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FARm CITY DAyS 2021
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Locally owned since 1867
iolaregister.com
Farm Marshals: Bauers keep active
Iola’s Billings gets national honor
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Who says retirement is for resting? Aside from maybe an idle afternoon at the fishing hole, or spending time with grandkids, Iolans Don and Donna Bauer remain on the go. They wouldn’t want it any other way. “It comes from taking in the community,” Don said. “You can’t just back out and sit down.” And with both in good health, the Bauers would prefer to keep active, thank you very much — even at 80. It’s been more than 60 years since the Bauers moved to town as newlyweds from their native Elsmore. And while Don officially retired from farming last summer, having sold off his equipment and some of his farmland (he rents out the rest), he keeps busy deliverSee BAUERS | Page A5
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Vaccine makers see need for boosters
Conservative Florida parents shift ire to critical race theory PAGE B7
The second time was the charm for Iola to purchase a new fire truck. City Council members approved Tuesday the purchase of a Spartan truck from Feld Fire of Grain Valley, Mo., for $618,231, the lowest of three qualifying bids received. The Spartan, which will take about a year before it’s fully equipped and in service, will replace Unit 311, the newest truck in the Iola Fire Department fleet, as the city’s “first-out” vehicle for emergency calls. Unit 311, a Pierce E-311 model, was manufactured in 2010, not long before a government-mandated computer interface program was installed. The upgrade has created a laundry list of ongoing problems that cropped up without a moment’s notice, making Unit 311 unreliable.
Infants born to COVID-infected mothers affected
Don and Donna Bauer are this year’s Farm Marshals for Farm-City Days. The couple met while attending school in Elsmore. Don officially retired from farming last summer. Donna was a nurse for 45 years and still puts in time at Iola Respiratory & Home Medical. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
City settles fire truck debate with purchase By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
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A Community Development Block Grant will fund half of the cost of the truck and any equipment, provided the price tag doesn’t exceed $690,000. The $71,000 price difference between what was budgeted and what the new truck will cost led to a pair of separate debates among Council members. The plan is to use that additional $71,000 to purchase additional equipment for the new truck, Interim Fire Chief Gary Kimball explained. Councilman Ron Ballard, however, noted the city would be responsible for half of that $71,000. He encouraged the city to think twice about buying new equipment simply to replace functioning equipment the city already has. “We weren’t even talking about equipment until this just showed up,” Ballard said. “We don’t buy new veSee COUNCIL | Page A5
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911 director presses county for tower By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Allen County’s 911 director urged commissioners to make a communications tower project more of a priority. Chelsie Angleton told commissioners she covered two 12-hour dispatch shifts over the weekend, and was very concerned about communications problems with deputies. “I lost track of the number of times I had to ask them to move to a different channel. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. It was all static,” she said. It was a fairly busy weekend and though she described most of the calls as “routine,” at one point a deputy was involved in a scuffle with a suspect, she said. That call came through, but Angleton said she felt “very stressed” multiple times throughout the weekend. The situation likely is difficult for law enforcement as well, she said, who do not realize dispatchers cannot hear them. Sheriff Bryan Murphy said
Allen County Commissioner David Lee listens to a presentation. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS
weather conditions often play a role. Reception is worse for portable radio units, which officers must use when they exit a vehicle. Commissioners have previously discussed the need for improved communications towers but the cost has been prohibitive. It would cost about $1 million to build a 500-foot tower at the landfill, which is essentially the center of the county. Murphy and commission-
ers discussed the possibility of exploring other options, such as using a vehicle as a repeater for portable units. They also could explore shorter towers that may be more economical. LaHarpe Communications applied for a grant that would erect four smaller broadband towers in the four corners of the county, and would allow for radio towers to be inSee COUNTY | Page A6
House staves off default, sends debt limit hike to Biden WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has approved a shortterm increase to the nation’s debt limit, ensuring the federal government can continue fully paying its bills into December and temporarily averting an unprecedented default that would have decimated the economy. The $480 billion increase in the country’s borrowing ceiling cleared the Senate last week on a party-line vote. The House approved it Tuesday so President Joe Biden can sign it into law this week. Trea-
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D- N.Y. (JONATHAN ERNST/POOL/GETTY IMAGES/ TNS)
sury Secretary Janet Yellen had warned that steps to stave off a default on the country’s
debts would be exhausted by Monday, and from that point, the department would soon be unable to fully meet the government’s financial obligations. A default would have immense fallout on global financial markets built upon the bedrock safety of U.S. government debt. Routine government payments to Social Security beneficiaries, disabled veterans and active-duty military personnel would also be called into question. The relief provided by pas-
sage of the legislation will only be temporary though, forcing Congress to revisit the issue in December — a time when lawmakers will also be laboring to complete federal spending bills and avoid a damaging government shutdown. The yearend backlog raises risks for both parties and threatens a tumultuous close to Biden’s first year in office. “I’m glad that this at least allows us to prevent a totally self-made and utterly preventable economic catastrophe
as we work on a longer-term plan,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. Republicans signaled the next debt limit debate won’t be any easier and warned Democrats not to expect their help. “Unless and until Democrats give up on their dream of a big-government, socialist America, Republicans cannot and will not support raising the debt limit and help them pave the superhighway to a great entitlement society,” See DEBT | Page A6
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