4-Hers deliver canned foods to Moran PRIDE

At their November meeting, the Prairie Rose 4-H Club presented Moran PRIDE with canned items to be distributed to families in need. The club also collected items for ACARF that will be delivered at a later time.

Nineteen members, one cloverbud, and one guest were present.

President Zoi Yoho led the business meeting.  Reports from officers were approved as read.  Kendall Scharff, secretary, read the minutes from last month’s meeting. Mallory Heim gave the Parliamentary Point on the use of the gavel.

The T-shirt committee (Mallory Heim, Zoi Yoho, Gracie Yoho and Ty Scharff) gave a report on the design of the club’s T-shirt for the coming year.

Committee reports were given by Kelci Botts, leader of the reading project, and Brenda Armstrong, leader of the clothing and buymanship project. Jennifer Jackman reported on a Booster to Belts grant that she wrote for the club.

Members voted to donate to 4H Foundation, to adopt a child for Christmas, and the club voted on purchasing the club t-shirt for the upcoming year.

Community Leader Kim Schomaker reminded members that enrollment is due Dec. 1. Wreaths Across America is scheduled for Dec. 14, and 4-H Day is scheduled for Feb. 1.

Project talks were given by Raveyn Kegler on “Fun Facts about Volleyball,” Dierks Kegler gave a project talk on “Interesting Facts about Football,” and Kyron Kegler gave his project talk about “Interesting Facts about the NBA.”

The song leaders, Sophia Heim and Shelby Sprague, led the club in singing “Thanksgiving Feast Song.” The recreation leaders, Kason Botts and Raveyn Kegler, led the turkey leg game.

The next meeting will be Dec. 8. The club will meet at the Moran Nursing Home to go caroling at 4:30 p.m. with the meeting to follow at the Moran Community Center. It will also be the club’s Achievement Banquet.

John Trembly

John F. Trembly, 68, of Iola, passed peacefully on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, while comforted by family, to be with his Lord and Savior after a yearlong illness.

He was born on Jan. 26, 1951, to Ralph C. Trembly and Beverly J. (Wells) Ewing in Iola.

John served in the U.S. Navy for two years during the Vietnam Era. In 1970, he married Norma (Binger) Debacker and they later divorced. In 1997, he married Renee (Brosseau) Trembly. For the majority of John’s life he was a jack of all trades, working various jobs as a maintenance man. He retired from the City of Iola Housing Authority in 2019.

He was an active member of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade company for 40 years. He loved the outdoors and was very active in historical reenactment. When he wasn’t working on his motorcycles, John enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren, his dogs, and he also liked to fish. He was also known to enjoy a good meal.

He loved hard, worked hard, and always went the extra mile for people. He valued his family and friends more than his physical possessions.

John is survived by his wife Renee; one sister Johannah Harmon and husband Mark of LaCygne; brother Jimmie Patti of Rye, Colo.; children Crystal L. Lloyd of Gleason, Tenn., Tonya L. Trembly-Keel of Newton, Kristi L. Trembly of Gardner, Brent A. Riffel of Tacoma, Wash., Aimee L. Riffel of Overland Park, Katie (Riffel) Redetzke and husband Danny of Salina; and 13 grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his father Raymond (Leroy) Ewing.

John lived a very fulfilling life and we will always carry his memory in our hearts.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Family will greet friends from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service in the Venue. A brief ceremony followed by military honors will be held at the Veterans Memorial area of Highland Cemetery in Iola, at noon Saturday.

What to watch as impeachment proceedings begin

WASHINGTON (AP) — A “solemn day” or a “show trial”?

Americans and the world can decide for themselves as House Democrats let the public in to the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

With the bang of a gavel, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff opens the first hearings Wednesday into Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden’s family. Big questions loom, including how strongly officials connected what Trump called that “favor” to U.S. military aid for Ukraine.

Impeachable offenses? Worthy of Trump’s removal? And, critically, will a parade of diplomats and their accounts nudge more Americans behind formally charging Trump in the shadow of the 2020 elections?

