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TEG THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 V V V PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING 2 0 1 6 G L A S S FAMILY OWNED SINCE 1895 B L O W N V V V Good Evening VVV Watch for discs! WWW.EMPORIAGAZETTE.COM O P E N PALAFOX GETS DISCS BACK WHERE THEY BELONG By Cathryne Scharton [email protected] Local Farmers Insurance Agent Art Palafox devotes time each week to retrieving lost discs from ponds surrounding local disc golf courses.  Much like the Farmers slogan, “Farmers, gets you back where you belong,” Palafox gets discs back where they belong — to their owners.  Palafox retrieves discs from the ponds at Jones Park, the Emporia Country Club and the newest course in Olpe. Last year he estimated he found about 300 discs, which is about $4,000 in product. Palafox makes efforts to return as many discs to their owners as possible. Overall, he said about 50 percent of the discs get returned. However, if discs are unmarked or the owners do not want them anymore Palafox gives them to children, uses them to promote Dynamic Discs or resells them. When the weather is good, Palafox retrieves discs from the water about three times a week. He stresses the importance of players labeling the discs with a permanent marker. After the marker has set on the disc for a month or so, the ink will sink into the plastic, making the mark permanent and waterproof. Pen ink will wash off when submerged in water. Palafox got started by edging the ponds. He noticed that when he would look for his discs he never found his own, but often found discs belonging to others. Palafox has insured Dynamic Discs through his business, Farmers Insurance, since both of the businesses began in 2005. He likes to know what products are found in the pond and what is being used more. Palafox said his personal rule is, when finding a disc, he tries to contact the owner and JOHN ROBINSON/GAZETTE Nearly 1,200 disc golfers gathered at the Granada Theatre Wednesday morning to check in for the Glass Blown Open. DISC GOLFERS ARRIVE By John Robinson [email protected] CATHRYNE SCHARTON/GAZETTE  Dale Baker, of Emporia, looks through the discs in Art Palafox’s trunk. Palafoxes sells and trades any unmarked or unwanted discs. Below, Palafox has over 400 discs in the back of his car.   return the disc. For out-of-town players, Palafox returns the discs, charging only the return shipping costs. Sometimes, people will pay rewards for their found discs because they don’t want to go in the water. Palafox is an ex-Marine. “I have been in that type of water when I was in the Phillipines, so for me this is actually clean wa- ter compared to where I used to be,” said Palafox. “But for me it’s more of a rush just finding these discs because it’s history that you are actually finding.” Palafox has found many old, vintage discs. One even belonged to 2010 world champion and Emporian Eric McCabe. Cool temperatures greeted disc golfers lined around the block as check-in began for the Glass Blown Open Wednesday morning at the Granada Theatre. “On Wednesday the turnout was 1,164 (golfers),” said Dixon Jowers, operation specialist at Dynamic Discs. “The first guy was in line at 6:50 this morning, we opened up at (9 a.m.) and by the time we opened up there was about 300 people or so in line.” According to Jowers, the check-in process was going smoothly, with disc golfers receiving several gifts for participating in the tournament. “Last year we had quite the cluster on the handouts so we worked on that this year,” he said. “Kim (Redeker) over at The Sweet Granada made chocolate bars with the GBO logo on them, they’ve got some polos, a couple unreleased (discs), a jacket both for the amateurs and the pros ... and the big thing is the commander bag ... with our stars and stripes pattern.” Montee and Zach Brunner, checked in for their first Glass Blown Open. The pair said the process was not a problem. “It was easy,” Montee Brunner said. “Drink coffee, meet people, get stuff and go. It’s not so bad.” Up next for disc golfers are the practice rounds followed by Q&As from the owners of Dynamic Discs and professional disc golfers and a player’s meeting. “Because of the rain last night the country club is shut down for today so they can drain the water and get it ready for play,” Jowers said. “I hear the water out at Peter Pan (Park) is getting pretty high at the river but we don’t think it’s going to crest anymore. Things are looking good. Our main concern is making sure the courses are ready to go.” Please see Palafox, Page 5 JOHN ROBINSON/GAZETTE Zach and Monte Brunner show off their check-in gifts for the Glass Blown Open. CITY COMMISSION HOLDS STUDY SESSION By Cathryne Scharton [email protected] Wednesday morning city commissioners met to review water usage and improvements, upcoming beer gardens, city employee residency requirements and the 2017 budget. Commissioners looked at historic and future projected water usage data. The city is in need of an additional water storage tank in the event a current tank goes down for maintenance but the new tank will cost an estimated $8 million. “We are just going to evaluate that,” said Mark McAnarney, city manager. “We always need storPlease see City, Page 3 NATIONAL WALK AT LUNCH DAY AT ESU ESU unveils two new campus trails By Cathryne Scharton USD 253 BOARD OF EDUCATION HEARS BOND OPTIONS [email protected] By John Robinson People gathered in Union Square at Emporia State University at noon Wednesday to participate in National Walk at Lunch Day. More than 90 people came to the event, sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas. The company provided free, lightblue T-shirts to the walkers.  Allison Garrett, ESU president, joined community m