KU vs K-State

With all the snow, its a good day to stay in and watch basketball. Tonight - 6 p.m. on ESPN - KU and K-State play. Both are highly ranked, which makes the rivalry even more interesting.

Here are game notes from KU

Here are game notes from K-State

I could post this type info regularly if people are interested. Just let me know of the level of interest.

Snow related services

Need something like snow shoveled?
or help of any kind?
Want to do some snow shoveling?
post anything like that here with contact info.

Friday

New cop notes are posted.
Ark City, Winfield, South Haven schools are closed today, as well as Cowley College.
Be careful out there.
Here is a link to Kansas road conditions.
http://511.ksdot.org/KanRoadPublic_VE/Default.aspx

Boards back on city agenda

City commissioners grappled with how to let good people keep serving on city boards, and at the same time, get new people involved, at their worksession Thursday.

At issues is the building and trades board. According to city rules a person has to step down for two years after serving three terms. This board has been having trouble getting people and would like to reduce that to a one-year period of not being on the board.

This board is harder than some to fill because of  how it is defined. It must have, for example, master plumbers, journeyman plumbers and so forth. There are only a few of those in town, so it makes it hard to get positions filled.

Other people feel that there should be no term limits since some people are very good at what they do, and they enjoy it a lot.

What the city is likely to do at their regular meeting next Tuesday, is reduce the waiting period to one year. People do have to be reappointed, and if no one can be found, they want to give the mayor the option of reappointing a person who may have served several consecutive positions.

Commissioner Dotty Smith likes the idea of limits because she wants to get more people involved in the business of the city.

Commissioner Patrick McDonald said the commission has to approve them each time anyway, so they could easily change members when terms expire, so there would not have to be a written limit.

The problem with the building and trades board is that they are beginning a process of reviewing city codes, which will take a good bit of time, and they need people familiar with the codes.

Building, planning and codes director Matt Rowland  said they have had trouble getting a quorum at times.

Commissioners are likely to vote on the matter next Tuesday, and the consensus seemed to be letting people keep serving on a board if no one new was available. But they do want to still have some sort of term limit if there are other qualified people wanting to serve.

You may read the whole story on the web site by clicking here

weather related closing

Here is an email that was forwarded to me from Shawn at KSOK, from the AC Public Library.

Due to the weather, the Arkansas City Public Library will close early tonight at 6:00 p.m.  For Friday, January 29, we are considering closing for the full day if the accumulation is over 3 inches.  If we decide to close, I will email or call you in the morning as soon as I know. 

We were to have a Gardening Lecture tonight, which has been postponed. 

 

School consolidation

Good morning.
I went to the South Haven - Caldwell joint school board meeting last night. They are considering consolidating districts.
Its a fairly complex and time consuming process, and they are taking it slow and involving their respective communities. I have a story about it on the web site. www.arkcityrevived.com
Cop notes should be posted soon, and I am caught up with Winfield and county cops as well.
Looks like the snow may actually come.

The speech

Ill admit,  I didn't bother listening to the President's speech. I heard one once. That was enough.
I did glance over the text though. Seemed like politics as usual to me, and the Republican response was as well.
Nothing changed my cynical attitude toward national politics.


Here is a link to the text of the speech.

One thing the AP does that I like is a think called a fact check. They basically check up on some of his claims.
Here is a link to that story.

Let the debate begin.

Winter storm coming?

