Category: Local News

The Haysville Times
By Kathleen Barkley

Picci Castleberry came to Haysville from Italy in 1952. She had lived in Trieste until she was thirteen, when she moved to Rome. She remembers what holidays were like there.
Castleberry can still sing in Italian, just like she used to in the Christmas plays in school and in the church choir, where she played an angel. Nativity scenes can be found in churches, homes, shops, and other buildings all over Italy at this time of year. Christmas markets are found throughout the country, selling Chritmas merchandise such as sweets and other foods, flowers, and decorations. Musicians wander the streets or sit on the sidewalks, playing their instruments and singing. Passersby can donate money to them.
On St. Nicholas Day on December 6, Catholics have processions or parades. During the month of December, up through the Christmas Eve midnight service, people participate in Christmas novellas or special prayer services with singing, and Castleberry always took part in these. Thefigurine of baby Jesus is placed in his crib or manger on Christmas Eve.
On that night, the children hang their stockings so when Santa Claus comes down the chimney, he will leave them fruits, such as apples and oranges, cookies, and candies. In Italy, it is believed that Santa was born in Naples.
Christmas trees are decorated with small candles and other ornaments, sometimes homemade ones.
“There were no electric lights and no top [for the tree],” said Castleberry.
Pieces of cotton are added to the tree, as well. The candles have to be watched carefully to make sure the tree doesnt catch on fire, or a new tree would have to be chopped down and decorated. The candles arent lit, however, until exactly midnight, and they are lit every day after that through January 6.
On Christmas Day, families come for a big feast with ham, vegetables, homemade bread and pies, and sauerkraut.
On New Years Day, children visit their neighbors houses, going door-to-door to get fruits, candies, cookies, or money in their own brand of trick-or-treating.
On January 6, the three wise men visit. Also, Bafana, always an old woman, brings gifts of fruits, cookies, and candies for those children who have put their shoes on the steps in their homes. Only after this is the tree finally taken down, and the winter holidays in Italy come to an end.

The Haysville Times
By Angie Gumm

If the case for Christmas is to have faith in goodness and in one’s fellow man, then it can be especially irksome when our best efforts at goodwill are squashed by ne’er-do-wells. The challenge of Christmas, of course, is to keep believing.
Haysville Pride and the seniors at the Senior Center who helped put up the Christmas decorations in Riggs Park are living up to that challenge and proving that faith-and decorations-are resilient, not to mention buoyant .
As part of their annual efforts for the holidays, the Pride Program sponsored supplies for Christmas decorations, which Pat and Jack Ferguson designed and cut, and many local seniors helped paint. The decorations were up less than a few days before some “ruggers” took them down.
Continue reading “Christmas Cheer Gets New Life”

The Haysville Times
By Kathleen Barkley

Throughout Germany, Christmas traditions vary, but Haysville’s own Christel Cloyd, of Bergland Trachten German and Austrian Imports, can remember the traditions she enjoyed as a child in Germany. She lived in Peine, near Hanover. For St. Nicholas Day on December 6, the children put their shoes in front of the door so that St. Nicholas can put cookies in them. The Advent Calendar is hung, and for each day, the children find a picture behind the number. During Advent (the four weeks prior to the week of Christmas), the Advent wreath is placed on a stand which sits in the middle of the table. On the first Sunday of Advent, one red candle is placed on the wreath, and another one is placed for each consecutive Sunday leading up to the week before Christmas, until there are four red candles.
Next comes Christmas Eve, the Holy Evening, or Heilige Abend. The Christmas tree is picked out and chopped down. When the tree is standing inside, tinsel is hung on the tree, piece-by-piece, and candles are sometimes added, as well. Any ornaments put on the tree are homemade and created from whatever a person chooses. In Cloyd’s family, the tree was left up until January 6 of the next year. When the tree is taken down, the tinsel is removed, one strand at a time, and saved for the next year.
The “Christ Child” (Christkind) delivers the children’s presents to the foot of the tree, and they’re usually covered by a sheet or such. When supper is served, there is goose, which first has to be caught, preferably early in the season to make sure there was one available. There is also red or blue cabbage and yellow boiled potatoes. Christ Stollen, or Christmas cake and sometimes poppy seed cake, cinnamon stars, and gingerbread cookies or houses are served. The gingerbread cookies or houses aree made with homemade molasses, one for every child, and coated with sugar and chocolate. Almost everything is homemade.
“I never make anything from a box,” says Cloyd.
After supper, each child recites a poem having to do with Christmas, and everyone sings Christmas songs, such as “Silent Night” and “O Tannenbaum.” Now the children are allowed to receive their unwrapped Christmas gifts brought by Christkind. Everyone then proceeds to church for the Christmas Eve Midnight Service. A 10 a.m. Christmas Day church service follows the next morning, and this concludes the traditions in Cloyd’s region of the country. The remainder of the day is still a holiday from work, just as Christmas Eve was, and just as it is here.

