ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

The 12th edition of the Seward County PRCA Rodeo is about a month away, and the rodeo continues to grow with each passing year.

For most of those years, a parade has been part of the mid-August fun in Liberal, and adding to the excitement of this year’s rodeo will be a truck show.

The show will take place on both days of the PRCA rodeo, Aug. 14 and 15, and the show is taking place in conjunction with an open house for Seward County Community College’s truck driving school at the school’s West Campus on Western Avenue.

Seward County Rodeo Association (SCRA) member C.J. Wettstein said trucks will begin coming in at noon Friday, Aug. 14, at the West Campus, and the show itself will start at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, the show will start at 8 a.m. and run until as late as 11:30 p.m.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The Five State Fair is quickly approaching, and part of this year’s festivities will be a community talent show.

The show will be at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3 in the Seward County Ag Building. Entry forms are due Friday, July 24, and there will be four divisions: 6 and under, 7 to 12 years old, 13 to 18 years old, and 19 and older, and the entry fee is $10 per person. Coordinator KayLonni Bradley said she hopes to have the show tie into other events going on the opening night of the fair.

“Prior to the talent show, we will be having a free ice cream social. Every year we have the 4H fashion revue, and we're going to tie the two together so it brings a bigger spotlight on the 4H kids and helps bring the community out for the talent show,” Bradley said. “The show is open to anyone in the area, the participants don’t have to be from just Liberal. The thought I had behind this was, for Pancake Day, we used to have the talent show, and it went over really well and was something people looked forward to every year. So we thought, why not try bringing talent show back to the community and be able to bring the community members out to another event? And the talents can be anything from to dancing, dramatic readings, comedy, magic tricks, anything somebody would want to show off. This show is giving the opportunity to not only the adults but also youth to show off their talents. It's fully open to what the contestants want to do.”

L&T staff report

A petition to recall Seward County Commission Chair Steve Helm has been submitted to Seward County Clerk Stacia Long. The office has forwarded the document to Seward County Attorney Russell Hassenbank, and if he approves the language, signatures can begin to be gathered for a recall election.

The petition states Helm “has engaged in misconduct in office and failed to perform the duties prescribed by law.”

The petition charges Helm “voted for and authorized the expenditure of restricted solid waste landfill fee revenues to fund the salary of the Assistant County Administrator, in direct violation of the restricted funds protections outlined in K.S.A. 65-3410 and Attorney General Opinion 1997-55.”

Kansas Department of Transportation

It is a sign of the season – political campaigning and the posting of campaign signs.

The Kansas Department of Transportation reminds the public that all political campaign signs or billboards are prohibited from being placed on state highway right of way.

By law, all right of way on state highways is exclusively for public highway purposes. Only regulatory, guide signs and warning signs placed by KDOT are allowed on the 9,500-mile state highway system. KDOT has jurisdiction over all interstate, Kansas and U.S. routes.