Thursday, December 17, 2020
Locally owned since 1867
Allen County COVID-19 Case Count
Current cases.................. 62 Total cases*.................... 513 Deaths............................ 1 *Since the start of the pandemic Sources: Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Departments, Kansas Department of Health and Environment
Lancers cruise to win over Jayhawk-Linn
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Stimulus deal is near, but not done
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Car smashes Iolan’s home
By TREVOR HOAG The Iola Register
This year just can’t get much worse... At least that’s what Phyllis Lueker thought until someone drove their vehicle through a fence and into her house on Saturday evening. “It’s enough to make you a nervous wreck,” the 80-yearold Iolan said on Wednesday, suggesting some residual shock. Everything apparently happened around 5:30 p.m., when what sounded like a bomb rocked the entire block. “I was sitting in the living room, waiting for the weather to come on,” Lueker recalled. “It sounded like something exploded.” “So I stepped around into my kitchen, … my kitchen was gone. It was just thrown everywhere.” “I looked around the corner into my den and the whole north wall was gone out of the den, and I could see the tail end of a car.” The driver was unharmed, but as Lueker put it, “it sure
State reports COVID-19 death surge amid 1st vaccine shots By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — COVID-19 deaths have surged in Kansas in the past week and nearly every part of the state has lost people to the disease caused by the coronavirus, health statistics show. Kansas averaged a record 45 new reported COVID-19 deaths per day for the seven days that ended Wednesday, according to state Department of Health and Environment data. The department reported 144 new deaths since Monday, pushing the state’s pandemic death toll to 2,253. Like other states, Kansas
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received its first shipment of a vaccine made by Pfizer on Monday and began getting it to health care workers, prison workers and nursing home staff and residents. State officials hope Kansas will receive is first shipment of a vaccine made by Moderna next week, if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorizes its emergency use this week, as expected. But Gov. Laura Kelly said Wednesday that the vaccine won’t be available to all adults for months, until the end of next spring. People have died in at least 103 of the state’s 105 counSee STATE | Page A3
hurt my house.”
IT SEEMS to have been a surprisingly close call. For as Lueker explained, when the vehicle struck, “I would normally be at the kitchen sink or in front of the stove, cooking.” Miraculously, though, a basketball game that had gone into overtime disrupted her regular schedule, and so she wasn’t watching the news and preparing dinner as usual. “If I had been in the kitchen,” she said, “I’d have been dead because it blew the dishwasher clear out halfway across the room.” “It’s a royal mess. … I was blessed I was in the other room when it happened.” Hence she wanted to set the record straight about the extent of the disaster. “Rumor was,” Lueker explained, “there was only about a four-foot hole in the house. … but that four feet turned out to be about 40.” Moreover, all utilities including water and electric have been put thoroughly out of commission.
Phyllis Lueker’s house at 1108 N. Walnut Street boarded up following an incident where a driver smashed through the fence and into her kitchen. REGISTER/TREVOR HOAG
LUEKER’S late-model Honda was also torn up along with the house. “There was damage to my car when the garage door blew apart,” she explained, so is now having to search for a rental.
See WRECK | Page A3
Phyllis Lueker
Send a little Christmas cheer By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Area students worked to “Spread the Joy” to nursing home residents with a Christmas card shower earlier this month. There’s still time to participate. Students from Iola, Humboldt and Moran made cards to send to area nursing homes and assisted living facilities, which have restricted visitors for much of the past year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Students at Humboldt and Iola middle schools created cards to send to the residents, organized with the help of the Allen County Multi-Agency Team. See CARDS | Page A5
Humboldt Middle School students Cody White and Luke McGowen make Christmas cards to send to area nursing home residents. COURTESY PHOTO
Bluegrass meets rock ’n roll with the Hillbenders By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Fresh off a successful first show in the COVID-19 era, the Bowlus Fine Arts Center will bring a rocking bluegrass band to Iola in January. The Hillbenders will perform at 2 and 7 p.m. Jan. 30. Tickets are now available and can only be purchased by calling the Bowlus at 365-4765. Social distancing and masks are required, and seating is limited. “Bluegrass meets rock ’n roll,” is how Bowlus Director Dan Kays describes The Hillbenders. The band’s critically acclaimed 2015 album, “TOMMY: A Bluegrass Opry,” offered an acoustic take on The Vol. 122, No. 290 Iola, KS 75 Cents
The Hillbenders Who’s legendary rock opera. They followed that up with “WhoGrass,” which takes on the entire collection from the
classic rock-and-roll band. They’ve also delivered a collaboration, “Pettygrass,” which does the same for
Tom Petty songs. They were named the National Single Microphone Champions, an award given for a particular style of bluegrass where all members gather around one microphone. The Hillbenders will perform numbers from WhoGrass as well as original bluegrass tunes. The performance will be the first time the band has taken the stage since Febru-
ary, when they were sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic. “The Hillbenders are extremely excited. This is their first concert back,” Kays said. The concert is made possible through the Pearman Trust, a new trust designated for bluegrass, country or gospel music. Initially, Kays planned to bring a country music Christmas concert to the Bowlus through the Pearman Trust. Those plans fell apart because of the pandemic, and the Bowlus instead offered “Christmas with the Celts” this past weekend. Kays still wanted to offer a concert that would fit with the Pearman family’s wishes. See SHOW | Page A6
Services, Monuments & Events
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