News

Over 10 days, about 1.7 inches of rain fell — most of it in the first three days of May. Sarah Goss, county coordinator for the Ellsworth County Farm Bureau, said the rate of rainfall led to a lot of run-off.  While helpful, Goss doesn’t expect the rainfall to change the below-average forecast for wheat.

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By LINDA MOWERY-DENNING
Ellsworth County I-R

Mena Blanding was at a music festival in Salina when she received the news in an e-mail — she was a finalist for a national scholarship that will take her to Indonesia for her junior year in high school.

“It was crazy,” she said. “I was so excited. This is something I’ve wanted to do for such a long time.”

Mena will receive a full scholarship through the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad program. YES was organized by Congress in part as a response to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Lawmakers wanted to address public diplomacy efforts that had been neglected for years in many countries around the world, according to the program website. Participants, who serve as “youth ambassadors” of the United States, attend high school while living with a host family in select countries with significant Muslim populations.

By LINDA MOWERY-DENNING
Ellsworth County I-R

Brian Boisvert’s family says he takes a piece of rural Kansas with him every time he travels to Washington, D.C. to lobby lawmakers and regulators on the importance of communication issues to Wilson and other small communities served by Wilson Communications and similar providers.

His colleagues offer a similar assessment of Boisvert’s efforts. In April, the Rural Broadband Association awarded the chief executive officer and general manager of Wilson Communications with the 2018 Grassroots Advocate of the Year Award during the Legislative and Policy Conference in Washington.

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By Vince Hancock
Ellsworth County I-R

Less than a week after an accident cost him part of his right leg, Alan Byerley was already joking with a close friend. Don Panzer, who usually shares a meal with him every evening, received a text message Monday:

“I’m not going to make it to Paden’s for dinner. And probably not to the bowling alley.”

Byerley, whose condition was upgraded from serious to fair earlier this week, is recovering from injuries suffered Tuesday, May 1. The loader he was maneuvering tipped over, pinning him to the ground.

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By Judi Brown
Marquette Tribune

Residents of Marquette and bikers from across Kansas, as well as from neighboring states, look forward to the third weekend in May each year Marquette’s annual motorcycle rally.

Since it began in 2004, Thunder on the Smoky has grown into a popular festival attracting tourists as well as bikers to Marquette and its motorcycle museum.

Thunder on the Smoky began as a way to promote the museum, which has a collection of more than 100 classic motorcycles, photos and memorabilia.

The museum is a nonprofit organization and relies on donations from visitors and events like Thunder on the Smoky to keep its doors open.

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