7 Greeley County Republican • Tribune, Kansas • Wednesday, December 4, 2019

(First Published in the Greeley County Republican Wednesday, November 20, 2019) 3t

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF GREELEY COUNTY, KANSAS

In the Matter of the Estate of } No. 2019-PR-000018Ray L. Helmbold aka Ray Lee Helmbold, Deceased (Petition Pursuant to K.S.A. Chapter 59)

NOTICE OF HEARING AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS

THE STATE OF KANSAS TO ALL PERSONS CONCERNED:You are notified that a Petition has been filed in this Court by

Donna S. Helmbold, as surviving spouse and the heir of Ray L. Helmbold, deceased, requesting:

Descent be determined of the following described real estate situated inGreeley County, Kansas:

An undivided one-half interest of the West Half (W1/2) of Section Seven (7), Township Eighteen (18) South, Range Forty (40) West of the 6th P.M., Greeley County, Kansas, LESS the following described tract of land: Commencing at the Southwest Corner of said Section 7, thence North along the West line of said Section 7 for a distance of 1810 feet to the point of beginning; thence continuing North along the West line of said Section 7 for a distance of 1109.65 feet; thence Easterly at an interior angle of 92° for a distance of 587.5 feet; thence Southerly at an interior angle of 88° for a distance of 1109.65 feet; thence Westerly at an interior angle of 92° for a distance of 587.5 feet to the point of beginning, and

An undivided one-half interest of the South Half of the Northeast Quarter (S1/2 NE1/4) AND the Southeast Quarter (SE1/4) of Section Twelve (12), Township Eighteen (18) South, Range Forty-one (41) West of the 6’ P.M., Greeley County, Kansas, except:

Beginning at a point on the North line of said Southeast Quarter (SE/4) of the Northeast Quarter (NE/4) of said Section Twelve (12), at a distance of 30 feet West of the East line of said Section Twelve (12); thence running West along said North line of the Southeast Quarter (SE/4) of said Northeast Quarter (NE/4) of said Section Twelve (12), a distance of 242.5 feet; thence South 365 feet; thence East 242.5 feet; thence North 365 feet to place of beginning.

and all personal property and other Kansas real estate owned by decedent at the time of death. And that such property and all personal property and other Kansas real estate owned by the decedent at the time of death be assigned pursuant to the terms of the laws of intestate succession or.

You are required to file your written defenses to the Petition on or before December 16, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. Mountain Standard Time, in the city of Tribune, in Greeley County, Kansas, at which time and place the cause will be heard. Should you fail to file your written defenses, judgment and decree will be entered in due course upon the Petition.

DONNA HELMBOLDPetitioner

JAKE W. BROOKS SC. # 09943ATTORNEY AT LAW101 E. SIXTH - P.O. BOX 664SCOTT CITY, KANSAS 67871Attorney for Petitioner

LEGAL NOTICES

(First Published in the Greeley County Republican Wednesday, November 20, 2019) 3t

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF GREELEY COUNTY, KANSAS

In the Matter of the Estate of ) ) Case No. 2019 PR 17John Floyd, Deceased )

NOTICE OF HEARING PETITION TO ADMIT WILL AND FIRST CODICIL AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS

THE STATE OF KANSAS TO ALL PERSONS CONCERNED:

You are hereby notified that on November 15, 2019, a Petition was filed in this Court by Kara Jo Howell and Sara Albers, heirs, legatees, and Co-Executors named in the Last Will and Testament of John Floyd, Deceased, dated February 29, 2012, requesting the Will, and the First Codicil to said Will, filed with the Petition be admitted to probate and record; Petitioners be appointed as Co-Executors, without bond; and Petitioners be granted Letters Testamentary.

You are hereby required to file your written defenses to the Petition on or before December 16, 2019, at 9:00 o’clock a.m. of said day in the District Court, in Tribune, Greeley County, Kansas, at which time and place said cause will be heard. Should you fail to file your written defenses, judgment and decree will be entered in due course upon the Petition.

All creditors are notified to exhibit their demands against the Estate within the latter of four months from the date of first publication of this Notice, as provided by law, or if the identity of the creditor is known or reasonably ascertainable, 30 days after actual notice was given as provided by law, and if their demands are not thus exhibited, they shall be forever barred.

KARA JO HOWELLSARA ALBERSPetitioners

Submitted by:/s/ Charles F MoserCharles F. Moser- Ks.S.Ct# 14867MOSER & MANGAN LAW OFFICE113 W. Greeley Ave. P.O. Box 429 Tribune, KS 67879 (620) 376-4325 Attorney for Petitioners

LEGAL NOTICES

InsightJackie Mundt, Pratt County

farmer and rancherAbout a decade ago, I

moved to the small town where I plan to spend the rest of my life. Excitement filled me, and I rushed to join the community and put down some roots.

My excitement quickly deflated. Places to live were scarce, especially because I did not know the right people who had the nice, unadvertised rentals. Attending community events alone earned me a critical stare that seemed to question my motives and character. My only human interaction came from the wonderfully sweet women who attended my church or worked at the extension office because they were hardwired to be excellent, welcoming hosts. For the first time in my life, I was an outsider. It was lonely and miserable.

I went a whole year without making any connections with people who were my age or life stage.

