The Emporia Gazette

More Study

I live in North Lyon County and participated in many school board discussions a decade ago when my kids were that age. The piece I am not seeing discussed (at least online) is the ever present situation with Americus and Reading both being located at the far ends of this sparsely populated area. Many times the parents of children in Reading or Americus grade schools choose to send their children to Lebo or Emporia for high school because of the longs miles to NHHS - and that has been a pattern for decades. Admire Grade School kids go to their closest high school which is Northern Heights. Without Admire in the center to keep filling the pipeline for Northern Heights......will we be seeing Heights numbers dwindling over the next decade? I think its a very realistic expectation that Heights won't be able to draw enough students either as families adjust to grade schools near the edges of other districts.

January 18, 2010 at 10:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Superintendent: Close Admire School

It might be important for Kansans to get a better understanding of what is happening with their taxes. Its not possible for residents of the Admire area to agree to pay more taxes to keep their school. Those rights are very limited because we now all pay into one giant pool in Topeka and then hope each year that we are blessed with enough coming back to keep our local school running.

Everyone talks about the base money per student, but there is little talk of all of the other categories where money comes back to local schools - like to help with underachieving students, or students in poverty, or special needs, or living in sparsely populated areas. Those in political power have whittled those dollars down to nothing and now everyone is trying to operate with only the base dollars per student. This was done very purposefully over the past decade. In larger population areas, this works out great and you can see that those districts have increased their assets and wealth. Areas like North Lyon County and Chase County become like the wonderful, uniquely American, mom and pop retail businesses that were thriving before the Walmarts and Targets took over. They just get squeezed out no matter how efficient or effective they were with their business. This change in direction has mostly been called "fiscal responsibility" by those in power.

The problem is we are educating unique and individual rural children, our greatest asset - not producing tires or dvd players. I don't want to hire the "lowest bid" type employee in the future.

November 25, 2009 at 12:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

State studies passing on US 50

Fantastic! I've been nearly killed on that road twice in my life - vehicles in wrong lanes traveling at top speeds towards me - like freaky, bad dreams! Even though its better than it used to be, ask any EMT in Chase County about their experiences on highway 50 and you will know that it hasn't changed enough yet.

November 14, 2009 at 12:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Deserve protection

Someone I love very much spent a few nights in the Lyon County jail and I was so afraid of what might happen while he was there. Everything went well and he was treated with utmost respect and felt safe. In fact, in his stories he mentions meaningful conversations with the jailers that became part of his actions to clean up, take responsibility and fly right.

I so much appreciated that we had a local county jail staffed by neighbors just like us, who are doing the best job they can in difficult situations. It was exactly what he needed.

October 31, 2009 at 1:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Drug test your child at home

Not My Kid offers the first test free to communities who will arrange an event such as this. Then if the parents choose to buy more kits, they pay the $40.

Its sad to see so much stereotyping of what kind of family might have kids who use. It proves again that there is a huge generational and socio-economic communication gap in our country. Great parents with straight A students are just as likely to be dealing with abuse and addiction (whether or not they know it yet). If parents can know for sure what is happening with a quick and easy drug screen in the privacy of their home, they can better prepare themselves for any action - if necessary. If the result is clear, they can relax just a little and celebrate their hard work!

October 26, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Madelynns auction set

But the issue is that the business has been featured again and again as a model for all area businesses to strive for. I personally know of at least five businesses who deserved support and recognition during the years this one was overshadowing everyone else; the sweetheart of Emporia. Most of those entrepreneurs have written off Emporia, as this story is not new to them. They were aware of the inconsistencies in the story years ago and decided this was not the place for them to grow a business.

September 4, 2009 at 2:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

City commissioners consider visitor's center

I recently drove the turnpike from Topeka to Emporia for the first time in several years, and I began to understand the logic. From that viewpoint, everything looked beautiful and enticing. The new school, new houses, new aquatic park, soccer field, turnpike gate. Emporia looked like the perfect place to raise a family. I suppose many cities are doing the same thing, but I have to say I was shocked by the image from that viewpoint, as compared to my regular (25 year) viewpoints from north 99, west 50, east 50, etc. It was almost like there was a new Emporia being built, which is quite in contrast to the Emporia I am familiar with. Its no wonder the residents feel so divided.

June 25, 2009 at 5:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )