Trojan girls heading back to state

Written by Hillsboro Free Press Tuesday, 05 March 2013 14:15

The Hillsboro High School outlasted fellow Central Kansas League school Haven, 43-32, in the championship game of the Class 3A sub-state tournament Saturday to earn a fifth consecutive trip to the state tournament in the Hutchinson Sports Arena this week. The Trojans, seeded No. 1 at sub-state, will be the No. 4 team at state when they open play tonight (Wednesday) against No. 5 seeded Holcomb. Pictured above are: front row (from left), Tara Proffitt, Danae Bina, Addie Lackey, Alex Ratzlaff and Allison Weber; back row, Maddi Duerksen, Maci Schlehuber, coach Nathan Hiebert, Christina Morris, Erin Winter, Tena Loewen, Darcy Heinrichs, Kennedy Lucero and assistant coach Dennis Boldt. The Centre High Schools girls earned a state berth as well, and will play St. John-Hudson today in the first round of the Class 1A-Division 1 tournament at 4:45 p.m. in White Auditorium in Emporia. See Sports for more sub-state coverage.

Bomb threat results in student suspension

Written by Patty Decker Tuesday, 05 March 2013 14:14

The threat of a bomb scheduled to explode Friday, March 1, at USD 398 Peabody-Burns High School prompted action by school personnel and law enforcement officials at the local, county and state level.

Superintendent Ron Traxson said Monday a student at Peabody-Burns High School has been identified in connection with writing the bomb threat on a bathroom stall Feb. 14 identifying the afternoon of March 1 as the date and time the bomb would explode.

“Supposedly the person would blow up the building,” he said, “which is a tall order, but we live in a time that we have to take very serious steps.”

Those steps, Traxson said, included identifying the student responsible, which took two full days reviewing surveillance, interviewing other students and looking at all the facts.

Marion County Sheriff Rob Craft and Peabody Police Chief Bruce Burke also conducted interviews, handwriting comparisons and other means to determine who was responsible.

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Florence photographer captures prize image

Written by Patty Decker Tuesday, 05 March 2013 14:13

Phoebe Janzen of Florence took second place in the Wichita Eagle’s 12th annual Great Outdoors Photo Contest from a field of about 300 pictures in the adult division. Janzen said the winning picture was taken with her old camera and a 55mm to 75mm lens.

Phoebe Janzen of Florence won second place recently for her snapshot of three young screech owls and their mother, titled “Shhhh! Don’t Wake Mama!”

Competing against hundreds of other photographers in the Wichita Eagle’s 12th annual Great Outdoors Photo Contest, Janzen said she was surprised her photo was among the top 15 selected.

“I have my camera with me just about all of the time in case there is a unique photo opportunity,” she said.

“My poor husband (Steve) knows that sometimes it takes us twice as long to get from one place to the other because we need to stop to take a picture.”

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Small talk

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 05 March 2013 14:12

The two legislators representing the Hillsboro area expressed doubt about the effectiveness of the governor’s taxation plan during the legislative coffee hosted Saturday by the Hillsboro Chamber of Com­merce.

About 10 people showed up at the Scout House in Memorial Park to hear what Sen. Jay Emler (R-Linds­borg) and Rep. Don Schroeder (R-Hesston) had to say.

For both men, this was their first legislative coffee in Hills­boro since the redistricting process changed the boundaries of their respective districts.

Emler has represented the western edge of Marion County, and for a time Hillsboro, in the past, but now represents all of Marion County as part of the 35th District.

Bob Brookens of Marion had been representing all of Marion County in the Kansas House as part of the 70th District. Follow­ing redistricting, Schroeder received Hillsboro and essentially southern Marion County as part of the 74th District.

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