Nurses devote their careers to personal care

Written by Don Ratzlaff & Patty Decker Tuesday, 24 July 2012 13:36

Eleanor Herbel (right) visits with one of her Salem Home residents during a June 20 retirement reception in her honor. For Eleanor Herbel and Margaret Tice, being a nurse has meant providing personal care over the long term.

The two Marion County nurses retired recently after combining for nearly a century of service in their profession.

Herbel, who lived in Tampa for most of her working career before moving to Hillsboro a year and a half ago, was employed at Goessel and Hills­boro. She was feted with a retirement reception June 20 at Salem Home in Hillsboro.

Tice celebrated her final day at McPherson Hospital just over a week ago after nine years there. She worked at St. Luke Hospital in Marion for 30 years prior to that after a three-year stint in Wichita.

Eleanor Herbel

Eleanor Herbel said she initially wanted to be a music teacher before...

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82 drought-stricken Kansas counties declared federal disaster areas

Written by Hillsboro Free Press Tuesday, 17 July 2012 14:39

Marion County and 81 other counties in Kansas were declared as federal disaster areas Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, making agricultural producers eligible for disaster assistance programs.

Mary Geiger, communications director with the Kansas Department of Agriculture, said the disaster declarations are the result of improvements the USDA recently made to current federal disaster assistance programs to update the disaster designation process and deliver more efficient and flexible disaster assistance to farmers and ranchers coping with the ongoing drought.

“In place for more than two decades, the USDA streamlined the federal disaster designation process to assure a faster disaster designation,” she said.

This...

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Small town theaters hang on to summer moth brigade

Written by John Schlageck Tuesday, 17 July 2012 14:38

It seems like only yesterday when I raced my buddies down the red-carpeted ramp of the Pix Theater in Hoxie trying to nail down those good seats. You know the ones I’m talking about—those in the front row where tennis shoes could be heard latching into congealed soda from the earlier matinee.

Back in those days, “the guys and me” could watch Davey Crockett, Old Yeller or It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World for only a quarter and a seal from a milk carton produced at Ada’s, our hometown dairy.

Outside as we waited in line for our tickets, you could smell the popcorn and glimpse the soda machine as it dropped a cup from its innards and spewed forth an overly sweet combination of syrup, carbonated water and ice. Sometimes the cup...

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Fall crops could fare better than last year, agent says

Written by Jerry Engler Tuesday, 17 July 2012 14:37

You still may see a better fall crop harvest than last year.

Marion County Extension Agent Rickey Roberts said two rains received as the early wheat harvest was closing around Memorial Day in May probably are what staved off more dismal corn and soybean crop yield outlooks now.

Those rains, especially if more rain comes for the beans, may enable farmers here to take advantage of average crop prices that the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported have increased 41 percent for corn and 26 percent for soybeans as of last week.

But that doesn’t mean the 100-degree days in June and on into July aren’t taking a toll on both crops.

“I still think that corn-wise, we’re in better shape than we were a year ago,” Roberts said...

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