It's not often that someone receives $10,000 for their birthday; but that's exactly what happened to Bonner Springs, Kan., resident Teran Holter

She was given $50 worth of instant scratch tickets by her parents for her 19th birthday. One of those tickets – a Sudoku instant scratch ticket - made her $10,000 richer.

“When I asked for lottery tickets for my birthday, I never expected to win such a big amount,” said Holter.  “As soon as I scratched off one of my Sudoku tickets, I knew right away that I’d won big.  My mom and I were sitting at the kitchen table, so I slid the ticket over to her.  She about died when she realized it was a $10,000 winner.”

The winning ticket was purchased at Wood's Mini Mart 6, which is located on 413 E. Front Street in Bonner Springs.

Holter is a KCKCC student and she plans to use the money to help pay assorted bills.

"Once it was verified, I called all my friends and family," she said. "Only half of them believed me.  I guess good news travels fast because before I knew it, everyone in town knew I’d won.”

After getting punched first during the initial half, the Turner Golden Bears responded in the second half.

Turner defeated Bonner Springs 39-14 at Turner High School Friday night, improving to 5-1 on the season. The Bears did it this time on the legs of Rashon Thames and the efficient passing (and running) behind Nick Bloomer (both pictured at the top).

Thames carried the ball 25 times for 174 yards with two scores. Bloomer ran for one and pass for another, completing eight of 12 passes for 142 yards.

Bonner Springs jumped out to a 7-0 nothing lead behind a 22-yard Steve Williams touchdown reception from Brandon Eastland (pictured right). Bloomer responded, carrying the ball 33 yards for the game-tying score.

Bloomer connected with Brevon Guess from 60 yards out to give Turner its first lead of the ball game in the second quarter

Bonner tied the game by the half as Williams received another long pass from Eastland.

The first half was dominated by early mistakes from Turner, including key turnovers and a failed fourth down conversion.

"Bonner Springs is a tough physical team that'll hit you hard," said Alan Terrell, head coach at Turner. "It was  bad week for us with grades and illness and it caught up to us in the first half. We had a rough week."

Turner would storm into the second half, scoring 25 unanswered points.

David Bernal's 37-yard touchdown run game the Golden Bears a 20-14 lead, which would serve as the game winning touchdown. Thames added two touchdown runs from 15 and 14 yards out.

Turner's running game turned it up a notch in the second half, possibly as a result of Turner's line wearing Bonner down.

"We have a big and good offensive line and it helped," Terrell said.

Turner improves to 5-1 on the season; Bonner falls to 2-4.

Timothy Wyrick of Bonner Springs was charged with five counts of communicating threats to a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper.

Wyrick is alleged to commit the crimes on May 26, 2009, June 22, 2009, Aug. 7, 2009, Aug. 10, 2009, and Sept. 4, 2009, in northeast Kansas.

A criminal complain was filed in U.S. District Court in September. He had allegedly made the threats while working as a motorist assistance technician with the Kansas Highway Patrol. Wyrick allegedly told the troop he had picked out a place of burial.

He could face a maximum of five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count.

The upset of the night in Wyandotte County came in Bonner Springs, as the Braves defeated Piper 29-7.

Bonner jumped out to a 15-0 first quarter behind a Max Barren two-yard run and a five-yard touchdown reception from Jacob Slattery.

The Braves poured it on into the second half, as Barren scored from 29 yards out to extend Bonner's lead to 22-0. Piper's Jasper Sanders, after setting team records in rushing yards and touchdowns last week, only scored once tonight.

His 25-yard touchdown run in the third was Piper's only score of the game.

Meanwhile, Barren scored his third and final touchdown from 36 yards out to give Bonner the 29-7 win. Piper falls to 3-2 on the season, while Bonner improves to 2-3.

Three of Wyandotte County's school districts have reported an increase in enrollment for the 2009-10 school year.

The Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools District increased enrollment by 50 students from this point last year in the pre-audit numbers from the state. However, with the increased enrollment comes some bad news: The district's number of students on free or reduced lunch programs exceeded 15,000.

Enrollment is 19,600, meaning over three quarters of the district's students are dealing with issues of poverty.

Meanwhile, enrollment continues to increase in the Piper School District, as 95 new students were enrolled this year.

Since 2005, the district has increased by 27 percent in size as 366 new students enrolled. The increasing enrollment prompted the school district in passing a $29.9 million two falls ago.

The Bonner Springs-Edwardsville Public School District also experienced a significant uptake in students.

There are 85 new students in the school district this year.

(Note: I'm currently working on obtaining numbers from the Turner School District.)

Barbara Margaret Hraback of Bonner Springs, Kansas passed away on Sunday September 20, 2009 at home. 

Funeral Mass Services will be 11:00a.m. Thursday Sept. 24 at the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church (94th St. & State Ave.) in Kansas City, Kansas with burial to follow in the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church Cemetery. 

The family will receive friends at a visitation from 10 to 11 prior to the Mass also at the church.

Arrangements: Alden-Harrington Funeral Home, 913-422-4074.

A Bonner Springs man has been charged with marking threatening telephone calls to a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper.

Timothy Wyrick, 32, is also a state employee. Wyrick allegedly made the threatening calls to a the trooper on both the trooper's cell and home phones.

The calls began in March and lasted until Sept. 15. Wyrick could face five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000.

According to the Kansas United States Attorney's Office, one such call included the following passage:

"You got to leave too early from your traffic stop!
Had you in my scope!
Well, gonna be some good things happen tonight.
Oh, I got your burial site all done, ready for you.
Bye, bye.”