The Iola Register, March 15, 2021

Monday, March 15, 2021

Locally owned since 1867

March Madness set to begin

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What dreams may come

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Rain washes out ACC baseball

Hunt focuses on historic businesses

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Congress turns attention to roads, bridges WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday pledged swift work by Congress on a job and infrastructure package that will be “fiscally sound,” but said she isn’t sure whether the next major item on President Joe Biden’s agenda will attract Republican backing.

Fresh off a major legislative victory on the $1.9 trillion virus relief package that passed on near-party lines, Democrats face long and tough battles ahead in winning GOP endorsement of the administration’s plans.

Road- and bridge-building legislation has a long history of support from both parties as lawmakers aim to deliver on projects back home. But Republicans disagree with Biden’s focus on the environment and the possibility of financing any program with debt after the government borrowed heavily to adSee PLAN | Page A2

On the north side of Lake Elsmore, one can find a waterfall amidst the tangle of trees and sandstone. REGISTER/TREVOR HOAG

By TREVOR HOAG The Iola Register

Hamlet’s castle and the black waterfall

In the mood for a historical adventure?

Look no further than the Allen County Historical Society and Iola Area Chamber of Commerce.

The joint venture is a scavenger hunt for Allen County businesses, most of which have historical significance.

How well can you recognize the images associated with each one? Find the full list on the jump page for this story.

The hunt starts today, and you have until April 16 to submit your answers to either the historical museum or chamber office (in the Bowlus basement).

Those with the highest scores (out of 15 questions) will have a chance at the following prizes: -Audacious Boutique gift card for $50 -Pete’s gift card for $10 -Iola Register three-month digital/print subscription -KwiKom internet installation -Allen Community College

Trevor Hoag Just Prairie Like Prince Hamlet and his friends, when last in Elsinore I, too, saw a ghost.

It wasn’t atop the ramparts of an ornate castle in Denmark, however, but near the banks of Big Creek in Allen County, the place east of Humboldt later christened Old Elsmore.

I was wandering near the Old Elsmore/Elsinore Cemetery, using it to determine the location of a vanished schoolhouse, when first he approached me.

C.C. Thompson had momentarily vacated the undiscovered country, was circulating a petition to become postmaster at Elsinore and

Kobach under fire for ‘COVID-killing’ device

By JEREMY FASSLER and NIA YANCOPOULOS Kansas Reflector

NEW YORK CITY — In early October, Kris Kobach, Kansas’ former Secretary of State, and Daniel Drake, a Wichita-based venture c a p i t a l i s t - t u r n e d - C E O, made a sales pitch to Kansas legislators. The duo wheeled in what looked to lawmakers like a “refrigerator” — a shiny metal box Drake called a “revolutionary” device that would “kill COVID” and bring “several hundred jobs back to Wichita.”

“This stuff is very cutting-edge,” Kobach said.

The local development of such exciting technology was why, he told lawmakers, he wanted Kansas to get the

Kris Kobach “first bite at the apple.”

During their pitch, Drake explained that his company, MoJack Distributors, had developed a line called “Scent Crusher” that uses aerosolized ozone, a tri-oxygen molecule, to sanitize hunting and sports products, “only to realize that we weren’t here today to be able to get hunters or sportsmen to be better athletes or better hunters, but to kill COVID.” He told lawSee KOBACH | Page A2

The Elsinore/Old Elsmore Cemetery contains many pioneer graves, as well as the team of horses that pulled Benjamin Ludlum’s wagon from Illinois. eagerly approached me to sign.

Knowing he was destined to lose, I nonetheless scrawled my signature in the air, though I also knew he was reported to have soon after “stolen” another office nearby.

According to Register archives from 1888, Thompson was accused of having relabeled his Elsinore signatures so as to become postmaster in Savonburg instead.

Suffice to say, it worked, though angered folks in a See ELSINORE | Page A4

See HUNT | Page A2

Fauci: Vaccine hesitancy a big risk

By CHRISTOPHER CONDON and ROS KRASNY Bloomberg News

WASHINGTON (TNS) — Reluctance among certain parts of the population to receiving a vaccine is one of the biggest risks to coronavirus control efforts, said President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser.

“I just don’t get it,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” when asked about polling showing many Republicans, especially men, don’t want a vaccine.

“We’ve got to dissociate political persuasion from commonsense, no-brainer public health things,” Fauci said.

A PBS News Hour/NPR/ Marist poll released Thursday showed that 41% of people who identify as Re-

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci. (DOUG MILLS/POOL/GETTY IMAGES/TNS) publicans, including 49% of GOP-leaning men, said they would not get one of the three federally approved coronavirus vaccines. Among Democratic-leaning men, only 6% said the same.

Fauci made three Sunday talk show appearances to mark a year since the Covid-19

outbreak was deemed a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. Since then, some 120 million cases have been identified around the world and over 2.6 million people have died, including over 534,000 in the U.S. He continued to warn See VACCINE | Page A2

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The Iola Register

Kobach: ‘COVID killing’ device questioned Continued from A1

makers the sample product next to him was part of a new line called “Sarus Systems.”

The former, controversial secretary of state and his new business partner made sweeping claims before the Legislature about the efficacy of Sarus System’s products, but experts say the claims were misleading.

