Bikers in town

Just talked to a group of five bicyclers who stopped in front of Mayberry's. Turns out there just some bikers who are taking a trip from Boulder, Colo., to St. Louis, Mo. Nice folks.
Evidently they're using Highway 36 until they get to Atchison and then they'll head south for a bit before turning east to St. Louis.
I thought maybe they were practicing for Bike Across Kansas which will be coming through in a couple weeks, but they pointed out that BAK has trucks carry the gear and they are carrying their own.
I thought I saw another biker or two a week ago who looked like they were doing one of the cross country rides. I should do that... maybe it will help me get back on track for the Biggest Loser contest!

New Hanover principal needed

According to the minutes from the May 12 USD 223 school board meeting, Hanover Principal Aaron Birkhofer submitted his resignation. Evidently he took a principal position closer to his wife's hometown in southern or southeast Kansas.

Pannbacker to run for state school board

Bill Pannbacker recently announced he will be running for the GOP nomination to the State School Board. He will be facing off against incumbent Kathy Martin, Clay Center. The district stretches from Atchison to Salina, so this will be no small effort by Pannbacker. More in tomorrow's News.

Airplane update

The low-flying airplane report for Washington County evidently wasn't out of concern of terrorist potential - evidently there was the possibility of an airplane being used to transport illegal immigrants. This was not an easy story on which to get any details and I'm not saying we learned much at all. We did decide to take a bit of a smart-alec angle on the story in tomorrow's edition of the Washington County News. We sure hope we don't offend anyone... except maybe the strange folks that evidently head up the Department of Homeland Security on the federal level. The local administration was kept guessing just like the rest of us, so nobody should hold any of them accountable for the bumbling antics of the feds.

Staff changes at USD 108

Another couple staff changes will take place at USD 108 - Washington County Schools. Pam Gallion took a teaching job at Belleville, which opened up a middle grades teaching position at Washington. Steve Cozad evidently resigned as high school English and yearbook instructor to take a job back where he is from in Nebraska or Iowa or something. Cozad was also the head high school football coach, so that position is now open too.

Low-flying airplane?

This just in (and we don't have much and what we do have is spotty).
The Washington County Sheriff's Department has been alerted by Homeland Security to be on the look out for a low-flying airplane that entered Washington County recently. However, the Sheriff's Department dispatcher said Homeland Security didn't give any further information on the type or color of plane or any other details. Evidently, they were just told to be on the look out.
Our scanner picked up at least one county department alerting their crew to be on the lookout, but no other information is available at this time. I will post updates if I hear any, but I'm doubting I'll hear much.
I know there is a very active yellow cropduster airplane operating out of the Washington County Veterans Memorial Airport and he has been working at locations throughout the county over the past couple weeks.
If you see or hear anything related to this, please call the News office or post a comment to this message.