Members are asked to bring a $2 to $3 gift to the meeting. The chamber will provide lunch.

Frank LaPlaca will speak on tax reduction strategies.

Jingle Bell Trot helps out others

The fifth annual Tonganoxie Junior High School “Jingle Bell Trot” was held during the past two weeks at school to collect canned goods and money for the needy.

It concluded last Friday as students walked the track and listened to Christmas music during physical education classes while giving money. Each grade level collected cans of foods and boxed them up in certain rooms.

The winning ninth-grade class turned in more than 1,000 canned goods. More than 2,000 cans were turned in by TJHS students. In addition, TJHS students and teachers donated more than $250 to the cause.

The canned goods were taken to the Good Shepherd Thrift Shop and Emmanuel Revealed in Jarbalo. The money is going to a Tonganoxie family.

Jim Ryan announces Academy Nominees

Congressman Jim Ryun, R-Kan., has selected 25 high school students from the second congressional district as nominees to compete for appointments to the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy.

Area nominees include Matthew Beall, Thomas Bockrath, Phillip Brown and Timothy Shea, all of Lansing; and Nicholas Cordt, John Gregor and Roland Griffith, all of Leavenworth.

It’s time to apply for scholarships

With the first of the new year almost here, it is time to prepare scholarship applications and submit them to Kansas American Legion department headquarters.

Application deadlines for various scholarships run from February through April 15. Information and applications were sent to all American Legion Posts and Kansas high schools in September.

For information, call (785) 232-9315, or contact the Kansas American Legion Department Headquarters at 1314 SW Topeka Blvd., Topeka 66612.

Vandals damage equipment at site of new bridge

Vandals damaged equipment and barricades at the location of the bridge that is being constructed over Stranger Creek, northeast of Tonganoxie.

Sgt. Andy Dedeke, of the Leavenworth County Sheriff’s Department, said that during the weekend, vandals cut hydraulic hoses and destroyed barricades at the historic Tonganoxie cliffs location. Damage was estimated at $1,500 to the hoses and $800 to the barricades, Dedeke said.

Vandalism has been an ongoing problem at the construction site for several months, Dedeke said.

“The barricades were also damaged during demolition of the old bridge.”

Greg Leonard, service manager of Tri State Traffic Control, Stockton, Mo., the company that owns the barricades, said the company is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the vandals.

“This is the fourth or fifth time they’ve done it,” Leonard said. “For our company alone there’s probably been $5,000 worth of damage altogether.”

Leonard said vandals have also broken windows out of equipment stored at the site.