Hugoton, KS

On February 2nd at approximately 11:35pm hours, officers of the Liberal Police Department responded to 500 block E. 8th Street in reference to an incident. Upon arrival, officers located a vehicle occupied by an 18-year-old male, with facial injuries, and a 20-year-old female with minor injuries. It was determined that the male was driving westbound on 8th Street, when the orange 2019 Ford Mustang struck a telephone pole and a tree. Both occupants were transported to SWMC. The male was later transported to Wichita.

A Hugoton man was injured in an accident Friday afternoon in Texas County, Okla. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported shortly before 4:30 p.m. Friday, a 2006 Cadillac CTS was traveling northbound on Oklahoma Highway 136 about six and a half miles north of Guymon, Okla. OHP said the vehicle departed...

Dorm rooms, kids’ rooms, man caves – all locales where traffic and street signs have been utilized as part of the décor. It is a common sight; however, it could also be evidence of a crime. Grant County Public Works Supervisor Shaun “Sam” Minks is all too...

The preparations for Pancake Day in Liberal are in full swing, and so too are the preparations for this year’s festivities in Olney, England. “What we do in Olney is actually quite different from what goes on in Liberal, because Liberal has that whole weekend of events while we focus everything basically on that day,” David Phillipson, chairman of the Olney Pancake Race Committee, said. “There's a lot of prep that goes on beforehand like setting up the marquee and getting the road closure officially approved for the race for that morning. We also look for help to enforce that road closure, we don't want anyone stepping out in the road and getting injured during the race. We've got some runners who have already applied, and that application process has been open for a little while now, and we have a limit of 25 spots in the main race, which is open to women 18 years old and older,. Before the main race that morning, we'll also have several children's races, and there's roughly 160 children participating in those, which also takes some organizing. This year, we've also sent a special trophy to Liberal to be presented to the winner there. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the song 'Amazing Grace,' so that trophy commemorates that, and we'll have a couple extra awards for our winner as well.”

What started out as a “two year plan”, has turned in to a work of love for local business couple, Dr. Bradyn and Whitney Bishop of Prairie Vista Dental. “When we first came here, we came as employees,” explained Whitney. “It was meant to be temporary, but we loved it here.”

The Liberal Area Chamber of Commerce was in Topeka this week selling our community to the rest of the state. I can’t thank these community leaders enough for the time they spend telling our story to others across the State. It really makes a difference when legislators talk to you. We all connect with others in different ways. Sometimes you can make that connection in a way others can’t. I encourage all of you to take the time to reach out to your elected officials whenever you have the chance.

Winter homecoming candidates for Ulysses High School were: Jonah Pfingsten, Maggie Koops, Elipidio Cortez Jr., Erika Romero, Xavier Rodriguez, Aubrey Swinehart, Jacob Smith, and Amanda Langley. 20 years ago. (January 30, 2003) Jackie McBride, Field Administrator for Ulysses ExxonMobil, presented Grant County Library Curator Francis Roberts with a $1,000 grant....

The search for a new police chief for Liberal has been going on for some time and recently, that search was completed. Last week, the City of Liberal announced the hiring of Chet Pinkston, who will officially start in the post Feb. 20. Pinkston has spent the last 32 years as a member of the Wichita Police Department, serving as deputy chief since 2020 and as he tells it, he is no stranger to law enforcement.

The Seward County Athletic Department is excited to announce Eric Volden as the inaugural Head Esports Coach for the Saints. Volden has served as the Director of Admission at Seward County since 2019 and was the Admissions and Recruiting Coordinator from 2017-2019. With the news that Eric Volden has been...

The USD 480 school board will have a short agenda to take care of at its next meeting Monday evening starting at 6:30. Monday’s meeting will be in Room C107 of the Liberal High School East Annex. Before the new business, the board will hear some administrator reports, starting...

