In Greensburg

A Kiowa County man who does not want to be identified has a frightening story about surviving the Greensburg tornado. He was in jail in Greensburg on a DUI charge the night the tornado hit. He had been arrested and convicted in Sedgwick County, he says, but arranged a transfer to the Kiowa County Jail [...]

[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 →]

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 [...]

[Read more →]

Despite being under a storm watch, we decided to have a picnic in the park across from where we’re staying on the Barclay College campus. It’s almost 8 Tuesday evening, and we’re finishing stories we worked on today. Several students are returning to jobs in Wichita tomorrow, so they’re the most frantic among the group. [...]

[Read more →]

The morning group at Haviland Hardware is pretty fluid. Owner Vic Hannan serves the coffee drinkers who come and go. Conversation ranges from all the rain the Kiowa County area has received the past few days to the new city storm sirens that should arrive soon. Government spending is a frequent topic, too. Little progress [...]

[Read more →]

There was a 25-degree difference in temperature from Wichita to Greensburg this afternoon. Someone attributed it to a cold front. Obviously, as Merril Teller would say. Not all of us (including me) brought jackets. But it’s supposed to warm up in a day or so. Tonight, we trying to grill hamburgers on a small charcoal [...]

[Read more →]

Matt Deighton, a Greensburg native and volunteer coordinator for the South-Central Kansas Tornado Recovery Organization, was talking this afternoon about how humor can be helpful when dealing with stressful situations. As he talked, the storm sirens went off in Greensburg. Everyone’s expression abruptly changed. “That’s not funny,” he said. “I think they’re training a new [...]

[Read more →]

Friday night’s severe weather across the state made me a little antsy as my class prepares to go to Greensburg on Tuesday. A Colorado couple was killed when their car was hit by a tornado as they traveled on U.S. 54 between Cunningham and Pratt. The tornado apparently picked up their vehicle and carried it [...]

[Read more →]