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Stressed beyond her limits and overwhelmed by hours of shock and grief after illegal police raids on her home and the Marion County Record newspaper office Friday, 98-year-old newspaper co-owner Joan Meyer, otherwise in good health for her age, collapsed Saturday afternoon and died at her home.
She had not been able to eat after police showed up at the door of her home Friday with a search warrant in hand. Neither was she able to sleep Friday night.
Unpaid property taxes soared a near-record 24.2% this year to a four-year high, according to an official notice published this week in the
Countywide, delinquent ad valorem taxes for 2022 rose by more than $86,000 to $442,096.91 — their highest level since 2019 — even as many taxpayers will be facing even bigger bills next year.
Zakai Sanders looks intently at sheet music as he plays a guitar his grandparents bought him when he was 3 years old.
He’s “on stage” at Hillsboro Senior Center, a fraction of the age of other musicians playing during a recent jam session.
Christy Hensley had to walk only a few steps to volunteer for the 16th annual Bluegrass at the Lake.
Hensley lives in a mobile home at Marion County Park and Lake.
A tip from a Sedgwick County task force that investigates online sexual exploitation of children ultimately led to the Aug. 2 arrest of a Peabody man charged the same day with 39 criminal counts.
Miles Watson Rickard, 20, Peabody, formally was charged with 34 counts of Internet trading in child pornography and five counts of sexual exploitation of a child.
Undersheriff Larry Starkey said deputy Aaron Christner started investigating Rickard after getting information from the task force Jan. 10.
Less than a week after ejecting reporters from a congressman’s reception, Marion restaurateur Kari Newell went before the city council Monday to angrily — and falsely — accuse the
The information actually was provided by a source who contacted the
Although two commissioners would rather a new health department be located in Hillsboro, the county reviewed seven architectural firms’ proposals Monday to design a health department building at a former food bank site at 1220 E. Main St. in Marion.
Commissioners Jonah Gehring and Kent Becker have consistently said they think a new health department should be located in Hillsboro instead of Marion.
By the time Duane McCarty starts his new job Aug. 21 with the Hillsboro Police Department, four of five Marion officers will have quit since late last year.
McCarty announced Friday that he was resigning from Marion. He had considered retiring, he said, but Hillsboro Police Chief Jessey Hiebert “offered me a very good opportunity, and I took it.”
A $2,256,953 budget that outlines a 13.5% increase in property taxes was unveiled Monday to Marion City Council members.
City administrator Brogan Jones said consultant Scot Loyd had made the 13-page budget available just before council members met.
Work to repair damage caused by a June 2021 wash-over at Marion County Lake’s dam has been was extended another three weeks because engineers overseeing the work have recommended that all the south side of the dam — not just portions that had the worst washouts — be repaired.
Heavy rains in June 2021 overflowed the dam, causing major structural damage. Six large washouts appeared, and the dam was deemed “a significant hazard” by engineers.
As engines and other farm machinery whirled and clicked in the background at Goessel’s 50th annual Threshing Days, Dean Gipe demonstrated rope-making tools that he began collecting about 30 years ago.
“These machines go back to the 1800s,” Gipe said in a barn where children and families milled about, stopping to look at antique tractors and trucks. “The one in the middle could have come over in a covered wagon because it was used on covered wagons.”
Everything went according to plan when 19 Centre students and their sponsors, Tim Vinduska and Karen Nickel, took a trip to the nation’s capital until they were ready to return home.
After visiting sites for four days, they boarded a plane for a flight to Kansas City the evening of July 29.
High winds downed tree limbs across Marion County and caused electricity to go out in some areas over the weekend.
Marion city administrator Brogan Jones told council members Monday that a utility pole broke and a “couple services” were out in the area of Main and Cedar Sts.
Marion resident Don Molleker is no doubt the target of scammers.
Since late March, he has received five envelopes containing four boxes each of COVID-19 test kits.
