The Osawatomie Journal » Jeff

Spring Hill Player DIes After Being Taken From OHS Game By Air Ambulance

Jeff — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:11:33 +0000

Spring Hill High School football player Nate Stiles has reportedly died following the Broncos game with Osawatomie.
Stiles was injured late in the second quarter and was taken to the hospital by air ambulance.
The type of injury has not been released.
Stiles is the son of Miami County Commissioner Ron Stiles.

Dear Voters of Osawatomie:

Jeff — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:12:59 +0000

By Phil Dudley
I am writing this guest editorial to communicate to you, the voter, the purposes of Charter Ordinance #13 and the need to approve the creation of the Stormwater Utility. There are very real consequences for voting no and I ask that you consider seriously these consequences. I also hope that you utilize this article to educate yourself about the issue and make an informed decision on November 2nd. First – I want to answer some basic questions that I have received regarding the issue and upon answering those questions I will go into a bit more detail as to our purpose behind #13.

Q: What does a YES vote mean on Charter Ordinance #13?
A: The City of Osawatomie will be able to establish a storm water utility. This is similar to establishing a water, electricity, or sewer utility.
Q: What does the new utility allow the city to do?
A: By establishing this utility our city will be able to begin to build up funding in order to apply for matching CDBG grants or other monies available to small cities.
Q: What will Voting YES for this initiative cost me today?
A: The fee structure will be determined after a series of public meetings are held and recommendations are brought back to the Council. The Council will keep the cost PER RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY under $2.00.
Q: What will happen if the referendum doesn’t pass?
A: Osawatomie will be unprepared when the EPA begins to force our city to comply with the Federal Clean Water Standards Act. We will then be dealing with the problem on the EPA’s terms instead of ours.
Q: Where will the money come from in order to meet the EPA guidelines?
A: One or more of the following will be likely sources to deal with these additional unfunded mandates – property taxes, surcharges, sales tax, or special assessments on all real estate in our community.
Osawatomie has been very successful in leveraging our local funds to serve as matching dollars in grants that have assisted us in financing the rehabilitation of ten miles of sanitary sewer mains (2007/2008) as well as 20+ blocks of street reconstruction (2007/2008). In 2009/2010 we were successful in grant applications for the 8th Street mill/overlay project, downtown streetscape, and library renovations (Phase 1 of a two phase project – Phase 2 has been applied for this month). Finally, beginning in 2011, the construction of Pacific from 12th to 14th, 14th from Pacific to Main, and Brown from 14th to 18th will occur and nearly 50% of this will be paid for with grant dollars. All of these projects were done out of necessity. Delayed action will only force future citizens and governing bodies of Osawatomie to spend more in local dollars in a shorter amount of time to comply with additional unfunded mandates which are most certainly on their way These requirements, if we delay, will most certainly come at a time that is inconvenient and well beyond our control.

Osawatomie is very familiar with unfunded mandates. The most current unfunded mandate we are addressing is the certification of our levee system. We are required to certify the levee as a result of federal legislation that was passed several years ago. This legislation has been in federal statutes for several years. Delays led FEMA to force the hand of the city less than one month prior to the historic flood of 2007 to initiate this process. Certification could have been much easier to manage financially had it been addressed over the number of years the city was required to certify the levees.

As it is, our engineers are in a race with FEMA to certify the levee before FEMA can remove them from the flood maps and require hundreds of individuals whose property is currently protected by the levee from buying flood insurance. This unfunded mandate, when finished, will have cost the city of Osawatomie approximately $400,000. The purpose of the levee certification process is to give the city of Osawatomie and its engineers the ability to communicate with certainty to FEMA that our levee system complies with the federal statutes. This levee system was designed, constructed, and inspected annually by a different agency of the federal government – the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Water is charged through the Clean Water Act, to enforce the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System regulations for discharges from municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4′s). Large communities have been making modifications to their storm sewer systems for years under these requirements and the EPA is in the initial stages of preparing to move to the next sized communities (to which Osawatomie is a part of) and begin enforcing these regulations on our community.

On November 2nd, you will have a choice be proactive and give authority to the City of Osawatomie to create this utility and begin working on our storm sewer system before we are forced to address the issues that are required to be addressed by federal legislation in a timeframe that we can ill afford. In my opinion the only affordable option is to VOTE YES.

