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For the record
A6
Obituaries
Frank Joseph Schneller
Frank Joseph Schneller,
102, formerly of Ellis, died
The Hays Daily News
Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014, at
Monday, Dec. 29, 2014
The Atriums in Overland
Park.
Watch for breaking news at
He was born May 7, 1912,
HDNews.net
in Ellis
to Leon
and Mary
(Erbert)
Schneller.
He attended
Joseph’s
Military
Academy
and received a degree in
chemistry.
He married Margaret
(Philipp) on Sept. 23, 1936,
in Ellis. She preceded him in
death. He was a machinist in
tool and die for 38 years at
Beech Aircraft.
By David Willman
He was a former memTribune News Service
ber of St. Mary’s Catholic
New York City Police Com- Church and a member of the
missioner William J. Bratton
Knights of Columbus.
Sunday rebuked members of
Survivors include two sons,
his department who publicly
Lee Schneller and Dave Schturned their backs on Mayor
neller; seven grandchildren,
Bill de Blasio at a funeral for a Christina Pokorny, Michael
slain police officer.
Schneller, John Schneller,
The protest occurred
Steven Schneller, Annie
Saturday when the mayor
Schneller, Joseph Schneller,
spoke at the funeral of Ofand Linda Thorne; and 17
ficer Rafael Ramos, one of
great-grandchildren, David
two patrolmen killed on Dec. and Evan Pokorny, Audrey
20 by an assailant who had
and Ella Thorne, Zack,
vowed to avenge the deaths
Annie, Sophie, Michelle,
of blacks at the hands of
Keyton, Jacob, Clara, Calvin,
police.
Jack, Jonathan, Josh, Ben and
The mayor has been
William Schneller.
criticized by a police union
He was preceded in death
leader and others for some of by a son, Don Schneller; a
his remarks about relations
brother, Charles Schneller;
between police and blacks,
and two sisters, Katy Huber
and for his administration’s
and Theresa Stromeyer.
closeness with Al Sharpton,
Services will be 11 a.m.
the minister and cable televi- Wednesday at St. Mary’s
sion talk show host.
Catholic Church, Ellis; burial
Scores of officers turned
in the church cemetery.
their backs when De Blasio’s
Visitation will be from 6 to
remarks at the funeral were
8 p.m. Tuesday at Keithley
broadcast outside on a giant
Funeral Chapel 400 E. 17th
video screen.
Ellis, KS 67637.
“I think it was very inapA vigil/rosary will be at 7
propriate at that event,’’ Brat- p.m. Tuesday at the funeral
ton said on CBS’s “Face the
home.
Nation.” The funeral was to
honor the life of Ramos, not
to air grievances over politics,
he said.
Bratton’s leadership of
the Police Department in
the 1990s and, from 2002
to 2009, of the Los Angeles Police Department, has
By Gregory Karp
been credited with helping
Tribune News Service
to lower crime rates. But he
CHICAGO — The airline
acknowledged the tensions
industry in 2015 is likely to
while defending his officers.
be healthy again because of
Bratton said that since
mergers and falling jet fuel
Ramos and Officer Wenjian prices, and while consumers
Liu were shot and killed, the might be stuffed into slimmer
Police Department has inseats in coach, at least they
vestigated “over 50 incidents will be able to enjoy new and
or reported threats against”
upgraded planes and more
city police. The cases have re- onboard amenities, such as
sulted in nine arrests, he said. Wi-Fi and streaming video.
Bratton conceded that
“2015 is poised to be one
“morale in the department at of the best, if not the best,
this time is low.”
years for the U.S. airline busiHe cited a number of
ness,” said Henry Harteveldt,
causes, including penda travel industry analyst
ing contract negotiations
with Atmosphere Research
between the city and a police Group.
union.
“It’s not an entirely
positive picture, of course,”
Harteveldt said. “Uncertain
economic climates in parts of
Europe and Asia could affect
U.S. airlines’ international
profitability. But overall, 2015
should be a year that makes
airline CFOs happy.”
rom
Here’s what to expect in
“We always budget from a 2015 for fliers and for the
pessimistic standpoint rather airline industry:
• Fares: Globally, airfares
than optimistic,” in planning
for both growth and declines are expected to fall 5.1
percent, according to the
so that slight decreases will
International Air Transport
not hinder services to the
public, said Hays City Man- Association, although many
experts do not predict that
ager Toby Dougherty. “We
kind of price drop in the U.S.
do know we are growing as
Travel-booking website
a community and the cost of
Expedia projects mostly mild
goods are going up,” which
decreases in ticket prices in
is why the drop in sales tax
North America during 2015,
collection is puzzling.
with some increases.
