Don Cates, 67, Barton County commissioner from Claflin, killed, after his ultralight aircraft strikes a power line near Garfield in Pawnee County, Kansas

The Kansas Highway Patrol says a county commissioner from western Kansas died when his plane crashed while he was crop dusting. The patrol says 67-year-old Don Cates, a Barton County commissioner from Claflin, died Tuesday afternoon when his ultralight, single-engine plane hit a power line and crashed into a ditch just northwest of Garfield in Pawnee County. Cates was the only person on board. Cates joined the Barton County Commission in 2010. Cates was a pilot in Vietnam and was awarded several military honors. He then flew for 34 years as a commercial pilot before reaching the mandatory retirement age. He worked several jobs after that and was flying for Pratt’s Farmers Spraying Service when he crashed.