Voters To Decide Fate Of Storm Water Utility On Tuesday

Jeff — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:09:16 +0000

By Doug Carder
Osawatomie voters will decide whether or not to establish a storm water utility to help pay for upgrades to the city’s storm water system and for a $400,000 levee certification process.
The approval or disapproval of the utility, which will appear on the ballot as Charter Ordinance No. 13, will be decided by a simple majority vote.
The levee system, a vital cog in the city’s storm water defense, is being put through the certification progress because of the July 2007 flood that forced Pottawatomie Creek to top the levee and spill into town – costing the city more than $1 million in flood damages.
The certification process is federally mandated but not federally funded, City Manager Bret Glendening has told the council.
City officials acknowledge that establishing a storm water utility would not prevent another flood. But the utility could provide money to soften the blow by deepening the storm water holding ponds, rebuilding outtake lines in the levee system and repairing curbs and guttering.
“Curbs and gutters are the first line of defense to keep water out of yards,” Glendening told the council in July.
Mayor Phil Dudley also has pointed out that money generated through the storm water utility could be used to provide matching funds for Community Development Block Grants and other monies available to small cities for infrastructure improvements.
In his column last week, Dudley said likely sources to fund the $400,000 levee certification process could include property taxes, surcharges, sales tax or special assessments on all real estate in the community. The city has estimated that the storm water utility fee would generate $60,000 to $80,000 which could help pay for levee certification.
Dudley said other federal requirements likely are coming down the pike to address storm water systems.
“Large communities have been making modifications to their storm sewer systems for years under (Environmental Protection Agency) requirements, and the EPA is in the initial stages of preparing to move to the next sized communities,” which he said would include Osawatomie.
Councilman Ted Hunter has said these EPA mandates would cover all water use that is discharged into a stream, which includes storm water.
“A storm water utility needs to be in place to help address these mandates when they are imposed,” Hunter said.
Hunter has said the proposed utility would spread the cost fairly among all property holders, including residential, commercial, schools, churches, nonprofits and other organizations that own property within the city.
Not all council members are in favor of this utility.
Councilman John Farley has spoke out against the proposed utility in council meetings and in a recent letter to the editor.
“First, we must be clear that Ordinance 13 is not about flood protection. It is not at all a device to keep waters from breaching our levees,” Farley wrote in his letter. “It is about rainwater, and it will result in our citizens, businesses and churches – in fact all property holders – funding a utility whose purpose is poorly defined and for a dollar amount that is unknown.”
Farley said the funding mechanism for this utility is unclear, because the original proposal called for a flat fee. He said an engineering firm had noted successful legal challenges to “flat fees” at a previous council meeting.
Instead of a flat fee, city staff plans to measure the size of each property, so a fee structure can be based on the size of each piece of real estate, rather than based on a flat fee, through a process called Equivalent Residential Units.
In his city manager’s report at the Oct. 14 meeting, Glendening said individual residential properties and commercial properties continue to be measured, and the ERU process continues to be refined. He said it’s hopeful that by Election Day all the data will be compiled.
But he said the ERU range is relatively certain, and any specific commercial property owners who wish to know what their total estimated ERU is can obtain that information at City Hall.
Farley and some residents have expressed concern about what the utility fees will actually be and what they will pay for.
“If folks are going to be asked to scrimp and save to pay this new utility, shouldn’t they at least know what they are getting? Does anyone know? Are there other options? Can the city re-prioritize its budget to accomplish improvements? I don’t usually pay for something if I don’t know what I’m getting,” Farley wrote in his letter to the editor.
Glendening has said the first priority of the storm water utility-generated fees is to pay for levee certification. A list of other priority projects, like deepening the water holding ponds inside the levees, would be established to shore up the city’s storm water system.
The council tried to establish the storm water utility in December 2008. A protest petition gathered enough signatures to put the proposed utility before voters last year, and it went down to defeat by roughly a 2 to 1 margin.
This time, the council decided to take the issue straight to the voters.
Councilwoman Karen LaDuex said a lot of misinformation was circulated about the intent of the storm water utility fee, and that petitioners used scare tactics to ensure it was defeated.
“There were insidious claims that we would raise the (storm water utility) rate to three digits,” LaDuex said. “That’s ridiculous.”

