Monday, February 10, 2020
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ACC basketball teams vs. Butler PAGE B1
Former sheriff dies For mer Allen County Sheriff Ron Moore died Saturday at a Wichita h o s p i t a l , Moore following an extended illness. Moore’s 28-year career in law enforcement included a 20-year stint as sheriff. He retired from law enforcement in 2000. He continued to work for years afterward as owner of Iola Office Supply. His daughter, Shannon Moore, is chief of police in Humboldt. Funeral services are pending.
iolaregister.com
They are Forever Fillies
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
While a name change is in the offing, the legacy of the Fillies will forever be secure at Iola High School, former principal Don Bain said Friday. Bain, who was instrumental in introducing girls sports to IHS back in the 1970s, gathered with several members of the first-ever IHS girls basketball team from the 1974-75 school year Friday. They were special guests of the current Iola Fillies squad, and appeared on court with the basketball team before Friday night’s contest against Burlington. Before that, the Fillies alum gathered for a round-table discussion, along with Bain and former coaches Van Thompson, Mary Lacy and Nancy Yokum, who had the honor of coaching the inaugural Fillies squad. They share stories of the difficulties associated with getting girls sports off the
Nan Yokum, who coached the inaugural Iola High Fillies team during the 1974-75 school year, is greeted by well-wishers Friday at a “Forever Fillies” reunion. She met with former and current players to discuss the team’s history. REGISTER/ERICK MITCHELL ground, dealing with substandard practice conditions, and the support they received from others around the school. The visit comes months after USD 257 Board of Education members agreed with a
proposal to change the moniker for Iola’s girls teams to Mustangs, starting in the fall of 2021. “The Fillies name will always be a legacy,” Bain said, in response to a question
about the historical significance of the team’s name. “There were too many girls who participated under that name. All of their friends and all of their relatives are going See FILLIES | Page B2
Kansas anti-abortion measure fails By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
Rays from the setting sun wash across a hay barn and soybean field near the site of Defiance, the seat of Woodson County in 1874. REGISTER/TREVOR HOAG
The defiance of Lomando Pierce The first time I met Theresa McNett she said, “I have had spirits following me my whole life.” Looking back now, I recognize the ambiguity of the statement and realize she might have been referring to either one of us. Indeed, I’d discovered Theresa while looking for a ghost, then eventually went searching for one with her. I initially knocked on her door while trying to find the abandoned townsite of Defiance, the seat of Woodson County in 1874. Back then people were looking to start a town closer to the center of the county, and so folks in the south Owl Creek area decided to get in on the action, challenging Kalida’s claim to the seat of government. Defiance-backers even went as far as to deliver whiskey-laced beer to a political convention in Kalida, the 1873 county seat, which they managed to reduce to a drunken revel. When they eventually won Vol. 121, No. 328 Iola, KS 75 Cents
the county seat election, the parade containing 4,000 people stretched out for over a mile, and those Fourth of July festivities must have
Trevor Hoag Just Prairie been raucous. Perhaps that’s why the Civil War soldier on horseback who Theresa claims haunts her barn continues to come around. He’s seen too much of war and would prefer instead to remember the bottom of a bottle. After grabbing power — very likely through a rigged election — the town of Defiance began to take shape thanks to lumber hauled in from Humboldt. Along with the hotels, tavern and more See LOMANDO | Page A4
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Kansas failed to get a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the state constitution on the ballot Friday, and abortion opponents responded by moving aggressively to block a Medicaid expansion plan backed by Democrats and GOP moderates. Neither side expected Friday’s vote in the Kansas House to be the last word on whether the abortion
measure ultimately is put to a vote in a statewide election, when a simple majority would change the state constitution. It would overturn a Kansas Supreme Court decision last year that declared access to abortion a “fundamental” right under the state’s Bill of Rights. Anti-abortion lawmakers struck back immediately with moves aimed at intensifying pressure on four Republicans who broke with the GOP on Friday’s vote and some Democrats in relatively conservative districts. They
promised to hold up the bipartisan plan to expand the state’s Medicaid health coverage to as many as 150,000 additional people — a top priority for Gov. Laura Kelly. Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, sent all 11 House-passed bills on the Senate’s debate calendar and another two Senate health care bills back to committee. She declared that no House-passed bill on any subject would clear committee until the abortion measure See STATE | Page A2
‘Wandering Gypsies’ hike through Iola By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
A group of about 45 walkers ignored Sunday’s soggy weather, embarking on a hike along Iola’s Lehigh Portland Trails. The Wandering Gypsies, a group of women from across the state, met in Iola for their expedition. The women — all of whom share a passion for outdoors and hiking — gather for group adventures once a month at predetermined locations. The Gypsies started small about a year ago, but have grown larger in numbers each month, noted Shannon Martin, an Iola native now living in Dexter. Sunday’s turnout — the largest yet — included enthusiasts from Topeka, Wichita and parts west. “Sometimes we get a couple from Oklahoma,” Martin said. “It’s just a social group,” Martin said. “We pick a dif-
The Wandering Gypsies, a group of about 45 women from across the state, gathered for a photo at the west trailhead at Iola’s Lehigh Portland Trail complex. The group meets once a month for an outdoors excursion. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN ferent hiking location each month. It’s all about women, and being supportive and uplifting to each other, and having a good time and being outside.” Sunday’s excursion covered about 6½ miles, and included a trip to John Brown’s Cave. “I’m originally from Iola,
so I’d known about the Lehigh Portland Trails,” Martin said. “We thought this would be a fun location to explore.” There is no fee to join Wandering Gypsies. The Facebook-based group invites all women, with a few See GYPSIES | Page A4
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