Sports: Women’s soccer preps for season See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Free mobile app updates district By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Step by step Crews from Bill Lickteig Construction, Garnett, use a backhoe, jackhammers and Bobcat tractor Wednesday to remove the aging steps from the west entrance at the Allen County Courthouse. The steps had become brittle and started to crack in places, making the surface uneven, creating a tripping hazard, Lickteig said. The new concrete steps should be in place and the entrance reopened to the public by the end of next week. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
LAHARPE COUNCIL
LaHarpe to put sales tax to vote By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
LAHARPE — Local voters will decide in November on a proposed sales tax to fund street upkeep and other possible capital projects. LaHarpe City Council members voted, 4-0, to put the bond resolution on the ballot. If approved, the 1-cent sales tax would go into effect next April and last for 10 years. According to figures from the Kansas Department of Commerce, the tax would have generated about $14,000 had it been in place this year. Council members agreed seeking a sales tax vote was more palatable than increasing property taxes because
revenue would come from more than just residents living in city limits. Added revenues are necessary to build up funds for maintaining streets, they said. With about four miles worth of roads in need of chip-seal, such a project would cost about $26,000. The city has $28,000 in its budget from accumulating several years of state money, leaving little else for other projects. Meanwhile, the Council approved the city’s 2015 budget, which maintains the same property tax levies as this year. LaHarpe’s 54.607 mill levy means the owner of a $50,000 home will pay about $314 to support city operations in 2015.
Don’t forget! Tonight Back to School Block Party, 5:30 p.m., Iola town square.
Friday Family Fun Night, 6-10 p.m., Humboldt Sports Complex. Moonlight Splash, 8 p.m., Iola Municipal Pool.
Quote of the day Vol. 116, No. 203
Schoolway, USD 257’s newest venture into the digital age, should provide a smoother connection with students, parents and the community at large, a school official said. The free mobile applica-
tion went online over the summer, said Brett Linn, USD 257’s technology director. He hopes to see the app earn the public’s favor quickly so it can be utilized effectively. “It provides a quick and easy way to get information See MOBILE | Page A5
Ross remains active at 93 By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
LAHARPE — Monday evening Willis Ross meandered outside LaHarpe’s Veterans of Foreign Wars building, pulling small pockets of weeds from the edge of a sidewalk after arriving early, as he usually does, for the post’s monthly meeting. Ross’ attention to detail is typical for a man who grew up facing the daily demands of a farmer and for more than 63 years has been proud to be a member of the LaHarpe VFW. “Keeping busy” is in his genes, said Ross, allowing it’s been his formula for living to 93. Recently he has occupied himself caring for more than two acres of lawn and trees on a spread belonging to his second wife, Jessie, whom
ing for a job, as a handyman and painter at Windsor Place in Iola and at Moran Manor, where he retired in July 2012. If chores at home weren’t so demanding, he might be looking for yet another job.
Willis Ross he married in 2002. They live near Mildred. He and first wife Pauline were married 49 years before she died in 2000. Ross has been a farmer, LaHarpe postmaster for nearly 23 years and, when most men his age aren’t look-
AFTER learning the three R’s at Waverly District 77 school north of LaHarpe, Ross graduated from LaHarpe High in 1939. “I was in the top 10 percent of the class,” he crowed. In early summer of 1942 he was helping a great uncle harvest wheat in western Kansas when his induction papers came. After a couple of weeks to get his affairs in order, Ross marched into Fort Leavenworth in late July to do his World War II duty. He learned the nuances of being an infantryman at See ROSS | Page A5
Viral meningitis in babies probed KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Health authorities are investigating several cases of meningitis in young infants in the Kansas City area, caused by a common virus but hitting more newborns than usual this summer. Whether the cases have any common link is among questions authorities are trying to answer. Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City has treated about 17 infants with “summer viral meningitis,” said Dr. Mary Anne Jackson, an infectious disease specialist there. A few developed severe neurological illness but all have been released and none are expected to have long-
term problems, Jackson said Wednesday. She said infants born at eight area hospitals had been treated for viral meningitis at her hospital, and they included some as young as about a week old. Their symptoms included high fevers and highpitched crying. The germ involved is a strain of human parechovirus called HPeV3. Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Kansas first reported the parechovirus cases to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in June, The Kansas City Star reported. The strain involved can cause mild cold-like symp-
“When a man opens a car door for his wife, it’s either a new car or a new wife.” — Prince Philip, 93, Duke of Edinburgh 75 Cents
toms and illnesses other than meningitis. The Kansas health department is investigating laboratory-confirmed HPeV3 infections in 14 area infants, said spokeswoman Amy Rosenow, but she said she didn’t know if all 14 had meningitis or other illnesses caused by the same strain. Children’s Mercy spokesman Jake Jacobson said the cases treated at his hospital also were lab-confirmed, and Rosenow said her agency is working with Children’s Mercy and Shawnee Mission Medical Center to pin down how many infants have developed meningitis. See MENINGITIS | Page A5
Hi: 89 Lo: 67 Iola, KS