Trooper
a familiar face

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Marion County’s second assigned trooper has a familiar face.

Nicholas Kleiber, 31, is a Tampa native who graduated from Centre High School in 2011, then went to Fort Hays State University for a degree in criminal justice, graduating in 2015.

“It’s always been something that interested me,” Kleiber said.

His first job out of college was working for Buckeye Wind Farm northwest of Hays.

He joined the Hays Police Department in 2018 but found he didn’t care for that.

“I wasn’t impressed with being in town all the time,” Kleiber said.

He also wanted to return to where he was close to relatives.

His parents, Lynn and Peggy Kleiber, and sisters, Amanda Baxa and Andrea Klenda, still live in the county.

In 2019, he began working as an equipment operator for Kansas Department of Transportation in Marion County.

He became a reserve deputy for the sheriff’s office in 2021 and then was accepted into a Kansas Highway Patrol training program. He started training in January and graduated June 7.

Sending Kleiber back to Marion County must have been an easy decision for the highway patrol.

“They ask you to put down three locations where you want to go, and I put down one,” he said.

What made being a state trooper look better than a city police officer was the freedom of work on the highway.

“You get to be as active as you want to be,” he said.

Kleiber is completing 77 working days riding and driving with another trooper.

He has a piece of advice for drivers in Marion County.

“Be safe on the roadways,” he said.