School goes solar

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita-area high school is operating one of the largest privately owned solar power systems in Kansas and hopes to generate enough energy in one day to power the school for a month.

Maize High School on Tuesday switched on a 240-kilowatt system, which has 720 solar panels, is 400 feet long and 75 feet wide, and is next to the school, The Wichita Eagle reported.

Science teacher Stan Bergkamp pushed for the project, in part to react to the threat of climate change. He estimates that once the system is paid for, it will save the school $3,200 a month and reduce annual carbon emissions by 240 tons.

“I couldn’t talk to my chemistry classes about the acidification of the oceans or the bleaching of the coral reefs and personally not do something,” Bergkamp said in an email to the paper.

Bergkamp first presented the school board with a plan in 2017. Since then, he and supporters have raised more than $160,000 of the $400,000 needed and financed the remaining funds through ICM Inc., an ethanol plant in Colwich. Support has come from Bergkamp’s current and former students, Maize Elementary School, local businesses and colleagues from around the world.

“I saw this as an opportunity to give back to my students, to their children, and the kids that I will never see — because I know too much science to not do something,” Bergkamp said.

Mary Sevart, who graduated from the high school this spring, said watching Bergkamp’s passion for sustainable energy and eco-friendly living helped her decide to study biomedical engineering at University of Kansas this fall.

“I think projects like these are very important to our society and for our children to survive in this world,” Sevart said. “I think we need to quickly come up with solutions to this problem (of climate change).”

ICM Inc. will lease the $400,000 system to Maize High School for six years, with an agreement to pay $2,000 a month until it is paid off. Bergkamp said the project was financed through ICM Inc. because the company could receive a 30 percent tax credit on the infrastructure while the Maize school district could not.

Once the system is paid off, plans are for a similar project for Maize South High School, the second largest consumer of energy in the district, and surrounding schools, he said.

“The short-term goal would be to have every building in the district to have some type of solar energy to supplement their energies,” Bergkamp said. “The long-term goal is to use this as a model that other districts can use.”

He said officials from Norman, Oklahoma, and Junction City have contacted him about installing the system at their individual schools.

To honor the completion of the project, Maize High School will host a celebratory ‘Solar Fest’ on June 27.

An Ikea store in Merriam opened in 2015 with a rooftop solar energy system that has more than 2,300 panels spread over 92,000 square feet.

Area news

County crews too busy to help Garnett

GARNETT — Rain damaged county roads mean Anderson County won’t be able to help the City of Garnett with chip and seal projects on some city streets this summer, according to The Anderson County Review. Rain and flooding likely will require hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix rural roads and repair work will keep county road crews too busy to help with city needs, Garnett City Manager Chris Weiner told city commissioners. 

 

Road crews get to work after floods

FREDONIA — Wilson County road crews were working overtime to fix the most heavily damaged roads and bridges after recent flooding, The Wilson County Citizen reported. Crews also will need to reclaim gravel from the county’s road ditches. The department received delivery of two new motor graders and a boom mower. The county has submitted documentation to recoup state and federal emergency funds and declared a State of Local Emergency for the flash flooding May 27.

 

Houses to be razed

PARSONS — Five condemned homes are expected to be demolished by the City of Parsons, according to the Parsons Sun. The city hopes to find someone interested in taking over the properties for development. The homes, formerly used as apartments, were condemned by the city; a credit union bought the properties and then sold them to the city. They were recently used for a fire school.

 

Chanute looks at

broadband utility

CHANUTE — Fiber optic broadband is the next phase of city utilities, Chanute commissioners were told Tuesday, according to The Chanute Tribune. The city discussed how to provide fiber optic broadband service to homes, including how the service would be installed, how to fund the initial construction and how to encourage customers to sign up. Another issue would be how to handle utility shut offs if a customer did not pay a bill; the city attorney said all utilities would likely be on one bill. A commissioner suggested internet service be cut off for non-payment before electricity and water.

 

Many at meeting on Osage River Basin

LYNDON — As flooding consumed the area, more than 180 people attended a meeting hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the Osage River Basin System, The Coffey County Republican reported. Another 2,100 logged into a Facebook Live link for the meeting. Topics included the flooding in and around the lakes and how to inform the public on how the Osage River Basin System works, what determines when the lakes release water, when not to release water and how much water is released.