Beautiful day out today, but it isn't likely to last.
The National Weather Service is calling for a winter storm. We are under a storm watch, which is not as bad as a storm warning. That means we may not get it.
But it should turn cold quickly tomorrow. Snow is to start tomorrow afternoon, and they say we could get six inches here near the Oklahoma border. Oklahoma  City is supposed to get around 10 inches.
Here is a link to the local forecast
http://www.weather.com/weather/alerts/localalerts/67005?phenomena=WS&significance=A&areaid=KSZ093&office=KICT&etn=0001

Wednesday, interesting article

Cop notes are posted for Ark City. I have them for Winfield and the county, but have not had time to post them. I hope to get them up this afternoon.
I saw an interesting article about how voters on Oregon have passed a tax increase on corporations and the wealthy.
Here is the article

The old thing about taxing corporations or the very wealthy is one of the key points between liberals and conservatives. I think it is another example of how left and right do not have the answers. They both take an all or nothing approach, which obviously doesnt work.
The old republican argument is that if you reduce taxes on corporations, they will invest more and that will grow the economy. The democrat argument is more of a share the wealth approach, and that corporations should pay their fair share.
You can look at Kansas. A few years ago the legislature approved a sales tax exemption on business machinery, which costs local governments a lot of money. The city of Arkansas City lost $750,000 as a result of that last year.
I dont see the economy growing in Kansas as a result.
But again, just taxing them to death, is not good either because they will go out of business eventually.
There needs to be a balance between the two.

State of Obama

The president will give his State of the Union message Wednesday night.
It is on all the networks.
Two questions. Will this interfere with college basketball broadcasts?  and will Joe Wilson be anywhere in sight?
You remember Wilson's outburst the last time the President addressed a joint session of congress. I doubt he will say anything again.
It just underscores what I have been saying about politics in general. The battle between left and right, liberal or conservative, is the problem.
I think it is because neither side has any solid answers and the continual battle is a distraction to keep us from seeing this fact. They both want you to be on one side or the other and that is the battle. Both sides are more interested in having control than they are in actually finding solutions.
Health care is a prime example. It has gone nowhere, and what will likely be passed will be something fairly meaningless. That was a lot of energy and money wasted on nothing more than a shouting match. No one even said anything surprising.
What if they had tried to actually find solutions?
Neither side has it right. Both sides interpret reality based on their ideology.
The dems wanted health care reform, of course the pubs opposed it.
We need more parties.
We need more choices.
If we had other parties, it would force them to work together in spite of their differences.
Im just afraid tomorrow night will just be more meaningless politics as usual. Obama will give his rosy picture, the pubs will bash it, the dems will counter bash, and the pubs will counter the counter base ad nauseum.
That is why I hope it doesn't interfere with any basketball games.
Here is a link to an AP story leading up to the speech.

Tuesday update

Cop notes are posted. Also, a report from last night's school board meeting.
The local schools are dipping into contingency funds to make ends meet on a temporary basis. They say the state is not sending them the amount that was budgeted. The whole school finance thing could get a lot more interesting.
This has nothing to do with the bond issue passed last year. They are two separate animals.

I also put other things on the site last night, some news from Cowley and so forth.

Monday update

Good Monday Morning.
Cop notes are posted on the site.
I will have several updates later in the day. As far as I know, the people being sought by the AC cops involving the drug bust, have not yet been found.
They are saying there will be fewer drugs on the street now.
Of course, it is true that others will replace them as suppliers, if the police are correct. We must remember that a person is to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Drugs are a big  problem. Some drugs are legal and socially acceptable - such as tobacco, alcohol and caffeine in all its forms.
There is a larger problem here.
Getting illegal drugs off the street is a good thing, but, we are still not dealing with the deeper issues.
Why do people "need" drugs.
Anyone want to discuss that?

More drug bust

Im having a bit of computer trouble, which is why I have not posted as much.
Anyways.
On the drug bust, it is kind hard to tell just how big it was since they are not giving out much real information.
However, the police say that the people they busted were major operators in Arkansas City.
So maybe the people are the big thing here.
They do have to protect evidence, and it is a touchy matter, as far as building a case. But they should be more forthcoming with information too. Its a hard balance. But they are saying privately that they have knocked out major dealers in arkansas city with this bust.

Drug bust update

There will be a press conference at 10:30 where details of the big drug bust will be given. NEWSCOW will have a live blog going, so you may watch it there.
www.newscow.net

Big drug bust

For the past three years local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have been involved in a criminal investigation into a large scale drug trafficking organization that has been importing and distributing narcotics into Cowley County, Kansas.