Here’s what to know about the first hearing, with the charge d’affaires in Ukraine, William Taylor, and a career diplomat, George Kent, at the witness table, beginning at 10 a.m.:

 

WHO’S UP FIRST?

Shortly after Schiff’s gavel, he and ranking Republican Devin Nunes will begin the questioning. They get 45 minutes each or can designate staff attorneys to do so.

Members of the panel will then get five minutes each to ask questions, alternating between Republicans and Democrats.

There will also be exhibits. Democrats, at least, are expected to display excerpts from transcripts, text messages, relevant news articles and social media posts.

 

FIRST, KNOW THIS

“The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Expect numerous mentions of Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution, especially on whether Trump’s own words and actions meet the vague threshold of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Some Democrats and diplomats say conditioning U.S. aid on whether Ukraine goes after Biden’s son Hunter sounds like “bribery.” Republicans deny that, saying Trump did not explicitly offer aid for the Biden probe.

What it’s not: a trial, which would be conducted by the Senate if the House approves articles of impeachment. So no matter what the president tweets, he is not entitled to a defense attorney. The proceedings are the due process he says he’s being denied, though they are controlled by Democrats in ways Republicans will say is unfair.

 

… AND THIS

It’s only the fourth time in American history that Congress has launched impeachment proceedings against a sitting president. Two of those — against Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton 130 years later — resulted in their impeachments, or formal charges approved by the House. Both were acquitted by the Senate.

President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before the House could vote to impeach him.

 

THE SPIN

With only hours to go before the gavel, Republicans and Democrats from Congress to the campaign trail were spinning their points of view.

“Well, it’s a calm day, it’s a prayerful day, it’s a solemn day for our country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday night on the eve of the hearings. “It’s a sad day, which I wish we never had to face.”

“A phony show trial,” Trump groused a few hours later.

Trump also has called the process a “total impeachment scam.” He’s offering his own counterprogramming with a White House visit from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which is its own story of war, trade and tension.

 

THE SPARK

A whistleblower’s complaint about Trump’s July 25 telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ignited the impeachment investigation. Trump responded on Sept. 24 by releasing a rough transcript.

During the hearing Wednesday, listen for discussion about a key exchange during that 30-minute call, in which Zelenskiy invokes the still-blocked military aid and the U.S. president responds: “I would like you to do us a favor though.” Trump then asks Zelenskiy to investigate a debunked conspiracy theory about the 2016 election, and later explicitly mentions the Bidens.

Trump says the call was “perfect” and contained no “quid pro quo,” or this for that.

Democrats say it shows Trump using his office to pressure a foreign government to help him politically.

 

‘INVESTIGATIONS, BIDEN and CLINTON’

Democrats chose Taylor and Kent to start the storytelling of public hearings. They will describe a parallel foreign policy toward Ukraine led by Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and other White House officials.

“I discovered a weird combination of encouraging, confusing and ultimately alarming circumstances,” Taylor testified in an Oct. 22 statement. He is a West Point graduate and Vietnam War veteran who has served under every presidential administration, Republican and Democrat, since 1985, and worked for then-Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J.

Kent, the bow tie-wearing career foreign service officer, testified on Oct. 15 that there were three words Trump wanted to hear from the Ukraine president: “Investigations, Biden and Clinton.”

He also told the investigators about the “campaign of lies” against former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch that he said was waged by Giuliani and contributed to her being recalled from the position.

 

THE RINGER

Republicans have added House Rep. Jim Jordan to the Intelligence Committee. Although Nunes is the senior Republican, look for the congressman from Ohio to act as an especially fierce attacker of the witnesses’ credibility and the Democrats’ case for impeachment.

At its heart, the GOP argument is that the impeachment effort is unfair and sparked because “unelected and anonymous bureaucrats disagreed” with Trump’s decisions on Ukraine.

Some Republicans have urged the outing of the whistleblower.

U.S. whistleblower laws exist to protect the identity and careers of people who bring forward accusations of wrongdoing by government officials. Lawmakers in both parties have historically backed those protections.

The Associated Press typically does not reveal the identity of whistleblowers.

 

WHAT AMERICANS THINK NOW

An AP-NORC Center poll conducted in late October found Americans more approving than disapproving of the impeachment inquiry, 47% to 38%.

