'Antiquing hub' growing rapidly

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, May 11, 2001 by Capital-Journal

"We are going to be amazed to see what happens to these grade school students after they get into high school after going through the computer program," Bowers said.

The all-weather track is the fourth one Bowers has built during his education career. It is an eight-lane, 42-inch track, "one of the finest tracks we could build," Bowers said.

The 1,250-seat stadium is totally handicapped accessible. The district staff served as the contractor for the press box. The stadium has a concession stand with rest rooms, and visitor bleachers were improved. Other amenities include jumping areas and two shot put areas. The stadium and track area have been seeded as well.

"It should be a beautiful show place for years to come," Bowers said.

The stadium replaces pipe and plank bleachers that had a concession stand underneath --- a facility Bowers called "woefully inadequate."

USD 378 served as host this week for the Mid-East League middle school track meet and the Riley County Invitational Track Meet. The district is looking forward to is turn to be host to the Mid-East League high school meet.

Bowers came back to his native Kansas seven years ago as a school superintendent after retiring from a 32-year education career in Downer's Grove, Ill., a Chicago suburb. He was born and raised in Republic County.

Riley is a third-class city with a mayor and five-member council. The mayor, Jerry Baer, is a co-owner of Baer Pro Payne in charge of the Riley branch. He has been in office for 4 1/2 years, after serving as president of the council. He became mayor upon the resignation of the previous mayor, then was elected to a four-year term.

Members of the city council are: Pete Jackson, Jim Goff, Alan Brown, Patricia Bloomdahl and Mike Pachta. There are three full-time and three part-time employees, as well as seasonal employees for the municipal swimming pool. Kim Leupold is the city clerk and director of Riley Housing Authority. Doug Fasse is the city superintendent for utilities and infrastructure, and Zach Baer, son of the mayor, is Fasse's assistant and city fire chief.

Law enforcement for the city is provided by Riley County Police Department. Riley County EMS provides first-responder service in Riley and Leonardville, with units in both towns. Fire protection is provided by two volunteer fire departments, Riley and Riley County Fire District No. 1, Station No. 5. Memberships tend to overlap in the two fire fighting organizations, Fire Chief Baer said.

The city has two utilities, water and waste water. Water comes from five active and two standby wells. Storage is in a 50,000- gallon overhead tank. Mayor Baer said the city never has had any water shortage, even in dry weather.

A three-cell lagoon processes sewage for the city. The city has outgrown the lagoon, "peaking out in 1983," and is looking into building new cells to handle growth. It is consulting with Schwab and Eaton, of Manhattan. Chris Cox is the project engineer. The city had the first two cells cleaned in 1989 and 1990. The city this spring improved five blocks of sewer lines by "sleeving" them to retard leakage. The city plans to continue that work, Baer said.