BREAKING NEWS
UPDATED AFTER PRINT DEADLINE
State health officials have sounded an “all clear” for blue-green algae at Marion Reservoir.
The reservoir’s blue-green algae watch was lifted this week after being in either “watch” or “warning” status since June 10.
Spurred by mounting debt at bankrupt Hillsboro Community Hospital, delinquent taxes in Marion County have swelled to record levels for a third consecutive year.
This week’s public notice of unpaid property taxes, officially printed in the Marion County Record, lists 616 properties as owing more than two-thirds of a million dollars — $683,066.93, up 31.0% from last year.
The City of Peabody is pursuing road improvements to help with drainage and conditions.
“This is the part of the job I love,” said Jim Ralston, branch manager with construction and asphalt company APAC Shears. “I’ve measured this whole city. There’s nobody in the world who knows more about your streets than I do.”
A high-speed chase early Tuesday morning led officers from five agencies through western Marion County and northeast Harvey County.
Arrested were Kaitlyn J. Chadwick, 22, Olathe, Nathan C. Jones, 18, South Bend, Indiana, and Shelby Waddle, 27, Downing, Missouri.
The fire was so bright that Eldon
Wiens thought the sun had risen.
He didn’t know his barn had been struck by lightning Thursday morning.
A sales tax referendum planned for the ballot in November’s election is now in question.
County commissioners learned Monday that the language in legislation to allow the county to collect extra sales tax is a problem.
A beloved Durham eatery, closed after July 4 flooding, has been sold to new owners who plan to have it open before the holidays.
Wendell and Linda Wedel, who operated Main St. Café 24 years, decided it was not worth it to repair and reopen the café after nearly 32 inches of water filled the café at the height of flooding from a 7-inch rain.
A pair of black and white rabbits was reported loose to Marion police, but they might have been turned loose by the owner, police chief Clinton Jeffrey said.
“Nobody reported them missing,” he said. “Sometimes, I think people don’t want them anymore and, instead of killing them, just let them go.”
A program providing weatherization assistance for low-income homeowners or renters is now being offered by the South Central Kansas Economic Development District.
The program was previously administered for the county by a different agency, but has moved to SCKEDD, executive director Steven Wilkinson told county commissioners Monday.
An emergency notification service used in Marion County has begun issuing alerts when the Army Corps of Engineers lets water out of the dam at Marion Reservoir.
Randy Frank, Marion County’s emergency management director, said he has been asked if additional information could be included in messages from the county’s Nixle Community Information Service in the aftermath of flooding that destroyed several Marion county homes.
Although a Supreme Court ruling affirmed that Kansas must provide more money for public education, local school officials aren’t sure the money will make as large an impact as they thought.
For the fifth consecutive year, the public accounting firm Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball was named one of the top 200 in the U.S. according to INSIDE Public Accounting.
Firms ranked between 101 and 200 are credited with generating $19.2 million to $39 million in revenue for 2019. ABBB, which has an office in Hillsboro, rose from 174 in 2018 to 165 out of 200 in 2019.
Prairie View employee Amber Peterson was named office coordinator for the Hillsboro office Tuesday.
Peterson has worked with the Prairie View since 2013 as a financial counselor and receptionist.
Harvey-Marion County Developmental Disability Organization will have its regular monthly meeting at 4 p.m. Monday.
A public forum will be at the beginning of the meeting.
Jay Jost died July 31 at the Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the age of 73. Services will be 10 a.m. Aug. 31, at Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren Church rural Hillsboro.
Jay was born Aug. 18, 1945, in Hillsboro, Kansas to Jake and Selma Jost.
Arthur Klassen, 98, died Aug. 7 at Parkside Homes in Hillsboro. Services were Monday at Hillsboro United Methodist Church.
He was born March 12, 1921, to Peter and Marie (Nightengale) Klassen of rural Tampa. He married Drusilla Parrish Oct. 25, 1948, in Marion.
Stella Ruth (Heath) Weidenbener, 70, died Aug. 5 at her home in Newton.
