In Greensburg

It was a great two weeks in Kiowa County. I was amazed at some of the pieces the students produced on tornado recovery efforts in Greensburg and the surrounding communities.
The people in the communities where we worked were extremely hospitable. I think the students’ eyes were opened not only to what happens in a community [...]

[Read more →]

If you’ve been through Mullinville, 10 miles west of Greensburg, no doubt you’re familiar with M.T. Liggett. He’s the crusty old artist whose creations adorn the highway going in and out of town, especially on the west side. You may have seen him some time ago on “Hatteberg’s People.”
Judging from his work, he has a [...]

[Read more →]

Our class numbers have dwindled drastically today. There are just five of us remaining tonight at Jackson Hall on the Barclay College campus in Haviland.
Those who departed early fretted about the stormy weather between here and home. No one ran into a problem, as far as we heard. It sounded like the Wichita area [...]

[Read more →]

Cort Anderson’s photo, which was the inspiration for the 2007 state Christmas ornament, will be on sale this weekend at his show in Topeka to benefit the South Central Kansas Tornado Relief Organization. The photo was taken in the yard of Kathy and Tom Doherty after the deadly storm. Anderson is making a limited number [...]

[Read more →]

Elma Hellwig and her poodle Pooler with a box of her famous cinnamon rolls.
If there’s one person in Greensburg that everyone — especially the volunteers — likes to see coming, it’s Elma Hellwig. Especially if she’s got a cardboard box of her made-from-scratch cinnamon rolls in hand.
The 86-year-old, who lives in a FEMA trailer while [...]

[Read more →]

Some of the leaders of the recovery effort in Greensburg are willing to go to Parkersburg, Iowa, to share their experiences and expertise with townspeople there.
An EF-5 tornado on May 25 killed at least seven people and destroyed 300 homes in Parkersburg. It’s a repeat of Greensburg, only on a smaller scale, says Matt Deighton, [...]

[Read more →]

Hardware store owner Vic Hannan, standing, laughs at comments among early morning regulars including, from left, Denny Ross, Clay Corbet and Dwight Smitherman.
The conversation early this morning among coffee drinkers at the Haviland Hardware store focused on politics and weather.
The possibility of an Obama-Clinton ticket sparked comments among what seems to be a mostly Republican [...]

[Read more →]

On assignment this morning in Greensburg, we stopped by the Big Well for some additional photos. As we went inside the gift shop, we noticed the door jam was splintered. Then we saw that the door had been pried open.
Burglars, likely some kids, said gift shop manager Stacey Barnes, took only the money in the [...]

[Read more →]

Matt Deighton’s grandpa bought a 1951 Ford pickup from Ralph Baird Motors in Kinsley back in 1952. He sold it back to Baird, who was a co-pilot with actor Jimmy Stewart in World War II, in 1979.
Matt, volunteer coordinator with the South Central Kansas Tornado Recovery Organization, tried to buy the pickup from Baird, who [...]

[Read more →]

Cort Anderson photographs Greensburg from Southern Plains Co-op elevator.
Cort Anderson and I got up early today to head to Greensburg so he could photograph progress in the community after a year. He took the shots from the top of the Southern Plains Co-op.
I stayed below to take photos of him taking photos. I felt [...]

[Read more →]