Ron Hoffman (left) and Bill Brown, both of Newton, enjoy near perfect weekend weather at Marion Reservoir’s French Creek Cove. The two outdoors enthusiasts are among seven participants in this year’s muzzeloader deer hunt for hunters with disabilities. The event is in its 12th year. Don Ratzlaff.

Having completed its 12th year, the event is hardly new. Most of the handful of participants are there every year.

And yet the deep feelings of appreciation and gratitude are renewed every time.

That’s why the muzzleloader deer hunt for disabled hunters at Marion Reservoir will continue to be an annual event for the foreseeable future.

“It really is a fantastic deal,” said Bill Brown of Newton, who has been at every hunt since it started.

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Tabor College will mark 100 years of training young people for Christian service and mission this week with an array of activities and events. Work was to begin Tuesday on completing the new signature sculpture on campus titled “Called to Serve,” with a dedication ceremony planned for Saturday forenoon. Beyond that, members and friends of the college community can choose from dozens of events, ranging from five performances of “Fiddler on the Roof,” to a downtown poetry reading, to a workshop on using DNA to research family history, to the Saturday afternoon football showdown between the Bluejays and Friends University. The Free Press is proud to include in this issue a 28-page commemorative publication called “The Tabor Century” (right), which contains a complete schedule of events as well as a variety of related articles and features.

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Phil Wyssenbach

For the owners of Hillsboro Industries, hiring homegrown employees is by far the best-case scenario for their company and for Marion County and the surrounding communities.

That’s why Phil Wyssenbach, company president, has been an aggressive proponent for the new welding program that Butler Community College will begin in Hillsboro next month.

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District Judge Steven Hornbaker ruled in a summary judgment Aug. 19 that the lawsuit field by district patron Raymond Brandt to block the stadium project was found to have “no factual issues to be decided.”

Brandt’s attorney had argued that state law requires a school district to be the sole owner of its property.

The plaintiff’s appeal was filed Sept. 16.

Superintendent Doug Hux­man and school board President Rod Koons said the Oct. 7 hearing, requested by the plaintiff’s attorney, is not uncommon in the appeals process. Judge Hornbaker will summarize or clarify his ruling before the two parties.

“Basically, it’s to have the judge reiterate what he meant by his judgment,” Koon said. “And to find out if he’s had any second thoughts since the judgment was made.”

If Hornbaker reaffirms his decision in the case, Huxman said, the district will then explore its ability to proceed with the stadium project before a final judgment is made on the appeal -- which could take up to a year.

“We are looking into ways that can be done,” Huxman said. “We have not come to any final conclusions on that, but those options are being explored.”

Huxman said it is his understanding that the district would not be legally prohibited from starting the project before the appeal is decided.

“Those are things we’re trying to look at carefully,” he said. “I think the idea is more how can we be sure to protect (the district’s interests) down the line.”

Both Huxman and Koons said the district has not waivered on its agreement with Tabor College to be equal partners and owners of the stadium project, which was projected to cost $4.4 million when it was proposed for the 2007 bond election.

During the time that has elapsed since the lawsuit was filed, the cost of the project has increased by an estimated $800,000, Koons said.

Huxman and Koons said the district and college will need either to find additional money to complete the project as originally proposed, or reduce the scope of the project when it moves ahead.

In addition to the cost of the project, to date the district has paid nearly $79,000 in legal fees since the lawsuit was filed, Huxman said. About $41,000 of that expense has been covered by the district’s liability insurance.

Huxman and Koons said the district’s intention at this time is to see the issue through until it is resolved in the court system. It is possible that the appeal process could go as far as the Kansas Supreme Court.

“We started that (project) in good faith -- that it was something good for the community -- and that has not changed,” Huxman said. “It is still the feeling of the board that this was the correct thing to do.

“When you’re in a small community like this, you don’t try to find ways to make things grandiose for both groups. You try to find ways to pull things together so you work together as a community.

“I think the majority of the community leaders that I’ve talked to agree with that premise.”