Opinion

OPINION – Turnaround focuses on tax bills, budget and more

GUEST COLUMN, Shannon Francis, 125th District Representative

Liberal Tourism Director, Sally Fuller, and other tourism directors from across Southwest Kansas stopped by to talk about their priorities for this session. One focused on possible losses in funding from state sports gaming revenues. Sally is wonderful asset for our community. Thanks for all you do, Sally.

Liberal’s Municipal Court Judge, Jason Maxwell, was in Topeka advocating for a bill that would allow successful graduates of municipal specialty drug courts to apply for expungements on the same basis as those going through District Court Drug Courts. Jason is a national pioneer and leader in bringing specialty courts to rural communities and municipal courts. The earlier we can intervene for those with substance abuse issues the more successful treatment is. Municipal court is often their first interaction with the court system. Thanks, Jason, for your commitment.

Southwest Guidance Director, Marshall Lewis, stopped by and we visited workforce issues in rural Kansas and the success of online counseling to help with the issue in rural areas.

OPINION – Compromise is the only way forward on immigration issues

L&T Publisher Earl Watt

Communities like Liberal cannot ignore the important conversations surrounding immigration issues. We know better than most how to work together to function with a large number of first-generation immigrants.

That doesn’t mean we all agree on immigration policy.

We don’t.

But the hyperbolic claims that everyone who illegally enters the country is a dangerous criminal and anyone who wants a secure border is a racist won’t get us anywhere.

That’s the way Washington, D.C., has been addressing the issue, and neither party has been able to come up with a solution.

The clearest example was Democratic President Joe Biden allowing 12-plus million illegal entries, and Republican President Donald Trump shutting the border down.

OPINION – My plants love me

THE POSTSCRIPT, Carrie Classon

They say that some plants “thrive on neglect,” and I never really believed it until now.

I have tried for years — decades really — to get things to grow, indoors and out, and I have pretty much failed at everything. Gardens languish without producing whatever they were supposed to produce. Houseplants die as they enter the house. The only plants I have success with are floral bouquets. (I am very good with cut flowers, but I acknowledge this does not count as gardening.)

So imagine my surprise when I discovered that there is a plant that appears to love me and my style of plant husbandry — that is to say, no care whatsoever.

I work miracles with the jade plant.

OPINION – Pay raises happened with no votes

LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Carolyn Huddleston, Liberal

Going through the January pay records for Seward County, I noticed something I want to make the public aware of. County employees weren’t supposed to be getting raises — even the old Commission had been pretty clear about that — but in the January 2026 pay records it shows that all the staff of Cimarron Basin Community Corrections had been given raises. Yes, friends, Kayla Janko, who previously was making $104,957 per year, now has a salary of $107,598 per year, and her Intensive Supervision Officers, who were making $30.99 per hour, are now earning $31.77 per hour (which means $66,082 annually).

In the Comprehensive Grant Plan between Cimarron Basin and Kansas Department of Corrections, it says “grantees must demonstrate salaries for all positions are consistent with similar county-funded positions.” I pointed out before that CBCC was in violation of that grant condition, and the discrepancies in pay have only gotten larger.

OPINION – Salaries should be in line

L&T OPINION

Local citizen Carolyn Huddleston has been doing the work necessary to inform the public about Seward County funding, and she deserve a big thank you from all of us.

Thanks to her research, it was discovered that previous bonuses were approved without any official votes, which led to changes on the Seward County Commission.

She has now discovered that raises to the Cimarron Basin Community Corrections have recently taken place without any approval of the CBCC oversight board or the Seward County Commission.

Unlike the previous transgression of bonuses with unauthorized signatures, these pay hikes occurred without any signatures whatsoever.