A pretty nice place
Well, I've been working in Marion for about a month now, and I've decided I could probably live just about anywhere in the county.
During lunch breaks I drive around Marion looking at houses. Not that I can afford to buy one, mind you. I just like to look.
I've found numerous ones I like — some for sale, some not. Big ones, small ones, ones in the Valley and ones on North or South Hill. (See, I'm getting acclimated; I'm learning the lingo.)
The more I discover about Marion and Marion County the more impressed I am. Friday, I went to a meeting of the Marion County Interagency Team. I was amazed at the number of people who turned out. Debbi Darrow of Marion County Early Intervention Services told me that anywhere between 20 to 100 people may attend these meetings at any given time.
I've been in much larger cities, where they weren't able to accomplish a citywide meeting between different agencies, much less get people countywide to attend.
It just goes to show the level of commitment people here have toward both the community and the various groups and organizations they serve
While at that meeting, Marion County Sheriff Lee Becker talked about his training at the Missing and Exploited Children's Center. The statistics he gave are scary. He did mention, however, that Marion County was "leaps and bounds" ahead of others in having a coordinated network already established which could quickly spring into action when a child is missing.
In my travels to Florence this week, I had the chance to conduct interviews with both Sue Klassen, the new postmaster, and Fred Miller, director of the Marion County Special Education Cooperative. I had really enjoyable discussions with both of them — especially since they each laughed at my bad jokes.
Just so you know, my "never in your wildest dream" dream is to be a stand-up comedian. Unfortunately, not everyone shares my same brand of weird humor.
I was invited to a nice ceremony Friday afternoon in the Marion Municipal Building where a Herington man, Don Zaideman, was honored for assisting Kansas Highway Patrol Master Trooper Roger Maag of Marion, after a suspect became involved in a physical altercation with Maag. (See story in this issue) In visiting with Trooper Maag, he said these kinds of events don't really faze him. After 13 years in the KHP and working in hotbeds like Garden City and Wichita, Maag said this incident was "all in a day's work."
If that was a normal day's work for me, I'd quickly be unemployed. It makes me thankful there are people like our highway patrol troopers, sheriff's officers, police personnel, and other emergency workers who have the courage to take on these kinds of jobs.
— KATHY HAGEMAN
