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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Lottery official said tied to scams By RYAN J. FOLEY The Associated Press
A driver was injured when his car slammed into the back of parked utility vehicle early this morning in the 600 block of South Buckeye St. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Driver hurt in early a.m. wreck A driver was injured this morning after his car slammed into a parked sport utility vehicle in the 600 block of South Buckeye Street. The driver, whose name has not been released, was trapped briefly. Firefighters and police officers rushed to free the driver.
The situation was even more precarious because of a fire that resulted from the crash. The impact from the strike sent the parked SUV into the back of a minivan parked directly in front of it. Iolans Audrey Montague and Travis Tomlin-
son, who live in a nearby house, said they were awakened from the sound of the collision. They rushed outside to find the driver trapped in his vehicle. Tomlinson said he used a fire extinguisher in an at-
Couple loses suit, but open records law boosted WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City couple who sued authorities after a SWAT-style raid of their home found no marijuana has lost their civil lawsuit in a case that spurred Kansas lawmakers last year to make it easier for the public to access police investigative records. A federal judge ruled late Friday that authorities had
probable cause for the warrant to search the Leawood home of Robert and Adlynn Harte in 2012 after field tests of wet tea leaves found in their trash falsely tested positive for marijuana. The Johnson County Sheriff ’s Office had sifted through their trash based on information that Robert Harte and his See SUIT | Page A2
Becky Nilges
New role for Nilges By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Becky Nilges’ motto is a simple one: If you’re able to help, then you should. So, despite having no immediate ties to USD 257 — aside from being a taxpayer — Nilges agreed to join the newly reorganized Parent-Teachers Organization. The Iola PTO was formed over the summer as part of USD 257’s switch this year from neighborhood schools to grade-level attendance centers. “My niece was involved with the Lincoln PTO, and listening to her and other dis-
cussions, they just weren’t sure how they were going to function separately,” Nilges said. “I was afraid they were just going to drop it.” Those concerns sparked Nilges into action. “Since this is my background, I thought I could offer to help organize it.” Nilges is a former executive director at the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce. Prior to that, she worked for 17 years as student activities director at Allen Community College. “I’ve pretty much done organizing for the past 35 See PTO | Page A3
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 37
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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The former security chief for a national group that operates state lotteries personally bought two prize-winning tickets in Kansas worth $44,000, investigators said Monday, bringing to five the number of states where he may have fixed games to enrich himself and associates. Investigators recently linked the winning 2010 Kansas tickets to Eddie Tipton, former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, Iowa assistant attorney general Rob Sand disclosed in court documents. The evidence will show that Tipton associates who claimed the prizes returned half of the
money in cash directly to him in early 2011, he wrote. Tipton allegedly purchased two winning tickets to the “2by2” game at separate locations while traveling through Kansas on business in December 2010, the Kansas Lottery said. Each was worth $22,000, the prize for any player with the day’s winning numbers, and were allegedly passed on from Tipton to individuals from Iowa and Texas who claimed them, the lottery’s statement said. In his job at the association managing lotteries for 37 states and territories, Tipton managed random number generators that pick winning numbers for some national games such as Hot Lotto and See SCAM | Page A6
‘Nutcracker’ production has local flavor By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
Of the bounty of cultural items that crowd the Christmas platter each year — Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” Bing Crosby singing “White Christmas,” Handel’s “Messiah,” an ecstatic Jimmy Stewart running down the street of Bedford Falls shouting “Merry Christmas!” in “It’s a Wonderful Life” — few are as synonymous with the season as “The Nutcracker.” And while the Bowlus Fine Arts Center isn’t staging the Russian classic this year, two dancers with Iola connections managed to get their fill of sugarplums last week by claiming starring roles in Ballet Midwest’s staging of “The Nutcracker” at the Performing Arts Center in Topeka. Drew and Archie Huskey, grandsons of Iolan Sally Huskey, grew up active, athletic boys in their native Lincoln, Kan., but neither harbored dance dreams or even knew their assemblé from their elbow until they joined the Topeka dance company a few years ago. In a macho culture that fails to transmit to boy ballet dancers the same affection it affords girls, the male to female ratio in most dance classes across the country is radically slanted. Because of this, however, a premium is put on those males brave and confident enough to slide into
Drew Huskey, grandson of Iolan Sally Huskey, recently starred as the Sugarplum Fairy Cavalier in Ballet Midwest’s staging of “The Nutcracker” at the Topeka Performing Arts Center. Drew’s younger brother Archie embodied the ballet’s title character. Both Huskeys attended Allen Community College. SUBMITTED PHOTO a pair of tights. This was at least the case for Drew, 30, the older of the two brothers. “My boss at the hospital here,” remembers Huskey, who, in his civilian life, works as a pharmacist at the St. Francis Cancer Center in Topeka, “his daughter was doing ballet at a studio here in town. And they’re always looking for guys, be-
cause of course, socially, it’s not very well accepted for guys to do ballet. And so the girls need partners. At first, he encouraged me to come help them practice, but once you start showing up, the artistic directors really pull you in and want you to do more and want you to perform. And then, all of a sudSee HUSKEYS | Page A6
Audit: Snafu puts state $46M over budget TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A recent legislative audit has found that a new computer system designed to make it easier for Kansas residents to apply for Medicaid and other social services is more than two years past due and at least $46 million over budget. The Legislative Post Audit says the Kansas Eligibility
Enforcement System won’t perform as originally intended when it goes fully online, or produce the projected savings in operational costs. The Lawrence JournalWorld reports the system was designed to allow people to fill out a single application that would be used to determine eligibility for Medicaid, food stamps, cash assistance
“I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.” — Woodrow Wilson 75 Cents
and other social services. State Sen. Laura Kelly says that that the system is so far behind that she’s afraid it may be obsolete by the time it’s fully functional. “Initially it was supposed to be a one-stop shop,” Kelly said. “The fact that they have disconnected those things is See AUDIT | Page A2
Hi: 60 Lo: 49 Iola, KS