The
IOLA REGISTER Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Locally owned since 1867
HOW’D HE Summer reading program kicks off with magic
DO THAT?
People of all ages piled into the Iola Public Library meeting room Tuesday morning to catch a glimpse of a magical experience. Iola native and professional magician Mark Toland helped the library kick off its summer reading program by performing an hour long magic show. Children oohed and aahed as Toland demonstrated mind-boggling tricks. Toland said he has been doing magic since he was 3. “I got a magic book when I was young and got bit by the bug,” he said. “I’ve been doing magic ever since.” Previously Toland worked at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., at the Boardwalk Promenade. Now that his show has wrapped up there, he will be living in Chicago. He does shows nationwide. Although his Tuesday audience mainly consisted of children, Toland said that surprisingly a majority of his regular audience is older. “My audience is made up of about 90 percent adults,” he said. “I do shows for corporate events and college students.” During his Iola show he asked multiple kids in the audience to help with his tricks. Children tested his mind reading skills and ability to hit a target with a Nerf gun while blindfolded. The audience laughed along
Register/Kayla Banzet
Magician Mark Toland performs a needle and thread trick as his final act in front of a packed audience of children at the Iola Public Library. as Toland showed them how to be a magician. He ordered a magician kit, “The Vanishing Bandana,” and instead of getting a bandana he received a banana. For his last trick Toland had the audience promise him not to reenact his dangerous trick. “I promise to never ever, ever, ever do this at home,” Toland said. Instead he jokingly suggested to “go to a friend’s house or school instead.”
The last trick that he performed was a needle and thread swallowing trick. The library show was the only one Toland was performing in Iola. He was glad he could perform for everyone at the library. “I taught myself how to read so I could read magic books. That’s why I love doing library shows.” To learn more about Toland’s performances visit www.marktoland.com.
All-league teams announced See B1
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BOE meeting steeped in secrecy By BOB JOHNSON bob@iolaregister.com
By KAYLA BANZET kayla@iolaregister.com
BASEBALL
USD 257 board members spent about 2½ hours in a series of executive sessions Tuesday night. No action was taken after any. The sessions had to do with client-attorney privilege, including Greta Adams, vocal music instructor, other non-elected personnel, contract negotiations and preliminary discussions having to do with acquisition of real property. Prior to the closed sessions, Colleen Riebel, food service director, ran through what lies ahead for her department. The summer program begins Monday and will continue through July 26, with breakfast and lunch open to the public. Anyone 18 and younger may eat for free. The summer program dates to “before I arrived in 2006,” Riebel said in response to a question about its duration. Both meals will be served at the high school cafeteria throughout the summer, breakfast from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Breakfast also will be served at Lincoln School from 8 to 8:30 a.m. and Jefferson School 9:30 to 10 a.m. Riebel reported that last year on average 121 breakfasts were served each day and 175 people ate lunch in June. July numbers, when summer academic hours decreased, were 105 for break-
fast and 123 for lunch. Cost for adults is $2 at breakfast, $3.50 at lunch. Board member Buck Quincy asked if the summer program, which involves 10 employees and Riebel, was required. No, but recommended by the Kansas State Department of Education, said Brian Pekarek, superintendent of schools. Riebel also reported the program received a grant from KSDE for $1,625, with proceeds paying for Riebel and 10 employees to take food service classes in Chanute. BOARD members, acting as Bowlus Fine Arts Center trustees, approved increases in fees for use of the center’s facilities. New fees will be $800 for a performance in the auditorium for for-profit groups, $600 for nonprofits; increases of $100 each from last year. Additional performances the same day will be $700 and $500. Stand-alone rental of the Creitz Recital Hall will be $225 when used by for-profit groups, $60 for nonprofits. Charges are waived for events sponsored by Iola or Allen County. Iola pays an annual fee equal to what a 1 mill property tax levy raises, or $31,900 this year. The county has been asked to contribute the equivalent of a third of a mill, or $32,000, See BOE | Page A6
City personnel manual stalled By STEVEN SCHWARTZ steven@iolaregister.com
Some disagreement on interpretation in the Iola city employee’s new proposed personnel manual have stalled its completion yet again. The manual, which has been “one year in the works,” City Administrator Carl Slaugh said, has been examined and re-worked by the employee task force. While the manual as a whole was agreeable to council members, the section regarding
personal paid days off led to some confusion. For beginning employees, the city provides two personal paid days off in addition to 11 days off for federal holidays and vacation time. At issue is how personal paid days off are figured. Any overtime worked may be paid to the employee or taken in time off, based on the amount of hours worked. Compensatory time off is regulated by the hours comSee MANUAL | Page A6
Representatives of the Frank and Virginia Boyd family received a certification of appreciation from Harry Lee, left, chairman of the hospital board of trustees, for their gift to the new Allen County Regional Hospital. To Lee’s left are, Patti and Mark Boyd, Dwight Boyd, and Bob and Shirley Boyd. The family is standing in patient room 205 in the new hospital which will bear the family’s name. The window faces to the east and has views of Strickler Dairy and the hospital’s helipad.
A (hospital) room with a view Boyd family gives to new facility By SUSAN LYNN susan@iolaregister.com
A gift to the new Allen County Regional Hospital gave the family of the late Frank and Virginia Boyd naming rights to patient room No. 205. On hand to bestow the gift
in honor of their parents were Bob and Shirley Boyd, Houston, and Dwight Boyd, Toronto, Canada. Mark Boyd, grandson of the senior Boyds, was also on hand with his wife Patti, who serves on the hospital’s board of trustees. Mark and Patti live on the Boyd farmstead in rural Moran with their two daughters.
The Boyds also took advantage of a tour of the new hospital along with hospital trustees before their regular meeting. Phil Schultze, construction manager with Murray Company, said the bulk of the mechanical and electrical systems are installed. Workers See HOSPITAL | Page A2
County commissioners mull gun law By BOB JOHNSON bob@iolaregister.com
Register/Richard Luken
Swing batter batter...
A&W’s Griffin Westervelt takes a rip at a pitch Tuesday during an Iola Bitty Ball League contest, the first game of the 2013 Iola Recreation Department summer ball season. Vol. 115, No.151
Allen County commissioners are uncertain what stance they will take on gun-toting folks coming to the courthouse. State law passed this session permits concealed carry in virtually all buildings except the Statehouse in Topeka. The law takes effect July 1. Sheriff Bryan Murphy said commissioners could allow concealed carry of firearms in the courthouse beginning then or seek a waiver to put off the
decision for four years. During that time, commissioners would be expected to consider installing metal detectors and security personnel to identify those armed. If they decide on that course, a person’s weapon would be held at the entrance and returned to them when they exit. “It’s up to you, whatever you want to pursue,” Murphy told commissioners at their meeting Tuesday morning. “I’m not real worried about those” who make the effort to take a concealed carry course 75 Cents
and get certified, said Commissioner Tom Williams. “It’s the guys who violate the law that worry me.” Under the law, those who carry concealed weapons must be certified to do so. Murphy said with five entrances to the courthouse and associated law enforcement center, cost of checking each person coming in would be substantial. The only exemptions are the county clerk’s office and See GUN LAW | Page A6
Iola, KS