PEABODY Gazette-Bulletin

HEADLINES

Hillsboro crime rate is double county's
Hillsboro’s crime rate last year was more than double that of the rest of Marion County, according to data released Monday by Kansas Bureau of Investigation. But both it and the county as a whole had crime rates substantially below state averages.
Logjams devastate county bridges
Torrential rains and flooding June 17 to 18 have severely threatened at least four county bridges, but the county may be eligible for a grant to pay for clearing the jams. Commissioners voted Monday to allow road and bridges employees to apply for a Natural Resources Conservation grant that might cover 75% of the cost.
Peabody finally picks new chief
After three separate executive sessions in a meeting that stretched over two hours, Peabody City County voted Monday to appoint Matthew Neal police chief. Neal has been retired for a year from his most recent job, the main school resource officer at Rose Hill schools.
Loose, aggressive pets a dogged issue
Loose dogs are a difficult issue to discuss. But like wind farms and DUIs, the issue is persistent, an itch that won’t go away. Two weeks ago, five separate incidents involving loose dogs were reported by police in Marion and Hillsboro.
Thrift shop is having to bargain with staff shortages
The unassuming St. Luke Auxiliary Shoppe operates differently from every other store in Marion. It is open only two days a week, and even then, only for half a day.
County names new interim EMS chief
After serving as ambulance director for a year and interim director repeated times, Chuck Kenney is glad county commissioners appointed a new interim ambulance director Monday. Commissioners appointed paramedic Mickey Price, a supervisor in the department, as interim director.

OTHER NEWS

Hail at Hillsboro damages cars
Quarter-sized hail fell Saturday at Hillsboro, damaging cars at dealerships there. Randy Hagen, office manager and former owner at Hillsboro Ford, said an insurance adjuster already has inspected car damage.
Marion may seek bigger tax levy
Marion City Council members got a tutorial on creating a budget Monday, and it appears the city will announce plans to exceed the revenue neutral rate. Accountant Scot Loyd brought a sample budget based on last year’s city budget and went over it with council members. He said he assumed the city would set a revenue neutral budget, but if council members wanted to exceed revenue neutral, they must take a number of special steps.
Fuse lit for firework stores
With the Fourth of July just around the corner, seasonal fireworks stores have shot into life like a roman candle. In Peabody, The Boom Box opened this week on the corner of 9th and Walnut Sts.
Displays set for weekend
Peabody’s 104th annual ground display fireworks extravaganza may be the most dramatic display in the county, but it’s not the only fireworks show people can see this weekend. Ramona and Marion County Fire District No. 3 will have a meal of hamburgers and hot dogs, chips, and beverage for a free will donation at 6:30 p.m. Friday. A fireworks show put on by firefighters will begin after dusk.
Casey's lack of gas not from leak
Rumors may say otherwise, but gasoline storage tanks at Casey’s General Store in Marion are not leaking, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment. For several weeks, fuel pumps at Casey’s in Marion have had yellow bags over the nozzles of all regular pumps.
Ground broken at housing project
Ground was broken Tuesday for a Hillsboro housing development a year and a half in the making. Orchard Ridge will be a 24-unit affordable-housing project south of Dollar General.
Nursing home, business center get help
Salem Home in Hillsboro will see its heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system upgraded after city council members approved up to $2.5 million in industrial revenue bonds Monday. Salem technically will be titled to the city until the bonds are repaid.

