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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Two jailed after high-speed chase By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Two people were arrested Friday following a 40-mile car chase that ended when law enforcement officers pinned the suspect’s vehicle against a bridge guardrail on the southeast edge of Iola. Allen County sheriff ’s deputies said Jesse G.H. Smith, 30, Oak Grove, Mo., led officers from U.S. 69, eventually reaching downtown Iola. The chase began when a Bourbon County sheriff ’s deputy attempted to stop a Pontiac G6, driven by Smith. He reportedly had been clocked at driving 94 mph north of Fort Scott. Rather than stopping, Smith led the deputy westbound, eventually going through Bronson and into Allen County. As the chase entered Allen County, Moran Police Chief Shane Smith was waiting. He laid out a line of spikes, blowing two of the tires on the suspect’s vehicle. Still, he did not stop. As the chase continued west, Allen County Sheriff ’s Deputy Daren Kellerman
Fiscal questions greet lawmakers
By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
Above, emergency vehicles surround a crashed car after its driver and a passenger were arrested following a 40-plus-mile chase that ended on the southeast edge of Iola. At left, Terry McDonald of T.J.’s Towing secures the car to his tow truck. The car drove the last several miles of the chase with three blown tires. PHOTOS BY ALLEN COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT (ABOVE) AND RICHARD LUKEN (LEFT)
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Big questions about taxes and spending will shape the Kansas Legislature’s work after its annual session opens Monday. But the biggest question might be how much GOP moderates work with conservatives and how often they seek deals with Democrats on tax and budget legislation to protect funding for education and other programs. Here’s a look at the 2017 session’s biggest questions. CURRENT BUDGET GAP
How will Republican Gov. Sam Brownback propose to See STATE | Page A2
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Prosecutor with local ties retires WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas prosecutor who helped send some of Wichita’s most notorious criminals to prison or death row is retiring after more Kim Parker than three decades.
As Sedgwick County chief deputy district attorney, Kim Parker has supervised and managed dozens of attorneys, investigators and legal support staff members as well as acted as lead counsel in more than 200 jury trials, the Wichita Eagle reported. “A lot of the stuff that I’ve done people don’t talk about over dinner,” Parker, 59, told the newspaper. “They’re
some really tragic cases.” Parker, daughter of Gary and Janice Parker, rural LaHarpe, put together a court case against the BTK serial killer that ended with his guilty pleas to 10 killings. She also helped secure a conviction against Scott Roeder, who admitted to killing abortion provider Dr. George TilSee RETIRES | Page A3
IN HOT PURSUIT
Shanette Smith and her daughter, Megan
Helpers reach out after mother’s story shared
A crowd of more than 50 took part Saturday in the 19th annual Jingle Bell Jog, a 5K fundraiser to benefit the Iola High School track team. Above, Jonathan Rodewald donned a gingerbread man costume as part of a “Catch The Cookie.” At right, the runners embark from the starting line. REGISTER/RICHARD
LUKEN
Quote of the day Vol. 119, No. 46
By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
the coverage gap.” — from a recent New York Times Magazine article
“Even though the federal government would have helped fund the expansion [of Medicaid], 19 states opted for ideological reasons not to do so, arguing that they are pushing back against government bloat and the fostering of dependency. A result was that the residents with the lowest incomes in those 19 states were now caught between two nonoptions: They made too much to qualify for Medicaid…but they also made too little for publicly subsidized insurance on the exchanges…. This paradox is referred to widely as
Last summer, a writer for the New York Times Magazine, along with a professional photographer, visited Shanette Smith in her rural Toronto home. They shadowed the single mother of two for most of an afternoon and well into the evening. The reporter asked Smith about her dream of attending nursing school, about living near a state park, about the singlecar accident that claimed her young husband four years earlier, about trying to go
“Mothers are the necessity of invention.” — Bill Watterson, cartoonist 75 Cents
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