BREAKING NEWS
UPDATED AFTER PRINT DEADLINE
At least 10 and possibly 12 people were injured Friday when a violent thunderstorm packing 60 mph winds swept across Marion Reservoir and flipped over three recreational vehicles in a campground at Cottonwood Point II. All were treated at area hospitals and had been released by Saturday. “The wind came up all of a sudden — then boom!” recounted camper Ron Kaufman of Hutchinson, whose recreational vehicle was adjacent to the overturned ones.
Faced with a Monday deadline, Marion County has applied for an extension to decide how to relieve overcrowding at its jail. Until overcrowding is alleviated, officials must designate an employee with no other duties than to watch for fires 24 hours a day. The fire watchers are in addition to two full-time and several part-time jailers.
Marion County will have a total budget of $6,980,217 in 2011, which will increase property taxes 1.76 percent. Commissioners approved the budget, which is an increase of $416,250 from 2010, for publication. That amounts to a 1.127 mill increase, to 65.215 mills. The county’s legal notice of the budget can be found on page 13 in this newspaper. A public hearing on the budget will be Aug. 23.
Property owners may see increases in taxes this next year if the county and some cities get their way. Published budgets indicated increases for most government entities.
Recession continues to affect county taxpayers with more than $400,000 in unpaid taxes. With a less-than-10-percent increase from last year, a total of $401,827 in property taxes were unpaid July 31, the deadline for avoiding inclusion on the list beginning on page 11 in this newspaper. Last year, $366,198 was unpaid by that time.
Advance voting is a growing trend, county clerk Carol Maggard said Friday. In the Aug. 3 primary, 295 of 2,706 total ballots were cast in advance — more than 10 percent.
Since it hadn’t been done before and there have been questions regarding who is responsible for what, Marion City Council wants bylaws put in place for the city’s airport authority board. The council reviewed bylaws at Monday’s meeting.
“This is the main thing that is stopping me from having the life that I want,” Danielle Smith said. Smith dropped out of Herington High School when she was 17 years old. A month later, she learned she was pregnant with her daughter Suni.
Marion Advancement Campaign is in the process of transforming the city auditorium into a community center. The initial cost estimate of the renovation was $591,000. By using volunteer labor and nixing plans to renovate basement and the bathrooms, the renovation will cost $30,000 and $40,000, estimates Marion Economic Development Director Doug Kjellin.
Former Marion County resident John W. “Johnny” Gehrke Jr., 78, of Burns, Ore., died Aug. 5 at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, Ore. Born Sept. 4, 1931, on the family farm near Wilsey to John W. Sr. and Gladys E. (Miller) Gehrke, he graduated from Lost Springs High School in 1950.
Rose Ann Hajek, 84, died Aug. 8 in Kansas City. Born Dec. 8, 1925 in Oakview, Colo., the fifth of seven children to Frank and Anna (O’Blak) Paulovich, she was delivered at home by her aunt, Louise Paulovich. Later her family moved to Aguilar, Colo.
Ralph V. Jones, 85, of Hutchinson, died Aug. 6 at his home. He is the stepfather of Marion resident Stacie Smith.
Marion County native Lucille Verena Meirowsky, 92, died Aug. 7 at Parkside Homes, Hillsboro. She was born Sept. 27, 1917, in Marion County, to Leo Charles and Josephine Mary (Wegerer) Winkley. She graduated from Marion High School in 1935. She also graduated from Kansas State Teachers College.
The body of Kandi Lee Thouvenell-Sprague, 28, was discovered Aug. 2 in rural Saline County. She was born June 9, 1982, in Marion, to Jerry Thouvenell and Anna Dennis and graduated from Hillsboro High School in 2000.
Hunter and Cole Stuchlik, twin sons of Ross and Megan (Luna) Stuchlik of Lincolnville, were born Aug. 6 and died the same day. Other survivors include grandparents, George and Dawn Luna of Marion and Monty and Sarah Stuchlik of Lost Springs; and great-grandparents Cora Rogers of Marion and Manuel and Julia Luna and Francis Stuchlik of Lost Springs.
Ruth Elaine Weaver, a frequent visitor with relatives in Marion, died Aug. 4 in a Houston, Texas, hospital after a short illness. Her brother, Bill Meyer, was editor and publisher of the Marion County Record. Survivors include her husband, Charles, of the home; two daughters, Elizabeth Moore of Belt, Wyo., and Charlotte Gifford-Weaver of Houston; and two grandchildren, Malcolm and Elise Gifford-Weaver, Houston.
