Kickoff 2016: Area schools open season See B1
The Weekender Saturday, September 3, 2016
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Courtney’s cuisine keeps ’em coming Restaurant owner finds her niche in Toronto By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
T
ORONTO — It’s a wonder that in southeast Kansas Courtney’s isn’t a household name. The Wichita Eagle gave her the front page a couple of years ago, calling her restaurant “a big-time Italian restaurant in tiny Toronto.” A PBS affiliate in Topeka broadcast a special on her in 2008. Yelp reviewers from all corners of the country continue to bathe the restaurant — Courtney’s Places, to give it its full name — in exuberant praise. “The food,” everyone seems to say, “the food!” And if locals haven’t quite cottoned on to Courtney’s, somehow her name has made its way on the wind. Her guest book is
Courtney Neill in her kitchen at Courtney’s Places, a fine-dining Italian restaurant in downtown Toronto. Neill is entering her 12th year as owner of the highly regarded eatery. REGISTER/RICK DANLEY celebrating its 12th year, and banking on plenty more. Neill’s, then, is a story of duration. How, when every day in this country a hundred storefront dreams founder on
the shoals of a declining rural economy, does a tiny clothnapkin restaurant in the center of a dilapidated downtown
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Span repairs to begin
lined with diners from Kansas City, Lawrence, Wichita, Denver, Oklahoma City, London, Atlanta, New York, Nashville, Houston, Los Angeles.
And so it is that, by some formula known only to Courtney Neill, Courtney’s Places — a fancy Italian restaurant run by a Scot with no real history in the kitchen — is
School officials seek clarification to ‘hard questions’ By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
In most court decisions, there’s a “them vs. us.” So in their request to ask a judge to review the will of Thomas H. Bowlus, Iola school officials will be represented on one side with, most likely, an attorney representing the students and citizens of Iola on the other. As contentious as that may sound, representatives of both sides agree the 50-yearold arrangement needs reviewing. “I’m 100 percent behind the petition,” said Susan Raines, Bowlus director. Raines, several members of the USD 257 Board of Education, and Jack Koehn, superintendent of schools, met with this Register reporter last week to discuss the legal petition the school district is preparing to file in Allen County District Court. At their Aug. 22 meeting, school board members heard attorney Daniel Schowengerdt read the petition that asks the court to review the charitable trust, which gives the school district responsibility of the Bowlus. Once the case is the hands of a judge, it is expected he or she will appoint a guardian ad liSee BOWLUS | Page A6
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 215
“Childhood is a short season.” — Helen Hayes, actress (1900-1993) 75 Cents
See NICHE | Page A4
Work is expected to begin next week to repair the Georgia Road overpass s p a n ning U.S. 169 east of Humboldt. The bridge sustained damage from a one-vehicle crash in June, and has been closed to traffic since then. The repair includes replacing the bridge’s damaged beams, deck, rail, abutment and the pavement on the east approach. The Kansas Department of Transportation awarded Mission Construction of St. Paul the $164,900 construction contract. The northbound lane of U.S. 169 will be closed at the bridge site for removal and recovery of bridge debris, and again when beams are placed. Motorists can expect delays of 15 minutes or less while the lane reduction is in effect. There should be minimal impact to highway traffic during the other phases of the repair project, KDOT spokeswoman Priscilla Peterson said in a press release. Weather permitting, crews expect to have the projected completed by November.
Hi: 82 Lo: 58 Iola, KS