The Valley Falls Vindicator June 20, 2019 Page 3

Trial. . .(Continued from page 1)

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Golf tourney to benefitCounty 4-H Foundation The 10th annual Jefferson County 4-H Foundation four-person scramble golf tourna-ment is slated for Saturday, June 29, at Village Greens Golf Course, west of Ozawkie. Registration is set to start at 7:30 a.m., with action on the links to get going at 8. The entry fee is $200 a team and includes a round of golf, the use of a cart, lunch, and cash prizes. Those preregistering by Saturday will be eligible to possibly come away from the planned “early birdie” drawing with a prize. To register, call Marlene Seifert at 785-224-4851, write her in care of P.O. Box 326, Oskaloosa, 66066, or send her an email at marlenec@embarqmail.com. The first-place team will be awarded a prize of $240, the second-place team, $200, and third-place gets $100. The proceeds from the tour-nament will be used to help fund programs benefiting mem-bers of the 4-H clubs in Jeffer-son County. These programs include leadership training, regional camps and contests, and exchange trips involving Kansas 4-H’ers and 4-H’ers liv-ing in other states. For more information, call Nancy Gantz, 785-691-6856, Kaye Kabus, 785-230-1561, Lisa Hamon, 785-640-9907, Susan Patton, 816-806-1226, Daryl Sales, 785-945-3701, or Susan Phillips, 785-945-6877.

by Rick Nichols The Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners OK’d the proposed issuance of a Spe-cial Event permit for a “UHCA/EXCA Cowboy Race and camp-ing” when it met the afternoon of June 10 at the courthouse in Oskaloosa. But the move didn’t enjoy the support of all three county com-missioners, Wayne Ledbetter, Lynn Luck and Richard Malm, as while both Ledbetter and Luck voted “Yes” when the time came to make a decision on the matter, Malm abstained from voting. The issuance of the permit sought by Russel R. Brown will enable R Bar B, 3256 N.E. 39th Street, to hold this two-part event (racing and camping), which will beginFriday and continue through Sunday. Under the conditions set forth in the Conditional Use permit Brown had previously secured for R Bar B, the busi-ness can hold events involving 249 or fewer people without having to obtain a Special Event permit. But because Brown thinks the race and camping could pull in at least 250 people, he decided to go ahead and apply for a permit just to make sure he was covered. UHCA/EXCA stands for Ul-timate Horsemens Challenge Association/Extreme Cowboy Association. Voting 3-0, the board ap-proved the proposed issuance of a Special Event permit to Charley Brown, clearing the way for him to have a live band perform at 2704 Oak Road this Saturday, with the concert to be complemented by a fireworks show. Both applications were pre-sented to the commissioners for their consideration by Plan-ning and Zoning Administrator Dustin Parks. Parks reported that the county had received tentative approval to remain a Class 7 county with respect to the National Flood Insurance Pro-gram’s Community Rating Sys-tem. The NFIP is administered by the Federal Emergency Man-agement Agency. Public Works Director Bill Noll informed the commission-ers that he had received three bids on supplying the county with 500 tons of salt ahead of the arrival of winter later this year. He proceeded to explain that it is his intent to have all of the county’s salt bins filled to capacity at some point but that the county isn’t actually buying the salt at this time, just locking in the best price possible for it. Noll also reported that none of the cities in Jefferson County had contacted him and asked

that he order some salt for them. The bidders and their quotes were EnviroTech Services Inc., Greeley, Colo., $165 per ton, Kansas Salt, Hutchinson, $79.50 per ton, and Central Salt, Lyons, $66.85 per ton. Noll told the commission-ers that the Road and Bridge Department was sealing cracks in roads and patching them as needed. He said crews would be chip-and-sealing roads soon. The Public Works directer also discussed the damage that has been done to roads and bridges as a result of the recent flooding.

Executive Sessions The board met privately with Noll for 11 minutes for the stated purpose of discussing personnel matters relating to non-elected personnel. “Disci-plinary matters” was identified as being the subject that was to be discussed. The board met privately with County Treasurer Lisa Buer-man for seven minutes to hold a preliminary discussion relating to the possible acquisition of real property. The board met privately with Geographic Information Systems/Information Technol-ogy Director Chris Schmeissner for five minutes for the stated purpose of discussing matters relating to non-elected person-nel. “Employee retention” was identified as being the subject that was to be discussed.

