Tuesday, June 16, 2020
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891st gears up for Kuwait By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Roughly 150 National Guardsmen in Salina are training for a yearlong deployment to Kuwait. Most of the Guardsmen are members of the Kansas Army National Guard’s 891st Battalion, whose headquarters company is in Iola. The overseas deployment is the first for the 891st since the Battalion spent a year in Iraq in 2005.
Lt. Col. Justin Nusz, 891st battalion commander, noted roughly half of those going to Kuwait were also part of the Battalion that went to Iraq. “For the others, this will be their first overseas deploy-
ment anywhere.” The deployment is in support of Spartan Shield, an ongoing operation in Kuwait, which in part provides an American presence in one of the most volatile areas of the world. The 891st soldiers will be in charge of assorted construction projects, Nusz explained, “everything from barracks to roads.” Because of the ongoing See 891ST | Page A3
Parade participants carry a huge rainbow flag past city hall on Lakeside Avenue during the 2015 Cleveland Pride Parade. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal anti-discrimination laws protect gay and transgender employees. TNS
High Court says law protects LGBTQ rights
Top brass Members of the Iola Municipal Band practice Monday night. Their first concert is at 8 p.m. Thursday at the bandstand on the Allen County Courthouse lawn. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS
Better late than never for Iola Rec
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT rights from a conservative court. The court decided by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against people because of their sexual orientation or
gender identity. “An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court. “Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.” The decision was a defeat not just for the employers, but also the Trump adminSee COURT | Page A6
MV educator comes full circle Career ends as it began; by conquering challenges By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Summer ball seasons to begin
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State reports increase in COVID-19 cases PAGE A2 Differentiating between privacy and secrecy
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Vol. 122, No. 161 Iola, KS 75 Cents
M
ORAN — Ken McWhir ter’s first day as a teacher taught him two important lessons: how to adapt to each student’s needs and how to meet unexpected challenges. Throughout his career — and especially, the past two years — those lessons would prove invaluable. But as a brand-new sixthgrade teacher starting midway through the school year in 1976 in Larned, McWhirter entered a math classroom where every student was on a different page. They were practicing individualized learning, a concept that was ahead of its time but seems quite familiar in the modern education era. It certainly wasn’t famil-
Marmaton Valley USD 256 Superintendent of Schools Ken McWhirter is retiring at the end of the month, capping a 46-year career in education. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS iar to McWhirter, who had always been taught that a class learned each concept together. He adapted to the new process, even though it meant teaching a concept to the class as a whole, and then teaching it again and again to students individually when they were ready. “And, boy, it took a lot of
work to keep up with that,” McWhirter recalled. “It made me appreciate the different ways you can teach kids, and how you can be challenged and adapt to something that’s totally different.” Perhaps it’s appropriate, then, that McWhirter, who retires at the end of this
month as Marmaton Valley’s superintendent, is ending his career much the same way it began, by adapting to something totally different. The coronavirus pandemic closed school buildings in March and forced teachers and administrators into a See MV | Page A3