The city anticipates a
Why aren’t fares falling
continued slight decline in
sales tax revenue. The sales
tax collected has leveled off
or declined from a high of
$7,313,534 in 2012.
Projections for 2014
rom
indicate that they may be
slightly down. The cause is
But Bambang Soelistyo,
unknown, although it may
the head of Indonesia’s
be related to Internet sales,
National Search and Rescue
Dougherty said.
Agency, which was leadWater sales have also been ing the effort, said the
budgeted for an anticipated
weak signal detected by the
decrease.
Australian plane came from a
“We were in a drought
personal locator beacon, not
and people were conservative the missing jet’s emergency
utilizing less water,” Doughtransmitter.
erty said. “The less water
Bambang said that based
you use, the less your sewer
on the coordinates of Indorevenues are.”
nesia AirAsia Flight 8501’s
There will be no rate inlast known location, investicrease for solid waste, and the gators believed it had crashed
last increase was in 2006.
into the Java Sea north of
“The city projects out 5-10 Jakarta.
years to ensure the budget
“My goal is to locate it as
is sustainable,” Briseno said.
soon as possible,” Bambang
“Taking advantage of sound told a news conference in
financial practices, the plan is Jakarta. “We’re doing the
to maintain a 25 mill levy.
best we can.”
“The commission’s objecIndonesian Vice Presitive of ensuring measures are dent Jusuf Kalla said “bad
taken to limit the impact on
weather” was hampering the
property taxes is upheld.”
search but expressed hope
Top cop
criticizes
protest
Condolences can be left by
guest book at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or
emailed to [email protected].
Valerian ‘Tiny’
Hammerschmidt
Valerian “Tiny” Hammerschmidt, 74, Hays, died
Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014, at
Wheatland Nursing Center,
Russell.
He was born June 3, 1940,
north of
Catharine
to Edward
F. and Pauline (Braun)
Hammerschmidt. He
was a 1958
graduate of
Victoria High School.
He worked for Ellis
County Road and Bridge
Department for 30 years as
a heavy equipment operator
and later retired as a foreman
in 2000.
He was a member of the
Basilica of St. Fidelis and
moved to Hays in 1980. He
was a meat cutter for a number of years at the Victoria
Co-op Store and P&B Packers in Hays.
He enjoyed helping others,
cooking, antique cars and
tractors.
Survivors include four
brothers, Verlin Hammerschmidt and wife, Glenda,
Valery Hammerschmidt and
wife, Linda, and Vernon
Hammerschmidt, all of Victoria and Vinard Hammerschmidt and wife, Reneta,
Mason, Tenn.; two sisters,
Vivian Appelhans, Hoxie
and Virginia Dinkel, Hays;
and a special brother, Gary
Walters, Hays.
He was preceded in death
by his parents; a brother,
Virgil Hammerschmidt; an
infant sister, Vera Hammerschmidt; two brothers-in-law,
Ralph Appelhans and Kenny
Dinkel; a sister-in-law, Christie Hammerschmidt; and a
nephew, Kurt Dinkel.
Services will be at 10 a.m.
Wednesday at Basilica of St.
Fidelis Victoria; burial in St.
Fidelis Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 3
to 8 p.m. Tuesday and from
8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Wednesday,
both at Cline’s Mortuary of
Hays, 1919 E. 22nd, Hays,
KS 67601.
A vigil will be at 7 p.m.
Tuesday at the mortuary.
Memorials are suggested
to Basilica of St. Fidelis or
American Diabetes Association, in care of the mortuary.
Condolences can be sent
via e-mail to [email protected].
Alice V. Honas
Alice V. Honas, 88, Ellis,
died Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014,
at Good Samaritan Society,
Ellis.
Services will be at 2 p.m.
Wednesday at St. Mary’s
Catholic Church, Ellis.
