By BEN KLEINE

Staff writer

Marion has a Pete the Rhino Facebook page, complete with videos of Pete the Rhino, and links to Facebook pages of other Marion businesses because of Derek Stuchlik.

Although the project waited almost four years, there is a roof over one of the dugouts of baseball Field D because of Marshall and Mitchell Ragland.

Marion High School graduate Marshall Ragland and high school students Mitchell Ragland and Stuchlik were part of Kansas Works, a federally fund summer jobs program based in Hutchinson, it is funded through the stimulus bill — money that could disappear after this year.

They started working 40-hour workweeks for minimum wage — $7.25 an hour — June 1. Stuchlik’s last day was July 16; the Raglands finished their employment July 9.

This is the second year Marion has been in the program. Last year, the city hired high school students to paint fire hydrants to match fire code.

Stuchlik worked for the city last year. Kjellin knew of Stuchlik’s talent with computers. With Stuchlik available for the summer, Kjellin had the necessary help to make the Facebook page for Pete the Rhino.

“It was my idea,” he said, “But I would have never gotten it done if Derek had not been here.”

Stuchlik also donned the Pete the Rhino costume for photos for the first video and shot the video where Pete the Rhino is seen “foraging” for food around Marion, shot like a wildlife documentary.

The experience is what Stuchlik valued.

“It was a really good use of what I had already learned,” he said. “I was hoping it was going to be a great thing to put on a resume.”

Marshall and Mitchell Ragland volunteered with the Marion Recreation Commission before they worked for Recreation Director Margo Yates this summer.

“It made me not feel as bad about asking them to do stuff,” Yates said. “There’s only so much you can ask of a volunteer.”

Along with putting a roof on the Field D dugout, the Raglands emptied trash, painted, and performed other daily tasks at the Marion ballfields.

“They are just a great help to me and they don’t ever complain. I would adopt either one of them if I could,” Yates said.

Mitchell Ragland echoed Yates’ enthusiam.

“After volunteering for many years, it’s nice to get paid,” he said.