Shupe, Hillrichs & Grimes at ‘Old Town’ this weekend Gary Shupe, Austin Hillrichs, and Ardie Grimes will be at Old Jefferson Town in Oskaloosa Saturday, the final day of the Old Settlers Festival. Both Hillrichs and Grimes will be at the pioneer village from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hill-richs, of the Holton area, will be working in the blacksmith shop demonstrating his skills and know-how, while Grimes, McLouth, will be in the Reyn-olds Building showing people how to make egg noodles. Shupe, who resides in Jack-son County, will be there from 2 to 4 at the John Steuart Curry Boyhood Home and Museum, where some of his oil paintings will be on display. The Shupe exhibit will be in place from 10 to 4 Saturday and from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Shupe didn’t take up paint-ing until he was 62, when his wife signed him up for painting lessons as a birthday present. He is student of Holton’s Sandi Studebaker Gilbert, and his paintings along with works by other Jackson County artists have been featured at various events in Holton. Shupe is married to Mary Moffitt Noble Shupe. She is a graduate of Oskaloosa High School. OJT will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.

(785)828-4212

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AUCTION REMINDER

A mail carrier and a postal employee at the Perry Post Of-fice will be retiring this month, reports Postmaster Cheryl Jones. Roxanne Seetin will be re-tiring June 28. She has been a rural carrier for 21 years in Perry. Jean Madorin will be retir-

Jean Madorin Roxanne Seetin

Postal workers retiring at Perrying from the Perry Post Office June 20. She has been a postal clerk for 27 years in Perry and Lecompton. Cards and well wishes will reach either of these postal em-ployees addressed to the Perry Post Office, 209 Elm Street, Perry, 66073-9998.

Date for Draketrial reset The Lawrence Journal-World reportedly recently that the murder trial for Steven A. Drake III, who has ties to Jefferson County, has been rescheduled for Aug. 19 in Douglas County District Court. Drake is accused of killing with premeditation a 26-year-old Lawrence man, Bryce Holla-day, on Sept. 19, 2017 by shoot-ing him at point-blank range as he was reportedly trying to force his way into Drake’s residence in Lawrence. According to the story in the newspaper, Drake’s court-appointed attorney, Angela Keck, plans to tell jurors that her client acted in defense of himself and three others when he shot Holladay in the doorway. But prosecutors maintain that Drake stepped away from the scene long enough to retrieve a handgun from a bedroom, then shot Holladay in the face. Drake is in his early 20s and could face a life sentence with no chance of parole for 50 years if the jury was to find him guilty of first-degree murder.

Within the past month or so a Joint Motion for an Order for Preservation of Evidence has been filed in U.S. District Court-District of Kansas on behalf of Jefferson County, Sheriff Jeff Herrig, his predecessor, the late Roy Dunnaway, and officers Randy Carreno, Troy Frost and Robert Poppa with the Sheriff ’s Office, all of whom were sued in May 2016 by Oskaloosa native Floyd Bledsoe in connection with his wrongful imprison-ment following his mistaken conviction in the November 1999 slaying of 14-year-old Camille Arfmann, who was Bledsoe’s sister-in-law at the time. The motion was filed by Kelsey N. Frobisher May 16, the same day she filed her Entry of Appearance on behalf of the county, Herrig, Carreno, Frost, and Poppa, along with Dun-naway, who died in 2017. Fro-bisher is with the Wichita-based law firm Foulston Siefkin. The motion was referred to Magistrate Judge James P. O’Hara, who granted the de-fendants’ hoped-for Order May 17. Frobisher joins Foulston Siefkin’s David E. Rogers and Toby Crouse in representing the county, Herrig, Carreno, Frost, Poppa and Dunnaway in this civil rights case, 2:16-cv-02296. Frobisher and Rogers work out of the firm’s Wichita office, while Crouse’s office is in Overland Park. The remaining named de-fendants in the case are former County Attorney Jim Vander-bilt, former Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents George Johnson, Terry Morgan and Jim Woods, and attorney Michael Hayes, who in 1999 represented Bledsoe’s older brother Tom, the man first charged with murder

in Arfmann’s death. In November 2015, with the results of enhanced DNA test-ing strongly suggesting that he was responsible for a murder he had basically confessed to 16 years earlier, Tom Bledsoe com-mitted suicide in the parking lot of the Bonner Springs Walmart. Three notes were left behind for authorities to find, in which he confessed to killing Arfmann after having sex with her. Listed as a movant in the case is the Kansas Public Em-ployees Retirement System.

Motion filed in Bledsoe case;county beefs up defense

Commissioners approve Special Event permits

The Delaware Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy is now seeking applica-tions for financial assistance to establish cover crops and imple-ment other soil health practices on cropland in designated prior-ity areas of the watershed that has been expanded. A cover crop is a noncash crop planted to provide seasonal cover for conservation purposes such as improved soil health, erosion control, enhanced infil-tration, nutrient management,

WRAPS taking cover crop applicationsweed suppression, and can also provide supplemental forage for livestock. Funding is currently available for: 1. Cover crop establishment on prevented planting acres. Ap-plication deadline is July 16. 2. Cover crop establishment on other cropland. Application deadline is Oct. 1. 3. Soil Health Project.Appli-cation deadline is Sept. 2. Additional details online or contact Kerry Wedel, WRAPS coordinator, at 785-284-3422.

Please contact the elementary office if

you have a child that is going to be 4 years of age before August 31 to get enrolled in our preschool class.