The Haysville Times
By Barb Walters

One Haysville couple has something extra to be thankful for this week. On Thanksgiving Day, Thomas and Vivian Copeland celebrated their seventieth wedding anniversary.
Married November 24, 1935, in Fulton County, Arkansas, the couple later moved to Kansas where Tom worked for the Boeing Company, a career that would span thirty years. Their two daughters, Helen Stowe and Vernece Greig, live in Wichita. The Copeland’s have seven grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.
Haysville Dairy Queen employees noticed a customer coming in regularly for four chicken strips and gravy. It’s one of Vivian’s favorite foods. Recently, Dairy Queen owner Jeanette Westerhaus was visiting with Tom Copeland, who likes to buy the chicken strips because Vivian likes them so much. “He told he me was going to be married seventy years the next week,” Westerhaus recalled. “I said ‘what, you were married when you were five?’” He went on to reveal that he will soon be 88. “He’s just such a gentleman’s gentleman,” explained Westerhaus. “He’s just the neatest guy in the world.”
Tom Copeland picks up the chicken strips nearly every day, but he usually fixes something else for himself. The Copeland’s used to go dancing, but now they are content to enjoy their birds – canaries and budgies – 23 in all.
This won’t be the first time the Copeland’s anniversary has fallen on Thanksgiving over the decades, but the celebration is sweeter than ever.

The Haysville Times
By CJ Cross

Friday was an historic day for Oatville Elementary. There were 383 students in attendance, along with the Superintendent, BOE members, school staff, local families and Donald Thompson, with his family.
With a quick show of Oatville Indian spirit, the great dedication started off with a “thank you” to all who made things possible. Next came a ceremony with Mr. Thompson cutting the ribbon and ringing the bell.
Donald Thompson, who will turn 104 in February, attended Oatville in 1905, when it was just one room with one teacher. He walked miles to school, because there were no buses. He could remember the school and how it was when he was a young boy. He had actually kept that bell in his own back yard until the family came together and decided to refinish and return it to its home place at Oatville.
The bell was re-dedicated in honor of Donald Thompson and his family’s legacy at Oatville and in remembrance of his great-grandson, killed in 2002 in a bicycle accident.
Many were there to thank him for making this all possible, from the lime-stone to the refinishing of the bell, which was funded by donations from those in the Oatville community. A great deal of hard work and love went into the project at Oatville, and with the sun shining, it made for a great day!
The Oatville Indians cheered in appreciation and excitement to their old, yet new, addition to their school. May we enjoy another 100 years of memories at Oatville.

The Haysville Times
By Angie Gumm

If you thought you saw a truck stuck in Riggs Pond this week, you don’t need to make an appointment with your optometrist. A city employee was checking on buildings in Riggs Park on Tuesday morning when the strong wind blew his truck, which was stuck in reverse, into the pond.
“Those old vehicles have some gear shift problems,” said the City’s Carol Neugent.
Neugent said the truck wasn’t in the pond very long before it was pulled out with a loader and chains. She expects the vehicle to make a full recovery.
“It’s a very old truck. It doesn’t have electronics, so we can dry it out, and it should be drivable,” she said. “We’re just glad that nobody was hurt.”