After a two-month investigation, Columbia Journalism School was unable to verify the vast majority of their statements.

There is no evidence Sarus Systems has made material steps toward rehoming hundreds of jobs to Kansas, and shipping records show products are currently being manufactured in China. There is also scant evidence their machines, or ozone in general, can safely eliminate SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

And while the pair have hyped the products’ popularity, claiming a three-month backlog and international interest, we were unable to verify any purchases — from the state of Kansas or otherwise.

Sarus Systems’ products are designed to be easy to use: The user fills a water tank, drops in one “optimizing agent” tablet containing ozone, turns the machine on, leaves the room and waits as a vapor disinfects everything from personal protective equipment to entire rooms — in just

Adam Drake appears before a committee at the Kansas Statehouse to promote a device, seen on the right side of the image, that he says will “kill COVID” with aerosolized ozone. (SCREEN CAPTURE BY KANSAS REFLECTOR)

90 minutes. When first interviewed in October, Drake said his product was superior to commonly used household cleaners certified by the Environmental Protection Agency because “our product actually kills COVID, SARS-CoV-2, everywhere, everywhere, it can touch. So it kills the underneath of the desk, top of the desk, the underneath of the chair, the air in the room, the cracks and crevices in the keyboards. It does a hundred percent super deep clean job that even a human couldn’t do.”

As proof, he pointed to a third-party lab test on the Sarus Systems website done by MRIGlobal, a research institute based in Kansas City, Missouri. The study is heavily redacted and sports a red “CONFIDENTIAL” stamp on the first page. Even the name “Sarus Systems” and its product were redacted — though both Drake and Kobach have publicly said the compa-

Plan: Policy changes Continued from A1

dress the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

“Building roads and bridges and water supply systems and the rest has always been bipartisan, always been bipartisan, except when they oppose it with a Democratic president, as they did under President Obama, and we had to shrink the package,” said Pelosi, D-Calif.

“But, nonetheless, hopefully, we will have bipartisanship,” she said.

Pelosi has directed key Democratic lawmakers to begin working with Republicans on a “big, bold and transformational infrastructure package.”

During the presidential campaign, Biden laid the groundwork by proposing $2 trillion in “accelerated” investments to shift to cleaner energy, build half a million charging stations for electric vehicles, support public transit and repair roads and bridges. The plan emphasizes the importance of creating unionized jobs and addressing climate change.

The White House orig-

Today

inally planned to come out with a plan in February, but more recently hasn’t committed to a timeline. A rollout is likely to slide into April as the administration embarks on a nationwide push over the coming weeks to sell Americans on the benefits of the COVID-19 relief bill.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, hope to pass a bill out of their committees in May. The package could include policy changes — on green energy and immigration — and even try to make permanent some of the just-passed COVID-19 assistance such as child tax credits.

“It is going to be green and it is going to be big,” DeFazio told The Associated Press.

Democrats used a fasttrack budget process known as reconciliation to approve Biden’s COVID-19 relief plan without Republican support, a strategy that succeeded despite the reservations of some moderates.

Tuesday

Wednesday

ny paid for the test. The duo gave the Kansas Legislature an unredacted copy of the study, which was obtained by Columbia Journalism School.

MRIGlobal tests products for clients under criteria defined by the clients themselves, according to those familiar with the lab’s work. The study was not designed to prove that these products effectively “kill COVID” in real-world environments, as Drake and Kobach have claimed. In fact, the unredacted version shows the products were tested in extremely controlled rooms and that “stainless steel coupons” — small pieces of stainless steel exposed to the virus — were tested for sanitization.

Experts who reviewed the unredacted study

were unconvinced by the results.

“Ideally, this study would be one small part of a much longer, more complicated investigation, but the surfaces, materials, or ventilation of a typical hospital room or clinical work area are not replicated here,” said UCLA Emergency Medicine physician Mark Morocco. “I doubt that any health care entity would consider such a limited study sufficient to consider utilizing such a system (as Sarus’).”

In other words, the study makes no suggestion that the product would be effective on porous surfaces, such as a desk or a chair, as Drake claimed.

The study claims that ozone can sanitize the room at a rate of 99.8% — a figure too low to kill the virus under EPA standards. The study failed to address the health risks of ozone, which, according to the EPA, include lung damage, throat irritation and other respiratory ailments. The EPA considers ozone generators pesticidal devices, and as such, they have not reviewed the safety or efficacy of such products as a means for SARS-CoV-2 sanitization.

Vaccine: Concern Continued from A1

against becoming complacent in the U.S. even as cases and hospitalizations drop sharply and the pace of vaccinations accelerates.

“If you’re going for a touchdown, don’t spike the ball on the 5-yard line. Wait until you get into the end zone,” Fauci said. “We’re not in the end zone yet.”

New variants of the coronavirus are a particular risk, and have contributed to a fresh increase in cases in Europe, where fewer vaccines have been given so far.

In a speech Thursday, Biden pledged that all adult Americans will be able to sign up for COVID-19 shots by May 1 and return to a semblance of normal life by the July 4 Independence Day, the holiday traditionally marked by festive public gatherings and backyard barbecues.

Fauci said that timeline, which he said was

“a couple of months” ahead of where he recently thought the U.S. would be, reflected “a full court press” to mobilize vaccination efforts, including in hard-to-reach communities.