A new donation by J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation will allow Tabor College to award at least three $10,000 scholarships annually to full-time students from Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, or Texas who maintain 3.00 grade-point averages.
The $1 million endowment, announced Monday, brings to $6 million gifts Tabor has received from the foundation.
The first of six stops on a summer listening tour of the Kansas Corn Commission was Aug. 2 in Tampa. It was the first time the commission had stopped in Marion County, CEO Josh Roe said.
The commission is made up of farmers elected from each of nine reporting districts in the state. It determines how checkoff funds are invested in market development, education, promotion, and research.
Donors who give blood from noon to 6 p.m. Aug. 14 at Parkview Mennonite Church in Hillsboro will qualify for a $10 gift card for a movie theater of their choice. Appointments are being accepted at (800) 733-2767.
Hillsboro plans a back-to-school bash, car cruise, and drive-in movie Saturday. The cruise at 6:30 p.m. will culminate in a 9 p.m. outdoor showing of the movie “Footloose.” A block party for Tabor College students is planned on Grand Ave.
Services for Derby resident Linda Kay Voth, 71, who died Aug. 1 at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, will be 10 a.m. Saturday at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Wichita.
She was born July 22, 1952, in Wichita, to Dale and Ardellee Coons. She grew up in Derby and worked as a librarian.
Tagging along with his golf course superintendent father, playing golf in high school and college, and loving lawn care and golf course maintenance all put Avery Unruh squarely in his element when he began duties three years ago at Hillsboro Golf Course.
Unruh, 22, actually has done golf course maintenance since age 14. First, he worked part time at Tabor’s golf course under the supervision of his father, Tim Unruh.
Byron Lange and his family added a swimming ladder last summer to their dock at Marion County Park and Lake.
It lasted about a year before someone damaged it. Lange thinks someone backed into it with a boat.
Nothing warms the heart quite like being ejected from one public meeting or being falsely accused at another. It was particularly pleasant to hear it claimed that the ejection was at the behest of prominent citizens who seem to think a rival paper, which covers almost nothing, is a superior news medium.
None of this is unexpected, however. There’s still a bullet hole from years ago in a window next to where I sit as I write this. From before I became the latest in a long line of people entrusted with the Record’s legacy for reporting all the news, good or bad, I can recall my predecessor’s tires being slashed, cars being egged, and livelihood threatened by advertisers disgruntled because the paper had the audacity to report that a friend or relative had committed a crime.
ANOTHER DAY IN THE COUNTRY:
Canning tomatoes with momLETTERS:
Fire tax increase
A large crowd gathered Saturday at Centre’s Bud Peterson Field to honor the life of former coach and physical education teacher Stan Wiles, who died July 28 at age 70.
Wife Deb Wiles, pastor of Rock Island Church in Herington, led the service, calling it an honor to share in his life.
Fourteen relatives attended the 77th annual Skinner family reunion Sunday at Peabody Senior Center.
The reunion is for descendants of William and Margaret Skinner and James and Amanda Skinner. Brothers William and James migrated from Iowa to Peabody and La Harpe in 1896.
The 105th annualHettfamily reunionwill be 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Marion County Lake hall. Attendees are being asked to bring a covered dish. Drinks will be provided. A business meeting will follow the meal.
A caravan Aug. 20 from Hillsboro’s Memorial Park to Marion County Lake will raise money for a charity that attempts to rescue children from sexual exploitation and trafficking.
Participants will gather at 2 p.m. at the park to drive at 2:30 p.m. to the lake hall, where a minimum donation of $20 per car will be solicited.
Dickinson County Democrats chairman Rebecca Perkins will speak at 10 a.m. Saturday at the meeting room in Hillsboro City Hall, 118 E. Grand Ave. Refreshments will be served. A business meeting of Marion County Democrats will follow.
In September, the group will hear from Michael Smith, professor of political science and chairman of social sciences at Emporia State University. He will speak at 10 a.m. Sept. 9 at a location to be announced.
MEMORIES:
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45,
60,
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110,
145 years ago