Rock chalk: Jayhawks defeat Alabama-Birmingham.
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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
www.iolaregister.com
State on path to privatize Oz hospital By MEG WINGERTER KHI News Service
Kansas officials have taken the first step toward privatizing Osawatomie State Hospital, but drumming up interest from potential bidders, finding a workable financial model and convincing the Legislature all are hurdles. Last week, state officials posted a request for proposals to operate Osawatomie State Hospital, one of two state-run psychiatric facilities for people deemed a danger to themselves or others. Federal officials halted Medicare payments to the hospital in December 2015 after finding dangerous conditions for patients and staff, costing the state about $1 million per month. Since then, the hospital has hired additional staff,
Dr. Brian Neely cuts a ribbon during an open house for the Allen County Regional Clinic in Humboldt. Patients will be seen starting Monday. REGISTER/BOB JOHNSON
Throngs celebrate Humboldt clinic opening By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
HUMBOLDT — With a crowd of well-wishers looking on, Dr. Brian Neely ceremoniously cut a ribbon Monday afternoon to announce the opening of the Allen County Regional Clinic at 111 S. Ninth St., on the east side of the downtown square. The clinic will open its doors to patients Monday. Neely will be available on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. JoAnna Curl, a certified physician’s assistant,
will be at the clinic when Neely isn’t. The clinic is operated by Allen County Regional Hospital, which has plans to open another clinic in Moran some time in early 2017. Tony Thompson, chief executive officer of ACRH, said arrangements for the Humboldt clinic were an eye-opener, taking longer than expected. Consequently, Thompson added, he didn’t want to make specific predictions for the Moran clinic. “It takes time to gets medical clearances” — including those for Medicare
— and to have a building up to snuff to deal appropriately with patients. Curl, née Bland, said she feels right at home in Humboldt and eventually Moran. She graduated from Marmaton Valley High School in 2002 and attended Fort Scott Community College, where she was a member of its vocational agricultural meat judging team. Being involved in vo-ag led her to meet her eventual husband, Johnnie Curl, a student from southern Arkansas who was attracted to FSCC to be a bare-
back rider on its rodeo team. “He’s a union welder now,” Curl said. After earning an associate’s degree from Fort Scott, she was graduated from Kansas State University and completed work on a master’s degree and physician’s assistant certification at Wichita State University. She worked in Chanute and Iola before accepting the position with the Allen County Regional Clinic here. Dr. Neely has practiced at the Iola clinic since arriving in July 2015.
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‘DEAL WITH IT!’
A plume of smoke rises into the sky from an explosion this morning at Neodesha’s Airosol Company, Inc. At least one person was injured. WILSON COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
Neodesha blast injures one NEODESHA — An explosion this morning at Neodesha’s Airosol plant sent one person to the hospital and shuttered schools today as firefighters continue to battle the blaze. The explosion, according to media reports, occurred around 6 o’clock. The smoke plume could be seen from miles away as the sun rose. One worker at the plant was injured, according to the Wilson County Emergency Management’s of-
ficial Facebook page. The worker was being transported to Wichita. Schools for all Neodesha students were canceled today, and several homes near the plant were evacuated. U.S. 400, south of the Fredonia roundabout, was closed to traffic. Fire and law enforcement crews from Neodesha, Fredonia, Wilson County and Montgomery County have been summoned to battle the fire.
Quote of the day Vol. 119, No. 20
“Deal With It!” runs Dec. 1-3 at 7:30 p.m. at the ACC College Theatre. Cast members include, front, center, Ria Koch; second from left, Aaron Huskey, Judd Wiltse, Tori Whalen and Ian Malcolm; back from left, Ashley Holloran, Angelique Kyles and Chloe Bedell. REGISTER/RICK DANLEY
Allen theater students create and star in original production By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
In preparing for their upcoming play, “Deal With It!,” members of the Allen Community College theatre department are foregoing the usual safety net of a script and are launching themselves boldly onto the emancipated — if, occasionally, terrifying — air of “devised theatre.” This form of playmaking relies on the actors as creators. There is no pre-existing script. There is no memorized
dialogue. The plot doesn’t, necessarily, obey a prefigured arc. Actors spend weeks in rehearsal, improvising scenes that circle around a suite of themes. They hold on to the bits of extemporized dialogue that strike them in practice as dramatically true and reject the lines that ring hollow. When they step onto the stage of the ACC theatre in just over one week’s time, they will have an idea of the scene and of what they’re going to say and of how they’re going to respond to the situation
“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” — Leonard Cohen, musician, 1934-2016 75 Cents
that confronts them — but only an idea. “It’s, essentially, controlled improv,” explained Director of Theatre Tony Piazza, who, last spring, accompanied a handful of ACC students to a workshop at Wichita State University devoted to the tradition of devised theater. “For this production here, we’re focusing on three main areas: family, friends and relationships. Those are our major subject units, and then See ALLEN | Page A3
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