Contact Wendy.Gibbens@

vfalls338.com

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PreschoolRoundup

grandparents and her foster mother, a woman whose first name is Shawna (sp.), would be at the jail that evening to talk to her and that he also planned to be present for the discussion. It was a 2005 Ford Focus wagon belonging to Hemmer-ling’s stepmother that Hemmer-ling had used to drive Blevins and Sawyer to the Old Military Trail area the night of the mur-der. A brief discussion regarding the “merged instructions” to the jury that were to be submitted at some point to the six men and six women hearing the case completed the day’s business on the third day of the trial. In addition to Dr. Handler and Blevins, the state produced as witnesses Lt. Scott Bon-ham with the Douglas County Sheriff ’s Office, detective Chris Thomas with the DCSO, deputy Andrew Haney with the DCSO and Patrol Sgt. Mark Mehrer with the DCSO, Cody Goforth, Amanda Young, Stephanie Schottke, Connor Smith and Nicole Dekat with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Chris Berry, the former chief execu-tive officer of Frontier Forensics Midwest, Danny Thompson with Combined Public Com-

munications, the company in charge of the inmate telephone system at the jail, detective Timothy Bacon with the JCSO, Sgt. Clay McHardie with the JCSO, Detective Sgt. Troy Frost with the JCSO, Detective Sgt. Kevin Kufahl with the JCSO, Capt. Randy Carreno with the JCSO, and Capt. Kirk Vernon with the JCSO. It was from Mehrer, who didn’t testify during Blevins’ trial, that the general public learned who “Daisy” is — a woman by the name of Kimberly Randel. “Daisy” was mentioned more than once during Blevins’ trial, almost always in connec-tion with Hemmerling’s mother, and in a neutral light at best. Vernon, the lead investigator in the case, was the state’s final witness. Having already told the county attorney that the .380 handgun Sawyer had on him the night of the murder wasn’t the gun used to kill him (earlier testimony by Blevins revealed that he knew the pistol was inoperable), that it appeared that text messages between Hemmerling and Blevins sent just prior to Sawyer’s murder had been deleted from their cell phones, and that investigators had never suspected Hemmer-ling to be the shooter, he was asked by Ney if there were any other suspects in the case. “Sarah Hemmerling,” he replied. Sarah Hemmerling, Ashlyn’s mother, is in her late 30s and on March 16, 2018, the day she and her daughter were arrested by the JCSO, she was formally charged with obstructing ap-prehension or prosecution, a Level 8 non-person felony, in connection with the case. In the complaint filed by the county attorney, she was ac-cused of harboring, concealing or aiding her daughter knowing that she had participated in the commission of a felony. The charge was dismissed April 18, 2018, but in the state-ment that was released by the

county attorney at that time, Ney indicated that he was drop-ping the charge “in anticipation of refiling charges at a later date when the investigation has con-cluded.” Hemmerling wasn’t in the courtroom while Vernon was on the stand, and this reporter never saw her once during the entire course of the three-days-plus trial. Asked last Thursday if Hem-merling remained a suspect in the Sawyer case in view of her daughter having pleaded guilty to first-degree murder earlier in the day, Vernon told the paper that she was still a suspect. How so, he didn’t elaborate. Hemmerling and Sawyer reportedly were romantically involved, or at least had been, at the time of the murder, and at least one account of the circum-stances surrounding the crime had Blevins and Ashlyn Hem-merling paired as boyfriend-girlfriend. It was revealed by Blevins during the trial that he had dated Ashlyn Hemmerling’s older sister Sierra (sp.) for five years, but at the time of the murder, he had a fiancee, Abi-gail Swope, who was 36 weeks pregnant. Blevins told jurors last week that he and Swope are now married. “Indifference to the value of human life cannot be tolerated in a just society,” Ney said in a news release issued by his office last Thursday. “Thanks to the quality of this investigation,the defendant will be held account-able for her involvement in Taylor’s murder.” Sheriff Jeff Herrig learned of the murder within hours of the shooting and initiated “a multi-agency coordinated investigation” at that time, ac-cording to the statement. “I’m pleased the good working rela-tionship between my office and the county attorney ensured the defendant and the public heard clear evidence of how she and her associate Jonathan Blevins murdered Taylor that night,” the sheriff was quoted as say-ing. Approximately 70 men and women comprised the pool of potential jurors in the case. The process of selecting the jury and the two alternate jurors began shortly after 9 a.m. Monday and had been completed by noon, clearing the way for both the county attorney and the defense attorney to deliver their opening arguments right after lunch. But only Ney addressed the jury at that time, telling jurors that the defendant “created the plan to murder Taylor Sawyer” and that she knew in her mind that “bodily harm would come to Taylor” before the night was over. There were several interest-ed spectators in both the north gallery and the south gallery when the trial got underway, and that continued to be the case until the proceeding had ended.

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