Even in the throes of impeachment, approval of the president’s job performance has not changed significantly.

 

NEXT UP

Yovanovitch, a two-time ambassador, testifies Friday as the next in the series of hearings expected to stretch through next week.

She has twice served as an ambassador — to the Kyrgyz Republic and to Armenia — before being confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in a Senate voice vote in July 2016.

Next week’s schedule:

— Nov. 19, morning: Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence; Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, director for European affairs at the National Security Council.

— Nov. 19, afternoon: Ambassador Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine; Tim Morrison, a White House aide with the National Security Council.

— Nov. 20, morning: Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union.

— Nov. 20, afternoon: Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian affairs; David Hale, undersecretary of state for political affairs.

— Nov. 21, morning: Fiona Hill, former National Security Council senior director for Europe and Russia.

Gary Kelley

Gary Wayne Kelley, age 69, of Iola, died Friday, Nov. 8, 2019.

He was born March 16, 1950, to Norman and Margie (Jones) Kelley in Iola.

Survivors include a daughter, Katie Frye of Iola; three stepdaughters, Trena Jacobs  of Iola, Kimberly Arnold of Iola, Tiffany Arnold of Nevada, Mo.; one stepson, Michael More of Iola; and numerous other relatives.

A graveside service for Gary will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Colony Cemetery.

Jesus was kind of a farmer

COLONY — Darren McGhee gave the Communion meditation Sunday at Colony Christian Church.

He compared Jesus’s life and death to that of farming. Jesus knew the scriptures (preparing the soil); He prepared His disciples (planting the seed); He began preaching (fertilizing); Judas betrayed Jesus (weeding). Just like Jesus, we must know the scriptures, we must prepare ourselves and help others to spread the good news, God will separate the weeds from the chaff. John 19:28:31

Guest minister Sam Hershberger continued with the “Overcomer” series by giving the sermon on “You surrender.”

When you surrender to something, you yield to the power, control or possession of another, he said. And as humans, it is hard to surrender control.

Most exhibit a stubborn resistance to God’s will. He has a path for each of us to follow, but how many times do we say “No God, I want to go down this other path?” But God has chosen us, and when he chooses us, he changes us.

Trailer with meals for homeless vets stolen

LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — Lenexa police are investigating the theft of thousands of meals intended for homeless veterans.

KMBC reports a trailer containing meals packed by bank employees last week was stolen last week. The meals were intended for Friends In Service of Heroes, a veteran service organization.

The trailer carried 12,100 meal packets, with each packet making eight meals — for a total of nearly 97,000 meals. The food was going to be delivered to the Kansas City VA Medical Center Nov. 21.

Police say the 5-by-8 interstate trailer was parked at the Friends In Service Of Heroes headquarters in Lenexa when it was stolen between 8 p.m. Saturday and Monday morning. The trailer has two bumper stickers with the FISH logo and Johnson County, Kansas, license plate 133 KMA.

Cold front sets record lows

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A cold front that froze much of Kansas set at least six records for low temperatures.

The National Weather Service reports Wichita, Salina, Russell, Dodge City, Garden City and Medicine Lodge set low temperature records early Tuesday

The lowest temperature was in Garden City, which dropped to minus 1, breaking the record of 7 set in 2018. The highest temperature of the six cities was 8 in Wichita, which breaking the former record of 9.

Wichita, Salina, Dodge City and Medicine Lodge broke records set in 1911.

Much of Kansas experienced below freezing temperatures after an arctic air mass moved from the Rocky Mountains to northern New England Monday, with forecasters saying much of the affected region would see record-breaking cold temperatures Tuesday.

 

The canary and the Caterpillar:

Just over a week ago, Caterpillar laid off 120 workers at its plant in Victoria, Texas. That concerned us, not just because those are 120 Texans suddenly unemployed, but also because Caterpillar is one of those companies that jumps off the news page. It’s a bellwether. Because the company makes equipment used in construction, its success often forecasts growth. As goes Caterpillar, so goes the economy.

