The Hays Daily News from Hays, Kansas • Page 3

Floor wofk ED PALUBINSKAS AIRBRUSHES A BRONCBUSTER LOGO TUESDAY ON THE BASKETBALL COURT AT GARDEN ClTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE'S DENNIS PERRYMAN ATHLETIC CENTER. LAURIE SISK GARDEN CITY TELEGRAM FRIDAY JUNE 13, 2008 THE STATE Briefs TtaM CMM-ttllMM. If WaKEENtEY-Abusyday awaits Trego County Commissioners when they meet at 9 a.m. Monday. The day starts off quietly enough, but at 9:30 a.m., Michael Ghumm and the commissioners will open bids of remodeling the courtroom, a move that will ultimately put the court system on the second floor of the Trego County Courthouse.

At 10:30 a.m., Dale Pfannenstiel will present the proposed 2009 budget for the road and bridge department. That will be followed 30 minutes later with a meeting of department heads. At 11 :30, Charlene Neish, the county's economic development director, will meet with commissioners. In the afternoon, Terry Campbell will talk to commissioners about the juvenile detention center. At 2 p.m., commissioners will travel to Hays to visit Cedar View Assisted Living, the owners of which have indicated an interest in purchasing the Lutheran Home in WaKeeney.

Trego County is looking to purchase the financially troubled home, but then immediately sell it to a private interest. In addition to the Cedar View owners, Deseret Health Care has indicated an interest in the Lutheran Home. MM Hyi hi MM HUTCHINSON (HNS) A Wichita man who was staying with his sister in Hutchinson after a wedding party recently went outside to get some air before deciding to go back inside and eat pizza. Unfortunately, he was in the wrong apartment, and he was naked. Prosecutors formally charged Neil W.

Lutgen, 43, with aggravated burglary arid theft in connection with the Sunday incident. During a first appearance Wednesday, Lutgen told Magistrate Judge Randy McEwen that he had been intoxicated when he went out for air while staying at his sister's apartment in the 900 block of 32nd Terrace. He allegedly went back inside to the next-door apartment and began eating pizza and drinking root beer. The legal occupant, Jim Willis, allegedly found Lutgen standing naked in his kitchen and called police. Lutgen is being held on a $10,500 bond.

FYI Beginning Tuesday, the Main and Main Street Terrace intersection, along with the 22nd and Main Street intersection, will be closed. Traffic will be diverted at 23rd Street. Detour signs will be in place to direct the traveling public. Construction in this area will continue for the next several months, causing the restriction of vehicle traffic in this area. The construction is in relation to water line improvements.

uttertw Thursday Roily Pick Red Numbers: White Numbers: HO HkH eaw Ms revering and writing, BwJtf we TOikiti SP we san tec rasters tht wrreen intaniga0, snesW' readers wne find an tw Community leaders hope to increase day-care offerings By KALEY LYON Recent graduates of the spring Leadership Hays class have a mission to help create additional child care availability in Ellis County. The class has been working since February to create a grant program that will offer assistance to new day-care providers or current providers wishing to become licensed. It also hopefully will help draw additional providers to the business, said Jeanine Lytton, who is helping to implement the program. "A lot of people in Leadership Hays were having difficulty finding summer care for their kids," Lytton said. "The biggest thing is that we need more slots for kids in Hays." Grant applications now are available at Hays Welcome Center and Hays Area Children's Center.

Funding provided by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment will foot several grants up to the amount of $500, Lytton said. Preference will be given to providers who are wiling to become SRS licensed. Individuals who recently entered the business, or are planning to do so. also arc eligible. Individuals wishing to become licensed also will be considered, as moving from the status of registered to licensed will enable care providers to accommodate more children, she said.

"We know there's a need, particularly for emergency care, infant care and even part-rime care is hard to find sometimes." Lytton said. The money will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis. While there is no application deadline, funding is limited, she said. In addition to encouraging new providers, the group hopes the project help encourage individuals currently in the business to stay with it. Lytton said.

"We want to encourage them to stay- in it," she said. "The first few months is when people say, 'Oh. this isn't for me. I don't have the money to replace We want to encourage them to stay in it." A list of allowable expenditures, includ- ing furniture and equipment, is included with the grant application. As part of the leadership Hays class, sponsored by the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce, the local professionals could have chosen any project to help local children.

Because this has been identified as a prevalent need in the community, the group hopes additional funding possibly could allow the program to continue even after the available moneys expire, she said. "It's a tough business because you have long hours. When you're paying for daycare, you think it's so expensive." Lytton said. "But when you're on the other end, it doesn't go that There's a lot of expenses, and people need to realize that." A herd of horses in a pasture west of Woodston gather Tuesday to take in the view of U.S. Highway 24.

RAYMOND HAYS DAILY NEWS Regents approve tuition increase at FHSU By GAYLE WEBER Despite a tuition hike, Fort Hays State University will remain the only four-year institution in Kansas to keep its tuition below SI00 per credit hour next year. The 5.5 percent increase means full-time, resident undergraduates will pay S91.35 per credit hour beginning in the fall. "You're looking at $500 between us and the next most inexpensive institution per year," said FHSU President Edward H. Hammond. "When you look at tuition and fees, the same things occur." For the year, students taking 15 hours per semester pay $2,740.50.

