EDITOR’S NOTE: Each Friday, The Gazette salutes those who make Emporia and the surrounding area a better place to live and work. The following folks deserve a pat on the back ...
EMPORIA STATE UNIVERSITY senior volleyball player Arica Shepard, who was named the MIAA hitter of the week Tuesday for her performance at the UNO showcase over the weekend in Omaha, Neb. Shepard had a .355 hitting percentage in the Hornets’ four wins at the Showcase. She also had 55 kills, 41 digs, four blocks and a service ace.
• Emporia Spartans soccer team, which won its first game 9-1 against Junction City last Friday.
• NASCAR racer Clint Bowyer, who stopped in town over the weekend and left $250,000 behind for special projects to benefit children and others in the community. Bowyer held his second annual golf tournament, dinner and auction to raise money for the 79 Fund he established with the Emporia Community Foundation.
• Lyon County Deputy Cory Doudican, who is busy training the sheriff’s department’s new K-9 officer, Goose, a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois. Goose will take over from the department’s previous K-9 officer, Tito, who suffers from congestive heart failure and arrythmia and has been sent to the Coffey County’s Sheriff’s Department, where he is being used only for narcotics work.
• Emporia Police Officers Tanner Monhollon and Mike Dunn, who intervened during a domestic violence dispute while in Salina for training on Aug. 18 and 19. The two officers witnessed a Salina man beating a woman on the street and got involved long enough to stop the beating and get the Salina police involved.
• The anonymous donor who has pledged $75,000 to the Emporia Arts Council to challenge the organization to raise $62,000 by the end of the month. The money will go toward helping EAC reach its $2.8 million goal to build a new arts center in downtown Emporia. And a pat also to all who donated the first $21,000 toward the challenge.
• The ESU football team, which won its season opener against Southwestern Oklahoma State 48-17 a week ago.
• The Newman Regional Health Hospital Auxiliary, which will present a $1,278 check to the Greensburg Hospital Auxiliary on Sept. 8. The money will go to help Greensburg’s hospital as it continues to rebuild after a tornado struck the town in May, 2007.
Russ Morgan
Reporter