BREAKING NEWS
UPDATED AFTER PRINT DEADLINE
Marion lawyer Susan Robson and former Marion lawyer Keith Collett are among five finalists selected Wednesday for two district judge positions.
Collett, who left Marion County to become a magistrate judge in Dickinson County in 2012, is a finalist for both positions.
Dollar General objected to the legality of Marion selling land to a competitor, but mayor David Mayfield dismissed the objection and failed to share it with other council members before their meeting last week.
Mayfield apparently relied on an opinion written a day earlier by city attorney Susan Robson. But Dollar General’s letter cited a section of Marion’s original contract that invalidated a heading that Robson’s opinion depended on.
City council members were assured before they voted last week that Marion could cancel sale of industrial park land for a dollar store, but the contract signed by the mayor contradicts that.
When the proposed sale was discussed Aug. 9, council member Ruth Herbel said the city earlier had agreed not to sell land for a Dollar General competitor.
“Because it’s due diligence, I think we could go ahead and approve if we chose to, but if we find out that there’s that type of thing, then we would just inform them of it,” city attorney Susan Robson told council members.
Marion police last week recommended charges of reckless driving, driving too fast for conditions, and reckless aggravated battery after a July 4 accident that severely injured a Marion man.
County attorney Joel Ensey said police submitted a probable cause affidavit Aug. 9.
Marion County’s population declined 6.6%, compared to a statewide increase of 3.0%, according to new every-10-years census data released last week.
Only one of four tracts in the county — the east-central one, including Marion — showed increased population, rising 0.2% to 2,799.
A lightning strike is thought to be the cause of a fire that destroyed a rural Goessel family’s home early Friday.
Goessel, Peabody, and Hillsboro firefighters who responded to the blaze on 100th Rd. west of Newton were warned the house was mostly engulfed.
Despite economic uncertainty amid a global pandemic, unpaid property taxes declined for a second straight year in Marion County, according to records published in this week’s newspaper.
A total of 456 properties owe a total of $344,223. That’s 14% fewer delinquent properties and 13% less unpaid taxes than last year.
Kayla Cortes-Sanders’ classroom is ready for the year even if she still has boxes to unpack.
A New Jersey native, she is mostly settled in her new home in Marion as she prepares to launch her first year of teaching.
Three Marion County towns — Durham, Lehigh, and Goessel — will see no tax increases in 2022 if budgets they propose are passed.
For three others — Ramona, Lincolnville, and Tampa — taxes will go down slightly.
Marion VFW’s vision of a countywide veteran memorial inched closer to reality Monday when county commissioners designated a location at the county park and lake and agreed to have it surveyed.
Warren Kreutziger said the effort to make a memorial has been the VFW’s idea for a long time.
Taco’s Food Truck is about to become plural. Owner Josh Tojchman is building a second truck to keep parked at That One Place on Main St. in Marion while using the original to travel to festivals.
“Every time we book out-of-town places, we have to leave That One Place unoccupied,” Tajchman said. “So we want to have a second food truck to support the community and also travel.”
In a surprising reversal of policy, Goessel’s school board voted Monday to make masks optional for students who start school Thursday.
Superintendent Mark Crawford announced the decision in a video posted on social media Tuesday evening.
More than four decades after opening in Hillsboro, Pizza Hut can now serve its customers a beer.
Until Tuesday, the restaurant was banned from serving beer because city code prevents cereal malt beverage from being served within 200 feet of any school, college, or church.
Rangers had to remove barricades to Marion Reservoir’s swimming beach Saturday so an ambulance could attend to a woman found unconscious at 7:26 p.m.
EMS director Travis Parmley said the woman, who is not from Marion County, had lost consciousness because of dehydration.
A trip to Sonic Drive-In in Hillsboro on Friday the 13th may have left a bad taste for 15-year-old Autumn Padgett of Florence.
Pulling a beige 2002 Chevrolet Silverado pickup into a stall at 3:49 p.m., she noticed she was a bit too close to the right side.
The City of Marion will ask Mears Co. to cover the $500 cost of a pipe patch city workers installed last week after Mears excavators ruptured it while installing an Atmos Energy gas line at 3rd and Williams Sts.
Last week’s newspaper quoted Mears workers as saying the ruptured pipe was 10 feet from where it had been marked.
An honor guard of biking veterans will round out the hero’s welcome for Father Emil Kapaun when his remains return to Kansas in September.
American Legion Riders of Kansas hopes to line both sides of Remington Rd. from St. John Nepomucene Catholic Church in Pilsen to US-56 with veterans carrying American flags on their bikes.
Two years after a heated fishing dock at Marion County Park and Lake was destroyed in a storm, and a year and a half after a Kechi dock builder received a contract he never fulfilled to build a new one, the remains of the dock were removed Monday from the lake.
Making progress at last meant hiring a local construction company to build a new dock and a local excavation company to pull the old one out of the lake.
Dilapidated properties in the county could be rehabilitated or demolished if county commissioners move forward with a proposal to develop a land bank.
At a work session Monday, commissioners and county counsel Brad Jantz Monday went over what would be needed to form a land bank and the benefits it would bring.
Firefighters standing at a distance from a blaze with their coats open are unusual, but the sight is understandable with a hay barn fire in August heat.
