Tuesday, July 7, 2020
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Electricity savings disappoint in Moran By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
MORAN — Moran residents may not be saving as much as they’d hoped with their electric bills this year. Moran City Council members were told Monday about some higher than expected electric transmission costs that could be coming down the pike. Moran pays both for the electricity itself, plus transmission costs to send the electrons from generating plants to the city. The cost of electricity has dropped substantially this year, now that Moran is buying its power through the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency. However, Evergy (formerly Westar) notified the city earlier Monday See MORAN | Page A3
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Record COVID-19 spike prompts warning By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas set a new record Monday for its worst two-week spike in reported coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, prompting its Democratic governor to issue a stern public warning meant to push the public and local officials in her red state into accepting
masks in public as necessary. Gov. Laura Kelly said the state has seen at least seven new clusters of Gov. Kelly two or more reported cases in the past five days directly related to bars and restaurants. She recommended during a
Statehouse news conference that counties delay lifting their last restrictions on public gatherings. Kelly issued an order requiring people to wear masks in public and in their workplaces, and it took effect Friday. But Kansas counties can opt out, and some have done so. Commissioners in Shawnee County, home to the state capital of Topeka, adopted a
less restrictive mask mandate Monday. “Kansas is at a make-it or break-it moment,” Kelly said. The state Department of Health and Environment reported 982 more confirmed coronavirus cases since Friday, an increase of 6% that brought the total to 16,901. It also reported another three COVID-19-related deaths to See VIRUS | Page A3
‘Chat room’ safely welcomes visitors By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Sharon Boan is a fan of the new “chat room” at Windsor Place. Finally, after four months, the gregarious Iolan can visit her friends there. Boan is but one of many who have been kept away from friends and family at assisted living and nursing home facilities because of the coronavirus pandemic. The virus put a sudden halt on visits to assisted living and nursing home facilities across the country starting in March, for fear of spreading the deadly infection to those who are most vulnerable. Facilities scrambled to find ways to help loved ones keep in touch, even if they couldn’t touch or even share the same physical space. On Monday morning, Boan visited her friend, Barbara Perry, at Windsor Place’s newest alternative for keeping each other company during COVID-19. Some call it “the visit box.” Others call it a “chat room.” It’s a plexiglass window and intercom system, similar to what you’ll find at a bank. Windsor Place residents can stay safely inside, seated not far from the recreation area
Windsor Place resident Barbara Perry chats with Sharon Boan in a new “visit box” constructed to allow the assisted living residents to see and talk with loved ones during visiting restrictions forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. At right, the box is easily accessed without visitors having to enter the facility. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS but far enough away for privacy. Visitors stay outside, seated on lawn chairs with a canopy to shield them from the elements. Visitors make appointments for their visits, and staff bring the residents to the
makeshift room. They can sit and chat almost like normal. “We understand being away from loved ones is hard, and being able to see them is important,” Tera Pate, director of nursing, said. “Family is
important.” INITIALLY, Windsor Place allowed families to visit via technology like phone calls, See VISITS | Page A3
Neosho Falls: In the throws of abandonment in 1951 I was standing by the river in Neosho Falls, watching dragonflies and listening to the murky water spill over the dam in a continuous rush. It’s a sound from the source of Neosho Falls’ life, as well as its ultimate demise. July 13, 1951, a day later christened “Black Friday,” the river crawled from its banks, and drowned the entire region beneath murky waters 16.5 feet above the floodplain. Residents of the Falls had been warned of a flood but didn’t panic, as they were numbed to occasional sharp peaks in the river; but instead of one or two feet of water, they got between nine and 10. Swirling white currents entered every business on Main Street, some up to seven feet deep. Five homes were entirely obliterated or washed downstream; and many others were ripped from the foundations and twisted in place Vol. 122, No. 175 Iola, KS 75 Cents
Trevor Hoag Just Prairie as if by enormous wringing hands. Already-weathered stones from Cedarvale Cemetery were washed away in the torrent, and with them the legacy of so many who’d once made Neosho Falls the most thriving place in all Woodson County. Gazing into the water, breathing its fetid odor, I dreamed the primordial beast awakening … and swallowing me whole. EARLY in the morning on July 12, between 2 and 3 a.m., the Neosho silently crept See NEOSHO | Page A6
Muns Hardware Store, one of the finest retail establishments in Neosho Falls, exemplified the extent of the 1951 floodwaters. The store lost nearly its entire stock. EXCERPTED FROM THE CHRONICLES OF ALLEN COUNTY: 1945-2000