Spurred by drought in Russia and market speculation, wheat prices have surged after harvest by more than $2 per bushel. Prices for farmers were $5.85 per bushel Monday at Cooperative Grain and Supply in Hillsboro, grain coordinator Dick Tippin said.
Jeff Methvin of rural Peabody has sweaters, coats, and even stuffed animals made with alpaca fiber. “It’s softer than cashmere and warmer than wool. It doesn’t itch at all,” he said.
Cool, wet May causes farmer to turn to soybeans By ADAM STEWART Staff writer Farmer Lewis Unruh of rural Peabody skipped planting cotton this spring, and he doesn’t know of any other farmers in Marion County with cotton fields this year. It marks the first time since his father, Charles, planted cotton in 1983 that the family hasn’t grown any cotton.
Steve Bartel of rural Lehigh classifies himself as a farmer, but he is also a businessman. Bartel started custom farming — harvesting and planting crops for other farmers — in 1994 when he came back to his family farm. He wanted something to supplement his income to pay for bigger and better machinery.
Contributing writer
Commissioner Dan Holub informed the council Aug. 2 that Limestone Road south from Tampa likely will be repaired the week of Aug. 9. The county will repair the holes that have developed and a construction company will chip and seal it within a day following the patching. The contractor is trying to repair an inadequate chip and seal job done previously. The county is waiting for state approval of a low-interest loan for the road west of Tampa to K-15. If approved, they will solicit bids for a 6-inch asphalt overlay on that road.
Durham City Council received good news Aug. 3, from Verlin Sommerfeld, water supervisor. The city water system has been plagued with large water losses for some time, but no major leak could be found. In the past month, several leaks were found and repaired and water loss is now at an all-time low. Sommerfeld reported 360,000 gallons pumped and 357, 950 gallons sold for a loss of .63 percent.
The Peabody ambulance crew is struggling to find emergency medical technicians to be on call at all hours, Marion County Emergency Medical Service Director Steve Smith told county commissioners Monday. An ambulance service needs one EMT-Basic to go on every call, he said. The other responder can be a first responder.
Some county officials may be ready to throw rocks across the street at the Record office for drawing attention to jail overcrowding. The 1930s jail is designed to hold no more than 11 inmates. Therefore, when we noticed there were 18 inmates on the sheriff’s roster, we wanted to know how the sheriff’s department was handling the overflow.
If you voted in the August primary, I hope you noticed that nowhere on the ballot was a box marked “Against Candidate A.” Now is a good time to put down mud balls and poison arrows. Take the target off the other person’s heart and tell me why I should vote for you not against your opponent. Tell me where you stand on the issues, what you believe, what changes you want to see, and the direction our state and country are heading.
Having lived in Herington, Angela Albin wanted to raise her children in a small town. She moved her family to Marion June 1 to connect to her roots and give her sons a chance to experience a caring community. Noah Albin, 11, was riding his bike to football practice Tuesday. He accidentally went to the elementary school instead of the stadium. He pedaled his bike furiously, knowing he was already late, when the chain on his bike broke.
Tim Svoboda didn’t want to be the mayor of Tampa after Jim Clemmer died in November. Council member Paul Backhus urged Svoboda to take the responsibility.
Marion native and former editor of the Marion Record, the late Homer Hoch was awarded a lifetime achievement award by Washburn University School of Law Alumni Association. In a presentation, Hoch’s grandson, Dick Hoch, accepted the award on behalf of Hoch’s family. Hoch’s grandchildren, Mark Saylor, Bob Hoch, and Beverly Hoch, attended the award presentation.
Anna Woods was working out too much; she was exercising twice a day, constantly in training for her next event — a triathlon or marathon always around the corner. She was trying to conceive but was taxing her body too much. Her pituitary gland was rendered unable to produce the necessary hormones.
BIRTHS:
Ellie Voss,
Hunter DunkinCORRESPONDENTS:
Burdick,
Senior Center,
TampaMEMORIES:
10,
25,
35,
50,
60,
100,
125 years ago
After a brief budget hearing Monday, the Centre USD 397 school board approved a 2010-11 budget with a mill levy of 45.474. This is a .003 mill increase from the previous year. The budget authorizes general fund expenditures of $2,316,529, an increase of $48,264, based mostly on an increase in valuation.
Centre USD 397 will gain statewide attention this fall when Kansas gubernatorial candidate Senator Sam Brownback refers to the district during his campaign for governor. In speeches across the state, Brownback plans to cite the district as an example of a small, 1A school with declining enrollment that went “outside the box” to maintain a viable district.