Garden City Telegram (Newspaper) - June 24, 2008, Garden City, Kansas What's inside Battle over border fence may be in M Picture This Gavin Lee Wells smiling after a nice Photo contributed by Jessie Garden Bannister earns TUESDAY June 24. 2008 THE GARDEN CITY Telegram Volume 79, No. 149 16 Pages 2 Sections 50 CENTS Valuation up in county Numbers could county waits on abatement By STEPHANIE FARLEY While 2008's estimated valuation is up about 3.6 percent at for Finney it'll take a bigger jump than that to ease the grip of upcoming budget needs on the according to Finney County Commissioner Roman The preliminary valuation numbers are in for 2008, with the county and Garden City Community College up about 3.6 percent from in 2007 to an estimated In all entities are up across the city of Garden up about 3 percent from in 2007 to in 2008. city of up about 3.8 percent from in 2007 to in 2008. Garden City USD 457: up about 4.2 percent from in 2007 to in 2008. Holcomb USD 363: up about 2.5 percent from in 2007 to in 2008. the portion of USD 102 in Finney up percent from in 2007 to in 2008. The valuation for USD 102 in Gray County is compared to last year's USD 102 valuation of But with roughly a million increase requested between the Finney County Sheriff's Office and Public Works Road and Bridge division for the 2009 not gonna make too much Halbur said of the It's still going to be a tight budget he adding Bonanza BioEnergy ethanol plant is figured in the numbers but that if the request of exemption and abatement of about million is granted by the state Board of Tax valuation for the college and USD 457 would actually go According to County Appraiser Mark the numbers are deceiving because Conestoga is included in the preliminary It would appear as though are Low with the ethanol plant figured in. But if the exemption is granted and that million is valuation will actually be down about Low said the million would come out of real which currently is estimated up at from in 2007 - without the that figure drops to about Personal also down at about million from million in 2007, and oil and gas is at from in 2007. See Page A5 Budgetary impact of decision uncertain By RACHEL DAVIS A Kansas Supreme Court decision to allow juveniles the right to a jury trial may stress an already burdened court system and has brought a mixed reaction from prosecutors and defense Marilyn executive director for Kansas Legal said the state Supreme Court's decision is a win for all juveniles across the She said because the juvenile system has strayed from its rehabilitative ideas to a more punitive juvenile defendants should have the constitutional right to have a jury decide their guilt or On the Kansas Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in favor of granting jury trials to juvenile The appeal stemmed from a Finney County case involving a 16-year-old male known as who was found guilty of minor in consumption of alcohol and aggravated sexual Harp said the court ordered to undergo sex offender treatment and register as a sex According to he was convicted for making a sexually suggestive comment and forcing a kiss on a woman who was walking home on a street in his He was placed on probation until he was 20 years Harp said during court her office requested a jury trial but District Court Judge Philip Vieux denied it. chief judge of the 25th Judicial said he would not comment on the impact of the state Supreme Court's decision on the court system or make any general statements about the Before the court's state law gave the judge See Pipe Ai Bred Are we there yet? Andy Musick holds the leash to his Hamlet and as he rides a bicycle Monday in the 400 block of East Hackberry Brad Jerry Roth works on getting a wheat field cut at Mary Street and VFW Road Monday as thunderstorms build to the Kansas wheat harvest finally under way Moisture means farmers behind in getting crop in. WICHITA - Kansas farmers were finally able to get into their fields to harvest winter wheat over the weekend as the ground dried out ahead of the next wave of But the Kansas wheat harvest still lags well behind normal while farmers scramble to get this season's high-priced crop safely into the Just 6 percent of the wheat crop has now been harvested in the the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday In a normal 36 percent would have been cut by this late in the At elevators as far north as the grain industry was getting its first hard look at the quality of the 2008 Top No. 1, wheat typically has test weights of 60 pounds per bushel or Protein levels of 11 percent are considered the higher the One of the few places in the state where wheat harvest has been anywhere near AGRICULTURE NEWS normal this year is in where 3.3 million bushels of wheat had been taken in as of Monday not but we are sure on the downhill said Alan general manager of OK Co-op Grain Co. in The harvest in the Kiowa area is about 85 percent Farmers in the Kiowa area mostly escaped the downpours that had stalled harvest elsewhere in the but even a couple of rains early last week made a noticeable dent in their test are still yields and even after a couple of rains 59 to 60 per test Meyers rain drops your test weights after it is Before the the Kiowa elevator was getting lots of test weights in the 62 to 63 pound per bushel Meyers anticipated to take in more than 3.5 million bushels this is going to be a good harvest by the time we are See Page A5 Deficit could rob state of highway funds Transportation secretary urging officials to write letters to By CHRIS GREEN TOPEKA - Worried that a shortfall in federal highway aid could cost projects in the state's top transportation official is seeking help in persuading Congress to fix the Secretary Deb Miller said Monday that Kansas is on the verge of losing million next year for highway because of a projected shortfall in the federal Highway Trust which relies on taxes from motor fuels to supply road and other transit aid to As a Miller sent letters on Friday to 125 public officials and industry representatives throughout the state urging them to express concern about the issue to the state's congressional The federal highway fund remains under pressure from more fuel efficient vehicles taking the as well as higher gas which encourage less driving and gas Some estimates suggest the fund could face a shortfall of at least billion next Although Congress has been discussing ways to address the it must pass legislation before October to avert a more than 30 percent cut in federal highway Miller am becoming increasingly worried that time and reasonable options to fix the problem are quickly running Miller said in a written KDOT spokesman Steve Swartz said it's unclear what Kansas highway projects might be affected by a funding Last the agency warned that a deficit could result in delays or cancellations for state and local projects slated for work in 2009. Projects for which work has already such as the widening of U.S. Highway 59 into a highway from Ottawa to likely would not be Swartz construction set to begin next year could face he That could include an expansion of into a highway from Hutchinson to possible that they could be impacted but that's one of the things that we'll just have to determine at some in the Swartz The list of recipients Miller sent the letter to included Rep. Mark Although he had yet to receive the See Page AS Inside Annie's Obituaries fed 61 Opinion TV Listings A3 Check us out at is indulgence of a to Ambrose Minos ean Wednesday's weather low 68. partly High 98, low 67. Details on page
