Opinion: Schools may soon need to consider consolidation See A4
2017 1867
Sports: Mo-Kan All-Stars show off their talent See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Thursday, August 3, 2017
Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Trial set for murder defendant By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
THE single-story structure was built at 726 Patterson St.
Joshua Knapp, one of three defendants accused of the March 2016 murder of Iolan Shawn Cook, pleaded not guilty We d n e s d ay Joshua Knapp to the crime, and now faces a jury trial. Knapp’s plea came during his arraignment hearing before Allen County District Judge Daniel Creitz. Creitz, in turn, scheduled a jury trial for Knapp to begin Nov. 13. The trial is expected to run as long as five days. Creitz also set an Oct. 11 hearing to hear any pre-trial motions from either Allen County Attorney Jerry Hathaway or from Knapp and his attorney, John A. Boyd. Knapp faces first-degree murder charges, as well as two charges related to interfering with law enforcement, stemming from Cook’s death on or about March 13, 2016. At the conclusion of a twoday preliminary hearing in June, Magistrate Judge Tod Davis ruled there was sufficient evidence to bound
See COLLEGE | Page A6
See KNAPP | Page A5
Iolans Ron and Kristin Ballard helped a large crowd celebrate the unveiling of Ballard House, a newly refurbished student housing complex for Allen Community College. The Ballards donated the building. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
College touts new housing complex By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Allen Community College officials, Ron and Kristin Ballard and family and others in the community celebrated the Ballards’ donation to the college Wednesday, in the form of a new student housing complex. The small dormitory, now known as The Ballard House, was the former home of the Resource Center for Independent Living and a couple of other businesses, after Kristin Ballard built the facility in 2008. “We’d been trying to decide what to do with it,” she
Allen Community College President John Masterson tours the kitchen of Ballard House Wednesday. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN said. “We thought this was something we could do.” Officially, the Ballards donated the building to the college’s Endowment Association, which in turn sold it to
Economics, not politics, may kill Keystone pipeline By GRANT SCHULTE The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The proposed Keystone XL pipeline survived nine years of protests, lawsuits and political wrangling that saw the Obama administration reject it and President Donald Trump revive it, but now the project faces the possibility of death by economics. Low oil prices and the high cost of extracting Canadian crude from oil sands are casting new doubts on Keystone XL as executives with the Canadian company that wants to build it face the final regulatory hurdle next week in Nebraska. The pipeline proposed in 2008 has faced dozens of state and federal delays, many of them prompted by environmental groups who ultimately persuaded President Barack Obama to deny federal approval in November 2015. President Donald Trump resuscitated the project in March, declaring that Calgary-based TransCanada would create “an incredible pipeline.” After all that, a TransCanada executive raised eyebrows in the energy industry last week when he suggested that the pipeline developer doesn’t
know whether it will move forward with the project. Paul Miller, an executive vice president who is overseeing the project, told an investor call that company officials won’t decide until late November or early December whether to start construction. “We’ll make an assessment of the commercial support and the regulatory approvals at that time,” Miller said in the conference call Friday with investors. The company has invited customers to bid for longterm contracts to ship oil on the pipeline. The bidding will run through September. An energy expert said the project has been delayed so long it may no longer make economic sense. “Frankly, in the current price climate, it’s probably not going to be a going venture unless there’s a massive improvement in technology” for processing Canadian crude, said Charles Mason, a University of Wyoming professor of petroleum and gas economics. Crude oil was trading at around $49.50 a barrel on Wednesday, down from highs of more than $100 in 2014. The 1,179-mile pipeline See PIPELINE | Page A2
the college to help alleviate ACC’s ongoing student housing crunch. The Ballard House will hold eight students and a college staffer.
After some consideration, college officials agreed the home would be best suited for the Red Devil baseball team, ACC President John Masterson said. An assistant coach will room with the students as well. “We were extremely honored to receive this gift,” Masterson said. The structure was built shortly after the 2007 flood in order to give RCIL a new home, Kristen Ballard explained.
Police nab chase suspect By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
FORT SCOTT — Levi Rodebush, whom authorities believe stole a hay bale-laden pickup in Allen County and led officers on a lengthy police chase before eluding capture a week ago, has b e e n ar rested. Officers with the Fort Scott Police Department arLevi Rodebush rested Rodebush, 29, Fort Scott, Wednesday, just a few hours after his identity was
released to the public via Facebook by the Allen County Sheriff ’s Department. Officers believe Rodebush first stole a bicycle, and then
a tractor and hay baler in Yates Center, before discarding the tractor for a pickup See CHASE | Page A5
Jailed woman pretends to be her mother By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Occasionally, Daren Kellerman will cross paths with a dishonest motorist. That’s almost expected. “It happens every day, in fact,” the Allen County sheriff ’s deputy said. But a traffic stop Saturday in LaHarpe may have taken the cake. Kellerman spoke about the circumstances surrounding
the arrest of Jodi Owens, 30, of suburban St. Louis, Mo., for alleged methamphetamine possession. That’s be- Jodi Owens cause Owens almost had Kellerman and others within the Allen County Jail believing she was somebody else. Her mother.
Quote of the day
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Vol. 119, No. 195
75 Cents
— Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance polymath
“Can you imagine setting up your mom like that,” Kellerman asked. The incident occurred Saturday afternoon when Kellerman spotted Owens driving along the streets of LaHarpe without her seat belt. Seat belt violations are considered primary offenses in Kansas, giving officers the right to initiate a traffic stop See JAILED | Page A5
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