Kansas Klips

Phillips County Deputy to receive Carnegie medal for heroism

PHILLIPSBURG — In its third announcement of 2021, the Carnegie Hero Fund is proud to recognize 18 civilians who risked their lives for others. Each will receive the Carnegie Medal, North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism, according to the Carnegie website. Among those to be awarded this quarter is Sheriff’s Deputy John Miner, 39, of Phillipsburg. Miner suffered secondand third-degree burns when he saved a 4-year old from a burning vehicle, then went back to save a 2-year-old by cutting the strap on the child’s safety seat. On Nov. 4, 2020, the fiery crash occurred when a tractor-trailer struck two vehicles parked on the side of a rural highway near Long Island. A pant leg of Miner’s caught on fire as he was freeing the youngest child, causing the severe burns on Miner’s legs that required skin grafting. The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others. With this announcement, a total of 10,256 Carnegie Medals have been awarded since the Pittsburgh-based Fund’s inception in 1904. Throughout the more than 117 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, more than $43 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance. (HaysPost.com)

Man dies in what is believed to be accidental shooting

MUNJOR — A 57-year-old Hays man died from his injuries after a shooting outside a residence in Munjor. The sheriff’s office identified the man as Ronald Lewis Blackburn. At about 5 a.m. Monday, a 911 call reported Blackburn pounded on a resident’s front door in the 1800 block of Kazan Street complaining he had shot himself in the leg and was asking for help. Law enforcement and EMS personnel performed life-saving measures including CPR and applying a tourniquet. Blackburn was transported to Hays Med in serious condition where he later died. (HaysPost.com)

Man took $70,000 pickup for test drive, didn’t return

SALINA — An alleged test drive turned into a stolen vehicle from a Salina dealership. A man who is believed to have provided false information asked to test-drive a 2018 Chevrolet Silverado at Marshall Motor Company in Salina last Wednesday afternoon, according to Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester. The man was supposed to test-drive the pickup for two hours, but he never returned with it. The pickup, which had some customization on it, was valued at $70,000.

Former foreign-exchange student returns for visit

OBERLIN — Karla Krieger, who was an American Field Service student from Wien, Austria, at Decatur Community High in the spring 1978, returned for a visit to Oberlin last month. Now 61, she came to visit her host mother, Gisela (Humes) Fisher, 77, and a friend, Lisa Eccles, 60, daughter of Barbara Young and the late Chuck Young. “Gisela, who’s taken me in,” said Ms. Krieger, “we have a family relationship we’ve found that has endured all this time.” In the ‘80s, Ms. Krieger took a job teaching German at the University of California, adding that she speaks German, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. “She spoke very good English when she came here,” Mrs. Fisher added. Back in Austria now, Ms. Krieger said, she is a civil servant working for the federal government there and is working for the European Union as a political advisor on projects for development. She has also worked in Africa and the last three years in Bolivia. (The Oberlin Herald)

Kansas county pays ransom to resolve cyber attack

POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY — Officials are making progress in restoring computer systems and machines after a ransomware attack encrypted several servers on September 17, according to a media release. The County initially did not share many details about the attack because that is the right thing to do to protect the County from further attacks under these circumstances, and so as not to compromise the law enforcement investigation. At the same time, County representatives were negotiating with the hackers to reduce the ransom demand. The resulting resolution was extraordinary, both in terms of the final settlement and the speed at which the County was able to resolve the attack. “The ransom was reduced by more than 90 percent from the hackers’ original demand, an almost unheard-of outcome, every saved dollar of which is taxpayer revenue the county keeps to serve our citizens,” said County Administrator Chad Kinsley. “We are a small county with small resources,” Kinsley said. “With the extraordinary demands that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on local governments like ours, we wanted to make sure that the hackers understood that there was no way we could even come close to meeting their demand,” he said. “We were focused on protecting taxpayers and doing everything we could to resolve the issue with as little as possible. We believe we succeeded at that.” (HaysPost.com)