Seward County came away with a sweep Wednesday against Cloud County with the Lady Saints running away with a 77-49 win and the Saints earning a 69-60 victory. The Lady Saints were led by Halima Salat who scored 20 points. D’Arrah Allen had 13 points, Tiana Winn scored 10, and De’Shawnti Thomas had a double double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Grant County Museum, aka Historic Adobe Museum, has recently been gifted numerous objects from the Bud and Betty Warner Trust. Betty and Leroy "Bud" were longtime residents of Ulysses and Grant County. Originally the items were loaned to the museum and have been in the museum collection for many...

The Southwest Kansas Chapter of the Sons of Thunder will meet today, February 2, at the Shelton Memorial Church, 316 N. Main, Ulysses. Come join us the first Thursday of each month at the announced locations for a meal, fellowship, worship and a guest speaker. The meal begins at 6:30 p.m., and the event is from 7-8:30 p.m. For more information call Larry at 620-262-1751 or Monty at 620-353-9507.

Holcomb, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Holcomb was swept by the Hugoton Eagles Tuesday night at Holcomb High School. The Lady Longhorns lose 49-45, while the boys fell 68-62 in double overtime to Hugoton. Hugoton Girls 49, Holcomb 45. The Lady Longhorns started slow and were down 7-2 with five minutes to go...

Parents looking to have their children take Driver’s Ed will soon have a chance for just that thanks to Liberal High School. “The Driver's Ed lottery will be happening soon at Liberal High School, we're doing it as a lottery because so many people were interested in the class,” LHS Attendance Secretary Marina Guereca-Marquez said. “Before we did the lottery, it was on a first come, first serve basis, which ultimately ended up with disappointing a lot of students and parents, so we came up with the lottery system for this time around. Sign-up forms will be available in the LHS counseling office, and we also send forms to the middle schools since 8th graders can also be eligible to take the class. The forms will be available Feb. 6 through 28, the drawing will be March 1, and then the students selected will have to pay the class fee, which is $150 and get to decide whether they want to do the summer session or the fall session that takes place during the school year. Some students prefer not to do the summer session since that's when they travel for vacation and all of that, but the summer session doesn't really last too far into the summer because our teacher, Mr. Dowell, likes to prefer the coursework in May and have all of that done by the time school's out, and then they only drive one week in June, and that schedule is set up between the student and Mr. Dowell. To qualify, students must have at least a 2.0 GPA, be passing all of their classes, and have no more than five unexcused absences. The summer class can have 150 students, and the fall session can have 35 students. The past years I've been helping with it, the summer session hasn't really gotten filled up because Driver's Ed was put on the backburner due to COVID-19, and it wasn't really until this past fall semester when that interest really started picking up again.”

The City of Liberal has used the current logo and motto, “Crossroads of Commerce” for about 30 years, and it is time to consider a new logo for the community. According to a release from the City of Liberal, several community members have recommended an update, and the city has opened up the process to everyone.

On Senior Night in the Big House Thursday, Liberal’s wrestling teams competed with the Great Bend Panthers. The Great Bend girls won the dual 42-37 and the Great Bend boys defeated the Redskins 64-15. Both LHS teams are 0-3 in the WAC. The boys had three winners. Trystian Juarez...

Authorities have identified a man who was killed in a small plane crash in Texas County, Oklahoma.

WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - The city of Liberal, Kansas has offered its police chief position to Chester Pinkston. Pinkston is a 30-year veteran of law enforcement, who began his career as a Reno County detention deputy in 1988. He spent the last 32 years as a member of the Wichita Police Department.

Liberal High School principal Ashley Kappelmann and associate principal Carter Kruger spoke at a national education conference yesterday. Kappelmann and Kruger spoke Wednesday at the National Elementary and Secondary Education Act Conference in Indianopolis, Indiana. The presentation was called “Times, they are a Changing, Mindsets and Strategies to Embrace and Sustain Change.” The goal was to use their experience with the redesign and COVID response to provide different perspectives about change leadership and share ideas to help in the process. They were selected by the ESEA conference committee to speak.