A look back in time

50 Years Ago

June 1969

John R. Toland and Clyde W. Toland, sons of June and  Stanley Toland of Iola, have been graduated from the University of Kansas with high academic honors. John received his law degree Sunday. He received the order of the Coif, the highest honor the law school bestows on graduates. Clyde received his A.B. degree in liberal arts and sciences. He graduated with honors in history. He was recognized as the outstanding senior man and was given the Strickland honor award of life membership in the KU Alumni Association.

Police report

Arrests reported

Iola police officers arrested John Zahm III, 47, Iola, for suspicion of disorderly conduct Sunday in the 100 block of East Benton Street.

Officers arrested Lance Dobbs, 22, Iola, for suspicion of driving while suspended Saturday in the 2400 block of North State Street.

Joshua Lohff, 29, Iola, was arrested Friday for suspicion of possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia Friday after officers were called to the 300 block of West Madison Avenue.

Officers were called to the 500 block of South Sycamore Street June 5, after which Jacob Brown, 27, Iola, was arrested for suspicion of domestic battery, felony criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct.

 

Trailer hits vehicle

A U-Haul trailer being towed by Stephanie J. Russell, 66, struck a parked vehicle owned by Kim M. Burns in a parking lot next to the Iola Public Library June 4.

In a separate incident, Adelina B. Holloway, 75, was exiting a parking lot in the 500 block of South State Street June 6 when she struck a utility pole with her vehicle.

Big Brutus adds shovel

WEST MINERAL, Kan. (AP) — A historic coal mining shovel that was hidden under bramble for more than 70 years has gone on display in southeast Kansas alongside its more well-known successor, an 11-million pound orange giant known as Big Brutus.

The Joplin Globe reports that a ceremony to dedicate the Markley shovel is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Big Brutus Visitors Center, a nonprofit museum in West Mineral.

Coal mine operator Perry Markley designed and built the shovel in the early 1900s using junkyard parts. The machine was one of the first mining shovels to be equipped with a round dipper stick that allowed the bucket to swivel.

It later was used as a prototype to construct other machines like the 160-foot tall Big Brutus.

Ships in Gulf region urged to take extreme caution

BERLIN (AP) — Governments and maritime agencies urged an abundance of caution Thursday for ships operating in the Persian Gulf region after two oil tankers were damaged in suspected attacks near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Though details of the suspected attack on the ships in the Gulf of Oman of the coast of Iran were still vague, the incident comes amid growing friction between Washington and Tehran in an area already fraught with tension.

“The shipping industry views this as an escalation of the situation, and we are just about as close to a conflict without there being an actual armed conflict, so the tensions are very high,” said Jakob P. Larsen, the head of maritime security for the shipping association BIMCO, which represents some 60 percent of the world’s merchant fleet, including owners of the two damaged tankers.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas urged de-escalation from all sides in the Gulf, saying that even though the facts are still unclear, the incident is “extremely disturbing.”

“It’s clear that the sabotage of ships, or attacks on trade ships are a threat to open trade routes and the central right of freedom of the seas,” he told reporters in Berlin. “And in the current situation, they are also a threat to peace.”

The vessels involved have been identified as the MT Front Altair, a Marshall Islands-flagged crude oil tanker owned by Norway-based Frontline, and Kokuka Courageous, managed by a Singapore company.

Norway’s Foreign Ministry said it “is concerned about the situation in Oman Bay” and “this type of incident further increases tension in the region.”

In a statement, the ministry referred to advice from the Shipowners’ Association and the Norwegian Maritime Authority about sailing in the area. The Norwegian Maritime Authority had earlier issued a warning to the country’s merchant fleet, advising ships to “exercise high care and alertness in the region.”

“Although there is no full clarity in the background for these attacks, the Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s advice is to keep a good distance to Iranian waters based on today’s event,” the agency said in a statement.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which is run by the British navy, put out an alert early Thursday urging “extreme caution” after the incident.

“We are deeply concerned by reports of explosions and fires on vessels in the Gulf of Oman,” the agency said. “We are in contact with local authorities and partners in the region.”

