YATES CENTER — It was fate — and a Sunday drive — that resulted in Constance Peebles taking office as Yates Center city attorney at the end of January.
Back in November, Peebles and her husband were in the area for the day.
He had grown up in Piqua and the couple was looking to move near his family farm once he retired from sales at Haldex in about five years, Peebles said.
Living in Atchison, Peebles, a family law attorney, and her husband, Frank Link, imagined house hunting would take a while.
Instead, in Iola, they found a 1960s ranch house that Peebles fell for.
They upped their time frame for moving and put their fully restored 1893 Queen Anne in Atchison on the market.
While settling into her new house, Peebles learned of a potential opening in Yates Center.
Mike Case, the city attorney, was leaving.
“That firm was leaving and I was coming in; it was just an opportune time,” Peebles said.
Peebles took office on Jan. 25.
As city attorney, “I advise the city on legal issues (and) I am the main prosecutor for the municipal court,” Peebles said. “But I’m available in Allen, Woodson and surrounding counties,” Peebles noted.
While her office is on the Yates Center square, “I do meet some Iola clients (in Iola) at the courthouse,” she said.
In addition to city work, Peebles “focuses primarily on family law and criminal defense,” she said.
Her office is at 120 West Rutledge on the Yates Center square, next to the pharmacy. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, although she will see clients on weekends or evenings as scheduled, she noted.
Peebles can be reached at 620.625.3400.
PEEBLES, who was born and raised in Georgia, likes Yates Center, she said.
“The people are extremely friendly; it reminds me of home.” And, she said, “I’m eager to become involved in the community.”
Her husband, she noted, graduated from Yates Center High School in 1964.
After living in larger communities, including working a number of years in Johnson County, she nonetheless said she thinks southeast Kansas will suit her just fine in her quest “to be very busy as a lawyer and have a rich personal life.”
Peebles talents include playing “piano, organ and all keyboards,” she said. “I’ve been a professional musician since I was 12,” she noted.
Peebles only just resigned her position as organist at her former church, Holmeswood Baptist in Kansas City.
“The drive was too much,” she said.
She now hopes to become involved in music and theater in Iola, she said.
“I was the main musician at our theater in Atchison,” she said. “I played piano at Silver Dollar City for 10 years and was an actor in Branson,” she added.
Peebles is also an organic gardener who raises vegetables and flowers.
“I’ve already ordered my seed for my butter beans and field peas,” including pink-eyed and purple-hulled varieties, she said.
It’s food not typically seen this far north, she said, but she still likes to eat like a Southerner, she said.
“I make splendid grits and pecan pie,” she said. “I learned from my grandmother and my mother how to cook.”
Peebles holds a masters of music from the University of Arkansas and juris doctorate from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Her undergraduate degree, in French, is from the University of the Ozarks.
The couple have one cat, although Peebles would consider getting a dog, especially once the Allen County Animal rescue facility opens.
PEEBLES’ work past reflects her life philosophy.
“I haven’t taken the traditional path,” she noted. “I have too many things I’m interested in.”
In Georgia, the slightly built Peebles worked for Continental Woodlands.
“The guys had a bet I wouldn’t last six weeks — so I stayed four years,” she said.
In that time, she “planted a million pine trees, operated bulldozers and fought fires,” she said.
“You have to make your mark or someone will make it for you,” Peebles noted, saying she prefers to define herself.
No comments:
Post a Comment