Vaccinations against COVID-19 in the U.S. have topped 106 million, with more than 2 million recently being administered each day on average. Supplies of the three approved shots in the U.S. is projected to surge in coming weeks, with enough for every American before June.

The U.S. is on course to reach the lowest level of infections since the start of October, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. The average number of daily cases over the last week has fallen 15% compared with the previous week, continuing a decline that started in January.

Hunt: Trivia time Continued from A1

tion swag (mugs, etc.)

-Chamber Bucks from PSI Insurance -Storage and RV of Iola free propane tank refill (up to 4.5 gallons) -New Allen County Historical Society booklet ALONG with the scavenger hunt, you can also devise an adventure of your own with some help from the Allen County Historical Society.

They’ve just released the first volume in a series of historical sketchbooks, which you can purchase for $7 (or win via the above scavenger hunt).

As a sneak preview, here are some of the

topics contained in Vol. 1: -Cofachique was Allen County’s first town, but where does the word Cofachique come from?

-The Funston Family home sits on the Iola square, but what is its greater significance?

-Did you know the history of early aviation has ties to Allen County with the Vin Fiz aircraft?

-The City of Iola is named for Iola Colborn, but why was it christened for her?

Who was she?

The historical society hopes that release of the pamphlets will be ongoing, and will help to support their efforts to preserve local history.

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Opinion A3 The Iola Register

Monday, March 15, 2021

~ Journalism that makes a difference

Kansas Republicans deserve better than empty scare tactics Republicans are lining up for the chance to oppose Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly in the 2022 campaign for governor.

Most notably is Derek Schmidt, Kansas attorney general.

Because Kansas leans heavily Republican, career politician Schmidt would have a decided advantage.

His inherent challenge, however, will be to find a platform other than parroting former President Donald Trump.

Schmidt’s main claim to fame as attorney general has been hitching his wagon to others’ efforts to defeat the Affordable Care Act and suppress voters’ rights.

This past December, Schmidt joined a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to subvert the 2020 presidential election.

In Texas v. Pennsylvania, Texas asked the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out the election results of swing states Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, which went for Joe Biden.

The Justices refused to hear the case on the grounds that states do not have the right to intervene in the affairs of other states when it comes to elections.

Many public leaders, including Republicans, assailed the lawsuit, not only for its goal to overturn the will of the voters but also for its threat to federalism and its protection of states’ rights.

In what was a very bad week for Schmidt, three days later, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case brought forward by Schmidt and Scott Schwab, Kansas Secretary of State, to revive a 2013 state law that requires documentation of citizenship for voter registration.

Schmidt and Schwab were carrying the baton for Kris Kobach, former state attorney general, who is famous for his voter suppression efforts and contention that voter fraud is rampant.

It is not, as the 60-plus failed court cases filed by Trump and his supporters in the wake of the 2020 election have most recently amply proved.

Passed by Kansas legislators in 2013 during Kobach’s first term, the law worked to prevent 31,000 qualified voters from having their ballots counted over a three-year period before it was suspended due to court challenges.

By refusing to hear

Schmidt’s case, the Justices accept the decision of the 10th U.S. Circuit of Appeals that the Kansas law poses an undue burden on voters.

REGARDING the Affordable Care Act, Schmidt, again at the bidding of Texas’ Paxton, joined the 2018 lawsuit California v. Texas, to terminate the government’s health insurance program.

Argued before the Supreme Court in November 2020, the suit claims that because Congress had eliminated the tax penalty requiring individuals to carry health insurance, the entire Act is unlawful.

What’s important is that while Congress did zero out the penalty in their 2017 tax cut plan, their intent was to leave the rest of the ACA intact. After 10 years, even Republicans recognize the popularity of the ACA’s provisions that have changed the insurance landscape.

It’s because of the ACA that patients with pre-existing health conditions such as high blood pressure or heart disease can no longer be denied coverage. It’s because of the ACA that insurance companies can no longer pull their coverage once patients are diagnosed with cancer or other dreadful illnesses.

Despite these benefits, Schmidt has remained dogged in overturning the healthcare act that covers an estimated 75,000 Kansans and 21 million Americans.

Schmidt defends his involvement in the case, which is likely to be decided this spring, as his duty to fulfill the letter of the law.

PURSUITS SUCH as these are helpful windows into how Schmidt would serve as governor.

Increasingly, conservative Republicans in the vein of Trump are wanting us to believe that the success of one demographic must somehow endanger that of another. Seeing that more people are adequately covered with health insurance surely must come at the disadvantage of others, we’re told. Greater voter access must invite voter fraud.

Fomenting and preying on such anxieties is not a platform. It’s demagoguery.

Kansans have had enough of the bogeyman.

Give us a candidate with character.

— Susan Lynn

A look back in t me.

70 Years Ago March 1951

The second of a series of meetings in a campaign to bring prohibition back to Kansas will be held in Iola tomorrow. Sam Morris, Des Moines, will be the principal speaker at a rally in Memorial Hall. The Rev. Roy S. Hollomon, superintendent of the Kansas United Dry Forces, will lead an after-

noon conference at First Methodist Church. ***** Mr. and Mrs. Bert Fryer, owners of Fryer’s Grocery, have completed 50 years as grocery merchants in Iola.

