Meeting To Decide Bridge Funding

From the Capital Journal:

The Topeka and Shawnee County Joint Economic Development Organization will meet Nov. 18 to discuss the allocation of revenue from a countywide half-cent sales tax dedicated to infrastructure and economic development.

Whether the city and county can reach an agreement at that meeting on how the funds will be used is unknown — there appear to be more worthy causes on the board than can be funded. But it is good that the meeting, called by Mayor Larry Wolgast in response to a request from Shawnee County Commission Chairman Kevin Cook, will occur.

Topeka officials had planned to wait until December to conduct such a meeting but the county has a pressing issue it wants decided earlier — the funding available for construction of a new, $24 million bridge over the Kansas River to replace the deteriorating Willard Bridge.

As of this writing, the city and county governing bodies differ on how they would allocate the revenue generated by a 15-year extension of the sales tax, which voters approved last year. Now, they must draft an interlocal agreement, which has to be approved by both governing bodies, on the use of that money.

Article About Horak & RHS

   Here is a very interesting article about Tucker Horak and the Rossville football team written back before the current season started.
http://kansas-sports.com/ks/news/?id=5983&t=faces-in-ks-tucker-horak

3A Playoff Picture

   The Dawgs will play Pittsburg St. Marys Colgan next Friday at Rossville.  The Dawgs are now 11-0 and Golgan is 9-2.
    Sabetha's surprise 34-28 win at Silver lake on Saturday means that there will not be an encore of the 2015 War on 24.  In recent years,  the two schools have usually met a second time in the playoffs,  usually the state semi-final.  Sabetha (7-4) will play  at Wellsville (9-2) on Friday and the winner will play the winner of the Rossville - Colgan game.
    In other 3A playoff games this Friday will be Hoisington (11-0) at Halstead (11-0) and Norton (9-2) at Wichita Colegiate (11-0).

Willard Bridge Budget To Be Set

On Monday, Shawnee County public works director Tom Vlach will ask county commissioners to approve the operating budget for the pending Willard Bridge reconstruction project. That budget calls for $23,546,466 from Shawnee County. Those funds will come for a combination of sources:

■ Remainder from the 2004 countywide half-cent sales tax. About $6 million is left over.

■ Between $7 million and $10 million for a Kansas Department of Transportation loan.

■ A still unknown amount from the 2017 sales tax extension.

■ A yet-to-be-determined amount from federal obligation funds, a federal match for roads and bridge projects and temporary financing or general obligation bonds, if necessary.

How much money will come from each source will be determined after the county knows exactly how much to expect from the sales tax extension and KDOT loan, Vlach said.

Another $1,158,406 will come from Wabaunsee County. Shawnee County already has spent $1.4 million on bridge design.

Setting the project budget is necessary for drafting an agreement with Wabaunsee County, Vlach wrote in a memo to the commissioners. The county will be able to open bidding for the project at 2 p.m. on Dec. 2 with the contract awarded by Dec. 22.

3A Playoff Scores For Nov. 7

Other 3A playoff scores include:

Sabetha 34
Silver Lake 28

Wellsville 56
Neodesha 7

St. Marys Colgan  28
Galena   14

Halstead  48
Wichita Independent  0

Hoisington  50
Washington County 6

Wichita Collegiate   41
Garden Plain  6

Norton  28
Scott City  24

Horak And Dawgs Blast Nemaha

From the Capital-Journal

SENECA — Every chance he gets, Rossville quarterback Tucker Horak doles out heaps for his success to his teammates, and in particular, bragging on his offensive line.

And to be sure, those guys have been stellar as Horak has put up video game-like numbers during his career.

There’s also something to be said for Horak’s ability to make a play on his own when he has to. And that trait was a huge reason Rossville turned Saturday night’s Class 3A playoff showdown with fellow unbeaten Nemaha Central from a nip-and-tuck affair into a 61-20 blowout win for the Bulldawgs.

