By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

TOPEKA -- With the backing of his 39 fellow chamber members, Sen. Allen Schmidt, D-Hays, introduced legislation Wednesday to honor fallen soldier Bryan J. Nichols.

The single-page bill would designate the Interstate 70-U.S. Highway 183 junction as the CW2 Bryan J. Nichols Fallen Veterans Memorial Interchange.

"I got 40 senators to co-sponsor it with me," Schmidt said moments after introducing the bill. "So I think I've got a chance to get it passed."

Nichols, a native of Hays, was one of the pilots aboard a Chinook helicopter shot down by enemy fire in Afghanistan on Aug. 6.

Nichols, 31, was a 1998 graduate of Thomas More Prep-Marian High School. His funeral was on the TMP campus, in Al Billinger Fieldhouse.

Nichols' parents, Doug and Cindy Nichols, still live in the area -- in Palco -- and he was buried in Pleasantview Cemetery, just a few miles southeast of Palco.

The bill would direct the Kansas Department of Transportation to erect signs along both highways.

But the signs wouldn't be put up until enough money has been donated to cover the cost of the signs and enough money to defray future maintenance or replacement costs.

"We're going to have to raise about $20,000 to get them put up," said Schmidt, a veteran himself.

With the bill's introduction on the Senate floor, it was sent to the Senate Transportation committee.

But with such broad-based support, the senator expects the measure to move swiftly.

"I expect we'll have it on the floor next week before it gets too hot and heavy," Schmidt said of a bevy of big bills expected to be brought before the Senate.

* Diane Gasper-O'Brien

contributed to this report.