Volume 87, Number 15 10 Pages Goodland, Kansas 67735

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Teams headed to tournamentsGoodland High School will be sending three wrestlers to the state tournament in Hays this weekend, while the basketball teams are gearing up for sub-state next week.

See Pages 8, 9 and 10

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More local news, views from your Goodland Star-News

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1205 Main Avenue, Goodland, KS 67735 • Phone (785) 899-2338

WEEKENDFriday, Feb. 22,

2019

For any questions, feel free to contact Mr. Wiley at (785) 332-4779.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019 in the GHS Cafeteria5:30 p.m. MST-hamburger feed (free will donation)6:30 p.m. MST-auction starts

Wednesday, February 27, 2019 in the GHS CafeteriaGoodland FFA Labor & Pie Auction

Local dancers from All-Stars In Motion Dance Studio won several awards at the StarQuest Regional Dance Competition, held February 8-10 in Denver. The AIM Dance Force competed in three group dances as well as two duets and 11 solos.

The large group “Something to Dance For” earned a High Gold Award and took fourth place over-all. Small groups “Material Girl” and “Stand In The Light” both received Gold Awards.

The duet “Ease on Down The Road” received a High Gold Award and placed fourth overall. The duet “I Don’t Dance” earned a Gold Award.

Several soloists earned top hon-ors by placing in overall lineups for their age categories. In the Senior Division, Alexis Franz earned a High Gold Award and placed second overall, Alexis Wynn re-ceived a Gold Award and placed

third overall, and Keyly Jarrett also received a Gold Award and placed fourth overall. In the Teen Divi-sion, Maddy Murray earned a High Gold Award and placed fourth overall. In the Junior Division, Halle Bhend earned a High Gold Award and placed seventh overall and Paige Fulwider (jazz) earned a High Gold Award and placed eighth overall. Paige’s solo also won first place in the jazz category, and Halle’s solo was the runner up in the hip hop category. Solo-ists Lauren Cody, Paige Fulwider (ballet) and Lily Fusselman earned High Gold Awards. Ashlyn Franz and Analeigh Fulwider earned Gold Awards for their solos.

The duet for “Ease On Down The Road” received the Outstand-ing Costume Award, which were created by Kara Smith. The small group “Material Girl” and soloist

Dance studio team competes in DenverThe AIM Dance Studio large group “Something To Dance For” performed at a competition in Denver earlier this month. The

group earned the High Gold Award and placed fourth overall.

Analeigh Fulwider and Lauren Cody performed a duet at the competition. The dancers also earned the High Gold Award and placed fourth.

NHS induction

The Goodland High School chapter of the National Honor So-ciety held its induction for new members on Monday. Current members Ella Ihrig, Ryan Lalicker, Austin Hahn and Garin Ihrig led the presentation. The new inductees for 2019 are Hannah Dechant, Ana Maria Estrada, Caiden Showalter, Brooke Liven-

good, Isabel Ordonez, Lauren Cure, Blake Sanderson, Colby Perryman, Rebecca Lockhart, Kiersten Kent, Rachel Whitman, Henry Cole, Vanessa Renteria, Saige Newman, Trent Coon and Shayanna Smith.

Photo by Kevin Bottrell/The Goodland Star-News

City moves forward on Motel 7 demolition

Suspect caught after vehicle theft, chase

By Kevin Bottrellkbottrell@nwkansas.com

The Goodland City Commission voted to move forward with the unfit structure designation for Motel 7 at its meeting on Monday.

The commissioners held a pub-lic hearing on the property at the beginning of the meeting. No one showed up to comment, and City Manager Andrew Finzen said there had been no contact from the own-ers since the unfit structure process was restarted.

The commissioners then voted to designate the property as an unfit structure. This designation provides 30 days for improvements to be made to the property. If no improve-ments are made, the commissioners will vote on whether to put the prop-erty out for demolition bids. There are five structures on the property that will need to be torn down.

In other business, the commis-sion:

• Were introduced to the new leadership team from Goodland Regional Medical Center, including Chief Executive Officer Dr. Ronald Robinson, Chief Operating Officer Victor Hawkins and Chief Financial Officer Derrick Lorentz.

