Great Bend News

Larry and Billie Hejny, Great Bend, announce the engagement and approaching marriage of their daughter, Jenna Hejny, to Brian Dreiling, son of Don Dreiling, and Katrina and Bob Evers, all of Great Bend.

The scene was repeated thousands of times: a wheat truck kicking up clouds of dust turns slowly off a dirt road into a field, just in time to take on a load of grain from a combine, its bin brimming full.

Keri Wise and Joseph Vinduska were married May 29 at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Ellinwood.

The 2009 wheat harvest is more than 50 percent complete for most of Barton and Pawnee counties, according to reports from area grain elevators.

Incoming University of Kansas students and their parents from Barton, Edwards, Pawnee, Rush and Stafford counties will be welcomed into the KU family at the Jayhawk Generations Welcome Picnic at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 14, in Great Bend.

Dana Hupfer's June 18, 1999 death remains an unsolved homicide. It has been 10 years since someone viciously beat Dana Hupfer and left her in a Wichita parking lot.

The 2+2 agreements formalize the process students use to build an associate's degree earned from the two-year college into a bachelor's degree in technology management with two more years of study through K-State at Salina.

Filoberto Ruiz, 41 Ramiro Soto, , Topeka Renato Garcia-Medina, Francisco J. Marin, 33, Topeka Rosendo Figueroa-Banuelos, 38, Topeka Samuel Francisco Nunez, 35, Topeka Kelly Rubio, 38, Topeka Hugo Soto-Meraz, 31, Topeka Fedrico Soto-Silva, 27, Topeka Brandon David Swarts, 35, Salina Maria G. Vazquez, 27, Great Bend Jasmin Rose Gartland, 31, Salina ...

Residents in central and southeast Kansas were cleaning up after storms packing high winds and possibly a tornado hit the region late Saturday, causing power outages and damaging homes.

Residents examine scattered damage, including downed fences, after Saturday evening's tornado that blew through Great Bend.

Storms have generated high winds across a swath of central and eastern Kansas and injured two in Great Bend.

There were plenty of bullets in Operation White Pistol. The nearly year-long undercover investigation resulted in 21 defendants facing drug trafficking charges.

The I 135 / I 70 Drug Task Force is among numerous law enforcement teams that participated in "Operation White Pistol". A couple of Salinans are among 21 people arrested in a federal drug case that involved an alleged drug trafficking organization that imported methamphetamine and other narcotics from Arizona to Kansas.

The efforts broke up a Drug Trafficking Network across the state. The suspects are accused of importing meth and other narcotics from Arizona to Kansas, and selling those drugs to dealers in Kansas City , KS, Topeka and Great Bend.

A documentary on the 1863 Lawrence Massacre is airing this month on all Kansas PBS stations, and several local actors have roles.The film Bloody Dawn the Lawrence Massacre examines Quantrills Raid, in which William Clarke Quantrill led a rebel guerrilla attack in the Civil War on the pro-union town of Lawrence.The documentary about the Aug.

For readers who enjoy Kansas authors, two books have come to my desk. Avid reader that I am, I spent an enjoyable two days the weekend before last wrapped in a soft blanket, sitting in my comfy lounge chair with my feet up and a cup of coffee nearby.

LeeRoy and Leota Legleiter, Great Bend, formerly of Hays, will celebrate their 50th anniversary June 21, 2009, with a reception hosted by their children for family and friends.

Twenty-three University of Kansas School of Law students have received stipends to complete summer volunteer work for the benefit of communities in Kansas and beyond.

Gil and Kay Sander, Great Bend, formerly of Hays, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary with a reception hosted by their children from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. June 14 at the CPI Annex building, 24th and Kansas, Great Bend.

Community garage sales Ellsworth and Kanopolis The two towns conduct community-wide garage sales.