Sports: Fillies lose in double overtime See B1
The Weekender Saturday, December 20, 2014
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Area businesses reach out to displaced workers By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
COFFEYVILLE —A steady stream of job seekers filed through the second major job fair to be held in Montgomery County in the past five weeks. Prompted by announcements that Amazon.com and Southwire Company — two of the region’s largest employers — will close their doors for good early next year, Coffeyville Community College played host to more than two dozen interested employers. Unlike the first fair, which was limited to Montgomery County employers, Thursday’s event, held in the larger of the college’s two gymnasiums, was open to all area employers, and drew four of Allen County’s most prominent. Mike Taylor, human resources manager at B & W Trailer Hitches, arrived with a stack of applications and a pile of complimentary drawstring totes. According to Taylor, the Humboldt-based company has a handful of im-
Cherokee Allen fills out an application for Gates Corporation at Thursday’s Montgomery County job fair. The event was the second of two scheduled job fairs coordinated by area groups in the wake of the Amazon.com and Southwire closings. REGISTER/RICK DANLEY mediate openings for welders, and expects an additional 15 to 20 openings, of various description, come spring. The company also plans to inaugurate a new, large-scale “powder coating system” by midsummer, which alone, said Taylor, will probably necessitate a new round of hiring. Kim Ellis and Emily Baughn, of Russell Stover
SEE, HEAR IOLA
Candies, plied potential recruits with brightly wrapped chocolates in an effort to persuade qualified applicants onto the books at the nation’s third largest chocolate manufacturer (behind Hershey and Mars). According to Ellis, most of the roughly 30 openings available at the Iola plant are evening shift positions. The Register published in-
Emily Sigg, owner of Fifty 50, displays some of the apparel from her store during See, Hear Iola Friday. REGISTER/KAYLA BANZET
Health department explains services Alice Maffett, interim nurse administrator for the SEK Multi-County Health Department, was the main speaker for Friday’s See, Hear Iola. The forum was one week earlier than normal because of the holiday. Maffett is standing in after the recent resignation of DeDe Martin, nurse administrator. Martin has accepted another job. Maffett said the health department does more than just shots in the community. It is able to give physicals and vision screenings. The department also helps with family planning, Women Infant and Children (WIC), and oral contraceptives.
See FAIR | Page A8
Four attorneys are seeking nomination to succeed Wade Bowie as Allen County attorney. Applicants are David Clark and Jill Gillette, Chanute, Jerry Hathaway, Springfield, Mo., and Darrell Smith, Olathe. Hathaway is a former Allen County attorney, having served from 2002 to 2011. Current salary is $57,000. Republican committee men and women representing each precinct in the county will caucus Sunday afternoon at 1:30 in the courthouse assembly room to hear from each applicant and then recommend one for appointment, determined by a majority of the quorum. Gov. Sam Brownback will have final say. Jim Talkington, county GOP chairman, will moderate the event.
Ohio student with local ties celebrated By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
depth stories on both companies’ hiring efforts in a series that ran last week. With the removal of Amazon, Gates Corporation moves up the list of the largest employers in southeast Kansas. According to Shanna Eck, who was on hand to describe the company’s available posi-
Four seek attorney position
“We have a healthy start home visitor who visits with women for emotional support and child support for new families,” Maffett said. “We help Alice Maffett promote breast feeding, too.” At the health department staff is able to do lab testing for things like blood sugar, hemoglobin, and checks for sexually transmitted diseases. “Most people don’t realize we do investigations to stop disease from spreading in the counties,” she said. “We do research and interviews to stop the disease.” Funding of the departSee SEE HEAR | Page A3
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 40
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Stephanie Fibelkorn, who crammed in more in her 21 brief years than some people twice her age, was honored at a memorial service Wednesday. Hundreds flocked to the memorial at Ohio State University, where she was a mechanical engineering student. Among the speakers were Columbus’ mayor and city manager, Ohio State’s college president, Disney World representatives and several family and friends. Fibelkorn was killed in a freak accident Dec. 12, when a speeding pickup collided
with a school bus in downtown Columbus. The impact pushed the bus into Fibelkorn and her boss, Bill Lewis, the city of Columbus’ chief mobility engineer. Fi- Stephanie belkorn and Fibelkorn Lewis were crossing the street, on their way to a meeting, according to the Columbus Dispatch. The accident occurred on the last day of Fibelkorn’s four-month internship with the city. She was the granddaughter of Humboldt’s Anna Ford, daughter of Humboldt native
Mary Fibelkorn and her husband Steve, and the niece of Humboldt’s Joe and Laura Weiner and Frank Weiner. Fibelkorn had set her sights on becoming an “Imagineer,” a designer of rides and roller coasters at Disney World. She had worked with the Disney World College Program as a cast member since August 2013. She was scheduled to return to the theme park Wednesday to work over the holidays. “She liked to preach happiness and kindness,” Joe Weiner told the Register, noting Fibelkorn and her parents frequently came to HumSee OHIO | Page A8
Winter ball
Chloe Hageman, Ashley Crane, Hailei Gregg, Natalie DeGrado and Mia Aronson pose for a photo at the Iola Middle School winter ball Thursday. Students raised money for the Adopt-AChild program. See story and more photos on Page A3. PHOTOL BY ANNETTE REXWINKLE
“We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves.” — Galileo Galilei 75 Cents
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