Emporia State University is the closest to FHSU in price at $3,294, while upperclassmen at the University of Kansas will pay $6,195. The Board of Regents approved a tuition compact for freshmen and sophomores at KU, which locks in tuition rates and increases for four years. FHSU did not have the smallest percentage increase this year, with Emporia State raising tuition by only 5.3 percent. "Their increase was smaller than ours, but their tuition is still $20 higher than ours," Hammond said. In other business at this week's Board of Regents meeting, two new programs were approved at FHSU.

A bachelor of business administration in international business and economics degree and a bachelor of business administration in tourism and hospitality management degree were approved. "Both programs will be in place in the fall semester," Hammond said. "We didn't recruit students for the fall. Students that are here could transfer into those programs." One new faculty member will be hired to instruct the hospitality degree, while faculty already are in place for the international business degree. The board adopted a new policy that could affect local high school students.

"The state Legislature made sophomores for concurrent enrollment," Hammond said. Previously, only high school juniors and seniors could take college courses for credit at both the high school and college level. FHSU faculty also will be getting a raise. Because the salary portion of faculty's three-year contract with the American Association of University Professors was negotiable, all faculty will be receiving a 1.6 percent raise. A merit raise of 2 percent and a 0.4 percent raise for promotion stipends also was included.

High court hears arguments in Planned Parenthood suit US, marshals capture Texas murder suspect WICHITA (AP) A Texas man on the run for capital murder is now in jail in Wichita after U.S. marshals were notified he might be in the area. The U.S. Marshals Service says Jerome Overstreet had been want- ed orr a Terrant County warrant issued June 6 out of Fort Worth for the death of Yield Overstreet. U.S.

marshal's spokesman Logan Kline says local authorities in Wichita are uncertain about the relationship between the suspect and the victim. The suspect has used many identities, and authorities are trying to determine which one is his. Jerome Overstreet was reported having a job with a local aircraft manufacturer. TOPEKA (AP) Kansas Supreme Court justices on Thursday questioned how a prosecutor handled abortion patients' records that were part of a criminal investigation. Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri is trying to force Johnson County prosecutor Phill Kline to return patient files that are part of his case accusing an Overland Park clinic of performing illegal abortions and falsifying documents.

During a nearly two-hour hearing before the Supreme Court on Thursday, Kline and his attorney, Caleb Stegall, argued that the prosecutor's office did nothing wrong. Kline had access to the records as part of an investigation he undertook when he was attorney general. He transferred them to Johnson County as he left the attorney general's office in January 2007. However, Planned Parenthood Bob Eye told the justices Kline didn't have the right to the copies of 29 patient records and that patient privacy was violated when a former Kline investigator kept them at his apartment. Eye said unauthorized individuals could have read or altered the files.

"We will never know," Eye said. Logistics of Kiwanis flag program daunting but rewarding By BRANDON WORF It's a little more work than most would think. Jerry Ubert discovered that the hard way. The co-chairman of Hays Kiwanis spearheads the club's well- known efforts to place American flags on each significant American holiday in the yards of those who donate to the club. In his experience, things can be easy, or they can be a bit daunting.

"You never quite know how much help is going to show up each time." Uhert said. "Sometimes, there's two or three of us doing the whole thing. But most of the time, there's about 35 or 40 of us." Started in 2000, the project is the result of the desire by members of the dub to spread patriotism and natjonaJ pride. It started small and has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception eight years ago. "It's been kinda neat to watch it grow," Ubert said.

"We started with just three routes and 71 flags, and now we've got about 650 flags, and the 16 routes are pretty well divided up." The growth has been nice, but many didn't realize the order of the task they had started. "From Day 1, we realized it was going to be more work than we thought," Ubert said. "But the nice thing is, you get them all up and see them, and you realize that it was aJl worth it. That's when people get gung-ho about it." The program is simple. Individuals or business can make a $30 donation snd be placed on die fet of flag recipients.

For each main American holiday, such as Memorial Day, Independence Day, Flag Day and Veterans' Day, the club will place an American flag in the yard for display at the start of the day. Members will then collect the flags at the end of the day for storage. It's a simple concept, but the logistics behind it are a bit daunting. "It takes about 35 or 40 of us to make the whole thing work, and we usually meet at 6 a.m. at my garage to get started," Ubert said.

"We have 16 routes, and it usually takes about three or four people pei' route." While most routes have about 25 to 40 flags apiece, getting things even can be tricky. "It's comparable to a bus route," Ubert said, "We have a route hook with all the addresses, and we consult that each time we go out. But sometimes we get last minute additions from people who hear about it and want to get in on it." Typically, the weather has cooperated, but there have been a few occasions where things turned out to be fairly interesting. "We got rained on during Memorial Day, so we've had to hang up every flag to dry," he said. "The Department of Transport tation was letting us use their building, and we have about 500 of our flags hanging up in there drying out, and the rest are in my garage." The program starts each year with Memorial Day and continues through the year.

Uhert said even if people don't start the first of the season, they can join in at any time. "It starts at a $30 donation, but we do pro-rate things if they miss the first one or two holidays," Ubert said. The program is quite popular, and some people like it so much, they get more than one flag. "People will sign on relatives, friends, neighbors even their tenants," Ubert said. "There's one business that gets nine flags from us, and we offered to give them a rate reduction, but they didn't want it." The Kiwanis club will be placing flags Saturday for Flag Day, and Ubert said the public still can take advantage of the holiday.

"There's stijji time to get one placed," he said. "AU they have to do is ask a member.".