t. The group heard from Bert and Lisa Stra- trip to Washington in place of President Shea nies using the oil and gas drilling Two wells in Harper County Aaron Horinek, Caleb Mattix, Austin Frantz mel, the 2012 winners of the Farm Family of Baird. They heard from Rep. Tim Huelskamp method hydraulic fracturing in and two in Grant County used and Relda Galli were elected to the county the Year Award and 2013 winners for the state and other groups. Members asked Huelskamp four wells in Kansas have used diesel or similar products during board, with one open position remaining. Ho- Farm Bureau’s District No. 10, which com- why he got kicked off the Agriculture Com- chemicals that can cause cancer. hydraulic fracturing, according to rinek, Pete Ziegelmeier and Shellie Intermill prises 11 counties in northwest Kansas. As dis- mittee, he said, and why he did not vote for the Industry representatives on the report. were elected as voting delegates to the Kansas trict winners, they toured farms in California, Wednesday denied the allegations “This is first and foremost a Farm Bureau annual meeting in Manhattan. mainly the southern part of the state. See “WRAPUP,” Page 2 in a report issued by the Envi- public health issue,” Green said. ronmental Integrity Project, The Katie Brown, a spokeswoman Topeka Capital-Journal reported for Energy in Depth, a program of (bit.ly/VmkrsP ). the Independent Petroleum Asso- The report examined the use of ciation of America, said the indus- Jennings schedules Fun Day diesel, kerosene and similar hy- try protects public health, and per- drocarbons in fracking around the mits for using kerosene weren’t By Marjorie Hartzog The theme for this year’s event A new event will be the Lions or pre-order from Dorothy Va- country. The report’s author, Mary required when most of the wells and parade is “Honoring Our Club Health Care Van, which will cura at (785) 678-8133 or Marge Green, said 351 wells in 12 states were in use. The 16 members of the Jennings Area’s Teachers.” Any parade en- provide free hearing and vision Hartzog at (785) 678-3010). Sev- used diesel without a water qual- “There has never been a single Fire Department, along with many tries, memorabilia, pictures and screening, plus blood pressure en fillings – apple, apricot, cottage ity permit between 2011 and July case of water contamination from Jennings residents, are gearing up memories available for display or and blood sugar checks. Another cheese, cherry, peach, poppy seed, 2014. She said chemicals within for the 23rd annual Jennings Fire- sharing will be appreciated. addition will be the craft fair to and prune – will be available. men’s Fun Day to be held Satur- The day’s agenda, similar to be held in the old Jennings Opera The children’s events will in- diesel have been shown to cause See “FRACKING,” Page 2 day, Aug. 23. past years, begins with a health House/Masonic Hall a block west clude train rides with Greg Otter, fair from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the of the city square. A few display a giant slide, courtesy of Decatur Senior Center, offering lab cover- tables are still available. For infor- County Farm Bureau Financial age for a minimal price, courtesy mation, contact Vi Krizek at (785) Services, and the Jennings Fire Who says school’s no fun? of Quest labs. Lynnetta Ward, a 678-7015. Department’s Jumparama in- nurse practitioner from Decatur A change from past years is that flatables, a 32-foot slide and four- Health Systems, will be avail- the 120 dozen kolaches, a Czech in-one bouncy house. There will able for skin checks and to answer delicacy baked by Jennings wom- be pony rides with Peggy West- health questions, and Amy Vacu- en, will be sold from the Craft moreland, a dunk tank and a coin ra, a certified massage therapist, Fair site instead of the fire station. will offer free massages. They sell quickly, so come early See “JENNINGS,” Page 2 City budget corrected By Sam Dieter little from this year’s levy of 33.279, which brought Colby Free Press in $1,483,165. [email protected] Major items in this year’s budget include utilities at $10,614,630, plus $3,242,088 in the city’s gen- The Colby City Council approved a $22,452,249 eral fund, $1,301,587 in the bond and interest fund, budget for the coming year at it’s meeting last week, $1,176,139 in employee benefits, $2,051,867 in the up nearly two million from this year. economic development fund and $1,123,546 in fi- A story in Friday’s Colby Free Press gave the nanced projects. wrong total for the budget, $44 million, or nearly The council also approved a five-year capital out- twice the actual figure. lay plan which is approved each year along with the Last year’s budget was $20,854,882. The council budget. This plan includes a list of items or projects passed the new budget without comment. No one each department wants, although the council has came to speak or ask questions at a public hearing only voted to spend the money in the first year and held just before the vote. The budget had already approves capital items each year with the budget. been published, and the council spent several hours SAM DIETER/Colby Free Press going over it at a work session July 8.