Sports: Area thinclads compete in Eureka See B1
The Weekender Saturday, April 9, 2016
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His is a heart for competition City code
Former Iolan embraces active life after heart transplant By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Kevin Lind isn’t your average 58-year-old. As the recipient of a heart transplant he has faced down death and has worked ever since to become a competitive athlete. Lind, a 1975 Iola High grad who lives in Olathe, will compete in his second Transplant Olympics Games this summer. He was in Iola this week to visit his mother, Lenora Lind, and encourage people to donate organs. April is Organ Donor Awareness Month. The gift of an organ surpasses all others, according to Lind. “Even if you don’t think your life is worth a damn, it may be to others,” he said. Every body comes with eight organs that are suitable for transplant, including the heart, liver, lungs and kidneys. Twenty-two people die each day in the United States waiting for transplants, Lind said. Lind has had more than his share of health battles, including a stroke, cardiac sarcoidosis that led to a transplant in 2011, and now, prostate cancer. As for the heart transplant, it came as something of a surprise. Only weeks earlier, he was led to think a program of rehabilitation would be suf-
Former Iolan Kevin Lind discusses his participation in the Transplant Olympics Games. Lind received a heart transplant in 2011. ficient to get him back up to snuff. But it wasn’t to be and on June 6, 2011, surgery occurred. “When I woke up I didn’t even know if it (the surgery) had happened. I knew I felt a lot better. I could breathe better. You could just tell you felt better.”
AND HOW.
At his first Olympics he won the long jump and came within an inch of winning a bronze medal in the shot put. His winning jump was a little less than 12 feet. “We were ecstatic,” he said, not only for the gains the win signaled in his efforts to re-
gain his health but also what it might mean to his father, Bob Lind, who at the time was a patient at Moran Manor, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. “He was my focus,” Lind said. “I showed him the medal. I think he was proud.” Bob Lind died Nov. 27, 2014, a few months after the Houston games. “I never expected to be able to do something like this,” he said of the Olympic competitions. His first was in Houston. This summer’s is in Cleveland. If he wins a medal in Cleveland it comes with a chance to go to Spain for the international games. There are some constraints to observe. “They told me to do whatever I normally do, with some limitations. You still need to look out for infections. At my age, I’m kind of privileged. I still have my own immune system,” though one that is medically depressed to trick his body into not concentrating on rejection of the new heart. He does shy away from large crowds, but more because of anxiety, than health, issues. “When the noise level gets real high at a concert or whatever — maybe because of the medicine I’m on — I have trouble sleeping at times.” Lind credits his wife, Angela, for making his life easier. “My wife has to be my angel. She’s in intervention radiology at KU (Med Center). She didn’t run and hide. She knew how to respond.” Now, there is the prostate cancer. See HEART | Page A6
officer resigns
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Iola code enforcement officer Shonda Jefferis is resigning her post. Jefferis, who has been with the city since July 2012, has accepted a position with Transystems, Corp., a firm that deals with engineering, design and architecture for transportation infrastructure. Transystems is headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., with offices throughout the country, including ones in Wichita and Independence. Iola City Council members Monday are expected to appoint assistant code enforcement officer Greg Hutton to fill Jefferis’ role on an interim basis. The city has begun to advertise for the vacancy. IN OTHER CITY matters, Council members are expected to vote on proposed 3 percent increases in both water and electric rates. City Administrator Carl Slaugh has recommended both be increased in order to build up reserves. Also on Monday’s agenda is discussion of designs for a proposed pedestrian bridge that would span Elm Creek along South WashSee CODE | Page A6
KwiKom sending all the right signals By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Iola High School football coach Doug Kerr stands with players Ethan Holloway, from left, Isaac Vink and Cale Barnhart outside the football stadium at Riverside Park. The Iola Community Improvement Task Force/PRIDE Committee is hosting a Sunday fundraiser at Sam & Louie’s in Iola to pay for drainage and locker room improvements at the stadium. COURTESY
When John Vogel arranged for high-speed Internet to his home in rural Elsmore, “I quickly found myself with a full-time job I hadn’t asked for,” he told Iola Rotarians Thursday. He offered to help neighbors also ditch dial-up for wireless Internet, much faster and with greater capacity. His
cottage industry of programming and rectifying problems in servers eventually changed to what today is providing wireless Internet in 10 eastern Kansas counties through KwiKom, 3 S. Jefferson Ave., which originated in 2010. Expansion planned for this summer has potential to add 450,000 customers, Vogel said. The expansion will be simple enough, just as has been the company’s reach into much of southeast Kansas. Its tech-
nicians place equipment, including a nearly unnoticeable antenna, atop water towers, grain silos and other lofty vantage points to facilitate Internet reception. Wireless access has quickly become pervasive and today is available in 80 percent of the United States and a large portion of the world, Vogel said. While still struggling to start his home-based business See KWIKOM | Page A6
PHOTO
Stadium fundraiser Sunday The Iola Community Improvement Task Force/ PRIDE Committee and Sam and Louie’s restaurant are teaming up for a fundraiser Sunday to benefit the football stadium at Riverside Park. From 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., 15 percent of all profits collected will go to CITF/ PRIDE to repair ongoing drainage issues at the football stadium. Funds also are being sought to help clean up the
visitors locker room on the west side of the stadium. Drainage traditionally has been an issue, and the visitors locker room has steadily deteriorated to the point of being “disgraceful,” said CITF/PRIDE member Donna Houser. Houser and committee members Tom and Judy Brigham will be on hand Sunday at a table to explain where funds will be spent on the stadium, and to solicit donations.
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 114
Upon further review...
Marmaton Valley High FFA member Sarah Spillman looks over a variety of insect species Thursday as part of Allen Community College’s Aggie Days Career Development Event. Scores of highschoolers from across eastern Kansas were at the ACC campus to be tested on their knowledge on all aspects of the agriculture community. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
“My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.” — Mitch Hedberg, comedian 75 Cents
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