Opinion

GUEST COLUMN, Dane Hicks, Kaninfo.com

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) recently provided the 2023 Kansas Civil Asset Forfeiture Report to the Kansas Legislature, and released it to the public.

Civil asset forfeiture is a procedure that authorizes law enforcement agencies to seize and forfeit property and cash that was obtained with proceeds from, or used to facilitate, certain criminal activity. Once a forfeiture proceeding concludes, the forfeited property or funds may be used for permissible law enforcement operations, or to further public safety objectives.

Civil Asset Forfeiture Reports have been submitted to the Kansas Legislature annually since 2020, as is required by K.S.A. 60-4127. In 2018, the Legislature amended the Kansas Standard Asset Seizure and Forfeiture Act (KSASFA) to include additional reporting requirements.

MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron

Several weeks ago, we read about Jesus in the wilderness, where he faced hungers and desires. Satan came to suggest he could fulfill those needs in ways other than God had planned. But through Christ's victory, we learn ways to conquer our own temptations.

There are many desires, too numerous to categorize. Often discontentment comes from trying to fulfill our wants in our own way. But I propose that all legitimate desires can be satisfied by God, if we allow Him to supply our needs according to the way He created us.

St. Augustine, who lived 300 years after Christ, spent his early life searching for fulfillment, satisfaction, and happiness in all the wrong places. In his 30s, he found the Love of God while teaching at the University of Milan and discovered the answer to his search. He learned that God loved him, and that he loved God. Later he wrote a book called Confessions, in which he expounded on his journey. He announced to God the major theme of his work in the first paragraph, “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

THE POSTSCRIPT, Carrie Classon

I ordered the sofa cover as soon as we adopted our new cat, Felix.

The sofa in the little apartment my husband, Peter, and I rent in Mexico has seen better days, but we didn’t want to be responsible for ushering it into an early retirement due to cat scratches. So I bought a beautiful turquoise handloomed bedspread from a woman across the street to use as a throw. And the job would have been done right then and there if I’d kept my mouth shut.

Instead, I asked the woman if she knew anyone who could hem the cover to the appropriate size, and she said she had just the man for me. Her husband told me to follow him down the street, and we stopped at a tiny grocery store and met Estefan.

L&T Publisher Earl Watt

When Democrat Chuck Schumer decided to dismiss the impeachment charges against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas without a trial, he continued to erode the fabric of the republic.

The vote against Mayorkas in the House was partisan, with all Republicans voting to impeach and all Democrats voting against impeachment.

That’s the way politics work.

Once sent over to the Senate, a trial is expected and has always occurred until now. It seems rewriting precedence has been the theme of the past three years, from charging a previous president for criminal behavior to dismantling tradition and precedent in Congress.