Thursday, July 8, 2021
Locally owned since 1867
Relay For Life returns
iolaregister.com
Raise the roofs
Swimmers compete at Riverside Park
By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
The Annual Allen County Relay For Life returns this weekend featuring its traditional events including a survivor dinner, live auction, luminaries and a Survivor Walk. It takes place from noon to midnight on Saturday at the recreation center in Riverside Park. Last year’s event was virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the 25th anniversary of the local event, which raises money for cancer research through the American Cancer Society. Denise Smith has been part of it for almost all of that time. She first participated in honor of her grandparents, who both had cancer. Her grandfather had prostate cancer and her grandmother had leukemia. She brought her children to Relay for Life every year, making it a family event and instilling in them the desire to get involved and help others. But it became even more personal in 2008, when her son, Jacob, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. He died 13 months later. “We tried everything. We went to Children’s Mercy, even took him to St. Jude’s,” Smith said. “That’s why I do it, really. To raise money so (researchers) can keep trying to find the right drugs.” In her son’s honor, the family has formed “Team Jacob.” Her experience isn’t unique, though. Most of those who are responsible for bringing Relay For Life to Allen County have some sort of personal experience with cancer. “Every one of them has See RELAY | Page A6
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States stumble on internet privacy PAGE A2 Matt Godinez, of the Chanute Regional Development Authority, talks with Jonathon Goering of Thrive Allen County about housing and the importance of regional partnerships. REGISTER/TREVOR HOAG
Sharing a vision for housing By TREVOR HOAG The Iola Register
CHANUTE — Matt Godinez has the recipe for success in housing. He’s director of the Chanute Regional Development Authority (CRDA), an organization working to revitalize and rebuild not only Chanute, but communities throughout the region. “We can all be feeding off of each other,” he said, and contended that regionalism is a key ingredient to economic development projects of all kinds, where county borders and city limits matter less than perhaps they used to. Consider the following example. “OK developer,” Godinez said, “you won’t build five houses in Chanute, but what if I can get you to build 100 houses in southeast Kansas?” “Maybe 10 in Iola, 10 in Chanute, 10 in Parsons,” and so on. “Our buying power is in all of us together, not in standing alone,” he added. Godinez said it’s a similar story when recruiting franchises. For instance, Dollar Tree/ Family Dollar weren’t terribly interested in building single franchises in individual towns, he noted, but things
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AT THE BANDSTAND
Goering, left, and Godinez scope out the historic Mason’s Building in Chanute that is being repurposed into an apartment complex. “By saving this building, we’re saving this entire block,” Godinez said. changed when a regional approach was taken. ANOTHER success-story is the Osa Martin Heights Addition, a Chanute housing development. Advanced System Homes serves as the contractor there as well as other sites in eastern Kansas, including Neodesha. Although the project kicked off several years ago, a series of brand new houses have recently been constructed onsite. Godinez said that one trick to putting up new roofs there
See HOUSING | Page A5
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers plan to hold 14 town hall meetings across the state to gather opinions later this summer and fall on how the Legislature should redraw political boundaries next year. Six legislative leaders agreed Wednesday to have the same number of town hall meetings that lawmakers held ahead of the last redistricting in 2012. The state must redraw congressional, legislative and State Board of Education districts every 10 years to reflect shifts in the population. The Republican-controlled Legislature plans to tackle the work next year and have new lines in place for the June 2022 candidate filing deadline. Lawmakers in both parties expect Johnson County, the state’s most populous county, to pick up seats in the Legislature and western and southeast Kansas to lose them. They’re also expecting a contentious debate over redrawing the state’s four congressional districts.
Tears, prayer mark end to search JAKE ARD, DIRECTOR
THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2021 - 8 P.M. PROGRAM Star Spangled Banner ............................................. John Philip Sousa Fantasia and Fugue ................................................. Johann Pachelbel Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite ..............................................Karl King A Dream is a Wish................................................................. Mack David Billboard March........................................................................ John Klohr Intermezzo ......................................................................Pietro Mascagni Tower Hill Overture .................................................... Douglas Wagner Excerpts from Phantom of the Opera .......Andrew Lloyd Weber Colossus of Columbia............................................... Russell Alexander Manhattan Beach ..................................................... John Philip Sousa
SEE YOU THERE!
SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) — A somber moment of silence marked the end of the twoweek search for survivors of a Florida condominium collapse, as rescue workers stood at solemn attention and clergy members hugged a line of local officials while many of them sobbed. The painstaking search for survivors shifted to a recovery effort at midnight Wednesday after authorities said they had come to the agonizing conclusion that there was “no chance of life” in the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside. See SEARCH | Page A3
Vol. 123, No. 171 Iola, KS 75 Cents
was directly contacting local industries, and working to promote interest. “We’re really trying to promote that neighborhood to HR representatives,” he said, “about using that neighborhood as a recruiting tool.” But they also went one step further. As Godinez explained, “when Orizon came, we offered that if any employee were to build out there, they could get that lot for free.” As one can imagine, more
Lawmakers plan events on redistricting
Volunteers, along with locals, replace dead flowers with fresh ones prior to the Guara Family's burial service blocks away from the memorial site, at St. Joseph Catholic Church on the 13th day since the building collapse in Surfside, Florida. (CARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/TNS)
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