Kansas

Disabled Kansas man who mows lawns gets new garage built by neighbors

Published

11 months ago

April 8, 2025

Disabled Kansas man who mows lawns gets new garage built by neighbors

BUCYRUS, Kan. — If you drive through rural Bucyrus, Kansas on almost any day, there’s a chance you will pass Kenny Kenley on his lawn mower.

“I love working. I never stop,” Kenley said. “It relaxes me.”

Kenley moved 30 years ago from Michigan to Bucyrus.

Jack McCormick/KSHB

Kenny Kenley

He loves living in rural Kansas.

In 2009, Kenley’s health declined, taking away mobility in his legs.

He was diagnosed with cancer, spending two years on life support, and also lived through seven heart attacks.

“It’s a little bit rough,” he said.

Nearly all of Kenley’s life is spent in a motorized wheelchair.

Kenny Kenley — A disabled Bucyrus, Kansas landscaper received a well deserved equipment shop from his neighbors at Guetterman Famile Farms.

Since his health declined, he’s been committed to defying the odds.

“They didn’t think I was going to make it,” he said. “They kept telling my wife I was going to die. My wife told them, ‘You leave that man alone, because he’s going to make it,”‘ Kenley said. “When I got out of the hospital, I told my wife, ‘I gotta start mowing. I gotta do something.”‘

With limited use of his hands and legs, Kenley spent the next year teaching himself how to get from his wheelchair into his riding lawnmower.

“Nothing ever gets me down,” he said.

That attitude drew the attention of the farmers across the road at Guetterman Family Farms.

“Kenny is the unofficial mayor of Bucyrus,” Mike Guetterman told KSHB 41. “He kind of looks out for everybody here in town. Coincidentally, we kind of look out for him as well. He’s been a blessing to us.”

The Guetterman Family offered Kenny a job mowing grass around their property.

Most days, Kenny’s up at 5:30 a.m., priming his lawnmower for sometimes 10 acres of grass to cut.

“He goes the extra mile,” Guetterman said. “You think it would just be enough to come and ride his mower. But as soon as he’s done mowing, he gets his weed eater and he’s riding his weed eater, in his chair, and weed eating all the property. How many people are there world like that?”

As a gift of appreciation, Guetterman Family Farms poured a slab of concrete and framed a shop behind Kenley’s home to store his equipment.

“You couldn’t ask for better people,” Kenley said with an ear-to-ear smile. “I love them like family.”

It’s his perseverance through all the bad times that Guetterman says he admires.

“He’ll call us and say, ‘I’m in the hospital. I had a heart attack.’” “You think Kenny is about done, but three days later he’s mowing again,” Guetterman said. “You think you have problems in your life, as far as aches and pains here and there… Kenny don’t have to do nothing. But he wants to.”

Guetterman says their family’s act of kindness is more about community and the positive attitude Kenley embodies.

“I told myself there is nothing I can do about it, so I might as well go ahead and get it done,” Kenley said. “This grass ain’t getting brown, it’s getting green! As long as it’s green, I’m mowing.”

That’s the Kenny Kenley inspiration.

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Kansas

Former Kansas high school wrestling coach charged with producing child pornography

Published

23 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Former Kansas high school wrestling coach charged with producing child pornography

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – A former Kansas wrestling coach was charged with creating child sexual abuse materials by secretly recording minors showering during an athletic competition.

According to court documents, 37-year-old Ryan Brungardt of Salina is charged with two counts of production of child pornography and one count of attempted production of child pornography.

Brungardt is a former employee at Lakewood Middle School and former wrestling coach for Salina Central High School.

Brungardt is accused of using a cellphone to record three minors while they showered in a locker room during the Tournament of Champions, a wrestling tournament was held at Newton High in January 2024.

Brungardt made his initial court appearance for the criminal complaint on Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brooks G. Severson.

A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday

Investigators are in the process of reviewing additional seized cellphone videos in this case that are suspected to have been recorded at wrestling meets in Newton, Hays, Garden City and Salina during the 2023-2024 wrestling season.

Anyone who believes they witnessed crimes or any suspicious activity at these events is asked to contact the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at (785) 600-8790 or report at www.kbi.ks.gov/sar.

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