News

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The Liberal Fire Department was kept busy Sunday evening with a structure fire near the Liberal Recreation Center.

Emergency personnel were called to the scene shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday, according to a release from Liberal Fire Chief Kelly Kirk.

ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

With Seward County in an ongoing battle over a proposed 14-mill hike in the levy for Fiscal Year 2026, some have said constituents are being misled and do not have all the information available to see the full picture of how the increase came to be.

Treasurer Mary Rose said she is seeing similar information being given out about her office.

“It seems there’s some not truthful information going out in the community,” she said at the Dec. 15 county commissioners meeting.

First, Rose said she and her staff never stopped working on tax statements and the tax roll for both 2025 and 2026.

“I did send that email out Oct. 31,” she said. “The clerk’s office did give us those tax rolls from that moment on. We did start printing on the tax rolls. We printed, we bound them, and we put them in the basement Nov. 3 and Nov. 4. From there, we started printing state assess 1620 and personal property.”

ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Christina Yearick recently filed as one of the candidates to replace former Seward County District Four Commissioner Tammy Sutherland-Abbott, who recently resigned.

Q: What made you decide to run?

A: I just want to say thank you to the people of Seward County for stepping up and speaking out against illegal taxation.

I believe that our community will be well represented by any of the eight candidates who have stepped up to take on the issues. We will listen to you.

We’ll fight for what is right for this community, and I just want to say thank you to all of them for giving us options that weren’t there a week ago. I want Seward County to be a great place to live, a great place to work, and a great place to learn

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

There has been much uproar regarding the recent vacancies on the Seward County Commission, and multiple people are eligible for those vacancies.

Local citizen Mike Hale is one of the three candidates up for Tammy Sutherland-Abbott’s former seat, and he has a long history in the area.

“I've lived here since I was 2 years old. My parents were both teachers, and then later on, my father ended up being a county commissioner and the director of the vo-tech school,” Hale said. “I've been a teacher, I've been the owner of a Scuba Ventures for 31 years, and I've also worked in safety services, where I'm an OSHA safety instructor for companies too small to have a full time ATS guy, and also sell buildings out there, because in this world, you have to have more than one job to live. I've raised my children here and have grandchildren here as well.”