Bridge Work To Start Jan 25

From KSNT-TV: 

It was an agenda full of events at the Shawnee County Commission meeting Monday morning. The meeting started with the election of a new chairperson. Shelly Buhler will now act as the County Commission Chairperson and Bob Archer as the Vice Chairperson.

The Willard Bridge was also one of the main topics and the county commissioners unanimously approved the $16 million contract to start construction on the bridge.

“We were just allowed to go out for bids back in December and we received bids and we got extremely, extremely good bids,” says Tom Vlach.

The 3-0 votes came after Vlach told commissioners that the bid amount is more than $4 million below what the commission budgeted for. The construction on the Willard Bridge will begin in two weeks on January 25th.

RHS Hosts Foreign Students

By Angela Deines

Special to The Capital-Journal

For a 3A Kansas high school with an average of about 250 students, hosting nine to 10 foreign exchange students in one academic year is a little unusual.

But Toby McCollough, principal of Rossville Junior-Senior High School, embraces those numbers.

“With us being a rural community, this is a good way for our kids to get that culture that may already be at another school,” McCollough said of his school’s foreign exchange student program. “We try to reap the benefits from them (foreign exchange students) being here.”

Although having an average of nine to 10 foreign exchange students each year for about the past three years has slightly increased class sizes, McCollough said his staff also has fully embraced having more of the visiting students.

“Not a one of them said they didn’t want another one (student),” McCollough said, recalling the time when he told his staff there would be a higher count of foreign exchange students. “They (teachers) extract knowledge from them.”

McCollough said his students and the Rossville community continue to welcome their visitors, who have come from all across the globe. He said that full acceptance becomes more evident when former exchange students bring their own families back to the town of a little more than 1,000 people to visit.

“They feel that connection,” he said. “They have lifelong friends here.”

Much of the credit McCollough gives to the success of his school’s foreign exchange student program is directed toward Kelly Brown, a Rossville resident and the regional coordinator for the Academic Year in America, or AYA, program for the past five years.

Brown said she is responsible for 19 visiting students out of the estimated 50 students who are in Kansas currently as part of the AYA. She said the program requires her to either meet with or contact the student, host family and the student’s biological family monthly.

“It works really well,” Brown said. “If we’re in contact continuously, we can work out a problem before it escalates into a bigger problem. We take pride in that we take care of our students. We don’t just get them here and then forget about them.”

Brown also said she gives credit for the success of the visiting student program to the staff and administration at Rossville Junior-Senior High School.

“I give kudos to them for allowing us to have this many,” she said, referring to the nine students who will attend the school this spring semester. “They (students) blend in really well. They get good grades and usually don’t struggle academically.”

Before she matches a student with a family, Brown said she spends a lot of time going through the students’ profiles to understand their preferences and personalities.

Julie Spring said she, her husband and their son, Zach, now 22, have hosted foreign exchange students each year since the 2008-09 school year from Japan, Germany and Pakistan. Their current student, Rafael de Arruda, is from Brazil.

“I think that the Rossville kids have been very good to them,” Spring said of the foreign exchange students who have been in the community. “They love that people talk to them but they really want friends. They came here to be part of America and the culture and sometimes they’re afraid or they’re embarrassed. They just don’t know how to ask.”

Spring said as part of the Academic Year in America program, visiting students have to give presentations on their culture and lives, as well as perform a required number of community service hours. She said Bilal Channa, the student she hosted last year, resonated with her and the Rossville community in particular, because he is a practicing Muslim.

“He engaged a lot with adults,” she said. “Some of the things he would consider to be important wouldn’t be something a normal 16-year-old would think is important. He worries about what’s happening in his country, he worries about world things.”

Spring said after hosting Bilal, whom she remains in regular contact with, she sees global events from a completely new perspective.

“What does happen in the rest of the world is important to us,” she said. “I’m thankful that he gave me that.”

Julie Spring has hosted four foreign exchange students who have attended Rossville Junior-High School. The 3A school is currently hosting nine visiting students through the Academic Year in America program that has an estimated 50 students in Kansas this school year.

