BREAKING NEWS
UPDATED AFTER PRINT DEADLINE
Controversy surrounding the disappearance and death, confirmed Thursday, of Peabody’s interim city clerk has prompted the governor and lieutenant governor to promise to be “persuing changes to the background check statutes this upcoming legislative session.”
“Clearly, Jonathan Clayton was able to avoid the discovery of his criminal convictions,” Will Lawrence, chief of state to Governor Laura Kelly, said in a release Thursday. “His financial crimes coming to light, and questions about his involvement with local organizations that received ARPA grants, appear to have set off the chain of events that have occurred over the last several weeks.”
An autopsy will be needed to identify a body found Sunday in a pickup truck registered to interim Peabody city clerk Jonathan Clayton.
Clayton vanished Aug. 3 while the target of several still-pending investigations.
As far behind as Marion appears to be in preparing this year’s budget, it seems to be even further behind in completing a required survey about lead and copper pipes.
Hillsboro may not be much better off. It had a head start in completing part of the survey but still has not sent out customer surveys as required. Marion did so just last week.
A Wichita attorney representing six newspapers and eight broadcasters filed documents Tuesday opposing former Police Chief Gideon Cody’s attempt to ban cameras from his trial on felony charges brought against him.
He wrote that White’s arguments against allowing audio and video coverage already had been rejected in court cases.
A 124-page special prosecutors’ report about a raid Aug. 11, 2023, on the
Doug Schroeder, executive director of Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, fell short of calling the review “an investigation.”
It will be at least five months before a judge begins hearing arguments in an open-records case the newspaper has filed against the City of Marion.
At a hearing Monday, Chief Judge Ben Sexton gave both sides 120 days to obtain depositions from five people.
Monday’s county commission meeting brought 36 observers and people to speak at the meeting.
Most were there to discuss issues with streets and docks at the county lake.
A Goessel resident opposed to expansion of Sunflower Wind farm brought results from a Goessel survey to county commissioners Monday.
Brian Stucky said he came representing other concerned people in the western part of the county but not officially representing the City of Goessel.
County commissioner Randy Dallke and commission chairman Dave Mueller met Aug. 21 with Peabody firefighters and their board of directors to talk about how two community needs could be taken care of in the same stroke.
Community members and four members of the city council showed up to hear the discussion.
Saturday was a night of disturbances that sounded like serious rumbles in police transmissions but ended up being resolved before deputies arrived from elsewhere in the county.
Threats and a physical altercation between ambulance workers and band members led to three deputies and an ambulance supervisor being summoned Saturday to Tampa Trail Fest.
Marion Boy Scouts spent Sunday afternoon gathering 470 pounds of food during their Scouting for Food service project.
The troop and the pack combined have 15 members who come from Marion, Lincolnville, and Hillsboro, Scoutmaster Jess Snyder said.
Nearly 20,000 acres of Marion County land are part of a conservation program intended to reduce invasion of woody plants on pasture land, according to supervisory district conservationist Matt Meyerhoff.
“That’s just those that are active,” Meyerhoff said.
Forget the beauty of its phrasing. The Declaration of Independence wasn’t what galvanized Americans to end British rule. Rather, it was a 48-page pamphlet, written by someone who had moved to the colonies just two years earlier.
“Common Sense” was the name of Thomas Payne’s revolutionary pamphlet. Two and half centuries later, common sense seems to be what the country he was instrumental in founding lacks.
ANOTHER DAY IN THE COUNTRY:
Stay on the subjectLETTERS:
Lake roads,
Not-so-grand GOP,
'High' taxes
Florence’s annual Labor Day celebration again will feature two days of activities.
At 5:30 p.m. Sunday, baseball players wearing vintage uniforms will take to the ballfield.
Burdick has big plans for its annual Labor Day rodeo Monday.
The ranch rodeo, long a tradition until it stopped being held several years ago, was revived last year.
“Kansas and Kansans in World War I,” a new book by Blake Watson, describes how Marion County residents and other Kansans were affected by what was known as “The Great War.”
Through letters, newspapers, and other documents, Watson looks at both service in France and the war effort back home.
A free fraud-prevention seminar will be offered at 10 a.m. Sept. 17 at Marion Senior Center.
Justin Rahe, a 2012 graduate of Marion High School and assistant vice president of Emporia State Federal Credit Union, will tell seniors how to protect themselves from fraud and scams and safely browse websites online.
MEMORIES:
15,
30,
45,
60,
75,
110,
145 years ago
Alumnus Bob Leppke was in Marion this week to oversee installation of an entire new weight room setup he is donating to Marion Middle and High Schools.
Lepple owns ProMaxima Manufacturing, a Houston company that manufactures gym equipment.
A new athletic complex just south of Warrior Stadium in Marion was being prepared for a public open house between 6 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
School district voters decided by a nearly 2-1 margin in May, 2023, to approve borrowing $3.26 million to construct and equip the building and improve lighting at nearby baseball and softball fields.
Athletes in fall sports will be highlighted Thursday at the Sports and Aquatic Center and Warrior Stadium in Marion.
Blue and Red Night will begin with a high school volleyball scrimmage at 4:30p.m. at the SAC. Middle school and varsity football teams will scrimmage at 7 p.m. at the stadium, where cross-county, girls golf, and cheer teams also will be introduced.
Goessel fans may notice some improvements in sports facilities when they attend home games this fall.
The Goessel track has received general maintenance to its rubberized surface and new lines painted on the track.