Locally owned since 1867
Sports schedules reshuffle
Saturday, January 15, 2022
Gates: New leader brings new style By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
PAGE B1
Iola Chamber plans annual dinner for Feb. 24
PAGE A3
Steve Jones discovered early on a key trait common among the best leaders. They listen, and learn. “That’s step No. 1,” Jones said. “Learning the process. Without learning the process, I can’t make good decisions.” Jones brings his knowledge-first leadership style to Gates Corporation in Iola, where he was hired Nov. 29 as plant manager. Jones sat down with a group of Register reporters this week to discuss a number of
topics, from his diverse background to challenges facing the industrial world. Prior to joining Gates, Jones worked in several other industrial fields, most recently with TTI and Anderson Products, based out of South Carolina. Other stops included Frigidaire, Rubbermaid and EnerSys (where he worked in Hays). Hose manufacturing, he notes, is the seventh industry in which Jones has worked. “I’ve bounced around quite a lot,” he said. Part of that was his desire See GATES | Page A4
Strength to recover Roger and Billie Collins mark 18 months of COVID-19 hospitalization By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Roger and Billie Collins’ lives have changed a lot in the past 18 months. So has their relationship. “This has made us 10 times stronger,” Billie said. “I didn’t anticipate being his caregiver at 58, 59 going on 60. But I can’t imagine any other other way.” Roger tested positive for COVID-19 and was hospitalized on July 13, 2020. Since then, he’s remained in a hospital, going from Allen County to Kansas City and finally to Dallas, Texas. He’s currently at Select Specialty Hospital, a facility that provides long-term care for patients facing serious medical issues. From the beginning, Billie has been by his side as much as possible. Initially, that meant sitting outside his window because of visitor restrictions in the early months of the pandemic. Then, she kept watch outside his room. Once she was allowed inside his room, she kept a daily vigil. She’s staying with relatives in Texas so she can be with her husband through the various trials and tribulations. There have been many, as Roger’s body struggles to fight the various complications caused by COVID. He spent much of his time on a ventilator. He’s been in a coma. He’s had a stroke, lung disease, renal failure with dialysis, atrial fibrillation, blood transfusions, thyroid problems and numerous surgeries. A fistula in his arm, which ties together a vein and artery to allow for dialysis, exploded and required emergency surgery. He frequently suffers from bowel obstructions. “It’s a roller coaster. Some days you’re going up. Some days you’re going down. But you always look forward to the next ride,” she said.
Vol. 124, No. 73 Iola, KS 75 Cents
iolaregister.com
Steve Jones is the new plant manager at Gates Corporation. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
A glut of cash and issues await Kansas lawmakers By JIM MCLEAN Kansas News Service
TOPEKA, Kansas — Kansas lawmakers returning to Topeka this week find a growing pile surplus of cash — and some tough election-year choices. They’ll need to redraw the state’s political map, and sort out a perennial list of issues like medical marijuana, sports gaming and election security. And new this year: critical race theory, a potent new culture war tinderbox. Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly hopes to boost her reelection campaign by pushing for nearly $1 billion in tax cuts. Notably, she’s touting an end to the sales tax on groceries. She’s also proposing giving Kansans who filed income tax returns last year a one-time rebate of $250. Married couples who filed
Roger Collins visits with his granddaughter, Kinley Collins, age 3, at a Dallas hospital where he is recovering from multiple complications after a COVID-19 infection in July 2020. COURTESY PHOTO
Often, friends ask why she goes to the hospital every day. “Because that’s what he needs.” ALL THAT time together has helped the couple forge an even stronger bond. They talk about their past. They make plans for the future. A relative bought them a book that asks questions and encourages them to share stories from their childhood, and talk about their hopes and dreams. “We have conversations we might not have had,” she said. “I know more about him now than I did in 33 years of marriage. I know more about the person inside and out.” Before his illness, expressing his emotions didn’t come
easy for Roger. That’s just not who he was or how he grew up. That’s changed. “I walk in the room and he perks up,” Billie said. “He tells me he loves me every day.” ROGER has been weaned off the ventilator, which recently was taken out of his room entirely. He still has a tracheostomy, something doctors once told him he would need the rest of his life. The Collinses refused to accept that. Now, the trach has been capped, allowing him to breathe through a special tube called a cannula. Capping the trach allows him to See COLLINS | Page A7
jointly would get $500. Re publicans, who control the Legislature, are normally all-in when it comes to Gov. Kelly tax cuts. Not so much when it comes to Kelly’s proposals. Giving her any big wins, they fear, could improve her chances of fending off a challenge from Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt, their likely nominee for governor. When Kelly announced her tax rebate plan, Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, said he appreciated her “election-year revelation that Kansans are taxed too much” but preferred “permanent solutions.” The fact that many ReSee KANSAS | Page A4
Supreme Court halts Biden’s vaccine rule for businesses WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has stopped a major push by the Biden administration to boost the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rate, a requirement that employees at large businesses get a vaccine or test regularly and wear a mask on the job. At the same time, the court is allowing the administration to proceed with a vaccine mandate for most health care workers in the U.S. The court’s orders Thursday came during a spike in coronavirus cases caused by the omicron variant. The court’s conservative majority concluded the administration overstepped its authority by seeking to impose the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s vaccine-or-test rule on U.S. businesses with at least
OSHA has never before imposed such a mandate. Nor has Congress. — Supreme Court
100 employees. More than 80 million people would have been affected and OSHA had estimated that the rule would save 6,500 lives and prevent 250,000 hospitalizations over six months. “OSHA has never before imposed such a mandate. Nor has Congress. Indeed, although Congress has enacted significant legislation addressing the COVID–19 pandemic, it has declined to enact any measure similar to what OSHA has promulSee RULING | Page A7
Neosho Memorial’s West Registration Entrance will be temporarily closed during a renovation project, the adjacent Emergency Entrance is open.