Sports: IHS basketball gears up for season See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
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Thursday, December 4, 2014
Victims gaining confidence to report crimes
Military sex assaults jump by 8 percent
From left, Allen Community College’s Walt Regehr Jr., Nicci Denny and Tosca Harris have helped get a new entrepreneurship program off the ground at ACC. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Risk-takers welcome at ACC By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Tosca Harris is convinced businesses — and entrepreneurs — can thrive in Iola. “You don’t have to move to Kansas City to start your business and have it be successful,” said Harris, dean of Allen Community College’s Iola campus. Harris spoke about Allen’s new entrepreneurship
program, which got off the ground this fall. “Part of our whole thing is we want to show young people they can start at Allen, go to a university, finish their degree if they want, and then come back home to start their business,” she said. A $25,000 startup grant from the FHL Bank of Topeka helped launch the program. From there, the college interviewed several entrepre-
neurs in and around Iola, and the college’s outreach campus in Burlingame, to use as case studies. “By nature, entrepreneurs are willing to take risks. They are not necessarily somebody who has invented something,” Harris said, debunking the stereotype. “It’s someone who’s starting a business, or helping solve a need within the community,” See ENTREPRENEUR | Page A5
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of sexual assaults reported by military service members rose again this year, with an increase of 8 percent, officials told The Associated Press. Details set for release today and a new anonymous survey suggests victims are becoming far more willing to file complaints than in years past, they said. The officials said there were nearly 6,000 victims of reported assaults in 2014, compared with just over 5,500 last year. The Pentagon changed its method of accounting for the assaults this year, and now each victim counts for one report. Using last year’s accounting methods, there were roughly 5,400 sexual assaults reported as of the end of the 2014 fiscal year on Sept. 30, compared with a little more than 5,000 last year. That increase comes on the heels of an unprecedented 50 percent spike in reporting in the pre-
vious year. Based on those numbers, and the anonymous survey conducted by the Rand Corp., officials said that about 1 in every 4 victims filed a report this year, in sharp contrast to 2012, when only about 1 in every 10 military victims came forward. Two years ago, the anonymous survey conducted by the Defense Department found that about 26,000 services members said they had been the victim of unwanted sexual contact — a number that stunned officials and outraged lawmakers, triggering a barrage of congressional hearings and legislative changes. This year, that number dropped to about 19,000 — including about 10,500 men and 8,500 women — which officials said suggested that there was a trend of sexual assaults declining. Officials discussed the latest reports on condition of See MILITARY | Page A5
Student-directed plays debut tonight By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
Brewing up a good time Katie Terhune makes a beverage at Around the Corner. The coffee shop is participating in Friday night’s Downtown Christmas Block Party from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Entertainment and prizes are on tap. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Six student directors will present their one act productions this weekend at Allen College Theatre. “While You Were Waiting,” is about Frank, a peculiar man who is waiting for his girlfriend to arrive in a restaurant. Frank asks his waitress if she’s seen his girlfriend but she claims she hasn’t. The two sit and talk as Frank describes his girlfriend. The surprise is who turns out to be his girlfriend. Colton Schubert directs the play, written by local playwright Nic Olson. “The Second Beam,” is about two actresses waiting in a lounge to audition for the same part. Jennifer is nervous about auditioning because she’s lost a lot of parts to Patty, another actress. Meg seems calm about the audition and listens politely to Jennifer. Meg helps build up Jennifer’s confidence for the part. The play is directed by Heather Kropf. “In My Life,” is a play written and directed by Jordan Garcia. It is about six friends spending the night together
Barry McAnulty and Emily Strawn play a groom and bride in the in “The Wedding Proposal.” REGISTER/KAYLA BANZET one last time before they each go their separate ways. The friends talk about funny stories and what will happen to
their relationships once they leave. See PLAYS | Page A5
Protests erupt after decision in chokehold death NEW YORK (AP) — The cellphone video of the last moments of Eric Garner’s life was watched millions of times on the Internet, clearly showing a white police officer holding the unarmed black man in a chokehold, even as he repeatedly gasped, “I can’t breathe.” But despite that visual evidence, and a medical examin-
er’s ruling that the chokehold contributed to the death, a Staten Island grand jury decided Wednesday not to bring any charges against the officer involved, prompting protests across the country and sending thousands onto New York’s streets, where they marched, chanted and blocked traffic into the next morning. While legal experts note it’s
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impossible to know how the grand jurors reached their conclusion, they say the Garner case, like Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Mo., once again raised concerns about the influence local prosecutors have over the process of charging the police officers they work with on a daily basis. “The video speaks for it-
self,” said Jeffrey Fagan, a professor at Columbia Law School. “It appears to show negligence. But if we learned anything from the Brown case, it’s the power of prosecutors to construct and manage a narrative in a way that can shape the outcome.” Ekow N. Yankah, a professor at Cardozo School of Law, agreed that, “It is hard to un-
“The best way to keep one’s word is not to give it.” — Napoleon Bonaparte 75 Cents
derstand how a jury doesn’t see any probable cause that a crime has been committed or is being committed when looking at that video, especially.” Another observer, James A. Cohen, who teaches at Fordham University Law School, went further, saying, “Logic doesn’t play a role in this proSee CHOKEHOLD | Page A5
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