An ad hoc group of citizens calling itself the Hillsboro Linear Trail Committee presented a written proposal to the city council to develop a three-block area of abandoned railroad tracks within the city into a “linear park.” The proposal asked the city to designate $5,000 in the 2003 budget for the first phase of the park from Lincoln Street across Main Street to Ash Street. The committee stated its interest in “developing more green spaces and recreational walking paths.” As a first step, the council instructed City Administrator Steve Garrett to survey business owners and residents who own property adjacent to the railroad corridor.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation was still searching for a man who robbed the Pilsen State Bank in Lincolnville at gunpoint March 20. The robbery, the second to occur at the bank in six months, resulted in the loss of an undisclosed amount of money. No one was injured.
-A house fire that occurred on South Madison Street nearly two weeks earlier prompted the Unified School District 410 Board of Education to consider abandoning its role as a landlord. The blaze caused between $5,500 and $8,000 in damage, in addition to other necessary repairs.
-St. Luke Hospital and Hillsboro Community Medical Center decided not to have a health fair in 2002, and change the schedule for a fair to every other year.