Trojan Runners Finish Strong At Prairie View

Jeff — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:00:31 +0000

By Jeff Gulley

There was a lot of new hardware earned by the Osawatomie cross country team Thursday at Prairie View.

The Trojans took first place in the boys’ varsity race, first in the boys’ junior varsity race and second in the boys’ freshmen race. The girls’ team had two top 20 finishes by the varsity runners and two top 10 finishes in the girls’ junior varsity race.

In the boys’ varsity, Derek Kueser was seventh, Devon Dozier finished ninth, Grant Maimer was 13th, Nick Lewis was 15th and D.J. Holloman was 16th.

For the girls’ varsity, Hannah Butts was 18th and Britnie Wright was 20th.

Bodhi Wallace was fifth in the boys’ jv race with Lee Chambers finishing sixth and Jerod Bechtel seventh. Zack Kleitz was eighth and Zack Owens was 10th.

Cheyanne Williams was sixth in the girls’ jv race and Britnie Whitley was eighth.

Tyler Ricken won the boys’ freshmen race.

The Trojans will run Thursday afternoon at Central Heights.

Jolene Coffelt: Miami County Medical Center Rehab Patient of the Year

Jeff — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:00:25 +0000

By Jeff Gulley

For more than a year, Jolene Coffelt has been working to get back the use of her left arm. A fall at home led to a long road of surgeries, painful procedures and doubt about whether she would ever get back to normal but the one bright spot in her ordeal was the Miami County Rehabilitation Clinic in Osawatomie.

Last week, Coffelt was honored by the Miami County Medical Center as the Rehabilitation patient of the year.

“I hear people say they don’t need rehab but I tell them they do,” Coffelt said. “I would have paid for it out of my own pocket if I had to. They are just great.”

Coffelt said she didn’t even know they had such an award but she was honored to receive it and honored to tell her story of how the rehab and therapist Theresa Pomatto helped her.

Coffelt’s ordeal began in July 2009 when she slipped on her hardwood floor and fell, breaking her fall with her left hand. She immediately knew something was wrong.

A doctor put her in a sling for 10 weeks but when that time was over, the arm was no better, in fact it felt worse.

“All I could move was my wrist,” she said.

Her doctor then put her through a painful procedure called a manipulation which put her back to square one. Her arm was immobilized for six more weeks and surgery followed.

The surgery revealed two broken bones in her rotator cuff and a 90 percent tear in the biceps muscle.

Another six weeks of immobilization followed but when the sling came off, the arm was still dead. Then came another manipulation but this time she went straight to rehab.

“I was in therapy from August 2009 to April 2010,” she said. “If it wasn’t for rehab, I don’t know what I would have done.”

With the support of her husband and parents, who moved in with Coffelt to help out, and more rehab exercises at the clinic and at home, she started getting better.

“I had 59 rehab visits,” she said. “I did stretching, wall climbs, pulleys, rubber bands and electronic stimulation. In April I was told I had regained about 85 percent motion.”

Coffelt said she was happy to have the clinic in Osawatomie so she could continue to work as a para-professional at Swenson Early Childhood Education Center.

“Our principal, Andrea Manes, was very helpful in letting me schedule sessions during the day when I needed,” she said. “Late afternoons are the busiest time and I often couldn’t get an appointment then.”

Coffelt was so appreciative of her rehab time that she volunteered at the clinic this summer and plans to continue to volunteer during breaks in the school year.

Trojans Stopped By Eagles

Jeff — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:00:25 +0000

By Jeff Gulley

Brandon Oakes rushed for 184 yards at Wellsville Friday night but the game belonged to the Eagles who dominated the Trojans in a 64-22 win.

Wellsville had scored four times before Oakes broke through for Osawatomie with a 1-yard run.

The Eagles took the opening kickoff and quickly scored on a 64-yard touchdown run.

Osawatomie tried to respond but after a nice catch and run, Austin Chisam was hit from behind and fumbled. The ball was picked up by Wellsville and returned 40 yards for a touchdown.

