Florence city council held back-to-back executive sessions at Monday evening’s meeting to discuss a lease offered by the DeForest family for use of Crystal Springs. The sessions were held for half an hour and 20 minutes, with the council, Mayor Bob Gayle, and city attorney Randy Pankratz present. “At the recommendation of our attorney, we’re still in negotiations,” councilman Traycee Warner said. The process has dragged on, but it needs to be solved properly, she said. “It’s been physically and emotionally draining for me, but I agree all parties have to be protected,” Warner said. “That’s what negotiating the contract will [...]

Old Settlers’ Day is as rich in tradition and as filled with constant change and progress as the years past which it honors. Indeed, it is the careful blending of tradition with innovation that makes Old Settlers’ Day one of the best annual celebrations in Central Kansas. Always county-oriented, Old Settlers’ Day began Jan. 7, 1881, with a reunion for all people who settled in Marion County in the 1860s. The old settlers gathered for a basket dinner and reminiscing in Marion. Other “pioneer picnics” and old-fashioned Independence Day celebrations were conducted both before and after this affair, but Jan. 7, [...]

Marion County Commission might grow by two members in January, depending on how the November election goes. Commissioners at Friday’s meeting passed the decision unanimously, cancelling the need for chairman Dianne Novak to circulate a petition. If the resolution passes in November, commissioners will have until Jan. 1 to restructure county districts with balanced populations. “I believe the voters in the county want to decide that,” commissioner Kent Becker said. If the county expands the commission, it cannot change district numbers for four years. “It feels like the further away you get from Marion, the more you find people who want [...]

What police initially thought were two explosions Monday night turned out to a pair of mild earthquakes, unusual in that they were close enough to the surface to be heard as well as felt. The larger of the two measured 2.4 on the Richter scale and was centered three miles beneath the surface, east of US-77 between 170th and 180th Rds. on Victory Rd. “We’ve been watching this area for some time,” senior scientist Rick Miller of the Kansas Geological Survey said Tuesday. “We’ve had a couple of dozen, maybe 15 events over the last couple of years in that general [...]

The county zoning board is pursuing a plan for two new meteorological towers, which could lead to new wind turbines. The proposed sites lie midway between Marion and Peabody, with one between 140th Rd. and Old Mill Rd., and the other between 100th and Mustang. Even if the towers are constructed, it does not mean wind turbines will follow. “A met tower itself is just a data collection tower,” zoning board assistant Sharon Omstead said. “It doesn’t collect wind, it doesn’t do any of that. It just takes readings.” If approved, National Renewable Solutions will build the structures and collect data [...]

A mountain of silage delivered to property owned by a county commission candidate resulted in a letter from the city of Marion telling him remove the pile or file a written request for a hearing within 10 days. Marion police delivered the notice July 24, the same day silage began arriving on Mike Beneke’s Marion property at 601 W. Main St., the former Straub’s International location. “We served it, but it was issued by city hall,” Police Chief Tyler Mermis said. City attorney Susan Robson said the situation was for “a nuisance issue.” The property is zoned for commercial use, not [...]

No need to wonder for whom the courthouse bell tolls. As of now, it tolls for no one. At 11 a.m. Sunday, the clock chime seemingly performed its swan song when it rang continuously for 20 minutes before falling silent. County clerk Tina Spencer was working in her office at the time. “There was really no way to stop it,” Spencer said. She called an employee who winds the clock weekly, and he inspected the clock Monday. “The part of the mechanism that controls the chiming broke over the weekend,” Spencer said. “The clock should still keep time, but the chime [...]

What better location for a new antique store than in a building with a story fit for a big screen? Steve Blackwell, owner, has been diligently spending his time, energy, and money restoring a building on Peabody’s 1880’s Main Street, along with the help of business partners Christine Flaming and Morgan Marler. The trio’s new shop, Fannie Sterling 1884, opened Saturday and will have its formal grand opening this Saturday along with Peabody Market. “There were 100 years worth of well-intentioned repairs done and a lot of structural issues,” Marler said. “So now, the building will last another 100 years.” The [...]

Whether the county will continue to recycle is in doubt now that commissioners have learned the county is no longer being paid for goods recycled. Refuse director Bud Druse told commissioners that Waste Connections, the South Hutchinson company that accepts paper, cardboard, glass, aluminum and steel cans, and plastic items recycled by county residents has notified him it won’t be paying for such items. “They have stopped reimbursement for everybody,” Druse said. “I have looked into it and talked to the guy, and he said as soon as prices go back up, they’ll start reimbursing again.” Druse said he would rather [...]