Then I met Jennifer. She was an outsider, too, but she had been at it longer. She had amassed connections and wheedled her way into many social and community circles by demonstrating her character, willingness to volunteer and her commitment to service. As my first friend in town, she empathized with my isolation and gladly opened doors for me.

Almost a decade later, I am happy in the town. It has been a long slow process but I have worked to build a reputation and found a place in the community. My drive to build the type of community in which I want to live and raise my family is respected and appreciated. I will never completely drop the outsider title but I have made peace with that.

I have met dozens of people who have encountered the same struggles when moving to rural communities across the country. Outsiders are rarely welcomed with open arms.

This cynicism and distrust, which requires a person to prove themselves before they can be part of the community, is detrimental to growing your community. Rural America should be opening its arms to welcome new families instead of excluding them.

When you see new people in the community, be like my friend Jennifer. Welcome

and encourage new arrivals. Share what you like about your community and provide examples of how you are involved so they can learn about available activities. Make introductions to people who may be helpful or good for them to get to know. Invite them to join you for young professional groups, community organizations or church activities that may interest them.

Explain your community’s traditions. New people but will likely want to join in the fun. Keep in mind that they will not be blindly tied to what a community has always done. As their understanding of traditions grow, they may have suggestions for improvements. Listen to their ideas. They are not trying to destroy traditions; they want to be a part of them. Also, new people don’t mind if you don’t take our suggestions, but we do get discouraged when you don’t even consider them.

Not everyone will be a great addition to your community, but if you start from the mindset of distrust,

The Outsidersyou may discourage or drive away the good people who will help your community to thrive and grow in the future. People who make the choice to live in your town should be commended and welcomed. Because today’s outsiders are tomorrow’s neighbors.

K-State engineers testing capability of small vehicles to help farmers

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The small, rolling vehicle looks a bit like something out of a science fiction film as it moves slowly across a barren patch of land on Kansas State University’s North Agronomy Farm.

It rolls on treads similar to an Army tank, but the complicated array of attachments suggests something else.

The machine, which measures 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide, was built for farm work by K-State agricultural engineer Dan Flippo and his students, who are testing its ability to cut a narrow trench and plant seeds in unison.

Their work on this day is a glimpse at agriculture of the

not-too-distant future, when small machines guided by computer programs will do some of the work and give farmers large volumes of information that they can use to plant, manage and harvest better crops.

“We are not trying to take over tractors or get rid of tractors; we are trying to make more food,” Flippo said. “By 2050, we are going to have close to 10 billion people, and right now we are not close to meeting the amount of food production that will be needed.”

Much of agriculture already is being touched by some form of technology, whether it be sensors on tractors that precisely measure planting and fertilizing rates, or thermal infrared cameras attached

to drones that fly above farm fields and detect water or insect stress in crops. There are even robotic arms that can milk a cow.

“I think farmers are ready for everything that is easy to adopt and which gives them a reliable and confident source of information,” said Ajay Sharda, associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering. “That’s their bottom line. They cannot spend hours and hours to set it up or hours to run them.”

Therein lies an opportunity for universities like Kansas State, which, in recent years, has built considerable momentum toward incorporating technology on America’s farms.

Rovers in the Fiel Flippo’s fleet includes

several vehicles that spent their first life as motorized wheelchairs. The students – which include undergraduates and graduates – are using the motor and casing to custom-build machines that serve a specific purpose on the farm.

“There are different categories that we are building,” Flippo says. “The first is the rover category. This would be like a microwave size robot. Their purpose is to go out and scout a field, which is important because humans can scout really well, but nobody wants to walk around a field all day.”

When an entomologist goes out to look for pests in a field, they may look at two or three spots and make a judgment about the whole field. Rovers can cover the entire field, perhaps working through the night, and provide data on pest pressure in the entire field.

“There are some issues there, such as if it breaks, you’re going to have to go find that in the field,” Flippo said, noting that engineers also need to account for how long that vehicle can hold a charge, how it handles ruts in the field, and whether it can follow the correct path between rows.

“But,” he adds, “these small rovers can go through the field consistently and keep track of the field much better than humans ever could.”

K-State also is building machines that are slightly bigger than the rovers, called ag drones. Flippo said these robots are “the workhorses,” such as the unit they were testing recently to plant seed. Ag drones potentially could be used to carry tanks of chemical to an area of a field or plant seed in areas where a larger tractor can’t safely go, such as sloped hills.

Larger robots, some the size of lawnmowers and others the size of a bed frame, are capable of more conventional farming work, such as pulling disc drills for wheat, scouting fields and planting fields.

Detect and DefeatIn January, 2019,

Flippo, Sharda and K-State entomologist Brian McCornack were awarded a grant for $882,920 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through its National Robotics Initiative to study the use of robots to detect and defeat insects in crop fields.

According to the USDA, farmers spray nearly $15 billion worth of chemicals annually yet still lose 37% of their crop yield to pest damage.

Sharda says K-State’s group is working on a rover that has a sensor on the front of the vehicle to detect insects, such as aphids in a sorghum field. The sensor will have the ability to detect whether the concentration of aphids – which measure no more than one-eighth of an inch – exceeds a critical limit.

When the concentration of insects exceeds the critical limit, the robot will send a signal to a sprayer that is mounted to the back of the vehicle. The sprayer takes that cue and knows immediately that it should treat the area.

Robots, drones becoming workhorses for agriculture