CAPTION: Kansas House of Representatives District 104 Paul Waggoner (left) and District 102 Kyler Sweely (right) talked about a variety of topics from questions from the audience at the first legislative forum of the year. the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce is hosting three
By Gina Long
On Monday, Hutchinson Emancipation Day held its first “What’s Emancipation Got To Do With It?” workshop and panel discussion at Memorial Hall.
The Hutchinson Emancipation Celebration organizations sponsored the workshop, which featured poetry, music, history, food and storytelling.
Phil Dixon became a baseball historian and statistics fan while collecting sports trading cards in his youth. He is a founding member of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo., and has written several books about the Negro Leagues, players and events. He is currently working with Major League Baseball to verify historical accuracy as the Negro Leagues’s statistics are merged with the MLB’s.
Dixon told several stories about notable Kansas Negro Leagues players, including Leavenworth-born Chet Brewer, who lost three toes in a childhood trolley accident, became a Kanas City Monarch player and batted .350 in 1952. After retiring from baseball, Brewer moved to Los Angeles, created a developmental league, and recruited players. Reggie Smith and Bob Watson were notable stars who started as “Chet Brewer’s Rookies.”
While researching the Kansas City Monarchs, Dixon discovered that the team played two games in Hutchinson. The city’s first night game took place on Sept. 27, 1930. The Monarchs returned to Salt City in 1935 to play the white House of David team, which was composed of members of a Michigan commune.
In 1929, Haskell Indian School in Lawrence was the first school to install lights for nighttime games. The Monarchs traveled to Lawrence to practice under the lights.
“Lights were installed all over the country, which saved baseball during the Depression because working people could go after work,” Dixon said.
At the end of his presentation, Dixon pulled out a trumpet and led the audience in a rousing rendition of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.”
Dr. JohnElla Holmes is the CEO and president of the Kansas Black Farmers Association. She presented virtually about the famous Exoduster town Nicodemus, located in Grant County.
Holmes tied Dixon’s baseball knowledge together with stories about sports figures from Nicodemus. Baseball player Freddy Switzer is reported to have hit a home run off the legendary Satchel Paige, and his brother Veryl integrated the Green Bay Packers in 1954.
Holmes is a fifth-generation descendant of Nicodemus homesteaders. She retired from Kansas State University in 2015 and returned to her hometown.
“I came back home. We call Nicodemus ‘home,'” she said.
She described the complex legal land arrangements in the town and surrounding area that led to its designation as a national historic site and administration by the National Park Service. She noted that one of the park rangers is a direct descendant of the town’s first homesteaders.
The first settlers built dugouts because the area had no trees. On Oct. 20, 1977, the first baby was born in Grant County. The town welcomed 300 more settlers in 1878. Most early homesteaders were from Kentucky and celebrated “The Colored People’s Fair” annually, commemorating the August 1, 1934, British Slavery Abolition Act, which freed slaves in the West Indies. The celebration spread to other towns, including Hutchinson, and is now part of the annual Emancipation Day commemorations held on the first weekend of August.
The annual event became one of the biggest celebrations in Kansas, bringing people from around the area, including soldiers from Fort Hays and Fort Larned. Due to segregation laws, there was a dance floor for the whites and one for blacks.
Nicodemus’s population declined rapidly in the 1950s because crop farming experienced some difficult years. In 2023, the census showed 17 residents in the town and another 65 living in the township as farmers.
Holmes talked about her mother’s musical group, The Williams Sisters, who released an album in 1973 that included “We’ve Come a Long Way.” That song is played in one of the historical buildings. Holmes sang the song to the audience’s applause.
“When you see that people were free to live freely, have their own land, and worship as they want, you’ll see how important that was,” she said. “Several black women were allowed to homestead in Grant County.”
Holmes turned to her role with the Kansas Black Farmers Association, which was formed in 1999 to combat discrimination in farm assistance programs. In 2014, it expanded to include urban gardeners, now called “urban growers” and “urban farmers.”
The association collaborates with Kansas State University to introduce urban children to agricultural students who are members of minority groups. The kids learn about sustainability and water and go to Nicodemus, where they learn about history.
“They see it doesn’t have to be called ‘black history.’ It’s just history,” Holmes said. “That’s what they learn; it takes us all to work together.”
