Great Bend

I met John Keenan three years ago while I was performing at the yearly awards for Oxford Houses. John says a lot of inspiration for his music comes from his own struggles with alcoholism and having faith. So, what are we waiting for?? Time for you guys to “meet” John:   How long have you been playing music/what got you started?                  I took a lot of piano lessons as a kid but really got into my music around 1998. I started buying equipment and eventually fell into making instrumentals.

The Great Bend fire department has been approved for a Volunteer Fire Assistance grant. The grant is made available by the Federal Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act. Great Bend will receive $2,211.00. The money is meant to be used to train and equip fire departments to prevent and fight fires in rural areas.  

A Great Bend man has died after a rollover accident in Kingman County. Emergency crews were called to the scene on K-14, about five miles south of Kingman around 2 p.m. Thursday. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Brian Mott, 32, was driving south when his car veered off the west side of the road. He over-corrected, causing the vehicle to rolls several times. Mott was thrown from the car. Investigators said he was not wearing a seat belt.

A Great Bend man appeared in federal court in Wichita Monday on charges of producing child pornography. Thirty-six year-old Shawn Marshal Christiansen is charged with one count of producing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. The crimes are alleged to have occurred from April 27, 2009, to January 8, 2010, in Great Bend. The indictment alleges Christiansen used a Web camera to  produce child pornography depicting the genitals of a seven-year-old child and distributed the image via live streaming video.

A person of interest is arrested in connection with the death of Damon Galyardt in Great Bend. The suspect is currently being held on unrelated charges. The Barton County sheriff is investiogating the death of a 25-year-old man as a murder. Four hunters found Damon Galyardt's body on the edge of a dirt road a few miles southwest of Great Bend Saturday morning. The Barton County sheriff hasn't released much information regarding the death saying he fears jeopardizing the investigation.  But the investigators' report lists the death as murder and shows that the type of weapon used was a firearm.

Warm and dry are the perfect combination to harvest. But as farmers pull their crops from the ground, they struggle to find a place to put it.  Most grain elevators are full, so co-ops are getting creative.  "It's kind of odd, I don't see it every day," said grain truck driver Drew Simpson. But it's a growing problem the Great Bend Co-op is happy to have.   Harvest has been so good in the Great Bend area there's no room left at area elevators.  So the co-ops are forced to pile milo on the ground rain or shine.

A 15 year-old girl is dead, and police in Great Bend are still searching for answers. Police Chief Dean Akings says officers were called to a home in the 2500 block of Walnut Drive around 5:10 Monday evening. He says officers were called to assist an EMS crew with a girl who was having respiratory problems. The chief says when officers arrived they found that the girl had died of unknown causes, and calling the death suspicious. Mary Coker lives at the home with her fiance and rented the basement to a 30 year-old man. She tells Eyewitness News she was out of town on Monday and only learned about the death when investigators called her. "We weren't told her age until yesterday.

Police arrest a Great Bend teacher on a warrant for drug charges.  Police say special ed teacher Angela Foote was arrested Wednesday at Great Bend Middle School. She's being held on charges including possession of meth, conspiracy to commit or use a facility for drug transaction, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.  Her bond is set at $25,000.  Police also arrested another man who lives with Foote.

One man is dead, another in the hospital after a rollover accident in Barton County. Richard Newick died after he ran a stop sign at the intersection of K-4 and Highway 281 Sunday morning. He was hit by another car, struck a telephone pole and then rolled into a ditch. The driver of the other vehicle was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Wichita.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has issued an Emergency Order of Suspension against Dee's Day Care Home operated by Delilah L. Godfrey in Great Bend, Kansas. The state says inspectors were initially denied access to the home. They later found 25 children ranging in age from infancy to 12 years. The licensee was the only adult in the day care home. She admitted she did not have records for some of the children and she didn't know their names.

Barton County authorities are searching for two people who ran from officers, leaving a young boy behind. The sheriff's department said deputies went to a home at 40 NE 20 Road Monday. As they arrived, a man got out of a car at the residence and ran away. Officers found a 5-year-old boy in the car. The child was taken into custody as a child in need of care. Authorities are looking for the child's mother, Tonya Cope. Investigators believe she and Brandon Dannebohm ran away from the residence as officers arrived.

