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THE IOLA REGISTER Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Boy, 6, credited for saving family
A CLEAR PATH
WASHINGTON, Ill. — Brevin Hunter, 6, was playing on his Xbox when he heard the wail of the siren. “Please, Mom. Let’s go down in the basement.” Lisa Hunter heard it, too. But the skies looked deceptively calm, so she thought it was just a drill, or perhaps a few overly cautious officials jumping the gun.
By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Please, Mom. This is what they teach us in school. When you hear the siren, you need to go somewhere safe. — Brevin Hunter
See BOY | Page A3
Sewer district set for Petrolia Could open door for financial assistance
By BONNIE MILLER RUBIN Chicago Tribune
Brevin wouldn’t let up. “Please, Mom. This is what they teach us in school. When you hear the siren, you need to go somewhere safe.” On Sunday evening, Hunter credited her son for saving their lives. She, Brevin and her oldest son, Brody, 11, grabbed a futon and went to the basement, just minutes before the tornado slammed into their duplex. “There’s no way I would have gone if he hadn’t kept nagging me,” she said from Crossroads Methodist Church, where dazed and disoriented Washington residents gathered and waited, hoping to be let back into whatever was left of their homes. Lucinda Gresham, a nurse volun-
COUNTY
A rare view of a tornado's footprint is revealed in this aerial photograph of Washington, Ill., Monday, the day after an EF-4 tornado tore through town. ZBIGNIEW BZDAK/MCT
Funkie Monkey makes a move
Allen County commissioners Tuesday morning approved formation of a sewer district in Petrolia. Counselor Alan Weber said the small town in the southwest corner of the county had had a sewer system, but it was not designated as a district, which prevented residents from seeking financial assistance for upgrades through grants or loans. The district will be known as No. 13, and will be attached to Petrolia’s Water District No. 13. “They’ve had the sewer system and lagoons for more than 20 years, and there really won’t be any difference other than it being designated as a district,” Weber said. Commissioners also approved purchase of five trees, 15 feet tall and with trunks 4 inches in diameter, to replace ones that have been removed from the courthouse lawn. Cost will be $300 each from Traveling Trees, a Chanute company, to plant, stake and mulch each tree. Ron Holman, courthouse maintenance supervisor, will select among three varieties — pin oak, sycamore and burr oak. Karen Gilpin, Glenn Buchholz and Jay Kretzmeier were reappointed to three-year terms on the Allen County Regional Hospital Board of Trustees.
Contact Bob Johnson by email at bob@ iolaregister.com.
Allen County’s ambulance building in the 400 block of North State Street will become an adjunct for the merged ambulance service, if Iola is willing to pay monthly rent.
By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
The Funkie Monkey Bling store has packed up and made a short move around the Iola square. The store’s new location is at 1 E. Madison where the former Diamond Daisy flower store was located before it closed this summer. Store owner Teresa Ross said she moved for two main reasons. “It’s a bigger location and it’s a better location,” she said. The design of the former store had limited display space, Ross said. “I like the layout better here,” she said. “This space allows more room for vendors.” Ross said she will be bringing in different vendors soon. A majority of the store’s merchandise is already on display and the rest will be up by the week’s end. Large windows in the front of the store make the atmosphere “brighter
and lighter.” The store sits along the U.S. 54 route which will hopefully attract shoppers. The business opened its doors at the Madison location Tuesday and kicked off its opening with a sale which will continue until
It’s a bigger location and it’s a better location. — Teresa Ross, store owner
Thursday. “We will have a grand opening sometime in December,” Ross said. With the holidays quickly approaching Funkie Monkey will extend its store hours around Thanksgiving for holiday shoppers.
To reach Kayla follow her on Twitter @Kayla_IolaReg or email her at kayla@iolaregister.com
Quote of the day Vol. 116, No. 19
Ambulance building still unsettled By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
As it stands today, if Iola wants to make use of the county’s ambulance station in the 400 block of North State Street it will pay rent of $250 a month. A protracted conversation, first among Allen County commissioners and then with Ryan Sell, who will direct merged ambulance service, wove its way to that outcome Tuesday morning. Chairman Dick Works said he was in no hurry to decide and if the city were to take it over, he thought there should
be monthly rent, the eventual decision. Sell said the building would provide office and training space, as well as a place where apparatus could be stored, including two ambulances that won’t be used on a daily basis. With the merger, the service will have six ambulances immediately available, four that were part of the county fleet and two used by the city. Two will be dispatched from Iola and one each from Humboldt and Moran under Iola’s guidance. Finding a place for training “is a challenge in the city,” Sell said, and office space
“In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.” — Charles Lindbergh 75 Cents
will shrink when the deputy chief ’s office at Iola’s fire-ambulance station is converted to sleeping quarters for female employees. The county building also would be ideal as a central supply depot, he said. “It’s a component that would make us more successful,” Sell said. Commissioner Tom Williams said he was eager “to get (the merger) off ground, and for it to succeed.” He also sees the county building as an integral part of the merger moving forward. See BUILDING | Page A5
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