25 years ago

march 27, 1996

At a special meeting March 20, Marion Unified School District Board of Education voted 4-3 to build a junior high school addition to Marion High School. Fifth and sixth grades will move to Florence Middle School.

Dan Holub, Janice Waner, Chris Costello, and Don Kraus voted for the motion. Rex Savage, Kay Tajchman, and Doug Sharp voted against.

This week Van’s Department Store celebrates its 50th anniversary. Van’s moved to its current location in 1951 It was built new on a lot cleared after a fire. The store had the first-ever display mannequin in Marion.

Florence Middle School students Jessica Moore, Ashley DeForest, Mark Hanson, Jess Whiteman, and Kyle Ramsey recently were selected as incentive winners at the school. Students selected must have good grades, perfect attendance, and other requirements to qualify for the prizes.

Jay and Judy Smith have purchased Gambino’s of Marion. Judy has been with the restaurant for six years, the past three as manager. The Smiths say their base of loyal customers made the purchase a good opportunity for them.

The Marion High School FFA chapter will be painting house numbers on curbs as a community service. The project will begin Friday. Purpose of painting the number on curbs is to increase visibility and for identification purposes to speed up emergency response times for police and ambulance service.

About a dozen Marion Chamber of Commerce member businesses are participating in the Easter promotion this year. Grand prize is $115 in gift certificates good at any chamber business.