ne once y might s.” Don
Sports: Tennis season ends at Regionals See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Monday, October 13, 2014
Welcome home
The extended family of Jordan Oswald welcomed the soldier home Saturday afternoon at Riverside Park. Jordan arrived back in the United States Friday after having been deployed with the U.S. Air Force in Afghanistan for seven months. His return was kept a surprise to daughter Lainey, 6, who ran into his
City likely to vote on EMS pact
arms when she saw him. Family members joined in the event, including grandparents Brent and Carla Capper and Mike and Leah Oswald. Jordan was on active duty with the Air Force for seven years and the last two has been in its reserves. He has had previous deployments to the Middle East and Korea.
Iola City Council members are expected to vote Tuesday on an amended contract to continue providing emergency medical services for all of Allen County. The city and county have been renegotiating the pact, originally adopted last fall and in effect since Jan. 1. If adopted — Allen County commissioners also are expected to vote on the pact Tuesday morning — the county will increase its funding to the city to $1 million annually, up from the existing $750,000. The contract would be good for five years, with six-month optout clauses for both parties. Also on Tuesday’s agenda are 2014 budget amendments for existing EMS operations. Council members also will discuss the city’s pro-
Jessica, Jordan and Lainey Oswald are happy to be a family again. Jordan is home after a tour in Afghanistan. Jordan’s return was kept a secret from Lainey until he arrived at Riverside Park Saturday afternoon. REGISTER/BOB JOHNSON
Police offer reward for info in PSU killing By LISA OLLIGES KOAM reporter
Pittsburg police are now offering a reward for help in tracking down two more suspects in the murder of a Pittsburg State University student. Two others Taylor Thomas are already in custody. Twenty-four year old Tyler Dornez Smith and 21-yearold Darius Rainey are both held on $2 million bonds. Rainey faces charges of first degree felony murder, conspiracy to commit murder and aggravated robbery and burglary. Smith faces murder charg-
es, and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery and burglary. Police say they shot and killed 20-year-old Taylor C. Thomas. An autopsy shows he died of a single gun shot wound. Officers were called to an off campus home on North Taylor street for a disturbance Thursday. That’s where they found Thomas with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at Via Christi hospital. Taylor Thomas was a junior at PSU, majoring in mechanical engineering technology. Pittsburg police are hunting two other suspects. A $1,000 reward is offered for information leading to the arrest of Bryan Levi Bridges See MURDER | Page A4
See CITY | Page A4
Passion keeps artist going By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
J
im Brownrigg can’t help it. He’s addicted, and probably will be for the rest of his life. And he doesn’t mind at all. Brownrigg’s addiction, he explained, is to art. “I’ve tried to stop,” he said with a laugh. “But I just can’t. It’s probably how some people feel about smoking.” Brownrigg has several of his oil and acrylic paintings, wood carvings and pencil and ink drawings on display this month at Works of Art Studio and Gallery in Humboldt. He’ll greet the public at a reception and artist’s demonstration from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the studio, 103 S. Ninth St. Brownrigg, 80, is known to most in the area because of his mode of transportation. He no longer drives, instead opting to ride his bicycle from his home south of Iola. Brownrigg averages 20 miles or so a day, and stays home in inclement weather. It’s sitting at home that the ideas start to roll. See ARTIST | Page A4
Jim Brownrigg
Kansas Supreme Court blocks gay marriage licenses By JOHN HANNA Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Hours after Kansas’ most populous county issued a same-sex marriage license to a couple who quickly wed, the state Supreme Court on Friday blocked the granting of any more such licenses. But the victory for supporters of the Kansas Constitution’s ban on gay marriage could be short-lived. The state’s highest court signaled in its brief order that it has questions about whether the ban is permissible under recent federal court rulings, and
the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn it. The state’s highest court acted on a petition filed by Attorney General Derek Schmidt to stop the Johnson County District Court clerk’s office from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. The first such license — believed to be the only one — was issued Friday morning under an order from Chief Judge Kevin Moriarty. Moriarty concluded that the state’s ban on gay marriage would not stand after the U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to hear appeals from five
Quote of the day Vol. 116, No. 244
states seeking to save their prohibitions on same-sex marriages. But at the time of the first legal gay marriage in Kansas, there was no pending lawsuit in state or federal courts directly challenging the Kansas ban. That prompted the response from Schmidt. Gov. Sam Brownback, a fellow Republican, expressed support for Schmidt’s move and said the ban should not be overturned by “activist judges.” The constitutional provision was approved in a statewide election in 2005 with nearly 70 percent of voters backing it. The gay rights group Equal-
ity Kansas remained confident that the state’s ban will fall, even if executive director Tom Witt acknowledged some frustration that Schmidt refused to acquiesce to marriage licenses for same-sex couples. “It’s delay caused by the attorney general and Sam Brownback, and it’s unnecessary because we know how this ends,” Witt said. Schmidt said his goal is to “freeze the status quo in place until the legal dispute can be properly resolved.” “I am a strong advocate for an orderly resolution of this dispute in a way that will be accepted by all parties as le-
As an ultra-conservative friend of mine once said, “Why not let the gays marry, they might as well be as miserable as the rest of us.” — Don Erbert, Iola 75 Cents
gally correct and that allows the state to defend its constitutional provision and its laws,” Schmidt told The Associated Press just before his office filed the petition. His office declined comment after the state Supreme Court acted. The state’s highest court blocked the granting of further marriage licenses for gay couples “in the interest of establishing statewide consistency,” said its order, signed by Chief Justice Lawton Nuss. But the court cited recent federal court decisions striking down other states’ bans and See MARRIAGE | Page A4
Hi: 57 Lo: 51 Iola, KS