Sports: Track standout vies for nationals berth See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Special session convenes By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators convened a special session today to address the state Supreme Court’s mandate on education funding and avert a threat that public schools might not reopen next month. Key Republicans have been negotiating with superintendents from various districts on a $38 million plan for increasing aid to poor school districts. With the state facing a budget crunch, lawmakers have looked at proposals to redistribute existing funds — and lessen resistance from wealthy districts likely to lose aid, particularly in affluent Kansas City suburbs in Johnson County. The Supreme Court ruled last month that the state’s education funding system remains unfair to poor districts and violates the state constitution, despite three See SESSION | Page A5
Allen SummerYouth Theatre’s production of “Rock Around The Block” runs Friday and Saturday at the ACC Theatre. Shown here surrounding Karly McGuffin, center, are, from left, Drew Tucker, Brynna Hollins, Sam Terhune, Parker Smith, Jie Jie Burleson, Karson McGraw, Allie Fager and Lexie Vega. REGISTER/RICK DANLEY
‘Rock Around the Block’ knocks socks off By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
Drenched in a nostalgia for the 1950s — think hula hoops, poodle skirts and hot rods; think bouffants, bobby socks and beatniks — Allen Summer Youth Theatre’s production of “Rock Around the Block” plunges the audience into the innocent world of Louise’s Luncheonette. There, a group of singing
and dancing teenagers, led by Gracie Stanley, plot to bring Ziggy Springer — only the biggest rock and roll star ever! — to play at their high school dance. When Ziggy threatens to bail on the gig, however, Gracie and her friends are forced into an elaborate scheme, around which the musical’s comic plot turns. The production will be unveiled to the public at 7:30
p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Allen Community College Theatre. Admission is free. Gracie is played by the bubbly Karly McGuffin, whose immensely watchable talents alone form the stanchions on which the entire production rests. Ziggy is portrayed by Judd Wiltse, who delivers his usual offbeat charisma to the role of the mythic rock-and-
roller. While Ziggy doesn’t get a ton of stage-time, it’s worth attending the show simply to see him deliver a Presleyesque performance of the song “Oh, Baby!” Leaning into the microphone with a large, black pompadour wig clinging to his head like a frightened raccoon, Wiltse swishes his hips to the beat, a flicker of the King in See PLAY | Page A5
Appreciating Humboldt’s history By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Connie Cooper, president of the Humboldt Historical Society board, sits in a replica of a century-old home, a feature of one of five museum buildings at Second and Neosho streets. Saturday is Appreciation Day at the complex, with free lunch and entertainment. REGISTER/BOB JOHNSON
Democrats stage sit-in over guns
HUMBOLDT – Late one afternoon 30 years ago Bob Adams checked lights and locks in his downtown variety store, looked at the blackfaced clock with Ben Franklin splashed across the top in white, and walked out of the store for the last time. Retirement was his, after selling dodads and whatchamacallits for decades. Saturday scores of folks will meander through Humboldt Historical Society’s
five-building museum complex and more than a few will recall Adams and his store when they see the old Ben Franklin clock hanging high on a wall of the Stone House. “We’d taken the clock down, but people wanted it back up,” said Connie Cooper, president of the HHS board. Back up it went. Attractions for visitors at annual Appreciation Day festivities will be compelling through any of many avenues. Often it will bring back memories of yesteryears. Displays are not limited
to having direct ties to Humboldt and the area. Such as a large lamp table just inside the Stone House front door. The table’s origin has been traced to the Lee family of Virginia, as in Robert E. Lee, who led Confederate forces before surrendering to Ulysses Grant 151 years ago to end the Civil War. Somewhere also is an artifact that has ties to Grant, and so it goes with much of what is on display — including the bed on which Walter JohnSee HUMBOLDT | Page A5
Trail celebration Saturday
By ERICA WERNER The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A drained and dwindling group of Democrats, some draped in blankets and toting pillows, carried their remarkable House floor sit-in past daybreak today, disrupting the business of Congress in the wake of the Orlando Nancy Pelosi shooting rampage with demands for gun-control votes in an extraordinary scene of protest broadcast live to the world. Unyielding Republicans who control See DEMOCRATS | Page A6
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 168
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Two years of groundwork from volunteers — supplied by a Healthy Living grant from the Kansas Health Foundation — have led to one of the area’s most remarkable trail systems. Organizers will celebrate the opening of the Lehigh Portland Trails with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday. The festivities kick off
at 10 a.m. at the west trailhead. (That’s the area near Elm Creek Park South). To get there, visitors must head south out of Iola on State Street, turn east onto Bassett Street (the corner just north of Gates Corporation) and then curve back north onto South Washington Avenue. In addition to comments from a number of See TRAIL | Page A5
“It’s a fine thing to rise above pride, but you must have pride in order to do so.” — George Bernanos, French author 75 Cents
PHOTO BY RANDY RASA
Hi: 92 Lo: 78 Iola, KS