El Dorado

For Virgie and Virgil Schowalter, El Dorado Lake is their summer home. Last year, they worked as "camp hosts," helping out during one of the park's busiest summers. "I think people were having 'stay at home' vacations and the gas was high last year," explains Virgie. This year, the couple is relaxing as just camp guests. A very different role, but one thing has remained the same. "I think they're still having a good crowd and this year and only one or two sites are left in this campground.

Part of it happens on tape, captured by a series of cameras inside the prison.  But the NAACP says part of it happens in a blind spot and you can only see shadows of what's going on. The civil rights group has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate allegations an inmate was mistreated at the El Dorado Correctional Facility earlier this summer. Wichita NAACP president Kevin Myles says what he's seen on tape is proof of the inmate's claim that he was beaten, shocked with a taser and his head used as a battering ram. "The guards used a type of butterfly hold.

(EL DORADO, Kan.) On Tuesday, Butler Community College hosted a belated Kansas day celebration... With a high tech look at the past. A snowstorm forced the school to postpone it's first Kansas heritage program on January 29th. So on Tuesday, February 23, fourth graders impatiently waited to see themselves, and their grandparents, make their big screen debut. That big screen was the projector screen in a Butler Community College room. Bridgett Winzer was one of the anxious fourth graders.

Police in Oklahoma found a missing El Dorado man. Authorities say 80-year-old Donald Brickley disappeared Saturday morning. His family said he left his home on Bluestem road in a pick-up truck. Brickley suffers from dementia. He was found in Oklahoma around 3:30 Saturday afternoon.      

Access to the El Dorado Wal-Mart was limited Friday after a car drove through the entrance.  El Dorado police say a vehicle struck a parked car, which sent the parked car through the glass doors. The accident happened around ten o'clock Friday morning. Police say no one was hurt. 

El Dorado police have arrested a woman in the death of her 18-month-old child. The 23-year-old woman was taken into custody Monday.  She's not expected to be in court until at least Tuesday.  She faces charges of first degree murder and aggravated child endangerment. Her child was taken to Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital last week.  The child's injuries caused enough concern that police were called in to investigate.  The child died after being transferred to Wesley Hospital in Wichita.

Camper owners return to El Dorado Lake Monday to assess the damage after a Sunday afternoon storm. High winds picked up campers off their jacks and moved them.  Several were flipped over, two sheds were destroyed and a pole barn was left all twisted. The storm hit El Dorado Lake around 4:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon. We have no reports of injuries.

El Dorado lake officials say Kansas residents are staying away and it's hurting their business. The Marina Store Manager says business is down 50% in the last two weeks. She says it's because of the blue-green algae scare. But the El Dorado Lake doesn't have it and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has declared that lake safe. Workers say even though they don't have it, people are staying away and want people to know it is safe to be in the water. "I think they thought it was in Butler County and included everybody but we don't have a problem here," said Marina manager Debbie Haled.

The bus barn in El Dorado is a hot target for criminals. The manager of the bus barn tells Eyewitness News two computers were reported missing Tuesday morning. The barn was also hit several times in the past. Two weeks ago tires were stolen, and thieves tried to syphon gas from a bus. School officials are stepping up security there so the bus barn can be safer at night.

When you have a classic boat like Greg Largen's 1972 Century Arabian, you want to take it out and enjoy it.  And, for the first summer in years, Largen has been enjoying a lot of evenings on El Dorado Lake. "Everything's been great," Largen says.  "We love it!" Largen and his wife have had a lot of company out on the lake, because El Dorado is one of the few Kansas lakes that hasn't been devastated by the hot, dry weather which is shriveling up a lot of lakes and, in a lot of cases, causing blue-green algae outbreaks.