According to a story in the Manhattan Mercury this morning, Thomas James, Clay Center, 48, was stabbed to death in a Leonardville apartment and 49-year-old Howard Barrett, Clay Center, has been arrested and faces second-degree murder charges.
Riley County police said James had been called to the Swingle House apartments at 111 S. Erpelding in his capacity as an exterminator when he was killed by Barrett. Investigators said Barrett and James did not know each other. They said Barrett appears to have a history of mental illness, but seemed to understand that the victim was working rather than intruding in the apartment. They speculated the suspect may have acted out of an irrational fear he would be sprayed with insecticide.
Riley County Police Captain Tim Hegarty said the suspect called police himself after the incident occurred.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Poll results different than board's decision
The USD 223 school board voted 4-3 not to allow local adults to use the new Linn gym at a recent meeting, but a Backroads Newsroom blog poll's results show their vote doesn't match the voice of the people.
When asked if local adults should be allowed access to the new gym to play pickup basketball, 58 voters chimed in on the poll with 38 votes of yes, 14 votes saying only if the old gym is busy and 6 votes saying no.
When asked if youth teams should be allowed access to the new gym to practice, 53 voters left an answer with 38 votes saying yes, 11 saying only if the old gym is busy and 4 votes saying no.
The board voted 4-3 against the request. Will one more board member change their vote to match the voice of the people? I doubt it. The administrators support the current practice of only allowing new gym access if the old gym is busy, and why would board members go against the administrators' wishes?
What do you think?
When asked if local adults should be allowed access to the new gym to play pickup basketball, 58 voters chimed in on the poll with 38 votes of yes, 14 votes saying only if the old gym is busy and 6 votes saying no.
When asked if youth teams should be allowed access to the new gym to practice, 53 voters left an answer with 38 votes saying yes, 11 saying only if the old gym is busy and 4 votes saying no.
The board voted 4-3 against the request. Will one more board member change their vote to match the voice of the people? I doubt it. The administrators support the current practice of only allowing new gym access if the old gym is busy, and why would board members go against the administrators' wishes?
What do you think?
USD 223 patrons should urge board to talk
A story in today’s Belleville Telescope stated that the Pike Valley and Republic County school boards are scheduled to meet on Monday in Scandia to discuss the potential of a merger of the two districts.
The districts started looking over the financial benefits of a consolidation at the same time the USD 108 Washington County and USD 223 Barnes-Hanover-Linn school boards looked at it. The Barnes-Hanover-Linn board quickly stopped any talks about the process at their December meeting while the Republic County and Pike Valley boards have continued.
My honest belief is that the only thing the USD 223 board is doing is hurting local taxpayers by not at least considering more information. This discussion shouldn’t even be about whether consolidation is a good thing or a bad thing, it should be about the fact that the Linn side of the district is running out of students and if the board wants to wait five years until they are forced into doing something, all they are doing is being bad stewards of their patrons’ finances.
If the Hanover side of the district is so adamant about their allegiance to going to Marysville some day if they have to consolidate, maybe the discussion should move to splitting the USD 223 district and letting Linn-Palmer folks hook up with Washington and let Hanover continue on until they are forced to do something. Honestly, I believe the Hanover school will have a viable population supporting it for at least a couple more decades so they really shouldn’t have to do anything in the near future anyway.
The problem is, the Linn-Palmer area does not, at this time, have the demographics to keep the high school going another 10 years. I would love to be totally wrong on this theory and see a rebound in population across the county, but I believe the next census will not be kind to any community in the county.
If you think it is stressful talking about consolidation with Washington County right now, just wait until Linn runs out of kids and Hanover still has plenty of kids. Is the Linn-Palmer side of the district going to be held hostage in order to preserve Hanover’s side of the district? Or another way of looking at it, will the Hanover side want to financially subsidize the Linn-Palmer side of the district if it is two-thirds of their size? Sounds like some heated late night school board meetings to me!
Probably the only thing that would help move this situation forward is if a grassroots group of people on the Linn-Palmer side of the district stood up and asked the board to consider the financial benefits of a merger. The high schools could stay as they are until enrollment concerns force a closure. I can’t see that there is anything to lose in talking.
So what do you think? What is wrong with gathering more information and talking about it? Post your comments for other readers to consider.
The districts started looking over the financial benefits of a consolidation at the same time the USD 108 Washington County and USD 223 Barnes-Hanover-Linn school boards looked at it. The Barnes-Hanover-Linn board quickly stopped any talks about the process at their December meeting while the Republic County and Pike Valley boards have continued.
My honest belief is that the only thing the USD 223 board is doing is hurting local taxpayers by not at least considering more information. This discussion shouldn’t even be about whether consolidation is a good thing or a bad thing, it should be about the fact that the Linn side of the district is running out of students and if the board wants to wait five years until they are forced into doing something, all they are doing is being bad stewards of their patrons’ finances.
If the Hanover side of the district is so adamant about their allegiance to going to Marysville some day if they have to consolidate, maybe the discussion should move to splitting the USD 223 district and letting Linn-Palmer folks hook up with Washington and let Hanover continue on until they are forced to do something. Honestly, I believe the Hanover school will have a viable population supporting it for at least a couple more decades so they really shouldn’t have to do anything in the near future anyway.
The problem is, the Linn-Palmer area does not, at this time, have the demographics to keep the high school going another 10 years. I would love to be totally wrong on this theory and see a rebound in population across the county, but I believe the next census will not be kind to any community in the county.
If you think it is stressful talking about consolidation with Washington County right now, just wait until Linn runs out of kids and Hanover still has plenty of kids. Is the Linn-Palmer side of the district going to be held hostage in order to preserve Hanover’s side of the district? Or another way of looking at it, will the Hanover side want to financially subsidize the Linn-Palmer side of the district if it is two-thirds of their size? Sounds like some heated late night school board meetings to me!
Probably the only thing that would help move this situation forward is if a grassroots group of people on the Linn-Palmer side of the district stood up and asked the board to consider the financial benefits of a merger. The high schools could stay as they are until enrollment concerns force a closure. I can’t see that there is anything to lose in talking.
So what do you think? What is wrong with gathering more information and talking about it? Post your comments for other readers to consider.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Was stall offense a good decision?
The Washington County girls only lost by five points on Tuesday in a home basketball game versus Linn. This could be considered quite an accomplishment after losing to the Bulldogs by 42 points earlier this season. But when you see the final score was just 17-12 with Linn winning, most folks would double-check and make sure this was, in fact, the final score rather than a half time score.
Turns out the WCHS Tigers pulled out a stall offense in the first quarter to slow the game down... way down. Then Linn, for some reason, decided to do it in the third quarter.
For WCHS to lose by just five points to this once state-ranked team might make you think this style of game was a good decision since Linn only led by one at half. However, I've never personally seen this offense work and all it has ever accomplished, in my opinion, is to make the opposing team's fans really, really angry. The only thing I think this stall offense is good for is to stoke the fires of an already heated sports rivalry.
What do you think? Was this a good choice of an offense for either team?
Please post your comments on both sides of the issue.
Turns out the WCHS Tigers pulled out a stall offense in the first quarter to slow the game down... way down. Then Linn, for some reason, decided to do it in the third quarter.
For WCHS to lose by just five points to this once state-ranked team might make you think this style of game was a good decision since Linn only led by one at half. However, I've never personally seen this offense work and all it has ever accomplished, in my opinion, is to make the opposing team's fans really, really angry. The only thing I think this stall offense is good for is to stoke the fires of an already heated sports rivalry.
What do you think? Was this a good choice of an offense for either team?
Please post your comments on both sides of the issue.
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