25 years ago
july 23, 1980
Registration for the draft began this week for 20-year-old males. For the traditional "peace" churches — including Mennonites — the issue is particularly touchy. As a result of a recent Exploratory Peace Study, the local Mennonite Brethren churches support the conscientious objector position, but encourages registration. The General Conference Mennonites have adopted a similar, but perhaps more anti-registration position, supporting, emotionally and financially, those choosing to refuse to register for religious reasons.
A malfunction in the hay baler started a hay fire two miles north and two miles west of Lehigh. Harlin Koehn was baling the windrowed hay when the fire started and quickly spread to the trees, causing flames to leap 30 feet high. According to Assistant Fire Chief Chuck Abrams, Hillsboro firemen battled the fire for about 2 1/2 hours before extinguishing it. Damage estimates were from $1,000 to $1,200. The land belonged to Orlando Voth of Goessel.
A pair of Hillsboro tracksters were in Hutchinson Saturday for the Annual Hutchinson Knights of Columbus Track Classic. Don Penner, Hillsboro High School track coach, took first in both the discus open division with a toss of 130' 11" and the shot put open division with a throw of 40' 7 3/4". Angie Helmer took first in the 100 meter race (12.9 seconds), the 220 yard dash 27.0 seconds), and the 440 yard dash (1:07.10). Her winning times in the 220 and the 440 set new meet records.