Today law enforcement officers converged on Arkansas City, Kansas to serve multiple arrest and search warrant in furtherance of this ongoing investigation, Arkansas City Police Chief Sean Wallace said in a press release. Hopefully there will be more informaiton forthcoming.

Agencies involved in this investigation are:

Arkansas City Police Department

Cowley County Sheriff’s Office

Winfield Police Department

Cowley County Drug Task Force

Lyon County Sheriff’s Office

Kansas Attorney General’s Office

Kansas Bureau of Investigation

Kansas Department of Revenue

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Drug Enforcement Administration

Immigration Customs Enforcement

United States Attorney’s Office

Cowley Co. Attorney’s Office

Kansas Highway Patrol

Other resources utilized: 

Tactical Units

South Central SWAT team

KBI High Risk Warrant Team

Specialty Team

Cowley County Tracker Team

K-9 units

Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office

Wichita Police Department

 

City commission update

The TIF issues didn't create a lot of controversy this time around. City commissioners passed a conditional annexation of property that could be used to create a TIF district at some point in the future, at their meeting Tuesday.
The property is the same that was rejected three years ago, in an attempt to create a TIF district that could have brought a Lowes to town.
Ark City Industries owns the property and agreed to an annexation for five years. If there is no development in five years, the annexation could be rescinded.
The point is growth.
City officials are hoping to attract some kind of business, be it retail or industrial, that will attract people to live in the city. With an area already designated, the city could offer that to a developer who wanted to locate a business here.
The whole city commission story is on the web site.
www.arkcityrevived.com

Cowley hoops

The Cowley women's team lost a heartbreaker Monday night, 64-62, to Labette. The Cowley men cruised to a 82-57 win.
In the women's game, Cowley led by as many as 14 in the second half. Labatte chipped away at the lead, and got late turnovers to tie the game. They hit the winning shot with six seconds left.
See the web site Tuesday morning for a full story, and for more photos.
In the photo, Cowley coach Todd Clark talks with point guard Ariana Silva in the late stages of the game.

monday, MLK

Today is the observed Martin Luther King Jr., holiday.
They had a nice program at Cowley College yesterday, called a celebration of unity.
There was a big crowd. People running the program said it was about three time the size of what they usually get, and I think it was a good bit larger than last year.
There are more pictures on the web site.
www.arkcityrevived.com
In the picture here, Middle School students sing.
Dr. Nick Rogers was given the Avery Community Spirit award. They had a speaker from Wichita, who spoke on the theme "Yes We Can."
It was a fun program.

National religious freedom day

Today is religious freedom day. January 16.
Here is an article from Wikipedia.
National Religious Freedom Day commemorates the Virginia General Assembly's adoption of Thomas Jefferson's landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom on January 16, 1786. This vital document became the basis for the separation of church and state, and led to freedom of religion for all Americans as protected in the religion clause in the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

Religious Freedom Day is officially proclaimed on January 16 each year by an annual statement by the President of the United States. This day is commemorated by the First Freedom Center in Richmond, Virginia by an annual First Freedom Award banquet.
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Religious freedom is very important. Believing in religious freedom for all does not mean you agree with all of them, but only that all have freedom to have their own beliefs and practices.
The idea of separation of church and state came from here, but the idea was never separation of state FROM religion. Everyone has a right to have their religion - and to speak about it publicly - which is what freedom of religion means.
There are those who would ban religion from the public square. I think that is the biggest threat to religious freedom that we have in the USA.

