Printed below is the letter from the Montgomery County Rural Fire Board of Directors to the Montgomery County Commission regarding the commission’s recent dismissal of Wilbur Schwatken as rural fire coordinator.

Sirs:

In reference to the recent decision by the county commissioners to decline to retain Wilbur Schwatken in the capacity of Montgomery County Fire Coordinator, we, Montgomery County Rural Fire Board trustees, respectfully submit this letter as formal grievance.

Monday April 20, 2009 the commissioners met in order to vote on the retention of contracted county employees. The commissioners voted 2/3 against the renewal of Mr. Schwatken’s renewed contract. The fire board submits the following protest to this decision on the basis that Mr. Schwatken has performed proficiently in his capacity as coordinator.
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CHERRYVALE — A western theme will be the centerpiece of the Lincoln-Central Parent-Teacher Council’s Carnival set for Saturday, May 2, at the Cherryvale Middle-High School. The carnival will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., and is open to the public.

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BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle

CANEY — A major grant from the Kansas Department of Education will allow USD 436 to literally “think outside the box” next school year.
The state education department has awarded USD 436 with a $450,000 grant to develop a charter school — to be formally called the Caney Valley Virtual Charter Academy — targeting two distinct segments at the high school level: low-achieving students with few career aims and high-achieving students who seem unchallenged to continue their studies in high school.

“These two segments of the student body pose the greatest risk of, in the case of the low-achieving students, dropping out of school entirely and never returning or, in the case of the hig-achieving student, leaving school a full semester before graduation,” said Ron Oyler, assistant principal at Caney Valley Jr.-Sr. High School. “The goal of the charter school is to provide an individual plan for each student that focuses on his or her career path. The curriculum will be centered around that career, thereby giving the student a chance to receive professional career skills for post-graduation opportunities.”
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CANEY — When Michael Matters receives his high school degree in several weeks, the diploma will be more than just a certificate hanging on a wall.

Instead, it’ll be a symbol of perseverance and dedication.

Matters will be the lone student from the Caney Valley Virtual School to earn his high school diploma during CVHS commencement exercises on May 16. And, what makes Matters unique is the fact that he completed the four-year program in only two years.

“He has been truly dedicated to completing this program,” said Tasha Long, Matters’ virtual school instructor. “It’s rare to hear of anyone, even a student in a regular high school setting, complete high school in only two years.”

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BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle

INDEPENDENCE — Montgomery County commissioners learned Monday that a formal grievance had been filed against them by the Montgomery County Rural Fire District #1 board of directors. The grievance stems from the recent dismissal of Wilbur Schwatken, Jr., fire district coordinator.

In speaking to the commission at its weekly meeting, Randy Haymaker, who is chief of the Dearing division of the Montgomery County Rural Fire Department, said the grievance was being filed to get answers from the commission regarding Schwatken’s dismissal. At the commission’s April 20 meeting, commissioner Larry McManus offered a motion to reappoint Schwatken as fire district coordinator. The motion failed for lack of a second by commissioners Tony Fowler or Fred Brown, thereby automatically ending Schwatken’s tenure as fire district coordinator.

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BY ANDY TAYLOR

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a ruling that originated in a Montgomery County murder case.

In the case Kansas vs. Ventris, the nation’s highest court ruled 5-2 that a statement from an informant was admissible to impeach a defendant’s inconsistent testimony at trial.

In the case, Donnie Ray Ventris and Rhonda Theel were charged with murder and other crimes. Prior to trial, an informant planted in Ventris’s jail cell heard Ventris admit to shooting and robbing the victim, but Ventris testified at trial that Theel committed the crimes. When the State of Kansas sought to call the informant to testify to his contradictory statement, Ventris objected. The State of Kansas conceded that Ventris’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel had likely been violated, but argued that the statement was admissible for impeachment purposes.

The trial court allowed the testimony. The jury convicted Ventris of aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery. Reversing the conviction, the Kansas Supreme Court held that the informant’s statements were not admissible for any reason, including impeachment.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the Kansas Supreme Court and the case is remanded for further proceedings.

“The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court will give law enforcement and prosecutors the direction and tools they need to fight crime in Kansas and across the country,” Kansas Attorney General Six said. “I’m proud our office was able to claim victory in front of our nation’s highest court.”

As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision, Ventris’s conviction and 20-year sentence for aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery are reinstated and the case will continue for further proceedings in the Kansas courts.

Solicitor General Stephen R. McAllister argued on behalf of Kansas on January 21, 2009.

BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle

WICHITA — Continuing to struggle in a sluggish economy, Cessna Aircraft Company announced Wednesday it was laying off 2,300 workers companywide, including 121 from Cessna’s Independence assembly plant, and closing its Oregon plant.

That closure of the Bend, Ore., facility could actually benefit the Independence plant as the Bend facility will relocate its entire production line of the Corvalis 350 and Corvalis 400 TT aircraft to Montgomery County.
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An investigation into a rape incident at the Hillcrest Inn in Independence on Thursday night, April 23, led to the arrest of a 31-year-old Independence man not only in that sexual assault but also on various drug charges.

Sheriff Robert Dierks said a deputy was notified by Mercy Hospital staff late Thursday about a 20-year-old Independence Community College female student who claimed she was raped at the Hillcrest Inn, 3146 N. Penn. The student named Roy Kimball Miller, a Hillcrest Inn resident, as the person who committed the assault.

The student claimed Miller provided her with alcoholic beverages and had give her some type of a prescription pill.
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You will enjoy reading the April 23rd edition of the Montgomery County Chronicle. Among the stories you will find . . .

• Wilbur Schwatken, coordinator of Montgomery County Rural Fire District #1, was dismissed from his job Monday by the Montgomery County Commission. We’ll have a reaction about the dismissal from the leader of the Montgomery County Rural Fire Board of Directors — a group that gave an overwhelming recommendation for Schwatken’s reappointment prior to Monday’s meeting.
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