“I don’t even know where he’s going sometimes,” Rossville senior lineman Gabe Marney said of Horak, who ran for 328 yards and four touchdowns and threw for 210 yards and two scores. “I think I even may have tackled him once because he cut back into me. He just runs so hard and sees things before they happen.”

Two Horak runs in particular seemed to break Nemaha Central’s spirit after the Thunder trailed just 21-12 at halftime. They weren’t Horak’s 80-yard run on Rossville’s first offensive play of the game nor his 64-yard scamper one play after Nemaha Central had cut Rossville’s second-quarter lead to 14-12.

Nope, these were plays that seemed to defy logic and leave almost everyone in the massive crowd in Seneca asking, “How’d he do that?”

Deep in Nemaha territory on Rossville’s opening drive of the second half, the Thunder had Horak dead to rights in the backfield for a big loss. Instead, he stiff-armed and threw the first would-be tackler to the turf, broke through another tackle in the backfield and then busted free for a 23-yard touchdown burst.

If that was highlight worthy enough, Horak may have topped it later in the quarter. Going left on a sweep, no fewer than five Thunder tacklers had their hands firmly on Horak. He fought through each of the tackles and dove to the pylon for a back-breaking 43-yard touchdown run that made it 42-12.

“Tucker can make one miss,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said. “What we really do a good job of is we’re good up front, but our down-field blocking is good as well. I think that attributes to some of his success as well. If we can put a body on 10, he can make one miss and that’s usually what happens. They understand if they get a hat on their guy, Tucker can take it to the house at any time.”

Rossville scored 40 straight points in the second half — 28 in the third quarter alone — to put away a Nemaha Central team that had stood toe-to-toe with the Bulldawgs in the first half.

The Thunder saw their opening drive of the game thwarted by a Jacob Bradshaw interception in the end zone, but then answered Horak’s 80-yard touchdown with a 48-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Hasenkamp to Dalton Hiltibrand.

After Horak hit Dawson Hammes for an 11-yard score, Nemaha came right back and Dylan Steinlage hit Tristan Allen for a juggling 38-yard receiver touchdown pass to make it 14-12.

Horak took over from there, hitting the Thunder with a 64-yard scoring run to complete a half where he ran for 202 yards and then devastating them with the superhuman touchdown runs in the second half.

“We went in at half and Coach Hammes wrote some stuff on the board that we’d gone over,” Marney said. “Once we got it figured out, everything started clicking on offense.”

Hasenkamp threw for 169 yards and two touchdowns for the Thunder, who saw their season end at 10-1 — its best record since 1973.

Rossville (10-0) has now won 25 straight games and will play host to Colgan (9-2) in the state quarterfinals after the Panthers topped Galena 28-14.

Rossville (11-0) 7 14 28 12 — 61

Nemaha Central (10-1) 6 6 0 8 — 20

Ross — Horak 80 run (Nascimento kick)

NC — Hiltibrand 48 pass from Hasenkamp (kick failed)

Ross — Hammes 11 pass from Horak (Nascimento kick)

NC — Allen 38 pass from Steinlage (run failed)

Ross — Horak 64 run (Nascimento kick)

Ross — Horak 23 run (Nascimento kick)

Ross — Roduner 50 pass from Horak (Nascimento kick)

Ross — Horak 43 run (Nascimento kick)

Ross — Roduner 10 run (Nascimento kick)

Ross — Balch 14 run (kick failed)

Ross — Hammes 3 run (kick failed)

NC — Allen 48 pass from Hasenkamp (Hiltibrand pass from Hasenkamp)

GAME IN FIGURES

Ross NC

First downs 26 12

Rushes-yards 41-415 28-63

Passing 210 212

Comp-Att-Int 19-25-0 12-22-3

Punts 0-0 4-26.2

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 4-25 1-5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Rossville: Horak 25-328, Roduner 3-11, Hammes 6-28, Balch 4-28, Bradshaw 1-36, Cavanaugh 1-1, Team 1-minus 17. Nemaha Central: Rethman 13-48, Hasenkamp 10-7, Henry 2-1, Koelzer 3-7.

