BREAKING NEWS
UPDATED AFTER PRINT DEADLINE
An official recount Friday confirmed Lori Lalouette-Crawford will be county commissioner for District 1.
The results will be made official at a Monday canvassing, but unofficial results had Lalouette-Crawford with 678 votes and Dodd with 675.
Candidates for the 1st District Marion County Commission seat had mostly muted reactions to the election that gave Republican Lori Lalouette-Crawford the win by one vote.
County commissioners, acting in their role as the election canvassing board, counted provisional ballots Monday and those unread by ballot machines. The final tally was 676 to 675.
Any one vote could have swayed the county commission District 1 election.
Lori Lalouette-Crawford had 676 citizens vote for her, one more than Craig Dodd. Had one swayed toward her opponent, there would be a different commissioner-elect.
Between other scholarly responsibilities and extracurricular activities, about 60 Marion High School students have dedicated themselves to a fall performance of “Oklahoma!” — a time-honored musical written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
With students performing classics like “Oh What A Beautiful Mornin’,” “People Will Say We’re In Love,” and “The Farmer and the Cowman,” director Janet Killough said audience members will probably recognize just about every song in the musical.
They were called the Men in Green Faces.
“They come from nowhere, they go nowhere,” says John Siebert of Florence, recalling the saying. “We’re just there, and then we’re gone.”
The county commission office filled Monday with conservationists and lawyers from all over the state — El Dorado, Topeka, neighboring counties — to protest the approval of a conditional use permit (CUP) that would allow Windbourne Energy to expand its wind farm operation south of US-50.
The land in question is included in Governor Sam Brownback’s “Tallgrass Heartland” preserve, designated in 2011. Representatives from the Tallgrass Ranchers and the Nature Conservancy appealed to county commissioners to hold off on approving the expansion.
Wendy Buchanan planned to enjoy her holiday and simply check the heaters at the Homestead Senior Residences Marion Tuesday morning. Instead, she found tumbleweeds blocking the entrance — a lot of them.
“I couldn’t even get into the front door,” said Buchanan, the manager of the apartment residences.
The Marion City Council approved an ordinance Monday allowing all-terrain vehicles and other special purpose vehicles to be driven within the city limits, so long as it’s not on Main Street.
Police Chief Tyler Mermis said “quite a few people” have expressed interest in driving their ATVs in town. At issue was how to gain access from the hill to the valley. The only way across Luta Creek is Main Street, and since Main Street is a state highway, ATVs are not allowed on it.
After a third consultation with G.W. Van Keppel representatives, the county commission decided on a plan Monday to obtain two front loaders.
The county will purchase one Volvo L90G front loader for three annual payments of $33,584.44, with a residual $100,000 balance, and will rent another loader of the same type for payments of $1,850 over a six-month period from late spring to early winter.
Marion Aquatics Center director Kylie Schroeder is hoping the new November pool schedule brings back more members. The pool is re-building its membership after the facility closed down for the month of September.
Following the Labor Day storm that knocked out the pool’s pump and damaged the breaker box, the pool was drained and repairs were made, including replacing the pump. After the pool reopened on Old Settlers’ Day weekend, members received an extra month in order to make up for the month when it closed, Schroeder said.
Look! Up at Ampride! It’s a box, it’s a kiosk, it’s Instaboro!
Advertised as “Faster than Redbox” and “Cheaper than iTunes,” Instaboro also touts “Less commitment than Netflix.” The business might not have the same Superman-esque qualities of larger competitors, but it does offer viewers a new outlet to rent movies like “Man of Steel” and other current films and new releases.
Marion Junior Girl Scout Troop 30059 donated time and money Oct. 18 to Marion County Relay for Life in support of cancer research and services.
The girls blew up balloons for the archway over the track and for survivors to release during the opening ceremony. They helped place and light more than 1,100 luminaries around the track. The girls also walked the track and participated in games. Two of the girls walked 6 1/2 miles.
Marion High School alumnus Gail Boaldin has returned to take the chief nursing officer position at St. Luke Hospital and Living Center as of Nov. 3.
“It’s been about 30 years since I’ve been to town,” Boaldin said Thursday. “It’s nice to be back close to a lot of my family.”
Robert B. “Bob” Higgins, 74, passed away Oct. 28 at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.
He was born Dec. 8, 1939, to William and Alice (Grubbs) Higgins at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He married Jeanne L. Carr on Oct. 18, 1964, at Marion. He was a long-time Chief Estimator for Hensel Phelps Construction.
Elva M. Holub, 90, died Tuesday at St. Luke Living Center in Marion.
She was born Dec. 3, 1923, to John W. and Bertha (Baker) Seratte at Prairie Grove, Arkansas. She was a farm wife and had worked at Sterling Drug as a custodian.
Alice M. Meysing, 84, died Nov. 3 at Parkside Home, Hillsboro.
She was born Feb. 7, 1930, to John and Theresa (Pauly) Schippers near Colwich. She married Paul W. Meysing on May 2, 1950. She was a homemaker and farm wife.
Lucena Thiessen, 92, died Nov. 4 at Garland, Texas.
She was born Nov. 16, 1921 to Jacob and Anna (Wall) Seibel in Aulne.
At work on a busy Monday, I reached for the phone at lunch time, ready to put in an order for a chicken-wrap-of-the-day from Zimmerman’s Deli, then abruptly jerked back to reality. There is no more Zim’s. I don’t know which sank lower, my stomach or my heart.
