BREAKING NEWS
UPDATED AFTER PRINT DEADLINE
Marion wrestlers dominated the competition Saturday at the 321A regional tournament in Marion, winning the team championship and qualifying seven wrestlers for state.
Bryce Shults and Tyler Palic nabbed individual crowns, leading six Warriors who reached championship matches in their weight classes.
County commissioners on Tuesday reinstated a Peabody paramedic at the center of controversy in recent months.
Larry Larsen was originally fired by the commission in October without any explanation for the action.
Coming soon to Marion: a new downtown restaurant and bar offering live entertainment on weekends.
Joe and EJ Pickett on Friday closed a deal to purchase Suffield’s Heating, Cooling & Plumbing building at the southeast corner of Main and Third streets. Joe Pickett is head of the radiology department at St. Luke Hospital and a 14-year resident of Marion. EJ Pickett is a corporate tax specialist in Wichita who has lived in Marion about three years.
Marion City Council gave the nod Monday to the hiring of a new economic development director.
Hired was Randy Collett, a Marion native who returned to the city about a year and a half ago after he retired from a 33-year career in telecommunications.
After 67 years of being one-way streets, Second, Third and Fourth streets could end up open to two-way traffic.
The matter came up during Monday’s city council meeting at the request of Mayor Todd Heitschmidt, who said he’d had several people ask why the streets are one-way.
A man was arrested on multiple charges Saturday after a 5-year-old girl was allegedly discovered in the front seat of a truck, sleeping on a jar containing marijuana.
At approximately 1 a.m., Marion officer Mike Stone stopped Daniel L. Jackson, 31, of Bushong, when he noticed Jackson stop in the middle of US-56.
A rickety garage being transported on a trailer collapsed at the corner of Nickerson and Lincoln Sts., blocking the streets for several hours Thursday.
“We were going to put it up at another place,” BG Builders contractor Bryan Grosse said. “I wasn’t planning on taking it to the dump.”
Marion County motorists likely have been pumping more gas with the recent drop in fuel prices.
Manager Nicole Herzet said motorists are pumping more gas at Casey’s General Store in Marion.
Would-be storm watchers might be electrified by an upcoming free storm-training event.
Marion County Emergency Management will host the event.
Lenexa-based Tradewind Energy is eyeing installation of six meteorological towers in northern Marion County to gather preliminary data for a possible wind farm.
The towers would be scattered over a 15- by three-mile area and located near the intersections of Chisholm Trail and 360th Rd., Chisholm Trail and 330th Rd., Falcon and 350th Rd., Indigo and 330th Rd., Mustang and 340th Rd., and Remington and 350th Rd.
Haroldine Hicks, Betty Seibel, and Lucy Shepler, longtime members of Peabody American Legion Auxiliary, sat together Friday morning in the community room of Indian Guide Terrace where all three women live.
Hicks’s daughter, Sherri Bowlby, asked them to be there at 9 a.m., and the women dutifully complied.
Barbara J. Britton, 69, died Friday at Goessel.
A memorial service will be 1 p.m. Thursday at Jost Funeral Home, Hillsboro.
IN MEMORIAM:
Melba Ihde
Woodworking and carpentry have vanished from the curricula of many high schools in favor of more high tech alternatives, but despite the recent resignation of teacher Lucas King, Marion-Florence Superintendent Lee Leiker said there is “no question” about continuing the program in USD 408.
“I feel very committed to what woods and construction technology has provided our students,” he said. “It’s critically important that we provide educational programs that allow students to gain future employment skills they enjoy doing. It serves our students with things they’re interested in.”
Five seniors on Centre scholars bowl team — Ally Basore, Whitney Gutsch, Carissa Shields, Abigail Svoboda, and Kristin Vinduska — finished their careers Saturday in state competition at Goessel.
The team finished fourth in pool play and did not advance. They defeated Hartford, 50-30, and Hanover, 40-10, but lost to Southern Coffey County, 50-10; Goessel, 45-30; and Satanta, 70-10.
Centre FFA chapter members traveled to Marion Feb. 10 to participate in South Central District Food Science and Poultry Evaluation career development events.
A-team members Payton Harms (seventh individual), Nathaniel Engler, Raeanne Bryant, and James Mercer placed fifth in food science.
Thanks in part to 10 brave men who put the fate of their faces in the hands of others Saturday, Tabor College has established a new endowed scholarship in memory of former student Jenessa Hlad.
