January 27, 2016

Birthdays: January 27, Bryce Strickland, Martin Higgins; January 28, had Herdman; January 29, Stacy Betz, Robert B. Thompson, Fritz Foster, Eunice North; January 30, Ian Stevens; January 31, Debbie Oelkers, Todd Frazier; February 1, Joshua Moran, Justin Georg, Mason Brackney, Karen Norlin Simmerman; February 2, Neal Jacobs, Patty Miller, Doug Elias, Michael Showalter, Donny Anderson (Shane's).

Anniversaries: January 28, Al and Judy Hugh; January 31, Thayne and Machree Jones; February

Those attending Shannon McKinney's funeral service at Lincoln were James Unrein, Kim McCormick Townsend, Mark McCormick, Jeff McCormick, Larry Hinman, Freddie Taylor and sons, Layne and Kerri Morgan, Lanette (Stremel) and David Kaster; Patti (Schwartz) and Jake Johnson; Jerry and Karen Casey, Kellye and Sandy Irvin, Ellen Kershner, Mark Baus, Sandra Jacobs, Jerry Higgins, Larry Buster, Greg Buster, Dale Elias, Shirley Higgins, Carolyn Thompson, Arlene Gilbert, Cheryl (Foreman) Larson and Susan Keith. If we forgot anyone, please let us know. This is from the memorial card for Shannon: “Shannon earned his BS degree in Agriculture at Fort Hays State University in 1983. For several years he worked in the agriculture industry. He entered the Army on October 4, 1988. During his time in the service he served in the 3/75th Ranger Regiment, the 2/11th Infantry Regiment, the 3/10th Special Forces Group and the Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta Force. He had multiple combat tours, four in Iraq. His other deployments included Panama, Bosnia and Afghanistan. He received many awards, those of special note were the Legion of Merit, two Defense Meritorious Service Medals, nine Bronze Stars (two with V Device for valor) and three Purple Hearts. In addition, he received the Combat Infantryman Badge, Military Free Fall Jumpmaster, and Free Fall Parachutist.. He and Donna were married in 1991. He was a licensed pilot and loved flying his plane. He was also an avid hunter.” In Iraq one of their missions was to take out the sons of Saddam Hussein, Uday and Qusay in Mosul. Delta Force with help from 100 troops of the 101st Airborne, Apache helicopters and an A-10 gunship had a three hour firefight. This action took place on July 22, 2003. Delta Force: What are they? The super-secret counter-terrorism group of the U. S. Army's lst Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta. Nickname “Delta Force” After a rise in global terrorism in the 1970's, the Delta Force was created in 1977 by U. S. Army Col. Charles Beckwith, who had completed an exchange program in the 1980's with the elite British SAS. They are experts in preventing terrorism as security at high-profile targets, or reacting to terrorism. They are trained to infiltrate or storm hideouts to rescue hostages
Event at Lecompton, Kansas, at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, January 31, a Kansas Day program will be held featuring author, historian, public speaker Deb Goodrich. She will speak on “Founding the Soldier State: How Bleeding Kansas and the Civil War Shaped Kanas”. She will also do a book signing following her talk.

Beverly Baldwin, was the son of Ross and Edythe Littler Baldwin. He is a descendant of James C. Littler. ( From the McCracken History Volume 2, page 265, J. C. landed in Hays City in March 1878 coming from Iowa. He applied at the Land Office for a plat in Rush County and coming down the Hays City - Dodge City Trail, the only road in the country at the time, he staked out a half section of government land. On this claim he put up a sod shanty and began breaking out the sod.) Bev was a farmer and worked with crop insurance. His sons are Richard and wife Corrine Baldwin, McCracken. Other family are son, Robert and wife Deann Baldwin, daughters, Karen and husband Gary Aufdemberge and Sharon Nottingham, 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

The 2015 Rangeland Award was given by the Ellis County Conservation District to Alan R. Oborny. Alan began ranching in 1989 in Rush County. He began running bison on his property. In 1998 he purchased additional land in Ellis County and began a fencing renovation to expand his herd.. Due to drought he did rangeland conservation with the drilling for water as his seven ponds went dry. He installed pipeline and cross fenced. Alan had worked for Turner Enterprises in Nebraska for 10 years where he managed 1,900 head of bison. On February 1 he will be leaving his job in Nebraska and come back to Kansas to become the Rangeland Specialist for the Smoky Valley Preserve near Oakley. They hope to expand their small bison herd. (This was from the Hays Daily News Ellis County Conservation Paper.