Robinson said the pressure on rural health care is not letting up, and his team is focused on meeting the challenges and keeping the hospi-

By Dayna Mannebachdmannebach@nwkansas.com

After a brief chase last Friday morning that ended near Cedar Bluffs, just south of the Nebraska line, Decatur County sheriff’s depu-ties arrested a man allegedly driving

a pickup reported stolen that morn-ing from the Cottonwood Drive area west of Colby.

The man, later identified as R.J. Phifer, 29, was caught after at-tempting to drive away on railroad tracks near Cedar Bluffs, then after he crashed the truck, on foot.

The tires of the 2017 Dodge Ram 3500 crew cab had been flattened by spike strips placed by Deputy David Obermeyer from the Decatur County Sheriff’s Office.

“It was a quicker chase than I anticipated,” Obermeyer said.

The deputy said he couldn’t con-

firm everything, but a vehicle had been stolen from Oberlin the day before, and it was found near Le-vant, a short distance from where the Dodge disappeared. He said the two cases may be related.

Around 7:55 p.m. on Thursday, the Thomas County Sheriff’s Of-fice said, a deputy was patrolling and looking for a vehicle that had been reported stolen from Decatur County. The deputy was running the information on a vehicle near Levant to confirm the information before he initiated a traffic stop and called for assistance.

Before he could stop the pickup, however, the driver, a white man wearing a black jacket (possibly leather) and blue jeans, pulled into RoadRuner Manufacturing in Le-vant and jumped out. The man then ran through the RoadRuner plant and out a back door.

The man may have ditched the Oberlin vehicle in Levant, stolen a Ford pickup there and then later taken the Dodge Ram reported sto-len at 9:50 a.m. Friday. Obermeyer said he didn’t know for sure about the second theft.

The Dodge Ram was allegedly seen in Atwood later that morning, he said, where an unknown witness called police and said the truck was there.

Later, dispatch said the vehicle

The Sherman County Commis-sioners held a special meeting Wednesday morning where they voted in favor of lifting the ban on controlled burns.

The commissioners approved the burn ban on Jan. 31 during dry and windy conditions. Since then condi-tions have improved enough to lift the ban. Almost five inches of snow has been recorded in the Goodland area, with more possible through the weekend.

Countylifts burnban aftersnow storm

See THEFT, Page 5

See DANCE, Page 5

See CITY, Page 5

29°10:30 a.m. Thursday

Today• Sunset, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday• Sunrise, 6:29 a.m.• Sunset, 5:31 p.m.

Midday Conditions• Soil temperature 27.2 degrees• Humidity 75 percent• Sky clear• Winds south 12 mph• Barometer 26.07 inches and steady• Record High today 77° (1982)

• Record Low today -4° (1911)

Last 24 Hours*High Wednesday 35°Low Wednesday unavailablePrecipitation 0.02 This month 0.16 Year to date 0.49 Below normal 0.21 inches

The Topside ForecastToday: Overcast, 38 as high and

23 as low. Winds south southeast 10 to 20 with gusts over 40. Satur-day: Windy and snow in the morn-ing tapering off in the afternoon. High of 35 and low of 14. Winds north northwest 20 to 30 mph with gusts over 40.

Extended ForecastSunday: A few clouds from

time to time, high of 36 and 14 as low. Winds south 10 to 20 mph. Monday: Partly cloudy with b33 as high and 12 as low. Winds east southeast 10 to 15 mph.

(National Weather Service)Get 24-hour weather info. at 162.400 MHz.

10:30 a.m.Wheat — $4.28 bushel Posted county price — $4.33Corn — $3.42 bushel Posted county price — $3.46Milo — $3.02 bushelSoybeans — $7.54 bushel Posted county price — $7.88Canola — $14.80 hundredweight Posted county price — $13.83Sunflowers Oil current crop — $17.75 cwt. Posted county price — $17.12Pinto beans — $20(Markets by Scoular Grain, Frontier Ag, Northern Sun and 21st Century Bean.

These may not be closing figures. )