Visitation will be from
5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the
church and from 1 to 1:30
p.m. Wednesday at Keithley
Funeral Chapel 400 E 17th
Ellis, KS 67637.
A vigil/rosary will be at 7
p.m. Tuesday at the church.
A complete obituary will
follow.
Rosalie Kraft
Rosalie Kraft, 95, Grainfield, died Saturday, Dec.
27, 2014, at Salina Regional
Health Center.
Arrangements are pending
at Schmitt Funeral Home,
Quinter.
Edward C. Stephens
Edward C. Stephens, 73,
Colby, died Thursday, Dec.
25, 2014, at Citizens Medical
Center, Colby.
Additional services
Paul Schuyler Jennison,
70, Concord, Calif., died
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014, at
his home.
Services will be at 2 p.m.
Jan. 24 at Ouimet Brothers’
Funeral Chapel, Concord.
Francis Richard Harman,
89, Peachtree City, Ga., Died
Monday, Dec. 22, 201, after a
long illness.
Services will be at 11 a.m.
Jan. 3 at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Fayetteville, Ga.
Pauline Elizabeth (Krug)
Alksnis, 81, Woodland,
Calif., formerly of Russell,
died Sunday, Nov. 9, 2014, at
Woodland Memorial Hospital.
Services will be at 11 a.m.
Tuesday at St. John Lutheran
Church, Russell; a private
family committal will take
Services were Monday at
Kersenbrock Funeral Chapel, Colby; burial in Beulah
Cemetery.
Maurice L. Sloan
Maurice L. Sloan, 85,
Colby, died Saturday, Dec.
27, 2014, at Hays Medical
Center.
Services will be at 2 p.m.
Tuesday at College Dr.
Assembly of God Church;
burial in Beulah Cemetery,
Colby.
There will be no visitation.
Kersenbrock Funeral
Chapel, Colby, is in charge
of arrangements.
Jeanette M. Klaus
Jeanette M. Klaus, 82,
Hays, died Sunday, December 28, 2014, at Via Christi
Villages.
Services will be at 10 a.m.
Wednesday at Immaculate
Heart of Mary Catholic
Church; burial in St. Joseph
place before services.
Fern Alberta Ninemire,
92, Hill City, died Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014, at Logan
Manor.
Services will be at 11 a.m.
Wednesday at Prairie Home
United Methodist Church,
Graham County; burial in
Prairie Home Church Cemetery, Graham County.
Visitation will be from 3 to
8 p.m. Monday at Stinemetz
Funeral Home Hill City.
Obituary policy
The Hays Daily News will
publish an obituary free for
people with direct ties to
the area. More information
can be added for additional
charges. Contact us at (800)
657-6017.
Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 5 to
8 p.m. Tuesday and from 9
to 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, both
at Hays Memorial Chapel
Funeral Home, 1906 Pine
Hays, KS 67601.
A vigil will be at 7 p.m.
Tuesday at the funeral home.
A complete obituary will
follow.
Jean Basgall
Jean Basgall, Olathe, formerly of Hays, died Monday,
Dec. 29, 2014, in Olathe.
Arrangements are pending
at Brock’s-Keithley Funeral
Chapel of Hays 2509 Vine
Hays, KS 67601.
Mary E. Fountain
Mary E. Fountain, 88, Hill
City, died Monday, Dec. 29,
2014, at Graham County
Hospital, Hill City.
Arrangements are pending
at Stinemetz Funeral Home,
Hill City.
Airline industry poised to fly high in 2015
Budget,
F
A1
Plane, F
times satellite-based instead
of air-to-ground, meaning
passengers can stay connected
over water on international
flights. “Airlines that were slow
to adopt initially are leapfrogging the early innovators,” said
Adam Gwosdof, chief data
officer at Routehappy, which
rates flights on Wi-Fi and other
factors.
United, American and
Southwest Airlines will be big
providers of streaming video
in 2015.
Providing streaming video
is a move away from video
entertainment on seat-back
screens, instead allowing passengers to stream movies and
TV shows, often free, to their
iPads and laptops.
