MAUGANS, LOCAL HERO, HONORED
 In something of a surprise to the family and friends of Jamie Maugans, last week Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt announced a bill that would rename the Derby, KS Post Office to the SGT JAMIE O'DELL MAUGANS POST OFFICE.

Maugan's family had been aware of the idea of renaming something in the city after the war hero, but the announcement still came as something of a surprise. The family had not heard anything more about the movement beyond the initial contact by Tiarht's office in Topeka and only learned of the State's final decision to move forward with the bill after hearing about it on the local news!

As a close friend of Jamie's I was definitely one of those among the shocked and surprised to hear the announcement on the news. His mother would be the first to tell you she was among them too. That's not to say anyone was dissapointed or upset by the honor; quite the opposite. Many people feel that Jamie's actions, like those of the other soldiers were were the first to answer the call of his country, have been overshadowed in a small way by the events taking place in Iraq.

SGT Maugans was an EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) soldier deployed to Afghanistan in November of 2001, just weeks after the September 11th attacks in New York. His task was daunting: secure, catalog, and destroy the millions of tons of weapons, explosives, and landmines riddling the countryside. Afghanistan is notorious for the sheer number of landmines infesting its land. The current estimate is that nearly 284,672 square miles of land mines STILL need to be removed. This does not even include the countless caches of weapons, and unexploded ordinance hidden in caves and buried underground. As a quick frame of reference, the square mile total for the State of Texas is 268,581. It's a SERIOUS problem.

On April 15th, 2002, Jamie along with the rest of his squad were sent out to destroy one such weapons cache discovered in a cave. Unbeknownst to them, the cache had been trapped and as they went about their routine, the trap detonated the cache of weapons, killing SGT Maugans and four others instantly...including another soldier from Kansas.

Family and Friends of SGT Jamie Maugans are proud of him, are honored by his service, and are genuinely happy to have the State of Kansas acknowledge his sacrifice so appropriately with the renaming of the Derby Post Office. This is one of serveral honors Jamie has received from his personal award of the Purple Heart, to the Turnpike renaming the Belle Plaine Rest Stop after him, and to the many web memorials out there acknowledging his service. I'm proud to call him friend.

For More Information about Jamie Maugans please visit his website: http://www.jamiemaugans.com

Chief Everhart