The Strait of Hormuz is the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the ocean, however, making it one of the world’s most important sea lanes.

Larsen said past experience is that even with increased danger, commercial shipping will continue to use the route.

“Shippers will be cautious with taking their ships into the region, but as we’ve seen many times before when the risks are high, so are the rewards, so I think shippers will continue their trade,” he said in a telephone interview from London, where he was attending a meeting of the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization’s Maritime Safety Committee.

“You may see some sort of naval cooperation and guidance to shipping being set up which will render protection to shipping through the area, but it will depend on what the investigation shows.”

Researchers try to save South Florida’s coral reefs

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A research ship that located the black box of a crashed Air France jet has embarked on a scientific expedition to the Florida Keys, where a mysterious disease is burning through coral reefs.

The disease kills coral tissue, leaving lifeless skeletons on centuries-old reef structures. First noticed in the Miami area nearly five years ago, the disease has spread north to the reefs off Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties, threatening structures of vital important to the region’s marine environment and economy. And it is spreading south through the Florida Keys.

“The state of the Florida reef tract is dire,” Erinn Muller, a scientist from Mote Marine Laboratory, said at a news conference Wednesday aboard the 184-foot ship Alucia, docked in Miami. “We are losing corals at an unprecedented rate, and this disease outbreak is unprecedented in nature and it’s affecting some of our most valuable species, ones that build the coral reef that we rely on.”

The Alucia is halfway through a detailed survey of the reefs from the Dry Tortugas to Biscayne Bay, attempting to gauge the health of the Florida Keys reefs and to make progress toward discovering the cause of the disease. Although many government and academic scientists have been studying the disease, participants in the expedition said they hoped they could provide detailed data that could be shared among scientists.

Also participating in the expedition are scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and OceanX, an environmental and scientific organization that’s leading the expedition.

During the expedition across the Keys, scientists will document the progress of the disease, taking thousands of photographs of the reefs. Since the cause of disease is suspected to be some sort of bacteria, they will sample seawater around the coral and sequence the DNA of any bacteria they find in it.

The disease, known as Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, has struck about half of the 45 reef-building coral species found off Florida’s southeast coast, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The unprecedented spread of coral illness threatens the only barrier reef in the continental United States, ruining coral structures that are “as important as the sequoias and the redwoods,” said Vincent Pieribone, vice chairman of OceanX and professor of cellular and molecular physiology and neuroscience at the Yale School of Medicine.

“You see 500-year-old coral being chewed up,” he said. “This is stuff that survived Columbus.”

While the cause of the disease remains undetermined, scientists said government agencies could do more to address known threats to corals that could make them more vulnerable to disease. These include global warming, pollution washing off land and making its way into the ocean, and treated sewage that flows into the ocean.

The expedition is funded by OceanX, a project of the family of hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio, and by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Vibrant Oceans Initiative, backed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

As important as the extent of the disease is what happens after it passes through. Comparing it to a wildfire, the scientists said some corals survive it, providing the possibility of regrowth.

“What gives us some hope is there are survivors within some of the sites that we have visited,” said Muller, of Mote Marine Laboratory. “Those survivors have the chance to grow and repopulate.”

135 animals rescued from alleged hoarder’s home

BEL AIRE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say 135 animals have been rescued from the home of an alleged hoarder near Wichita.

KWCH-TV reports that Bel Aire Police Department says the animals rescued Monday include 81 cats. There also were 11 dogs, two chickens, two guinea pigs, seven gerbils, one turtle dove, 14 Norwegian rats, one red-eared slider, 15 ornate box turtles and one beta fish.

The rescue group Beauties and Beasts so far has taken in 10 dogs and one kitten from the home. Randi Carter with Beauties and Beasts says most of those animals had been fixed but some of the older dogs need medical care.

Forty other animals, including the guinea pigs and turtles, went to a pet store, where they will be quarantined for two weeks before getting new homes.

25 officers injured in Memphis after marshals kill fugitive

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Armed officers and an angry crowd faced off after a black man was fatally shot in a confrontation with U.S. marshals in a working-class Memphis neighborhood.

