News

Kinser upgrades role with Grace Place

ROBERT PIERCE

• Leader & Times

After receiving a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Oklahoma City University, Rhonda Kinser’s Christian walk became more purpose driven, and in her latest part of the journey, that purpose is becoming more evident.

Kinser was recently hired as the client services director at Liberal’s Grace Place Pregnancy Care Center, and that hire comes after some other work in the Christian faith.

After getting her degree, Kinser worked as a therapist and case manager with the Bair Foundation, which uses a Christ-centered approach to meet the needs of children who find themselves in therapeutic foster care.

Hugoton man injured attempting to evade officers

ROBERT PIERCE

• Leader & Times

A Hugoton man was taken to a Wichita hospital with a suspected serious injury as the result of an accident Tuesday morning in Seward County involving an attempted flee from law enforcement.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday, a 2010 Pontiac G6 was traveling southbound on U.S. Highway 83 about five miles north of U.S. Highway 54.

KHP said the vehicle was fleeing and eluding law enforcement, and having already had a flat tire, an attempt was made to pass another southbound vehicle on the right.

However, KHP said the Pontiac’s driver, 41-year-old Jose A. Fabela of Hugoton, saw the other vehicle was moving to the right, and he steered to the left and lost control. KHP said the G6 entered the east ditch before striking two trees and coming to rest.

Fabela was taken to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita with a suspected serious injury. He was not wearing his seat belt at the time of the accident.

Veronica Butler’s mother files emergency motion in wrongful death case

Special to the Leader & Times

TEXAS COUNTY, Okla. (KFDA) – The mother of Veronica Butler has filed an emergency motion in her ongoing wrongful death civil case, seeking a temporary restraining order and temporary injunction to prevent fraudulent property transfers.

In March 2025, a wrongful death petition for damages and to instate receiverships of assets was filed against the defendants accused of murdering Butler and Jilian Kelley.

The family is asking for compensation for damages sustained by Butler’s death, including medical and burial expenses.

Treatment Court sees two more graduates improve lives

ROBERT PIERCE

• Leader & Times

In October, the City of Liberal’s Treatment Court program hosted its latest graduation, and this is the first in which two individuals marked their finishing of the course.

For both Wyatt Hough and Lucas Munson, their paths to addiction were similar, and Hough’s began a little more than a decade ago.

“I started out with weed, graduated towards meth,” he said. “About 2016, I got in trouble with possession of methamphetamine, was on corrections.”

Before starting Treatment Court, Hough had attempted to get clean with a program in Dodge City, but after a year and a half, he started relapsing.

“I moved back to Liberal after about four years, ended up getting caught up again two years ago with another possession charge, and I completed corrections about two months ago,” he said.

Local pastor visits war-torn Ukraine to offer encouragement

ROBERT PIERCE

• Leader & Times

The Bill of Rights has been a large part of America’s heritage from the nation’s roots in the late 18th century, and one for the freedoms stated in the First Amendment gives Americans the freedom of religion.

This is a freedom not seen in many countries across the globe, and recently, a Liberal pastor preached at a conference in one of those countries.

New Beginnings Church Lead Pastor Phillip Dow visited the war-torn Ukraine earlier this year, and prior to arriving in that country, he flew into Warsaw, Poland.

The purpose of Dow’s trip was to preach at a conference for directors of the drug rehabilitation ministry Team Challenge in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city.