Weekend images of the Allen County Fair

 

Abby Rinehart checks a rabbit?s ears during the rabbit showmanship competition at the fair Saturday.

 

Jillian Keller is doused with a jug of water during the Barnyard Olympics competition.

 

From left, Prairie Rose 4-H members Doug Dix, Natalea Heins, Natasha Heins, Darrell Dix and Ty Scharff compete in the tug of war at the Barnyard Olympics.

 

Dakota Slocum tries his hand at bareback bronc riding at the URS-MRCA Rodeo Friday evening.

 

Sebastian Hays hangs on for dear life during the Mutton Busting competition.

 

Logan Stevens pulls a weighted sled during the Mini Rod Garden Tractor Pull Sunday afternoon.

Tyreek Hill addresses media, makes first public comments

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — Tyreek Hill was contrite but repentant in his first comments since he was banished from the Kansas City Chiefs following an audio recording in which his then-fiancee accused him of hurting their son.

The star wide receiver declined Sunday to discuss the specifics of his case, which wound to a conclusion late last week when the NFL declined to punish him for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. But he did apologize for the precarious situation he left the Chiefs in this past offseason.

“I’ve learned to just appreciate those around me,” Hill said after the Chiefs’ second workout of training camp at Missouri Western. “I feel like I take that for granted sometimes, being a professional athlete. I tend to not stay humble, you know what I’m saying? I still love my kids and I still love my family, but I feel like sometimes I take all of those things for granted.”

The Chiefs were poised to make their first selection of the NFL draft when the graphic, secretly taped audio of Hill and Crystal Espinal aired on a local TV station. The Chiefs quickly suspended the two-time All-Pro from all team-related activities and, uncertain of Hill’s future with the organization, used a second-round pick on speedy wide receiver Mecole Hardman.

Hill remained barred from the team during voluntary summer workouts and the Chiefs’ mandatory minicamp, even after the local district attorney decided there was not enough evidence to pursue charges.

The NFL was still weighing whether to punish Hill under terms of its personal conduct policy when it sent investigators to Kansas City late last month. During an eight-hour session, Hill supplied the league with his side of the story, laying out the facts from his point of view.

“(Commissioner) Roger Goodell and his team did their thing. They dug in, got all the facts, and I’m very appreciative of those guys as well,” Hill said. “The meeting was long. It was probably the longest meeting of my life. It was crazy. What I was trying to get across was just the facts, man.”

The NFL ultimately decided late last week that it would not punish Hill, and the Chiefs immediately announced that his team-issued suspension was lifted and he would be reporting to training camp.

He was not available to reporters during check-in day Friday, nor did Hill speak following the Chiefs’ first practice Saturday. But he was carried to the practice field by a chorus of fans chanting “Tyreek! Tyreek!” in what could only be described as a groundswell of support.

It was a 180-degree turn from the sentiments most fans had just a few months ago.

“The love feels good, to come back out here and get a chance,” Hill said. “I’m on a new journey as far as me growing as a father and as a human.”

There is still an ongoing investigation by the Kansas Department for Children and Families, and Hill said he could not discuss that case. Nor would he discuss the specifics of a recent sit-down that he had with Clark Hunt, the Chiefs’ chairman and the most visible face of the ownership family.

Hill did acknowledge learning a lesson he hoped to pass on to younger players.

“You can look at me and tell I’ve been through a lot,” he said, “even when I first came into the league. I had a bad history. Just be thankful for the ones around you, stay humble and grounded, love your parents and your kids — if you have kids — and just work hard.”

Hill caught 12 touchdown passes and set a franchise record with 1,479 yards receiving last season, earning his third Pro Bowl trip in as many seasons. It’s a big reason why the Chiefs were interested in signing him to a long-term deal as he entered the final year of his rookie contract.

Where those talks now stand remains in question.

“It was good having him back out there,” Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy said Sunday. “He is an intelligent kid. He picked up right where he left off. “He’s doing a heck of a job.”

DUI arrest follows one-vehicle accident

Iolan Clarence A. Garber was arrested for suspicion of drunken driving following a one-vehicle accident south of LaHarpe Sunday afternoon.

According to Master Deputy Daren Kellerman of the Allen County Sheriff’s Department, Garber was driving a 2001 Mercury Mountaineer south of LaHarpe on 2600 Street, a blacktop road.

Garber lost control of his vehicle and went into the ditch, near Idaho Road, about five miles south of LaHarpe.

