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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Officials’ emails are now public By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas officials’ emails about public business on private accounts or devices will be subject to public Brownback disclosure starting in July under a bill Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law Wednesday. The law closes a big loophole in the Kansas Open Records Act. That decades-old law generally requires government records to be accessible to the public, but it hasn’t specifically applied to officials’ private email accounts or communications with private cellphones. Legislators approved See EMAILS | Page A9
Above, James Nightingale, of Unruh House Moving, scales an abutment beneath the historic bridge installed over a ravine on the Lehigh Portland Trails. At right, Shelby Unruh and Dave Fontaine, lead volunteer on the trails, watch as the bridge is pushed into place. In the background is David Riebel, another main volunteer, who gathered with a small group to watch the proceedings. The bridge was transported from its original home spanning Owl Creek, in rural Humboldt, two years ago. REGIS-
TER/RICK DANLEY
Humboldt lumberyard reopens HUMBOLDT — After being shuttered briefly Monday for failing to pay back sales taxes, Barfoot Lumber is back in business. Owner Kent Barfoot and the Kansas Department of Revenue both announced Wednesday afternoon that a payment plan has been reached, and the lumberSee LUMBER | Page A9
BRIDGING THE GAP Span added to Lehigh Portland Trails route
By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
O
n Wednesday, a small crew from Unruh House Moving lifted a 50,000-lb. iron bridge from a gravel lot bordering the south banks of Elm Creek in Iola and set it, by some combination of exertion and finesse,
over a ravine on the main section of the Lehigh Portland Trails. In establishing this essential link in the county’s most ambitious network of recreational trails, the movers were completing a job they’d started two years earlier. In May 2014, the same four-man crew, by request of Thrive Allen County, transported the 63-foot bridge
from its original home three miles west of Humboldt to the creek-side lot in Iola, where it has remained for two years. Only weeks prior to that move, Thrive, on the strength of a $100,000 grant from the Kansas Health Foundation, had managed to rescue the century-old bridge — which the county had deemed inadSee BRIDGE | Page A10
LaHarpe City Council targets weedy lawns, street repairs By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
LAHARPE — About this time every year Jason Prock re-acquaints himself with a number of LaHarpe property owners. And the “hello” isn’t always welcomed. In his role as LaHarpe code enforcement officer, it’s Prock’s responsibility to remind residents of
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their responsibility to keep their lawns mowed. “Every year about this time, we send the same notices to the same people,” Prock, who also serves as LaHarpe police chief, told city council members Wednesday. “Last week alone, I sent out 12 notices.” He has proposed the city streamline its weed notification ordinances, to make it easier to force property
owners to mow their lawns, or pay for LaHarpe to do it. Current policy mandates the city send a certified letter to the offending property owners. Grass must be kept below 12 inches. The problem is, it can take up to a month or longer after notices are sent before the city can mow the offending properties. Certified letters must be resent twice if the prop-
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” — Henry Adams, American historian 75 Cents
erty owner does not immediately respond, Prock explained. He suggested an ordinance similar to Moran’s, in which a public notice is published once a year in the newspaper. Then, if lawns become overgrown, property owners can be cited promptly. Council members diSee LAWNS | Page A9
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