Former Stevens County Commissioner Gary L. Baker passed away Wednesday, November 22, 2017 at Via Christi St. Francis Hospital in Wichita.

Mr. Baker started a water meter business as well as owning a business as a Water Rights Consultant in Hugoton. He served as a Stevens County Commissioner for 12 years and was a long-time member of Rotary Club.

He helped develop the Ground Water District and later worked for the Ground Water District as director.

In 2004 and 2011 Gary received the Distinguished Service Award from Stevens County Conservation District and Stevens County K-State Extension Service in appreciation of his outstanding community service. He also received Citizen of the Year Award in 2007 from Hugoton Area Chamber of Commerce.

Full obituary can be found on page 2 of this week’s Hermes, available here.

‘Tis the season – to be thankful for a community full of small businesses!

The Hugoton Area Chamber of Commerce announces a brand new exciting promotion – just in time for Christmas! This holiday season, keep your shopping dollars local and “shop small”! When you spend your money locally, you grow local businesses, which grows your community.

From Saturday, November 25 until Sunday, December 31, every time you spend $10 or more at ANY local business, you can get your “Shopping Passport” marked. Every filled Passport will be entered for a chance to win Chamber Bucks – to finance even more local shopping!

Purchases at ANY Stevens County business will qualify! Simply buy your items, get your Passport marked and save your receipts. When your Shopping Passport is full, turn it into the Chamber office. There will be three winners of Chamber Bucks – one $50 prize and two $25 prizes.

This promotion kicks off with Small Business Saturday, November 25. The event is defined by Wikipedia as “an American shopping holiday the Saturday after Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year”. It’s sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The first event took place November 27, 2010 and was sponsored by American Express. Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick-and-mortar businesses that are small and local.

So get your Christmas list out and start checking it twice – and don’t forget your Hugoton Area Chamber of Commerce Passport – found on page 6 of this week’s Hermes! You can also visit the Chamber Office at 630 S. Main to pick one up.

Don’t forget to stop by the Chamber office Tuesday, November 28
to get your free shopping tote!

This Friday and Saturday evening, head over to the Memorial Hall for a delightful dinner theater, presented by Southwest Friends of the Arts as they perform “You Can’t Be Too Careful” by Carolyn Lane.

Four sedate suburban matrons are suddenly interruped during their weekly bridge game by a pair of inept bank robbers desperate for a hideout. At first, the frenzied hostages try frantically – and quite hilariously – to communicate their plight to two unexpected visitors. Unfortunately, their zany attempts to be saved are to no avail. However, you’ll soon learn the robbers are simply pretending to be experienced criminals. With the stalwart heroines being avid viewers of television soap operas, they realize they have the two thieves right where they want them! In fact, they just might know more about the crime industry than their bumbling captors!

Find out who triumphs this weekend at the Memorial Hall! Doors open at 6:00 p.m., and dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. with the performance to follow.

Tickets are still available at Yardmaster, 221 S. Main in Hugoton. Be sure to get yours today!

Now that Halloween is over, your calendar just got a whole lot fuller! This coming weekend starts off November with a bang – in some cases literally, as pheasant and quail season begins Saturday, November 11.

Start off the weekend right by attending USD 210’s District-wide Veterans Day assembly at the HHS West Gym. All Veterans in the area are asked to attend. Simply sign in at the High School office between 8:30 and 8:50 a.m. and you will be honored at the assembly. The entire community is invited to come recognize those who sacrificed so much. There will be moving songs, prayers and other presentations beginning at 9:00 a.m. Immediately following the assembly will be a brunch for all Veterans.

That evening, Pheasant Heaven Charities will be hosting their gigantic annual Calf Fry, Beef Feed and Pig Roast at Southwest Fresh Potato. Serving will begin at 5:00 p.m. with a special Veterans program at 6:30 p.m. and the famous auction will begin at 7:00 p.m. Please come and share your evening with this great organization! More details can be found on their ad on page 3 of this week’s Hermes. Hope to see you there!

Saturday, be sure to get up early to partake of the Hugoton Lions Club’s annual Hunters’ Breakfast at the 4-H Building at the Stevens County Fairgrounds from 5:00 until 8:00 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday. There will be all-you-can-eat scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon and sausage buffet-style! You can also get your thermos filled before heading out into the fields for pheasant and quail season’s opening day.

For lunch, you can head into town and straight over to the First Christian Church at 600 S. Van Buren for some delicious chili and homemade cinnamon rolls during the fundraising meal for CIY.

If you like being entertained, look no further than Hugoton High School’s production of “Alice in Wonderland” Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. in the HHS Auditorium. If you can’t make that show, they’ll also present a matinee Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Sunday, November 12, River of Life Church at 424 S. Jackson will host missionaries Reverend Howard and Barbara Gard during worship services at 10:30 a.m.

The public is invited to any and all the events listed above –
this weekend will be jammed full of fun and exciting events!

Hugoton USD 210 Board of Education
Stephanie Heger    257
Paula Rowden      158
Matthew D. Mills    257
Lisa Bennett      189

Hugoton City Council
Dean Banker      202
Arol D. Corpening      172
Shannon Crawford      243

Moscow USD 209 Board of Education
Marcus W. Howe      42
Sherry Castillo      40
Write In Kent Knoll      16

Moscow City Council
Jon Dee Lund      13
Jim Rawlins      15
Nathaniel Roland   20

Somehow, it’s that time again – Election Day is next Tuesday, November 7! Voters will head to the polls to decide winners in local races. Seats on the Hugoton and Moscow city councils are up for grabs, as well as positions on the USD 209 and USD 210 school boards.

