BREAKING NEWS
UPDATED AFTER PRINT DEADLINE
After 32 years, a relative’s submission of DNA to an online service has led to identification of a body discovered near Pilsen.
Road worker Kenneth Jost spotted a decomposed skull Sept. 21, 1987, while scooping dirt from a ditch during patching of potholes on 290th Rd.
Flood survivors Terry and Loretta Looney, both 51, are hoping to be back in their home on Christmas Day.
Their house at 2299 140th Rd., Florence, was inundated with more than three feet of water June 5 after water was released from Marion Reservoir.
A two-month investigation culminated in the arrests of two Marion men on drug charges last week after 57 grams of methamphetamine were found.
That amount of methamphetamine would be worth between $3,200 and $3,600, according to addiction help site crystalmethaddiction.org.
Surveyors hired by Expedition Wind told a Marion County sheriff’s deputy they were frightened for their lives Dec. 5 when a local wind farm opponent screamed at them and fired a semi-automatic pistol at the ground, according a probable cause affidavit filed in district court.
Amy D. Stutzman, 46, Peabody, has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after the incident at the intersection of 110th and Pawnee Rds. Depending on any criminal history Stutzman has, she faces two years to five years and four months in prison if convicted, according to state sentencing guidelines.
Marion County received its first payment in lieu of taxes check for $269,325 from Diamond Vista wind farm Dec. 16, county clerk Tina Spencer said.
It appears that no money was withheld from the county for consulting fees of more than $686,000 despite a clause in the agreement with Enel Green Power that would have allowed it to deduct from its payments any amount that exceeded $250,000.
When Peggy Unruh’s greenhouse caught fire last week, it destroyed one of the connections with her now-deceased husband, Jim.
“Especially with the kids,” she said. “That was part of their father, and he died five years ago.”
Hillsboro resident Mark Rooker, now chief operations officer and chief of information at El Dorado’s Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital, has been named chief executive officer for Hillsboro Community Hospital.
Rooker has not started duties at HCH. He is finishing his duties at the El Dorado hospital.
Paula Perry was surprised when she learned that a quilt she and others made for a veteran who served in Iraq hadn’t reached him but instead ended up being sold at a church rummage sale.
Perry, her business partners Carol Riggs and Jan Meisinger, and a group of other quilters meet once a month to sew quilts donated to veterans through the national organization Quilts of Valor.
Gerald Wiens’ interest in photography was sparked in junior high 50 years ago and blossomed into a lifetime passion that snagged him publication in a top magazine.
Now, Wiens is looking to pass his knowledge on to others, starting with a class 9 a.m. Jan. 11 through Marion Parks and Recreation.
Marion recently paid $3,000 to Great Plains Computers, according to city records, which included services that went beyond routine maintenance of its systems, said Lloyd Davies of Great Plains Computers.
Transferring the city’s systems to a new server and changing from Microsoft Windows 7 to Windows 10 was a big expense, he said.
The county’s towns north of 290th Rd. no longer have fuel service, and residents are feeling the effects.
Steve Jirak of Ramona delivers mail in Ramona and Tampa areas. He was found filling gas at Lincolnville on Thursday.
Services for Matthew Rapp, 47, who died Dec. 9 at Cincinnati V.A. Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, will be 10 a.m. Saturday at Durham Park Cemetery in Durham.
He was born Jan. 5, 1973, to William and Jerrie (Jantz) Rapp in Somerville, New Jersey.
IN MEMORIAM:
Robert Call
Think you have a tough job? Imagine all the responsibilities that have to be evaluated in Santa’s annual performance review.
First, he has to make a few billion gifts — more than Walmart and Amazon combined — all without becoming a mega-billionaire like the owners of those paltry concerns.
This classic editorial is reprinted from the Sept 21, 1897, issue of the New York Sun:
Dear editor:
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
115 W. 95th St.
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
ANOTHER DAY IN THE COUNTRY:
Combing the static
Christmas was made brighter for many county children through programs to provide gifts and food for needy families.
Margo Yates, who coordinates Marion’s Community Christmas program, said 55 families were provided with gifts and food this year.
Hillsboro Recreation Commission’s 15th annual Frostbite 4-Mile Fun Run will be 2 p.m. Jan. 1 atMemorial Park’s Scout House.
Registration costs $15, which can be done on the rec commission’s website. Those whoregister by Dec. 24 receive a commemorative gift.
SENIOR CENTER:
Christmas Eve meal open to public,
Hillsboro menu,
Marion menu,
Peabody menuMEMORIES:
10,
25,
40,
55,
70,
100,
140 years ago
CENTRE:
CentreGOESSEL:
Kindergarten,
Second gradeHILLSBORO:
Kindergarten,
First Grade - taught by Tracy Boldt,
First Grade - taught by Michelle Faul,
Second grade,
OtherMARION:
Kindergarten - taught by Sarah Mason,
Kindergarten - taught by Jessica Ensley,
Kindergarten - taught by Katie Rahe,
First grade,
Second grade - taught by Staci Hansen,
Second grade - taught by Susan HallMARION LIBRARY:
Marion libraryPEABODY-BURNS:
Preschool,
Kindergarten,
First grade,
Second grade,
Third grade,
Fourth gradeSUNSHINE:
Sunshine preschool
Marion boys basketball got off to a rocky start this season, and that trend continued Thursday with a 63-34 home loss to Douglass.
Marion girls also entered winter break with a difficult loss, falling 49-28 Thursday at Belle Plaine.
The Cougars entered the holiday break with a victory after winning a low-scoring game Friday at Wakefield, 30-24.
Centre trailed 2-11 before closing the gap to 14-16 at halftime.
Hillsboro boys basketball has found its groove, extending its streak to four games by outlasting Southeast of Saline Friday night, 69-58.
Coach Darrel Knoll’s got to feel good anytime he can knock off the Trojans, especially considering the headaches SES has given Hillsboro since 2015, going 2-2.
Last week’s Marion County duals didn’t end with ideal results for Marion or Hillsboro from a team standpoint, but each had wrestlers secure a 5-0 record.
The Trojans continued to be led by Jordan Bachman at 145 pounds and Tristan Rathbone at 152, as each turned in a perfect record on the day.
Goessel and Peabody-Burns boys teams both started slow Friday night at the Bluebird gym, as neither team scored for more than four minutes.
Caiden Duerksen started the Bluebirds’ scoring with two baskets, and Goessel was off to a 7-0 lead.
Tanner Brunner of Ramona placed second in the final round of steer wrestling at the National Finals Rodeo last week in Las Vegas.
He threw the steer in 3.8 seconds after his horse left the gate, tying with another performer. The placing earned him $18,192.
Tabor College announced Mike MacNeill as its new head volleyball coach last week.
MacNeill most recently coached Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, to a conference championship and the NAIA National Tournament.
Tabor senior basketball player Terran Hoyt has been chosen to participate in the Women’s Basketball Coach Association’s 18th annual “So you want to be a coach” program.
The program mentors female collegiate basketball players interested in pursuing coaching careers.