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Monday, November 13, 2023
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Cultivating hope: New director at helm By TIM STAUFFER The Iola Register
Monday was Jared Wheeler’s first day on the job as Thrive Allen County’s new economic development director. He’s stayed busy. “Someone asked me if it felt like I was drinking from a firehose,” said Wheeler Friday morning. “I said, ‘A little bit. And I’m being asked to hold the hose.’” It’s a job that comes a million miles per hour. Wheeler, 39, notes he has 60 economic development projects on his desk right now – and those are just the ones he knows about. This week, he met Jared Wheeler is Thrive Allen County’s new economic developwith the county commission, ment director. REGISTER/TIM STAUFFER Iola’s city administrator, Iola The pace suits Wheeler just and then sit at your desk for Industries, local business hours with nothing to do — owners, and representatives fine. “I’ve loved it,” said Wheel- this is not that job.” from Kansas’ Small Business Development Centers. Oh, er. “For anyone who’s started WHEELER, a Thayer native, and Thrive’s board of direc- a job and been told to meet with HR, fill out paperwork has taken what he describes tors met Thursday night.
as a “circuitous” route to joining Thrive Allen County. The stops, which feature a decade as a pastor in non-denominational and Methodist churches, and, most recently, a little over a year as a fourthgrade teacher, share common threads. For Wheeler, his career “has always been about people and service.” He finds deep joy in connecting people, helping articulate their visions, cheering them along as they pursue their dreams. And he’s excited to continue that work at Thrive. “I am by nature hopeful,” he observes. “And I want to help people feel hope in their contexts, whatever those are. That is what drew me to Thrive. I see Thrive, at its core, as an agency that disseminates hope.” Wheeler continues the thought. “Thrive is committed to helping the com-
munities it serves become as healthy as possible. And health doesn’t occur unless you have the audacity to hope for something better, or take joy in your current situation if you are healthy, whether that is physical, mental, economic. “Thrive is a conduit for hope. And that’s why I wanted to be a part of it. I want to help people figure out grants, find funding, but that has to begin with hope.” THRIVE’S last economic development director, Jonathon Goering, left the position last December. Since then, CEO Lisse Regehr has shouldered both positions. Wheeler knows the job’s workload can be overwhelming. In fact, in his eyes, there’s a lesson learned here: See WHEELR | Page A4
State awards $10.2 million in child care grants By TIM CARPENTER Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly said the state committed $10.2 million to build or renovate community multi-purpose facilities in Lawrence, Hays and Emporia to add at least 310 licensed child care slots. The governor and the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund said Wednesday grants tied to the Capital Projects Fund Accelerator would provide space with child care services, access to high-speed internet as well as work, education and health care services. Kansas has a shortage of child care providers and the imbalance between supply and demand See GRANTS | Page A6
Thank you for your service Archie Specht, who served with the U.S. Army in Korea and died in 2015, was posthumously awarded the Ambassador for Peace proclamation from the Republic of Korea, arranged by Chief Warrant Officer Nick Hay of Yates Center. Above from left, Vickie Hay and Archie Specht’s widow, Amy Specht, look over the award during the presentation to his grandson, also named Archie Specht, at Iola Elementary School on Friday, with Nick Hay at far right. Little Archie, at right, is a second-grader at IES. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS
Lee Rocker ready to ‘Rock This Town’ By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Lee Rocker, Grammy-nominated founder of Stray Cats, will perform at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center on Saturday, Nov. 18. COURTESY PHOTO
Vol. 125, No. 284 Iola, KS $1.00
“Rockabilly” is the original rock-and-roll, according to Lee Rocker. “It started, arguably, in the 1950s. It’s really a combination of blues and country, with rhythms that are just purely an American form of music,” he said. Rocker, founding member of the iconic band Stray Cats, plans to bring decades of his legendary rockabilly hits to the Bowlus Fine Arts Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 18. With the Stray Cats, Rocker led the music charts in the 1980s with hits such as “Stray Cat Strut,” “Rock This Town”
and “Sexy and Seventeen.” The band sold over 10 million albums with 23 gold and platinum certified records. Playing his giant upright bass, Rocker has consistently performed and recorded music as a solo artist, with Stray Cats reunion tours and with other artists such as Ringo Starr and George Harrison of The Beatles, Keith Richards, Willie Nelson, John Fogerty and Carl Perkins. In an interview with the Register, Rocker promised an entertaining and energetic evening of music spanning his versatile 45-year career. “I’ve cherry-picked the best songs, starting with the Stray See ROCKER | Page A6
MV players earn honors
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MVHS students attend KAY conference PAGE A2