COURT NEWS

Ex-athlete to plead in double fatality
A Tabor football player who crashed his car south of Hillsboro, killing two passengers, has reached a plea agreement in a criminal case filed against him. At the time of the accident Feb. 27, 2022, Jonathan M. Medina was a 22-year-old, 5-foot-11, 170-pound freshman fullback from Arlington High School in Riverside, California.
Jail suicide case spurs closed-door session
Kansas City lawyer Kevin Case met with county commissioners behind closed doors to discuss a wrongful death suit filed after a Marion woman committed suicide in jail Dec. 5, 2020. Julie Starks had been arrested on suspicion of criminal deprivation of a motor vehicle, battery on a law enforcement officer, and disorderly conduct by then-Marion police officer Steven Janzen. Starks hanged herself with her shoelaces that night.
Hillsboro man reaches plea agreement on porn charges
After spending more than two months in jail since he was arrested on suspicion of probation violation, a Hillsboro man is scheduled to enter a plea agreement Tuesday in three cases. One is his second case alleging sexual exploitation of a child by being in possession of child pornography.
Canton man scheduled for plea on 49 sex charges
After spending nearly a year and a half in jail awaiting his day in court, a Canton man is scheduled to enter a plea Tuesday on 49 sex charges filed against him Dec. 18, 2023. Matthew W. Dudte, 52, is scheduled for a plea hearing, not an arraignment.

DEATHS

Willie Ensz
Services for Willie Ensz, 91, who died Sunday at Bethesda Home in Goessel, will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at Hillsboro United Methodist Church. Pastor Margaret Johnson will officiate. Relatives will receive friends 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday at Jost Funeral Home, Hillsboro.
Evelyn Regier
Services for Evelyn Regier, 90, who died June 24 at Hillsboro Community Hospital, were Saturday at Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church. Born Sept. 5, 1934, to Harry and Salome (Claassen) Funk, she married Jack Regier on Oct. 14, 1951, in Hillsboro. He died in 2018.
Jerry Suderman
Services for rural Hillsboro farmer and stockman Jerry D. Suderman, 80, who died June 18 at his home, will be 3 p.m. July 12 at the Big Shed Birthing Suite at his farm, 1333 Kanza Rd. Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. July 11 as Jost Funeral Home, Hillsboro.
IN MEMORIAM:
Gene Schimpf

DOCKET

FARM

Rains leave wheat quality discouraging
After last week’s heavy rains delayed wheat harvest, county farmers are finishing up this week. Makenzie Joseph at Cooperative Grain and Supply in Hillsboro said a wave of farmers came in after the weather cleared up.
Implement dealers hopeful
Many factors, including weather, the overall and farm economies, interest rates, delays in harvest, quality of harvest, and concern over tariffs could affect farmers’ decisions on buying new implements. Commodity prices are probably the biggest driver of whether farmers buy, or delay buying, new implements, Mike Rhodes, salesman at G&R Implement in Durham, said.

OPINION

Don't let it become 'that's the way is was'
Sixty-three years ago, Walter Cronkite shocked the world when he closed his first-ever half-hour nationwide newscast. Instead of saying “and that’s the way it is,” as he did for the next two decades, he ended with: “That’s the news. Be sure to check your local newspapers tomorrow to get all the details on the headlines we are delivering to you.”
ANOTHER DAY IN THE COUNTRY:
Going downhill
LETTERS:
Deporting the arts, The middle class, Term limits

PEOPLE

Farmers market vouchers offered
Vouchers that allow low-income seniors to get fresh produce from farmers markets, produce stands, and farm stores will be available July 14. The program had been delayed this year because of budget uncertainty.
Free movies planned at library
Marion City Library will show free movies at 2 p.m. four consecutive Wednesdays, starting July 9. Snacks will be served. All ages will be welcome, but children 8 and younger must be with an adult.
College degress and honors
Senior center menus
MEMORIES:
15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 110, 145 years ago

MORE…

HOVER OVER IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT

Logs pile up at a bridge on 230th Rd. east of Turkey Creek Rd. A quarter of the bridge's approach also has washed away. The county is seeking grant money to repair this and other threatened bridges.

Lacy Westmoland has installed a four-foot wire fence around the front of her property. She wants an even taller fence to protect her and her shih zhu, Charlie, against loose dogs.

On a busy Friday, volunteer Betty Johnson cleans the bottom of a donated shoe in the back of St. Luke Auxiliary Shoppe, which needs more younger volunteers.

Ellie and Zach Winsor sit in Central Park shade Thursday, selling snow cones and stickers. Ellie wants to make enough money to buy a truck when she reaches high school. "I come out here almost every day during summer," she said. She recommended the cotton-candy flavored snow cone.