PASSING — Rossville: 19-25-0, 210 yards. Nemaha Central: Hasenkamp 10-20-3, 169 yards, Steinlage 1-1-0, 38 yards, Allen 1-1-0, 5 yards.

RECEIVING — Rossville: Schumacher 4-13, Roduner 7-96, Bradshaw 5-58, Hammes 3-43. Nemaha Central: Allen 6-122, Henry 3-10,, Hiltibrand 1-48, Steinlage 2-32.

Dawgs Turn It Up in Second Half

    The second half scoring started with a busted play,  but Tucker Horak recovered his composure and went   around left end to put the Dawgs up 28-12.  A 50 yard pass from Horak to Christian Roduner increased the lead to 35-12.   A few minutes later,  the Dawgs went up 42-12 when Tucker had another of his tackle breaking runs.  
    With the Nemaha QB under pressure, Christian Roduer intercepted a pass on the next drive.  Moments later,  Christian went around left end for another TD to up  the Dawgs lead to 42-12.  Balch added another TD to up the score to 55-12.
    Roduner soon intercepted another Nemaha pass and Jacob Bradshaw had a long pass reception to the 4 yard line to set up a Bradshaw to Hammes 4 yard TD to put the Dawgs up 61-12.  With less than 2 minutes left,  Nemaha scored the final  TD and 2 pt. conversion to make the final score 61-20.

Dawgs Lead Nemaha At Half

    Nemaha Central received the first kick off and drove nearly the full length of the field  However,  Jacob Bradshaw intercepted a Thunder pass in the end zone to end the threat.  On the Dawgs first play from scrimmage,  Tucker Horak kwpt the ball and went up the center and took it to the end zone with an 80 yard run.  Nemaha then scored on a passing TD of about 50 years,  but missed the extra point.   The Dawgs came back with a Horak to Hammes pass for their second TD.  Nemaha answered with another long passing TD of about 40 yards,  but couldn't convert on the two point conversion.  On the first play of the next Dawgs possession Horak again went up the center for a TD of about 65 yards to put the Dawgs up 21-12 at the half.

Donald DeHart Passes Away

      Donald Eugene DeHart, 88 years old, passed away October 30 2015 surrounded by his loving family.
      Don was born May 26, 1927 in Rossville Kansas to parents Prentis and Lula (Trimble) DeHart.         Don graduated from Silver Lake High School. He was pround to have served his country in the US Army Signal Corps in Korea and was a member of American Legion Post 400, and VFW 1650. He worked at Southwestern Bell and AT&T, as well as the State of Kansas for a combination of over 40 years. Then, Don was a distributor of DriWash and Guard and enjoyed sales and detailing cars for the last 20 years. Don loved God and was so thankful and proud of all his grandchildren. He was a member of Northland Christian Church.
      Don is survived by his wife of 66 years, Marian DeHart; sons, Steve DeHart who resides in Olsberg, Kansas, Dan DeHart who resides in Loveland, Colorado; daughters; Susan Holsteen from Aurora Colorado and Sherry Muller from Centennial Colorado; 14 grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren on the way. Don was a loving husband, father and grandfather and will be so greatly missed by all his friends and family.
      A private family memorial service will be held at the grave site in January. Memorial contributions may be made to the Topeka Rescue Mission and sent in care of the Chapel Oaks Cremation & Funeral Services, 235 SW Topeka Blvd, Topeka, Kansas 66603.

Steve Wehmeier (62) Passes Away

Steven Wehmeier, 71, passed away into Jesus’s arms at sunrise at his home in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, Sunday, November 1, 2015 after a long illness. He struggled with cancer since surgery in early 2013. 

Born April 24, 1944 in Waterville, Kansas, Steven was the youngest child of George E. Sr. and Thelma (Keefover) Wehmeier. He graduated from Rossville KS High School in 1962 where he lettered in football and basketball and was known for being fun and mischievous. Steve attended Fort Hays State University before joining the Navy where he served honorably for four years. During the Vietnam War, he attained the rank of ETR2. He served aboard the APA 213 USS Montrail and had foreign and sea service for almost 3 years. He was very proud of his service to his country, receiving the National Defense Service Medal, and was a member of the American Legion. Steve was also partially disabled in the line of duty during his service in the Navy. He later attended Washburn University and graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He was married to Nancy (Kramer) Wehmeier, the love of his life for 27 years. His career included many years as a printing industry representative, a personnel manager, and then as a safety manager in the construction industry. 

Steven loved Colorado and the outdoors, camping, fishing, hunting with family and friends, and his dogs.  For their first Valentine’s Day together, he gave Nancy a fishing pole and tackle box. 

Steve is survived by his wife Nancy; sister Donna Krische; mother-in-law Shirley Kramer; brothers-in-law Steve Kramer and John McGrath; nephews Dan (Jeanne) Krische, Bob (Debbie) Krische, Tom Krische, Craig (Darlene) Wehmeier, Brent (Charlene) Wehmeier, Terry (Trish) Kenny, Greg McGrath (Anne), Steve McGrath (Tracy); nieces Susan (Dan) Fogo, Cynthia Kenny, Jennifer (Phil) Vlositi, Andrea (Jeff) Donen, Meeka Kramer; Godchild Elienor, who shares his birthday; and his best friends Ernie Kutzley and Don Abitz. He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers George Jr. and Larry; sisters Marjorie Kenney and Linda McGrath; nieces Linda Heiman (George) and Nancy Krische; nephew Joe Wehmeier; and father-in-law Jack Kramer; sister-in-law Kim Kramer; and aunt Carol Chappel.

Matt Buhler Coaching In Hawaii

HONOLULU, Hawaii (WIBW) - It's more than 3800 miles from Rossville, Kansas to a basketball career in Honolulu. But for Matt Buhler, it's the first step on the journey to a career in coaching.

"I figured let's make a change and do something out of the ordinary," Buhler says of his decision to move so far from home.

With a couple years coaching junior varsity basketball at Washburn Rural under his belt, Buhler sent some resumes and ended up as a graduate assistant at Hawaii Pacific University, where the head coach is actually a Wichita native.

"(The Hawaiians) give you Midwestern feel. The aloha spirit welcomed me with open arms," he said.

The son of Shawnee County Commissioner Shelly Buhler and Washburn Rural football coach Steve Buhler, Matt is working on a graduate degree in military studies and diplomacy, while also using the skills that made him a standout in football and baseball, along with basketball. Buhler says he loved playing in a small town with his friends and for his father.

"I think by playing three sports, I've taken something from each and put it into how I coach, how I teach kids, explain things to kids," Buhler said. "You have to be well rounded."

That applies to athletics as well as life. Matt says he enjoying Hawaiian culture, especially the food, even though he still isn't accustomed to being served rice at most every meal. And while he enjoys spending time at the beaches, he has yet to try surfing.

As HPU prepares to travel to exhibitions Saturday at Wichita State and Monday at UMKC, Buhler is imparting a bit of insider knowledge.

"They have to pack heavier clothes!" he laughed.

On a more serious note, he says he simply encourages the players to compete and not let themselves be judged. Just as people might consider him a farm kid from Kansas, he says the HPU players shouldn't be looked at as just a bunch of surfers. On the court, he says, it doesn't matter where you're from.

While the team will be going to his home state, Buhler, unfortunately, will not. While he'd love to back and see family, he says his job and his duties are in Honolulu, where he'll be working with the players not making the trip, helping them get better. After all, he says, that he signed up to do.

New Dawgfeed

    Here is the latest Dawgfeed video on line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wwCZlhlov0&feature=em-subs_digest-g

Vic Miller (69) Leaves Topeka Court

From the Capital-Journal

justin.wingerter@cjonline.com

Vic Miller has spent nearly four decades in government at three levels — city, county and state — in Topeka. By the mid-2000s, he was arguably the county’s most dominant political figure. Through it all, he was known for harboring a quick wit and sharp tongue.

But on Wednesday, as he was asked about his imminent retirement and future plans, Miller was quiet.

“I’m not going into that yet. I’m exploring a number of options and considering a number of options,” said Miller, administrative judge of Topeka Municipal Court.

Miller, 63, refused to rule out any future professions, including elected office. He was certain of just one detail: He would no longer hold the same position he currently holds after Dec. 18.

“I just know that I have a limited amount of time on this Earth and there are other things I would like to do,” Miller said. “I’ve done this long enough and had a good time doing it. It’s time to move on.”

He will leave Topeka Municipal Court months after an audit of the court was conducted by North Carolina-based law firm Thomas and Means. The city, which paid the firm $10,000, received a draft report in August but it hasn’t been publicly released.

“I think it will be fairly unremarkable,” Miller predicted.

“We’re an open body over here,” he added. “The audit is done to look for ways we can improve and I’m sure, as with any entity, there will be suggestions for how we can improve. But I’m very confident we run a good operation.”

Tiana McElroy, a former chief of prosecution who was fired by the city, has accused Miller of running a “debtor’s court” centered on bringing in revenue, not aiding victims or seeking justice. Miller brushed aside the allegations Wednesday, noting that McElroy has been fired.

“I’m not going to get into a tit-for-tat, but I do think the key word is ‘former,’ ” the judge said.

By the time Vic Miller graduated from Washburn University School of Law in 1979, he was already a member of the Kansas House of Representatives. A Democrat in a House controlled then, as now, by Republicans, Miller said he struggled to stand out.

“When you were a minority member of the Legislature, the principal role was just to be the squeaky wheel as opposed to actually setting out to achieve something,” Miller recalled.

Joan Wagnon, the former Topeka mayor and head of the Kansas Democratic Party, shared an office with Miller at the Statehouse.

“I considered him one of the people I would go to to find out how things worked over there,” Wagnon said. “He was a great mentor.”

Miller suffered his first electoral defeat when running for a Kansas Senate seat in 1984, losing handily to Republican Jeanne Hoferer. But by 1985, Miller was back in an elected chair, this time as a member of the Topeka City Council. Now he was one of nine representatives.

“I enjoyed the change in terms of the level of influence you can have within the group just because of the sheer number,” Miller said.

The number became even smaller when, in 1993, he won a seat on the three-member Shawnee County Commission. Sitting alongside fellow Democrat Don Cooper, Miller’s party was in the majority.

“When we were two out of three on the county commission, people expected us to be responsible for literally everything,” Miller recalled. “There was a lot more pressure that comes with it.”

During Wagnon’s stint as mayor from 1997 to 2001, the former Statehouse office mates passionately opposed each other over the issue of downtown development. Miller declined to discuss anything remotely political Wednesday, citing his role as an impartial judge, and Wagnon brushed aside their past disagreements.

“Vic and I obviously differed during my time as mayor over downtown development but that was more than 20 years ago,” Wagnon said.

Since the fall of 2011, Miller has been a lone decider as a Topeka Municipal Court judge.

“Over here you don’t debate things. You listen to the debate and then you rule,” Miller said. “You don’t have your opinion against someone else’s. It’s very different. That’s kind of why I like it. It wasn’t like what I had been doing.”

Miller “cleaned up” the municipal court, Wagnon said, and brought in a collection agency more adept at collecting revenue.

“I was sorry to see he was retiring because he has done a first-rate job over there,” Wagnon said.