Anthony Souffle • TNS
Airlines also are adding
A United Airlines flight lands at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.
power outlets to seats, even in
coach, to keep those devices
Onboard wireless Interfaster in the U.S. given airline far slower than inflation for
charged.
more than a decade. Besides, net access is not new, but
profitability and fuel prices
The entertainment
the group argues, since when it also will become nearly
that have plummeted in
upgrades could help distract
is making a profit from lower ubiquitous in 2015, even on
recent months to the lowest
economy-class fliers from
costs a bad thing?
regional jets that fly passenlevels in more than four
their cramped quarters. Leg
“When the price of cofgers to network hubs.
years?
fee beans falls, no one asks
Delta was an early adopter and elbow space in airplane
U.S. Sen. Charles E.
seats is shrinking as airlines
Starbucks why his or her
of Wi-Fi for all planes, but
Schumer, D-N.Y., has called
try to make more money by
others are catching up.
latte does not cost less,” the
for a federal investigation
cramming more seats in the
airlines group said in a recent American said this month
into what he describes as
back while selling upgrades
that it will equip 250 of its
“extremely high” fares, citing statement.
for extra legroom.
• Onboard amenities: Air- regional jets with onboard
a 10 percent increase during
Airlines are trying to
lines are putting some profits wireless Internet access. Unitthe past five years. He sugmitigate
the pain of economy
ed announced weeks earlier
gests that airline mergers and back into their businesses.
class by installing slimmer
John Heimlich, chief econo- that it would put Wi-Fi on
reduced competition might
seats, which fliers have remist for Airlines for America, more than 200 of its larger
be inflating fares.
ported can be uncomfortable.
United Express regional jets
said airlines are upgrading
But Airlines for America,
But even that will change for
by next summer.
the U.S. airline industry
their airplanes and the airTypically the newer Wi-Fi is the better in 2015, Gwosdof
group, is fond of pointing out ports they use at the highest
faster, more reliable and some- said.
that fares have been growing spending rate in 13 years.
A1
that the plane would be
found.
“We don’t set deadlines.
What is important is we find
the plane and its passengers,”
Kalla said.
Asked about the prospects
of finding survivors more
than 36 hours after the flight
went missing, Kalla said:
“We pray for them but we
realize the worst may have
happened.”
Bambang said teams
searched an area comprising
roughly 66,000 square miles
in four sectors on Sunday,
concentrating on a 250-milewide stretch of the Java Sea
between the Indonesian
islands of Sumatra and
Borneo. On Monday the
search expanded to the north
to include the Karimata strait
and the coasts of Belitung
island and West Kalimantan
province, he said.
Indonesia’s armed forces
had deployed transport helicopters and naval ships while
Malaysia and Singapore had
each sent C-130 Hercules
transport aircraft and three
ships to help ferry teams to
and from the search site.
Early Monday, Australia’s
Orion surveillance aircraft
joined the effort.
If wreckage isn’t found at
the water’s surface, investigators likely would begin
scouring the sea floor for the
Airbus A330-200 — probably requiring contributions
of advanced ships and equipment from other nations.
“If that’s the case, we’ll
have difficulty determining
the location because our
equipment is not adequate,”
Bambang said.
Singapore civil avia-
tion officials said they were
preparing to send two teams
of specialists andunderwater
locator beacons to help find
the missing jet’s flight data
recorders.
China offered to send
airlines and ships to join the
search and rescue efforts,
foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said
in Beijing. South Korea
said it would send a surveillance plane later this week,
the Yonhap news agency
reported.
In Washington, Pentagon
officials said Sunday they
were ready to assist but had
not been asked.
AirAsia executive chief
Tony Fernandes defended his
airline’s safety record, saying
it had carried 220 million
passengers in 13 years and
never had a fatal accident.
“Until we have a full
investigation, we don’t want
to speculate,” Fernandes
told a news conference in
Surabaya. “It’s premature to
talk (about what went wrong)
at the moment. We are
confident in our ability to fly
people. We’ll continue to be
strong and continue to carry
people who never fly before.”
Indonesian transportation ministry Ignasius
Jonan said the government
would review AirAsia’s
operations “to ensure that
in the future its activity will
be better.” The low-cost
carrier, which is based in
Malaysia and operates
mainly short flights across
Southeast Asia, has a
strong safety record and is
widely regarded as one of
the world’s most successful
budget airlines.