The Eagles added two more scores on runs of 40 and 41 yards.

The Trojans moved the ball in the second quarter to the Eagles one-yard line where Oakes plunged through for a score. Jones then connected with Dustin Doherty for the conversion.

Wellsville scored three more times in the second quarter and led 50-8 at the half.

In the third quarter, Jones hit Chisam for a six-yard touchdown pass and then Oakes scored on a 62-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Wellsville scored twice late in the fourth.

Oakes had 184 yards to lead the Trojans on the ground and had 18 carries. Drew Needham had 22 yards rushing.

Jones was 16 of 32 passing for 176 yards. Five different Trojans caught passes. Needham and Chisam each had four catches and Doherty had three. Oakes and Allen Raymer also caught passes.

Johnson led the defense with 16 tackles.

The Trojans are home Friday night and play host to Prairie View. The game is also homecoming for Osawatomie.

Volleyball Team Takes Third at Pomona

Jeff — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:00:16 +0000

By Jeff Gulley

The Osawatomie volleyball team avenged a loss earlier in the day against Burlingame to take third place at the Pomona Invitational Saturday.

The Trojans beat Burlingame 25-21, 25-19 in the consolation final to earn third place.

Tayler Soucie had 11 kills and Brianna Crain added four in the match. Jessie Adams had three kills. Crain had four aces on serves and Mackenzie Nickell had 29 assists.

Osawatomie was 2-2 in pool play losing to Burlingame 25-18, 25-14 and Osage City 25-16, 25-12.

The Trojans beat Metro Academy 25-17, 25-14. Soucie had 14 kills in the match. Suzy Waddle had four aces.

Osawatomie needed three games to top Lyndon 26-24, 21-25, 25-22. Soucie had 22 kills and six blocks.

OHS Football

Jeff — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:00:35 +0000

By Jeff Gulley

With two touchdowns runs, one to end the third quarter and one to start the fourth quarter, the Independence Bulldogs pulled away and beat Osawatomie 56-22.

The game ended Monday night with the second half being played. The game began Friday night but was delayed by the strong thunderstorms that moved through the area.

Osawatomie was close in the third quarter trailing by seven points before Independencee scored the final four touchdowns of the game.

“It’s disappointing to come out flat tonight (Monday),” coach Clint Bailey said. “We didn’t see a lot of tackling; we just didn’t wrap up.”

Osawatomie didn’t come out flat in the first quarter Friday night. Late in the first quarter, Osawatomie quarterback connected with Brandon Oakes on a screen pass. Oakes juked to the right and cut back across the field running 94 yards for a touchdown. But lightning would delay the game for an hour and a half. When the teams returned to the field, Osawatomie led 6-0.

Independence scored the next two touchdowns to lead 14-6 but late in the second quarter, Austin Chisam got behind the defense and caught a 70-yard touchdown pass. Chisam also caught the two-point coversion pass and the score was tied 14-14.

The Bulldogs threatened late in the second quarter driving deep into Trojan territory but were stopped. Osawatomie took over on downs but could not move the ball and were forced to punt. But Oakes could not handle the snap and was tackled on the 12-yard line with just over a minute left in the half.

Independence took advantage and scored on the first play to lead 22-14. The teams would not come back on the field after the half. Strong storms postponed the game till Monday night.

When the third quarter resumed, Independence scored first to lead 29-14.

Osawatomie was stopped twice on offense but got a break late in the quarter when the Bulldogs decided to try and convert a fourth-down on their own 28-yard line. They were stopped and on the first play after the stop, Jones hit Brant Johnson for a 28-yard touchdown.

But that would be the Trojans’ final score.

Independence scored four times, once in the final minutes of the third quarter and three times in the fourth.

“I think we played better Friday night,” Bailey said. “Were getting better and that’s the positive. It was tough to play Monday night but guys need to step up and play football.”

Osawatomie travels to Girard Friday night.

OHS Cross Country

Jeff — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:00:14 +0000

By Jeff Gulley

The Freshmen boys took first place and the junior varsity girls were second at the Santa Fe Trail cross country meet Thursday.

The Trojans brought home six individual medals from the second meet of the season.

“The kids ran very hard and improved their times,” coach Matt Higgins said. “It was great to get the first race of the year finished so we could settle down the first-year runners’ nerves.”

