Racing: Humboldt Speedway, drivers featured
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The Weekender Saturday, April 19, 2014
The electric elephant Behind the scenes of making power
By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
When Iolans flip a switch to turn on lights, it’s the result of a number of dominoes having fallen in a favorable pattern. That sounds simple enough, but the nuts and bolts of how Iola purchases power, from whom and the nuances of the process are more complicated. An important feature is that Iola is a generating city, meaning it can produce power to meet local needs. With that comes advantage but also
regulation, which is why City Administrator Carl Slaugh recommended to city council members Monday night that Iola work toward the purchase of a 10 megawatt natural gas generator, similar to the two 5 megawatt Wartsila generators on hand. The cost is about $1 million per megawatt. The city has squirreled away money in electric reserves with the purchase of additional generation of mind, and will have $2 million in the fund by year’s end. But, in some measure discussing more generation is
putting the proverbial cart well ahead of the horse. Iola has had generation capacity for decades, first with a steam unit at the power plant, then diesel-fired units and finally two five-megawatt machines powered by natural gas. At one time Iola had capacity to generate about 35 megawatts, which led to favorable contracts with Westar and later in pooled purchases. The flood of 2007 disabled the steam plant, with its repair not economically feasible. See ELECTRIC | Page A6
MOMs’ Stroll and Roll highlights special needs By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
Last year the Mothers of Miracles put on its first Stroll and Roll event. The purpose was to help educate and bring awareness to families, friends and neighbors about children with special needs. The organization didn’t know what to expect. “Last year’s turnout raised over $4,000,” Lesley Skahan said. “We were very excited and surprised with the success.” Since the first year was so successful the group is putting on the Stroll and Roll again on May 3 at the Iola Riverside Park. Registration begins at 10 a.m. and the walk begins at 11:30 a.m. Participants will walk around the park for the event. There will be informational booths and children’s activities during the day. After the walk there
will be a sloppy joe or hot dog donation lunch. Skahan said there will be a “Wall of Miracles” as well. “People can submit stories about children with special needs and their journey,” Skahan said. “We are more than happy to display that. Those who had stories can submit new photos if they want.” The funds from last year’s event reached many people in the community. With the funds the group aided families with children in the hospital, for children who needed special physical therapy and purchased gifts at Christmastime. “We wanted to show support to them,” Skahan said. “Sometimes you feel isolated and to know that someone is out there thinking of you helps.” Different community members have donated
National Park Day Lincoln Elementary students spent the afternoon Thursday “visiting” National Parks. Classrooms were set up to teach students about the many different parks in the United States. “Rangers” Christy Thompson, above left, and Nancy Skahan tell students about Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Jeremy Adair, left, and Japheth Rutch make pinecone bird feeders in Christina Boyers’ classroom.
See STROLL | Page A4
REGISTER/KAYLA BANZET
Baseball lore will come alive Grad fears first lady By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Wilbur Rogan, whose fastball was so good he was called “Bullet,” is one of several Kansas City Monarch baseball players whose exploits will be told here Tuesday evening. Phil Dixon, who has written nine books about black players in baseball, will talk about Rogan and others at the spring meeting of the Allen County Historical Society at 7 p.m. at the Funston Meeting Hall, 203 N. Jefferson Ave. The event is free and open to the public. “Rogan was one of three Monarchs elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame,” Dixon, 57, told the Register. Others were Jose Mendez, a Cuban, and J.L. Wilkinson, the team’s owner. The Monarchs were a prominent member of the Negro League before Major League
Baseball was integrated on April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Dixon’s stories will be about the Monarchs, including when they played exhibi- Phil Dixon tions in Iola, as well as local players and teams his research has uncovered. Rogan’s story is one of more than just baseball, Dixon said, which he learned when he interviewed an aging Ernest Maun, a New York Giants pitcher the Iola club enlisted to hurl against the highly regarded Monarchs. “Rogan got so upset with the umpire, that he hit him,” Dixon said, and then quickly departed the diamond in Riverside Park by scaling the center field fence and racing away
in a car. The game was played in October 1922. “You can imagine that a riot about happened,” Dixon said, with a black player slugging a white umpire. “Maun told me the umpire was cheating on Rogan.” Dixon will also touch on The Go Devils, a black team of considerable fame in Iola, the Red Six, another team of black Iola players in 1922-23, and George Sweatt, Humboldt product who excelled in baseball and other sports including collegiately at what today is Pittsburg State University. “I interviewed George in the early 1980s,” Dixon said. Sweatt died July 19,1983, at age 89. He played in the Negro League World Series two times each with the Monarchs and the American Giants. A baseball field in Humboldt is named for Sweatt, which puts See BASEBALL | Page A4
would upstage event TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas high school senior has started an online petition drive in hopes of encouraging school officials to rethink their decision to have first lady Michelle Obama speak at graduation next month in Topeka amid concerns that seating may be limited. Taylor Gifford, 18, said Friday that she decided to start her petition after students and parents expressed concern that Obama’s visit would alter graduation plans, including limiting seating for family and friends. “I really would like it to have a peaceful solution, but there is so much misinformation going on,” Gifford said. The school district announced Thursday that the
Iola Kiwanis annual Easter egg hunt starts at noon today on the Allen County Courthouse lawn. Vol. 116, No. 122
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first lady would speak at a ceremony May 17, the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision that made school segregation unconstitutional. Ron Harbaugh, spokesman for the Topeka school district, said officials had been trying to get the president or first lady to speak at graduation as a tie-in with the anniversary. He said meetings were planned Friday with district and high school officials to work out the logistics and planning for the event. “We will have a clearer picture of what’s going on,” Harbaugh said. School officials plan to combine graduation ceremonies and hold them in an 8,000-seat arena. Harbaugh See FIRST LADY | Page A5
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