An article in this issue of the Register tells about the many changes in the grocery business Bert Fryer has experienced in those 50 years.

After winning the 1999 Tour de France, Lance Armstrong takes a victory lap on the Champs Elysees in Paris. After years of denials and suppressing others from coming forward, Armstrong admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs. (PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/GETTY IMAGES/TNS)

Armstrong used courts to bully truth-tellers

By LAURA PRATHER

I had a front row seat watching the court system be manipulated. Being married to Lance Armstrong’s agent (now ex-husband) meant seeing a legal strategy play out where the judicial system was used to silence those who dared to speak the truth about Armstrong’s doping. It also meant seeing the truth-tellers’ lives ruined along the way.

Armstrong lied about his years of rampant performance-enhancing drug use.

His vehement denials survived in part because, each time a truth-teller challenged him, Armstrong retaliated by slapping them with a lawsuit.

After years and millions in legal fees and settlements, the truth finally vindicated these voices. In 2012, The United States Doping Agency issued its “Reasoned Decision,” citing mountains of proof of Armstrong’s performance-enhancing drug use.

In an about face, Armstrong did a “tell-all” interview with Oprah Winfrey, admitting to doping. He also conceded that he was nothing more than a bully who had sued the journalists, friends, and colleagues who had accused him of doping: Armstrong: “Yeah, I was a bully.”

Winfrey: “You’re suing people and you know they’re telling the truth? What is that?”

Armstrong: “It’s a major flaw.”

This is not just a character flaw in one superstar: it’s a flaw in our judicial system, but one that can be fixed. The powerful must be held accountable, and the bullying must end.

Meritless lawsuits, like the ones Armstrong filed, targeting truthful speech are called “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation” (SLAPP). SLAPP filers don’t go to court to seek justice. Rather they file frivolous lawsuits to silence, harass, and intimidate their critics.

SLAPP filers harness the judicial process as a weapon in a strategy to win a political, social, or economic battle.

Defending against a meritless

lawsuit can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and clog up the court system for years, while at the same time having a chilling effect on the writer or speaker.

In recent decades, 33 states have passed laws to counter the onslaught of SLAPP suits.

These laws protect the SLAPP victims and empower them to push back against frivolous lawsuits targeting free speech by having the cases quickly dismissed by the courts, and by holding SLAPP’ers responsible for court costs and fees.

These strong protections are needed to preserve our rights to speak freely, participate in our democracy, and hold the powerful accountable.

This doesn’t just impact those who unmask an athlete’s doping. It affects children who expose the nursing home that is not properly caring for their parent; domestic violence victims who speak out about their assailants; customers who file Better Business Bureau complaints after being swindled by a multi-level marketing deal; consumers who warn others about dangerous products. In short, it affects anyone who does not want to be oppressed and muzzled by someone with more power and resources.

After Armstrong’s cycling team soigneur, Emma O’Reilly, spoke out about her involvement in the team’s doping program, Armstrong hauled her into court and demonized her as a prostitute with a drinking problem. As she describes it, “Lance tried to make my life a living hell.”

She was sued for more than she was worth. The case drug on for three years, ending in settlement. “The traumatizing part,” according to O’Reilly, “was dealing with telling the truth.”

AS A FIRST Amendment attorney, I was aghast at how easily the judicial system could be manipulated and the devasting wake left by Armstrong’s lawsuits. The disconnect was profound, as I saw truth left on the cutting room floor.

O’Reilly, like many SLAPP victims, had no idea that the retaliation against her would be so strong. Only the most

tenacious and well-resourced critics can withstand a powerful onslaught of lawyers and filings. The profound need for legislative reform was apparent so truth and accountability can prevail.

Accordingly, the Uniform Law Commission recently enacted a Model Anti-SLAPP Act for passage in the SLAPP deserts throughout the country — the states with no or marginal protections.

Still, bullies can game the system and do. Those who want to inflict pain against people that expose wrongdoing can simply file their case in federal court and, depending on the jurisdiction, avoid the reach of a state anti-SLAPP law.

The way to fix this flaw in the legal system is to pass a federal anti-SLAPP law so that judicial harassment will cease.

Our democracy depends on public participation and citizen oversight. It depends on truth prevailing over lies. If truth can be stymied by filing a lawsuit, democracy will fall.

We need lawmakers to set up and protect these fundamental rights.

In his inaugural address, President Joe Biden identified truth as a common object that Americans love and that defines us as Americans. He reminded us that “each of us has a duty and a responsibility as citizens, Americans and leaders. Leaders that have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation: to defend the truth and defeat the lies.”

Our congressional leaders will have the opportunity this session to vote on a federal anti-SLAPP bill. Let’s implore them to face head-on this attack on our democracy and truth and combat the use of our courts to promote lies told for power and profit. A federal anti-SLAPP law will empower citizens to speak out and not cower in fear and to shine a light on our democracy rather than let it die in darkness.

The time to pass a federal anti-SLAPP law is now.

Prather is a First Amendment attorney and director of the Protect Free Speech Coalition.

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Monday, March 15, 2021

The Iola Register

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Elsinore: Sloppy paint job forever changed name to Elsmore Continued from A1

climb to where the water drops about 25 feet straight down.