3A Football Class For 2016 and 2017

    The 3A football classification for the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 years are available.  The classes are based on enrollments in the Ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades only as of Sept. 21, 2015.
    Rossville comes in at the lower end of the sixty four schools with 121-203  students with  127.  
    Other Mid-East schools include St. Marys, 144, Silver Lake 149, Riley County 165.   Wabaunsee is in class 2A at 111  and Rock Creek is in 4A at 211.

Rossville Wrestlers Placing

    The following RHS wresdtlers placed at the Rossville Invitational on Jan. 9.  Fifteen teams competed,  but each team had 12 or fewer wrestlers so  weight classes were not completely filled.

106    Alex Archer              4th
113    Colin Culbertson      3rd
120    Alex Cavanaugh       1st
126    Bryce Gfeller            1st
132    Holden Hurla            4th
138    Phoenix Thomas       2nd
145    Reed Miller               4th
152    Isaiah Luellen           2nd
160    Derek Gentry            3rd
182    Isaac Luellen             1st
220    Kole Davoren            1st

Final Team Standings of Rossville Invitational

1.		Rossville, KS			12	215.0
2.		Clay Center, KS			11	176.0
3.		Santa Fe Trail, KS			13	156.0
4.		Riley County, KS			12	131.5
5.		St Marys, KS			10	122.5
6.		Republic County, KS			8	100.0
7.		Sabetha, KS			12	96.0
8.		Wellington, KS			11	93.5
9.		Perry LeCompton, KS			10	65.0
10.		Doniphan West, KS			7	64.5
11.		Pleasant Ridge/Immac, KS			5	58.0
12.		Atchison County Community High School, KS			6	55.5
13.		Hayden, KS			5	23.0
14.		Atchison Maur Hill, KS			5	21.0
15.		Hiawatha, KS			2	16.0
16.		Riverbend International, KS			1	0.0

Riley and Rossville Split Wins

    The Riley County and Rossville high varsity basketball teams split on Jan. 8 on the Rossville court.  

Boys Varsity Game

  Riley County 10 14 20 22   =   66
  Rossville       16 23 14 21   =   74

Rossville  scoring:
Schumacher           6 (1)     10-16     24 
Roduner                  3             5-7      11
Morris                      3 (3)       1-2      10,
 Mason                    3 (3)       1-4      10
Hammes                  2            2-6        6
Bradshaw                2            2-2        6
Horak                       0            5-6        5
Anderson                 0            2-2        2
Team                       0            1-2        1
Totals                    19 (7)     29-47    74

Girls Varsity Game

  Riley County 9 15 21 17   =   62  
  Rossville      10  8 18 20   =   56

Rossville scoring:
Nitsch             6 (5)      0-0    17
Hill                  5 (2)      2-2    14
Day                 1 (1)      2-2     5
Conley             2           0-2     4
Shinn               2           0-0     4
Steckel            1 (1)      0-0     3
Buhler             1 (1)      0-0     3
Porter              1           1-2     3
Hill                   1           1-2     3
Totals             20 (10)    6-10  56.

Sallie Kelley Passes Away

Sallie A. Kelley, 61, passed away Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at her daughter's home in Rossville.

She was born March 4, 1954 at Topeka the daughter of Cornelius and Lorraine Gale Lee Cummings. She was raised in Rossville and graduated from Rossville High School. Sallie lived most of her life in the Rossville community.

Sallie had worked at Goodyear Tire and Rubber, Payless Distribution Center for 28 years and the past five years at Frito Lay all in Topeka. She was an avid KSU fan.

She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother Mark and a sister Sue.

Survivors include her daughter, Waunita (Gary) Smith, Rossville; her son, Shawn (DeeAnna) Kelly, Wathena; siblings, Michael (Barbara) Cummings, Topeka (Willard), Ellen (James) McFarland, Carbondale, Alice (Ron) Andrick, Topeka and Amy (Chris) Rawejasli, Topeka; 3 grandchildren, Mark Smith, Darcy Smith and Molly Kelley.

