Saturday, June 20, 2020
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Blazing her own path in music biz Iola native riffs on heartbreak, lockdown and her first pop single By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
L
OS ANGELES — Karlea Boyer believes there are two levels of music art-
Iola native Karlea Boyer records in a music studio. Her debut song, “I Could Really Use A Drink,” has caught the eye of such music industry stalwarts as Rolling Stone Magazine. COURTESY PHOTO
Trump threatens protesters as Tulsa declares emergency TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The mayor of Tulsa has declared a civil emergency and set a curfew for the area around the arena where President Donald Trump plans to hold a campaign rally this weekend. “Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis,” Trump tweeted Friday. “It will be a much different scene.” In his executive order establishing a curfew around the BOK Center from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. through today and See RALLY | Page A4
Vol. 122, No. 164 Iola, KS 75 Cents
ists. The first is the singer/songwriter, where an artist has a very specific idea of what a song should be and will fight for that vision. The Iola native lives more on the other level, a collaborative one, that can take her original idea through many transformations. It’s a chaotic and glorious process filled with writers, singers, producers, sound engineers, DJs and anyone else a song calls out for. It can get messy. With so many visions and voices, there are bound to be conflicts. Boyer says that’s where a little bit of cannabis — legal in California — comes in handy. Pass around a joint, and those visions mellow and merge. “It’s like a counseling session,” Boyer said. “You sit
Karlea Boyer’s single album photo for “I Could Use a Drink.” back and open up and have therapy in the studio. Everyone has their defenses lowered. Everyone is very philosophical. The writers take what you’re going through and put it in lyrical form. It’s how you get to the raw music and make something out of it.” A LOS ANGELES recording studio filled with some of the biggest names in the music industry is a far cry from small-town Kansas where Boyer grew up. The daughter of Robin Boyer and Connie Cheung, she spent her childhood in a doublewide trailer north of Iola, on property owned by her grandparents, Marvin and Ruth Boyer. The area is known as “Boyer’s Lake.” Her See MUSIC | Page A6
Farmers speak out on poverty and pandemic By TREVOR HOAG The Iola Register
Earlier this week, a farm family from rural Woodson County was featured on an MSNBC special hosted by Joy Reid titled “American Crisis: Poverty and the Pandemic.” Mark Pringle and Mary Jane Shanklin were on the show to discuss the economic challenges faced by farmers across the county, especially in the wake of COVID-19. At the end of the segment, music legend Willie Nelson was brought on to give the two a morale boost. “I want to thank all of y’all, and all the other small family farmers out there, for what you’re doing,” Nelson said. “Y’all are essential, as important as health care providers … You mean everything in this pandemic, so please keep doing what
you’re doing.” Pringle and Shanklin were selected to appear on the show not only given their profession as rural farmers, but due to their efforts as part of the Poor Peoples’ Campaign (PPC), a social and economic justice movement originally organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. King strongly believed that his mission of seeking racial justice was inextricably tied to creating an economically fair society, and this vision and mission live on in the PPC today, as it is seeing a resurgence across the county. Pringle and Shanklin’s segment on the MSNBC special began with a discussion of the suicide epidemic among farmers, where rates far exceed the national average. As Shanklin explained, See FARMERS | Page A3
Farmers Mark Pringle and Mary Jane Shanklin take a break from loading grain into a truck on their farm in southern Woodson County. REGISTER/TREVOR HOAG
Welcome Tracy Sambo, MD
Board Certified General Surgeon
Neosho Memorial is pleased to welcome general surgeon, Tracy Sambo, MD, FASC, FICS to the new NMRMC Surgery Clinic. Dr. Sambo is board certified and specializes in hernia repair, breast surgery, colorectal surgery, endoscopy, wound care and many other procedures. Dr. Sambo is now seeing patients in the NMRMC Surgery Clinic inside the main hospital.
To make an appointment, call 620.433.3838.