Four young soldiers from Mound Valley were honored during a “send off” dinner hosted by the Flagpole Festival Committee last Saturday.

One of the soldiers, E4 Zach Hight, was returning from a year of service in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army where he worked as an air controller.

Hight is the son of Kim Hedrick of Mound Valley and the late Craig Hight, and the step-son of Bo Hedrick. He is returning to his wife, Lisa, and their two sons, Gavin and Zane. Lisa is also a Mound Valley native.

Hight had originally planned to attend the Saturday event but there were delays and he was still en route to Fort Campbell, Ky. He was expected to arrive back in Labette County by midweek.

The three Mound Valley soldiers who will soon embark for Afghanistan are Jacob Rion, Joel Franklin and D.J. Bush, and all three were present, along with their families. Read more

Robin Oldham will write winter sports for Labette Avenue, according to editor Rena Russell.

Russell said Oldham worked alongside her in the preparation of fall sports and she is looking forward to her continued involvement with the newspaper.

“Robin will cover sports for Chetopa, Oswego and Labette County High School, and will be working with the coaches to prepare information for our newspaper,” said Russell.

“We encourage all coaches to send us information and statistics — just send them directly to me at labetteavenue@taylornews.org and we’ll make sure the information gets to the right person,” said Russell.

Oldham works from her home and stays in constant communication with the newspaper by email.