Kansas.com: Randy Scholfield

Sing praises of homegrown tomatoes

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:42 CDT

Ain't nothin' in the world that I like better

Than bacon and lettuce and homegrown tomatoes

Up in the mornin,' out in the garden

Get you a ripe one, don't get a hard one.

--from the song "Homegrown Tomatoes," by Guy Clark

No ifs, ands, butts about civil debate

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:41 CDT

Back when I was a college student, debate seemed a pretty formal, buttoned-down and sedate affair.

Did I miss something? When did it become the World Wrestling Federation?

I refer, in case you haven't seen it, to the YouTube video clip of two college debate coaches screaming at each other at a tournament and nearly coming to blows.

The incident happened at the national quarterfinals of the Cross Examination Debate Association in March, right here in Wichita. The video clip was posted a few weeks ago, and it has more than 100,000 hits so far.

The video really is amazing.

One man's journey for world peace

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:39 CDT

My neighbor Manfred Menking is a quiet, self-effacing man. But he has a powerful story to tell. When Manfred was a boy in Nazi Germany in the waning months of World War II, he and his family went on the run to escape advancing Soviet troops. They made their way to Berlin, hoping to find relatives.

Manfred huddled in a Berlin bunker during an Allied bombing raid, hearing the bombs thud and explode overhead. His family emerged to find devastation. Buildings burning. Death and chaos.

"It was traumatic," he said softly.

He's never forgotten the experience.

At the end of the war, Germany was in ruins. Food was scarce. His grandmother died of starvation.

Paris Hilton, 1; our energy future, 0

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:41 CDT

The conventional wisdom is that John McCain had a good week. That's right, if you define "good week" as losing a debate with Paris Hilton.

Welcome to Energy Week on the campaign trail, in which both candidates rolled out big energy ideas involving retooling Detroit for hybrid cars (Barack Obama) and expanding nuclear energy (McCain) and allowing offshore drilling (McCain and Obama, both in energy-saving pander mode).

But what really got the news cycles spinning? Tire gauges. And Paris Hilton.

Isn't our democracy great?

Speaking about high gas prices, Obama suggested that people could make a difference by keeping their cars tuned up and the tires properly inflated.

Pickens is second coming of Perot

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:41 CDT

It's good that T. Boone Pickens is trying to give back to the country with his plan for energy independence. I figure Pickens owes us.

I still blame the billionaire oilman for funding the despicable Swift-boating campaign against John Kerry in 2004, which tarred and feathered Kerry with scurrilous charges and mocked his Vietnam service.

Kerry's campaign never recovered from the mugging.

If Pickens cares so much about energy independence and renewables, why did he help re-elect Big Oil's enablers, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, who obviously care nothing about either goal?

So I'm not inclined to hang on Pickens' every word.

Share your e-mail horror stories

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:43 CDT

It's one of the most helpless, panic-inducing moments a human being can experience in 2008. You pound out an e-mail or instant message, filled with colorful, catty comments you would never want viewed by anyone other than the intended recipient.

You click the "send" button, and at that exact moment, you realize that you did not, in fact, send the message to the intended recipient.

In your moronic haste, you sent it instead to your mom, your boss, or worse -- directly to the person you were bad-mouthing in the message.

Your heart pounds. Your palms sweat. Your brain urges you to believe that maybe, just maybe, your e-mail includes a message-retrieve feature you didn't know about.

Life is about to get very unpleasant.

Feel good about retail medical clinics

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:39 CDT

Most Americans can share horror stories of trying to schedule a doctor's appointment -- if you want to get in quickly, well, good luck.

You have about as much chance as getting a private audience with the pope.

Routine checkups often must be scheduled weeks or even months in advance. Once there, better find a magazine and expect to wait some more.

I've never understood why doctors' offices make people wait so long. Don't they know we have jobs, lives?

If an appointment is for 1:30, patients should expect to be seen at that time -- and if the doctor is running behind, the customer deserves an update or apology.

Wichita still searching for soul mate

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:39 CDT

In an effort to find the perfect city manager, Wichita officials have been using the services of cHarmony, the online dating service for city administrators. In an exclusive, they've agreed to share some of their stories. Prepare to be moved.

Carl's story:

I am the mayor of a medium-sized Midwestern city. We've had trouble finding the right city manager. I kept asking myself, Why were all the good ones taken?

Then a friend suggested I look into cHarmony.

At first, I was skeptical. We had never used a dating service before to find a city manager, but I thought, What do we have to lose?

The rise and fall of 'Triple Threat'

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:40 CDT

It's official. I'm history now. You know those small-town newspaper columns that highlight a happening 10, or 20 or even 40 years ago?

I've always enjoyed them.

I just never thought I'd end up in one.

But this week, my mother, bless her, called to inform me that I was in the Augusta Daily Gazette's "Our Yesteryears" column. I was the main attraction under the "40 years ago" heading.

Forty years ago.

Why you should care about detainees

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:41 CDT

In an Eagle editorial this week, we said Americans should be "shocked and outraged" at the prisoner abuse at Guantanamo and other sites, as detailed in an investigative McClatchy series this week.

Several readers have responded with shock and outrage -- at the newspaper.

"The Eagle and McClatchy Newspapers are so pathetic," opines a reader in today's Reader Views. "If they think the majority of Americans are worried about the rights and treatment of the detainees in these prison camps, they are sadly mistaken."

That theme was echoed in several responses. "Who cares how they treat POWs!" said an online poster. "At least we didn't behead them like they do to our military and civilians. Do you not understand the meaning of WAR?"

Another reader accused us of "giving aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war."

Are guns coming to a church near you?

