Free Republic

A Better Approach to Government Consolidation Print E-mail By The Effort Staff Friday, 03 February 2006 By Jalexson HUTCHINSON, KS -- Current talk about government consolidation in Kansas is basically just a continuation of the ancient attempts of cities to control the surrounding countryside. Cities want to force rural residents to finance the services city residents receive and to obey city laws. There is a better approach to the issue than what city governments are suggesting. County governments are necessary because they are the administrative units of the state. City governments only exist because urban residents want more services or...

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) _ The general election race for a judgeship in Reno County will be a family affair. Reno County District Judge Steve Becker will face his wife, Sarah E. Sweet-McKinnon, a public defender in Sedgwick County, in an election in November. Sweet-McKinnon was unopposed in the Democratic primary, while Becker, a Republican, beat deputy Reno County Attorney Thomas Stanton by a 5,097-to-3,036 vote in Tuesday's primary. The two filed for office together in June when they were in Topeka for the annual judge's conference. ``We spent the night together, then we went to the secretary of state's office...