G&G
An amazing
Cabernet
Nursing Excellence
Page 8
NRH Award winners
Page 6
EGW
February 27 and 28, 2016
V V V
PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING
FAMILY OWNED SINCE 1895
WWW.EMPORIAGAZETTE.COM
V V V
Lyon County Amends burn ban policy
By John Robinson
By Jessie Wagoner
[email protected]
The Lyon County Commission amended their policy on issuing open burn bans during an
action session on Thursday.
Resolution 06-16 passed 3-0
and bans open burning during
red flag warnings.
Red flag warnings are issued
by the National Weather Service and are defined as certain
weather conditions, such as
high winds and low humidity,
that are ideal for wildfires.
The ban will take effect as
soon as the red flag warning is
issued and will end when the
warning expires. The previous
open-burn ban policy required
the county commission to hold
a special meeting.
“It’s easier for the community
to know when they shouldn’t
burn with the red flag warning,”
said Jarrod Fell, emergency
management coordinator for Lyon County, “When the National
Weather Service has a red flag
warning issued everyone can
look on their phones before they
call dispatch or the communica-
[email protected]
Burn ban policies are changing in Lyon County. Lyon County
commissioners heard from Lyon
County Emergency Management
Coordinator Jarod Fell and Emporia Fire Chief Jack Taylor on
Thursday, last week. Both Fell
and Taylor suggest utilizing
short-term burn bans to help reduce the risks associated with
out of control burns.
“While balancing the need
for and the necessity of pasture
burning, brush burning and land
management we also have to mitigate the risks associated with
that to property and life,” Fell
said. “It is the accidents that happen that are very concerning.”
Controlled burns grow out of
control quickly, even in condiPlease see Burn, Page 3
By Bobbi Mlynar
Special to The Gazette
By John Robinson
[email protected]
The United Way of the Flint
Hills held a celebration luncheon at Emporia State University Friday to celebrate the 2015
fundraising total.
United Way of the Flint Hills
raised $604,995 in 2015 and,
according to Executive Director Jami Reever, is the largest
amount the United Way in quite
a while.
“The United Way is a community effort,” Reever said.
“The community stepped up in
ways we haven’t seen in a long
time.”
According to Reever, at least
$525,000 will go back into the
community.
“We will be able to fund programs at 24 organizations in
Emporia and the surrounding
communities,” she said. “We’re
going to be able to fund preschools, Meals on Wheels, the
Please see United Way, Page 3
The Americus Fire Department puts out a grass fire at 779 Road 260.
Perkins known as leader, mentor
Please see Red Flag, Page 3
$604,995:
United Way of
the Flint Hills
celebrates 2015
File Photo
If a dictionary could use only
two words to define civic leader,
mentor, philanthropist, top-notch
attorney and devoted family man
all wrapped into one person, those
two words could be “Elvin Perkins.”
Perkins, 93, died Saturday at
his home in Olathe, where he had
moved in 2014 to be near family after more than 65 years in Emporia.
Long before the move, had left
his mark as an attorney and an active volunteer dedicated to benefitting his community.
“I don’t think I ever met anyone
who didn’t admire him,” said Fifth
District Court Chief Judge Merlin
Wheeler. “He fit in with everybody.
He was a brilliant lawyer, had a remarkable memory, but yet he had
the capacity to work with every
level of society and there wasn’t a
one of them that didn’t appreciate
him.”
Perkins, known as “Perk” to
friends and associates, had a
substantial practice in business,
banking law, civil law, and estate
planning, Wheeler said, and a tremendous work ethic that enabled
him to spend the day in a jury trial,
then return to the office and start
working on a contract for another
client.
Mentor to young
attorneys
He had a talent, too, for choosing young attorneys to bring
into his law office. Sometimes, it
Good Evening
seemed to be a training ground for
future judges.
Wheeler had been city attorney when he went to work in the
Perkins & Hollembeak Chartered
offices. and soon became a shareholder in the firm before opening
his own practice. Wheeler later
became district judge and chief
district judge.
Former Perkins partner Ted
Hollembeak went on to become
municipal court judge, and Perkins’ associate Gary Rulon became
administrative district judge of the
Fifth Judicial District before being
appointed in 1988 to the Kansas
Court of Appeals, where he served
as chief judge from January 2001
to 2011.
Perkins had always made time
to share his knowledge with the
younger attorneys who came into
the practice, Wheeler said.
“He was always willing to share
— knowledge to money to time,
effort, whatever,” Wheeler explained. “He was like working for
a walking encyclopedia. Rarely did
we ever have a question but what
we couldn’t go to Perk and say, ‘I
have this issue,’ and he’d say, ‘I
think there was this case on suchand-such a date that answers the
question for you.’ “
As much as Perkins was willing
to help the younger lawyers with
questions, he made it clear they
were responsible their work and
any errors within, no matter who
made it.
“One of the things he impressed
on us was that our work product
was ours. You never ever blamed
a secretary or someone ... It was
yours. You signed it,” Wheeler
said. “There was just an air of professionalism about Perk that you
understood.”
Perkins carried that attitude
throughout all he did beyond his
professional career.
“There probably wasn’t a day
when there wasn’t a meeting going
on with some group or organization that was beyond the pract