As part of its bi-weekly report to the Barton County Commission, the Barton County Records Management Office noted it helped connect a family with its past.
Barton County departments submit their recaps of statistical information or a summary of services. County Administrator Richard Boeckman presented highlights to the commission Monday morning.
It was noted in the Records Office report that Joy Cushing from San Diego, Calif., e-mailed the office to obtain information about her grandmother, Lorraine (Crum) Waln. Cushing’s grandmother was born in Barton County to Jack and Maude (Bailey) Crum on July 20, 1918. The family lived in Hoisington. When Waln was 2 years old her mother, Maude, died. Records staff found some family probates, marriage licenses, cemetery records and census information.
Cushing, her husband and two children traveled from San Diego to Great Bend to pick up the documents and visit Hoisington. Cushing had heard many stories through the years about her Grandmother Lorraine and wanted to see the town where she grew up. While in Hoisington, the Cushing family found the house where Waln had lived.
 Below is a recap of other activities.
 Road and Bridge Director Dale Phillips
 • The Road and Bridge department is sealing roads in northern Barton County from Odin west to Galatia. Both Noxious Weed and the County Engineer’s Office are assisting. It is anticipated that work will be completed by Friday.
• Sign work continues daily with vandalism and storm damage requiring crews to be called out after hours to make repairs.
 • Noxious Weed continues the battle of spraying for weeds – especially Bindweed – along roadsides.
 
Amy Miller, emergency risk management\records
• Emergency Management – The Barton County Local Emergency Planning Committee, sponsored by Barton County Emergency Management, met on July 23 and discussed response actions to incidents involving radiation. The Barton County Health Department has been tasked by the Kansas Division of Health and Environment to develop plans for providing information and services to the public in the event of a radiation incident.
Many of the actions required for this type of event are similar to plans that the Health Department has in place for providing vaccinations and medications to the general population in a very short time period. Radiation training for emergency responders was also discussed in the meeting.
• Gayle Broberg, Golden Belt Humane Society director, was introduced as a new member of the Barton County LEPC. She provided an update on the Great Plains Animal Response Team that is forming to handle animal sheltering needs in the event of a disaster.
• Records Management – July 2012 – The Barton County Records Management Department had 231 visitors call, write, e-mail or walk in from Kansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Illinois and California.
There were 343 requests for Marriage Licenses, Probates, Birth Records, Criminal, Civil, Domestic, Death and Cemetery Records, Limited Actions, Traffic, Small Claims, State Tax and Census Records.

Information Technology Director John Debes
• Continue monitoring the TTC, exchange servers and sonic wall firewall. During the period, there were 4,116 spam messages, 194 viruses and 27 spyware attempts stopped.
• Continue working on the extraction issue with MOVRS, the new statewide motor vehicle software system used by the Barton County Treasurer’s Office for vehicle registrations.
 
Health Department Director Lily Akings
Clinic, contacts totaled, 526
Child care licensing, 12
Communicable disease, 9
Family planning , 84
Healthy Start home visit, 25
Immunizations, 289
Kan Be Healthy, 7
Maternal and infant , 16
Sexually transmitted disease, 19
TB, 56