Local KSU player to be part of Team USA effort

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 16 April 2013 12:34

Marion County native Dakota Kaufman and her Kansas State volleyball teammates will compete for Team USA at the World Univer­sity Games in Kazan, Russia, this summer.

The announcement that the Wildcats team had been selected as the national volleyball team was made last Tuesday.

The World University Games, scheduled for July 6-17, is an international multi-sport celebration of collegiate athletes organized by the International University Sports Federation.

The games serve as an international sporting and cultural festival, similar to the Olympics staged every two years in a different city around the world.

Volleyball is one of the 12 mandatory sports for the World University Games, with a maximum of three optional sports chosen by...

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Heroic inspiration

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 16 April 2013 12:31

Hillsboro native Chip Reese with wife Amy and son Ollie enjoy some family time together. Heroes are created in the crucible of crisis. Occasionally they produce a superhero, too. Both happen to be true for Hillsboro native Chip Reece.

Not only has the 1999 Hillsboro High alum, wife Amy and young son Ollie endured a severe medical crisis together, but Chip is close to unveiling to the world a new superhero story.

He’s titled it, “Metaphase — A Graphic Novel Inspired by Little Heroes with Down Syndrome.”

“Basically, it’s a superhero dad who has a son with Down Syn­drome,” Chip said in a recent interview. “That son will be the main character of the book.

“What it comes down to is that the son has a superhero dad,” he added. “The son has similar things going on that my son did—he was born with...

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Classic vehicles again fuel hope for relief sale success

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 09 April 2013 12:36

Bruce Stucky and Wayne Schrag of Moundridge and Leann Toews of Goessel help clean the 1942 Studebaker Coup in preparation for Saturday’s auction. When 20,000 to 25,000 people descend on the Kansas State Fair­grounds in Hutchinson this weekend for the 45th Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale, more than a few will have a keen interest in the classic cars and tractors to be sold this year.

The sale has developed a tradition of selling several donated motorized items each year to help raise funds for the worldwide relief efforts of Mennonite Central Commit­tee.

“We have some wonderful donations,” said Jerry Toews of Goessel, who helps prepare them for the general auction that will start around 1 p.m. in the Sunflower North Building.

It doesn’t take long for Toews to share his enthusiasm for the quality of this year’s donations.

“We have an amazing 1942 Studebaker Coupe, all...

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State court rules against Herbel conviction appeal

Written by Patty Decker Tuesday, 09 April 2013 12:36

A Hillsboro man convicted in 2009 of two sex crimes while babysitting a 5-year-old girl in 2006, appealed his conviction recently, but the Supreme Court of Kansas in a ruling Friday upheld the original verdict.

Almost seven years earlier, Randy Herbel, 47, was found guilty on one count of rape and one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child by a Marion County jury.

Herbel’s attorney Meryl Carver-Allmond with the Capital Appellate Defender Office, argued that Herbel’s sixth and 14th amendment rights were violated.

First issue for appeal

The first involved whether the district court violated Herbel’s constitutional and statutory rights when it replayed his recorded statement to a deliberating jury outside of his...

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