The artificiality takes nothing from the scene, and so long as one does not dwell overlong on the fate of poor Ophelia, the shallow pool calls one into inescapable reflection.

manner akin to other potentially-spurious elections around the same time, such as that of Iola vs. Humboldt for the county seat.

H U M O R O U S LY enough, C.C. Thompson wasn’t the only one engaged in antics around Elsinore.

“Some of the young men of Old Elsmore go to church with their breath heavily loaded with that which intoxicates, and then expect a young lady to accept their company home.”

Indeed, it’s hard not to dream them there, walking the road between the schoolhouse/church and cemetery, young women laughing and rolling their eyes while being enthralled by some Romeo full of liquid courage.

Together they would form part of a unique community that remained in the Allen countryside for years to come, proud of its ball team and grange, but whose existence is only scantily recorded.

Beyond a few newspaper records, about the only remaining artifact is a postcard bearing the name of Elsinore, addressed to Kate Bacon, who was attending Baldwin University in 1881.

“Dear Kate, Bring all your clothes and leave your bed and dishes,” read the near-ineligible graphite scrawl. “When you move, get Brother Jones to take your stove back to the man it belongs to.”

AS FOR Elsmore proper, the town’s second (current) site came into existence with the coming of the Katy Railroad, as it extended from Kansas City to Parsons.

This was reportedly how the name change away from Elsinore took place as well, with someone sloppily painting what looked like “Elsmore” on the railroad depot’s signage.

In preparation for the coming tracks, N.L. Ard, H.W. Cox, O.P. Mattson, J.A. Nicholson and J.L. Roberts joined forces to purchase the town’s 20 acres, and within a few years, it had become a popular trading center and shipping point.

Along with the early boom, however, also came the infamous Land League troubles in the late decades of the nineteenth century.

The Katy Railroad had been given Allen County land by the federal government, which it then sold to settlers in order to

Historical photo of downtown Elsmore. mid-to-late 1950s, paid for by the sale of Kansas hunting and fishing licenses.

Construction was started in spring 1956, and the site officially opened on Nov. 10, 1959, turning the tree-studded hills flanking Wolf Pen Creek into a fisherman’s paradise, originally stocked with channel cat, crappie, bass and blue-

Remnants of a brick building in Elsmore that once contained a general store, post office and more. At right, in the “new” Elsmore Cemetery, one can find the grave of C.C. Thompson, who allegedly rigged a postmaster election. finance future lines.

Problem was, when those settlers finally arrived in Kansas, they already found people “squatting” on their land, which led to various acts of deadly and outright murderous conduct as people battled for soil.

The blood finally ceased flowing when it was declared that the squatters had no rights and the railroad won the day.

IN 1909, Elsmore was officially incorporated.

The population soon jumped to over 200, and the town boasted several goods stores along with small manufacturing enterprises.

More specifically, “Kelly Landers recalled that in 1909, Elsmore’s business district included a hotel, bank, drug store, three grocery stores, a restaurant, two hardware stores, a grain elevator, doctor’s office and two barber shops.”

The city’s first school was Wood Hall, and its first teacher was founder Henry Cox, whose reddish-orange headstone states that he and his wife “tried to make the world a better place.”

By contrast, natural disasters made early life in Elsmore a nightmare.

In 1916, a tornado ripped through the area, causing significant damage; and not one but three fires struck.

One inferno devastated the north side of the business district, another torched a hardware store and harness shop.

And the city’s restaurant was damaged in a blaze later in the decade.

APART FROM “the thousand natural shocks /That flesh is heir to,” however, there were still plenty of high times in early Elsmore.

The high school women’s team won the 1917 state championship in basketball, for one.

And like many rural places, Saturdays in town were a blast, with band concerts, people visiting and shopping; they also held blow-out dances in the hall above the drug store.

If that wasn’t enough to get your blood up, there was always the occasional wolf drive, where one could test one’s aim against the “local nuisance.”

Things continued to look up thanks to oil being struck east of town in the 1920s, but when the Great Depression hit and Elsmore Bank closed, the town never truly recovered.

When looking down the town’s primary streets today, it’s as if the entire solid place had melted, thawed and resolved itself into a dew.

senior

SPOTLIGHT

Iola High School CLASS OF 2021 Jenna Miller

­

Allison Morris

OR PERHAPS simply migrated again.

For if one continues east on Delaware Road out of Elsmore to the Allen-Bourbon border, one finds a third, though much younger, community: Lake Elsmore.

Though not an official town, it seems the lake community has more residents than Old Elsmore/Elsinore ever did, and likely also exhibits greater mischief.

Although the lake may look old, it’s actually a man-made creation that came into being in the

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Gavin Morris

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This weekly feature is a cooperative effort of The Iola Register & Community National Bank & Trust-Iola

COVID SEATING A GLOW IN THE DARK ADVENTURE

C AL L (6 2 0) 3 65 - 476 5 T O P U R C H AS E T I CKE T S

gill.

Everybody’s favorite feature of Lake Elsmore, however, is the hidden waterfall tucked away on the north end of the lake.

It’s not terribly difficult to reach, even amidst the chunks of sandstone, where one finally joins the murmur of water crashing before a wall of blackened sediment.

It’s also possible to

RETURNING back through Elsmore, I watched as the sky turned a thousand hues of pink and gold, as the town’s black shadow resonated below.

