Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Locally owned since 1867
Hospitals restrict visitors as cases rise By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Allen County’s positive coronavirus cases continued to increase this past week, but at a slower pace. The county reported eight new cases for a total of 112, according to a weekly report from the Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Departments. One Allen County resident has died from the virus. Neighboring Anderson County saw a jump of 37 new cases over the week. The county now has 167 cases. Meanwhile, hospitals in both Allen and Anderson counties will see more restrictive visitor guidelines as a result of the increasing number of cases. See CASES | Page A6
iolaregister.com
‘It’s been a roller coaster’ The Collins family copes with COVID hospitalization
returned home since the night Roger was hospitalized. She sits outside his room for hours, until she’s allowed to visit. Their faith in God is helping through this difficult time. “We believe that God can take care of everything and we’ve put it in His hands. We believe that will bring him home,” she said. “I believe the power of prayer is real, and we have thousands of people praying for us.”
By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
On July 3, Roger Collins played golf with family in Texas. Ten days later, and just hours after learning he tested positive for COVID-19, he called out to his wife, Billie, at their home in Iola. “Help me,” he told her. “I can’t breathe.” They struggled to get him dressed for a trip to the hospital emergency room. He couldn’t walk very far without getting winded. “Hug me,” he said to Billie. “I don’t know when you’ll be able to do that again.” It’s been a little more than three months since that hug. Roger was taken by life flight to Olathe Medical Center on July 13. He’s been on a ventilator since then, while his family copes with the changes to their lives. Today is his 100th day in the
Billie and Roger Collins hospital. Billie and the rest of their family are adjusting to the emotional and financial toll.
Their daughters have taken over the family business, Central Publishing Company, which Roger led. Billie hasn’t
BILLIE isn’t the kind of person who can sit still for long. She likes keeping busy. She’s been staying with a son who lives in Lawrence. It’s a 38-minute drive to the long-term acute care hospital in Kansas City, Kan., where Roger was moved Aug. 28. Every day at 9 a.m., she arrives to sit outside a window to his room. She ties blankets and makes face masks to sell. When the pandemic’s effects first began to be felt in the U.S., around March, Billie and her daughters started to sew cloth face masks. They’ve See COVID | Page A6
Fillies go 1-1 to end regular season
Commissioners celebrate SPARKS check By TREVOR HOAG The Iola Register
Allen County commissioners received a check for $192,500 to represent CARES/ SPARK funding allocated to Kansas counties, at their meeting Tuesday. About 20 local businesses and 20 local nonprofits will receive the funds. Thrive Allen County CEO Lisse Regehr also discussed with commissioners using additional SPARK funds to install touchless faucets and other amenities at public buildings connected to the landfill office, noxious weed building and three senior center buildings. Regehr expressed an in-
“as big as we can fit.” There was also some discussion of installing large static images in the memorial in glass cases that currently have no name-plates.
Allen County commissioners Jerry Daniels, Bill King and Bruce Symes display a CARES/SPARK funds check in the amount of $192,500. The money was dispersed to local businesses and nonprofits to help with COVID-19 relief. REGISTER/TREVOR HOAG terest as well in helping the Humboldt food pantry obtain more storage by installing an additional freezer at its senior center. On another front, Carl
Slaugh received approval from commissioners to have a television screen installed as part of the veterans memorial wall on the courthouse lawn. He said the screen would be
TERRY Call presented commissioners with bids from three vendors to install audio/video equipment in the courthouse commission room. They selected Graham Audio and Electronics out of Chanute to do the work for $4,759. Commissioners had expressed a desire to work with a more local company, but the differences in price between vendors were significant, See COUNTY | Page A6
PAGE B1
IHS homecoming candidates
PAGE A2
U.S. House race gets heated over bogus defunding claims PAGE B2
Community colleges see drop in enrollment during pandemic By TIM CARPENTER Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Neosho Community College president Brian Inbody relied on precedent to make assumptions about how the pandemic of COVID-19 could influence enrollment at the southeastern Kansas college during a period of massive unemployment and business realignment. In wake of the brutal U.S. recession from 2007 to 2009, he said, enrollment at Neosho Community College increased 21% per year over a three-year period. Early in the pandemic of 2020, higher education institu-
tions were thrown into an online instructional format as COVID-19 spread into the heartland. Unemployment in Kansas surged from 3.1% in February to 11.9% in April. The stage appeared set for community colleges to answer the bell of another recession. “We were expecting an enrollment increase this fall originally,” Inbody said on the Kansas Reflector podcast. “If you think about what happened in 2008 and 2009 and 2010 because of the economic downturn, what we saw was nontraditional students who had lost their jobs come back See COLLEGES | Page A5
Another brick in the wall Construction crews work through drizzling rain Tuesday to build the walls of a new science and technology center, and cafeteria on the Iola High School campus. The building is part of a taxpayer-approved $35 million project to build a new elementary school and improve heating and cooling systems at the middle school. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS
Vol. 122, No. 250 Iola, KS 75 Cents
101 S. FIRST ST., IOLA | (620) 228-5570
iola.gwfoodsinc.com