ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Figures recently released about the number of people employed at Seward County have been disputed by some.

One number in particular caught the attention of some community members when Administrator April Warden said the county at one time employed 250 people, adding that number was down to 209 at the end of April.

Liberal resident Carolyn Huddleston said at the May 18 commission meeting, she has been researching the county’s turnover from Jan. 1 to April 30, and while she found a few listed on the payroll twice, the number of lost personnel since the start of the year still equals 28 as Warden claimed at an April meeting.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Those looking for fun and education this summer will need to look no further than Liberal Memorial Library and this year’s summer reading program.

This year's summer reading program, "Unearth a Story!" will have participants celebrating all things dinosaurs with programs for kids, young adults and adults. The sign-up form for the program can be found on the Liberal Memorial Library Web site, lmlibrary.org, the Liberal Memorial Library Facebook page, or by visiting the library before the official kickoff June 1. The program will end Friday, June 26, with June 27 being the last day to turn in reading records. Director Royce Kitts said there is a lot to be excited about with this year’s programming.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The 4th of July holiday could look different for the community this year after some discussion by the Liberal City Commission Tuesday evening.

While the holiday might seem a long time away, commissioners and Liberal Fire Chief Kelly Kirk spent several minutes discussing whether or not to allow fireworks to be shot off this year due to current drought conditions.

“As the community is aware, with drought conditions continuing to be a concern in our area, there definitely needs to be discussion about whether we will allow the sale and shooting of fireworks for the 4th of July holiday weekend,” Kirk said. “We’ve been lucky the past few years in terms of having enough moisture, but that hasn’t been happening this year so far. I was just looking today, and the current weather pattern indicates high risk for extreme fire behavior. And I’m not talking just about Liberal, that’s also the case for Beaver County and other parts of the Oklahoma Panhandle. The burn ban the county had in place expired, but we’re still in a really critical situation, and there are a lot of ripple effects from being in these drought conditions. There’s also the mutual aid to consider, because if there are multiple fires we have to respond to here, there’s less chance we’ll be able to go and help another fire department in need, and vice versa. Like I said before, we’ve been lucky the past few years, but I think this year, we’re set up for an increased chance of fires.”

Kansas Department of Transportation

The Kansas Department of Transportation were scheduled to resume Wednesday along U.S. Highway 83 from the Haskell/Seward County line to the intersection with U.S. Highway 56 in Haskell County.

U.S. 83 traffic will be reduced to one lane in sections as crews work to resurface this six-mile project area. Motorists should expect delays of up to 15 minutes as flaggers and a pilot car direct one-lane traffic through the work zone. The lane reduction will be marked by signs and cones. The highway will be open to normal traffic when construction is not taking place.

Venture Corporation of Great Bend is the contractor for this $1.05 million project. Conditions permitting, work is expected to be complete by end of spring.

For more information, contact Joel Valdez, Area Construction Manager, at (620) 624-4451, or Yazmin Moreno, Public Information Officer, at (620) 765-7080.