She was born April 12, 1949, in Oklahoma.
IN MEMORIAM:
Joseph A. MakovecIN MEMORIAM:
Keith AshcraftIN MEMORIAM:
Linda FreelandIN MEMORIAM:
Vernon SnyderIN MEMORIAM:
Ralph Zeller
Right at sunset each day, my mother’s Alexa smart speaker sounds a brief but annoying tone before announcing: “We interrupt for a bulletin. A raccoon watch has been issued for your back yard. Be prepared by moving your peanuts and corn to a place of safety.”
Skipping for a moment the marvels of how technology provides such a warning, the reason it does so is clear: A gaze of raccoons — yes, that’s what a gang of such critters is called — have been pillaging her squirrel feeder as regularly as the moon shines.
You might think we would be gloating this week over the Hillsboro Free Press’s announcement that it no longer will be sent to anywhere near every mailbox in the county.
The latest places to be cut off from getting the Free Press for free in the mail will be Burns, Florence, Lincolnville, and Peabody — the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh largest cities in the county (and some of our favorite places for gathering news).
ANOTHER DAY IN THE COUNTRY:
How about a Onewheel?LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
A response
There were no tears or disappointed faces this year in Marion Activity Center’s ballroom as 73 children collected brand-new backpacks filled with needed supplies.
Thanks to the generosity of the effort’s many donors, organizers of Back to School with Backpacks had more than enough for every child Aug. 3 including 20 who showed up without filling out forms in advance, said Jeannie Wildin, a member of the charity’s committee.
The Peabody Association of churches is asking for help collecting school supplies for Peabody-Burns children and teachers.
A few of the requested items include sanitizing wipes, large boxes of Kleenex, black Expo erasable markers, wide-ruled 200 page composition notebooks, wide-ruled loose leaf paper, No. 2 lead pencils in packages of 12, jumbo glue sticks, and crayons in boxes of 24.
Ten descendants of the builder of the Pioneer Adobe House in Hillsboro met there Friday to tour the 143-year-old home.
It was built by Peter Loewen and his wife, Anna Wiebe Loewen, after they came to Kansas from Russia in 1876.
Eagle Communications, based in Hays and with customers throughout Marion County, has been bought by Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR.
The acquisition will include Eagle’s Internet broadband services, in Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado, as well as several radio stations owned by Eagle.
Government surplus commodities will arrive at senior centers on Aug. 21.
Each site will distribute them according to its own schedule and may not distribute on the same day.
Marion County Democrats will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Hillsboro Scout House in the park.
The speaker will be Sage TeBeest, chairman of 1st Congressional District Democrats. She will update the group on the Democratic presidential primary in May 2020.
First Mennonite Church and M.B. Foundation are sponsoring a fundraiser for Eric Bartel on his 35th birthday, Aug. 24.
The event will be 4 to 9 p.m. at the church at Grand and Ash Sts. in Hillsboro. It will include a car cruise organized by Wichita Clear Bra, T-shirts for sale, and a smoked pork meal at 5 p.m. in the church’s fellowship hall. To-go meals will be available.
The Technology Excellence Education Network will meet at 6 p.m. Aug. 21 at the district office.
More information is available by calling Lena Kleiner at 620-877-0237.
CALENDAR:
Calendar of eventsSENIOR CENTER:
Peabody Senior Center menuWONSEVU:
Residents of Parkside Homes in Hillsboro have special critters to cuddle.
The home has two rabbits, a mini Rex rabbit named Snickers, and a dwarf satin Rex named Brownie.
Senior centers serve noon meals to their clients, but they also provide social interaction and many special services that support good health.
At Hillsboro, musicians have a jam session every second Thursday, and every third Thursday is a sing-along. Seniors play dominoes every Monday after lunch and Bingo every Wednesday after lunch.
John Siebert’s Navy Seals graduating class will celebrate its 50th anniversary by remembering old friends and celebrating a lifetime of service.
