Superintendent Adrian Howie with his wife Kristen and daughters Kinley, Kamdon and Krosby celebrate Halloween in style.

Henry Smith is awarded the Friend of 4-H Award as he and his family have always supported 4-H. Molly McClure and Jacob Bell hand deliver the award to Mr. Smith.

USD 210 Hugoton Bus Drivers pictured left to right are Jackie Anderson, Christy Esarey, Barb Trujillo, bus foreman John Moser, Dave Burrows, Judy Zordel and Jerry Guerrero. Not pictured are Jack Hickey, Jay Witt, Greg O’Loughlin and Frankie Rotolo. These fine ladies and gentlemen carry our precious children safely everyday and they are very much appreciated.

School bus transportation employees play an important role in the safety of Kansas children.

There were 4,043 bus drivers during the 2019-2020 school year who transported 223,705 Kansas students more than 60.5 million miles. In order to honor their dedication and expertise, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly designated October 21 as School Transportation Day.

The day coincides with National School Bus Safety Week, which is October 19-23. National School Bus Safety Week takes place the third full week of October each year. It is designed to promote school bus safety.

The theme for this year’s campaign is “Red Lights Mean STOP!”

Kansas hosts a yearly school bus safety poster contest. The 2020 winners were Aevan Huddleston, a second-grade student at Augusta School District and Emma Lightner, who was an eighth-grade student at Garden City.

The Kansas State Department of Education in 2019 kicked off the Stop on Red, Kids Ahead school bus safety campaign to help bring awareness to the Kansas school bus stop arm law.

Kansas law requires all motorists to stop when approaching or overtaking a stopped school bus displaying its flashing red lights and stop arm. Motorists are to remain stopped until the bus is no longer displaying its flashing red lights and stop arm. Violation of the law is punishable by a fine and court costs in excess of $420.

In April 2019, Kansas bus drivers reported 1,040 stop arm violations. The data was collected during the Kansas One-Day Stop Arm Violation Count. There were 220 districts and 3,300 buses that participated in the April 2019 one-day survey.

“It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure the safety of our students,” said Keith Dreiling, director of KSDE’s School Bus Safety Unit. “School buses are safe, but we know that student passengers are most vulnerable outside of the bus – that’s why it’s so important for everyone to obey the stop arm law. School bus drivers play an important role in the safety of our students, too. I want to invite the state of Kansas to help celebrate the men and women who sit behind the wheel of our buses and dedicate their time and talent to keep our students safe.”

Sunday evening it seems to look like one of those old fashion dirt storms of days gone by rolling into southwest Kansas. The wind and dirt hit and howled for sometime. No report of damage except to eyes, breathing problems and to the harvesters still trying to get their crops cut. Visibility was next to none.

The Stevens County Fire Department members from left to right are Rodney Kelling, Bailey Esarey, Rickey Burrows, Alexis Hastey, Abby Tharp, Kayla Harris, Perry Crane, Phil Gooch, Carlos Rojo, Brent Peitz, Kyle Lewis and Hayden Harris.

The 2020 Homecoming candidates are, back row, left to right Senior King and Queen Candidates Riggs Martin, Jordyn Beard, Wyatt Angell, Denisse Castro, Joseph Sanchez and Molly McClure. Sitting on the front row are Marrine Williams – sophomore attendant, Audra Perry – junior attendant and Danica Amerin – freshman attendant. Both the king and queen will be crowned at 6:30 p.m. Friday night at Eagle Stadium prior to the football game against Nickerson. Photo courtesy of Chelle Leininger.

The 2020 dryland corn harvest is well underway in Stevens County. Also some irrigated corn, like this circle, is ready and being taken out as well. Yields are reported as average.

Lion Tommy Romero received the Melvin Jones Fellowship Program award. This is the highest honor a Lion can receive. He has been in the Lions Club for 40+ years! We appreciate all he does, not only for the club, but also the community! Tommy is very deserving of this award and his fellow club members and community are all so proud of him.

The Stevens County Hospital Auxiliary has awarded three Continuing Education Medical Scholarships and one Edith Weston Nursing Scholarship to qualified applicants for the 2020-2021 school year. Each applicant must be a resident of Stevens County and be accepted and enrolled in an accredited program of Medical Study. The program can be online or at a traditional college. The student must maintain a 3.0 average to qualify. The scholarships are renewable each year as long as the applicant continues to meet the requirements and funds are available. Funding for these scholarships is obtained through the support and sales at the Stevens County Hospital gift shop. The Edith Weston scholarship is provided by the family of long time Stevens County Hospital Director of Nursing, Edith Weston, RN.

Life time resident Sarah Martin is the recipient of the $500 Edith Weston Nursing Scholarship. Sarah is a 2018 graduate of the Seward County Community College Nursing Program and works as a Registered Nurse at Southwest Medical Center in Liberal. Sarah is currently a student of Graceland University’s online Nurse Practitioner program. Throughout her educational experience Sarah has maintained a 4.0 GPA and has received outstanding honors for her work. Sarah is the daughter of long time residents Jeff and Virginia Martin.

The dedicated students who have been chosen to receive the $500 awards for the Continuing Educational Medical Scholarships include the following:

Heather Adigun has been a resident of Stevens County for three years. She has been employed by Southwest Medical Center and the General Surgery Clinic in Liberal. Heather is currently a second year student of the Seward County Community College Associate Degree Nursing Program. At completion of this school year Heather will be able to take the NCLEX for Registered Nurse. Heather is the wife of the Hugoton High School girls basketball coach, Emmanuel Adigun. They have three children, Summya 15, Adrian 11 and Josiah 4.

Maddie Rome, wife of Matt Rome, is also a recipient of a $500 Continuing Medical Scholarship. Maddie is beginning her second year as a student at the University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy. Maddie obtained her prerequisites at Kansas University and is now being rewarded for her strong work ethic and excellent GPA by being allowed to take online classes while at home due to the Covid pandemic. Maddie’s proud parents are Martin and Davonna Daharsh and her grandparents are Floyd and Edwina Daharsh.

Lifetime resident Robin Hull is the third recipient of a $500 Continuing Medical Educational Scholarship. Robin is a Registered Nurse who is a 2015 graduate of Seward County Community College Associate Degree Nursing Program. Robin is currently a student with the Oklahoma Panhandle State University working to complete her Bachelor’s of Nursing Degree. Robin is currently employed by the Haskell County Health Department and has been dealing daily with the Covid issues for the residents of Haskell County. Robin is married to Mark Hull and they have three children and one grandson. Robin is the daughter of Hugoton residents Jack and Patrina Reynolds.

The hospital auxiliary would like to commend all of these students for their dedication and hard work in achieving their educational goals. Continuing stressful classes and clinical hours in the medical field in these unprecedented times have certainly been challenging for these determined students. Also a big thank you to the community for the continued support of the Little Gift Shop in the Stevens County Hospital. Without your support these scholarship funds would not be available. We hope to reopen in the near future and see all of our generous customers soon.