People in the crowd threw rocks and bricks, with 25 officers suffering mostly minor injuries during the tense clash Wednesday night in the Frayser community in north Memphis. Officers cordoned off several blocks near the scene. By 11 p.m., officers had used tear gas and most of the crowd dispersed, police director Michael Rallings said at a news conference today. Three people were arrested.

Officers on horseback patrolled the area, and lines of police cars with flashing blue lights were parked along the street. An ambulance could be seen at the outer edge of the scene. A helicopter flew overhead as police cars trickled away. Residential streets were blocked, and a heavy police presence remained in the area today.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Keli McAlister said the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force went to a Frayser home to look for a suspect with felony warrants. Marshals saw the man get into a vehicle and then proceed to ram task force vehicles several times before exiting with a weapon, McAlister said. Marshals then opened fire, killing the man who died at the scene. McAlister did not say how many marshals fired or how many times the man was shot.

The TBI identified the dead man today as 20-year-old Brandon Webber.

Shelby County Commissioner and mayoral candidate Tami Sawyer tweeted that he had been shot several times in his family’s front yard.

“Every life lost should matter…every single one. How many times will this be ok? It cannot continue to be,” she wrote.

Memphis police officers were called in to help with crowd control as word of the shooting spread on social media. As more protesters showed up, more Memphis officers and Shelby County sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene. The situation then escalated, and officers donned protective riot gear as people threw rocks and bricks. Police cars and a nearby fire station were damaged, Rallings said.

The TBI is called in to investigate police-involved shootings by district attorneys in Shelby and other counties in the state. TBI investigators then give their report to the district attorney, who will decide whether to pursue charges against officers involved.

The police director implored residents to wait until the TBI finishes its investigation before spreading possible misinformation about the shooting. “I need everyone to stay calm,” Rallings said.

While police support the right of people to demonstrate, Rallings said “we will not allow any acts of violence.”

A statement from Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland expressing pride in the city’s first responders says six of the injured officers had to be treated at a hospital.

“I’m impressed by their professionalism and incredible restraint as they endured concrete rocks being thrown at them and people spitting at them,” the mayor tweeted.

At least two journalists were injured, multiple police cars were damaged, a fire station’s windows were shattered and a concrete wall outside a business was torn down, he said.

Passion Anderson, a 34-year-old student, drove her 13-year-old son to the scene early Thursday, after protesters had gone and the scene had calmed down. She grew up in Memphis, but left to Ohio before moving in November to the Frayser neighborhood, a mostly low- to middle-income area north of downtown.

Anderson said she worries about her son’s safety every day.

“I just want him to see this, know what’s going on, to be conscious,” she said from the driver’s seat of her car, with her son in the passenger seat. “I fear for him all the time.”

A&W Special Olympics Team at the Special Olympics Kansas

  • Aiden Fraker and Keegon Hedman. COURTESY PHOTO
  • Brandon Griggs boasts his bling. COURTESY PHOTO
  • Lincoln youth relay team. COURTESY PHOTO

ANW Co-op Special Olympics Team Results: Lacey Brown 1st in RLJ, 3rd in 100m dash; Xavior Burrow 2nd in SLJ, 4th in 50m dash, Beau Clements 1st in Softball, 6th in 100m dash;  Aiden Franker 1st in Tennis Ball, 1st in 50m dash;  Keegon Hedman 2nd in Tennis Ball, 7th in 50m dash; Joel Kincaid 1st in Tennis Ball, 7th in 100m dash; Conner Merando 1st in Softball, 5th in 100m dash; Mark McCollough Jr. 4th in Shot Put; Page Riley 1st in Tennis Ball, 6th in SLJ; Nickales Stogsdill 4th in Softball, 4th in SLJ; 

Team Relays: Lincoln (5th), Mavior Burrow, Aiden Fraker, Nickales Stogsdill, Beau Clements; High School (4th), Conner Merando, Lacey Brown, Joel Kincaid, Paige Riley, 

Allen County Special Olympics Team Results: Tina Craft 1st in Tennis Ball, 1st in 50m walk; Brandon Griggs 1st in Softball,  1st in 400m walk, 6th in SLJ; Casey Riebel 2nd in Softball, 2nd in 50m walk; Steven Riebel 1st in Tennis Ball, 1st in 25m assisted walk; Tom Weide 3rd in Softball, 3rd in 50 m dash.