ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Mary Rose has been serving as Seward County’s treasurer since early 2023, and before that, she had worked in the office for several years.

As part of her time in the treasurer’s office, in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rose chose to go back to college.

“It was a time where  you could go back and do online stuff,” she said. “I called it my new baby. While everybody was sleeping, I was up doing my homework. I’d go from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.”

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Lori Hensley has been one of the many faces helping clients at Liberal Area Rape Crisis/Domestic Violence Services (LARC/DVS) for many years and last week, she and others in the community celebrated her work as she prepares to retire.

Hensley’s journey with LARC/DVS began in 2013.

“I became a board member in 2013, and was on the board for several months, and then the director at that time announced her retirement,” Hensley said. “When she decided to retire, they asked if there was anybody on the board who was interested in the position, and I had talked a little bit about it with some friends and other colleagues. Ultimately, I applied, and they hired me, and I went to work Sept. 17, 2013. When I first started, we were at the First Christian Church, and I think there were three or four people – we had two or three people who worked up front and myself. Eventually, we got out in the community and began to talk about who we were, what we were doing, etc. We also started going more to the outer counties, and we realized we needed to do more for people in those outer counties in terms of providing services. We hired more staff, and we eventually ran out of room in the space at the church, and we needed more privacy to help the individuals who came in for services. January 1 of 2017, we moved to the location at 111 E. 2nd Street, and we’ve been there since.”

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Multiple infrastructure projects will be up for discussion at this evening’s Liberal City Commission meeting starting at 5:30. This evening’s meeting will be in the commission chambers at the Liberal Recreation Center at 950 S. Grant Ave.

Up first for the commission will be discussion of a real estate purchase proposal involving water rights.

“Discussions have been held with Swalar LLC in regards to the potential sale of 363.52 acres of surface and two accompanying water rights. The water rights are No. 454, dated Oct. 29, 1948, and No. 27,277 dated Aug. 27, 1976,” the agenda information noted. “The water acre feet totals 702, with the Division of Water Resources requiring a reduction to 89.1 percent upon converting agricultural use to municipal use for a net of municipal use of 625 acre feet. The sellers have priced the real estate in an amount of $1,050,000 for both surface and water rights. Commission discussion included the exploration of purchasing the water rights with the surface potentially being sold to a third party and making installments for the purchase of the water rights. Swalar LLC has indicated they are willing to sell the surface and water separately while both sales would need to occur. They are not inclined to sell the separated real estate without both surface and water having been placed under contracts for sale. Therefore, Swalar LLC has recently negotiated a contingent agreement to sell the surface rights to a third party for $1,200/acre or $436,224. This leaves the balance to the City of $613,776 for the purchase of 702 acre feet of water rights. The City of Liberal would assume the duties and costs of contracts and deeds for separating the water from surface rights with the surface rights conveyed to the third-party buyer.”

Seward County Sheriff’s office

Labor Day weekend is often a time many celebrate.

The Seward County Sheriff’s office reminds the public to celebrate responsibly and drive sober. 

The sheriff’s office joins law enforcement across the country to remind drivers to Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.