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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
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Sigg trial Climbers just a few finger holds from history begins By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
A jury was expected to decide today whether Iolan Mitch Sigg’s actions during a traffic stop involving his son nearly two years ago warranted a disorderly conduct charge. Sigg contends he was within his right to question authorities because his son was mistakenly being arrested. County Attorney Jerry Hathaway, representing the prosecution, and Sigg’s defense attorney, Linus Thuston, wrapped up their respective sides of Sigg’s disorderly conduct trial Tuesday in front of Judge Gary House and a sixperson jury in Allen County District Court. The jury was to return to the courtroom this morning to hear closing arguments and final judge’s instructions before conferring privately in order to arrive at a verdict. The charge stems from a traffic stop involving John Sigg, Mitch Sigg’s son, the evening of Feb. 2, 2013, when Sheriff Deputy Jarod Tingley initiated the stop because the younger Sigg was driving with a faulty headlight. The car was owned by Mitch Sigg’s car lot east of Iola. A computer check indicated — mistakenly, it turned out — the car’s registration was exSee SIGG | Page A4
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — Two fearless dreamers who have captured the nation’s attention with their monumental climb reached the upper ledges of Yosemite’s El Capitan late Tuesday evening, just a few finger holds away from history. By this afternoon it’s expected they will have carved another historical notch into the shimmering white granite where so many of rock climbing’s famed feats have occurred over the past half century. Tommy Caldwell of Colorado and Kevin Jorgeson of California are on the verge of becoming the first to use only their hands and feet to summit a 3,000-foot sheer piece of stone known as the Dawn Wall. The existential, three-week journey is being described as the world’s most significant “free climb” — and has left the world’s best climbers in awe as the men hoisted themselves up inch by excruciating inch. It’s a climb so daunting that no one else in their sport had ever even considered it. “They’re pushing the limits of our sport beyond what most people can even fathom,” said Julie Ellison, senior editor of Climbing magazine. After a mentally taxing struggle they could almost see the end of an odyssey that began with an improbable thought seven years ago. Since then they have worked tirelessly trying to find a way up the slippery wall that gets its name because it catches
Onlookers watch climbers Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell as they attempt to ascend the Dawn Wall of El Capitan on Tuesday in Yosemite National Park, Calif. The two men began their ascent of the half-mile of sheer granite on Dec. 27, 2014. Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group/TNS
the Valley’s first morning light. Anyone gazing up at the world’s largest piece of granite, like the dozen or so Tuesday evening standing in a
withered meadow below El Capitan, might consider the men daredevils. But the label does them an injustice, said Jorgeson’s girlfriend Jacqui Becker of Santa Rosa, Calif.
“To call them thrill seekers is to minimize the profundity of their passion and commitment,” added Becker, monitoring each move from the meadow. “There is absolutely nothing thrilling about spending six years hauling thousands of pounds of gear up and down a mountain in freezing temperatures. There is nothing thrilling about leaving loved ones to tackle a distant dream. There is nothing thrilling about rehearsing and practicing and studying the same holds over and over until you dream them.” For practical matters, the climbers established a base camp of tents a third of the way up the natural monument. Caldwell, 36, and Jorgeson, 30, have shuttled to and from the camp by repelling with ropes before attacking a day’s section. They ate, slept and recovered at the camp as friends ferried supplies to them. The men have climbed in the late afternoon and night (the granite becomes slippery in the unseasonably warm temperatures), using headlamps to illuminate their way while being filmed for a documentary. While most of the 100 routes up El Capitan are considered routine with the use of climbing aids, the duo are relying on their hands, feet and wit to get to the top, using ropes only to prevent deadly falls. “It takes both courage and vulnerability simply to See CLIMB | Page A3
COUNTY
ACRH ready for virus By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Allen County Regional Hospital is prepared to deal with a patient suffering from Ebola virus, Ron Baker, chief executive officer, told Allen County commissioners Tuesday. “We spent a lot of time preparing, making sure we had all the appropriate equipment,” Baker said, reflecting on late last year when several U.S. citizens were stricken and
transferred from Africa to domestic hospitals. Urgency was twofold: Initially from the dangers that anyone stricken by the disease would pose and, secondly, because soldiers attached to the National Guard’s 891 Engineer Battalion, headquartered in Iola, had been notified they would be deployed to western Africa to build medical facilities. Since the virus has an incubation period, a soldier See COUNTY | Page A4
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel greets and has a photo taken with each service member in the audience after speaking to them on Tuesday at Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster, Mo.
ACC TRUSTEES
Hagel: B-2 replacement needed
Campus renovations OK’d
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told airmen at Whiteman Air Force base on Tuesday that the U.S. needs to start building a replacement for the B-2 stealth bomber. And soon. “The one thing we cannot fall behind in is modernization,” Hagel said. “That has to start now.” He noted that the earliest B-2s first flew 25 years ago. And although he said the
By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
KANSAS CITY STAR/JOHN SLEEZER
plane still provides a valuable nuclear deterrent, the soon-to-be-former defense secretary said that newer technology needs to be added to the American arsenal to remain ahead of future rivals to the U.S. Hagel said funding uncertainties for a yet-to-bedesigned long-range strike bomber — to follow the B-2 the way the stealth jet followed and overlapped with the B-1 and the B-52 that came
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 54
before it — threaten American military superiority. He said budget sequestration driven by congressional gridlock hurts military readiness in the moment and for years to come. “Sequestration,” Hagel said, “is a mindless, irresponsible way to govern.” His remarks to troops at the Air Force base came on a farewell tour marking the close of his time atop the See HAGEL | Page A4
A payment agreement was made between Allen Community College and Architect One, Topeka, Tuesday night at the Allen board of trustees meeting for a renovation plan. Trustees approved $112,018 for the renovation and remodel of multiple entries, restrooms, locker rooms and science labs and the addition of an athletic director’s office at
“The trouble with a kitten is that eventually it becomes a cat.” — Ogden Nash 75 Cents
the main campus. Steve Troxel, vice president for finance and operations, said in the past the college has paid for construction on an hourly basis as the project goes along. However, fees would add up and it began to cost more in the long run. A lump sum payment is beneficial. The projects on the main campus are planned to start See ACC | Page A2
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