I drove slowly past rows of cemetery trees into the coming darkness, wondering what other ghosts might now be about their business.

“Tis now the very witching time of night,” as Hamlet said.

Let the day quake.

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Sports Daily

B

The Iola Register

ACC: Baseball

Monday, March 15, 2021

College Basketball

Rains wash out twin bill CHANUTE — Persistent rains that deluged southeast Kansas through the weekend also put the kibosh on a four-game series between Allen Community College and Neosho County Community College’s baseball teams.

The squads originally were slated to play a doubleheader Saturday, a date that was pushed back before the weekend arrived.

As rain continued to fall, the doubleheader was pushed back to Sunday, then Monday and now to Tuesday.

First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.

The teams split the first two games of the series on Thursday.

Cheerleader’s mother in hot water DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania woman is accused of doctoring photos and video of her daughter’s cheerleading rivals to try to get them kicked off the squad, officials said.

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office last week charged Raffaela Spone, 50, with three misdemeanor counts of cyber harassment of a child and related offenses.

Spone manipulated photos from social media of three girls on the Victory Vipers cheerleading squad in Chalfont to make it appear they were drinking, smoking and even nude, investigators said.

Spone also sent messages with the so-called “deepfake” pictures to the girls and suggested they kill themselves, officials said.

Spone’s attorney, Robert See MOTHER | Page B2

Ohio State and Illinois players warm up before the start of the Big Ten Tournament championship game Sunday in Indianapolis.

GETTY IMAGES/JUSTIN CASTERLINE/TNS

March Madness awaits Tourney teams have a new kind of bubble to worry about

By EDDIE PELLS The Associated Press

The 68 teams whose names popped up in the March Madness bracket only thought it was time to celebrate: The next four or five days figure to be the most nerve-wracking part of their seasons.

Welcome to Bubble Ball — the NCAA Tournament is being played in a pandemic, where no player can show up for the games in Indianapolis without seven negative COVID tests, and no team is really “in” the tournament until the ball is tipped off.

“Which potential season-ending test was more stressful than the other?”

Drexel coach Zach Spiker said, meaning the challenges that still await. “Testing,

Gonzaga celebrates after winning the West Coast Conference tournament in Las Vegas Tuesday. The Bulldogs are the top seed in the upcoming “bubble-centric” NCAA Tournament. GETTY IMAGES/ETHAN MILLER/TNS

practice, getting on the bus in Philadelphia, waiting for that reply, that response time to say, ‘We’re all negative here. OK, let’s get out of here.

Let’s get to Indianapolis.’”

Because of COVID-19 issues, Drexel played a grand total of 19 games — about 11 fewer than usual — en route

It’s been a Brees: NFL quarterback retires NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Drew Brees era with the New Orleans Saints — marked by a Super Bowl celebration, raucous record-setting nights in the rebuilt Superdome and the undersized quarterback’s outsized role in a historic city’s rebirth — has ended.

Brees, the NFL’s leader in career completions and yards passing, has decided to retire after 20 NFL seasons, including his last 15 with New Orleans.

“Til the very end I exhaust-

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees announced his retirement from the NFL Sunday. TNS

See BREES | Page B3

to the Colonial Athletic Conference title. That earned the Dragons an automatic bid into the tournament.

The reward? In addition to a battery of nasal swabs, they get a No. 16 seed and an opening-round meeting with top-seeded Illinois.

The other top seeds were

Michigan, Baylor and Gonzaga, which is the overall No. 1, and a 2-1 favorite to win it all and complete the first undefeated season since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers.

In the biggest adjustment to a normal March Madness, See MADNESS | Page B4

Teams earn state crowns BV North 67, Wichita Campus 59

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kansas high school basketball title game results from Saturday: Boys Class 1A-I Olpe 54, South Gray 47 Class 1A DII Hanover 52, Elyria Christian 40 Class 2A Hillsboro 59, Wabaunsee 50 Class 3A Hesston 45, Galena 36 Class 4A Bishop Miege 94, Louisburg 40 Class 5A Maize 55, Topeka West 43 Class 6A

35

Girls Class 1A-I Olpe 42, Norwich 25 Class 1A-II Central Plains 39, Cunningham

Class 2A Sterling 52, Pittsburg Colgan 36 Class 3A Cheney 60, Sabetha 54 Class 4A Bishop Miege 51, McPherson 36 Class 5A St. Thomas Aquinas 52, Andover Central 44 Class 6A SM Northwest 61, Topeka 54

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Monday, March 15, 2021

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Mother

Continued from B1

Birch, told WPVITV he can’t comment because he said the DA hasn’t presented any evidence.

“She has absolutely denied what they’re charging her with and because of the fact that this has hit the press, she has received death threats. She has had to go to the police herself, they have a report,” Birch said.

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The cheerleading team expressed sympathy for the families involved and said the team has a “very strict anti-bullying policy.”

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Boxing legend Marvelous Marvin Hagler dies

By TIM DAHLBERG The Associated Press

Marvelous Marvin Hagler stopped Thomas Hearns in a fight that lasted less than eight minutes yet was so epic that it still lives in boxing lore. Two years later he was so disgusted after losing a decision to Sugar Ray Leonard — stolen, he claimed, by the judges — that he never fought again.

