News

By LINDA MOWERY-DENNING
Ellsworth County I-R

Carey Hipp was in the eighth grade when she decided becoming a lawyer would be her career goal. But not just any lawyer. She wanted to be a district court judge, like the father of her best friend who lived across the street from her family’s home in Goodland.

This August she may get her wish.

For several weeks, Hipp has collected signatures on a petition aimed at getting her name on the primary ballot for judge from the 20th Judicial District, which covers Ellsworth, Rice, Barton, Russell and Stafford counties.

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By LINDA MOWERY-DENNING
Ellsworth County I-R

WILSON — Almost daily, travelers pull into Wilson — drawn here by the sign on Interstate 70 north of town — to see the World’s Largest Czech Egg. After they’ve looked at the colorful egg and read about its history, the visitors snap a photograph, get back in their car and return to the interstate.

Wilson residents think there’s more to the Czech Capital of Kansas than the Czech egg, as impressive as it is.

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By LINDA MOWERY-DENNING
Ellsworth County I-R

A patron of the Ellsworth- Kanopolis-Geneseo School District appeared before the board Monday night to lobby for more open communications between parents, students, administrators and board members.

John Donley said he was disappointed with the way a concern he and his wife, Vicky, took to the district had been handled. The incident that prompted their concern has never been revealed in public and an executive session with the Donleys was rejected at the March meeting when the motion died for the lack of a second.

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The Lohrey/Spohn cousins enjoyed a visit with the Easter Bunny Saturday, March 31 in downtown Marquette. From left are Marshall Lohrey, Eli Lohrey, and Tanner Lohrey holding Macy Spohn.

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Spring is here and with it comes a variety of events across Ellsworth County.

Here’s a sampling:

Ellsworth — The Ellsworth County Medical Center celebrates its 120th anniversary Friday, April 13.

The public is invited to a luncheon from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the front parking lot. Prizes and displays will be included. Guests also will have an opportunity to be part of a video that will “highlight the positive difference ECMC has made in your life, the life of a loved one, or a favorite memory, or the impact ECMC has had on the community.”

Information: (785) 472-3111.

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By wire and staff reports

The Wilson Care & Rehabilitation Center is under new administration after Kansas officials moved this past week to protect more than 800 vulnerable residents of 15 financially-troubled nursing homes.

“There was a smooth transition,” Angela de Rocha of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services said Tuesday. Residents at the 50-bed Wilson center and others across Kansas suffered no disruption in care or services, she added.

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By Vince Hancock
Ellsworth County I-R

Editor’s note —This is the second of a two-part series following preparations for the annual dinner theater at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility’s Spiritual Life Center.

As opening night drew near, Cody Bliss was frustrated during one rehearsal. As Mishkin, the mailman, he has numerous appearances sprinkled throughout “Fools.” The first of four public performances of the Neil Simon comedy is April 20 at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility.

One of his 30 lines, “I hear him coming,” was stumping him. It’s important; it’s the cue for three characters to leave the stage and others to arrive.

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By Vince Hancock
Ellsworth County I-R

The Beckman cousins got off easy. Brandon suffered a painful ant bite, but both he and Matt managed to avoid angry Africanized bees and pica-pica, the plant that outdoes poison ivy, hands-down. Others deployed to Puerto Rico were not so lucky.

Normally, Matt, 39 and Brandon, 30, work in the Ellsworth area as park rangers for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Matthew at Wilson Lake, Brandon at Kanopolis Lake. They recently returned from a 30-day stint in the U.S. territory, after answering a call from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

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Special to the Tribune

The Marquette Learning Center is aiming for an opening date in August 2018. It is the center’s mission to provide the community with high-quality childcare for children ages 2 weeks through 12 years. Being developed as a nonprofit 501c3 organization, it will take community support in addition to grants and fundraisers to make this center a reality for the town of Marquette.

The board has been working with an architect, designing a floor plan that has been sent to be approved by the Kansas State Fire Marshal, as well as the Kansas Department of Health and Education. Once the plans are approved, construction can begin.

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By Vince Hancock
Ellsworth County I-R

Over the last 40 years, Marvin Dohrman has learned a lot about geese. He began raising them, starting out with a mated pair and four goslings, just out of pure interest. As a kid, he’d seen large groups of them at a man’s farm near Ellinwood. “We’d go over and look at them once in awhile,” he said. “Of course, dad was a hunter. I just thought, that’s who I am.”

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