The KBFA now has over 190 members, including growers and product developers. It also offers programs such as health screenings. The organization was awarded over $50 million in grants last year. They saved two farms from closure and supported eleven new farmers. Kansas only has seventeen black crop row farms.
The KBFA has expanded to include farmers in Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska, offering succession planning and heir property laws classes. NBA superstar Magic Johnson funds that program.
Haven resident Jennifer Vierthaler said that her family had initially homesteaded in the St. John area but were forced off the land. A Stafford County historian came across old photos of black families and looked at property records to see what happened to them.
“We have got to get it together on Emancipation because it’s all we’ve got. If we don’t do it, we’re doomed,” Vierthaler said.
Natasha Russell of Hutchinson Emancipation Day is working with a national organization to learn more about tracing land records.
She described the work as “Finding information on doing genealogy regarding land rights, land that was later stripped from [black settlers].”
The participants were invited to a soup dinner provided by Iverson’s Smokehouse.
Russell wants to hold an annual Emancipation Day workshop. She sees abolition and emancipation as fundamental to American ideals.
“The dictionary definition of emancipation is ‘The fact or process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions. Liberation. Abolition.
“Abolition and emancipation are not just for black people. They are for everyone. Emancipation is dear to American democracy and the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. White people were the abolitionists. They had the privilege to do it. We have to remember that progress happens when people come together for change,” she said.
Baseball historian and author Phil Dixon, left, prepares to lead the audience in singing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game," while Dr. JohnElla Holmes, CEO and President of the Kansas Black Farmers Association, watches virtually on Mon., Feb. 17, 2925 in Memorial Hall CREDIT
Monday Feb 17 President’s Day "What’s Emancipation Got To Do With It?," 2-6 p.m. at Memorial Hall, 101 S Walnut St. Workshops and panelists, with a soup supper provided by Iverson’s Smokehouse. Visit the event's Facebook page for more information Tuesday ** Postponed due to winter weather **
By John Mesh The Hutchinson High School Salthawk girls wrestling team qualified two for the 5A state tournament from the 5A West Regional Saturday at Topeka Seaman. Hutchinson’s Aaida Brown qualified for state at 100 pounds and Lexi Lewis qualified at 105 pounds. Brown placed seventh in
CAPTION: CREDIT NWS
By Michael Glenn
Hutchinson and Reno County is expected to get another round of winter weather Monday night and Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service in Wichita.
Heavy snow is possible Monday night and into Tuesday, with accumulations ranging from four to nine inches. Higher accumulation numbers are expected to the southeast of Hutchinson.
Roads and bridges will likely become slick and hazardous, according to the NWS.
“Persons are urged to stay indoors until conditions improve,” the NWS’s site read. “If you must go outside, dress in layers. Several layers of clothes will keep you warmer than a single heavy coat. Cover exposed skin to reduce your risk of frostbite or hypothermia. Gloves, a scarf, and a
hat will keep you from losing your body heat.”
Bitter cold will also be a threat. Wind chills Monday night are expected to hit 17 below zero and 24 below zero for Tuesday night.
Temperatures are expected to remain potentially dangerous after Tuesday. Wednesday night’s wind chill is expected to hit 17 below zero and six below zero for Thursday night.
CAPTION: CREDIT NWS By Michael Glenn Hutchinson and Reno County is expected to get another round of winter weather Monday night and Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service in Wichita. Heavy snow is possible Monday night and into Tuesday, with accumulations ranging from four to nine inches.
By Gina Long
“Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen”
“My Ántonia” by Willa Cather
Kansas is again hunkering down as another winter storm sweeps through the area.
Michael and I usually meet on Sundays to set the week’s editorial calendar and plan for longer-range events we want to cover.
Our banter combines serious business and light-hearted ribbing as we comb different websites and Facebook groups for story ideas.
In January, I told Michael the story about how, yes, I really did walk to school, UPHILL BOTH WAYS.
I was born in Hutchinson, and my stepfather was the chief engineer and manager of a chain of Hutchinson-based radio stations. When the chain was sold, he found a more lucrative opportunity as a radio engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad, so our family relocated to western Nebraska.
Kansas has some genuinely terrifying snowstorms, but nothing like Nebraska. The winds come howling out of Colorado and Wyoming, gaining speed and pulling snow with them. Whiteout conditions are common.