Inurnment graveside services will be at 10:00 A.M. Thursday, January 14, 2016 at Prairie Home Cemetery, Topeka. A family visitation will be from 6:00 until 8:00 P.M. Wednesday, January 13, 2016 at Piper Funeral Chapel in Rossville. Memorial contributions may be made in Sallie's name for her grandchildren's educational fund and sent in care of Piper Funeral Chapel, P.O. Box 642, Rossville, Kansas 66533

Main St. Puzzle

    If you like to solve simple jig-saw puzzles,  here is a fairly easy one of Rossville's new revamped Main St.
http://www.jigidi.com/puzzle.php?id=XCZFZSMF

Basketball Video

    There is video of the basketball version of the "war on 24" at the below URL  from the 2:18 to 4:03 time in the video.
http://ksnt.com/2016/01/05/h-s-hoops-january-5-2016/
    Going into Tue night, both girls teams were undefeated,  but #1 ranked Silver Lake had an easy time of  defeating the RHS girls 73-49.
    The RHS boys took care of business with a 37-34 win over the Eagles.

Dawgs and Eagles Split

From CJ Online

SILVER LAKE — Coming out of the holiday break, it’s only natural for a coach to be concerned about his team being rusty offensively.

And facing an undefeated Rossville team in Tuesday’s return to the court, Silver Lake coach Loren Ziegler was certainly a bit anxious.

“We had a couple of average practices (over the break),” Ziegler said, then added, ”but we’ve got a pretty focused team. They’re a veteran group who’s been through the wars and know what it takes.”

Those veteran Eagles quickly put Ziegler’s mind at ease. After missing three of its first four shots, Silver Lake hardly missed the mark the rest of the way.

A string of four straight makes got the Eagles going and the offense looked in postseason form as No. 1 Silver Lake easily handled the battle of unbeatens with a 73-49 rout of visiting Rossville. The Eagles improved to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in Mid-East League play.

“We had some lapses defensively, but that’s because Rossville’s so good,” Ziegler said. “But our intensity level was good and our execution level was really good.”

It didn’t take long for that execution to hit full rhythm and it was a trio of seniors who got it going. Alexis Gifford hit her first five shots of the game and never really cooled off, gouging the Rossville defense with 3-of-6 accuracy from 3-point range to complement slashing drives to the basket. She finished with 27 points, hitting 9 of 14 shots overall.

Madison Wegner added 12 of her 14 points in the first half, seven coming in the second quarter when the Eagles blew open the game with a 20-6 quarter to build a 36-18 halftime lead. Rachel Heiman added 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting and Silver Lake finished the game making 29 of 51 shots overall.

“We forced them to play at our speed, in catch-up mode, and that’s what we want,” Ziegler said. “Lexie got us off to a good start and we got into a good flow and we had a lot of good things happen offensively, which helped our defense.”

Rossville fell to 6-1 and was led by Amanda Hill’s 13 points.

ROSSVILLE BOYS 37, SILVER LAKE 34 — A thing of beauty it was not.

But given Rossville hadn’t won at Silver Lake in more than a half decade, well, beauty took on different meaning for the Bulldawgs.

“We’ll take them any way we can get them,” Rossville coach Derek Dick said. “We haven’t won here in like six years, so it’s good to get one here. The thing I like about our kids and their kids is they just competed so hard and even when it’s ugly like it was tonight, they still competed because they don’t like to lose.”

Tied 20-20 at the half, Rossville opened the second half with a 5-0 run that proved to be a significant offensive burst on Tuesday night. Jacob Bradshaw scored all five points in the run that put the Bulldawgs ahead for good.

Rossville never led by more than six and didn’t do a lot to put the Eagles away, missing five of six free throws in the final 1:55, including the front end of three one-and-one situations.

But Silver Lake couldn’t take advantage, going 2 for 9 on its final shots.

Bradshaw led all scorers with 12 points.