PEABODY Gazette-Bulletin

Hillsboro’s crime rate last year was more than double that of the rest of Marion County, according to data released Monday by Kansas Bureau of Investigation. But both it and the county as a whole had crime rates substantially below state averages.

After three separate executive sessions in a meeting that stretched over two hours, Peabody City County voted Monday to appoint Matthew Neal police chief. Neal has been retired for a year from his most recent job, the main school resource officer at Rose Hill schools.

Loose dogs are a difficult issue to discuss. But like wind farms and DUIs, the issue is persistent, an itch that won’t go away. Two weeks ago, five separate incidents involving loose dogs were reported by police in Marion and Hillsboro.

The unassuming St. Luke Auxiliary Shoppe operates differently from every other store in Marion. It is open only two days a week, and even then, only for half a day.

After serving as ambulance director for a year and interim director repeated times, Chuck Kenney is glad county commissioners appointed a new interim ambulance director Monday. Commissioners appointed paramedic Mickey Price, a supervisor in the department, as interim director.

Quarter-sized hail fell Saturday at Hillsboro, damaging cars at dealerships there. Randy Hagen, office manager and former owner at Hillsboro Ford, said an insurance adjuster already has inspected car damage.

With the Fourth of July just around the corner, seasonal fireworks stores have shot into life like a roman candle. In Peabody, The Boom Box opened this week on the corner of 9th and Walnut Sts.

Rumors may say otherwise, but gasoline storage tanks at Casey’s General Store in Marion are not leaking, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment. For several weeks, fuel pumps at Casey’s in Marion have had yellow bags over the nozzles of all regular pumps.

Ground was broken Tuesday for a Hillsboro housing development a year and a half in the making. Orchard Ridge will be a 24-unit affordable-housing project south of Dollar General.

Salem Home in Hillsboro will see its heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system upgraded after city council members approved up to $2.5 million in industrial revenue bonds Monday. Salem technically will be titled to the city until the bonds are repaid.

After spending more than two months in jail since he was arrested on suspicion of probation violation, a Hillsboro man is scheduled to enter a plea agreement Tuesday in three cases. One is his second case alleging sexual exploitation of a child by being in possession of child pornography.

After spending nearly a year and a half in jail awaiting his day in court, a Canton man is scheduled to enter a plea Tuesday on 49 sex charges filed against him Dec. 18, 2023. Matthew W. Dudte, 52, is scheduled for a plea hearing, not an arraignment.

Services for Willie Ensz, 91, who died Sunday at Bethesda Home in Goessel, will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at Hillsboro United Methodist Church. Pastor Margaret Johnson will officiate. Relatives will receive friends 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday at Jost Funeral Home, Hillsboro.

Services for Evelyn Regier, 90, who died June 24 at Hillsboro Community Hospital, were Saturday at Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church. Born Sept. 5, 1934, to Harry and Salome (Claassen) Funk, she married Jack Regier on Oct. 14, 1951, in Hillsboro. He died in 2018.

Services for rural Hillsboro farmer and stockman Jerry D. Suderman, 80, who died June 18 at his home, will be 3 p.m. July 12 at the Big Shed Birthing Suite at his farm, 1333 Kanza Rd. Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. July 11 as Jost Funeral Home, Hillsboro.

IN MEMORIAM:

After last week’s heavy rains delayed wheat harvest, county farmers are finishing up this week. Makenzie Joseph at Cooperative Grain and Supply in Hillsboro said a wave of farmers came in after the weather cleared up.

ANOTHER DAY IN THE COUNTRY:

LETTERS:

Vouchers that allow low-income seniors to get fresh produce from farmers markets, produce stands, and farm stores will be available July 14. The program had been delayed this year because of budget uncertainty.

Marion City Library will show free movies at 2 p.m. four consecutive Wednesdays, starting July 9. Snacks will be served. All ages will be welcome, but children 8 and younger must be with an adult.

MEMORIES: