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2017 1867
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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Monday, June 19, 2017
Bat house project leads to Eagle
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Users of the Lehigh Portland Trail may have noticed the peculiar birdhouse-looking structures near the east trailhead, along the cliffs overlooking Elks Lake. Those are the wrongwinged creatures, notes Coury Sager. Sager spearheaded the effort to build the two bat houses, as part of his Eagle Scout project. With the bat houses now finished, Sager learned earlier this month he was accepted to become Iola Troop 55’s newest Eagle Scout. He was allowed to ring the Eagle Scout bell Tuesday during a ceremony at Quivira Scout Ranch near Sedan. A Court of Honor ceremony will be held in the near future, his mother, Deborah Sager, said. “It’s been a fun project,” Coury said. THE BAT house project came after a fortuitous meeting with Pastor Steve Traw. Coury was visiting Traw as part of a separate fund raiser. Traw has built bat houses for years, and was working on one when the young Boy Scout arrived. “Coury thought it was birdhouse, and Pastor Steve explained what it really was.” In search of a community
service project, the final step necessary to earning Eagle Scout status — the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve — Coury figured Iola could use a bat house or two. The original plans were to erect the bat houses near Riverside Park. But when Coury’s twin brother, Alec — a 2016 Eagle Scout — helped oversee construction of a shelter along the Lehigh Trail, Coury decided to shift gears. “I knew there was a mosquito problem,” Coury said. TRAW supplied the design, and Coury solicited the help of Iolan Jack Croghan to help cut the pieces. Coury’s fellow Scouts stained and assembled them in short order. “It didn’t take them long,” Deborah said. Next up was erecting two tall poles at the recommended height for such bat houses. The problem was, the rocky, limestone trails were hardly conducive to digging holes. Coury found his solution by reaching out to his uncle, John Sager, one of the key volunteers who helped build and develop the Lehigh Trail system. John Sager poured a pair of concrete pads to support the poles and bat houses. See SCOUT | Page A4
Dealing with Disaster By JOHN SCHLAGECK Kansas Farm Bureau
Travis McCarty's story is the third and final in KFB's "Dealing with Disaster" series created by veteran farm journalist John Schlageck. The series features Kansas farmers and ranchers and their ability to rise above devastating disasters including the state's largest wildfire, an April blizzard and its impact on this year's wheat crop. Talk about a world turned topsy-turvy. That’s what happened March 6 in Clark County. On that fateful day, wildfires exploded across Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas and swept through an estimated 1.5 million acres. A couple days after the fire burnt out, some said the charred remains looked like Mars— desolate and barren. For Travis McCarty, this day will remain forever etched in his memory. The experience scorched his soul. He watched as 76 mileper-hour winds fueled grass fires that destroyed more than 461,000 acres in Clark County where his family has farmed and ranched for four generations. Dozens of farm and ranch families lost their homes, out buildings and livestock. Countless wildlife fell prey to the fiery devastation including dead and severely injured coyotes, deer and jackrabbits.
Travis McCarty COURTESY PHOTO
A large-animal vet by trade, McCarty was consulting at a feedlot near Montezuma that day when his phone rang. “Dad called to say he really needed me,” McCarty says. “He told me he was headed toward a neighbor with his tractor and disk to save his home from fire.” Seeing the billowing smoke about 65 miles to the southeast, McCarty jumped in his pickup and sped toward Ashland. That’s when the chaos began. Trying to reach the Sand Creek Ranch pasture, he turned around because he couldn’t make it due to the fire and smoke. Instead, he rendezvoused with his wife and father-in-law. They headed for his parent’s place to move some firstcalf heifer pairs into a safe place. As they hurried to save the cattle, the fire swept closer. Little more than a mile away, McCarty says he See DISASTER | Page A4
Quote of the day Vol. 119, No. 164
Judge to hear murder allegations
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Coury Sager stands next to a bat house he constructed and placed on the Lehigh Portland trail. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
A preliminary hearing will begin Tuesday, during which prosecutors will lay out firstdegree murder allegations against Joshua Knapp, Rhonda Jackson and James Myers in the March 2016 killing of Iolan Shawn Cook. Knapp, Jackson and Myers each are accused of first-degree murder. The preliminary hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in front of Magistrate Judge Tod Davis, and is scheduled to run through Wednesday. Davis agreed earlier this year with Allen County Attorney Jerry Hathaway’s motion to consolidate the preliminary hearings, rather than have separate hearings for each of the three. “I’ve been involved with cases involving multiple defendants, but never anything like this,” Hathaway told the Register last week. “It’s been difficult coordinating calendars,” he continued. “I think we’re all ready to get this under way.” After hearing evidence against the defendants, Davis will decide whether the See MURDER | Page A4
Investigation into Navy ship collision continues TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s coast guard is investigating why it took nearly an hour for a deadly collision between a U.S. Navy destroyer and a container ship to be reported. A coast guard official said Monday they are trying to find out what the crew of the Philippine-flagged ACX Crystal was doing before reporting the collision off Japan’s coast to authorities 50 minutes later. The ACX Crystal collided with the USS Fitzgerald off Japan’s coast, killing seven of the destroyer’s crew of nearly 300. The ships collided early Saturday morning, when the Navy said most of the 300 sailors on board would have been sleeping. Authorities have declined to speculate on a cause while the crash remains under investigation. A track of the much-larger container ship’s route by MarineTraffic, a vessel-tracking service, shows it made a sudden turn as if trying to avoid something at about 1:30 a.m., before continuing eastward. It then made a U-turn and returned around 2:30 a.m. to the area near the collision. The coast guard initially said the collision occurred at 2:20 a.m. because the Philippine ship had reported it at 2:25 a.m. and said it just happened. After interviewing Filipino crewmembers, the coast guard has changed the collision time to 1:30 a.m. Path of the container ship ACX Crystal, which collided with the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald early Saturday morning. (AP/Penny
Wang) Coast guard official Tetsuya Tanaka said they are trying to resolve what happened during the 50 minutes. He said officials are planning to get hold of a device with communication records to examine further details of the crash. Japan’s Transport Safety Board also started an accident investigation on Sunday. Adding to the confusion, a U.S. Navy official said it is sticking with the 2:20 a.m.
“operating as usual” until the collision at 1:30 a.m., as shown on a ship tracking service that the company uses. She said the ship reported to the coast guard at 2:25 a.m., but she could not provide details about what the ship was doing for nearly an hour. “Because it was in an emergency, the crewmembers may not have been able to place a call,” she said. Coast guard officials are investigating the case as possible professional negligence,
Sailors ‘man the rails’ in 2003, aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald as it pulls into Pearl Harbor for a fourday port visit with the Nimitz Battle Group. WIKIPEDIA PHOTO timing for the crash that he said had been reported by the Fitzgerald. Asked about the earlier time cited by the coast guard, Navy spokesman Cmdr. Ron Flanders said, “That is not our understanding.” He said any differences would have to be clarified in the investigation. Nanami Meguro, a spokeswoman for NYK Line, the ship’s operator, agreed with the earlier timing. Meguro said the ship was
“All you can do is the best you can do.” — Paula Abdul, musician 75 Cents
but no criminal charges have been pressed so far. On Monday, the Navy’s 7th Fleet identified the seven sailors who died. Navy divers recovered the bodies after the severely damaged Fitzgerald returned to the fleet’s home in Yokosuka, Japan, with assistance from tug boats. The victims were Gunner’s Mate Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19, from Palmyra, Virginia; Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass, See COLLISION | Page A4
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