Hill City

Teacher: ‘No contest’ in bomb threat case

A Phillipsburg teacher has pleaded no contest to making a bomb threat that caused a junior high school to be evacuated.

Jan Johnson, a fifth-grade teacher with 26 years experience, pleaded no contest Tuesday to a reduced charge of making a criminal threat.

District Judge Bill Elliott said the maximum sentence for the offense was a $100,000 fine and 17 months in jail.

Johnson’s attorney, Robert Diehl, said the agreement between his client and special prosecutor Leonard Dix would include probation.

Dix is planning to seek restitution, but Diehl said he planned to challenge whether some of the parties requesting restitution deserved it. So far, 10 claims have been filed.

On the morning of March 21, a teacher — not Johnson — told Principal Rick Riffel there was a handwritten note in the girls’ locker room that said, “Bomb in the building. Get out now.”

The 220 students and staff were evacuated. A Capitol Police officer and his bomb-sniffing dog were flown in from Topeka. No bomb was found during the 90-minute search.

TOPEKA

Lawrence attorney tapped for state board

Lawrence attorney Todd Thompson will serve on the board that oversees the state’s official Web site.

Thompson was appointed by Gov. Bill Graves to the board of the Information Network of Kansas. Graves also reappointed Tom Winters of Wichita to the board.

Thompson is managing shareholder of Thompson and Associates P.A., president of Judge Hugh Means Inn of Court and is on the executive board of the Kansas Association of Defense Counsel. He graduated from the School of Journalism at Kansas University in 1975 and the School of Law in 1982.

The network is responsible for finding ways to improve access to public information, including the state’s official Web site, www.accesskansas.com.

Syracuse

Mayor charged with domestic abuse

Authorities have filed a misdemeanor domestic-abuse charge against Syracuse Mayor Garett Shamburg.

Grant County Atty. Doug Campbell filed the charge Tuesday. He declined to comment on the case.

Shamburg, who has been mayor of Syracuse since 1991, is accused of committing domestic battery Nov. 3 against his wife, Mary Shamburg. He was arrested and released on $1,000 bond.

Mary Shamburg filed for divorce soon after the incident.

McPherson

Leno gives money for car restoration

Jay Leno fans who visit the replica set of “The Tonight Show” that is part of a new attraction in New York City will be supporting a car restoration program at McPherson College.

The school teaches students how to restore antique and classic automobiles.

Leno, an avid classic car collector, for several years has helped finance scholarships for students enrolled in the school’s automotive restoration technology program — touted as the only program of its kind offered at a four-year college.

The proceeds from the attraction, which opened last weekend, will help finance more scholarships.

Kansas City, Mo.

Groups protest measure to prop up jazz district

Neighborhood festival supporters argue that neighborhood tourism money will be spread too thin if about half of it is allocated to the 18th and Vine jazz district and an account for international trade activities.

“The small organizations will suffer,” Marie Young, executive director of the Black Chamber of Commerce, told the city council’s Finance and Audit Committee on Wednesday.

Several groups that have received the tourism money in the past spoke out against the ordinance that would allocate a minimum of $675,000 to the American Jazz Museum Complex in the struggling 18th and Vine district. It also would allocate $200,000 to an account for international trade activities.

The committee postponed a decision on the ordinance until Jan. 8.