ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

The Western Kansas Community Foundation has launched its third and final year of a survey in four area communities, including Liberal, and foundation leaders are looking for residents in those towns to see what the needs are for those communities.

The “Our Community Our Future” initiative is part of WKCF’s broader effort to serve the Southwest Kansas region, and the survey is intended to get a deeper understanding of local priorities and needs in Cimarron, Hugoton, Lakin and Liberal.

Program and Marketing Director Stacie Hahn said the survey has been launched and responses are being collected. She said the purpose of this is to try and take the temperature on what has changed in the communities and about residents’s outlook on various aspects of the local community.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Those looking for a great workout now have a new option with ReformHer Pilates in the Alpha Fitness building at 1010 S. Kansas Ave.

Owner Vanessa Keating said her journey to having her own studio was a bit winding.

“I'm originally from Washington, and I met my husband and moved to Liberal. I got my degrees from Washington State University in chemistry and integrated plate sciences,” Keating said. “When I moved to Liberal, I went into pharmacy and did that for a while. I later became a stay-at-home mom after I had my daughter, and I began my pilates journey about four months postpartum – I'd had an emergency C-section and it was a rough time getting my body back and getting back to the point where I could exercise and do everything normally again. I absolutely fell in love with pilates after I started, and I've always had a passion for helping others, which my background in healthcare is indicative of. I was a stay-at-home mom and occasionally going back to Washington to visit my parents and family, and they suggested 'You're really good at this, why not become an instructor?' and I started giving the idea some thought. I started getting mentored and started learning more about pilates, and then Yesenia [Fonseca] opened the Alpha Fitness gym and suggested 'Why don't you open up a pilates studio here?' Eventually, I decided to go for it because if not then, I never would.”

ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Originally from South Dakota, Kelly Denton moved to Liberal in 1996 and began working as an X-ray technician that same year at Southwest Medical Center.

Now the director of the hospital’s Diagnostic Imaging department, Denton still does X-rays, as well as CT scans and mammography.

Denton said she got into the field because of a friend.

“I had a babysitter whose daughter was a radiology tech, and she leaned me into the field,” she said.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Many Kansans have been expressing their discontent with their representation in the federal government, and U.S. Senate candidate Jason Hart could help change that after the coming election.

Hart, who hails from Southwest Kansas, said his past experiences make him qualified for the office.

“I am a lifelong Kansan, husband, father, foster parent and I grew up in Dodge City,” Hart said. “My family had been a foster family growing up, so we had kids anywhere from two nights to two years over the course of when I was 5 years old to 12. That was pretty formative for me. I knew I wanted to grow up and do work that made safe places for children, so I went to law school and eventually became a prosecutor. I went out and practiced out in Dodge City for a little bit, and then I took a job in Shawnee County prosecuting in a family law unit, and I was very good at that. I later moved into sex crimes and major felonies. I then was hired by then-Kansas Attorney General Steve Six to head up their cyber crime child exploitation unit. I was there for a little bit before I got picked up by the US Attorney's office, where I've been for the last 16 years prosecuting child sex crimes and other similar offenses. It became apparent the current administration didn't care about kids because they were deprioritizing those types of offenses. I decided rather than be apolitical as I have been pretty much my entire career as a public servant and prosecutor, I should take my skills to prosecute the misconduct in Washington DC. So I quit and turned around and started running.”