MEL FB Predictions For Oct 31

The Capital Journal computer has predicted the winners in the following Tuesday evening games.  

… 80.8 … Perry-Lecompton … 9.8 … ST. MARYS … 57.8
… 111  … PHILLIPSBURG … 18.5 … Riley County … 92.5
… 99.4 … SILVER LAKE … 35.3 … Mission Valley … 64.1

Raymond Riat Passes Away

Raymond Aloysius Riat, 86, passed away Friday, October 27, 2017 at a Topeka hospital.

He was born March 3, 1931 at Belvue, the son of Aloysius George and Gertrude Josephine Hesse Riat. He grew up in the Belvue community and graduated from St. Marys High School.

Raymond worked for Eddy's in Wamego as a mechanic and for the City of St. Marys before becoming a letter carrier for the United States Postal Service for nearly 30 years.  He and his wife Audrey owned and operated Riat's Liquor Store in St. Marys.  Raymond was a member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and was a very active and dedicated member of Knights of Columbus Council No. 657.  He also was a member of the St. Marys Chamber of Commerce.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers Kenneth and James Riat, and a sister Betty A. Riat.

On September 20, 1958 he was united in marriage to Audrey Marie Langvardt at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in St. Marys.  She survives of the home.

Other survivors include his son, Doug (Lori) Riat, Lawrence; his daughter, Jacque (Chris) Liles, Holt, MI; two sisters, Helen Davidson, Visalia, CA, and Mary Lou Anderson, Wamego; five grandchildren, Diane (Bryan), Dustin (Jennifer), Katelyn, Jeremy and Jordan (Denise); three great-grandchildren, Makenzie, Julia and Charlie.

Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:00 A.M. Friday, November 3, 2017 at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in St. Marys.  Interment will be in Mt. Calvary Cemetery, St. Marys.  Mr. Riat will lie in state at the church after 4:00 P.M. Thursday where the family will receive friends from 6:00 until the rosary at 7:00 P.M.  In ln lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church Food Pantry and sent in care of Piper Funeral Home, 714 Maple Street, St. Marys, Kansas 66536.  Online condolences may be sent to www.piperfuneralhome.com.

MEL Football Standings

The MEL football standings as of 10-28-17 are below

                     League  Overall

Silver Lake    …5-0 … 9-0

Riley County … 4-1 … 7-2

St. Marys      … 2-2 … 5-4

Rock Creek  … 2-3 … 3-6

Rossville       … 1-4 … 2-7

Wabaunsee   … 0-4 … 1-8

3A Football Games on Oct. 31

Three Mid-East League teams are still in the 3A football playoffs.  They are Silver Lake, St. Marys, and Riley County.  The complete list of the 32 teams is as follows:

Pleasant Ridge (4-5) at Nemaha Central (9-0)

Mission Valley (6-3) at Silver Lake (9-0)

Humboldt (7-2) at Wellsville (8-1)

Neodesha (5-4) at Galena (9-0)

Sabetha (8-1) at Maur Hill (7-2)

Perry-Lecompton (6-3) at St. Marys (5-4)

Osage City (7-2) at Jayhawk-Linn (8-1)

Cherryvale (7-2) at Caney Valley (7-2)

Cheney (7-2) at Douglass (3-6)

Marion (7-2) at Halstead (4-5

Norton (7-2) at Marysville (8-1)

Lakin (7-2) at Larned (5-4)

Wichita Independent (1-8) at Conway Springs (9-0)

Hutchinson Trinity (6-3) at Hesston (6-3)

Riley County (7-2) at Phillipsburg (9-0)

Hoisington (6-3) at Cimarron (7-2)

Dawg FB Stat Leaders

    The end of the season stats for the Dawg football team leaders include Sheldon Hulbert as the leading rusher and passer and Elijah Daughty as the leading receiver.  Sheldon rushed for 172 time for a total of 650 yards.  That is a 3.78 yard average and 81.3 yards per game. He passed for 1463 yards with 99 completions in 174 attempts for an average 14.78 yards and a 56.9% completion average and and average of 182.9 yards per game.  Elijah had 31 receptions for 539 yards, an average of 67.4 yards per game.

Greg & April Meier Celebrate 2th

Greg and April Meier of Rossville celebrated their 25th anniversary on Oct. 24. 

John & Cherryl Crow Celebrate 35th

 John and Cherryl Crow of  Rossville celebrated their 35th anniversary on Oct. 23 .

Mission Valley and St. Marys Advance

    Mission Valley defeated the St. Marys Bears 26-13.Those two teams will represent this district in the next round of the 3A playoffs.
    In other districts,  Silver Lake defeated Royal Valley 63-0 and Marysville defeated Riley County 26-21.

Council Grove Game Progress

    At the end of the first half,  Council Grove leads Rossville 6-0 in the final district playoff game.    The Braves scored in the first quarter.

    Score is still 6-0 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

    Council Grove goes up 14-0 with 8:55 remaining in the 4th quarter.

    Sheldon Hulbert scored with 6:40 remaining to get the Dawgs within 8 at 14-6.   The extra point try bounced off the left upright.

    With about 2:16 remaining,  the Dawgs scored another TD to get within 14-12.  An attempt at a 2 point conversion failed.   

    The Dawgs  defense held and the Dawgs had another drive.   But an interception ended the drive for a final score of 14-12.

Kansas Honors Program

      The Kansas Honors Program of the University of Kansas Alumni Assn. & KU Endowment will 
honor more than 3,600 high school seniors from Kansas for their academic excellence and 
achievements.  Scholars from Rossville High School  to be recognized at a ceremony in Topeka on Nov. 6 
are: Kylee Badura, Ashley Douglas, Cory Hadsall, Hannah Miller and Kathleen Schuler. 