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:39 CDT

File this under "Things You Thought You Knew": When Kansas legislators passed concealed carry in 2006, they placed certain places off-limits, including bars, churches, schools, libraries, day care centers -- right?

Well, think again.

The new normal: No place in Kansas (with the exception of federal buildings) is off-limits to concealed-carry permit holders unless that place posts those glaring no-gun signs.

Last year, pro-gun lawmakers quietly changed the law.

Surprised? So are some bar owners, who are complaining that they were never informed about the new rules.

Should Obama cross over for V.P. pick?

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:39 CDT

I was beginning to wonder if Hillary Clinton would ever concede. Her people now say she will, but I'm not sure -- it could be a trick.

Think about it: After she gets Barack Obama to say all those nice things about her, she could take the stage and announce that he's convinced her to stay in the race.

Clinton ran a tough, historic race, but it's over. She'll reportedly concede Saturday and even say some nice things about Obama.

But she's still running. The word now is that Clinton wants the vice presidency,

Clinton is a terrific campaigner who would be an asset in the general election.

What else I learned in kindergarten

Fri, 23 May 2008 01:39 CDT

Have you been to any of the end-of-school-year events? It used to be that May graduations were about high school seniors.

No longer. Middle schools are having graduations for eighth-graders -- and elementary schools are holding "moving on" ceremonies for fifth-graders.

Nice events. Kids deserve recognition for their accomplishments.

But is this something new, all of these graduations? I don't remember having a middle school graduation, much less a grade school one.

They kicked us out the door.

What's so wrong with being an elitist?

Fri, 16 May 2008 01:40 CDT

One thing we've established in this Democratic primary season: Elitism is a bad thing. Elitists are lurking everywhere these days, if you listen to the politicians.

"Bush brain" Karl Rove recently dismissed President Bush's many critics as "elitist, effete snobs."

In this election year, elitism and elites seem to be the favorite whipping boy, the cause of all of America's problems.

Barack Obama has been labeled an "elitist" for his comment about "bitter" small-town folk and for the crime of eating arugula.

It's raw populism that's winning the votes and the news cycles.

Amusing ourselves to death in Baghdad

Fri, 09 May 2008 01:40 CDT

If there's one place that's synonymous with family fun, it's Baghdad. So it didn't surprise me to hear that American developers are planning to build a Disney-style amusement park in downtown Baghdad. Right next to the Green Zone.

I'm not kidding. You can't make this stuff up. It's too crazy.

According to news reports, the Pentagon has given the green light to the attraction, which will include a cultural center, condos, shopping malls and restaurants around a lagoon, amusement rides and a giant skateboard park.

John March, executive vice president of Ride and Show Engineering, the contractor, downplayed the obvious risks of building an American-style theme park in one of the world's most lethal war zones.

"Well, you live here in Southern California and there's drive-bys and everything else," he told Fox News. "So there's danger everywhere, and I think the key thing is this will be tremendous for Baghdad."

Greensburg showing way for Wichita

Fri, 02 May 2008 01:42 CDT

Wichita could learn a few things from Greensburg, the little town obliterated by a tornado a year ago.

Greensburg is reinventing itself as the Greenest Town in America.

Instead of looking back, it's embracing the future.

And the world is taking notice of its ambitious, even audacious, vision -- to become the most ecofriendly town in the world.

Who says nothing interesting ever happens in Kansas?

Obama faces another challenge: racism

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:42 CDT

To Barack Obama's other challenges to overcome this election year, add racism. Yes, folks, we still have a racism problem in America.

What percentage of voters are likely to vote against Barack Obama simply because he's African-American?

More than you might think.

About 8 percent of white respondents in a recent AP-Yahoo poll said they'd be "uncomfortable" voting for a black candidate for president.

Remember, those are only the people willing to admit racism to a pollster. Political analyst Roger Simon guesses the actual figure is closer to 15 percent.

Have voters had their fill of 'gotcha'?

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:41 CDT

Please let this be the last presidential primary debate. Not for the candidates' sakes, but for mine. I can't take it anymore.

I'm getting bitter -- so are many Americans -- at the "gotcha" flaps that pass for debate in this Democratic primary silly season.

I've watched most of the debates. Some were better than others, but most moderators have tried to highlight issues of substance.

They didn't even try in the ABC News debate this week.

Are Americans really as dumb and superficial as debate hosts Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos treated them?

Swenson feeling heat over Holcomb

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:39 CDT

State Rep. Dale Swenson has never felt this popular or in demand. And he's not sure he likes it. No, Swenson didn't win the lottery or make it into the finals of "American Idol."

The Wichita Republican is getting lots of attention because he's among a handful of lawmakers who are "on the fence" regarding a bill to approve Sunflower Electric Power Corp.' s coal-fired plant expansion near Holcomb.

He is, in short, the potential 84th vote in the House -- the magic number needed to override Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' veto of a bill authorizing the new plant.

In an interview Wednesday, Swenson told me his phone rang off the hook last week, with both supporters and opponents of the Holcomb plant trying to sway his vote.

He's voted against the massive coal-fired complex in the past. And he voted "no" late last week, when the House approved one version of the Holcomb bill, 83-41 -- one vote short of veto-proof.

Not 'gay' to want respect in schools

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:42 CDT

Are our public schools doing enough to protect gay students from harassment? The case of Jimmy Iniguez makes me wonder.

Iniguez, a 17-year-old junior who is openly gay, was accused last week of harassing another student and suspended from Wichita's Metro-Midtown Alternative High School.

Iniguez fought the charge, saying he was the one who was being unfairly accused and harassed because of his sexual orientation.

At a formal hearing this week, the district dismissed charges against Iniguez that could have led to his expulsion.

He's glad the controversy is resolved.