BREAKING NEWS
UPDATED AFTER PRINT DEADLINE
The District 1 county commission seat, which includes Hillsboro, Durham, and Lehigh, will feature a blank line on ballots on Aug. 5.
County Clerk Tina Spencer said no one inquired about the position or filed by the noon deadline Monday.
After three years of attempting, the city of Hillsboro will be able to preserve a piece of its history.
When the smaller of two water towers in town, located on Ash St. behind the Lumberyard, was placed on the National Historic Register, the city began searching for grants and eventually was awarded the Heritage Trust Fund grant, worth $90,000.
After tentatively agreeing to buy 3.7 acres of land in the Hillsboro Heights addition off U.S. 56 in March, an unnamed national chain store recently opted out of building a store in Hillsboro.
“They gave no reason,” Economic Development Director Clint Siebel said Tuesday. “They just exercised their right in the original contract to opt out.”
After four years, Marty Fent has seen his business grow locally, but he does not want to stop there.
“We’re going statewide,” he said.
Kansas Department of Health and Environment released its first warnings and advisories for blue-green algae Thursday, and Marion County Lake and Marion Reservoir were absent from the list.
Both lakes have had public health warnings or advisories for blue-green algae in recent summers, but after heavy rains last summer, the lakes cleared up. Contact with or ingestion of blue-green algae can be detrimental to the health of humans and animals.
There’s a dog in Florence with no family. Neighbors have been feeding him over the fence for several months, since the dog’s family moved away and left him in the backyard.
Ali Johnson, who lives down the street from the dog, also has been feeding him when she can, along with several other neighbors.
Dr. Paige Hatcher’s trip to France in April resulted in more than recognition at an international forum on quality and safety sponsored by the British Medical Journal. She said “yes” to the love of her life.
Hatcher began practicing in Marion in October. Her fiancé, Scott Dodson, is a park ranger for the U.S. Corp of Engineers at Marion Reservoir.
County commissioners met Tuesday in a closed meeting for to discuss employee pay.
Commissioners stayed in executive session for 3 hours and 30 minutes, discussing personnel. No action was taken upon return to open session.
Bruce Skiles was elected to the Hospital District No. 1 board Tuesday to fill Ken Vinduska’s position, and Linda Carlson and Linda Allison were re-elected to three-year terms. Carlson received 19 votes; Skiles and Allison, 18 each; and Gene Winkler, 12.
Vinduska left the board after 10 years.
My Mom and Dad always sang in the church choir. Each had a good sense of humor. Years ago I received a letter from my dad that started like this: “When your mother and I join that Great Heavenly Choir in the Sky, your mom and I will be toe-to-toe on the sixth floor of the Oak Lawn Mausoleum in Conroe, Texas.”
It actually didn’t work out that way. Instead, they moved to Oshkosh to be closer to family. However, if they needed a good bass, Dad surely joined that Heavenly Choir when he passed away on May 21, 2014, at the age of 93.
Last week we received a press release about rape and sexual assault statistics, but statistics are too impersonal and sterile to adequately reflect reality. A study in 2011 found that nearly one out of every five women in the United States has been the victim of rape or attempted rape. Do you know five or more women? If so, you probably know someone who has been raped. Are you related to five or more women? If so, you probably have a family member who has been raped.
There is a very good chance you don’t know it, though. Rape is one of the most under-reported crimes, largely because of the stigma attached to it and its victims, and the society’s tendency to find some way to blame the victim.
Andrew Wiens of Topeka has been appointed to serve as legislative and policy director for the Kansas Department for Children and Families. Wiens formerly served in Gov. Sam Brownback’s office.
The native of Topeka graduated from Tabor College, where he studied philosophy, history, religious studies, and business management.
Marion County Democratic Women heard reports from the district meeting and the reception for Jill Docking on April 26 at their monthly meeting on May 23.
Those who attended the district meeting were Eileen Sieger, Connie Fisher, and Janet Bryant.
Farmers market vouchers are available for seniors through the Department on Aging.
To receive a $30 voucher, a senior must earn a monthly gross income of $1,800 or less, or $2,426 for a family of two.
ROUND THE TOWN:
Pankratz entertain visitorsNORTHWEST OF DURHAM:
Cottonwood Grove School holds graduation
The Hillsboro High School softball team went 21-2 through the regular season this year, obtaining the third seed in the 1-2A state tournament beginning Thursday in Great Bend.
Most of the core players in that group have played together since elementary school, and all but senior shortstop Danae Bina, a .600 batter, will return for the 2015 season.
Six Hillsboro athletes qualified for state competition Friday during a 2A regional meet in Hillsboro, with three qualifying for more than one event.
Despite a lightning delay that lasted one hour, coach Dennis Boldt said the athletes did a good job of ignoring the conditions and focused on the task at hand.
The top four places in the regional track meet advance to compete at the state track meet Friday and Saturday in Wichita. Goessel traveled to Burlington for its 1A regional meet on Friday and after getting the field events started, rain began falling, interrupting some of the events.
Riley Jarvis continued her improvement in the pole vault at the regional meet to grab second place with a clearance of 8 feet. She also participated in two fourth-place finishes in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
“It was windy, it was just a terrible golf day,” Goessel golfer Lawton Makovec said the day after the regional golf tournament.
“No part of our game was immune from problems,” agreed teammate Lucas Hiebert.
Heath Goertzen in triple jump was the only Goessel Bluebird from the boys’ team that qualified for the state track meet on Friday. Goertzen leapt 39 feet, 3¾ inches for second place.
Only the top four places go to state, and the Bluebird boys had seven events that placed fifth place, missing the state meet by one place. Ben Wiens posted his best time of the season in the 1,600-meter run with a burst of speed in the last 100 meters to capture fifth place.
It took extra innings Tuesday before the Tabor College baseball team concluded its game with Oklahoma Wesleyan University.
Tied 9-9 with the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the 10th inning, the Bluejays had an opportunity to end the game. Unfortunately, a pop-fly and subsequent double play kept Bluejay runners from scoring.
Garrett Daugherty earned his second All-American finish Saturday at the NAIA national outdoor meet in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Competing in the 800-meter race preliminaries, he broke the school record in 1 minute, 52.33 seconds. In the finals, he held on for a third place finish, re-breaking his record in 1:51.41. Daugherty also finished as an All-American in the indoor 1,000-meter race.
Hannah Homes broke the Tabor school record in the marathon in 3 hours, 23 minutes, and 4.2 seconds. Holmes placed 13th, followed by Brielle Lund in 17th, 3:25.18.70.