PEABODY Gazette-Bulletin

Responders hope to bury hatchet

Peabody Fire Department and Peabody ambulance crew members will meet this evening at the fire station in an effort to clear the air after conflicts between the two entities has created tension. “This started with something very minor,” fire chief Mark Penner said. “But it needs to be talked out.”

Woman attempts to steal school bus

The wheels on the bus failed to go “round and round” for a woman who allegedly attempted to steal a Peabody-Burns USD 398 school bus Thursday from the bus driver’s home. When police chief Bruce Burke arrived on scene in the 100 block of W. 9th St. shortly after 7:50 a.m., Emily Caldwell, 35, of Peabody, was in the bus with her child strapped into a seat.

EMS 'hostage crisis' deepens

Acceding to a plea from ambulance director Ed Debesis, county commissioners voted Friday to hire an assistant director to help with his workload. But Debesis, who earlier in the day had said he would stay if an assistant were hired, declined to rescind his resignation. And once again, commissioners declined to accept it. Dianne Novak’s motion to do so failed for lack of a second.

Adrenaline fades; memories remain

Imagine the year is 1963 — 55 years ago. Shoes squeak on the court and sweat flies as Peabody High School takes on Hill City in the Class B state high school championship game, each team having something to prove. It’s Hill City’s first year in the division after dropping from Class A. Peabody comes with vengeance after a long battle to the championship game a year before ended with a loss to Melvern.

Desert march tests local runner's mettle

Courtney Boehm of Hillsboro runs competitively, but a recent marathon-length event was unlike anything she had ever attempted. The 29th annual Bataan Memorial Death March on March 25 commemorated World War II at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Physician leaving St. Luke clinic

Physician Scott Akers, who started seeing patients at St. Luke Medical Clinic in Marion in July 2016, has put his house on the market and plans to leave the area. St. Luke Hospital CEO Jeremy Ensey said Akers’s last day will be June 8.

Kids taken into protective custody at elementary school

Multiple children at Marion Elementary School were taken into protective custody by sheriff’s deputies Tuesday after school officials contacted Marion police. “There was a staff concern over a child’s well-being,” principal Justin Wasmuth said. “We felt like we needed to call the local authorities, being mandated reporters, and we thought that was the right avenue to go in this situation.”

How often are ambulances needed?

In the first three months of 2018, predominantly full-time ambulance crews in Marion and Hillsboro handled nearly three-fourths of all county ambulance calls. Of the 328 times in which radio dispatches for ambulances were recorded, Hillsboro crews handled 38.1 percent of the calls, and Marion crews handled 35.7 percent.

Virginia Nickel

Services for former Hillsboro resident Virginia Lea Nickel, 72, Jarrell, Texas, were March 3 in Georgetown, Texas. Born June 11, 1964, in Brady, Texas, she married Leo Nickel on June 25, 1966.

IN MEMORIAM:

Accidents reported

Civil division cases

County jail bookings

Criminal division cases

Deeds recorded

Domestic Division cases

Emergency dispatches

Marriage licenses

Municipal court cases

Police incident reports

Traffic division cases

How do you use your tax refund?

Much as we like to complain about it, for most people, filing tax returns is no big deal. Getting a refund, on the other hand, is something many people look forward to.

Tips on avoiding door-to-door scams

Spring brings not only budding plants and warmer weather. It also brings out vendors selling goods and services door-to-door. Although federal law requires a three-day “cooling off” period in which you can change your mind about any item sold door-to-door, the Better Business Bureau suggests these tips to avoid having to invoke the rule:

Planning helps smooth retirement

Most dream of the day they can hang their hats up at the end of a career. At age 65, Myrna Wood is reaping the fruits of her labor after 37 years of service at McDonald Tinker law firm in Wichita.

Easiest tip for phone safety: don't participate

If Alexander Graham Bell and rival Elisha Gray had known how much of a terror their 1876 creation would become, perhaps the telephone wouldn’t have been invented. What once was the safest and best way for communication has rapidly become an enemy with unknown callers posing danger.

Utility cutoff moratorium ends

The state’s cold-weather moratorium on utility cutoffs ended Saturday. Residential electric and natural gas customers behind in their bills can see their service disconnected if they don’t contact their utility company to arrange payments.

Garbled amid the static

Journalists often are accused of focusing too much on negatives. So we’ll try this week to find the most positive thing we can say about the burgeoning ensemble of elected and appointed officials who each week star in the continuing dramatic farce known as Marion County government: Kindergartners of the world owe them a favor. No longer must innocent (if sometimes misbehaving) young children bear the stigma of society’s stereotypical derision. When someone behaves in an immature, petulant manner, we no longer need to say, “You’re acting like a kindergartner.” We instead can say, “You’re acting like a county official.”

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

Quilter did it row by row

Belinda Skiles has participated in the Row-by-Row Experience for three years, but 2017 was the first year she finished a quilt and won a prize. Her quilt is on display this week at Marion City Library along with two dozen other quilts and wall hangings.

Free operetta to poke fun at culture

An updated version of “Patience,” a satiric 1881 Gilbert and Sullivan operetta about contemporary culture, will be presented for free at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Tabor College’s Wohlgemuth Music Education Center. Originally a satire on a 19th century European movement that focused on aesthetic values, the production has replaced “Aesthetics” with “Hipsters.”

Dogs bring residents joy

The residents of Marion Assisted Living are the latest group of people to be treated to a visit from 11-year-old Meggi and 5-year-old Glynnis. The Border Collies are owned by Rex and Carolyn Savage of Florence. Rex said residents were happy to see the dogs because many of them had dogs themselves, and they enjoyed petting and relating to them.

WONSEVU:

SENIOR CENTER:

Butler bringing auto program to Peabody-Burns

Aspiring auto mechanics will soon have a local option to learn the trade through a partnership between Butler Community College and Peabody-Burns school district. Peabody-Burns High School will be home to Early College Automotive Technology Academy, Butler’s newest early college academy.
Juniors and Seniors can take automotive and general education courses that apply toward an associate degree from Butler.

SCHOOL MENUS:

Holy Land tour planned

Tabor Bible professor Douglas Miller and Bethel campus pastor Peter Goerzen will lead a 20-day tour of Israel, Palestine, and Jordan in January. Stops on the tour, designed for college and seminary students, pastors, spouses, and others, will include the Church of the Nativity.

Speech to trace rights movement

A presentation on how street politics encouraged African Americans’ ideas of freedom and equality is planned for 7 p.m. April 19 at Tabor College’s Flaming Center for the Arts. Assistant history professor Jessica Klanderud will speak on the topic “Freedom Corner and the Modern Civil Rights Movement, 1950-1968,” as part of a Tabor lecture series.

TEEN to meet

Technology Excellence in Education Network’s monthly meeting will be 5:30 p.m. April 12 at the Hillsboro school district office, 416 S. Date St.

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