Locally owned since 1867
Ponies take on Burlington at home
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Iraq wants US to pull military troops
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Today’s paper was printed early because of the threat of severe winter weather.
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Liens help resolve wind farm disputes By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
It reads as a cautionary tale. Or someone with an agenda. In a December letter to a newspaper in Gainesville, Texas, Don Vogel wrote about a proposed wind farm in Texas that, if approved, would be developed by the same company that owns the Prairie Queen Wind Farm in northern Allen County. “Like waking from a bad dream … the decent folk of the farming community near Iola were shaken by news of legal action,” Vogel wrote. “A mechanics lien to the tune of nearly $1.8 million had been placed on the properties that were leased to EDP’s Prairie Queen wind project.” The lien, Vogel said, essen-
More than 200 liens have been filed against local properties to force a contractor to pay for building the Prairie Queen Wind Farm. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN tially prevents the landowners from selling their property without first satisfying the $1.8 million debt. “These farmers now do not have a
clean title to their land!” he wrote. Vogel’s letter has subsequently been shared locally through social media. One
Take a walk in the woods
By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
Most days, Randy Rasa can be found somewhere along the 13 miles of the Lehigh Portland Trail system equipped with a hand saw and clippers. A website developer by trade, Rasa has also become a tree surgeon and botany hobbyist in the six years he’s lived in Iola. Under cloudy but balmy skies on Thursday afternoon, Rasa gave this reporter a glimpse of his work along the trails nestled in between Elm Creek and Elks Lake south of town. For someone so mild-mannered, Rasa harbors a distinct distaste for the invasive trees, bushes and plants that have overwhelmed the area that years ago were open grasslands. Rasa has a self-appointed goal of carving out oases of grasslands among the wooded acres. He targets cedars and honeysuckle, poison ivy and trumpet vines. “But the honeysuckle smells so good!” I say, to which he sighs, pointing out large twisted ropes of Japanese honeysuckle that are choking the life out of neighboring trees and plants. The forest is covSee TRAILS | Page A4
iolaregister.com
reader brought the letter to the Register’s newspaper office as well. So are local landowners on the hook for a $1.8 million bill? Not quite, although attempting to sell land with a lien on it could be problematic. A subsequent review of the more than 200 mechanics liens filed over the past year in Allen County District Court — including the one referenced by Vogel — show a byproduct of a multimillion-dollar construction project, and how contractors take steps to ensure they are being paid. The details in the lien listed in Vogel’s letter match up with a filing by Nelson Quarries, based in Allen County, against Black & McDonald, the contractor in charge of construction of the Prairie
See LIENS | Page A3
State breaks impasse on Medicaid expansion By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
Randy Rasa holds a clump of Chinese privet, one of several invasive plants that Rasa has targeted in his efforts for native grasses to gain a better foothold along the Lehigh Portland Trails. At right, Japanese honeysuckle twirls around tree trunks and branches, choking off their lifesource, the sun.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ Democratic governor and a top Republican lawmaker on Thursday outlined a new proposal for expanding the state’s Medicaid program, breaking an impasse that had allowed a handful of GOP leaders to thwart bipartisan legislative majorities. The plan from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning would give Kelly the straightforward expansion of state health coverage that she has advocated, covering as many as 150,000 additional people. But Denning would get a version of a program that he has proposed for driving down private health insurance premiums to make it less likely people would drop existing private plans for Medicaid. Denning had proposed financing his new program by increasing tobacco taxSee MEDICAID | Page A3
911 call center celebrates its first decade By ERIC SPRUILL The Iola Register
Angela Murphy sits in her office reflecting on how far the 911 dispatch center has come in its 10 years. In that time the department has moved from under the auspices of the city to the county; and from a tiny office in the police department to a stand-alone 911 response center that has become the benchmark for the state. Vol. 121, No. 307 Iola, KS 75 Cents
It wasn’t an easy sell convincing workers to come work for the county, Murphy said. “Everyone was wondering what would happen to their benefits,” Murphy said. “But the county commissioners agreed to absorb everyone’s benefits. It was really eyeopening to the staff when they realized the county believed in them. Everyone was going to keep their job.” The 911 Center used to be under the control of the po-
lice department, where they were hindered by a lack of space and equipment. Iola police chief Jared Warner said making the department its own separate entity has improved the dispatch center. “They were here in this tiny office with consoles that were on their last leg. By making them their own separate entity, it gave them their See DISPATCH | Page A3
Allen County 911 dispatcher Roy Harmon, facing, speaks with a caller on Friday morning, while Jason Trego, emergency management director, waits for a call. REGISTER/ERIC SPRUILL
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