SILVER LAKE GIRLS 73, ROSSVILLE 49

Rossville      12      6    18    13   —   49

Silver Lake   16   20    22   15   —   73

Rossville (6-1, 0-1) — Nitsch 3-10 0-0 8, Steckel 2-9 0-0 4, Conley 5-8 1-2 11, Day 1-6 0-0 2, A. Hill 6-14 0-0 13, S. Shinn 2-4 0-0 4, Porter 0-1 0-0 0, C. Hill 1-3 0-0 2, L. Shinn 1-3 3-5 5, Buhler 0-1 0-0 0, Badura 0-0 0-0 0, Kirk 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-59 4-7 49.

Silver Lake (5-1, 3-0) — White 2-3 0-0 4, Wegner 5-12 2-2 14, Heiman 8-11 0-1 16, Gifford 9-14 6-9 27, Yoder 2-4 0-0 4, Calderwood 1-1 0-0 3, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Lane 0-1 1-2 1, Krogman 0-1 0-0 0, Burkhardt 0-1 0-0 0, Bates 2-3 0-0 4, Fischer 0-0 0-0 0, Mountain 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-51 9-14 73.

3-pointers — Rossville 3-7 (Nitsch 2-3, A. Hill 1-2, Steckel 0-1, Buhler 0-1); Silver Lake 6-16 (Gifford 3-6, Wegner 2-6, Calderwood 1-1, White 0-1, Lane 0-1, Burkhardt 0-1). Total fouls — Rossville 16, Silver Lake 13. Fouled out — none.

ROSSVILLE BOYS 37, SILVER LAKE 34

Rossville      8   12   10   7   —   37

Silver Lake   8   12    5   9   —   34

Rossville (5-2, 1-0) — Roduner 2-5 3-5 8, Schumacher 1-7 0-2 2, Bradshaw 4-6 4-6 12, Horak 2-8 0-2 5, Hammes 1-3 1-3 3, Dyche 0-2 0-0 0, Mason 2-3 0-0 4, Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Morris 1-4 0-0 3. Totals 13-38 8-18 37.

Silver Lake (3-2, 2-1) — Hallacy 2-12 3-4 7, Koelzer 0-2 0-0 0, Wagner 2-9 0-0 4, Griffin 3-8 1-1 7, Adams 1-2 1-2 3, Byrne 1-2 0-0 2, Baird 3-6 3-6 9, Matzke 1-2 0-2 2. Totals 13-443 8-15 34.

3-pointers — Rossville 3-14 (Roduner 1-1, Horak 1-6, Morris 1-4, Dyche 0-2, Mason 0-1); Silver Lake 0-16 (Hallacy 0-7, Griffin 0-4, Wagner 0-3, Koelzer 0-2). Total fouls — Rossville 18, Silver Lake 18. Fouled out — none.

Horak And Coach To Shrine Bowl

Six Shawnee County athletes, including four Topeka players, have been selected to the East Squad for the 2016 Kansas Shrine Bowl, which will be played July 30 in Emporia.

Two-time All-State selection Tucker Horak of Rossville headlines the local selections after his record-setting season in leading the Bulldawgs to their second straight undefeated Class 3A state title. He will be joined on the East by his coach, Derick Hammes, who will serve as one of the assistant coaches under head coach Blake Pierce, who recently resigned as Seaman’s coach.

The only other Mid-East League player is Cole Baird of Silver Lake.

You can see the complete Shrine Bowl rosters at:

http://cjonline.com/sports/2016-01-04/four-city-players-rossvilles-horak-headline-east-shrine-bowl-roster

Trailer For Baseball Documentary

    Here is a trailer for the documentary film on Kansas baseball.  Most of the scenes in the trailer were shot at Rossville.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/KSBaseballHistory/permalink/435585246630859/

History of Willard

    Here is a link to the history of Willard, Kansas.    I have always heard that Willard was named for heavyweight boxer Jess Willard. the "Pottawatomie Giant"  from near Emmett,  but that appears to be not true.
http://recollectionsks.org/items/show/481

Lindsey Seele (10) On Dean's List

    Lindsay Seele, of Rossville, was on the dean's list for the Baker University School of Nursing for the spring semester of 2015.