Sports: Local wrestlers stay on winning track See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER s i g ! n i r ere p S h
Thursday, March 20, 2014
RICHARD HITS A HIGH NOTE
Local musician turns 97, shares his passion
Richard Pearman plays his fiddle Wednesday at Tara Gardens. He has been playing the fiddle for 87 years, along with multiple other instruments. Residents and friends will be celebrating his birthday at 1 p.m. Friday. REGISTER/ KAYLA BANZET
By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
M
usic wafts through the halls of Tara Gardens on a bright, sunny afternoon. Richard Pearman, 96, is stationed in his big plush brown recliner and glides his bow across the strings of his trusty fiddle. On Friday he will celebrate his 97th birthday with a luau. Age doesn’t slow Pearman down when it comes to music. Pearman has been playing music since the ripe ol’ age of 10. He was born in Missouri and his
family moved to a farm east of Humboldt. When his father became ill the family moved back to a Missouri for a short period. After his father passed away from lung cancer, they returned to the farm in Kansas. “We owned 200 acres there,” Pearman said. “I talked my mom into doing a milk route.” He began driving for the route when he was 14. He became a self-taught fiddler when he was 10. His first fiddle belonged to his father and had some wear and tear, but Pearman took care of that. “I started restoring instru-
ments in my spare time when I had any,” he said. “And I can’t read a note.” Once he mastered the instrument he began playing in dance bands. He played with the Moonlight Ramblers and would travel to theaters around the area. Pearman said they played for many packed venues. “I played for nursing homes for 50 years,” he said. He only recently stopped playing at the homes a year and a half ago. Pearman married his wife Agnes in 1938. She passed away See PEARMAN | Page A6
Farm Bill full steam ahead By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
About 150 farmers and others closely associated with agriculture soaked in better than an hour of a lecture by Dr. Art Barnaby Wednesday morning. Barnaby, a professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, highlighted specifics of the 2014 U.S. Farm Bill in a session in Iola High’s lecture hall. The bill, two years late since the previous one expired in 2012, was signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 7. It authorizes expenditures of $956 billion over the next 10 years, with about $80 billion in its first year going to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), popularly known as food stamps. Barnaby said less than $5 billion was expected to go to farm payments this year. “There are many decisions yet to be made,” he added. For farmers, Barnaby said the decision was whether to choose revenue insurance or price guarantees, with complicated formulas to be digested in the process. “Information within the bill is being updated frequently,” he added. “Is it simple? Yeah, but only the government can figure it out,” taking into account average yields on farms and the county in which See FARM | Page A5
STATE NEWS
Brownback: Fund aid to schools
Spring has sprung, for now Phyllis Luedke of Colony took this snapshot of spring crocus breaking through the leaves Tuesday. Today marks the first day of spring, and the temperatures match it — there are highs in the 70s today. Winter weather will return, however, as the temperatures will drop back in the 50s for the weekend. REGISTER/PHYLLIS LUEDKE
Quote of the day Vol. 116, No. 101
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback Brownback did not mention a figure for the said Wednesday that Kansas legislators should new spending. The state Department of Educafully fund aid to the state’s poor school dis- tion has estimated that fully reversing the past tricts, and that complying with a recent Kan- cuts in aid to poor districts — for general opsas Supreme Court mandate on public educa- erations and capital improvement projects — tion will require “significant” new spending. will require $129 million a year. Brownback issued a statement outlining Republican leaders, including Brownback, “principles” for lawmakers following the Su- have said the Supreme Court left lawmakers preme Court’s dewith wide discretion cision in a lawsuit in meeting the court’s filed by parents and mandate on aid to The equity issue raised by the court should poor districts. But school districts over education funding. be completely addressed this year. The solu- the justices said that The court ruled this tion to the equity problem will require sig- if lawmakers fully remonth that past cuts nificant new funding. verse the cuts, there in aid to poor diswill be no further — Gov. Sam Brownback tricts created unfair lower-court hearings and unconstitutional on whether their solugaps in funding betion is adequate. tween them and wealthier districts, and gave Democrats are pushing for a full, $129 milthe Legislature until July 1 to fix the problems. lion increase in spending, suggesting that the The Republican governor issued his state- state could eat into its cash reserves to cover ment on the eve of discussions about school the cost. But many Republicans don’t like the funding by budget committees in both cham- idea and want to look for a lower total price tag, bers of the GOP-dominated Legislature. cuts in other parts of the budget, or ways to “The equity issue raised by the court should shift existing dollars for public schools around. be completely addressed this year,” Brownback “Some people want to spend zero, and some said in his statement. “The solution to the eq- people want to spend $130 million,” said Sen. uity problem will require significant new fundSee AID | Page A5 ing.”
“As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.” — Andrew Carnegie 75 Cents
Hi: 73 Lo: 46 Iola, KS