Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Locally owned since 1867
Mustangs defeat Trojans
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Home alone: Pandemic style By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
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State fair asks for bailout PAGE A5
Communication skills are essential PAGE A5
Iola cross country wins meet PAGE B1
Chuck Platt will debate with anyone the risks of COVID-19, knowing full well it’s a lost cause. “You’re not going to convince some people,” he said. For now, he has bigger worries. “They’ve been saying we’re going to get these big rains,” he muttered Wednesday afternoon. “And then, nothing.” The lack of moisture has done a number on his lawn. “My poor lawn,” he said. “It smells like fried chicken.” Keeping a manicured lawn has always been more than a hobby. At first, it was his outlet, a way to keep busy when not at work. Then, when he opened Coast to Coast Hardware in Iola in 1986, a pristine lawn became part of his business strategy. “I could say, ‘Hey, go look at See PLATT | Page A3
Iolan Chuck Platt considers himself somewhat of a social recluse anyway, so he’s adapted rather well to the social distancing restrictions and isolation required by the COVID-19 pandemic. He does miss playing in community bands and orchestras, though. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Down on the poor farm By TREVOR HOAG The Iola Register
What social and moral duties we have toward the poor, the disabled and the elderly are perennial questions, but perhaps surprisingly, they dominated public discussion when Kansas was in its infancy. One finds an answer to such questions, or at least its remnants, about four miles north of Iola on farmland once known as the Allen County Home, or as it was known by most, the Allen County Poor Farm. Today, few traces remain, including building foundations, a dance floor, a pond built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and several metal crosses reportedly demarcating a cemetery. Not to mention the ghosts, whose sadness and emptiness seem to echo on the prairie wind. There are references to the poor farm as early as the late 1860s, when the editor of the Register advocated “that such a farm should be at once put in operation.” Rather than any ethical argument, they simply pointed to the cheap cost of land, and contended that the institution might not only be self-sustaining but even profitable. Such appeals must have worked, for by March 1872 county commissioners passed a resolution stating that “all paupers and charges upon Allen County, shall be conveyed to and placed in the care and custody of the Superintendent of the Asylum, for the poor of Allen County.” Soon after, an idyllic scene emerges. A caring physician named Driscol had taken charge, new buildings popped up and the peach and apple Vol. 122, No. 219 Iola, KS 75 Cents
Memorial markers for the poor farm cemetery stand out in white against the coming storm. Below, a photo from the Annals of Allen County: “This handsome building on old U.S. 169 six miles north of Iola replaced the original poor farm which burned in 1933. It was completed in 1935 by Allen County and used to provide housing for the indigent and elderly. The farm was purchased by ACCC in 1972 to be used in its farm management instruction program and the building was razed.” Bottom right, Tyler Powelson stands inside the foundation lines of the 1935 poor farm building. REGISTER/TREVOR HOAG
trees were blooming. By 1911, someone “who visited the poor farm … suggested the name of the farm be changed. Halting at the gate of the well-kept farm,
surveying the broad acres green with growing grass and gardens, stocked with fine fat cattle, hogs and chickens, he commented it was more like a pleasant country home.”
Vaccine latest flashpoint in White House campaign WASHINGTON (AP) — The prospect of a vaccine to shield Americans from coronavirus infection emerged as a point of contention in the White House race as President Donald Trump accused Democrats of “disparaging” for political gain a vaccine he repeatedly has said could be available before the election. “It’s so dangerous for our country, what they say, but the vaccine will be very safe and very effective,” the president pledged Monday at a White House news conference. Trump leveled the accuSee CAMPAIGNS | Page A6
KU students strike to protest campus opening
Yet many starkly contrasting reports exist, such as a mention in the 1927 Register to the effect that: “trustees and others should not misrep-
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A group of University of Kansas students went on a strike from classes on Monday to protest the opening of the campus during the COVID-19 pandemic. The University of Kansas held classes on Labor Day due to a modified academic calendar amid the pandemic, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. The student organization Jayhawker Liberation Front publicized the strike in tandem with a petition
See POOR | Page A2
See VIRUS | Page A2