BREAKING NEWS
UPDATED AFTER PRINT DEADLINE
Christopher Young, a Peabody-Burns High School social studies teacher charged Feb. 23 with eight felony charges alleging sex offenses with two students, surrendered at the courthouse Monday afternoon.
District Judge Michael Powers agreed to modify bond at the request of Young’s lawyer, John Rapp of Wichita.
Peabody Fire Chief Mark Penner expressed concerns about the state of the fire department’s air packs at Monday’s city council meeting.
The air packs provide breathable air for firefighters during dangerous situations such as structure fires.
Many locals are buzzing with the recent news of a fresh salad bar coming to Peabody Market.
The salad bar is a result of Healthy Eating: Rural Opportunities, a project initiated by the Sunflower Foundation of Topeka to ensure smaller communities have adequate access to healthy and nutritious food. Southern Marion County, including Peabody and Burns, is one of the foundation’s chosen targets.
County road crews had to jump into creative mode last week after their single small spreader for scattering sand on icy roads went on the blink, but even so, road and bridge superintendent Jesse Hamm said he lacks the equipment and materials surrounding counties have to tackle icy conditions.
“Every county that we touch does salt, as does KDOT,” Hamm said. “We’re in the era now that we need to get with the times. That little spreader we’ve got is not enough for this whole big county.”
A few weeks ago, demolition derby aficionado Evan Slater of Florence realized he had a car that wasn’t worth fixing up for another season, but he knew it still had at least one more good run left in it.
He suspected some of his driving buddies might be in the same boat, so he decided to try to pull together a last-gasp demo derby.
When Tim and Alissa Unruh’s son, Aidan, a freshman at Hillsboro High School, approached them about a project for his entrepreneurship class, it began a process that led to the creation of Menno Beans, artisan roasted coffee beans in a variety of flavors.
The Unruhs are owners of Rhubarb Market, located at The Shops at Kessler’s, in Hillsboro. They’ve been operating there since June, andoffer antique and vintage items, handcrafted furniture, repurposed pieces, baked home goodies, and now, Menno Beans coffee.
A potentially glaring conflict of interest proposed by economic development corporation treasurer Mike Beneke was avoided Tuesday when the group chose Emprise Bank for its offices.
Beneke, who recently purchased the former Straub building in Marion, stood to profit from an offer to house the offices in his building for $1,000 a month.
Graveside services for former county lake resident Illa Holtzinger, 96, who died Feb. 19, were today at Old Mission Cemetery, Wichita.
She was born Dec. 15, 1921.
IN MEMORIAM:
Douglas BlehmIN MEMORIAM:
Charlotte Dawson
When Mark Whitney, owner of Peabody Hardware and Lumber, was approached about doing some specialty pieces for a Victorian house in Peabody, he jumped at the opportunity for a new challenging project.
“The people who actually own the home live in Texas right now but plan on moving here in July,” Whitney said. “We (my wife and I) kind of took them under our wing.”
When Clara “Bunny” Kaiser of Lincolnville died in November 2013, she left her house to her son, Lester, and his wife, Barb. They lived a half block away.
The house they inherited was a 1950s mobile home surrounded by additions.
Tales of a period in American history during which business owners’ pursuit of profits led to widespread deleterious health effects will be portrayed in Tabor theater department’s presentation of “Radium Girls” by D.W. Gregory on March 8-11 in the Prieb Harder Theater in the Shari Flaming Center for the Arts.
Through the story of Grace Fryer and other women who suffered terribly as a result of industry outpacing science and neglect of persons in the name of profit, this play illustrates a critical moment in American history.
Wind farm overlay district amendments, lot split and boundary shift regulations, and the county comprehensive plan will be topics of a county planning commission meeting at 7 p.m. March 8 at Marion Community Center, 203 N. 3rd. St, Marion.
A Feb. 22 meeting was canceled due to inclement weather.
Bugs and other critters will be on display when “The Bug Lady,” Carrie Tiemeyer, presents a Lifelong Learning session at 9:45 a.m. Friday in the Shari Flaming Center for the Arts lobby at Tabor College.
Tiemeyer will have more than 20 animals ranging from tarantulas to lizards with her as she teaches about habitats, animal biology, animal diets, and other topics. Attendees will have opportunities to interact with and be up close to the animals.
Class 1A substate basketball comes to Peabody this week as Peabody-Burns Junior Senior High plays host for one of eight Division 1 tournaments.
Athletic director Tyson Kendricks said they are expecting five schools in the tournament, each bringing both their boys and girls teams.
Long winless seasons for Peabody-Burns boys’ and girls’ basketball teams came to an end Tuesday in substate games in Peabody.
The girls squared off against 7-12 Flinthills High, and the visitors experienced little resistance as they rolled to a 59-23 win.
Local school districts are reviewing their security policies with renewed urgency to see how they can be improved. All districts have crisis plans and practice tornado and fire drills. They also are learning about how to respond to an active shooter.
Hillsboro
Teachers and staff at Hillsboro schools took active-shooter training at their first in-service of the year last fall.
4-H:
Goessel Goal GettersSCHOOL MENU:
Peabody-Burns
Free developmental screenings for children age 5 and younger will be offered 3 to 5:30 p.m. March 13 in Marion by the county special education cooperative.
Appointments for cognitive, motor, speech, language, social, emotional, vision, and hearing screenings are being accepted at (620) 382-2858.
A quintet of area music professionals who perform with Wichita Symphony Orchestra and teach at area colleges will be in concert at 7 p.m. Friday in Richert Auditorium at the Shari Flaming Center for the Arts at Tabor College.
Performers included are violinist Betul Soykan, cellist Leonid Shukaev, and bassist Mark Foley, all Wichita State University faculty; violist Lillian Green of Bethany College; and pianist J. Bradley Baker, collaborative pianist and vocal coach director at Tabor College.