The
IOLA REGISTER
BASEBALL Rivera honored in All-Star game See B1
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
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Over 240 given HIV warnings in Chanute CHANUTE, Kan. (AP) — While assuring the 244 patients who received colonoscopies since early January there is an extremely low chance that they might have contracted a disease from the procedure, a southeast Kansas hospital is asking them to get blood tests now and again in six months just to make sure. Officials with Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Cen-
ter in Chanute and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said at a news conference Tuesday that a piece of equipment used in colonoscopies was not properly cleaned and disinfected according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The hospital is recommending that anyone who received a colonoscopy since Jan. 3 get tested for hepatitis B, hepati-
tis C and HIV. Should an infection turn up that is connected to the procedure, the hospital said it will provide treatment free of charge. Endoscopes, some of which feature a small auxiliary water channel that can be used to spray water ahead of the scope, are used in colonoscopies, the hospital said. But since the water channel was not being used, it was not stan-
dard practice at the hospital to flush the channel as part of the sterilization process. Instead, the scopes were immersed in a sterilizing fluid before use on each new patient. Because of that, infection control experts said the risk that any infections have been transmitted by the equipment is extremely low. There will be no charge for the blood tests, the hospital
Pipeline permit put off
See HIV | Page A2
ACC faces higher premiums
By BOB JOHNSON bob@iolaregister.com
Allen County commissioners tabled until their July 30 meeting a decision on whether to accept a recommendation from the county’s zoning board to allow Enbridge a conditional use permit to build a pump station southeast of Humboldt. The station would be part of a large oil-carrying pipeline Enbridge intends to build through eastern Kansas and Allen County. Monarch Cement, which owns land adjacent to a 40acre tract Enbridge purchased for the station, opposed the station’s construction, in fear it would limit the company’s quarrying of rock. Enbridge purchased the land from Dale Daniels, a Humboldt farmer. Harvey Buckley, Monarch spokesman, told zoning board members last Thursday the proposed pump station might limit blasting on Monarch’s adjacent property. County Counselor Alan Weber noted at the board meeting a 300-foot setback from adjacent properties Monarch had imposed on itself, and a previous board recommendation of a 200-foot setback from roads. Zoning board members approved, on a 5-1 vote, a recommendation for a conditional use permit for Enbridge to restrict construction of its pump station to 20 of the 40 acres it owns, and that Monarch continue its operations on adjacent land, including blasting with the set-back re-
said, and they can be arranged at other facilities besides the one in Chanute. Though not related to the Chanute scare, six cases of hepatitis C were found last year in Hays and linked to a traveling technician, David Kwiatkowski, who worked at Hays Medical Center in the catheterization lab from May
By STEVEN SCHWARTZ steven@iolaregister.com
Donna Regehr
A NEW PAGE
Former teacher now an author By KAYLA BANZET kayla@iolaregister.com
Once upon a time there was a retired Iola school teacher who became a novelist. Her name was Donna and she had many stories to tell. Donna Regehr, whose pen name is Donna Hawk (her maiden name), taught reading at Iola Middle School for 31 years and yearbook for 16. Regehr retired from teaching two years ago to become a fulltime novelist. “I wrote my first book and had it published in August 2012 when I was still teaching,” Regehr said. Her husband, Larry, recently retired as an elementary school physical education teacher, too. Regehr said she became interested in writing when in college. She would read books and think “Hey, I could do that.” “When my boys were younger, they would take naps and I would write,” Regehr said. Every writer has a process and Regehr is no different. She likes to jump right into writing when she wakes up. She writes at home and says there are some distractions like home chores but she doesn’t like being closed off in a separate room when writing. See AUTHOR | Page A5
See PIPELINE | Page A5
The covers to Hawk’s trilogy are pictured above.
Loren Korte, owner of Personal Service Insurance, came before the Allen Community College board Tuesday night to discuss the college’s insurance renewal — not all of it was good news. According to Korte, the policy remains similar to last year’s, except for the property and worker’s compensation insurance. Their premiums have significantly increased. “Property insurance across the board has taken some huge increases,” he said. He attributed the rise in cost to repair materials and labor, as well as ACC’s location in a tornado-prone area. He mentioned Joplin, Mo., and El Reno, Okla., (both of which have experienced severe tornadoes recently) as driving up costs for premiums. Costs can be reduced for property insurance, but not without some risk. “A higher deductible is one way to cut some cost,” Korte said. Raising the deductible from $2,500 to $5,000 could leave the college open for losses if its campus were hit by heavy storms. But, he said there have been only two claims, both at around $3,500, since 2010. In his mind, the risk is worth it. Now, in regard to worker’s compensation insurance, See PREMIUMS | Page A5
Mission work gives city youth insight to small town life By BOB JOHNSON bob@iolaregister.com
COLONY — “They’re awfully nice kids,” gushed Thelma Culler Tuesday afternoon, as a handful of youths from several states put a new coat of paint on her and husband Robert’s home at 412 Cherry St. “They’re really hard workers, too,” Culler added. “They’re doing a good job.” The five youths working on the Culler home, a two-story frame structure that will get upgrades to windows and soffits as well as new paint, are among 355 who came in 21 mission teams from 11 states to give 50 homes in Anderson County facelifts. They arrived in Garnett Saturday under the auspices of Group Cares based out of Loveland, Colo. The organization began in 1976 when volunteers responded to the devastation caused by the flooding of the Big Thompson River with its headwaters
Kristen Rigsby, left, Chicago, and Anne Goodroad, Minnetonka, Minn., paint siding on the home of Roy Dunlap and his mother, Connie, in Colony. The young workers also will add a wheelchair ramp to the front of the house. Vol. 115, No.185
in Rocky Mountain National Park. Twelve inches of rain caused the river to swell and rush down the Big Thompson Canyon, taking with it lives, homes and roads. An estimated 140 people were killed. Each summer since then church youth groups have been organized and dispatched to help those in need
of home upgrades because of disabilities or financial restrains. TWO YEARS AGO Scott Rogers, a handyman about Garnett who has a heart for helping folks, visited with Iola’s David Toland about See MISSION | Page A5
Iola Municipal Band -Since 1871Thursday, 8 p.m.
At the bandstand
Jake Ard, director
Star Spangled Banner.....................................Arr. J.P. Sousa
Valdres..................................................... Hanssen Original Boogie Woogie...................................Smith
The Syncopated Clock.....................................Anderson
The Vanished Army........................................Alford
Send In The Clowns....................................... Sondheim
March Slav..................................................Tchaikovsky
Iowa Band Law — march..................................King
Baby Elephant Walk.......................................Mancini El Captain — march....................................... Sousa
Rained out concerts are scheduled the following evening.
75 Cents
Iola, KS