Thursday, October 1, 2020
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Campaigning during COVID Candidates describe how the pandemic has changed efforts to reach voters By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Disregarding Tuesday night’s presidential debate, it’s making for a quiet campaign season locally. Political forums are at a minimum. And for the most part, candidates are refrain-
ing from visiting voters on their doorsteps or glad-handing at fall festivals. Instead, get ready for an onslaught of door hangers, social media messages and phone calls. It’s an election season like no other amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Area candidates for various races on November’s ballots mostly say they have changed their plans to accommodate social distancing recommendations. “Historically, we’ve walked our district, knocked on doors,
sought out large groups,” Rep. Kent Thompson, an Iola Republican representing District 9, said. “There’s very little of that going on.” Instead, Thompson is counting on his incumbency, name recognition and lifelong ties to the community to send him back to Topeka. As far as getting the word out, Thompson is relying on the U.S. Postal Service. “It’s not campaigning as normal,” he said. “But I think my district knows me and they know they can reach out to me.”
Alana Cloutier, a Democrat from Humboldt competing for Thompson’s seat, spoke to the Register while placing signs in yards and leaving door hangers at residences in Chanute. She decided to run for office the night before the filing deadline, and at that time knew the campaign season would be unusual. “This is my first campaign, so it’s definitely really different from what I would have expected,” she said. Because of the pandemic, she vowed not to attend any See ELECTION | Page A5
Norman: State still battling first wave By SHERMAN SMITH Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Kansas Department of Health and Environment secretary Lee Norman on Wednesday said the state remains in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the number of infections will be worse when the second wave arrives. An update on cluster cases shows 39 places in Kansas with active outbreaks, including Allen Community College with 6 active cases. Between 3-5% of the state’s 2.9 million people have already been infected, Norman said, and the spread of the virus is shifting from large metropolitan areas into more rural communities. See CASES | Page A5
IHS tennis wraps up regular season
LaHarpe VFW scores national recognition By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
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Kelly announces wind energy project PAGE A2
US layoffs remain elevated WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits declined last week to a still-high 837,000, evidence that the economy is struggling to sustain a tentative recovery that began this summer. The Labor Department’s report, released Thursday, suggests that companies are still cutting a historically high number of jobs, though the weekly numbers have become less reliable as states have increased their efforts to root out fraudulent claims and process earlier applications that have piled up. For example, California, which accounts for more than one-quarter of aid applications, simply proSee JOBS | Page A3
Vol. 122, No. 236 Iola, KS 75 Cents
LAHARPE — A pair of upcoming events will help shine the spotlight on LaHarpe’s Veterans of Foreign Wars post. On Saturday, LaHarpe will host the District 3 VFW Fall Conference, the second straight year LaHarpe was chosen as the host site. (Prior to last year, the post had never hosted such an event since it was chartered in 1946.) District Commander Charlie Cravens and District Auxiliary President Charlene Wilkinson will be on hand to preside over the meetings. The next event will be at 5 p.m. Oct. 8, when Sandi Onstwedder, National VFW Auxiliary president, pays a visit. The visit will be the first such visit Onstwedder has made to this part of the country, and the first ever national auxiliary president to visit LaHarpe. BOTH EVENTS are the latest occasions to highlight the rebirth of the LaHarpe post.
The LaHarpe Veterans of Foreign Wars Post was recently named an All-State Post in honor of its membership and civic engagement. Representing the post are, from left, Kim Swearingen, junior commander, Doug Northcutt, post commander, Don Gay, quartermaster, and Terese Yetzbacher, a service officer. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN Post Commander Doug Northcutt noted the post almost folded a few years back. “Heck, this building was for
sale when I got here.” Since then, a concerted effort to draw in new members has been wildly successful,
growing to 96 members today. With that growth, and the LaHarpe post’s growing repSee POST | Page A3
New rules proposed after first debate goes off the rails By DAVE GOLDINER Los Angeles Times
America just wants a MUTE button. The Commission on Presidential Debates vowed Wednesday to install unspecified new rules to keep the faceoffs under some semblance of control after President Donald Trump went off the rails in
the first clash with Joe Biden. “Additional structure should be added to future debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of issues,” the commission said in a statement Wednesday. The commission did not elaborate on what measures it might impose on the candidates or how it might enforce them.
Trump interrupted Biden dozens of times and refused to obey repeated admonitions by moderator Chris Wallace to respect the rules. Biden was also guilty of a few improper interjections. It’s not clear why moderators don’t have control over candidates’ microphones or the power to switch them off during periods of the debate
when the other candidate is supposed to be giving “uninterrupted statements.” The next presidential debate is a town hall set for Oct. 15, a format that might keep Trump more in check. Even the bombastic president finds it difficult to cut off or interrupt actual voters. Some undecided voters harshSee DEBATE | Page A3
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