One of the great middleweights in boxing history, Hagler died Saturday at the age of 66. His wife, Kay, announced his death on the Facebook page for Hagler’s fans.

“I am sorry to make a very sad announcement,” she wrote. “Today unfortunately my beloved husband Marvelous Marvin passed away unexpectedly at

his home here in New Hampshire. Our family requests that you respect our privacy during this difficult time.”

Hagler fought on boxing’s biggest stages against its biggest names, as he, Leonard, Hearns and Roberto Duran dominated the middleweight classes during a golden time for boxing in the 1980s. Quiet with a brooding public persona, Hagler fought 67 times over 14 years as a pro out of Brockton, Massachusetts, finishing 62-3-2 with 52 knockouts.

“If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove,” Hagler once said.

“That’s all I am. I live it.”

Hagler was unmistakable in the ring, fighting out of a southpaw stance with his bald head glis-

tening in the lights. He was relentless and he was vicious, stopping opponent after opponent during an eight year run that began with a disputed draw against Vito Antuofermo in 1979 that he later avenged.

He fought with a proverbial chip on his shoulder, convinced that boxing fans and promoters alike didn’t give him his proper due. He was so upset that he wasn’t introduced before a 1982 fight by his nickname of Marvelous that he went to court to legally change his name.

Any doubts Hagler wasn’t indeed Marvelous were erased on a spring night in 1985. He and Hearns met in one of the era’s big middleweight clashes outdoors at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and when the opening bell rang they

traded punches for three minutes in an opening r o u n d many consider the Hagler best in boxing history.

Hagler would go on to stop Hearns in the third round, crumpling him to the canvas with a barrage of punches even as blood poured out of a large gash on his forehead that nearly caused the referee to stop the fight earlier in the round.

Hagler would fight only two more times, stopping John Mugabi a year later and then meeting Leonard, who was coming off a three-year layoff from a detached retina, in his final fight in 1987. Hagler was fa-

vored going into the fight and many thought he would destroy Leonard — but Leonard had other plans.

While Hagler pursued him around the ring, Leonard fought backing up, flicking out his left jab and throwing combinations that didn’t hurt Hagler but won him points on the ringside scorecards. Still, when the bell rang at the end of the 12th round, many thought Hagler had pulled out the fight — only to lose a controversial split decision.

Hagler, who was paid $19 million, left the ring in disgust and never fought again. He moved to Italy to act, and never really looked back.

“I feel fortunate to get out of the ring with my faculties and my health,” he said a year later.

egister.com

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Monday, March 15, 2021

The Iola Register

Brees: Saints QB announces retirement Continued from B1

ed myself to give everything to the Saints organization, my team and the great city of New Orleans,” Brees said in social media post on Sunday, 15 years to the day after he signed with the Saints.

“We shared some amazing moments together, many of which are emblazoned in our hearts and minds and will forever be a part of us,” Brees continued. “I am only retiring from football. I am not retiring from New Orleans.

This is not goodbye.”

The post also included a short video in which his four young children — the three boys wearing No. 9 Saints jerseys — exclaimed, “Our dad is finally going to retire so he can spend more time with us!”

The decision comes after the 42-year-old quarterback won nine of 12 regular-season starts while completing 70.5% of his passes in 2020, and then won a wild-card round playoff game before New Orleans’ season ended with a divisional-round loss to eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay. Brees missed four games this season with multiple fractured ribs and a collapsed lung.

It marked the second straight season Brees had to miss part of a season with an injury after missing just one game because of injury in the previous 13.

In 2019, Brees missed five games because of a thumb injury on his throwing hand that required surgery.

Saints coach Sean Payton said Brees had plenty of other injuries or ailments during his Saints tenure, but willed himself to play through them whenever possible.

“Over the years his durability and availability is quite amazing.

I can recall so many of these different inju-

Drew is so much more valuable than all the records, awards and accolades that he amassed. Drew came to represent the resolve, passion and drive that resonates not only with Saints fans and football fans, but our entire community —New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson on Drew Brees

ries,” Payton said. “He’s as courageous and as tough a player as I’ve ever been around.”

Brees is the NFL’s all-time leader in yards passing with 80,358, although that mark will be under threat next season by 44-year-old Tom Brady, who has 79,204 career yards passing.

Brees’ 571 career touchdown passes rank second behind Brady’s 581.

Brees had dropped hints about his intentions, saying he considered himself to be on “borrowed time.”

After his final game, he returned to the Superdome field in street clothes, embraced his wife, Brittany, and played catch with his children for nearly two hours. When Brady saw them on his way to the Tampa Bay bus, he stopped, chatted, threw passes to Brees children and hugged Brees before departing.

Still, Brees declined to confirm his plans until now, even throwing many for a loop when a video of one of his recent workouts appeared on social media.

“Congrats my friend on an incredible career,” Brady said in a social media post Sunday. “Thank you for the inspiration and dedication on and off the field!

Look forward to seeing what’s next.”

The Saints currently have one quarterback under contract: Taysom Hill, who went 3-1 as a starter during Brees absence in 2020. New Orleans also is expected to pursue another veteran QB to compete for

a starting job, including free agent Jameis Winston, who spent 2020 as a Saints reserve.

Brees retirement brings an end to a career that came to embody resilience and renewal on multiple levels.

