Inside: Hurricane Franklin hits Mexico See A5
Sports: Chiefs must shore up run defense See B1
2017 1867
THE IOLA REGISTER Thursday, August 10, 2017
Locally owned since 1867
STAYING IN TUNE
www.iolaregister.com
Iola’s Andersen makes her mark on local music scene
Utility shut-offs get more expensive
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Hannah Andersen is hardly your typical performing artist. With only minimal training, Andersen still has developed an avid fan base for her singing. And she never knows where the requests will come from. “We’ll get calls out of the blue,” her mother, Alisha noted. “We just got a call from Garnett, asking if she could perform there.” So Hannah, who turns 14 next month, will sing in Garnett Saturday morning, and then head back to Iola for an evening performance as part of the Friends of the Bowlus Fine Arts Center annual meeting. Not bad for a youngster who hadn’t stepped on a stage until moving with her family to Iola from her native Colorado about 2½ years ago. Hannah’s dad, David, is a dentist with the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas. IT WAS shortly after arriving in Iola that Hannah’s path crossed with that of another precocious performer. Hannah’s classmate, and eventual best friend, Josie Plumlee
LaHarpe Council
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
About a year later, Josie encouraged Hannah to try again. Same result. “I tried it and almost gave it up” again, Hannah noted. But amid her frustration
LAHARPE — It will be a bit more costly for utility customers to have their service restored because of delinquent bills. LaHarpe City Council members voted Wednesday to increase reconnection fees for electric and water customers who have had their services shut off. As of Wednesday, getting service restored will cost $100 — $50 each for water and electric – which doubles the former fees. As Mayor Mae Crowell noted, disconnections and reconnections have become a monthly ritual for many. Last month alone, 17 such customers had their utilities shut off, only to have the customers promptly march down to City Hall to pay their bills within minutes of the disconnection. Once that’s done, city crews must return to the residence to reconnect the electric and water meters. “They say they can’t afford to pay their bills, but somehow they can afford the bills
See ANDERSEN | Page A5
See LAHARPE | Page A5
Hannah Andersen, 13, will sing Saturday during the Friends of the Bowlus Fine Arts Center annual meeting. Despite minimal formal training in the music realm, Andersen has acquired a devoted local following. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN already was a skilled musician and singer. It was her new friend who would frequently encourage Hannah to sing along with songs they heard on the radio. And while Hannah’s singing voice was developing into
Open-air history event Saturday CHANUTE — Several groups, including the Allen County Historical Society, will participate in an openair show-and-tell Saturday at the north end of Chanute’s Katy Park. The park is along the east edge of town, just south of Highway 39. In addition to ACHS, Neosho and Wilson counties historical societies, the Chanute Fire Department and the Neosho County Community College volleyball team will have exhibits, open from 8:30 a.m. until noon. Mike Rutledge told the Chanute Tribune other exhibitors may be involved. He is a member of the Fredonia Old Iron Club, which sponsors demonstrations of antique farm equipment and crafts. Event-goers will be expected to browse exhibits and listen to occasional presentations, or benefit from impromptu one-on-one conversations. In the event of rain, the event may be moved indoors, to a venue not yet determined but which will be advertised at the Katy Park site. “There’s so much history and so much neat stuff sitting around,” Rutledge told the Tribune, and he is eager to have it where others may take note. “We hope to have a crowd.”
a devastatingly soulful alto, her skills with musical instruments was less evident. “I was in a music class in the sixth grade, and I tried to play “Puff the Magic Dragon,” on the ukulele, but I couldn’t get it,” Hannah recalled. “So I gave up.”
KC voters sound off on wages, streetcars By LISA RODRIGUEZ Kansas News Service
By a margin of fewer than 900 votes, residents of Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday acted to prohibit city officials from moving forward with any streetcar extension without first gaining citywide voter approval. Question 1 failed south of the river by a small margin, but passed in Platte and Clay counties. The ballot issue keeps the city from planning for any construction or buying any land related to the streetcar. It also sticks the city with penalty of $1,000 a day for noncompliance. Turnout for the special election was around 11 percent in Jackson County, but much lower in the northland. The result came as a surprise to some city officials and streetcar expansion advocates. David Johnson is with the group behind current
Quote of the day Vol. 119, No. 200
The city council will now determine whether the measure is legal and whether to enact it. But Kansas City attorney Sherry DeJanes, who is one of the petitioners who brought the meaKansas City voters approved a sure to a vote, measure that would prohibit the advises officials city from planning for any streetagainst trying to car extension without first gaining repeal it. citywide voter approval. KANSAS NEWS “I think it SERVICE/LISA RODRIGUEZ/KCUR.ORG would be to the city’s advantage for that not to expansion efforts that would take the streetcar happen to allow this to south to UMKC. That pro- play out as the city has cess can still move for- said it wants to play out,” DeJanes says. ward. Voters on Tuesday also But Johnson says without city support later in decided to raise the city’s the process, the future of minimum wage to $10 an hour later this month, the streetcar is uncertain. “This is really hard to di- and eventually to $15. But gest,” Johnson says. “But I the fate of that decision is will say that it will be com- uncertain because it conpletely up to the council flicts with Missouri state to determine how to move law, which prohibits cities from raising the minimum forward.”
“Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.” — Albert Schweitzer, theologian (1875-1965) 75 Cents
wage above the state level of $7.70 per hour. City officials said Tuesday they’re weighing their next legal steps. And transit activist Clay Chastain’s latest vision to construct a massive light rail and streetcar extension project was rejected by nearly 56 percent of Kansas City voters. Chastain, who resides in Virginia and has submitted 9 petition initiatives to the city over the last 20 years, says he won’t be pushing any more transit plans in Kansas City. “My era as an activist in Kansas City is gone with the wind it looks like, and I need to accept that, respect the voters and go on to another moral cause,” Chastain says. Tuesday’s special election was the first since Missouri’s new voter ID law took effect. Election officials across the metro area said for the most part, voting went smoothly.
Hi: 85 Lo: 68 Iola, KS