The Haysville Times
By Johnna Crawford

What do you get when you mix seventy to eighty teenagers and only eight adults?
The answer is the Campus High School fall musical production of Little Shop of Horrors.
Theatre teacher and director Greg McGlynn is the mastermind behind the upcoming performance and has dedicated his personal talents and time to guiding the Campus students towards another successful theatre production.
Little Shop of Horrors was originally released as a black and white film in 1960. The budget was low, and the rumors are that the movie was completed in only two days and also debuted a young Jack Nicholson. The 1986 version featured Rick Moranis as Seymour, Steve Martin as the sadistic dentist and Bill Murray as his patient.
However, the CHS production only features Haysville celebrities; all have performed in numerous Campus plays in the past. Seymour is played by senior Brandon Napier, Audrey is played by junior Cassie LeBron, Mr. Mushnik is junior Dylon Lewis, and Orin, who also plays the blood eating plant, Audrey II, is performed by junior Miles Mattal. The cast also consists of many other CHS students including those from the Theatre I class, Advanced Acting and musical numbers made possible by the CHS Jazz Band and musical director Mrs. Riffe.
Little Shop of Horrors brings much more life and color to the stage then previous classics such as Our Town and Fiddler on the Roof. Mr. McGlynn wanted something a little more light and fun, allowing his actors to “get a little goofy.” This musical is one musical that actually has it all: comedy, drama, music, unforgettable characters, and choreography.
The plot involves the character of Seymour, a dweebish flower shop worker who acquires a small plant during a solar eclipse. Seymour soon finds out that this plant, Audrey II, named after a co-worker, needs blood to survive. As the plant grows, so does its appetite and the show is pure entertainment from then on.
Napier, as Seymour, is the main character, “who gets to act like a nerd.” He and LeBron, who plays his love interest Audrey, both have been in previous CHS plays and also plan on acting more in their future, though Napier believes he’ll stay in Kansas, while LeBron has different plans. “I’m not sure where I’d go, but I’m not staying here,” she explained.
Dylon Lewis has enjoyed this particular play because besides acting it also involves singing and dancing, which he hasn’t done before. And as for the blood-hungry plant, Miles Mattal is happy with his character, saying, “I think it’s the coolest part I’ve ever had.”
Performances will be next week on November 10, 11 and 12, doors open at 7:00 p.m., and the show starts at 7:30. Tickets are $5.00, unless you’re a child or senior.
The play has already been guaranteed worth the money by the high school actors because, “this one is really funny and random,” said Dustin Swisher, and it’s all in the hands of Mr. McGlynn, who according to LeBron, “basically knows everything there is to know.”

The Haysville Times
By Patricia Barkley

Haysvilleonline.com is the face of Haysville’s online community. This month is the six-year anniversary of the website, and a lot has changed during that time. When its virtual doors first opened, the address was locojoe.com/haysville. That was on October 10, 1999. In June of 2000, the domain name Haysvilleonline.com was purchased. The site was really starting to put itself on the map.
The creator, designer, and administrator of Haysville’s online meeting place goes only by the name Randy. Randy, who previously ran a “bulletin board system” called Alphabet City, came up with the idea for Haysvilleonline after seeing the City’s official website. He felt it was “static and didn’t provide a lot of the information I thought a city’s website should.” He made some suggestions to the webmaster at haysville-ks.com but never saw any of them implemented.