His most prolific seasons came after he underwent major reconstructive surgery in early 2006 to repair a career-threatening throwing shoulder injury.

He joined the Saints shortly after, at a time when New Orleans was still coping with widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

When Brees moved to New Orleans, he bought and renovated a historic home in the city’s Uptown neighborhood, just a block away from Audubon Park.

The storm had forced the Saints to play all of their 2005 games outside New Orleans, and the Saints finished that season 3-13.

“When I was hired by the Saints as head coach in 2006, the very first goal was to establish a functional and winning culture,” Payton said.

“It was vital to know what we were looking for in a player, talent, work ethic, makeup, intelligence and leadership are all qualities we found in Drew Brees.

We also found a player with a burning desire to win.”

With Payton calling plays and Brees executing them, the Saints won 10 regular-season games in 2006, and then won a divisional-round playoff game in a re-

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built Superdome — a storybook run that didn’t end until a loss in Chicago in New Orleans’ first ever NFC championship game. That would be the first of nine seasons in which Brees led the Saints to the playoffs.

“Drew is so much more valuable than all the records, awards and accolades that he amassed,” Saints owner Gayle Benson said.

“Drew came to represent the resolve, passion and drive that resonates not only with Saints fans and football fans, but our entire community.”

The franchise’s only Super Bowl appearance and championship came in the 2009 season, with Brees, selected as the game’s MVP, memorably celebrating with first child Baylen in his arms as confetti floated around them.

Brees’ 32 completions (on 39 attempts) tied a Super Bowl record, just one of numerous times the 6-foot-1 quarterback, drafted by the San Diego Chargers out of Purdue in the beginning of the second round of the 2001 draft, etched his name in NFL record books.

ZITS

BEETLE BAILEY

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

by Mort Walker

by Chris Browne

CRYPTOQUOTES E G O S F G Z CV L Z O K H JT L JT P F G U

FUNKY WINKERBEAN

by Tom Batiuk

H J O F V DV J S F G Z P K L U UV P O O L P N .

O C H P H P O CV PV M ZV O FW P G M MV P P . – PY L K H

BLONDIE

by Young and Drake

BABY BLUES

by Kirkman & Scott

HI AND LOIS

by Chance Browne

P H D L J L JT L Saturday’s Cryptoquote: The quieter you become the more you are able to hear.– Rumi

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Monday, March 15, 2021

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iolaregister.com

The Iola Register

Rutgers 10

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Cleveland St. 15

Madness: COVID could take a bite out of NCAA tourney Continued from B1

all the games will be played in and around Indianapolis over 19 days. No more worrying about who got shipped to Spokane or mired in Memphis. The NCAA did, however, keep the region names — West, East, South and Midwest — to at least make the bracket look normal.

More about that bracket: A few bubble teams are coming from unexpected places, namely UCLA and Michigan State. Both were widely projected to make the field with ease, but they ended up as 11 seeds, paired in a First Four matchup on Thursday. The other 11-11 game pits Wichita State against Drake.

Teams like Louisville, Saint Louis, Colorado State and Mississippi would gladly trade places with them.

And still might. In one of many first-of-itskind moves made to accommodate a one-ofa-kind tournament, the NCAA put team Nos. 6972 on standby in case a program in the 68-team draw has to withdraw because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

They have until Tuesday night to notify the NCAA they can’t make it. After that, a team that withdraws will simply go home, and its opponent will get a walkover into the next round.

“If the teams continue to do the great work that they’ve done just to get to the tournament, we will have a very safe, very healthy

67-game tournament and we’ll crown a champion,” selection committee chairman Mitch Barnhart said.

BUT TO underscore what a different, and difficult, season this has been, the committee spent a lot of time stressing over two shooins, Kansas and Virginia, each of which pulled out of their conference tournaments last week because of outbreaks.

Barnhart said both are following proper protocols to make it to Indianapolis for their games on Saturday. Kansas is the No. 3 seed in the West and Virginia, the defending champion (from 2019), is the fourth seed in the same region.

“The one thing I’ve found out through this, probably as much as anybody, is expect the unexpected,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.

That is, after all, what March Madness is about — three weeks filled with busted brackets, out-of-nowhere surprises, teams that take care of unfinished business and an occasional visit from an old friend.

Remember Sister Jean? She’s 101 now, and her team, Loyola Chicago, is back in the dance, hoping for a reboot of the, shall we say, “miracle” run to the Final Four in 2018.

Remember Patrick Ewing? He lifted Georgetown to national prominence back in the 1980s,

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and now he’s back as the coach, guiding the underdog — yes, underdog — Hoyas to a Big East Tournament title and a surprise trip to the tourney.

And Rick Pitino? His career was left for dead after his ouster from Louisville following that school’s unseemly recruiting scandal a few years back. He’s back, too, as coach of Iona,

which played only 13 regular-season games, but won its conference tourney and made it to Indy. The Gaels are a 15th seed — not what Pitino is used to this time of year.

“A little role reversal,” he said, “but still you have to play the game.”

And play they will.

From the First Four on Thursday through the

Final Four, which ends with nets the coming down on April 5.

So much could go wrong between now and then. So much has to go right.

But a year after the tournament was scrubbed in the early days of the pandemic, it feels good to have a bracket to fill out.

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