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3 NT 202 U H N O I MEDALL CLUE #1
Thursday, October 12, 2023
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Courthouse costs draw scrutiny Security at risk, judge tells crowd By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
An altercation outside Allen County’s courtroom on Tuesday morning served as a timely example for those asking for nearly $10 million to renovate the courthouse and improve security. In that event, a man punched someone he believed had harmed a family member, witnesses said. About 40 people were milling around the hallway at the time, waiting for court hearings. Attorney Bob Johnson said that’s one of his biggest worries when he comes to the court. “The way this courthouse
Judge Daniel Creitz speaks to the audience inside a crowded magistrate courtroom during a tour of the Allen County Courthouse as part of a public forum on an upcoming vote on a proposed $9.95 million renovation to the courthouse. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS is set up, if you go to court, you’re going to be sitting out in the hall with the other side. Maybe that’s a defendant who did something to your child,” he said.
Johnson was among a panel of eight who gathered at the courthouse on Tuesday evening to discuss the renovation and expansion, which would include a second courtroom,
a new entrance with security features and other improvements. Voters will decide on Nov. 7 whether to issue $9.95 million in bonds for the project.
The panel faced numerous questions about the need and, especially, the cost. Audience members asked about alternatives and suggested the committee that came up with plans had not been transparent during the process. “Why now?” Moran resident Jackie Walls asked. Chief Judge Daniel Creitz took responsibility for the timing. For decades, sheriffs Tom Williams and Bryan Murphy warned him about the building’s inherent security dangers. A former law library was turned into a small courtroom with limited seating and windows that expose who is inside. Inmates must walk through court offices on their way to hearings. Defendants and victims must wait together in the main hallway. There’s no place for attorneys to confer privately with clients. A jury room has space See COURTHOUSE | Page A3
Iolans speak out for recycling By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Author Erik Larson will speak in Iola Saturday. PHOTO BY NINA SUBIN
Author coming to Bowlus Erik Larson, a six-time New York Times bestseller, will be in Iola Saturday as part of the Bowlus Fine Arts Center’s Speaker Series. Tickets for Larson’s 7 p.m. show in the Bowlus auditorium sell for $17 for adults and $10 for students, and are available at bowluscenter.org. Larson is a journalist who pens mostly nonfiction books. “The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz” examines how Winston Churchill and his “Secret Circle” went about surviving the German air campaign of 1940-41. That and “Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania,” both hit no. 1 on the bestseller list soon after launch. Several of his works are under development for film and television series considerations. Larson’s appearance is sponsored by the Sleeper and Clopton family trusts. Vol. 125, No. 262 Iola, KS $1.00
A group of Iolans want to see Iola and Allen County working together on a recycling venture. Of the 20 or so advocates who attended Tuesday’s Iola City Council meeting, 10 spoke out in favor of some form of government project to encourage recycling. Their visit came after Allen County Recycling, a group of local volunteers, shuttered their recycling center in a vacant building at the east edge of town. The group cited their lack of manpower and equipment to keep up with properly sorting and processing the vast amounts of cardboard, glass and plastic recyclables deposited regularly at the depot, on top gathering and transporting bins of cardboard boxes to Iola from dozens of businesses around the county. “It’s a workout every time we go out there,” Allen County Recycling member
Maria Unruh speaks to Iola City Council members Tuesday in favor of the city getting involved in a recycling service. She was one of 10 audience members speaking in favor of recycling. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Karen Gilpin told the Council, who estimated she’d spend two or three hours at the center every time she stopped by just to keep the materials organized. Gilpin also said those who
attended Tuesday’s meeting were a fraction of those who wanted to attend. “I got probably 15 texts from people who said they’d be here if they could,” Gilpin added.
“I want to challenge the bright minds in this room, the leaders in this room, to really take this seriously,” Maria Unruh said when it See RECYCLING | Page A4
Humboldt fieldhouse gets HVAC upgrade By TIM STAUFFER The Iola Register
HUMBOLDT — After a long wait and an awfully hot summer, Humboldt’s community fieldhouse will soon have new HVAC units installed. At least that’s the plan, USD 258 Superintendent Amber Wheeler informed board members at Monday night’s meeting. Wheeler received confirmation Tuesday that four new
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units, which will be installed in the gymnasium, are slated to arrive by Oct. 20. Two smaller units have already been installed to regulate the locker rooms and foyer. Air conditioning in the fieldhouse had been spotty since this summer, and the old units, which were connected to a finicky geothermal heating system, were disconnected once the school year began. The new units will use traditional
electric and gas. The improvements are part of the school district’s $17.45 million bond issue, which after being approved by voters last May, is now See 258 | Page A6
At right, USD 258 board member Ashley Johnson discusses the district’s approach to lunch balances during Monday’s meeting. REGISTER/TIM STAUFFER
We traveled back from the future to lend you some aid since we knew you needed help with how the Medallion is played. This hunt will be more difficult than any other year, but we have seen that you’ll succeed so have no fear.
To find my location you might have to twist. I’m hidden away but in plain sight, I might be missed. 2023 Hunt sponsored by