CJ Computerized Football Predictions

District Playoffs

… 85.7 … ROSSVILLE … 35.5 … Council Grove … 50.2
… 71    … St. Marys … 6.9 … MISSION VALLEY … 64.1

Other MEL 3A schools:

… 95.8 … MARYSVILLE … 3.3 … Riley County … 92.5
… 99.4 … SILVER LAKE … 47.8 … Royal Valley … 51.6

Drug Arrest In Rossville

From the Rossville Police Facebook page:
      October 14th 2017 near US 24 & Main in Rossville at approximately 11pm: The on duty Rossville Officer witnessed a U-Haul truck drive into a local convenience store with a male driver. After leaving the store a few minutes later, the truck committed a minor traffic infraction and was stopped. The individual driving at that time was a female with no license who was also a registered offender for felony narcotics distribution. The male who had been driving was in the center passenger seat; he had a suspended license. 
      Upon having both subjects exit the truck, the officer saw the male had a partially concealed handgun on his hip and a methamphetamine pipe sticking out of his shoe. Both subjects were detained along with the third passenger. A Silver Lake Police Officer and a Shawnee County Sheriff’s Deputy were both called to assist as backup. 
      Further investigation revealed the male driver was in possession of marijuana, methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia. A loaded .40 caliber Glock handgun was taken into evidence as well. The male driving suspect was arrested and transported to the Shawnee County Jail where he was booked in on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges including Criminal Possession of a Firearm. The other two individuals were released on the scene and soon obtained a ride out of town. 
      The truck was held for U-Haul who sent a wrecker to retrieve it as the individual who had rented it had been arrested.

Young Woman Arrested In Rossville

From the Rossville Police Facebook Page:
      On October 17th, 2017 the Rossville Police Dept. received a phone call from a concerned City utility employee about a young lady that was not acting correctly. He stated that this person had entered a house that was being cleaned by the landlord’s employees. The young lady tried to enter the property without permission and was acting as if she was under the influence of an illegal narcotic. The landlord’s employees notified a close by City employee about the behavior of this young woman.
      Officers from the RPD and SLPD responded to the area of Main and Pottawatomie streets to locate the young lady. Officers located her in the 400 blk of Spruce St. From the way the young lady was acting it was clear that she was under the influence of a narcotic drug and was not being rational. She was arrested for pedestrian under the influence of drugs and transported the Shawnee County Jail where she was released to their custody.
      After the fact we started receiving complaints on this individual all throughout the community; one in particular is where this person made contact with a mother and her children while walking on Main St. This person picked up one of her children and started walking the other direction while the mother was taking care of one of her other children. The mother caught up with the young lady and took her child back. The mother of the children does not want to pursue any criminal charges at this time.
      The young lady that was arrested was not from the community and could not communicate to the officers why she was here.

Old Willard Bridge Gone

From the Capital-Journal:

ON THE KAW — The skeletal steel and concrete remnants of the half-century-old Willard Bridge stretched across the Kansas River for the last time Wednesday.

With a short series of flashes and an echoing bang, the bridge’s steel trestles tumbled into the river with little ceremony.

The demolition of the bridge, built in 1955, capped a more than $18 million project replacing the failing structure that carried Carlson Road across the river with a new bridge expected to last 100 years.

The explosion was a fitting end for the old bridge, Shawnee County commissioner Shelly Buhler said from a sandbar upstream from the blast. Since the early 2000s when she was mayor of nearby Rossville, Buhler has kept a file on the bridge’s condition and fought as a commissioner to secure funding for its replacement.

“I knew I needed to see it,” she said as she thought about the moment, calling the explosion “impressive.”

“I don’t know that I have any words. It’s weird,” she said. “It’s the final piece of the whole project.”

Tom Vlach, Shawnee County public works director, joined Buhler with a handful of construction employees. With the exception of notices sent to residents within the 1,500-foot blast zone, the demolition wasn’t made public so spectators wouldn’t crowd around the river banks, Vlach said.

“I didn’t even disclose when I went to the Rossville coffee shop,” Buhler said.

Though the old Willard Bridge was rehabbed in 1983, age failed it slowly.

The county first lowered the bridge’s weight limit in 2007 because of concerns it could collapse. A 2009 assessment found heavy corrosion on metal pins supporting the bridge that could cause them to fail. The bridge is the same type as the Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed in August 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145.

After a series of weight-limit reductions in 2015 the brought its maximum weight to 9 tons, the bridge that previously carried farm equipment and school buses between Willard and Rossville in rural Shawnee County could only hold passenger cars.

Just 25 or 30 pounds of RDX explosive, a compound NASA developed to separate rocket boosters, brought the metal frames down with a splash, Ryan Redyke with Tulsa-based Dykon said. The demolition company has collapsed dozens of bridges making Willard “pretty straight forward.”

“(RDX) cuts metal like a torch,” he said casually. “Not a lot of troubled need.”

On Thursday a crew from contractor A.W. Cohron and Son will remove the metal and cut the concrete support towers down.

Wednesday’s blast was no-frills, but Buhler and hundreds of others were excited to christen the new bridge in August. Nearly 300, including Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer attended an opening ceremony where Buhler was the first to drive across the new bridge.

With a hard concrete deck instead of a steal grate, wider shoulders, and a bike and walking path on the east side, the new bridge marks a major success for the county’s public works department. The project cost nearly $7 million less than expected and was completed ahead of a December deadline.