“We try to rotate them out a lot quicker, get them out and get them back in,” Lincolnville fire chief Lester Kaiser said after a fire last Wednesday evening east of Lincolnville. “With the heat index as high as it was, we allowed them to keep their coats open if they are far enough away,”
Services for Linda Bartel, 100, who died Monday at Bethesda Home in Goessel, will be 11 a.m. Saturday at First Mennonite Church, Hillsboro, after a committal service at 10 a.m. at Lehigh Mennonite Cemetery.
Born Nov. 4, 1920, to Abraham S. and Kathrina (Buller) Reimer, she married Melvin Bartel on Nov. 12, 1942, in Goessel. He died in 1984.
Services for Marion native Bonnie Jean Burkhart, 78, of Ulysses, who died Aug. 10 at Southwest Medical Center in Liberal, were Saturday at Ulysses Church of Christ. Burial was Monday at Marion Cemetery.
Born June 23, 1943, to Harry and Lucille (Starks) Slifer, she grew up in Marion and El Dorado, where she graduated from high school. She received master’s degrees in English and in special education from what now is Emporia State University.
Private services for Warren Andrew Priel, 72, who died Aug. 10 at Hillsboro Community Hospital, were Saturday at Ebenfeld Cemetery, rural Hillsboro.
Born Oct. 25, 1948 in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Elmer and Margaret (Lamphere) Priel, he married Rosann Seibel on Sept. 8, 1972, in Denver. She died in 2020.
Graveside services for John E. Snyder, 67, who died Aug. 10 at his home in Herington, were Monday at Sunset Hill Cemetery, Herington.
Born Jan. 15, 1954, in North Hollywood, California, to Francis and Jessie (Clampitt) Snyder, he is survived by sisters Marilyn Ham of Redondo Beach, California, and Susie McAmis of Springfield, Missouri.
Services for Terrie Lee Todd, 75, who died Dec. 18 at her home at Marion County Lake, will be 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Maxwell Game Preserve’s visitor center near Canton.
They will be preceded by a committal service at 4 p.m. at Marion Cemetery.
IN MEMORIAM:
Kay Gregory-ClarkIN MEMORIAM:
Joyce MarkleyIN MEMORIAM:
Melody Roberts-LovellIN MEMORIAM:
Beulah Weigart
Longtime volunteer Nancy Stucky has plenty of company as she works in the butterfly gardens at Bethesa Home in Goessel.
The shaded spot has grown so popular that most residents want rooms with a garden view, not one of Main St.
Over the past 10 years, the therapy department at St. Luke Hospital has grown from working out of a conference room to having its own dedicated space by the front desk.
Two new hires have further expanded the department: Jennica O’Neill, a 2021 Wichita State graduate and physical therapist, and Veronica DeSelms, St. Luke’s first full-time speech therapist.
Some, but not all, county nursing facilities changed visitation policies since the delta variant of COVID-19 appeared in the county.
Terri Dye, director of nursing at Peabody’s Westview Manor, said policies changed Friday when the facility was released from quarantine.
A $10 lunch and seminar for seniors and caregivers will be offered 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sept. 30 at Marion Community Center.
Topics will be “How to Make your Money Last as Long as You Do,” “Positive Aging,” and “Talking With Your Doctor: Being Your Best Health Care Advocate.” Medicare counselors will be available.
Welcome to the new age, where image is everything and facts are meaningless details that merely get in the way.
As it turns out, not only is the land that Family Dollar and Dollar Tree want to build on legally reserved and necessary for proper drainage. It’s clear now that Marion promised six years ago, when rival Dollar General located a store here, not to sell any land anywhere to any similar store.
The following editorial is rated not NC-17 but NP-18: No parents or adults age 18 or older allowed.
Worldwide, young people have proved themselves to be true leaders, helping protect our environment when grownups have failed.
ANOTHER DAY IN THE COUNTRY:
10-minute warning
He is marking 20 years as chief of a department he joined after being talked into it by a friend.
“I thought it sounded cool. It might be fun,” he said.
Marion’s community garden donated 447 pounds of fruit and vegetables, including watermelons topping at 15 pounds, to the Marion food bank Thursday.
“The workers at the food bank said people just love the fresh produce,” garden manager Pat Byer said. “That’s how it started, and it’s worked out really well.”
Marion graduate and mathematics and physics major Kyle Brinker is one of 12 Emporia State University students honored with a Shepherd scholarship for the 2021-2022 academic year.
The scholarship honors Emporia’s top seniors.
Deadlines to sign up for Hillsboro recreation programs are approaching.
Registration for flag football costs $20 and includes a T-shirt. A $10 late fee is avoidable by signing up before Aug. 30.
A card shower is planned for Gary and Marilyn Jones of Peabody, who will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary Sept. 2.
Gary retired in 1993 after 36 years as a vocational agriculture teacher and farmer. Marilyn lists her occupation as a shepherd and says it is ongoing.
Aaron Riggs, son of Wes and Nikki Rigs and grandson of Jeanie Meirowsky, earned his title of Marine on July 29 and graduated from Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego on Aug. 13.
He will continue training at Camp Pendleton in California and then go to Twentynine Palms, California, for more training.
MEMORIES:
10,
25,
40,
55,
70,
100,
140 years ago
Coaches of Marion’s student athletes hope they won’t need the results of a test they took Monday.
But if those athletes are injured, the baseline concussion screenings obtained Monday will give their doctors more insight into treatment.