Schools and taxes

Some consolidations might save some money and help some with the school budget crisis.
There was a wave of them in the 60s, and maybe its time for another wave.
The state is charged with funding k-12 education. That is the state's main job, along with corrections and having a militia. That unpleasantness over state's rights many years ago kinda took the militia out of the picture, so that only leaves education and corrections.
Education is funded by taxes.
Here are a couple thoughts.
There is a move afoot by some at the statehouse to raise the sales tax by a penny, and or, raise taxes on cigarettes.
Sales taxes do fund a lot, but there are also lots of exemptions.
There are hundreds of items that are exempt. It makes a difference of about $3 billion a year to the state.
So raising sales taxes, or cutting back on some exemptions to sales tax, could make a lot of difference as far as the state budget goes.
Local school boards can also raise local taxes.
Here is something that happens. Taxes are passed down the food chain. The state gives you tax breaks, so to stay afloat, local schools and municipalities have to raise taxes to stay afloat. The legislators at the state level look like they are giving you a break, while they are just pushing the burden to the local level.
They do that in Washington too.

I would not be surprised to see some consolidations. A raise in taxes is not out of the question either.

Haiti relief opportunity

Psychology students are putting together a donation drive for Haiti Relief and would like to purchase a Shelter Box – These boxes hold a tent which will house 10 people and come with a variety of survival supplies. One box is $1,000! Students will set up a donation table in the Brown Center Lobby before and after the Celebration of Unity on Sunday, Jan 17th. If you do not plan to attend the event but would like to make a donation, you can drop that off in the Social Science office. The number of the college is 620-442-0430 then ask for the Social Science department.
http://www.shelterboxusa.org/InsideAShelterbox.aspx

TIF back on city's mind

The TIF debate got going to some degree at the Arkansas City worksession Thursday, but another try at a TIF district is still a long way off.
At their meeting next Tuesday they will considering conditionally annexing a piece of property along Skyline Drive. That property could be used for development, and that includes the possibility of a TIF district. Ark City Industries owns the land and has agreed to the annexation. If there is no development in five years, the annexation would expire.
This is the same piece of property where a TIF district was proposed three years ago, and the site of a potential Lowes. The city turned down the setting up of the district at that time.
City Manager Steve Archer said passing this item next Tuesday would not create a TIF, but would clear the way if any kind of development were to come.
Mayor Jay warren said "this is about economic development."
Dotty Smith and Mell Kuhn questioned the TIF, but did not voice direct opposition.
For the rest of the city commission story, click here, or visit the web site.

the blog is back

The blog is back. Many people went over to the site. I will have to see if readership picks back up on here.
Cop notes are posted. I now have Winfield cop notes as well as Cowley County Sheriff notes on the site.
City commission worksession is this evening at 5:30.
One item that stands out is annexing Ark City Industries property along Skyline Drive to be used as a Tax Increment Finance district. This is an annexation for a "possible future TIF district."
This sets the state for a TIF, but does not create one.

City commission

City Commissioners will likely approve the ambulance at its meeting tonight. After a discussion at the worksession Monday, commissioner said all their questions were answered and they were ready to move forward.

Other issues were not as fortunate. The put off dealing with new software and with a policy for collecting bad water debts.

You may read the full story here:

http://www.arkcityrevived.com/city.html

Items on the agenda for Tuesday include:

Cereal malt beverage license for Walgreens for 2010.

Accepting easements for Patterson Park, Bryant water projects.

Ordinance adjusting city code to reduce the delay for reappointment to the city Building Trades Board.

Contracts for the water mains to the Patterson Park Subdivision.

Review bids and consider awarding contracts for the redundant water line to the Bryant Standpipe.

Texas trip

We got back from Texas around midnight last night.

Let me just say, I had finished a long post about the trip, and accidentally deleted it. So Ill give you a shorter version. I hope to get more pictures posted on the site later on.

We went to San Antonio, and had a really good experience of the "Texas state of mind."

Here is a picture of the Alamo at bottom, the river walk, and another mission on the south side of town.

We stopped in Austin - the state capitol - and that was cool. We have a collection of pictures of state capitols.

It was interesting to see a monument to the war "fought for states rights."

At many small town courthouses, there were also monuments to the confederancy.

Ill try to write more later on.

Quiet the shock to the senses to come back to such cold weather. Back to reality I guess.

happy new year

happy new year everyone