Hill-Topics
We interrupt this silly column to bring you Really Big News!
Milky Way, the wayward, non-venomous, milk snake which caused such a stir four weeks ago when it escaped from its cage in Mrs. Overstake's fifth-grade class at Hillsboro Elementary School, and which was the object of an all-school search, and which caused such deep heartache and consternation before being given up as lost and gone forever, has incredibly, miraculously, been found!
In other words,
Goodness!
Gracious!
The snake's alive!
Hoping the snake hadn't slithered out the school house door, Mrs. Overstake tried everything to lure it out of hiding, including a heating pad and a morsel of mouse.
But since it didn't show up, Mrs. O assumed it was gone.
All of this was traumatic for the students. They'd grown fond of the "rescue snake," which had been given to the class by a state wildlife officer after being rescued from smugglers.
Mrs. Overstake was in the process of getting a replacement reptile, when lo and behold
When Maura Wiebe opened the door to her fourth-grade classroom April 9, she saw something slithering around on the floor.
For the rest of the story, we go to our eyewitness reporter, Erin Wiebe, a fifth-grade student in Mrs. Overstake's class.
"Well since Mom's a teacher, we were there before school starts," Erin said. "I had gone and gotten a drink from the water fountain and when I came to the classroom, she was calling me. She was kind of scared
"[Fifth-grade teacher] Doug Dick and [fourth-grade teacher] Mike Jilka got a box and kind of chased it around, but it kept slithering under the desks and the chairs."
The teachers finally boxed Milky Way and returned him to his cage, to the delight of all the students, who'd been bummed out when he got away.
"We were all pretty sad when we found out it was gone, when it went missing," she said. "We thought it was gone for good. But everyone was really excited when it came back."
Milky Way's miraculous return reminds me of a song we used to sing with our children, called "The cat came back."
The song tells about a man who had a cat that he didn't want, but when he tried to get rid of the cat, the cat kept coming back.
Maybe the fifth-graders could change the words to tell the story of how "The snake came back."
One verse of the song goes,
They took him down to Cape Canaveral and they put him into place; And they shot him in a satellite way up into space;
They thought that the cat was beyond human reach; But then they got a phone call, from Miami Beach
[Chorus:] But the cat came back the very next day; The cat came back, they thought he was a goner; But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away!
* * * * *
About 175 people showed up at Sunday's benefit supper for Liz Lancaster at the First Baptist Church in Durham.
Liz, 27, who is beating cancer, but not her rising medical bills, was obviously overjoyed to see so many friends there to celebrate her recovery and wish her well, including former classmates and teachers, such as her sixth-grade teacher Len Coryea.
Liz's parents, Dave and Mary Lancaster of Hillsboro were delighted as well.
Volunteers from all generations helped in the kitchen, busing tables, and preparing baked goods for the auction, which auctioneer Tim Diener made fun for one and all.
More than $3,000 was raised. If you weren't able to attend, donations may be sent to the Liz Lancaster Fund c/o the Hillsboro Star-Journal, Box 10, Hillsboro, 67063.
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Congratulations to Hillsboro High graduate Alan Yoder, a senior at Fort Hays State, who won the decathlon at the D-II Challenge, held Friday and Saturday at Emporia State and Kansas State Universities.
Because of Friday's blizzard conditions, after two events outdoors at ESU, the pole vault was moved the KSU's indoor facility. The rest of the two-day, 10-event challenge was held outdoors.
By scoring 6,538 points, Yoder earned a provisional mark for the NCAA Division II nationals. Alan is the oldest son of Evan and Becky Yoder.
* * * * *
Speaking of track and field, we're excited for Hillsboro senior Hannah Marsh, who signed to run track next year at Wichita State University.
Marsh is a hard-working, well-rounded athlete, and a very good pole vaulter, which is the event she plans to specialize in at college. And with her running and jumping abilities, she could certainly become a multi-event specialist as well.
I know that would make WSU coach Steve Rainbolt a happy man. How do I know this?
Steve and I were decathlon teammates at the University of Kansas. He was an NCAA All-American in the decathlon in 1980, and competed at the 1980 US Olympic Trials.
In the six years Rainbolt has been at WSU, he has been named the Missouri Valley Conference's Indoor and Outdoor men and women's coach of the year five times.
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Remember last week's front-page photo of the Trojan baseball player, with the caption that read, "Who's on third for Hillsboro?"
Well, we really didn't know who was on third after all, because it wasn't who we said it was.
We give ourselves an F for sloppy reporting, and offer our apologies to the athlete in the picture — sophomore Robby McClelland.
— GRANT OVERSTAKE
