NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY FREEDOM'S FRONTIER NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA

Heritage Area honors founders and award-winners

Freedoms Frontier National Heritage Area celebrated the presentation of the first Tacha Freedom Award and Billings MVP Awards on Thursday, October 10, 2013, with a luncheon at the Liberty Theatre in Fort Scott, Kansas. Deanell Tacha and Judy Billings were in attendance at the lunch to assist with the presentation of the awards that are named for them. Both women played essential roles in the founding of Freedoms Frontier.

The Tacha Freedom award was named for Deanell Reece Tacha, Retired Judge with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. She served as the founding Chair of the Freedoms Frontier Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2010. To honor her work, the Freedoms Frontier board of trustees established an award that will engage students in grades 9-11. The Award is intended to be a way to help students learn about the issues, ideas, people and events that contribute to Freedoms Frontier themes.

This years award included a cash prize of $250. The Tacha Freedom award was presented to Jayhawk-Linn High School freshman Quentin Umphenour, Mound City, Kansas. Umphenour was nominated for the award for his portrayal of Col. James M. Williams, who led the African Americans of the first Kansas Colored Volunteer infantry. Umphenour was nominated for this award by the Lowell Milken Center in Fort Scott, Kansas.

The Tacha Freedom Award is given to high school students residing in or attending school in Freedoms Frontier, based upon a winning scholarly/creative work that relates to the history of the area and the themes of Freedoms Frontier: the shaping of the frontier, the Missouri-Kansas Border War, and the enduring struggle for freedom. This award may be presented annually to students on both sides of the Missouri/Kansas border.

The Billings MVP, or Most Valuable Partner Award is also an annual award. Judy Billings, Retired President and CEO of Destination Management, Inc., served as the founding Executive Director of Freedoms Frontier from 2006-2012 and was instrumental advocating for national heritage area designation.

To honor her work, the Freedoms Frontier board established an award to recognize individual heritage area partners (current or retired) for contributions to the heritage area. The Billings MVP award honors outstanding commitment to the advancement of the Freedoms Frontier goals and adherence to Freedoms Frontier guiding principles over an extended period of time.

The 2013 Billings MVP Award was presented to two heritage area partners: Carol Bohl, Harrisonville, MO; and Eileen Robertson, Humboldt, KS. Both are long-term advocates and supporters of Freedoms Frontier.

In 2005, Carol Bohl, then Executive Director of the Cass County Historical Society (she retired in 2011), also served as president of the Missouri/Kansas Border War Network. Bohl used this forum for open, honest discussion. The experiences that came from it helped her begin to build a group of people within Freedoms Frontier who wanted to understand both sides of the regions history.

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Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area presents first awards