BREAKING NEWS
UPDATED AFTER PRINT DEADLINE
With impending winter weather coming into the Kansas area over the weekend, Peabody American Legion Auxiliary decided to postpone their “senior prom” dance.
The dance, featuring The Clearview Band of Herington, will now be 8 p.m. to midnight Jan. 21 at the Peabody American Legion.
However, he said , no arrests had been made as of Monday.
County commissioner Lori Lalouette, who customarily would be appointed commission chairman for the third year of her term, was passed over at Monday’s meeting in favor of Randy Dallke continuing as chair and newly elected commissioner Dianne Novak as vice-chair.
After a swearing-in ceremony in the courtroom for all newly elected and re-elected county officials, 12 onlookers crowded into the commission chamber to see what happened.
If a county commission seat becomes vacant by resignation or recall election, Kansas Election Standards prescribe that the political party of a commissioner who vacates a seat gets to nominate a replacement for appointment by the governor.
When the county election clerk notifies the county party chairman of a vacancy, a party convention of precinct committeemen and committeewomen from the commission district must be held within 21 days.
A Hutchinson man died at 12:40 p.m. Sunday when his car slid underneath a railroad crossing arm and was struck by a train on K-15 at Durham.
Nathan Parson, 29, was driving a 1990 Geo south through Durham. Short skid marks and witness statements indicated Parson was attempting to stop when the car went under the cross arm and onto the tracks, Sheriff Robert Craft said.
Tiny vandals are posing budgetary problems for sports at Hillsboro schools.
“Somewhere along the line, the pole vault mat has been attacked by mice,” Superintendent Max Heinrichs said.
Hillsboro Public Library’s new library director, who started working at the library Jan. 6, will be a familiar face to some library goers.
“I worked here about 10 years ago as a library clerk, so I knew I liked working here and liked the people who worked here,” Jeanie Bartel said. “That’s why I was interested, and I always thought it would be fun.”
Hillsboro city council approved a proposal during Tuesday’s meeting from street supervisor Dale Dalke to have Vogts Crushing of Newton provide concrete crushing services at $7 per ton.
Dalke and city administrator Larry Paine have been looking for uses for a big pile of concrete that has been growing in the street department yard, where contractors and the city have been storing concrete from various demolitions.
A fire of undetermined origin caused extensive damage Tuesday to a rural Peabody home whose occupants had to be alerted to the blaze by passing motorists.
The home, on Indigo Rd. between 80th and 90th Rds., is owned by Eric and Clarissa Dutton.
Retired music teacher and Marion native Maurine Alice Graham, 97, Winfield, died Thursday.
Born May 4, 1919, to Emory and Hazel (Logan) Hawbecker in Marion, she graduated from Kansas State Teachers College in 1941 and did post-graduate work in Chicago and Greeley, Colorado.
Ambulance office assistant Jeanne M. Martanovic, 52,died after a long battle with cancer Thursday at Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis in Wichita.
She was born Oct. 24, 1964, in Alexandria, Virginia, and owned an interior design painting company before moving to Kansas. Most recently, she was an office assistant with Marion County Emergency Medical Services. She was member of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Wichita, where she sang in the choir.
A memorial service for David Thomas of Marion, who died Dec. 8, will be at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 4 at Marion Presbyterian Church, 610 Lawrence St., Marion.
His obituary was published Dec. 15.
IN MEMORIAM:
Hazel SelvyIN MEMORIAM:
Leslie StarkelIN MEMORIAM:
Mary Ann Strecker
Cattlemen are looking to 2017 with cautious optimism.
Declining calf and feed prices and rising prices for slaughter cattle create a mixed outlook. Some cattlemen look to make better profits, and others will have to manage well so as not to lose money.
David Rudolph of Lincolnville has raised pigs since he was in high school.
The 43-year-old farmer has 15 sows, down from a high of 75 about 10 years ago.
A new year brings new crops and a fresh start, but Marion County extension agent Ricky Roberts predicts 2017 won’t be any easier than last year.
“I just don’t know what the future is going to hold,” Roberts said. “I don’t know for prices, yields, anything, but what I have of the information at my ends today suggests to me that the farm economy is still going to be difficult.”
Just west of US-56/77 and 250th Rd., a stoic concrete silo stands straight and true more than 100 years after it was constructed.
Unlike many cement silos with “staves” or bands of metal for support, this silo required no exterior supports. Reinforcement is built into the concrete, and the lower eight feet are lined inside with red brick.
From all the comments coming out of county commission meetings and coffeehouse courts of public opinion, you might think that embattled 1st District commissioner Lori Lalouette is the direct descendant of Al-Queda chief Osama Bin Laden — or, perhaps, Richard Nixon at the height of his unpopularity in 1974.
Truth is, despite missing an unusually large number of meetings, Lalouette has at times been a refreshingly valuable member of the commission, often burning midnight oil doing the type of thorough and thoughful research that hasn’t exactly been a hallmark of county commissioners over the years.