The varsity boys were ninth overall. Grant Maimer was 25th with a time of 19:05. Doug Kueser finished 35th with a time of 19:29 and Cody Applegarth was 36th with a time of 19:34.

Natalia Diediker was the only varsity girl to run. She placed 62nd overall.

Tyler Ricken led the freshmen boys with a second-place overall finish. His time was 17:43. Ethan Hampton was fourth with a time of 18:03, Seth Hampton was sixth at 18:08, Chance Jolly was seventh at 18:21 and Austin Hall was 10th with a time of 18:56.

Britnie Wright was second in the junior varsity girls’ race with a time of 20:57. Tess Newport was eighth with a time of 22:10.

Andrew Cannon was 19th overall in the junior varsity boys’ race with a time of 21:45. Jared Bechtel was 20th with a time of 21:50 and Zac Klietz was 25th with a time of 22:14. The JV boys finished in fifth place.

Bulldogs Run Past Trojans in Opener

Jeff — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:00:19 +0000

Osawatomie runningback Brandon Oakes leads the Trojans onto the field Friday night for the first home game of the season.

Anderson County dominated the first half of the home opener in Osawatomie scoring 28 points and holding on to win 36-12.
It was a rough start for the Trojans as they started their defense of the 2009 Pioneer League title.
The Bulldogs took the opening kickoff and marched down the field behind the running of Allen Troyer, Seth Bowman and Thomas Mudd. Troyer scored on a 6-yard touchdown run and Anderson County led 7-0.
Osawatomie ran three plays and was forced to punt and the Bulldogs needed only four plays to score the second touchdown of the game, a 5-yard run by Mudd.
“We will have to look at film to see exactly what happened but I think we will see we missed some tackles,” Coach Clint Bailey said. “I don’t think it was players being out of position.”
Following the second touchdown, Anderson County recovered an onside kick but the Trojans held them to only three plays and a punt.
They would score on their next possession on a 29-yard run by Troyer making the score 20-0.
The Trojans mounted their first rally drive late in the second quarter but penalties stalled the drive deep in Bulldog territory. Anderson County took over on downs with 2:36 to play in the half and scored again on a 14-yard run by Bowman. The two-point conversion made the score 28-0 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Trojans came out fired up and scored on their first drive. Brandon Oakes broke free for a 31-yard touchdown run and Osawatomie was on the board with six points.
On the next possession, Brant Johnson capped a long drive with a 2-yard run. Both conversion attempts failed but the Trojans had some momentum and trailed 28-12.
But the momentum stopped late in the third quarter when Bowman run up the middle for a 43-yard touchdown run to make the score 36-12. Neither team could muster much offense in the fourth quarter.
The Osawatomie offense was hurt by key penalties, injuries to Oakes and lineman Alex Stookey and dropped passes by receivers.
“I liked that we came out with some fire in the third quarter but too many dropped balls, we just didn’t click tonight,” Bailey said.
Oakes had a good rushing game with 122 yards on 14 carries. Johnson had 40 yards rushing on 12 carries.
Jones completed 4 of 21 passes for 41 yards. Daniel Dorsett had 34 yards receiving and Austin Chisam caught one pass for 7 yards.
Drew Needham led the Trojans with 13 tackles. Stookey had 11 and Kody Medina had 9 tackles.
Osawatomie has another home game Friday when they play host to Independence.

Other area scores:
Louisburg 33, Eudora 6
Baldwin 32, Paola 14
St. James Academy 27, Ottawa 18
DeSoto 24, Spring Hill 6
Other Kansas scores:
Anderson County 36, Osawatomie 12
Prairie View 14, Central Heights 7
Silver Lake 42, Wabaunsee 0
Wellsville 40, Jayhawk-Linn 0
Gardner 49, Blue Valley West 7
Tonganoxie 54, Bishop Ward 6
Labette County 26, Fort Scott 24
Lansing 28, Mill Valley 27
Missouri scores:
Cass-Midway 42, Appleton City 14
Sherwood 26, Drexel 6
Junior Varsity score:
Louisburg 14, Eudora 6
Freshman score:
Paola 15, Louisburg 0