City of Hampton Public Works Director Doug Tarr taught part of the fourth class of the Police Citizens Academy, which was held at City Hall from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 22. 
 

Franklin County was hit with a severe thunderstorm on Tuesday, May 21, leaving tree damage and flash flooding. 
 
City of Hamton employees could be seen on the Northside of Hampton removing the fallen trees and debris shortly after the rain stopped. 
 

Perla Martinez, of Hampton, was the only Hampton-Dumont middle school student to test out of Spanish 1 through 4 for high school. 
 
Martinez, who translates for her parents on a regular basis, said this was the highlight of her middle school experience, and that she was given the good news within an hour of taking the test. She said she took one year of Spanish in middle school, and that it was easy. 
 

This week, you’ll notice new petunias on display around downtown Hampton. You can thank Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Director Bill Hittle for this. 
 
For a second year, Hittle has coordinated the purchase of petunias to line downtown’s streets. Last year, he was able to raise $5,000 from local banks for his efforts, and he had enough money left over to pay for more flowers this year. 
 

A large water main break in the southwest quadrant of Hampton led to a daylong boil-water advisory from the City of Hampton last week. 
 
City workers began repairing the water main break early Wednesday evening, May 15, working until 3 a.m., through a thunderstorm. 
 

Most of the Hampton Police Department’s officers made an appearance for the third session of their citizens academy, which covered how to handle active shooter situations. 
 
The May 15 class, which was once again held in the city hall’s meeting room, was led by Hampton Police Captain Michael Halsne, who started by giving a brief presentation of the most devastating shootings in U.S. history. 
 

Suzy Knipfel was named the permanent director of the Hampton Public Library’s at the library board’s May 15 meeting. 
 
Before this, she served as the library’s interim director after former director Kim Manning retired in March. She took over as interim director on April 1. Knipfel has been with the library since July 1, 1985. 
 

One hundred and four students graduated from Hampton-Dumont High School on Sunday, May 19. 
 
Principal Matt Trosky shared a few words at the beginning of the ceremony and HD English teacher Cole Miller followed him with a speech. 
 

A group of Franklin County’s “Public Health & Home Care Services” employees are unhappy about a possible merger with Franklin General Hospital. 
 

Tensions ran high at Hampton City Council’s May 9 meeting, which was led by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Davies. 
 
Davies sat in for Mayor Steve Birdsall, who recently suffered a stroke. 
 

After being out of commission for several years, the “Friends of Beeds Lake” group is back and better than ever. 
 
The group’s president, Robyn Hill-Kofoot, said that the original group ran for years, until interest in it fizzled out in 2017. 
 

First Bank Hampton donated $2,500 to the Hampton Tree Board on Tuesday, April 7. 
First Bank Hampton CEO Tyler Heeren said the bank has donated a total of $15,500 to the tree board over the last nine years.

Residents were unharmed in a Hansell house fire Thursday morning, April 9. 
 
According to a report from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Joshua Einspahr and Chief Deputy Stephen Bardole arrived at the house, which was fully engulfed in flames, shortly after 10 a.m. The homeowner was called and the homeowner reported that nobody was in the house at that time, except for two cats. 
 

The second session of the Hampton Police Department Citizens Academy was led by Franklin General Hospital EMS Manager Nancy Retz, who showed students how to handle emergency medical situations.
 
Retz, who’s been teaching “Stop the Bleed” courses for the last five years, said she was contacted by Hampton Police Captain Michael Halsne, who asked her to speak at the Citizens Åcademy. 
 

Charlee Morton, who won first place in the shot put and discus throw at the Drake Relays once again, made a special appearance at South Side Elementary School on Monday, April 29, after her brother, Rocco, had to miss her big competition the previous Friday.