Sports: Royals kick off exhibition season See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
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Thursday, March 3, 2016
Senate bill seeks ticket revenues
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas Senate committee is considering a bill that would force cities and counties to turn over to the state more of the revenue they receive from traffic tickets. Under the measure discussed Wednesday by the Senate Ways and Means Committee, any traffic ticket money revenue that exceeds 10 percent of a municipality’s annual revenue would go into the state’s general fund. Also, municipal courts would have to hand over 70 percent of all revenue they collect from traffic violations on highways. Any courts that don’t comply would be shut down until they do, the Topeka CapitalJournal reported. “I’m not sure what this bill’s intending to do except take money,” said Eric Smith, legal counsel for the League of Kansas Municipalities. Smith was one of a number of people who showed up to testify against the bill. Nobody spoke in favor of it. Kansas City Municipal Court Judge Maurice Ryan said the legislation would cost his court $330,000 annually, on top of the more than $500,000 in revenue the city already sends to the state
from traffic ticket revenue. “This bill, as presented, while admirable, is a cure looking for a disease,” Ryan said. He said the disease is when cities such as Ferguson, Missouri, collect inordinate amounts of revenue from traffic violations and perpetuate a cycle of poverty. Several opponents of the bill testified that no Kansas communities are comparable to Ferguson. “We do not know of a city that’s receiving 10 percent,” said Ed Klumpp with the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police. Law enforcement groups and local government entities, including the Kansas Association of Counties and the cities of Lawrence and Lindsborg, spoke against the measure. The committee took no action on the legislation Wednesday.
Iola High School senior Abigail Taylor earned $500 for winning a statewide essay contest on the danger of texting and driving. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
IHS senior’s moving essay wins contest Iola High School senior Abigail Taylor brought the dangers of texting while driving to life in an impassioned essay, “It Can Wait.” Taylor’s essay won first place in her age division in the essay contest sponsored by the Kansas Press Association and AT&T. More than 600 submissions statewide were entered. Taylor, daughter of Iolans Ben and Jen Taylor, was awarded $500. She also will be recognized at the KPA annual convention April 22 in Overland Park. Her essay follows:
‘It can wait’ by Abigail Taylor As teenagers, we are predisposed to think we are invincible. Our inexperience and naiveté shield us from realities and consequences. The universal mantra, “That will never happen to me,” runs through each of our premature brains. Never say never, because this could happen
to you. According to studies, each text you send while driving causes you to take your eyes off of the road for 4.6 seconds. If you are driving at 55 miles per hour you will travel the entire length of a football field in 4.6 seconds. Think about it. A full football See ESSAY | Page A5
Oil tycoon dies in fiery crash
Allen Community College actors, from left, Brooke King, Joshua Robb, Nicholas Watson and Tori Whalen rehearse scenes from their student-directed one-acts. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
College one-acts consistently delightful By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Allen Community College students have grown accustomed to entertaining scores of audiences each year through the college’s drama program. This week, a group of
actors show they’re quite skilled at direction, too. The latest round of Allen’s Student-Directed One-Acts runs tonight through Saturday at the ACC Theatre. Five fast-paced skits — all independent of each other — will leave the audience amused and entertained.
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 87
MIGUEL ROBERTS’ pre-
sentation of “Guys,” a brief comedic skit featuring Tim Roloff and Chandler Betts, begins the evening. Roloff and Betts are a pair of oafsome, lonesome guys plotting ways to meet women in a McDonald’s restaurant.
Their back-and-forth banter is occasionally boorish, groan-worthy and misogynistic — and funny. Roloff shines as he struggles to muster a ploy to strike up a conversation with a nearby gal, while Betts is See ONE-ACTS | Page A5
“A man who trims himself to suit everybody will soon whittle himself away.” — Charles Schwab, American businessman 75 Cents
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Energy tycoon Aubrey McClendon earned a reputation as a pioneer, backing new drilling technology, building Chesapeake Energy into Aubrey one of the na- McClendon tion’s largest independent producers of natural gas and accumulating a fortune that helped him buy part of an NBA team. But McClendon also drew the scrutiny of federal investigators, who announced antitrust charges against him on Tuesday. Sixteen hours later, McClendon, 56, was dead in a fiery single-car traffic accident on an isolated road in northeast Oklahoma City. “He pretty much drove straight into the wall. ... There was plenty of opportunity for him to correct and get back on the roadway and that didn’t occur,” Oklahoma City Police Capt. Paco Balderrama said. Balderrama said McClendon was speeding and not wearing a seat belt in his 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe, but it’s too early to tell if the collision was intentional. McClendon, who co-foundSee TYCOON | Page A5
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