Kansas Klips

Hays man seriously injured in accident outside bar

HAYS—Hays Police were called to Sip N Spin in Hays early Sunday morning, January 21st, at 1:50 a.m. A Hays resident was hospitalized with a serious head injury after an altercation outside the facility. The 35-year-old Hays man was first taken to Hays Med and then flown to KU Medical Center in Kansas City. Damien L. Wood, 19, of Bosque, N.M., was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery, said Deputy Hays Police Chief Brian Dawson. No other details of the incident were given, with Dawson stating that the case is still under investigation. (Hays Post)

Ellis County Judge Braun announces he will not seek reelection

HAYS—Chief Judge of the 23rd Judicial District, Glenn R. Braun, has announced that he will not seek reelection in 2024. Braun took the bench in 2012 and has been chief judge since 2016. He previously served as the president of the State BarAssociation, a commissioner on the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission, and is presently chairman of the Kansas Supreme Court Specialty Court Committee. Braun has served on numerous local and state boards and committees during his 42-year legal career. (Hays Post)

Kansas teen impaled with pliers during slip and fall freak accident on ice

WICHITA—A freak accident led one Kansas teen to spend the night in the hospital after he was impaled with a pair of pliers after slipping and falling on some ice. Joey Zeman, 15, had been helping with snow removal on Saturday, January 20th, when he slipped on some ice. At first, Zeman didn’t think anything of it until he noticed something terribly wrong. “Well, I got up and noticed my pliers weren’t in my pouch.And I looked down, and they were inside me. I tried pulling them out a couple of times when I first saw them there.They didn’t come out. I called Mom and told her that I was on my way to the ER ‘cause my pliers were inside me.” Joey was taken to a hospital in Wakeeney, where medical staff was shocked by what they saw. They decided to fly him out on a helicopter to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. A CT scan determined that no major organs were affected and that the reason he had not been able to pull them out himself was because the pliers had become embedded in his bone. Doctors removed the pliers without major surgery, and after spending a night in the hospital, Zeman was able to head home. (Newsbreak)

Kansas couple lived with body of dead parent, collected retirement benefits

OVERLAND PARK—A Kansas couple has been charged with fraudulently collecting more than $215,000.00 in retirement benefits on behalf of a dead relative while they concealed his body inside their home for six years. Authorities say Mike Carroll’s pacemaker showed that he died in 2016 at age 81. Still, Overland Park Police did not discover his body until 2022 after his son-in-law, Kirk Ritter, called police to report his death in the Kansas City suburb. Prosecutors say Lynn Ritter and Kirk Ritter, both 61, continued depositing and spending from Carroll’s bank account even while his body became mummified on a bed in the home he owned. Lynn Ritter is Carroll’s daughter. Family members told the Kansas City Star that the Ritters would repeatedly give them excuses about why Carroll could never take a phone call or visit, leading them to believe that Carroll was still alive. The couple will appear in federal court to face several charges on February 2nd. Prosecutors said the pension and Social Security payments Carroll received over the six years after his death totaled $216,067.00, but bank records from that time showed checks being written from his bank account and cashed by Lynn and Kirk Ritter. (Hays Post)

Water supply system fixed in Logan; boil water advisory rescinded

TOPEKA—The Kansas Department of Health and Environment recently rescinded a boil water advisory for the City of Logan public water supply system in Phillips County. The advisory was issued on January 17th because of an equipment malfunction due to freezing, resulting in a loss of pressure in the distribution system. (Hays Post)

Body of Rush County teen found in ditch

RUSH COUNTY—The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Rush County Sheriff’s Office are conducting a death investigation after a man was found deceased Wednesday morning, January 17th, near LaCrosse. At around 10:15 a.m., the Rush County’s Sheriff’s Office received a call from a citizen who reported seeing a body lying in the south ditch on Avenue N. around a half mile east of U.S. Highway 183 near LaCrosse, according to the media release from the KBI. Deputies responded to the location and found the body. The man was identified as 18-year-old Zachary Thiel of LaCrosse. A vehicle believed to have been driven by Thiel was stuck in the snow approximately one-half mile east of Thiel’s location. (Hays Post)