Sports: Retired coach awaits HOF vote
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THE IOLA REGISTER Thursday, May 1, 2014
Death penalty backers renew push
Farmers Market back on square
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A botched execution in neighboring Oklahoma isn’t causing Kansas legislators to reconsider a proposal to expedite appeals in capital murder cases. Republican Sen. Jeff King, of Independence, and GOP Rep. John Rubin, of Shawnee, said Wednesday that the problems with Tuesday’s execution in Oklahoma demonstrate the need to ensure that Kansas’ process prevents similar incidents. But they also said the bill dealing with death penalty appeals still would allow a thorough review of defendants’ cases without permitting them to drag out. King, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, and Rubin, who leads the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee, helped draft a compromise between the two chambers on the legislation. The
By SPENCER MICHELSON The Iola Register
The Allen County Farmers Market, now in its fifth year, again has taken up residence in the first block of South Washington Avenue adjacent to the courthouse square on Thursdays from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The market opened April 17 and will continue to Oct. 9. It gives gardeners and others an outlet for vegetables, baked goods and any number of other edibles. “Right now you can find eggs, beef and chicken, a variety of cool-season vegetables, like asparagus and mustard greens,” said Debbie Bearden, Farm Bureau board secretary and market manager. The current market is a revival. The initial one ran for 18 years on the north side of the downtown square before issues with
Emma Piazza
Trilby Bannister
Caitie Venter and Olivia Bannister
Tyler Holloway
See FARMER | Page A5
It just re-emphasizes how meticulous we have to be when we’re dealing with death penalty cases.
Drought, wind create dust storms WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Seemingly unrelenting winds and drought conditions have whipped up massive dust storms this week across the High Plains, but respite is near since the weather system that’s to blame has moved east into the Great Lakes and Northeast, the National Weather Service said Wednesday. Blowing dust is blamed for the zero-visibility conditions in central Kansas that caused a traffic accident in which a man died Monday. Stanton County schools in far western Kansas also cancelled classes and activities Tuesday. The wind is also affecting winter wheat by sucking up the little moisture that had been in fields. Monday’s dust storm was so large it covered most of Kansas, western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle and eastern Colorado, said weather service meteorologist Jeff Hutton in Dodge City. Tuesday’s dust cloud was more localized, only found in some parts of Kansas. “That is what happens when you get drought, a lack of vegetation and you have wind,” Hutton said. “I mean, that is just the nature of the High Plains. And then that dirt that was See DUST | Page A5
— John Rubin, GOP rep.
Judd Wiltse and Yohon Sinclair
Mackenzie Weseloh
The many faces of forensics Students perform state qualifiers By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
The secret is out, Mary Poppins is a hit man. That was a revelation at the Iola High Forensics Open House Wednesday night. The forensics team has qualified 13 entries for state competition this year, and will travel to Washburn Rural High School in Topeka Saturday for the state championships. Students gave the community a little taste of their entries. Katie Terhune and Garrett Prall kicked the night off with lots of laughs. They want people to know about the real story of Little Red Riding Hood. In their duet piece, “Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon: Little Red Riding Hood,” Red isn’t as sweet as the famous
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story plays her up to be. Her grandmother isn’t a bed of roses, either. The two are foulmouthed and actually beat up the big bad wolf. Clara Wicoff explained how the world can fight world hunger in an original oration. She has three wishes to save the world and those wishes are Buzz Aldrin, Spider-Man and Mother Theresa. Wicoff said we should be more like those three. Mother Theresa would take care of the problem that is front of her. Fighting world hunger is an achievable goal, a responsibility and one that can be taken care of. Wicoff also is taking an oral interpretation of prose to state competition. Wicoff tells the story of Holocaust survivors in “I Have Lived 1000 Years,” by Livia Bitton-Jackson. Caitie Venter gave an oral interpretation of poetry, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” by Roald Dahl. The classic is given a little twist. The dwarfs are ex-horse jockeys who love to gamble. Snow White and the dwarfs use the evil stepmother’s looking
glass to predict races. Mackenzie Weseloh gave her oral interpretation of prose, “Through a Window,” by Angela Johnson. Weseloh tells the story in first person as a teenage girl whose best friend commits suicide. She guides the audience through the solemn story of Nick and how his death effects her. Judd Wiltse and Yohon Sinclair performed a piece on a whim. The two are improvisational duet acting partners. At each competition they draw characters, a scene and an activity. Wednesday night Wiltse was a chef, Sinclair was a bratty child and they were lost on a playground. The two were comical as they dove and crawled through the giant playground. Olivia Bannister and Caitie Venter are duet acting partners. The two girls tell the real story of Cinderella and her evil stepsisters. The prince isn’t all that bright, there is no fairy godmother and her stepsisters will go to great lengths to fit into the golden slipper. See FORENSICS | Page A5
“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet” — Aristotle, philosopher 75 Cents
House planned to take a crucial procedural vote as early as today to determine whether the compromise is considered in both chambers. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback said “it’s probably worth looking at” the state’s execution process. Department of Corrections spokesman Jeremy Barclay said the agency already had planned such a review when an execution drew closer. None of the nine men currently on death row are expected to face lethal injection for at least several more years. In Oklahoma, convicted killer Clayton Lockett was declared unconscious Tuesday after the administration of the first of three drugs for his lethal injection but began breathing heavily, clenching his teeth and straining to lift his head. His execution was halted, though he later died of an apparent heart attack. “It just re-emphasizes how meticulous we have to be when we’re dealing with death penalty cases,” Rubin said. But capital punishment opponents immediately saw the botched execution as an example of why KanSee DEATH | Page A5
Hi: 63 Lo: 38 Iola, KS