Sports: Kerr coaches all year long See B1
The Weekender Saturday, August 9, 2014
Locally owned since 1867
Faraway in Norway
Decision on EMS is likely
Iola City Councilmen are expected to decide Monday whether to accept funding from Allen County to help make up half of a projected deficit of $377,000 for its ambulance service. County commissioners approved earlier this week a grant of as much as $189,000 to the city before year’s end. The funding comes with the provision that Iola would refund the money if the city returns the EMS service to county control before the five-year contract between the two entities expires. ALSO Monday, city council members will continue discussion on how the city will respond to a compensation study that notes Iola employees are paid on average 7.5 percent less than comparable cities in the state. The Council has a proposal to hike compensation about 2.5 percent over each of the next three years, not counting cost-of-living adjustments. See CITY | Page A3
www.iolaregister.com
County race a dead heat By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Kolbyn Allen, Humboldt, traveled to Norway last month for a 4-H exchange program.
Exchange program trip features flurry of firsts By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
T
here is a first time for everything. Kolbyn Allen tackled a lot of first time adventures in one trip. The recent Humboldt High School graduate took her first ever flight, on her first international trip to Norway. The four-week stay was part of an International 4-H Youth Exchange program. Allen, along with a group of U.S. 4-H’ers, flew to Norway’s capital, Oslo.
National Farmers Market Week
“We spent a few days in Oslo and became familiar with our surroundings,” Allen said. “Norwegian 4-H’ers showed us around Vigeland Statue Park, a folk museum and we did shopping on the main street.” After her time in Oslo she took a three-hour train ride to Arendal to meet her host family. At the train stop she was greeted with her surrogate dad, brother and a family friend. “My ‘dad’ didn’t speak English at all and my host brother was 10 and spoke a little,” she said. “They were very friend-
ly.” Her host father was a tree farmer, her mother a paramedic and her host sister was 14. Allen said the English barrier didn’t stand in the way. The family took her to her first concert at Hovefestivalen, a week-long music festival featuring artists like Ellie Goulding, Imagine Dragons and Foster the People. The family stayed in a camper at the festival. “After the festival my family took me to the Viking Market See NORWAY | Page A5
A razor-thin margin has evaporated to a dead heat in the ongoing Allen County Commission primary election race. Jim Mueller, Moran, and Jerry Daniels, Humboldt, ended Tuesday’s primary vote count thinking Daniels held a one-vote lead in their bid to replace outgoing Dick Works in the First District. However, election officials at the Allen County Clerk’s office failed to hand count five ballots that didn’t go through the electronic tabulation machine properly. State law mandates those ballots be hand-counted separately, County Clerk Sherrie Riebel said. “In all the hubbub Tuesday, I’d completely forgotten about those ballots,” See RACE | Page A5
ROTARY
Teaching and learning
Snesrud tells about South African experiences By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Autumn Snesrud is a serious-minded young woman who came away from a nineweek educational mission to South Africa with a much better idea of what life is like outside the freedoms and wealth of the United States. Snesrud, 21, outlined her work in instructing 4- and 5-year-old students for Iola Rotarians Thursday. She was one of 15 Kansas State University students who participated in the nineweek International Services project. She was joined by another Iolan, Jasmine Ban-
nister. Other teams went to Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Preparation for the 2011 Iola High School graduate included a spring semester class at K-State to acquaint her with nuances of being a global citizen and how to have an impact with her assignment. APARTHEID no longer is the law of the land in South Africa, but many signs of the segregational culture remain, Snesrud said. Apartheid began in 1948 and separated a disproportionately small number of
Autumn Snesrud whites from blacks and all other non-white, referred to See AFRICA | Page A5
Air conditioner causes fire in Gas
At left, Damaris Kunkler, Iola, strums her guitar and serenades shoppers at the Allen County Farmers Market Thursday. At right, William and Caroline Toland do some shopping with the help of their Radio Flyer wagon. REGISTER/KAREN INGRAM
Quote of the day Vol. 116, No. 200
GAS — Lenny Clark and his family are in need of some help Clark, 65, his stepfather, 85-year-old Ben Gregg, and his nephew, Chris Clark, 43, were displaced from their rental home in Gas after it burned Sunday evening. The fire started when Lenny Clark and Gregg were home, and Chris Clark was about to return. Lights in several parts of the home had gone out, and attempts to reset a breaker in the breaker box was unsuc-
cessful. “It kept kicking back off,” Lenny Clark said. “That’s when we knew we were in trouble.” Chris Clark investigated the cause and found fire emanating from an upstairs airconditioning unit. Firefighters were called. They were able to extinguish the blaze, but the upstairs portion of the house at 102 S. Humphrey St. was gutted. The rest of the house sustained heavy smoke and water damage.
“I haven’t spoken to my wife in years. I didn’t want to interrupt her.” — Rodney Dangerfield, comedian 75 Cents
While the Clarks and Gregg have plenty of clothing, they have several pressing needs. “First of all, we need a place to stay,” Lenny Clark said. “The Red Cross had enough to put us in a motel for three days. Now, we’re staying with friends.” If he can get the salvageable items from the house by Monday, before it is scheduled to be demolished, a portion of his See FIRE | Page A3
Hi: 90 Lo: 69 Iola, KS