“We’re going to have some remembrances for our teammates who didn’t make it back,” he said. “It’s going to be a party, but it’s more than that.”
Monday’s commission meeting was over, save for final optional comments from commissioners. What ensued was nearly 30 minutes of often-contentious talk about ambulance service overtime and further budget cuts.
It soon became clear that an initially ambiguous comment by commission chairman Randy Dallke was targeted at how commissioner Dianne Novak was supposedly communicating with ambulance personnel about cuts in proposed overtime pay.
Now that a new store has opened near US-50 at the east edge of Peabody, downtown stores are working on ways to attract some of that traffic.
One idea city council members liked Monday night was sprucing up 9th St. and putting up signs directing travelers to businesses on Walnut St.
Tough decisions lie ahead for Florence council members as federal remapping of flood plains could drive down real estate values and force many home and business owners to buy flood insurance.
Army Corps of Engineers workers will be surveying homes in the leveed area of Florence from Sept. 11-14, taking elevation measurements that will be used to decide if the flood risk level in those areas should be raised.
Commemorative solar eclipse postmarks and stamps will be available at Monday open houses at Marion and Peabody post offices.
A postmark featuring the eclipse date and a line of solar images progressing through the eclipse will be stamped free of charge on any item bearing first class postage.
For Austin Calam, co-manager of Java Jays Coffee Bar, coffee is more than just a morning beverage and a coffee shop is more than just a place to grab your coffee and leave.
Rather, coffee is his craft and the on-campus, student-run coffee shop at Tabor College is his place to create and savor the depths of a coffee bean.
Legal briefs, court arguments, and administrative tasks fill Courtney Boehm’s days as county attorney, and her husband Josh and son Declan vie for time evenings and weekends.
Still, in the midst of a busy life, Boehm finds time to run. She’s training to run her first marathon.
A web-based application program for Department of Children and Families and Kansas Department of Health will begin being upgraded Friday.
People applying for medical and social services from the Department of Children and families and Department of Health will soon apply through the Kansas Eligibility Enforcement System website. System upgrades begin Friday.
Taxpayers can estimate how state income tax changes enacted by the legislature will affect their personal tax liabilities by using an online calculator created by Kansas Department of Revenue.
Users will need to know their filing status, allowances claimed, and adjusted gross income.
A Hillsboro man was charged Aug. 10 with 10 sex offenses after allegedly sending pornographic images by phone to a former Hillsboro girl.
Steve A. Kahn, 58, Hillsboro, is charged with five counts of sexual exploitation of a child and five counts of promoting obscenity to minors. The alleged incidents took place over an eight-day span in November.
Services for Gloria Jean (Wodke) Potter, 68, Marion, who died Saturday at St. Luke Living Center, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Marion Presbyterian Church. Burial will follow at Strong City Cemetery in Strong City.
Visitation with family will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday at Brown-Bennett-Alexander Funeral Home in Cottonwood Falls.
“This is small-town Kansas — and it’s a good thing.”
That is what we thought as we strolled through Central Park on Friday evening during Marion’s back-to-school bash.
If you have children in your life, you are a lucky soul. Kids bring insight, joy, playfulness, and unexpected blessings. Yes, I know they are time-consuming, sometimes annoying, and a heavy responsibility, but all in all they are the spark of life!
My kids are long grown and my one and only grandson lives half a continent away, but I’m so lucky to have cousin’s kids and grandkids in my life.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
EMS pay
Fifty-three descendants of Reinhardt and Julia (Nuss) Schmidt met Aug. 5 at Tampa Senior Center for a family reunion including a potluck luncheon and slideshow of family history.
Reinhardt and Julia Schmidt were the parents of eight children born in Durham Park Township. In 1927 the family moved to a Scully lease just south of Tampa. The Schmidts’ youngest child, 98-year-old Evelyn Hensley of Winfield, was in attendance and is the only surviving sibling.
Wilma Jean Everett of Florence was guest of honor at an Aug. 5 family dinner at Carriage Manor to celebrate her 90th birthday.
