8 people arrested for DUI in checklane

Eight people were arrested for driving while intoxicated Thursday after being screened for signs of alcohol in a DUI checklane.

Four drivers were arrested at Front and Crawford streets between 11 p.m. and midnight. Another four were detained at Ninth and Crawford streets between midnight and 2 a.m., according to Salina police Capt. Mike Sweeney.

Six officers manned the check lane, checking drivers for signs of intoxication. If officers detected the odor of alcohol or saw some other sign of possible intoxication, the driver was asked to step out of the vehicle and be tested, Sweeney said.

Sweeney said the number of persons charged as a result of the checklane was unusually high.

Service window hours are extended

The clerk service window at Salina Municipal Court is now open extended hours in an effort to assist the public.

The new hours are 7:15 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Monday through Friday. Phones also will be answered during that time. The number is 826-7230.

Alltel donates phone minutes to victims

CHAPMAN -- Alltel Wireless is donating 1,000 free minutes of cellular-phone time to its customers working to recover from the tornado that hit Chapman Wednesday evening.

According to the company, all Alltel customers with a billing address in the 67431 Zip code will automatically get a free 1,000 minutes of airtime for June, July and August, regardless of their rate plan.

Most of Kansas too wet to cut wheat

WICHITA -- The Kansas winter wheat harvest was well under way in a few dry places in the state, but fields elsewhere were still far too wet to cut after storms soaked the state.

The first loads coming into the OK Co-op Grain Co. elevator in Kiowa bode well for the rest of this year's harvest after last year's disastrous crop in that region.

The Kiowa elevator has taken in close to 1 million bushels in the last five days, with about 700,000 bushels arriving in the past two days, general manager Alan Meyers said Friday.

Quality is good with weights running between 58 and 63 pounds per bushel, he said, noting that the price of wheat Friday was $8.50 a bushel.

Meyers expected his elevator to take in 3.5 million bushels of wheat this season. That would be a normal harvest for the area and three times what the elevator took in last year after a late spring freeze and diseases damaged the crop.

Kiowa is one of the few places in Kansas now cutting wheat because storms have skirted the area, he said.

Ness City man pleads no contest

NESS CITY, -- The western Kansas man pleaded no contest to mistreating his girlfriend, who became stuck to a toilet after refusing to leave the bathroom for two years.

Ness County District Court clerk Joby Henning says Kory McFarren also pleaded no contest on Friday to an unrelated charge of lewd and lascivious behavior.

No sentencing date was immediately set.

The mistreatment charge was filed after police discovered McFarren's girlfriend, Pam Babcock, physically stuck to the toilet in February.

McFarren told police Babcock had refused to come out of the bathroom for two years. Police believe she spent at least a month sitting on the toilet.

Man accused of swinging hammer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Prosecutors have charged a 45-year-old Kansas City man who is accused of swinging a 3-pound sledgehammer at police as they entered the house he was in.

Jackson County prosecutor Jim Kanatzar charged Glen Vassie with two felonies, second-degree assault on a law enforcement officer and armed criminal action.

According to court documents, officers were called to a house on Thursday by a woman trying to retrieve personal property from her residence. The woman gave the police a key to get inside.

Prosecutors say that when police entered, officers had to duck to avoid being hit by the sledgehammer.

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