“I then decided to create my own interactive unofficial Haysville website with a large portion of the content, like news, photos and events, being provided by the residents themselves,” Randy wrote in an email. “I also wanted to create a meeting place where residents could voice their opinions, whether positive or negative. Throw in what I knew and could find about Haysville’s history, a few fun things, and Haysville Online was born.”
The website boasts all sorts of information on Haysville and links to the City’s official site, the Haysville Chamber of Commerce, and the Haysville Community Library. It also has information for visitors who might be considering moving to Haysville. There is a directory that lists businesses and churches, a section on schools in USD 261, and lots of photos and facts on Haysville history, as well as local events and a city map. There are Haysville-style games, classifieds, coupons, contests, local weather reports, and an HOL gift shop. Visitors can send in their own photos and information for inclusion in the history section or the photo album or add upcoming events to the calendar.

The two things on Haysvilleonline that have sparked the most interest over the years are the news items and the message boards. In May of 2001, the Haysville Times published an article, written by Johnna Harris (now Crawford), on the excitement that was keeping the message boards busy with posts from Haysville residents, mainly concerning the recent election and the addition of Seth Konkel to the school board. Both residents of USD 261 and elected officials were voicing their opinions. An excerpt from the story can be found in the scrapbook section of the website. The month before it was published, Haysvilleonline received roughly 10,000 hits, but the highest numbers for that year would come in August (about 13,000). Since then, October has become the site’s biggest month, with over 20,000 hits in 2003 and over 21,000 in 2004.

Websites like “Kansas Travel and Tourism” and the radio station B98 FM have linked to Haysvilleonline, and comments from viewers have said things like “Those pretty Haysville pictures are enjoyed by my family in Switzerland. Keep em coming!” and “I have been deployed for the Air National Guard for the past two months. Every once in a while I enjoy coming to this site to see what is going on back ‘home.’” On average, the site still receives about 10,000 page views per month, and the site’s newsletter has over 180 subscribers, both inside and outside Haysville. As one out-of-town viewer wrote, “I have enjoyed your newsletter so much that I almost feel like a member of your community!”

In April of 2005, the Haysville Times appointed Haysvilleonline as its official website. There is a subscription page on the site, and the Times provides some of the local news stories every week a day before publication in the paper.
The future of Haysville’s online community looks bright as both Randy and local citizens add more content.
“The only agenda I have is to keep my hobby of providing an online service alive,” wrote Randy.

Continue reading “Happy Anniversary, HOL”

