Getting into government

Crawford County high school students had a chance to learn about local governmental agencies and ask officials some pointed questions Wednesday during the 2012 Elks Student Government Day.

The event started with breakfast and an orientation session on the lower level of Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium.

“We’re supposed to have 16 students from each school,” said Shirley Hawkins, Pittsburg Elks Lodge 412 president.

Homer Cole, longtime Elks member, said the event was started back in 1987, but was initially only for Pittsburg High School students.

“Then we added St. Mary’s Colgan High School and Frontenac, then Girard, and now it covers Northeast in Arma and Southeast in Cherokee, too,” he said. “We have close to 100 working on it every year.”

City and county officials assist with the program, and representatives from Pittsburg State University, Fort Scott Community College and Labette Community College were also present to visit with students.

“This is the first year that Labette has been here, and we’re so happy they could come,” Hawkins said.

Michael Hayslip, serving as emcee for the orientation, told the students they were lucky to be part of a program that has become a model for other Elks Lodges around the state.

Students had previously registered for their areas of interest, and after the orientation, they left to visit City of Pittsburg and Crawford County governing bodies, Pittsburg Parks and Recreation, Pittsburg Pubic Safety Center and Fire Station No. 1, City of Pittsburg Public Works, Crawford County Sheriff’s Department and Crawford County Health Department and EMS.

Pittsburg Fire Chief Scott Crain said that he’s always happy to have the student groups visit.

“We’ve had kids come back later wanting information on how to get into the fire service,” he said. “I tell them to get their EMT out of the way and get all they training they can.”

But, for the time being, students will have to wait a few years before they can actually get hired by the department.

“Our current policy is not to hire anybody under 21,” Crain said. “I was 24 when I came here, and it was the best move I ever made in my life.”

Firefighters escorted the students around Station No. 1 and showed off their equipment, starting with Rescue 7, which responds to most medical calls around Pittsburg and is also used on small fires.

“Anything you can think of you’d need to rescue somebody is in this truck,” said Justin Ziesenis.

The newest truck in the Pittsburg Fire Department fleet is the massive ladder truck. The ladder reaches 100 feet in the air. It is used only for large structure fires, and is shared with other southeast Kansas departments in times of emergency.

It went into service the day before the Beitzinger fire in downtown Pittsburg, and Matt Stringer said that it has proved to be faster and better than its predecessor, Ladder 4.

And, at a cost in the neighborhood of $750,000, it should be good. Much of this was covered by grant money.

“Without grants we wouldn’t have half the stuff we do,” Ziesenis said. “And without the taxpayers, we wouldn’t have this new station, we’d still be on Seventh Street.”
One of the students asked Stringer what was the worst fire he’d been in.

“That would be the Vilela fire, because there were a lot of combustibles and tires stored there,” he said. “I was on Ladder 4 when the roof caved in, and it was very hot.”

As she was leaving the station, Rachel Rawlings, Girard High School student, said the visit had been a lot nicer than she thought it would be.

“It’s kind of cool to see behind the scenes what they do,” she said. “A lot more work goes into it than you’d think.”

Students returned to Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium for a chili dog lunch, then the Elks Lodge presented 10 $500 scholarships to students. Recipients were Rico McKay,  Catherine Geiger, Ashley Willis and Gabrielle Murnan, PHS; Jesse Newcomb, Michaela Kinyon and Jonathan Wolfe, St. Mary’s Colgan High School; Danielle McBride, Frontenac High School; and Lucas Gorentz and Ben Coomes, Girard High School.

The afternoon wrapped up with a question and answer session with a panel including State Reps. Terry Calloway and Bob Grant, State Sen. Bob Marshall and numerous county and city officials. Ron Womble, PSU, served as moderator.

“What are the main sticking points in the House and Senate keeping the state budget from being passed?” asked Rachel Rawlings.

“Both houses come up with their idea of what the budget should look like then compare notes,” Calloway said. “The most recent sticking point was that the Senate appropriated money under one fund, and the House appropriated the same money under another fund.”

“The Senate wanted the money from the general fund, and the House wanted it from the Kansas Department of Transpiration administration funds,” Grant responded. “Everything is bargaining chips, and if the House had agreed with the Senate, it would have taken away their chip for about 80 other things.”

Gabrielle Murnan noted that there were 16 men and two women on the panel.

“Is this representative of most local and state agencies?” she asked.

Joe Grisolano, Crawford County treasurer, and Don Pyle, county clerk, assured her that they are in the definite minority for their positions.

“There are about 10 men county clerks in the state,” Pyle said.

Linda Grilz said that she was the first woman on the Frontenac City Council and also the first female Crawford County commissioner. She urged young women present not to let a glass ceiling keep them from pursuing their goals.

“You need to learn how to work with males,” she said. “Your experience in school on committees and in organizations will help you in your endeavors.”

At the end of the afternoon, Hawkins said she thought it had gone very well, and especially enjoyed the question and answer session.

“It’s my favorite part,” the Elks president said. “These kids are really smart.”