Jerry mentioned all of the interesting things the man has done in his life as opposed to himself, who has been a farmer living in one community all of his life.
To my surprise, the serviceman stretched out his arm, shook my husband’s hand, and said, “Thank you for your service.”
With a bright smile and a big heart, 7-year-old Caileigh Johnson of Marion may be just as sweet as the cupcakes she bakes to benefit Eyeruse, an impoverished 6-year-old girl from Ethiopia.
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Santa Fe Trail enthusiasts are concerned that a new wind farm proposed for northern Marion County could damage sections of the trail that runs through the county.
“We realize a wind tower is a benefit to the landowner,” said Steve Schmidt, president of the Cottonwood Crossing Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association. “We are just looking for a balance.”
Attorney Courtney Boehm was installed as president when Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce met Tuesday at the city building.
Jeanne Groves was made treasurer. Chamber office manager Lena Hall will take minutes and keep an activities calendar.
Hillsboro Public Library’s new library director, who started working at the library Jan. 6, will be a familiar face to some library goers.
“I worked here about 10 years ago as a library clerk, so I knew I liked working here and liked the people who worked here,” Jeanie Bartel said. “That’s why I was interested, and I always thought it would be fun.”
A Saturday event at Peabody will put new meaning into the phrase “senior prom.”
A seniors prom at the American Legion will be for anyone 21 and over. It is being organized by members of the American Legion Auxiliary.
NORTHWEST OF DURHAM:
County residents fly to Arizona for funeral'ROUND THE TOWN:
Youth perform postponed Christmas program
Two deans and 16 students from KU’s School of Pharmacy will spend time Thursday at Greenhaw Pharmacy in Hillsboro as part of three days of visits to 15 independent pharmacies statewide.
The trip is designed to encourage students to consider working as independent practitioners rather than for large chains.
Agriculture instructor Zana Manche and elementary custodian Morris Ewert each submitted resignations Monday at a Goessel school board meeting.
Superintendent John Fast said that Morris would stay on as a bus driver, but that Manche planned to move to South Dakota.
Tenor Scott Wichael, who has performed with opera companies in Des Moines, Kansas City, and Tulsa, will present a free concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Tabor College Chapel.
Wichael’s repertoire ranges from Mozart to Floyd and includes roles such as Sanco Panza in “Man of La Mancha” and the witch in “Hansel and Gretel.”
For three quarters Friday night in Hillsboro, the Larned Indians did their fair share of creating problems for the Trojans’ boys’ basketball team.
A team hardly appearing imposing, the Indians’ pesky defense, combined with early foul trouble, kept the hot shooting Trojans from finding their groove.
Hillsboro’s boys rank ninth in Class 2A, and Goessel’s girls rank fifth in Division 1 of Class 1A in this week’s voting by Kansas Basketball Coaches Association.
Goessel’s ranking is unchanged from the group’s previous list Dec. 19. Hillsboro is new to the list this week.
Gorillas were no match for Bluebirds as the Goessel girls stayed perfect on the season with a 57-24 drubbing of Solomon on Friday.
The Bluebirds played a steady first half on offense, and the defense allowed Solomon just 2 points in the second quarter as Goessel held a 28-12 lead at half time. Brittney Hiebert totaled 13 points in the first half and Eden Hiebert tallied 11.
Hillsboro’s 145-pound wrestler, Travis King, took second and the Trojans placed 11th of 15 teams Saturday at a Herington tournament.
Now with an 11-5 record for the season, King accepted a bye in the first round, pinned opponents in the second, third and fourth rounds, and won by decision in the semifinals, only to be defeated 8-4 by a Chase County opponent in the finals.
On the heels of Goessel’s first girls’ cross-country state championship, third-year coach Brian Lightner was named 1A girls coach of the year at the Kansas Cross Country Track and Field Coaches Association’s winter coaching clinic in Junction City.
Two Bluebirds earned individual medals as Goessel outpaced Ingalls by five points at the state meet in October at Wamego. Goessel sent both boys’ and girls’ teams to state in 2015.
Directors of Senior Citizens of Marion County will meet at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 20 at Hillsboro Senior Center.
Lunch will be served after the meeting.
Children can build with Legos from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday at the Marion City Library.
No registration is needed for the free event. More information is available at (620) 382-2442.
Technology Excellence in Education Network will be at 6 p.m. Jan. 18 at 101 N. Thorp St., Marion.
Central Kansas Regional Solid Waste Authority’s next quarterly meeting will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday at McPherson County Transfer Station, 1431 17th Ave., McPherson.
Reservations are due Monday for St. Luke Hospital Auxiliary’s annual meeting and dinner at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 19 at Marion Community Center.
Anita Hancock will perform harp music. Cost is $12.50 per person. Reservations are being accepted by calling Mary Griffith at (620) 382-6589.