While Hlad’s parents signed an agreement in January with Tabor to establish the scholarship, Tabor’s student senate worked to add to the fund through a “Beards for Jenessa” raffle ticket contest.
Payton Harms, president of Happy Hustlers 4-H Club, led the Feb. 8 meeting at Marion Christian Church. It was attended by 26 members, three leaders, five parents, and one guest.
Caitlin Thornhill gave a talk on her poultry project and Tristan Williams led singing. Lane Watkins led a rock, paper, scissors contest won by Phinn Madgewick.
Tabor College assistant professor of music Jen Stephenson, along with Tabor College Preparatory School director J. Bradley Baker, will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday in the college chapel.
Vocalist Stephenson has performed internationally with France’s Opera du Perigord and Les Chanteurs de Saint Eustache, and Austria’s Classical Music Festival, as well as in the United States with New Century Opera.
Dale Ehlers is retiring after 27 years as a soil technician with the Natural Resources and Conservation Service in Marion County, but without a bit of luck, he may never have reached this point.
As a heavy-equipment operator, he was working on a U.S. Soil Conservation project in Jewell County when a tree fell on his cab, pressing his whole body down. He couldn’t breathe, he said, but fortunately the seat gave way and he was able to crawl out of the cab.
For 29 years, Marion has been a comfortable cradle for the Larry and Jane King family. Soon a new chapter in their lives will begin.
Jane will retire from her position with the school district at the end of May. Likewise, Larry will retire as bus driver.
One memory Edmund Steiner has makes it plain that he must be reaching the century mark. When he was a boy, his father got up early in the morning to prepare his steam engine tractor for a day of threshing. He hauled water from a pump on the farmyard, and filled the engine with coal. It took a while to get the engine fired up. It powered the threshing machine that winnowed bundles of wheat.
Steiner plowed with horses as a teen-ager and young farmer. After every two rounds in the field, he stopped and rested the horses. At noon, he fed and watered the horses before eating the noon meal.
Kansas Department on Aging rolled out Project Red File last week in Topeka, a pilot project to put emergency folders on refrigerators that will eventually go statewide.
Marion EMT Gene Winkler welcomed the news, as the effort would reinforce past initiatives to get seniors to have medical information ready for emergency responders.
Marion defended its home court with tenacity Friday, chalking up two homecoming victories over Ell-Saline.
Trailing 22-20 at the half, the girls slammed the door on Cardinals’ scorers in the third quarter with tight, swarming defense. Ell-Saline’s only bucket of the period came with just 14 seconds left in the quarter, after a 16-0 run put the Warriors ahead 36-22. There was still plenty of time for Kirsten Hansen to drain a 3-pointer before the buzzer, giving Marion a 39-24 lead.
Homecoming night didn’t turn out well for Centre basketball teams. The girls were defeated, 51-40, and the boys were defeated, 67-52, both by Wakefield.
The Lady Cougars led for most of the first half and were tied with Wakefield after three quarters of play, but a bad fourth quarter led to their defeat.
The Warriors came away with a bracket champion, a pair of second-place finishers, and two other top four finishers Saturday at a wrestling tournament at Chase County High School in Cottonwood Falls.
Ezra Darnall finished strongest among Marion wrestlers, defeating all other competition to become tournament champion in the 132-pound weight bracket.
USD 408 is in the midst of prepping for a massive 321A regional wrestling tournament.
“It’s hard to know how many people will turn out, but it’s going to be crowded,” athletic director Grant Thierolf said. “There are some good teams coming in.
County business owners are invited to share ideas and propose solutions at an economic development meeting 6 p.m. Thursday at Marion Community Center.
County commissioners instigated plans for the meeting after recent comments by Commissioner Dan Holub that business owners have been overlooked as a resource in past efforts, which he said have been driven primarily by government officials and administrators.
Weather enthusiasts and aspiring storm spotters can learn more about inclement weather by attending “Storm Fury on the Plains” at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 25 at USD 408 Performing Arts Center in Marion.
National Weather Service representatives will illustrate differences in storm features and provide safety tips.
Parents of children in first through sixth grades have an option for their kids when USD 410 is closed Feb. 26. Hillsboro Rec is sponsoring a field trip to Exploration Place in Wichita.
Essential Oils 201 will offer do-it-yourself recipes for participants to make cosmetic and pain reduction tools using essential oils.
Supplemental food commodities for income-eligible recipients will be available at senior centers and distribution sites after shipments are received Feb. 24.
Patrons should check with their local distribution sites for schedules, as dates may vary.