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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
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Monday, April 4, 2016
Moran reverses course on nominee
Iolan dies in cycle accident
Iola Michael A. Folk, 38, died Sunday when the motorcycle he was riding crashed just east of Belvue. Folk was eastbound on U.S. 24 on a 1992 Harley Davidson, the Kansas Highway Patrol reported, when the cycle left the roadway to the right and overturned. Folk was not wearing a helmet, KHP reported. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Belvue is in Pottawatomie County, about 20 miles east of Manhattan.
Creamed Iola Middle School Principal Jack Stanley, left, shares a lighter moment with IMS student Ian Spoor Friday, moments after Spoor smashed a cream pie in his principal’s face. The IMS faculty agreed to serve as targets for the students who paid for the opportunity to “cream” their favored target. The event was part of an IMS Student Council fundraiser. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
WASHINGTON (AP) — Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran is backtracking on his willingness to hold a hearing and vote on P re s i d e n t Jerry Moran B a r a c k Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, reversing course after infuriating conservatives. Falling in line with GOP leadership, Moran’s See MORAN | Page A4
School funding plan may mean property tax hikes By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Local property taxes could rise across Kansas under an education funding bill approved by legislators, and critics contend that the distribution of state funding would become less fair to poor school districts. Republican supermajorities in both chambers passed the plan last month to comply with a state Supreme Court order in February to improve funding for poor schools. They hoped to head off the court’s threat to shut down schools statewide if lawmakers don’t fix education funding problems by June 30. The status of school funding issues:
The Harvest Baptist Church congregation fills the sanctuary Sunday to listen to Tony Godfrey’s sermon. Godfrey is shown below as well. REGISTER/BOB JOHNSON REDISTRIBUTING STATE FUNDS
The Supreme Court’s ruling in February said the state wasn’t giving poor school districts their fair share of its $4 billion-plus in annual aid. The court ruled in lawsuit filed in 2010 by the Dodge City, Hutchinson, Wichita and Kansas City, Kansas districts. The bill on Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s desk would redistribute $83 million of the aid already See SCHOOLS | Page A4
Iola church has growing pains By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. — Haggai 1:8. Sunday morning chairs were set up to accommodate a typical overflow crowd of worshipers at Harvest Baptist
Church. “We have a problem,” said the Rev. Tony Godfrey, 38, the church’s senior pastor. The church’s pews will hold 100. Membership is 180, including kids who meet in a building next door. While Godfrey was exaggerating their plight, they are on the lookout for a new abode. A recent proposal to trade buildings with American Legion Post 15, 712 Patterson
Ave., didn’t fly with Iola’s Board of Zoning Appeals. “We prayed that if it was God’s will we would get the building, and Tony Godfrey if it wasn’t he’d slam that door,” Godfrey said. “He slammed the door, See CHURCH | Page A4
Lincoln program puts focus on bicycle helmet safety
At left, Emily Atwell tries on a helmet. At center, Jesse James Throckmorton is assisted by Thrive Allen County program director Damaris Kunkler as he adjusts his helmet. At right, Lincoln Elementary School’s fourth-grade instructor Scott Riebel reads to the students from the book “Mick Harte Was Here.” REGISTER/RICK DANLEY
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 110
“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” — Theophrastus, Greek philosopher 75 Cents
On Friday, Scott Riebel read to his fourth-grade class the final pages of “Mick Harte was Here,” a novel about a 12-year-old boy who dies of a head injury, the result of a bicycle accident. The book is narrated by the boy’s sister: “The doctor said that just an inch of Styrofoam would have made the difference between his living and dying.” In the novel, Mick rejects wearing his bike helmet because it wasn’t cool, “because it made him look like a dork.” “But what makes someSee HELMETS | Page A4
Hi: 72 Lo: 43 Iola, KS