I remember one year when I caught bronchitis. We lived south of town in a neighborhood scattered with small acreages on some Platte River Valley bluffs. Sometimes, it snowed so much that we were cut off from town for up to a week. My parents ran out of cough syrup and called around to the neighbors. A kind couple arrived on snowshoes with a bottle of something vile-tasting but effective. My parents invited them to sit by the fireplace, have some of my mother’s delicious apple dumplings, and warm up before undertaking the half-mile hike home over several steep hills.
During a recent editorial meeting, I was grousing about the cold and ice because it was slippery, and, to say it plainly, I don’t bounce like I used to. Michael gave me a side-eye and said, “I’ll bet you used to walk to school uphill both ways.”
I responded, “I most certainly did!” I pulled up Google Maps and traced the 1.5-mile route from my childhood home to the small country elementary school.
And yes, it was uphill both ways.
So Saturday evening, as I write this, I think of today’s howling wind and the incoming snow.
I think about hot cocoa, warm fireplaces, good neighbors, hearty laughter, and how we shake our fists at winter.
Everything is uphill both ways now, but spring begins in five weeks.
By Gina Long "Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen" "My Ántonia" by Willa Cather Kansas is again hunkering down as another winter storm sweeps through the area. Michael and I usually meet on Sundays to set the
CAPTION: Debra Teufel with the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce moderates a legislative forum with Kansas House of Representatives Paul Waggoner, District 104 (left), and Kyler Sweely, District 102 (right) at the Stringer Fine Arts building on the Hutchinson Community College campus February 15.
By Kate Irelan
About 70 people attended the first legislative forum for 2025, hosted by the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce at the Stringer Fine Arts building on the Hutchinson Community College campus on February 15.
Reps. Paul Waggoner (District 104) and Kyler Sweely (District 102) attended the forum and talked about their stance on a variety of subjects based on questions from the audience, including education spending, KPERS investing and a recent comment made by Sweely as reported in the Kansas Reflector. Other representatives could not attend due to scheduling conflicts or illness.
K-12 Education Spending
Debra Teufel, president/CEO of the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce was the moderator for the forum. She asked the representatives what they were doing to represent their constituents on the topic of public (K-12) education.
Waggoner said that for educational funding, “It is a new budget process this year. Rather than the House and Senate working at the same time, the House is doing the budget. It’s the Legislative Budget Committee, working from that. It’ll be voted on, I believe, next week. And then from there, it goes to the Senate. And then the Senate looks it over, which is different than what it used to be. The Senate makes whatever sort of revisions, and then they’ll pass it back out, and then we’ll have a chance to revote on what the budget would be, and then it would go to the Governor from there. So it is different than it has been in prior years.”
“And I would imagine part of the question is what is happening with the special education funding. Again, the basic argument is that if you look at the total spending, and how it’s increased, if you look at the totality of the money that comes into K-12 as far as local option budget and such, if you allocate the percentage of that, that is if 25% of your kids are in the special needs category, you should actually be allocating 25% of that budget. And with that, you have a very doable figure as far as the districts,” said Waggoner.
“There is a state law, where the districts are supposed to tell us exactly if you use a 92% figure because you had a lot of variety. Some districts were at 50%, some districts were at 150%. Very few districts plugged in the figure which is something that I think for the sake of the general public, to sort of pinpoint on this issue is going to be very helpful information.”
Sweely said, “It’s kind of hard to touch on topics after Paul just said everything, but I’m completely dedicated to fully funding public schools. This year there was a lot of talk about special education that wasn’t fully funded, but it became a state statute last year, I believe, at 92%, that $75 million was funded last year in special education. And the misconception is that we’re cutting special education, which is not true at all. We’re continuing to give the $75 million that we gave last year, and actually increasing it by another $10 million, which I’m completely okay with.”
“I would have been okay with $30 million extra going to special education, but I don’t sit on appropriations, and they cut it down to $10 million. So we’ll look at the budget when it goes to the floor this week, on Tuesday or Wednesday, I believe, and we’ll see if we agree with everything on that. But Paul kind of hits everything on the head, I guess,” said Sweely.
Teufel asked the representatives to expand on the education budget by talking about Senate Bill 75 and tax credits for children enrolled in private schools versus public schools.
Sweely began the discussion and said that he hasn’t seen everything in the bill and doubts that the house will pick it up.
