Limb pick- up Monday
Iola city crews will canvass the town starting Monday to pick up limbs downed from this week’s thunderstorms. Limbs must be placed on the curb or street (not the alley) by 6 a.m. Monday. Crews will make one sweep through town. No call-in is necessary.
The Weekender Saturday, July 18, 2015
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Two lost in crash
WICHITA — A wreck near Wichita Friday morning took the lives of Iolans Irene Smith and Rosemary Maddox. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Smith, 83, was turning southbound onto Greenwich Road from the westbound K-254 lane when her car was struck by an eastbound tractor-trailer unit driven by Robert Driskill, 34, Eureka. Troopers said Driskill atSee WRECK | Page A6
Groups benefit By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
The Allen County Community Food Pantry, Humboldt Ministerial Alliance and First Presbyterian Church’s Sunday Soups will each receive $1,000 from the Allen County Public Health Fund. The groups will use the funds to help See GRANTS | Page A6
www.iolaregister.com
Infamous blast seed for tonight’s fun Charley Melvin was one to take the law into his own hands. A strict prohibitionist, Melvin worked to rid Iola of the demon brew himself. Just past midnight on July 10, 1905, Melvin lit the fuses to hundreds of sticks of dynamite placed in saloons around Iola’s courthouse square. The subsequent explosions became history, one which is still remembered more than 110 years later. Melvin’s ill-fated, one-man attempt to rid Iola of alcohol became the basis for tonight’s Charley Melvin Mad Bomber Run For Your Life. Perhaps just as remarkable as the damage incurred — three saloons were blown to bits, dozens of windows were blown out of the nearby courthouse, and the iconic courthouse clock came to a sudden stop — was the realization it could have been much worse. In the bombing’s aftermath, authorities found dynamite with partially burned fuses in three other downtown joints. It took police about a month to find Melvin, working in a railroad camp near Keystone, Iowa. He wound up serving nine years in prison. He was released in 1914, shortly before his death. In 1881, Kansas became the first state to ban the sale of alcohol. On the national level, the production of alcohol was banned in 1918 to save grain for the U.S. involvement in World War I. In 1919, the 18th amendment enforced prohibition which See MELVIN | Page A5
A “drag race,” one of the featured events for tonight’s Charley Melvin Mad Bomber Run For Your Life, will feature once again some of Iola’s distinguished gentlemen dressed in their Sunday finest. These drag racers are, clockwise from top left, David Toland, Matt Abbott, Vince DeGrado, Ben Middleton, Jeremy McGinnis and Todd Francis. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Connectors serve as links to local services By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Rhonda Foster, 54, will begin her first teaching job in August in Chetopa. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
As one door closes, another opens By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
R
honda Foster is all set to start her dream. She’ll head to Chetopa in mid-August for her first-ever teaching job. She’ll teach language arts and creative writing to elementary and middle-school students. “I’m excited, but kind of scared, too,” Foster admits.
“I’ve never lived on my own before. Guess I gotta grow up sometime.” Foster, it should be noted, is 54. “It took me five years to find this job, and I’m 15 years from retirement,” she joked. In a remarkable set of circumstances, Foster found herself facing unemployment — she is among the 80 or so Herff Jones workers notified the plant will close by Oct. 1 —
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 176
to finding her dream job, in a span of 48 hours. The Herff Jones closure was announced July 7. Foster picked up her phone the morning of July 9. “I had the interview that afternoon, at 2:30,” she recalled. “They said they’d let me know by 6. At 6 o’clock, they called and offered me the job. It was that quick.” See FOSTER | Page A5
“Happiness can exist only in acceptance.”
The quandary: A free swim day was scheduled, but Mom didn’t have money to buy sunscreen for her child, eager to participate in the aquatic adventure. Where to turn? Two months ago Thrive Allen County launched a program that came to the woman’s rescue. Allen County Connectors answers questions, finds solutions and makes a difference. In this woman’s particular case, she was told where a fresh shipment of sunscreen, free for the asking, was available. Georgia Masterson, a Thrive operative and one of five who field calls as connectors, gave Iola Rotarians the skinny on the program Thursday. Also involved are Angela Murphy, county 911 director, Michelle Meiwes, Hope Unlimited, Susan Booth, MDR Insurance, and LaDonna Krone, Humboldt Food Pantry. A common phone number, 620-228-5110, reaches the connectors
— George Orwell
75 Cents
from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. At their disposal is an evergrowing list of where Georgia Masterson they can find help for any number of concerns. “We’re not a resource ourselves,” Booth said, but “we know who to call and try to connect the caller with the right people.” The connection is made in reverse order, with connectors identifying the resource and then having whoever may respond call the person needing help. From the side of assistance, anyone representing an organization that might be helpful in any of many situations is urged to contact Allen County Connectors or by email at connectors@thriveallencounty. org. The program is funded by a grant secured by Thrive’s John Robertson. Financing mainly compensates emSee ROTARY | Page A6
Hi: 95 Lo: 73 Iola, KS