The sport utility vehicle traveled about 100 yards before careening back onto the roadway, where it spun 180 degrees and overturned, as it went back toward the ditch.

The came to a violent halt on the driver’s side, Kellerman said, with glass, vehicle parts and other contents scattered across the crash site.

Garber suffered apparent minor injuries, but refused treatment. A passenger, his 3-year-old daughter, was not hurt.

Both were properly secured, Kellerman said in a press release..

Emergency responders from Iola, Humboldt and Moran responded to the call, due to the centralized location of the crash.

“We try and treat every emergency response the same but, when we hear children are involved, it seems everything gets dialed up just a bit more,” Kellerman said. “Luckily, today it appears the usage of the seat belt and, most importantly, the proper installation and usage of the child safety seat, kept both occupants protected from major harm.  When our EMS personnel said the child appeared to be fine, you could see almost visibly see the tension leave emergency responders’ bodies, and that includes mine too.”

Kellerman said charges of driving without a license, transporting an open container of alcohol and child endangerment also will be requested against Garber.

Georgia Searcy

Georgia R. Searcy, 99, of Crawfordsville, Indiana, formerly of Parsons, passed away at 9:30 a.m., Thursday, July 25, 2019 at Wellbrooke of Crawfordsville.

She was born on June 30, 1920 at Iola, to Ralph W.E. and Lillie J. (Hutchinson) Shafer. She grew up at Iola and LaHarpe and attended schools in the Iola area graduating from Iola High School. She attended Iola Junior College and later attended the Coffeyville Beauty College.

She and Alvin Searcy were united in marriage on Aug. 21, 1940, at Iola. He preceded her in death on Nov. 27, 1996.

They lived in Iola for a number of years where she was a homemaker until they moved to Seattle, Wash., where she worked as an office manager at a veterinarian clinic for several years. They then moved to Lawrence, where she worked at Boys State before moving to Parsons in 1970. In Parsons, she was employed at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas. She moved to Crawfordsville, Ind., in 2003 to be close to family.

Georgia was an active member of the Foursquare Church of Parsons and the AARP.  She enjoyed quilting and gardening.

Georgia is survived by two daughters, Linda Tague, and her husband, James of Crawfordsville, Ind., Carol Handshy, and her husband, Howard, of Gardner; seven grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

In addition to her husband she was preceded in death by a daughter, Sandra Stage, two brothers, Ralph Shafer and Harry Shafer and a sister, Lucille Tyler.

Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday at the Carson-Wall Funeral Home. Burial will follow in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery near Dennis. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 7 to 8 p.m., Monday.

Memorials are suggested to the Foursquare Church and they may be left at or mailed to the Carson-Wall Funeral Home 112 N. 26th St. P.O. Box 942 Parsons, KS 67357. Online condolences may be left at www.wallfuneralservices.com.

 

 

Colony church talks about Paul’s struggles

COLONY — Howard Reiter gave the Communion meditation on “The Struggle” Sunday at Colony Christian Church.

Paul was beaten, arrested, run out of town, etc., and yet he remained steadfast in proclaiming God’s word, Reiter said.

The Bible tells us that we as Christians will face struggles. Those struggles are to bring us, and others, closer to God and to advance His kingdom.

Pastor Chase Riebel gave the sermon on “The First Church: Bold and Encouraging.”  In the first church, all believers were united in heart and mind, they shared all that they had with others. They shared their teaching, their meals and prayers. Jesus prays that we will all be one, just as God and Jesus are one.

Men’s Bible study is at 7 a.m. Tuesday. Adult Bible study is at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The youth group meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday, following a 5:30 meal.

A back-to-school supply giveaway and cookout are planned from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Aug. 7. The community is invited.

Murrow family gathers for reunion

Descendants of Hugh and Jessie Burnett Murrow gathered for a covered dish dinner at Riverside Park on July 21, a tradition of more than 50 years.

Attending were: Carl and Mary Ellen Stanley, Ken and Carla Hunt, Steve Stanley, Heath, Jenny, Brooklyn, Blake and Brynna Ellis, John and Ellie Sigg, Brandon, Jenna, Owen and Ava Hesse, Jaydyn Sigg and Jerrick with Nicole Sigg, all from Iola; Kevin and Kayla Martin, Tim and Vickie Weilert, Chanute; Mike Martin, Owasso, Okla.; Brett, Christina and Jeremiah Schaefer, Augusta; Pam Hoggatt, Topeka, and her daughter, Gina Cremeen, Overbrook; Brittany Wells and Matthew Wurm, Topeka, and Alison and Gresyn Vece with Eric Ortiz, Overbrook.