But this news also stands out because of the reason for the layoffs. A company spokesperson blamed “market conditions” and said that trade tensions with China have made customers wary of committing to large capital expenditures. Caterpillar’s Asia-Pacific sales fell 13% in the latest quarter. In other words, the Trump administration’s continuing trade war is having continuing casualties in Texas.

We’ve chronicled in previous editorials how trade tariffs have cost Texas farmers. Now, Texas industrial workers are taking their place in that line.

The economic science here is simple: a trade war makes it more expensive for American companies to do business. In this case, tariffs on steel are particularly burdensome since they affect both Caterpillar’s products (machinery) and the products of many of their customers (buildings). When business gets more expensive in one category, companies cut in other categories. Often that means jobs, wages and benefits. In contrast, we favor giving American businesses the freedom to strike the best possible deals for their employees and customers — a quaint idea we like to call capitalism.

Late last week, news surfaced that U.S. and China negotiators have agreed to stepping back tariffs. That accord, phase one of a series of tariff de-escalations, can’t come soon enough, because more losses are in store if an agreement isn’t reached.

There’s a familiar metaphor that may help us here: the coal mine canary. Caterpillar is important not because it’s making economic news, but because it’s announcing it. The Caterpillar layoffs could well be a signal of a weakening economy. It would be wise to ignore the chirping of politicians and pay attention to the economic cues coming from the trade war’s front lines. When the canary of economic growth stops singing, the smart move is to get out.

— The Dallas Morning News

Kansas should legalize medical marijuana

In June of 2018, 57% of Oklahoma voters cast a vote in favor of legalizing medical marijuana. A few months later in Missouri, 66% of voters showed their support.

As our neighboring states offer residents an additional tool to treat many medical conditions, Kansas lawmakers finally seem to recognize that continued dismissal of medical marijuana options isn’t prudent.

“This thing is going to go-go-go eventually, and we all need to kind of be at the table and make it a good piece of legislation to help people,” said Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, a Wichita Democrat, during a recent meeting of the Special Committee on Federal and State Affairs.

She is right. We commend the special committee for beginning the conversation about cannabis and its role in Kansas.

The committee voted to recommend to the Legislature an affirmative defense for out-of-state residents who carry legally obtained medical marijuana through Kansas. Should a person be stopped by law enforcement and found in possession of cannabis for medical reasons, they could argue in court the cannabis was legally prescribed in their home state.

 

WE SUPPORT this as a minimum measure and urge the Legislature to go further. It is a waste of public safety resources to prosecute men and women visiting Kansas who are using medically prescribed cannabis.

Committee members also recommended the Legislature begin discussions about medical marijuana from the framework of a bill passed in Ohio in 2016. The Ohio bill permits approved physicians to prescribe cannabis for patients with certain medical conditions, like PTSD, cancer, chronic pain and Crohn’s disease. Smoking and growing marijuana aren’t permitted under the Ohio bill. The prescription allows patients to seek cannabis treatments in the form of topicals and edibles.

While public opinion continues to rise for medical marijuana options, barriers remain from law enforcement.

“Proponents of this, they want to get high,” Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter said to the committee. “That’s my opinion of it, and that’s the opinion of law enforcement.”

It is irresponsible of the sheriff to reduce supporters of medical marijuana to high-seekers. Cannabis products are safely and legally used for medical purposes in 33 states. Kansans want what others have — the option to use the products if faced with an illness or chronic condition. And frankly, they shouldn’t have to worry about prosecution for treating medical conditions.

Chad Issinghoff, a medical doctor practicing in Hutchinson, summed up the issue nicely in his testimony: “I do not believe that medicinal cannabis is a medical panacea. Nor do I believe that the State of Kansas is opening a Pandora’s box if medicinal cannabis is approved. I do believe that medicinal cannabis might offer to those who suffer from chronic illnesses some benefit in reducing symptom severity, a decrease in conventional medication side effects, increased ability to tolerate a wide variety of symptoms, and to better function in society.”

Kansas doesn’t have to create anything new. The Legislature would be wise to assess what’s working across the country and adopt a reasonable policy that allows adults the ability to access cannabis-based remedies prescribed by a doctor.

— The Topeka

Capital-Journal