Sports: Humboldt standout signs with Pitt State See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
USD 257
Picking up the pieces By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
In recognition of the overwhelming defeat of a proposal to build new schools in Iola, USD 257 school board members are striving to collaborate more with the community. At Monday night’s meeting Superintendent of Schools Jack Koehn proposed a strategic plan to move forward to improve district facilities. Koehn said a strategic plan is a tool to bring ideas from community members together for the benefit of children. “I propose an outside third party facilitate this strategic plan process,” Koehn said. The Southeast Kansas Educational Service Center of the Greenbush Education Service Center has offered to provide the service at no charge other than travel expenses from its Girard location. Koehn said they have experience in providing these services to other school districts. The plan would have approximately 40 stakeholders of the community to devise a
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Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Navigating a health insurance minefield Tricky rules plague area couple By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
GARNETT — It’s worth remembering, as the sign-up deadline for the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplace draws near, that the exchange-based plan with the most inviting price may not be the best choice for the consumer, and may not include her local clinic or hospital or her primary care physician. Even with the best counsel, the baffling rules laid out by the health insurance industry
are enough to make the eyes water. And it’s a confusion only further inflamed — as it was for Joyce Keilen, 64 — when the insurance company itself trips over its own data. KEILEN’S HUSBAND recently traded in his job as an over the road trucker for fulltime employment as a sheet metal worker at Adamson Bros. Heating & Cooling, in Ottawa. The couple lost their health insurance in the bargain. Casting about for new coverage late last month, the Keilens contacted a local insurance agent for ad-
vice. The agent determined the couple was eligible for federal subsidies through the health exchange, a boon which would reduce their projected monthly premium from, according to Joyce, an unmanageable $1,000 to a steep, but ultimately affordable, $638. Kansans looking to purchase health insurance on the exchange are limited to two carriers: Blue Cross Blue Shield or Coventry Health Care, Inc., a subsidiary of Aetna. See INSURANCE | Page A6
See 257 | Page A4
King’s dream lives on By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Rep. Kent Thompson, center, visits with Layne Sterling and Allen County Commissioner Tom Williams Monday during a meeting between Allen County Farm Bureau members and state legislators Monday. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Lawmakers: Budget expected to dominate agenda By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
While they differed on some points — how to fund schools, for example — both Rep. Kent Thompson and Sen. Caryn Tyson agreed budget discussions would dominate the State Legislature this spring. The Republican lawmakers were invited Monday evening to visit with Allen County Farm Bureau members to discuss goings-on at the Statehouse now that the Legislature is back in session. Both noted they had yet to pore over the specifics of Gov. Brownback’s budget propos-
I can tell you right now the state of Kansas makes more money on my wife’s business than she does. — Rep. Kent Thompson, whose wife, Susan, owns State Street Liquors in Iola
als released Friday afternoon, because Monday was a state and federal holiday. They planned to dive headfirst into the budget discussions today. Both spoke about the dangers of removing sales tax exemptions for farmers who purchase agriculture equipment. “If you remove that sales tax exemption, you’ll have to
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 58
remove it for everyone,” she said. Tyson also said she opposed one idea already being voiced: changing how farmland is taxed. A senator from Johnson County said the state could recoup more funds if ag land was taxed at its fair market value, and not the income it generates, the current formula.
Such a sea change would be unfair to farmers, Tyson opined. “We’ve got to be aggressive in shutting that thing down,” she said. Thompson and Tyson both noted Brownback’s proposal to greatly increase “sin” taxes, for tobacco and alcohol, would unfairly punish merchants along the Missouri border. The issue is a personal one for Thompson, whose wife, Susan, owns State Street Liquors in Iola. “I can tell you right now the state of Kansas makes more money on my wife’s See ACFB | Page A6
“Winter is not a season, it’s an occupation..”
— Sinclair Lewis, American novelist 75 Cents
Soulful strains of Pat Pulley singing “Come walk with me” preceded Lloyd Houk’s thoughtful p re s e n t at i o n about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Monday evening’s annual Lloyd Houk remembrance of the civil rights leader at the Ward Chapel A.M.E. church. The day was set aside as a national holiday for Americans to pause and recall all that King accomplished. But, as Houk said, there is more to do, with the celebration appropriately titled “Looking Beyond the Dream.” King could have been comfortable in an environment expected of a high-profile minister, which he was, but instead felt compelled to “stand up, speak out for something” he believed in — the right for all men and women, regardless See MLK | Page A2
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