BREAKING NEWS
UPDATED AFTER PRINT DEADLINE
A resurgent outbreak of COVID continued unabated Monday with disclosure of 17 new cases. They follow a record 55 new cases Wednesday and Friday along with the county's fourth and fifth pandemic deaths.
No identifying information has been provided about the new deaths — one reported Wednesday and the other reported Friday — or about the new cases, reported Wednesday, Friday, and Monday.
Donation to splash pad might have been improper use of COVID funds
By PHYLLIS ZORN
Staff writer
A downtown Hillsboro medical clinic operated by Herington Hospital is illegal, and a $100,000 donation from the hospital to a Hillsboro community splash pad may have improperly used COVID-19 funds.
A month before her suicide, Julie Starks’s life was making a turn for the better. She just had become engaged to her boyfriend, Matthew Bice.
“She was happy about it,” her mother, Kathy Parrish, said. “She was excited.”
Marion city council ignored pleas for more time from the owner of a property earlier deemed an ‘illegal dump site’ Monday evening and ordered outbuildings and a fence demolished.
The action caps more than year of disputes between the city and Kevin W. Geren.
COVID-19 vaccines are expected to arrive in the county sometime next week, but the exact date isn’t known yet.
The vaccines were delivered in Topeka over the weekend and have been sent to hospitals in larger cities.
Marion police chief Clinton Jeffrey’s Sunday morning call to investigate $16,000 worth of stolen Lego sets was a first, but he knew the loss was about more than toys to the owner.
“I never honestly thought we’d get a search warrant for Legos,” he said. “I mean, it’s just like anything else, a valuable item to somebody.”
Hillsboro police still are looking for the owner of a possibly stolen vehicle that was abandoned near an alley in Hillsboro a week ago, and turned up at the site of a wreck four days later out in the county.
Police were called Dec. 9 about a 1993 Ford Explorer blocking a resident’s access to a private alley. Police and the landowner decided to let the vehicle sit a few days in hopes that someone would claim it.
The ceiling and balcony of St. John Nepomucene Catholic Church is being repaired and its communion rails restored just in time for Christmas.
The church’s parishioners cannot wait to see the results of the remodel after years of patience, said volunteer Harriet Bina.
County commissioners spent most of their Monday meeting in secret sessions.
The longest session, 45 minutes, was called for discussion of potential litigation with county counsel Brad Jantz.
Hillsboro city council members Tuesday approved an agreement to formally transfer ownership of the Salem Home building to the nursing home.
Part of the agreement is that the city will pay Salem Home $34,431.73 to cover the cost of fire sprinkler system repairs made necessary when Tabor College took over the other wing of the building last summer. The wing is now a COVID-19 isolation facility.
Farmers in northeast Marion County soon may have more access to diesel fuel, thanks to MFA Oil’s purchase of the former US-77 Pit Stop building in Lincolnville.
The propane and gas supplier plans to set up a gas station there. The building is well situated between MFA’s Marion, Tampa, and Herington sites, MFA branch manager Thomas Cushing said.
Marion County schools have 68 students and faculty in quarantine, and three more in isolation, but sports soldier on, including Marion boys basketball, which returned after a weeklong hiatus.
Marion basketball hadn’t played since its Dec. 8 game after several players were quarantined but returned to action just in time for Tuesday’s matchup against rival Hillsboro.
Years after retiring as a full-time cop and city administrator, Marion mayor David Mayfield has plunged back into part-time police work.
Mayfield, 72, now works part-time transporting prisoners for the sheriff’s office.
Donations to Peabody Community Foundation have reached $6,000, allowing for matching funds from the Jewell Family and the foundation board of directors.
Applications for the 2021 grant cycle will be taken through Jan. 6. More information is available from Becky Nickel at (620) 951-4022.
Peabody’s Community Candlelight Christmas Eve Service will begin with a 5:30 p.m. concert and 6 p.m. worship Dec. 24 at St. Paul Lutheran Church. Face masks and social distancing will be required.
Services for Michael James Combs, 72, who died Dec. 3 at his home near Lincolnville, were Dec. 11 at St. John Nepomucene Cemetery, Pilsen.
Born in 1948 in Wichita, to Jerry and Rosie (Hein) Combs, he married Christine Lies on Oct. 15, 1971.
Private services for Amelia Hein, who died Dec. 9 at Salem Home in Hillsboro, will be at Durham Park Cemetery, rural Durham.
She was born Jan. 26, 1922, in Renfrow, Oklahoma, to Frank and Libby Prochaska.
Services for Melvin Joy, 87, Durham, who died Saturday at Parkside Homes, Hillsboro, will be at a later date at Durham Baptist Church.
