Sports: Family bonds over athletics
The Weekender Saturday, June 14, 2014
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Locals join world of beer brewing
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hen it comes to beer, business is brewing and it shows no signs of going flat. A Jan. 15 report by the Brewers Association notes America has reached its highest number of breweries since the 1870s: 2,722. This includes 1,376 microbreweries and 1,202 brewpubs. In addition, the American Homebrewers Association reported in 2012 that 80 percent of homebrewing supply stores reported an increase in sales of starter kits, resulting in a 26 percent increase in gross revenues. Nich Lohman, Iola, started brewing his own beer about three years ago when he bought a starter kit at Bacchus and Barleycorn in Lenexa. Lohman is originally from the Kansas City area and moving to a smaller community meant that some things were not readily available. Iola is lacking in Indian restaurants, for example, so he learned to cook his favorite dishes. Brewing his own beer seemed like a logical thing to learn next.
Story and photos by KAREN INGRAM For a beer bread recipe see A5
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See BEER | Page A4
Help offered to displaced couple
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Offers of help came pouring in once word spread about Anna Hatfield and Gary Pinckneyâs plight. The couple had been searching for a home since Saturday after being unable to afford higher rent to stay at the former Crossroads Motel in Iola. With no place to go, they sought refuge in a tent along the banks of Elm Creek south of Iola. The Rev. Phil Honeycutt, pastor at Covenant of Faith Christian Center in Iola, told the Register Thursday See COUPLE | Page A3
A peck of pickled peppers Gardener tests peppers for Extension By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
John Richards stands in next to his plots at Elm Creek Community Garden. Richards is a certified Master Gardener. REGISTER/
KAYLA BANZET
Once someone reaches retirement they can enjoy the hobbies that once were neglected by a career. Now there is time for knitting, reading or scrapbooking. John Richardsâ hobby, gardening, has grown into a full-time activity. Gardening was a staple in his childhood. His green thumb appeared when See PEPPER | Page A6
School funding law meets mandate By JOHN HANNA Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) â A panel of Kansas judges ruled Wednesday a new education funding law complies with a state Supreme Court mandate to boost aid to poor public schools but wouldnât narrow the scope of an ongoing lawsuit over whether the state is providing enough aid overall to local districts. The three-judge panel in Shawnee County District Court declined the stateâs request to dismiss all the claims questioning the fairness of the stateâs school funding formula in a lawsuit filed in 2010 by parents and school districts. But the judges also rejected arguments from attorneys for the aggrieved school districts that
uncertainty about the stateâs finances or future legislative actions raise questions about whether the state actually met the earlier Supreme Court mandate. The high court ruled in March that past, recessiondriven cuts in aid to poor school districts had created unconstitutional gaps in aid between them and wealthier districts and ordered lawmakers to fix the problem. The Supreme Court also returned the lawsuit to the three-judge panel in Shawnee County â which had reviewed it previously â with orders to examine the Legislatureâs response and consider other issues, including whether the stateâs total aid to schools is adequate. The Republican-dominated Legislature approved the new education law in April,
Quote of the day Vol. 116, No. 161
increasing aid to poor school districts by $129 million during the next school year. But it also attached policy provisions backed by GOP conservatives, including ones ending guaranteed teacher tenure and another granting tax credits to corporations bankrolling private-school scholarships for at-risk children. Both sides in the lawsuit agreed that the additional aid to poor districts met the Supreme Courtâs mandate. âI think what the Legislature deserves is a pat on the back,â said Arthur Chalmers, a Wichita attorney representing the state. But Alan Rupe, a Wichita attorney representing the Dodge City, Hutchinson, Kansas City and Wichita school See SCHOOL | Page A6
Austin Sigg, left, poses with his daughter Elliot during a family photo shoot. COURTESY PHOTO/KRISTEN BOONE
Like father like daughter By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
A smile spreads across Austin Siggâs face as he displays a picture of his daughter on his phone. Sheâs in her car seat donning her famous Pebbles Flintstone hair-do, and wearing a pair of hot pink sunglasses. Sigg is the proud father of Elliot, who turns 2 on June 24. Sigg, 27, grew up in Iola and graduated from Iola High School in 2005. He and his wife, Emily, are high school sweethearts. Theyâve been together for 11 years now. In November 2005 he made the decision to join the National Guard. âMy college football career
âEvery moment of light and dark is a miracle.â â Walt Whitman, writer 75 Cents
didnât work out so I decided to join because I needed a change,â he said. Austin and Emily attended Kansas State University together. He was deployed to Tallil, Iraq, in 2008 and 2009. He is the supply sergeant at the 891st armory in Iola. Sigg has 17 more years in the Guard and enjoys what he does. Last year, Sigg finished his degree in food science and business operations. The couple moved back to Iola in May 2011 and were married a few weeks later. Emily is the owner of Fifty 50, an apparel store on the south side of the Iola square. Moving back to the community they grew up in was something the See SIGG | Page A6
Hi: 86 Lo: 71 Iola, KS