Attending were Mary Jane Grimmett, Tyson and Melanie Grimmett, Bethany, and Heidi, all of Florence; Justin and Rachelle Grimmett, Ethan, Levi, Keziah, David, and Aliyah of Lindsborg; Ed and Linda Hepburn, Travis and Michelle Swift and Abby, Tanner and Tara Swift, Caitlin, John, Molly, and Parker, all of Benton; John and Arletta Everett of Grenola; Lisa Everett of Auburn; and Tom and Shiloh Everett of Cedar Vale.
The children of Joe and Arlene (Makovec) Evans request a card shower in honor of the couple’s 60th wedding anniversary Aug. 24.
Marion native Arlene Makovec moved to Chase County as a young girl, and the couple met after graduating from different high schools. They were married Aug. 24, 1957, at St. Anthony’s Church in Strong City.
Fans of 2015 Marion Chingawassa Days musical headliner Casey Donahew will have a chance to see him again at an Oct. 5 concert at the Stiefel Theatre in Salina.
Ticket and concert information is available by calling (785) 827-1998 and online at stiefeltheatre.org.
Hunters interested in getting permits for special hunts from November through February have until 9 a.m. Sept. 25 to apply to Kansas Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism.
Special hunts during these months are primarily for deer, ducks, geese, turkey, and upland game. A lottery is used to select successful applicants. About 1 in 7 applicants received special hunt permits last year.
Government surplus commodities will arrive at county senior centers today.
Marion Senior Center will distribute from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday.
WONSEVU:
Lang visits parents
When Hillsboro Senior Center needed just one more pie for its fundraising social event Aug. 9, Jeri Klose knew she had the perfect homemade apple pie recipe to fill the need.
Complete with flaky crust topped with cinnamon, quarter-chopped apples tossed in cinnamon and sugar, and a whole lot of love, Klose’s apple pie helped fill the hole in a table topped with pumpkin, peach, and pecan-filled pies.
Bad breath, mouth pain, fungus infections in the mouth, sore throat, and sticky saliva which can cause difficulty speaking and eating all are signs of dry mouth.
Besides being a nuisance, dry mouth sets the stage for cavities to form because saliva helps keep teeth healthy.
Many people lose some of their hearing ability as they get older. For Bob Wall of Hillsboro and Effie Smith of Marion, both 71, experienced hearing problems that came on gradually.
Both have found help through hearing aids.
Budget requests top the agenda for a Senior Citizens of Marion County board meeting at 9:30 a.m. Friday at Peabody Senior Center.
Also to be discussed are nursing recognition nominations.
While a formal budget hearing at Monday’s school board meeting was postponed, Peabody-Burns superintendent Ron Traxson’s report that the district would have $18,000 less to spend this year was good news.
“I was anticipating $70,000 to $80,000, so I can live with that,” Traxson said.
Your lips look different when you say “err” instead of “ellll,” and it’s not something most native English speakers notice.
Esther Schmidt, 25, knows exactly what movements to look for, which will be helpful as she begins teaching English to middle schoolers in Jingu, South Korea, as part of English Programs in Korea, a program that hosts guest English teachers.
The Aug. 21 total solar eclipse presents a rare learning opportunity for students as well as a rare phenomenon for anyone to see.
Area schools are making plans ranging from at-school viewing to a road trip to Hiawatha.
Athletic trainer and 2004 Goessel High School graduate Nick Peters was perhaps on the verge of something big as he was beginning a second year of working with the NFL’s Denver Broncos.
Having completed a college internship with the Tennessee Titans and with two years of advanced internship experience with the Broncos, Peters might well have gone on to a career in the pros.
Youth ages 15 to 23 are eligible to participate in a contest designed to spread positive messages about agriculture.
The “Gen Z Speaks Ag” advocacy contest has categories for photography, videography, special events, and education activities that portray farmers, ranchers, and other facets of agriculture using the theme “Ag Day is Every Day.