Zimmerman’s was the equal of any of the unique specialty sandwich shops I loved to frequent when I lived in Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Los Angeles. A creative menu with regular standards and intriguing specials, an artsy angle to the décor — I’m convinced I could put a Zim’s in any of those cities and make a killing.
Hell’s Angels, Mongols, Banditos, Vagos, Pagans, Sons of Silence, Highwaymen, Free Souls, and Warlocks are just a fistful of the most notorious biker gangs in the United States that shroud motorcycle riders in a seedy and somewhat intimidating stereotype, labels no doubt perpetuated by Hollywood and popular culture because of the dynamic stories such characters spawn.
The pigeonhole no doubt still holds true for some riders throughout the nation, but when the billows of exhaust clear, alleged degenerate acts have no basis in reality for riders I encountered last week at the Marion County Toy Run.
ANOTHER DAY IN THE COUNTRY:
Yesterday We Planted Tulips
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Letters to the Editor
Galen Chizek of Lehigh announces the engagement of his daughter, Megan Chizek, to Nick Carlson, both of Marion.
The prospective bridegroom is the son of Greg and Linda Carlson of Marion. The late Tammy Chizek is mother of the bride-to-be.
The family of Phillip Deines Sr. celebrated its 29th annual reunion Oct. 12 at Lincolnville Community Center. The family of George Deines, of the Chris Deines Sr. family, hosted the event.
Leona Manhart of Marion celebrated her 90th birthday, hosted by her family, Jeannie and Lyie Gillett of Hillsboro, Jim and Nanette Manhart of Ashville, North Carolina, Jeremy, Kristy, Avery, and Rylan Mohn of Olathe, and Kyle and Ann Gillette of Winfield. Four generations of girls attended.
Eight members of Our Savior Lutheran Dorcas Society met Nov. 5 for their monthly meeting and discussed preparations for the Thanksgiving potluck meal on Nov. 23.
The potluck will be after the 10:30 a.m. joint worship service in Marion with Zion Lutheran Church of Hillsboro. The Marion church will provide meat, beverages, and table service. Members of both congregations will bring a variety of other foods.
The Neo-Century Club took a field trip to the Copper Shed for a tour at its Nov. 3 meeting. The group gathered at Hilltop Manor before departing. Julie Nelson was the guide for the tour.
Later, the group voted to send a monetary gift to the Veterans’ Hospital in Wichita.
Marion Community Christmas, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and the Marion County Food Bank each will receive $75 donations from 20th Century Club.
Additional individual donations were taken for Marion County Food Bank Nov. 3 at Marion City Library.
The Ms. Wheelchair Kansas Program is searching for women of achievement who are wheelchair mobile to serve as contestants in the eleventh annual Ms. Wheelchair Kansas event.
Contestants can choose to participate or be nominated by a person or group. Organizations and companies are encouraged to nominate women who are passionate, dynamic, articulate, and who have a message to share throughout the state.
MARION SENIOR CENTER:
Seniors celebrate Halloween
MEMORIES:
10,
25,
35,
50,
60,
100,
125 years ago
All high schools strive to equip their graduates with the tools to survive in “the real world.” Despite this, some don’t educate students about what, according to the saying, makes the world go ‘round.
Marion High School will no longer be one of those schools, starting with the class of 2017.
Kindergarten, first and second grade students from Marion Elementary School will perform a Thanksgiving concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Marion Performing Arts Building.
Anita Hancock, music teacher at MES, has been teaching students the holiday’s history in addition to seasonal music.
Marion Middle School seventh grader Kennedy Fahey has wanted to make a difference in the lives of Ghana orphans since she peered through a window into their very different reality.
Sydney O’Leary, a homeschooled Tennessee youth, was Kennedy’s age when she founded the non-profit organization Feeding the Orphans.
Terry Cochran, an employee of USD 408 Marion-Florence, has achieved the Certified Child Nutrition Manager 1 distinction for completing 60 hours of training provided by the Kansas State Department of Education.
The Child Nutrition Management Academy is a professional development program for current and aspiring school nutrition managers and directors.
Technology Excellence in Education Network (TEEN) will meet at 6 p.m. Nov. 19 at the USD 408 district office at 101 N. Thorp St. in Marion.
For questions or more information, please call Lena Kleiner at(620) 877-0237.
An octet of Marion Middle School singers joined a throng of 135 voices Saturday at Andover Central High School in a South Central Kansas Music Educators Honor Choir workshop and performance.
Elizabeth Schaefer, Drew Helmer, Emmy Hess, Luisa Junqueira, Charlie Nordquist, Evann Heidebrecht, Christian Becker, and Ethan Darnall made up Marion’s roster.
T.C. Ensey designed the stained glass windows at the Eastmoor United Methodist Church more than 50 years ago, but he still occasionally hears a compliment about them.
“I was interested in art,” Ensey said, recalling when the church relocated to its current site in 1963.
She may not have made a lot of money in her lifetime, but Janet Bryant of Marion has brightened the lives of many people with her perky, humor-loving ways.
As site manager at Marion Senior Center, she is at her desk every morning at 8 a.m., taking meal reservations, lining up drivers for Meals-on-Wheels, and contacting other volunteers.
At the most severe inconvenience to the Marion Warriors, Friday night belonged to Lyndon’s Dawson Swinehart.
Himself accruing more than 400 yards of offense, the Lyndon senior signed, in penmanship that would dwarf John Hancock’s, the death certificate of Marion’s 2014 season, a 61-40 defeat at home in the regional round of the KSHSAA playoffs.