Greetings! I have a report that I hope turns out to be good news. As you are aware, our friends in the Whitewater area have been looking for cellular phone service for many years. They sit in a unique position between the servers in the larger metropolitan areas of Wichita, Newton and El Dorado.
This fact and coupled with the lower elevation and low population in the city of around 600 or so, have made the installation of a cell service not a profitable venture by the big players in the industry.
Over the past several years we have been in contact with AT&T, Cellular 1, Verizon, Sprint and others that just did not want to commit the resources to provide services unless the population served was around 4,000 customers or more.
Enter “Crossroads Wireless” an Oklahoma company that is working with small communities to provide wireless Internet service and at the same time offer a cell phone service. This company is currently installing antennas on the water tower in Whitewater so hopefully soon they will have both wireless Internet and a cell phone provider. Not much is known just yet as to who will provide the phone service. When more information is available, I will let you know.
By publication time schools will be in full swing so watch for the kids at school crossings and of course watch your speed. The flashing lights are trying to tell you something.
On Monday I attended a breakfast for the new teachers at BCC and USD 490. A rather large group attended and civic leaders introduced the teachers. They all received gift bags prepared by Walters Flowers that contained several “goodies” from local merchants. Welcome all of you to the area!
I recently attended a seminar on education that covered a wide variety of topics that included, academic performance and the environment in which it is presented. This was demonstrated in the many and different ways our children learn.
Round table and panel discussion were presented on various delivery methods to include; Public school, Home school, private school, charter school, Internet distance learning, large class, small class, and year-round school, honors, challenged learners. Gosh I was impressed at all the options. What may work for one student may not necessarily work for the other. One overriding theme was the two most important influences in a student and their education are #1. Parental involvement and #2. The quality of the teachers.
While the discussion centered on K-12, it was reported that the university of North Carolina has over 99 on-line courses that lead to B.A. and Master degrees. Sometimes we need to embrace the rapidly changing technology to provide education. The cost of higher education could be drastically reduced if a class was presented online and any student could choose from a field of highly qualified instructors to get credit in any given class. We have come a long way from the one room schoolhouse.
Kan-Ed, The Kansas State Library, and the Regents Library Database Consortium bring popular databases to Kansas Schools, libraries, homes and hospitals in increase access to academic, reference and research data. More information is available at http://www.kan-ed.org, or call 785-296-0843.
Last Thursday, a group of citizens, city staff and civic leaders from Dodge City were in El Dorado to inspect and tour our new wastewater treatment plant. You will see additional information about this tour in next weeks update and in The El Dorado Times. This wastewater treatment plant is using cutting edge technology and has spurred quite an interest with other municipalities around the region as a possible solution to their treatment issues. Dodge City is anxious about what they need to do to upgrade their plant so they decided to come and see the experts.
Mark you calendars for the Watermelon Festival in Potwin on Saturday August 23rd. They will have an
Ice-cream social on Friday the 22d at 6:30 P.M. and many activities all throughout Saturday. There should be something for everyone; I hope to see you there.
Senate Sub. For HB 2119 defines micro utility trucks (MUT) and regulates their operation as follows, it is a motor vehicle that has the following characteristics and is not a work-site utility vehicle and is:
Not less than 48 inches wide
Overall length including the bumper, of no more than 144 inches;
An unladen weight, including fuel and fluids, of more than 1,500 pounds;
Able to exceed 40 miles per hour as originally manufactured; and
Manufactured with a metal cab.
The bill makes it unlawful to operate a micro utility truck on any interstate, federal, or state highway within the corporate limits of any city unless specifically authorized by that city, or on any public highway or street unless the vehicle complies with equipment requirements for lamps, brakes, and other miscellaneous equipment (e.g. horns, mufflers). Except that a MUT may cross a highway.
The bill includes a micro utility truck among non-highway vehicles, and their owners will therefore be required to obtain non-highway titles. If you want to violate the rules, KSA 2007 Supp.8-2118 provides for a fine of $60.00 for unlawful operation of a MUT.
I consider it an honor and privilege to represent you in Topeka and want to know what you think. Contact me in person or you can reach me at home 321-2087, 1115 Rim Rock Road El Dorado, 67042. The e-mail is handy at johng@carlisleinc.net, grange@house.state.ks.us , or my website www.johngrange.net.
Be careful out there, thanks, John.
Back to Updates