The next reunion will be July 19, 2020.

Teen gamer wins $3M

NEW YORK (AP) — All those hours playing video games have paid off for a 16-year-old.

Kyle Giersdorf, of Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania, racked up the most points and won $3 million as the first Fortnite World Cup solo champion. The competition took place Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.

Giersdorf says “words can’t explain it.” He goes by the name “Bugha” when competing.

Some 40 million players competed for a chance to play in the finals, which was narrowed down to 100 contestants from 30 countries.

The tournament offered $30 million in cash prizes.

In second place, 24-year-old Harrison Chang, of the United States, won $1.8 million.

The duo competition was won by 17-year-old David Wang, of Austria, and 16-year-old Emil Pedersen, of Norway. They’ll split the $3 million prize.

Eagle gets new perch

SEDAN, Kan. (AP) — A 15-foot wide fiberglass eagle that perched for 21 years atop a rotating sign at The Wichita Eagle’s former building is getting a new home at a Boy Scouts of America camp.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the eagle was removed during a 1988 attempt to modernize the exterior of the building, which later was demolished. From there it went to Camp Tawakoni near Augusta where it honored the highest rank in Scouting — The Eagle Scout.

But when the camp was sold in 2004, it wound up in storage at the Quivira Scout Ranch, where it was rediscovered this year when staff needed the shelf space it occupied.

Ranger Paul King says the southeast Kansas camp plans to mount the bird on a pole or pedestal to greet future visitors.

Judge reduces penalty in Roundup case

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A judge has cut a jury award in a lawsuit that found that Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide caused cancer in a California couple from $2.055 billion to $87 million, the third time a judge has reduced an award in a lawsuit over the disputed chemical.

The judge said Thursday that evidence supports the jury’s conclusion that Roundup was “a substantial factor” in causing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Alva and Alberta Pilliod, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith said evidence also supported the finding that Monsanto knew the herbicide’s active ingredient, glyphosate, could be dangerous and failed to warn the couple from Livermore, California.

But Smith said the punitive damages were much higher than constitutional limits set by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has said should generally be no more than four times the amount of damages awarded as compensation to victims.

A jury in May awarded the Pilliod’s $1 billion each in punitive damages in addition to a combined $55 million in compensatory damages.

Smith reduced punitive damages to $70 million. She also reduced the compensatory money the jury awarded to the couple for past and future pain and suffering to $17 million.

The couple had anticipated the reduction, and their lawyer said the overall ruling was “a major victory.”

Although “the reduction in damages does not fairly capture the pain and suffering experienced by Alva and Alberta,” attorney Brent Wisner said in a statement, “the judge rejected every argument Monsanto raised and sustained a very substantial verdict.”

Monsanto’s parent company, the German pharmaceutical firm Bayer AG, said it would appeal.

The reduction in damages is “a step in the right direction,” the company said in a statement, but the verdict and damages “conflict with the extensive body of reliable science and conclusions of leading health regulators worldwide” that both Roundup and glyphosate are safe.

Alva Pilliod, 77, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a sometimes-fatal form of lymph cancer, in 2011, and Alberta Pilliod, 74, was diagnosed in 2015. They had used Roundup for more than 30 years to kill weeds on three properties they owned. Doctors say their cancers are in remission but could recur.

Last August, a San Francisco jury awarded $289 million to former school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson of Vallejo. A judge later reduced the award to $78.5 million. In March, a federal court jury awarded more than $80 million to Edwin Hardeman of Sonoma County, whose cancer is in remission. A judge reduced that award to $25.2 million.

The three California trials were the first involving an estimated 13,000 plaintiffs with pending lawsuits against Monsanto.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate as a probable cause of human cancer in 2015. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and most regulatory bodies in Europe say it can be used safely.

Roar!

“The Beast,” played by River Hess, terrorizes a group of “rats and books” in a comedic adaptation of “Beauty and the Beast” in a children’s summer theater workshop this past week.

The show will be performed at 2 p.m. today at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center, in collaboration with Compass Creative Dramatics.

Seated from left are book characters Piper Jordan, Sydney Ebberts, Winston Jordan and Cassandra Moore; standing, are rat characters Braydon Holey, Laney Oswald and Elza Clift.