BREAKING NEWS
UPDATED AFTER PRINT DEADLINE
A blue-green algae warning for Marion Reservoir went into effect Thursday, the first such warning of the season.
Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued the warning based on sampling of the lake conducted June 7 which
Hedge rows ripped apart, and roads ripped up have left 14 West Branch families living on Chisholm Trail Rd. between 90th and 120th Rds. ready to rip into county officials.
“It looked like a tornado had gone down the road,” resident Dana Gleason told county commissioners Monday. “Culverts are smashed in so that water won’t go through them. They literally tore that road to pieces.”
Peabody City Council went into executive session for 10 minutes to discuss personnel Monday night. On return to open meeting, council members voted to hire Jonna Munson to fill the position of Peabody City Treasurer. Munson will be paid $13 per hour. She will receive a $.50 per hour raise with a satisfactory job performance report at the end of a six-month probationary period.
Munson was one of eight applicants for the position.
A chorus of red-eyed and orange-winged minstrels is singing in the verdant trees near Florence.
Brood No. 4, the Kansas brood, of 17-year cicadas recently emerged after spending 17 years underground, awaiting the right moment to break into song.
They had walked about 45 miles in two days, and as the sun rose Sunday at Aulne Methodist Church, about 180 walkers in the annual pilgrimage for Army chaplain Father Emil Kapaun woke to prepare for the final 15-mile leg to Pilsen.
Scattered throughout the church lawn, some shook off the accumulated toll of miles, heat, and humidity by stretching, while others bandaged blistered feet. Many who started with them in Wichita hadn’t made it to Aulne.
Commissioners Monday approved spending $6,185.52 on improvements to help the food building at Marion County Fair meet health codes.
Fair Manager Kelli Savage said the upgrades also would “present an opportunity to market the building for year-round availability instead of the limited options we currently have.”
For those who detest serpents, two new champions have emerged in the fight against snakes.
Marion residents Sarah Tolessa and Alicia Nienstedt kill the legless reptiles with very little hesitation. The two have sent almost 30 snakes to their doom.
Staff photos from Chingawassa Dyas 2015.
Former Hillsboro resident Dora L. Kriegsman, 78, died Tuesday at Asbury Park in Newton.
A graveside service will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Hillsboro Lutheran Cemetery.
Former Kingfisher’s Inn waitress Laquetta R. “Luke” Siebert, 77, died Saturday at Bethesda Home, Goessel.
No visitation or services are planned. A family inurnment will be scheduled at Marion Cemetery.
IN MEMORIAM:
Mike Hodges,
Betty Kyle,
Anne Yoder
Recent rain had a mixed effect on Marion County crops in May. Wheat yields are likely to be above average. Corn is a different story.
Moisture and extended cool temperatures have had a detrimental influence.
When a farm wife loses her husband, she can sell the farm, rent it to others, or keep it in the family and help keep it going.
From mail carrier to farm manager
Are Gary and Marilyn Jones farmers? They’re split on the issue. Gary, a retired vocational agriculture teacher, says “not really.” Marilyn would say so. After all, they had a lot of sheep at one time.
They’re definitely not traditional Marion County farmers. Their land spans about 100 acres, less than one-sixth the average farm size in the county. It was 10 when they bought it. Through neighbors moving away or dying, they’ve grown their land, piece by piece.
Mark Whitney is a busy guy. He and his wife, Ginger, own and operate Peabody Hardware and Lumber.
They have just about finished remodeling a home on Maple St. The hardware store has a second story full of architectural salvage he sells to others interested in building or remodeling. He also has a shop in the lumberyard building behind the store where he does repair work or small building projects for others.
About two years ago, he found a pile of rusty old pedal tractor parts in a friend’s yard that piqued his interest. The friend gave the parts to Whitney, and that was the beginning of yet another hobby for the Peabody merchant — finding and restoring old pedal tractors.
“I didn’t know much about pedal tractors or cars when I started on that one,” he said. “I did a lot of looking online and started rebuilding the tractor. Eventually I found I liked the hunt for parts and liked the process of restoring something that probably provided a great deal of joy for a child years ago.”
Taylor Harms of Lincolnville apparently has yet to meet a learning opportunity she doesn’t like.
One would think the 2012 Marion High School graduate had enough on her plate, majoring in family studies and human services at Kansas State University, with animal sciences and industry and leadership studies as minor concentrations.
It is not too early to be thinking about getting yourself, your family, your home, and your parade entry ready for the 94th annual July Fourth extravaganza in Peabody. It is just a few weeks away, and there is plenty to do between now and then.
There, I said it. I have spent some serious time looking at a blank computer screen while trying to think of a topic to fill this space.
Jim Moore, the United Parcel Service man known as “Radar,” will retire next week after 27 years of service, 23 in the Peabody area.
In honor of Shirley Krause’s birthday June 15, a group of friends gathered to play bridge: Shirley, Betty Walker, and Jeanne Smith enjoyed dessert-bridge at the home of Joan Berns.
A jam session Friday night, a banjo clinic and fiddle workshop Saturday, a Victorian dance Saturday night, and historical craft demonstrations Sunday are planned this weekend in downtown Cottonwood Falls.
The main event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday in the free, 17th annual Flint Hills Folk Life Festival will be presenters in period dress demonstrating skills necessary for life on the prairie in the 1860s.
Budgeting for the coming fiscal year will be the major item on the agenda when the board of Harvey-Marion County Community Developmental Disability Organization meets at 4 p.m. Monday at 500 N. Main, Suite 204, in Newton.
BURNS:
Granddaughter performs at dance recitalWONSEVU:
Snellings go to state, celebrate a birthday
Budget talks dominated the discussion Monday at USD 398’s board of education meeting.
With no approved budget from the state legislature, the board was reluctant to make financial decisions because most of the money the district had left was in its local option budget. The school’s spending contingencies were down from previous years.
Several colleges and universities have announced degrees and honors received by Marion County students.
FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY
Dean’s honor roll (3.6 to 4.0 semester GPA)
Goessel — Physics major Aidan Winblad.
Hillsboro — Elementary education major Andrea Fish
HUTCHINSON COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Associate degree in nursing pins
Lincolnville — Melissa Combs.
Marion — Victoria Schmidt and Emalee Versch.
KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Semester honors (3.75 to 4.00 GPA)
Canton —Hannah Franzen.
Florence —Alicia Maloney.
Hillsboro —Bailey Kaufman and Aaron Klassen.
Lincolnville —Carrie Carlson and Taylor Harms.
Marion — Megan Davies, Kathryn Ehrlich, Erika Just, Lauren McLinden, Zachary Robson, and Derek Stuchlik.
Peabody — Emily Harris, Broderick Kyle, Wesley Shaw, and Derrick Till.
Tampa — Morganne Hamm, Nicholas Meyer, and Grant Srajer.
McPHERSON COLLEGE
Honor roll (3.55 to 4.00 GPA)
Hillsboro — Maci Schlehuber.
Free developmental screening for children ages 5 and younger will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 23 at Marion Presbyterian Church.
The screenings, which take at least an hour, will check vision, hearing, cognitive, motor, speech, and social development.
Technology Excellence in Education Network (TEEN) board members will meet at 6 p.m. June 17 at the USD 408 district office, 101 N. Thorp St., Marion.
More information is available from Lena Kleiner at (620) 877-0237.