Seward County Sheriff’s office

The Seward County Sheriff’s Office joined law enforcement across the country during the Click It or Ticket safety campaign.

From May 17 to June 1, officers increased presence on local roads educating about the importance of buckling up and avoiding dangerous consequences. 

During the enforcement campaign, deputies made 383 enforcement stops.

• 45 seat belt and child restraint citations

• 2 DUI arrests

• 97 speeding citations

• 184 other citations and arrests

For more information about seat belt safety, go to www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov/safety-topics/seat-belt-safety.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Children looking for something fun and education this summer will soon have just that opportunity thanks to Seward County Community College.

Seward County Community College's annual Kids College will be Monday, July 13 through Thursday, July 16, and each day has three sessions – 8 to 9:15 a.m., 9:30 to 10:45 a.m., and then 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Kids College is for children entering first grade through eighth grade, with a cost of $25 for each class. Enrollment is officially under way, and those interested in signing their children up must have a notarized form, ID, and a copy of their insurance card. There will be classes for arts and crafts, job skills, STEM classes, sports, and recreation classes. The last day will feature a pizza and swim party from 12:15 to 2 p.m. For anyone who wants to see the full slate of classes, the brochure is on sccc.edu, as is the registration form, which can be filled out and brought to the SCCC Business & Industry office, or parents can come in and fill everything out in person.

L&T staff report

After two local residents filed complaints with the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals to dispute the 17-mill tax increase on the grounds that the Revenue Neutral Rate process was violated, and after more than 170 local residents also made initial tax payments under protest of an illegal levy, the Seward County Commission was changed after three members resigned in December, and the massive tax hike was rescinded.

Even though Seward County sided with the petitioners in the case with BOTA, Seward County Chair Steve Helm has requested the names of all of those who filed their taxes under protest.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Those looking for something fun and educational will need to look no further than Liberal Memorial Library later this week.

Mad Science will be bringing a Dino Rodeo to the library starting at 2 p.m. Wednesday, and coordinator Barrett Huddleston said this year’s show was fun to develop.

“The federal reading program that provides federal monies to all public library systems nationwide has a different theme every year, and usually a different artist or author that goes with it,” Huddleston said. “This year’s theme was ‘Unearth an Adventure,’ so we decided, since we're a STEM-based organization, our program would be called Dino Rodeo, so that means it's going to not only be congruent with this year's theme, but it also kind of speaks to our audience, which is the state of Oklahoma, Kansas, and some parts of Texas and Arkansas as well, so the program is about what it would be like if dinosaurs roamed the Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas prairies. We’ll be talking about the size of dinosaurs and dinosaur parts in comparison to human parts, some of the common misconceptions about dinosaurs, what they sounded like, what they moved, like what they really ate, and how they really went extinct. We're also going to talk about why dinosaurs are so fun and exciting to study as well.”