Born Jan. 23, 1933, in Amorita, Oklahoma, to John and Alma (Hoff) Joy, he married Donna Dorene Benningfield on Oct. 21, 1955, in Alva, Oklahoma.
Former Goessel resident Ryan Wesley Kendall, 32, died unexpectedly of diabetic complications Nov. 23.
Born Dec. 2, 1987, to Ron and Julie Kendall in Newton, he graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and worked for Stahly Engineering & Associates, Helena, Montana.
Public viewing for Rufus Lohrenz, 100, Hillsboro, who died Dec. 11 at Hillsboro Community Hospital, will be 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at Jost Funeral Home, Hillsboro.
A private Celebration of Life service will be Saturday at Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren, rural Hillsboro.
Marion retiree Violet F. Richmond, 82, died Thursday at St. Luke Hospital.
Born Feb. 14, 1938, in Lincolnville to Frank and Amelia (Holub) Franta, she married James L. Richmond on Feb. 20, 1960, in Pilsen.
IN MEMORIAM:
Adeline Bernhardt
IN MEMORIAM:
Richard Loewen
IN MEMORIAM:
Dorothy Riffel
Journalists and politicians appear to have one thing in common. They willingly subject themselves to all manner of criticism — often of a personal nature.
This week’s Letters to the Editor contains a response from Marion County commissioners to an editorial published here four weeks ago.
ANOTHER DAY IN THE COUNTRY:
The Great Ramona Baking Show
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Commissioners respond,
Novak urged to resign
Marion’s lifetime fitness class is in its second year, but already it has become popular with students who want to try sports out of the norm for most gym classes.
Among the activities students have tried so far are biking, team handball, and archery.
A longtime Goessel grocery store will soon get a new name, but the new owner will be a familiar face.
James Janzen, a 20-year employee of Keith’s Foods, will buy and take over the market in January when current owner Keith Banman retires.
Worried how Santa will get your Christmas letter this year? Santa and his elves are accepting letters online at https://mnks.us/santa/
They will be able to read new letters until Dec. 19 but will have to stop taking letters then so they can prepare gifts. Letters submitted online also will appear in our Dear Santa section next week.
Harvey-Marion County Developmental Disability Organization will hold its regular meeting at 4 p.m. Dec. 21.
The meeting will be held online. To get instructions to join the meeting, visit the website and click on the “contact us” link.
4-H:
Happy Hustlers
CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
Calendar of events
MEMORIES:
10,
25,
55,
70,
100,
140 years ago
About 14 volunteers and their dogs joined Victor Buckner, in spreading holiday cheer to residents of Marion’s long-term care facilities.
The group braved chilly temperatures in the 30s to show off their pets to residents who might miss theirs — or who just need some cheering up.
Lucille Bitner has years of experience cooking and baking but she started seriously paying attention to preparing healthy foods after she started having heart problems five years ago.
“It may cost you more money but in the long run it’s better for your health,” she said. “That’s what we keep saying, ‘it’s costly, it’s costly.’ You have to eat well to be well.”
Marion and Hillsboro’s game Tuesday, which ended in an 85-22 victory for the Trojans, was a collision of teams at two very different places in their seasons.
For Marion, it was an opportunity to show how much it was able to grow in the first two weeks of play, while for Hillsboro it was a time to exert dominance over a county rival, and both succeeded in their own ways.
Hillsboro boys closed last week by securing a 50-49, two-overtime victory Thursday over Lyons, and winning 37-35 Friday over Inman.
The Trojans’ offense in each game ran through Brekyn and Grayson Ratzlaff. They were Hillsboro’s only players to clear 10 points Thursday and were two of three Trojans to score double-digits Friday.
The basketball season is young, but Marion and Hillsboro girls teams might already have missed their biggest games of the regular season since their head-to-head tilt in Marion was postponed to a later date Tuesday due to COVID-19.
After a rocky start, Hillsboro girls have grabbed three consecutive victories, including a decisive 41-28 victory Thursday over Lyons, and 39-23 Friday against Inman.
Hillsboro wrestling had a successful opening competition Friday at Ellis, placing fifth out of 12 schools in the Railer Round Robin, but the Trojans’ 91.5 team points were just 2 points behind 4th-place Stockton.
Seven wrestlers won at least one match for Hillsboro, and Ryder Nordstrom, Jordan Bachman, Tristan Rathbone, and Austin Rempel placed in the top-three of their weight classes.
Centre FFA’s Greenhand team placed first in the South Central District agriculture sales career development event, it was announced Tuesday,
Payton Svitak placed first in the Greenhand individual category, while Leah Brunner was third, Karsen Kroupa was fourth and Allie Stuchlik placed seventh.