On the ballot for Moscow USD 209 Board of Education are the following:
Marcus W. Howe
Sherry Castillo

On the ballot for Moscow City Council are the following:
Jon Dee Lund
Jim Rawlins
Nathaniel Roland

On the ballot for Hugoton USD 210 Board of Education are the following:
Stephanie Heger
Paula Rowden
Matthew D. Mills
Lisa Bennett

On the ballot for Hugoton City Council are the following:
Dean Banker
Arol D. Corpening
Shannon Crawford

Hugoton voters are instructed to go to Memorial Hall at 200 E. Sixth in Hugoton. Moscow voters are asked to go to the United Methodist Church at 300 Ransom in Moscow. Polls at both locations will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. If you need any more information, please call Election Officer Amy Jo Tharp at 620-544-2541.

Hugoton High School cross country team traveled to McPherson to participate in the Regional cross country qualifying meet. In order to move on to the State meet a team must place in the top three teams.

Last weekend the boys won the Regional meet with a great run and the girls placed third in a very competitive race.

“We knew going into the meet that the boys were the team to beat in the guys’ race but you had Smoky Valley, Wamego and an improved Buhler team in the race,” said Head Coach Nick Rodriguez.

He went on to acknowledge the girls’ race boasted some really tough competition with girls from Buhler, Chapman, Rock Creek, McPherson, Hays and, of course, Hugoton. Coach Rod remarked, “Getting the girls qualified at this regional meet with such good competition was really special. During the race I kept watching closely how it developed and saw a lot of different school colors in the top ten to 15 runners so I knew we were in the race the whole way.”

To read the rest of this article, check out this week’s
Hermes – available now – by clicking here to subscribe online!

The Hugoton City Council met October 10, 2017 for their regular monthly meeting at the council meeting room. Attending the meeting were Councilmen Dean Banker, Shannon Crawford, Dan Corpening, Jason Teeter and Frankie Thomas. Others present were City Inspector Josh Grubbs, Chief of Police Courtney Leslie, Outside Utilities Supervisor Paul Nordyke, Electric and Park Systems Supervisor Gary Rowden, City Attorney Wayne R. Tate, Dennis and Teresa Austin, Assistant City Clerk Carrie Baeza, Jacque Teeter, Retha Francis, Steve Morris and Hugoton Hermes reporter Ruthie Winget. Mayor Jack Rowden and City Clerk Thomas G. Hicks were absent.

President of the Council Shannon Crawford presided. The council approved the minutes of September 11, 2017.

Each member of the council was provided a copy of Municipal Judge Paula Sosa’s report for September, showing $2,284.42 remitted to the city. The council voted to accept the report.

City Inspector Josh Grubbs presented his monthly activities report, stating a lot of weed violations have been corrected.

To read the rest of this article, check out this week’s
Hermes – available now – by clicking here to subscribe online!

October 3, 2017 Stevens County Attorney Paul Kitzke hosted Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and three Assistant Attorney Generals in the annual Southwest Kansas Attorney General’s Roll Call. Each year the Attorney General hosts approximately six regional meetings where he discusses with county and district attorneys issues of importance in their region and other issues trending throughout Kansas.

In attending the meeting, the attorneys also receive three hours of continuing education credit.

This year, there were ten area attorneys signed up to attend the meeting. October 3 marks the first time that Stevens County has been asked to host the event. County Attorney Kitzke remarked, “Overall it was a success with a very good turnout of local prosecutors.”

The Stevens County Board of County Commissioners met in regular session Monday, October 2, 2017 with all members, Pat Hall, Joe D. Thompson and Tron Stegman present. Also present were County Clerk Amy Jo Tharp, County Counselor Paul Kitzke and RoGlenda Coulter from The Hugoton Hermes.

The agenda included Bills – 8:30; Phillip Willis – Bids – 9:00; Tony Martin – 9:30; Elaine Rowden – 10:00; Kara Stump – land east of hotel – 10:30; County entities – 11:00; and lunch – 12:00. The following is just the unofficial highlights for the morning.

When this reporter arrived, the Commissioners were going over bills. They were talking to Phillip Willis representing the landfill. Bids were to be opened for concrete crushing. Cesar Pena brought in the bid for his company – S&S Rock Crushing out of Sublette and another bid from Lee Construction out of Garden City was received via fax. Lee Construction turned in the lowest bid. After much discussion, motion was made and passed to accept the lowest bid. There were reservations – because Cesar explained if he turned out the same product S&S turned out he could do it cheaper, but he does not do that kind of product. Commissioners appreciate the attendance of a company representative to explain such details.

Commissioners moved into a short executive session.

Motion was made and passed to pay the bills and accept the minutes from the last meeting.

Tony Martin reported for Road and Bridge. He told of roads being patched and roads yet to be. He asked about the pest spraying done at the courthouse, fairgrounds and county shop. The county shop and the fairgrounds have not been sprayed regularly due to the shop being closed Fridays. Tony was just wondering how the pay is figured for this service. He was told it is the same no matter if they spray all buildings or just a few. It was decided if the pest company is being paid – all buildings need to be sprayed inside and out. An itemized bill should be requested.

Stevens County Treasurer Vanessa Willis brought in detailed information for the Commissioners to go over. She went over the information offering explanations. It showed the county’s tax income and distribution to each county entity. The only income to come in now will be from motor vehicle and the new sales tax. December taxes go to the following January.

Vanessa showed the amount in delinquent, protested and abated taxes. Most all the county entities have stayed within their budgets but were short of being paid their whole budgets because tax revenues are not coming in as they should.

To read the rest of this article, check out this week’s
Hermes – available now – by clicking here to subscribe online!