Inside: Area students serve up some musical fun See A6
Sports: Playoff bids on line for area squads See B1
2017 1867
The Weekender Saturday, October 21, 2017
Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
City to decide on bridge
POINTED MESSAGE By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
Imagine the comfort of knowing your child is safe from getting certain kinds of cancer. Today, that’s possible with the HPV vaccine, which prevents cancers of the genital areas and head and neck of men and women — conditions that can all lead to premature death. The vaccine combats nine strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) that have been found to cause such cancers. HPV routinely infects 14 million young Americans each year. So yes, it’s everywhere. For most, the virus clears up by itself. But for an estimated 31,000 Americans each year, they contract cancer from the virus. Two-thirds are women, who contract primarily cervical cancer. For males, the cancer attacks the anus, penis or back of the throat. The virus is spread primarily through sexual activity. The best way to prevent these cancers is to “vaccinate your child way before they even understand the concept
“We’re not opening the door to sex; we’re closing the door to cancer”
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
— Dr. Jay Lieberman, HPV vaccine advocate
Iola City Council members will decide Monday whether to go ahead with construction of a pedestrian bridge spanning Elm Creek on South Washington Avenue. A bid from B&B Bridge Co., St. Paul, to erect a bridge for $345,622., is about $4,000 below engineer’s revised estimates. The city has received $269,500 in various grants secured by Thrive Allen County, leaving a $76,000 gap. The gap wasn’t initially evident because the original engineer’s estimates were that the bridge could be built for about $250,000. However, those estimates failed to include installation costs. If the city follows through,
Dr. Jay Lieberman addresses area health professionals Thursday about the importance of the HPV vaccine. In back are Amy Davis of the Ashley Clinic in Chanute and Kathi Yokum of Ashley’s Humboldt clinic. REGISTER/SUSAN LYNN of sex,” said Dr. Jay Lieberman, a pediatrician who specializes in infectious diseases and serves as regional medical director for Merck Pharmaceuticals. Lieberman was the guest speaker Thursday night for a group of health care professionals who deal with vaccinations in public schools, health clinics, hospitals and
private practices in Chanute, Humboldt and Iola. The Rural Health Initiative, an offshoot of Thrive Allen County, sponsored the meeting. THE HPV vaccine was first introduced in 2006, approximately 20 years after it was discovered that the virus is the main cause of cervical
cancer in women. Since then it’s been found to cause other cancers including those for men. Despite its efficacy, it has been slow to be adopted as a routine vaccine. Kansas is in the lowest quartile in the nation for seeing its youth are protected
See BRIDGE | Page A3
See HPV | Page A5
The case of Ella Reese: ‘The sex problem in a small town’ In a notorious study of equal rights, one Iola woman was sentenced to hard labor
Deficit report complicates GOP tax plan By ANDREW TAYLOR The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal budget deficit rose to $666 billion in the just-completed fiscal year, a spike that comes as Republicans are moving to draft a tax code rewrite that promises to add up to $1.5 trillion to the national debt over the coming decade. The sobering deficit numbers, released Friday by the Treasury Department and the White House budget office, followed Senate passage Thursday night of a 10-year budget plan that shelves GOP concerns on deficits and debt in favor of a tax overhaul. Still, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin insisted Friday on “CBS This MornSee DEFICIT | Page A3
Vol. 119, No. 250 Iola, KS 75 Cents
By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
It’s not a coincidence that Milton gave the devil the best lines in “Paradise Lost.” Or that of the three books in Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” the “Inferno” is the only one anyone still bothers to learn. Or that set next to the regal menace of a character like Darth Vader, Han Solo appears as dull as the kid on the side of a can of Dutch Boy Paint. Just as it’s no wonder that the most passionate traffic this newspaper’s Facebook page ever receives is in the aftermath of a murder or in the wake of some other baleful crime. Villainy is sexy. Vice is appealing. “The forces of good are necessarily lacking in vitality,” observed the critic Clive James, who was himself writing at the time about the author of “Paradise Lost.” “[Milton],” said James, “faces the insuperable problem that nice angels are not interesting.” In other words, the baddie is always more compelling than
the boy scout. Speaking before a meeting of the Allen County Historical Society, Larry Manes — who, years ago, appealed to the higher minds of this community in a speech he dedicated to the early-day heroes of Allen County — on Thursday gave his audience what they really craved: five tales centered on the county’s early-day “villians.” One would have to ring up Manes himself, who is an elegant and intelligent speaker on most any matter, to get the full rundown on all five of his subjects — Alexander Driscoll (stabbed a man; executed), John Bell (raped a woman; hanged), Elzy Dolson (killed a boy; lynched), Charley Melvin (blew up some pubs; imprisoned). For now, though, here’s a peek at one such story. We’ll call it, for the purpose of this article... “The Case of Ella Reese”: Or — as an eastern paper labeled it at the time — “The Sex Problem in a Kansas Town”
In the late summer of 1911, Municipal Judge D.B.D.
Ella Reese, who owned a house of ill repute in Iola in the early 20th century, was sentenced for her crimes to the chain gang. Smeltzer sentenced 35-yearold Mrs. Ella Reese to 30 days of jail time and hard labor on the charge of “immoral conduct.” Reese was accused of, and eventually confessed
to, operating “an institution of ill-earned wages,” as this newspaper termed it, “a disorderly house in which she See VILLAINESS? | Page A4
Need Health Insurance?
Orthopedic Clinic
Your opportunity to enroll in the health insurance marketplace is here! Our trained Navigator can help you better understand your insurance options. Open enrollment for the heath insurance marketplace is Nov. 1 Dec. 15, 2017. Call 620-432-5324 to schedule a free appointment. 1709 W. Seventh • Chanute, KS • www.nmrmc.com •
Erie Family Care Clinic
620-432-5324