“But I do believe in school choice to an extent,” said Sweely. “We have to fully fund public schools and special education before we even look at that. I believe that parents should have the right to choose a child’s education, but I do believe that public schools and special education shouldn’t just eat the brunt of that. I’ve seen the overall fiscal number of it, and it does seem like a big number. So we’ll see. And it’s supposed to continue to grow. After year four or five, it’s supposed to get up to upwards of $300 million, which kind of seems like a budget problem at this point.”
Waggoner said that he didn’t think they’d had a hearing yet.
“If the fiscal note is as high as Kyler said, that’s going to be a bit of a trick just because that is as far as school choice programs that we considered here before have had a much lower note,” Waggoner said. “Again, I will say I campaigned on this. It’s been an issue that’s come up in every election. I think it makes public policy sense. It’s been done in a number of states. It’s actually a growing number of states.”
“The general notion of the money should follow the child, I actually think it is very wise and very astute. If the 50,000 kids right now who are going to private schools or home schools, change their minds and flood back into the public schools, we would have to raise income taxes by 15% to 20% in Kansas to pay for all those additional students, which conversely means the fact that they are going the alternative route is actually saving everybody else that 15% to 20% income tax increase that you would be obligated to do if you had that higher of a head count in public schools.”
“I think it’s a very misleading line of argumentation to say that somehow you’re taking the money from public schools and sending it to private schools,” Waggoner said. “The money follows the child. If the child went from Buhler Public Schools to Hutchinson Public Schools, nobody would have any complaint that somehow the money followed the child over to Hutchinson. That would just be a no-brainer.”
KPERS investing
Teufel asked if the representatives could talk about how the state is investing KPERS dollars in digital currency. Sweely responded that he was on the Financial Institutions and Pensions and the Judiciary Committees, which were talking about this problem.
“At the beginning of the year, there was a bill that was brought up that we should invest 10% of our money into cryptocurrency as KPERS money, which I believe KPERS right now is $28.2 billion,” Waggoner said. “That’s the retirement for state employees. I do not agree with that. I don’t think that we should be jumping into something that’s unregulated.”
“One of the biggest things that I’m very proud about this year is that the biggest problem with KPERS right now is KPERS 3. It’s the newest KPERS. But in this specific program, teachers and corrections are not going to be getting the same retirement that they did 50 or 40 years ago. It’s not the same incentive if you work for your community for 30, 20, 40 years, whatever it is, it’s not that financially secure anymore. The one thing that we did was an increase to KPERS 3, so it would be basically a 10% increase right now on average and that is around $2,000 extra a year. It’s one of the biggest things that I think we’ve done in that committee, and we just passed that bill on Friday.”
Sweely said that the talk of 10% crypto currency investment was introduced by a freshman legislature and he doubted it would get out of the senate.
The “elephant in the room”
Teufel said, “Speaking of freshman legislators, there is an elephant in the room. When you are a freshman representative, and you are up there is some kind of hazing exercise. Can you address the events that happened this week and whether that was appropriate behavior and give us your opinion on the process and how things should have been handled?
“It comes out that most people believe it was a joke.,” Sweely said. I don’t think it is something I should apologize for. You can boo me afterward, but please, let me answer it. The least credible paper in Topeka is the only one who wrote about it because everyone thinks it is nothing. You can look at the video. Democrats stood up and clapped. It is another thing to hit me and get everyone distracted and off-topic.”
Waggoner said that typically in the legislature, you have someone who has talked to your family or knows your background.
“You have to realize when someone is a veteran they will do some sort of military riff,” Waggoner said. “Watch it. It was such a nothing. The line of questioning was not directed by Sweely but by Patrick Penn. The military has their language. Take it in their context. He was kind of getting in the weeds about being a military gunner. You have one news source funded by ideological sources. Anything they can get that is mildly awkward, they blow it out of proportion. Send your emails about it to Patrick Penn.”
Teufel said, “We did have a large volume of questions about it, and appreciate you clearing the air about it.”
The Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce will host two more legislative forums this year, both at the Stringer Fine Arts building on the Hutchinson Community College campus, 600 East 11th Avenue. The next forum will be Saturday, March 8 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and Saturday, April 26 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
CAPTION: Debra Teufel with the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce moderates a legislative forum with Kansas House of Representatives Paul Waggoner, District 104 (left), and Kyler Sweely, District 102 (right) at the Stringer Fine Arts building on the Hutchinson Community College campus February 15. By Kate
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