The Haysville Times
By Patricia Barkley

The Haysville City Council discussed further clarification of the City’s nuisance codes at their October 11 meeting. Three nuisance abatement hearings were held, prompting the debate. Some explanation was offered in regard to a previous discussion about the difference between a nuisance violation and a zoning violation. Coordinator Angela Millspaugh stated that a nuisance violation dealt specifically with how a property was maintained and related to the health and welfare section of the City’s codes.
A representative for the owner of the first property under nuisance abatement was present at the meeting. Ron Cowhick came to the hearing in the place of Steve Dale, owner of 205 Cain Dr., which had been cited for storing inoperable vehicles and miscellaneous debris. The vehicles had been moved, but some of the debris, wood and mulch, was used during Dale Investments’ day-to-day business and could not easily be moved.
The relevant ordinance did not have specific rules for particular types of materials, so there was some debate over what needed to be done with the wood and mulch. Normal debris must be stored eighteen inches off the ground, but it made little sense to Cowhick to “put mulch on top of concrete. You’re gonna have dirt on it then.”
Both materials are processed by the company for sale, and the mulch is also used for landscaping on the property. Cowhick stated that it would take the entire winter season to process all of the wood currently piled on the property. Although Councilman Ken Hampton voiced some concern over the proximity of the woodpile to some local gas containers, the main point of the discussion was the lack of specific definitions in the ordinance itself.
“The point of the ordinance was to take care of junk, not items used in the day-to-day operation of a business,” said Councilman Bill Youngers. “Some of the things we deal with wouldn’t be code violations…There’s a gray area we’re not addressing.”
The issue of a conditional use permit was suggested, but the matter was finally tabled to give the City time to check on specific definitions and perhaps clarify the vagaries of the nuisance ordinance.
The second hearing was for the property at 427 E. 71st St. S. The code violations there included debris, weeds, and an unsafe structure. Most of the debris has been moved onto trailers or otherwise stored off the ground, and the inoperable vehicles, high weeds, and unsafe structure are now gone. However, there was still some question about the storage of the debris on a flat trailer, haphazardly stacked. Councilman Mike Streets suggested that since the owner had obviously made an effort to clean up, the Council should give him more time to fully comply. Youngers, however, felt that since the owner, Ronald Kohecny, had requested a hearing and then not attended, the Council should pass the resolution to finish cleaning up the property. Finally, the issue was tabled for another two weeks, with Youngers opposed.
The third hearing was for 7470 S. Broadway, and the owners, Alan and Alice Kissack were not in attendance. Code Enforcement Officer Cale Topinka had, however, been in touch with Alan, and subsequently, some of the high weeds had been removed. The inoperable vehicles remained, though, and there was some question about the operation of a business without a license. Topinka stated that there hadn’t been much of a change in the maintenance of the property, so the Council passed the abatement resolution unanimously.
A fourth hearing that had been scheduled for the first meeting in October but had been accidentally left off of the agenda for the evening was tabled for another two weeks. The property was 523 E. 71st St. S., owned by Arthur Pirner.
An annexation ordinance was unanimously approved by the Council, bringing a rough triangle of land into the city limits on the east side of 10th St., south of Grand Ave. and east of the railroad tracks. The area is referred to as the Timber Creek Estates Addition and will not include road right-of-way for the section of 10th St. that it borders.
The Council accepted the resignation of Community Development Director Rick Rekoske, effective October 19, 2005.
A consent for the annexation of Suncrest 2nd Addition was also approved, and the low bidder, Bryant and Bryant Construction, for the Old Oak-Nelson Hike/Bike Trail was accepted. Additionally, a workshop was set for 6 PM, November 14, to discuss trash hauler requirements.
Vern Lippoldt was appointed to the Planning Commission in an at-large position. The Commission is still looking for members in Wards I and II, and new members are also needed for the Park Board and the Tree Board.
A revision to the City’s zoning ordinance for an Historic District Overlay was discussed at the meeting. After approval from three different committees had been obtained, the overlay was sent on to the Council. The ordinance specifies the general appearance of the Historic District in order to maintain its old-fashioned atmosphere. Youngers suggested that it might be too restricting in its list of businesses that were not allowed in the area. However, Hampton suggested that it needed to be more specific in certain other matters. For instance, building paints are required to comply with standards used in the 1890-1910 era, but specific colors are not listed in the ordinance. Youngers agreed, “After the years of work that have gone into this, there shouldn’t be any vagaries. [A builder] should know what to do when he starts.”
Councilman Steve Crum disagreed, saying, “The Planning Commission weeds out these things for us and studies them. If they think this is good, I’m comfortable with that.”
The matter was put to a vote. The first motion was to send the ordinance back to the Planning Commission with requests for revisions. Crum, Keith Pierce, Joe Holub, and Pat Ewert voted against this motion, splitting the vote. Mayor Bruce Armstrong broke the tie by also voting against it. The next motion made was to pass the ordinance. Hampton, Youngers, Streets, and Rob Wilkerson were opposed to this motion, but Armstrong broke the tie again and voted in favor of it, passing the overlay.

The Haysville Times
By Angie Gumm

Don’t let anyone tell you that Campus Colts don’t go far, and if they try to, tell them about Dr. Terrill Ray (above, left).
This summer, Ray, who graduated from Campus in 1986, received a Meritorious Honor Award from the U.S. Department of State for his work on the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty, and the proposed Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty.
As an employee of the Arms Control Bureau of the Department of State, Ray uses his science background to help the U.S. make sound policies about nuclear weapons.
He works with the International Monitoring System (IMS), which is a kind of seismograph, or as Ray said a “CAT Scan that detects seismic waves.” The difference is that the IMS has to determine if the waves it detects are the results of nuclear testing.
Continue reading “Haysville Native Awarded”