5 Years Ago (March. 10, 2010)

Written by Hillsboro Free Press Tuesday, 09 March 2010 19:58

Five years ago

• About 20 people attended the annual legislative coffee Saturday in Hillsboro, featuring Rep. Don Dahl and Sen Jim Barnett. Health-care costs and school funding topped the list of issues addressed.

• Hillsboro natives Justin Brown and Greg Carlson, both 17, are contributing to the basketball accomplishments of Kansas School for the Deaf in Olathe. Brown is averaging more than 12 points a game and Carlson nearly 14.

• The Hillsboro boys lost to Hesston, 54-50, in the finals of their Class 3A sub-state tournament at Lyons. The Trojans ended the season, 21-2. The Hillsboro girls, meanwhile, ended their season with a 63-41 loss at the hands of Hesston in the tournament finals. HHS finished 15-8 while Hesston improved to 20-3.

• The Marion City Commis­sion voted to annex one property and possibly condemn another for the construction of a theater and community center. The property to be annexed is a five-acre piece that was donated to the Marion Advancement Campaign by Vernon Vogel.

Ten years ago

• Sandy and Ken Welsh of Hesston announced they will be opening a laundry and dry-cleaning business in Hillsboro by July 1. It will be located at the corner of Ash and Third streets. The Welshes own a laundromat in their hometown.

• Kansas Lt. Gov. Gary Scherrer was part of an eight-member panel that heard request for 21 road projects during a Kansas Department of Transportation hearing at Tabor College Feb. 29. One of the projects presented was to make Kansas Highway 61 a four-lane road from McPherson to Hutchinson.

• The Hillsboro girls’ basketball team earned a berth in the Class 3A state tournament with a 52-43 win over Northern Heights in the sub-state tournament at Brown Gymnasium. Angela Herzet led Hillsboro (20-3) with 14 points. The boys fell short in a fourth-quarter comeback, losing to Osage City, 41-45, in the sub-state finals, to finish the year 15-8.

• HHS senior Tyson Ratzlaff, an all-state receiver for the Trojan football team in fall, signed a letter of intent to play football at Tabor College for coach Tim McCarty.

• Marion city leaders gathered Monday to break ground for the city’s light commercial and retail industrial park. The land, located just north of U.S. High­way 56, was acquired from the Batt family. Dean Batt, grandson of the former owner, participated in the groundbreaking.