State fire investigators say a fire at a mobile home in central Kansas is suspicious. Fire crews were called to the mobile home in the Barton County town of Pawnee Rock Monday. When they arrived, they found the mobile home fully engulfed in flames. Firefighters from Pawnee Rock and Great Bend were able to get the fire under control. Investigators say there were no utilities hooked up to the home. No one was hurt. The Kansas Fire Marshal's office is assisting with the investigation.

Investigators in Salina and Great Bend are looking into bomb threats called in to local Walmarts. The Salina store was evacuated after a threat was called in just after 3 p.m. Saturday. The scene was cleared about an hour later after officials found no credible threat. A short time later, a second threat was called in to a Walmart in Great Bend. Several law enforcement agencies responded and evacuated as a precaution. Officers found nothing suspicious and cleared the scene. Curtis Johnson and his family waited in the parking lot while investigators searched the building.

A Great Bend man has died after a rollover accident in Kingman County. Emergency crews were called to the scene on K-14, about five miles south of Kingman around 2 p.m. Thursday. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Brian Mott, 32, was driving south when his car veered off the west side of the road. He over-corrected, causing the vehicle to rolls several times. Mott was thrown from the car. Investigators said he was not wearing a seat belt.

After an accident in Arizona a Great Bend man actually died on the table.  Less than two weeks later he's up and walking around.  "Kind of a miracle.  They called me that every day down there," said Michael Tysver. Tysver went to Arizona to celebrate the new year and K-State's appearance in the Fiesta Bowl.  He came back to Kansas unable to be without supervision because of his injuries. "I hadn't caught a game this year," said Tysver, a lifelong Wildcat fan.  "And we went to the Cotton Bowl last year and I had a really good time.

A Great Bend man is recovering in a Wichita hospital after his motorcycle struck a deer in Reno County Thursday evening. The Reno County Sheriff's office says it happened just before 7:00 Thanksgiving Day around a half-mile east of Sylvia Road on West 4th Avenue.  The 39-year-old motorcycle rider was headed home toward Great Bend when a deer hopped into the road.  The rider tried to stop, but ended up hitting the deer and wrecking his motorcycle. ...

The days surrounding September 4, 2002 are fogging for Kathye Phelps. "You're mind just shuts down,” Kathye said. It's not that it has been a decade since her close friend was murdered.  Kathye says blocking-out some of the memories is just how she copes with the horrific details. "It's not real.  You can't fathom, any of this,” Kathye said. Most people in Great Bend can't.  On that night, ten years ago, a delivery driver unlocked the back door of the Dolly Madison Bakery.  When he walked inside, he saw Kathye's friend, 24-year-old Mandi Alexander.  And 79-year-old Mary Drake.  They were both in the bakery...

The former head of a program that brought World War II veterans to Washington, D.C. is accused of stealing more than $100,000. LaVeta Miller was arrested Thursday on a warrant charging her with theft by deception. A Barton County records clerk says Miller is jailed on $20,000 bond. The clerk didn't know if Miller had an attorney. Miller worked as program director for Central Prairie Honor Flight. She was fired in July. The Great Bend group raised nearly $1.2 million.

A shelter for victims of domestic violence reopens in southwest Kansas. The Crisis Center of Dodge City was forced to close its shelter this summer after an air conditioning unit broke down. While that unit was being repaired, staff also made some other repairs and deep cleaning in the building. The shelter is the only safe house of its kind in the area. Other crisis centers in Garden City, Liberal and Great Bend helped provide services while the building in Dodge City was closed.

Police arrest a Great Bend teacher on a warrant for drug charges.  Police say special ed teacher Angela Foote was arrested Wednesday at Great Bend Middle School. She's being held on charges including possession of meth, conspiracy to commit or use a facility for drug transaction, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.  Her bond is set at $25,000.  Police also arrested another man who lives with Foote.