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.

Kurt Hassler hired as Washington City Administrator

The Washington City Council approved hiring Kurt Hassler, McPherson, as the new Washington City Administrator during a noon meeting today. Hassler is a 1990 graduate of Washington High School and is currently the Director of Public Works for the City of McPherson. He is married with children and the Washington City Council said Hassler will likely start in the Washington position in about 30 days. A full profile is being planned for next week's Washington County News.

Another special mtg tomorrow at noon

There will be another Washington City Council special meeting Thursday at noon. I'll be there to see what they discuss.

Owen files for county commission

Brad Owen filed for Washington County Commission, District 2, on Monday. A write-up can be found in this week's Washington County News. I'm pretty excited about him filing and not just because the position formerly had no filers. It sounds like he has some good ideas, especially for an effort to put a hold on increasing the budget and taxes. At the Washington Chamber of Commerce meeting yesterday, the group got into a pretty intense discussion about valuations and the local tax situation. It is no fun, in my opinion, to find out Kansas has a heavier tax burden in certain areas than compared to California. We'll have to put a focus on this and see if we can change things.

Washington City Council in exec session

The Washington City Council is in the midst of a special meeting and they are in executive session to discuss non-elected personnel. They said they didn't think there would be any announcements as a result of the meeting. I am wondering if they are getting closer to announcing a new city administrator. If they do, I will post it here and then give a fuller story in the next edition of the Washington County News.
Sorry I've been quiet with posts lately. I've taken an at-home vacation and just been generally busy here. There are a lot of great new things in the works for the Washington County News and once I start to unveil them, I'm betting my readers will be as excited as I am!