Dawgs Roll Past Maur Hill

From the Capital Journal:

The Bulldawgs steamrolled Maur Hill 49-0 on Tuesday at Rossville, earning their 24th straight victory, the bi-district trophy and a date with Nemaha Central on Saturday.

Rossville completely throttled the Falcons’ offense, allowing just 79 total yards from scrimmage on 41 plays. Scoring almost at will, the Bulldogs forced a running clock early in the third period.

“Defensively, last week we saw some things that we needed to work on, and tonight we made some improvement,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said. “At this time of the year everybody’s going to be good, so we need to keep improving every time out.”

Quarterback Tucker Horak led the Bulldogs into the playoffs with a historic 384-yard, seven-touchdown rushing game against Silver Lake last Thursday. His play against Maur Hill was nearly perfect as well.

Horak completed 12 of 14 throws for 275 yards and four touchdowns while also running for 112 yards and two scores on just nine carries.

“He is obviously a real good player for us, but he’s got good help around him,” Hammes said. “He’s got an offensive line that figured things out tonight with a lot of guys hovering around the line of scrimmage. And he’s got skill players who made plays as well who take the burden off of him. We know that he’s a special player, but we feel like we’re more than a one-man show.”

Several of Horak’s throws were into the flat where wide-open receivers broke tackles en route to long gains.

“They put a lot of guys in the box and forced us to throw the football, and once we were able to figure that out we were able to get the ball to some guys to make plays,” Hammes said.

Rossville running back Dawson Hammes helped bulldoze Maur Hill, scoring three touchdowns and rushing 12 times for 85 yards.

“We knew they were a good team. We could see it on film,” Horak said. “To come out and get this win was just a great feeling. We had a lot of different guys getting some carries and making some nice catches.”

Rossville spread the ball to eleven different skill players and rolled up 517 yards on 55 plays from scrimmage. By scoring on a 74-yard pass from Horak to Cole Schumacher on their first play of the third period, Rossville set the running clock in motion. Still, the Bulldogs used numerous reserves in the second half, saving their strength for Saturday’s game at Nemaha Central.

“It was still a physical game, but to get that type of rest probably helps a little bit,” Hammes said. “But the turnaround is so fast. We have got to get back out on the practice field and get the game plan for Saturday in tomorrow. At this point in the year, you just kind of work on adrenaline right now.”

Maur Hill (6-3) 0 0 0 0 — 0

Rossville (10-0) 21 21 7 0 — 49

RV — Horak 67 run (Nascimento kick)

RV — Hammes 5 run (kick failed)

RV — Horak 16 run (Balch pass from Horak)

RV — Balch 30 pass from Horak (Nascimento kick)

RV — Hammes 13 pass from Horak (Nascimento kick)

RV — Hammes 5 pass from Horak (Nascimento kick)

RV — Schumaher 74 pass from Horak (Nascimento kick)

GAME IN FIGURES

MH RV

First downs 4 20

Rushes-yards 23-27 39-246

Passing yards 66 275

Passes 4-16-1 12-15-0

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Punts-Avg. 5-33.0 none

Penalties-yards 6-40 6-60

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Maur Hill: Trotter 19-29, Olberding 3-(minus 4), Schrick 1-2; Rossville: Horak 9-112, Hammes 12-85, Balch 2-6, Hulbert 3-33, Gfeller 4-10, Bradshaw 1-(minus 1) Cavanaugh 5-3, Dyche 2-0, Foster 1-(minus 2).

PASSING — Maur Hill: Olberding 4-14-1 66 yards, Schrick 0-1-0 0 yards, Trotter 0-1-0 0 yards; Rossville: Horak 12-14-0 275 yards, Hulbert 0-1-0 0 yards.

RECEIVING — Maur Hill: Schrick 2-41, Ervin 1-9, Rocha 1-16; Rossville: Roduner 4-82, Hammes 3-33, Schumacher 3-95, Bradshaw 1-35, Balch 1-30.

PUNTING — Maur Hill: Rocha 5-33.0; Rossville: none.