Your Turn
— Comments may be sent to the Marion County Record, PO Box 278, Marion, e-mailed to news@marionrecord.com, or brought to the office at 117 S. Third St. Please keep comments brief.
Mr. Holub, you don't have all the answers. Listen to your constituents. Their opinions are as valid as yours. In fact, there's someone out there who could be doing your job.
Have you polled every Hillsboro citizen? Do they all agree with Stan Thiessen? Isn't it beneath you to make blanket comments about an entire community? Don't sacrifice your integrity or the future of the jail project with your bullheadedness.
If this jail project fails, people will blame you, Mr. Holub, because you chose to condemn an entire community for the thoughts of a few people.
As for you, Mr. Thiessen, get over yourself. Not everyone hates Hillsboro. Marion residents aren't as evil as you claim. We're not even as uninformed about economic development as you seem to think. We're no more self-serving than your Hillsboro counterparts. It's too bad you have issues with the commission because you were passed over for a county position. However, that's water under the bridge. Move on.
Instead of concentrating on the negative, try to be part of the solution.
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In reference to Mr. Woelk's write-up in the Free Press and to Mr. Thiessen
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Mr. Woelk obviously doesn't remember the times Hillsboro would run up the score on us and run a full-court press with the varsity till one or two minutes left in the game with a 30-point lead. Get over it!
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I read where no one in Hillsboro is in favor of an increase in sales tax and property tax.
We need to fix the jail that we have. Why should we spend the money, not knowing if we're going to get a return, on a 40 or 70-bed jail. Wichita is planning the same. It's a larger city with more crime. They need it.
A jail should have a bed, wash basin, and toilet. They don't need it better than their home. The prisoners we have in winter need to work. Clean the downtown streets and shovel snow. In summertime, they need to mow all the city alleys. They'll need an escort.
We all would love to give ourselves a big raise. All county employees are now at 75 percent of the "mean wage," considered to be poverty level. Some of us do good to make $20,000 to $30,000 a year. We're trying to live on the "mean" wage and pay all your wages. We make a budget and try to spend no more.
We're now spending all we can spend on the swimming pool and gym project.
Marion is trying to run our small city like a larger city.
We have too many commissioners that stick together and are afraid to speak their minds. You're all against one.
No new businesses or new homes have come to our city. Some businesses have moved to U.S.-56. Ads need to be put in the Wichita or Salina papers.
I say in 15 years this town will be a ghost town. When all the old people are gone, the young people that go to school now won't be back because there won't be good paying jobs. Unless you're a "wheel" and give yourself a raise.
We need Third Street fixed. It's a terrible street for visitors to enter our city. It's like a washboard.
We need to get our water system fixed so we don't have to buy our drinking water.
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Here is a quick way to increase tax revenue for the City of Marion and also have an economic development potential. Marion should annex the 80-acre Marion County Club into the city limits. It is right next to the city and uses city water, sewer, and fire/police protection. At $269,000 appraised value, the country club is grossly undervalued (a residence on South Freeborn has almost the same appraised value) but that could be remedied with reappraisal by the Marion County Appraiser. Property adjacent to the country club could be rezoned residential, providing large lots for high-value homes much like the development near the golf course in Hillsboro.
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Watching the Warrior basketball games on MCTV is extra enjoyable because of the announcers and the fine camera work. Having immediate game stats is remarkable. These are more examples of ordinary citizens volunteering to make our village sweeter.
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If every household in the U.S. used compact fluorescent light bulbs, more than 1 trillion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions could be prevented. These are available locally. Marion could lead the way!
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"The biggest loser was sportsmanship" by Woelk after the Marion/Hillsboro game is a bad article. Actually, the worst sportsmanship was that of Woelk. He appears jealous because Marion won.
He questioned the double-foul call. I was always of the impression the referees called the game.
Woelk was unhappy with a no-call in the final three to five seconds of the game.
Woelk was unhappy with the celebration after the game. He should know that the first win since 1993 would show some jubilation at the close of the contest.
If Woelk was so upset, why didn't he just write a nice note to Marion High School officials with his complaint?
There are some from Marion and some from Hillsboro who are always trying to cause friction between the two towns. Woelk is one of them. He needs to apologize to both the Hillsboro and Marion fans for his unsportsmanlike action. And the Free Press needs to apologize for printing the article.
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"Do you want it in a bag?" That question is unnecessary when paying for a customer purchase. YES! Just put it in the bag and quit asking
