Sports: Seahorse swim meet results See B4
The Weekender Saturday, July 16, 2016
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RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
A vehicle plowed through a crowd killing at least 77
U.K.
Iolan perseveres amid heartbreak, economic plight
BELGIUM Paris
FRANCE ITALY
By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
SPAIN 200 km
I
n 2003, Shauna Berntsen entered Allen Community College on a softball scholarship. Not long after Valentine’s Day of that year, her enrollment was annulled and the 19-year-old was deployed to Iraq. She had completed basic training the previous year, but had hoped to postpone active duty service until after she’d graduated college. But, like thousands of other young Americans captured in the quickly churning machinery of that war, Berntsen found herself in no time stationed in Baghdad, attached to a unit from Iowa, running convoy missions down perilous desert roads 7,000 miles from home. Even today, she recalls flinching at the explosions that ricocheted through the night air when she first arrived in that country. Eventually, though, she would master the grim trick of determining, by the precise whistling sound of an RPG, its distance from the base. A knack which allowed her to sleep easier. But, of course, such an unnatural derangement of the senses leaves its mark. “To this day, I still can’t drive in big cities,” says Berntsen. “After Iraq, I can’t do it. Even as a passenger, I take a Xanax before I hit the city and I look down at the ground and I do not look around. ... And, as you can imagine, I really hate the Fourth of July.” In 2004, Berntsen was allowed to come home. Her softball coach at ACC renewed her scholarship.
Nice
DETAIL AREA 200 miles Mediterranean Sea Source: AP Graphic: Tribune News Service
Terror strikes again in France By HELENE FOUQUET and MARK DEEN Bloomberg News
Shauna Berntsen and her family live paycheck to paycheck in their attempts to make ends meet. REGISTER/RICK DANLEY She was older than most of her teammates. She was considered a non-traditional student. Plus, she was moved to a new position, first base. But all that was
OK. She was back playing the game that has been for her a long-standing consolation in life, especially during a tough childhood. One fall night during
that first year back, Berntsen and the team headed out to a bar downtown. “Girls’ night,” remembers See BERNTSEN | Page A6
PARIS — Eight months after a murderous rampage in Paris, the deadly attack in the coastal city of Nice on Bastille Day threatens to throw a still-traumatized France into a tailspin in the run-up to presidential elections and raise terror alarms across Europe. At least 80 people were killed and about 20 critically injured when a truck loaded with arms drove into a latenight crowd on a day of national pride, forcing President Francois Hollande to call up military reserves and extend the state of emergency that he had intended to let lapse. Authorities declared it an act of terror. “Horror again has struck France,” Hollande said in the early hours of Friday. From the lone wolf attack See FRANCE | Page A5
Trump picks Pence for veep
Bumper crop yields hit grain prices
By JULIE PACE and JILL COLVIN
By JASON TIDD The Iola Register
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has chosen Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate, adding political experience and conservative bona fides to his Republican presidential ticket. Trump announced his decision on Twitter Friday morning, capping a frenzied 24 hours of speculation about his choice. A news conference was set for today in New York for the two men who will take on Hillary Clinton and her Democratic running mate in November. Trump offered the vice presidential spot to Pence Thursday, and the governor boarded a plane for New
York in anticipation of a Friday announcement, according to a Republican with knowledge of the Mike Pence process. But shortly after Pence arrived, Trump abruptly said he was postponing an announcement because of the deadly attack in Nice, France, that left more than 80 people dead. The delay sparked speculation that the notoriously unpredictable Trump might make a last minute change. But the businessman put those questions to rest Friday See PENCE | Page A6
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 182
PIQUA — On the plains of Piqua, there’s a storm a-brewing. Not a storm of rain, but a storm caused in part by rain. Farmers have enjoyed the fruits of bountiful rainfall. May 19 was the first time since July of 2010 that no county in Kansas suffered from drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor and the Hutchinson News. As inches of rain rose in the rain gauges, per-acre crop yields also increased across the state. But commodity prices have fallen sharply in the past month. Wheat commodity prices are down from a high of $5.30 per bushel in June to
Construction has begun on a grain silo at Piqua Farmers Coop. REGISTER/JASON TIDD below $4.30 this month, according to NASDAQ prices from the Chicago Board of Trade. Corn meanwhile dropped from over $4.40 in
“One of the key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace, good people don’t go into government.” — Donald Trump 75 Cents
June to almost $3.40 in July. In Kansas, the wheat harvest is finished. Corn harvest is a See CORN | Page A3
Hi: 86 Lo: 74 Iola, KS