Local News

March Madness in Marion County started with the announcement that 15 candidates had applied to replace outgoing Superintendent Roger Marcum.

Last week, the Marion County Board of Education received recommendations from the superintendent screening committee, and Thursday, the board announced it plans to interview Lisa Carroll, Chuck Hamilton, Ed Musgrove and Donald Smith.

The first interview was held Monday, March 23, with Hamilton.

Musgrove will be interviewed March 26. Carroll will be interviewed March 30, and Smith will be interviewed March 31.

Chuck Helm remembers his first call as an emergency responder. He was fresh out of high school when he joined the Adair County Rescue Squad.

"In 1978, we didn't have the radio communications and technology we have today," he said. "You were notified by somebody calling on the phone."

That first call was in response to a 17-year-old boy who had drowned in a creek.

"I found the body and pulled it out," Helm said.

He remembers seeing the family's reaction, and it left an impression on him that he'll never forget.

The Marion County Fiscal Court has scheduled  a special-called meeting to discuss and possibly take action regarding dead animal removal within the county.

The meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday, March 23, at the David R. Hourigan Government Center.

The county has not had dead animal removal since Feb. 27, when Nation Brothers ended its service in Marion and 21 other counties in response to an FDA regulation that will increase the cost of rendering animals.

Justin Craig sat still in the barber's chair and waited as the stylist shaved his head bald.

His mother, Martha Mattingly, was a few feet away, taking photographs through the tears of pride welling up in her eyes.