Sports: Zone tournament starts tonight See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
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Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Allen County Fair running out of help, time By KAREN INGRAM The Iola Register
O
rganizing an event as large as the annual Allen County Fair takes a lot of people, and therein lies the problem; they’re running out of people. Linda Garrett, secretary for Allen County Fair Association, said the number of volunteers has been steadily declining for years. Currently, they have about 16 members listed, but only 10 actively help with preparations. “It’s getting smaller and smaller,” she said. “People say they want to help but when it comes down to it, they can’t or they won’t, and that doesn’t help us. We need bodies.” Becky Robb, executive board member, described the situation as “wearying.” “Even finding enough people to take tickets at events is a struggle,” Robb said. “If you can’t take tickets, you can’t make money.” For the last four years or so, Landmark Bank employees have helped with ticket-taking. Members of 4-H also help with concessions and cleanup after the fair, but ideally, Robb
COUNTY
Possible lifeline for EMS By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Allen County commissioners will decide Aug. 5 whether to shore up Iola’s ambulance service finances. Tuesday morning Commissioner Tom Williams proposed transferring $136,000 to the city, with promise of another $53,000 if the city’s ambulance fund doesn’t recover from a projected $378,000 shortfall. The two amounts would cover half the shortfall that has administrators and city council members anxious. Commissioner Dick Works seconded Williams’ motion, and immediately made one of his own, to put off the vote until Aug. 5, when the full commission will be in attendance. A caveat of the county’s funding assistance will be that if Iola were to default on ambulance service and return it to county control, the money provided to help alleviate the shortfall would have to be returned to the county. “They (the city) are trying to calculate as best they can what will be needed” to fully fund ambulance service for the remainder of 2014, Williams said. “I think that will play out by the end of year,” which prompted withholding $53,000 that the county pocketed after Jan. 1 in payments See COUNTY | Page A4
It’s getting harder and harder. Some of us are getting old. We need younger people to step up and help. —Linda Garrett, Allen County Fair Association secretary
said, they need a good 10 to 12 people to help out with tasks before, during and after. In addition, Garrett said preparations for the fair are a year-long task. The association has to maintain the buildings and grounds all year long because the county does not do it. “A lot of people show up and register and think ‘Gee, that wasn’t so bad,’ but they haven’t seen behind the scenes,” Garrett said. In addition to regular maintenance, a lot of tasks keep popping up that require attention. Last year, a new crow’s nest was built for the rodeo. This year, they had to build more pens for animals. Interest in goats has been steadily increasing while sheep have been decreasing, so they had to modify some of the pens to
accommodate goats. A sewer line was accidentally damaged and had to be repaired. Electrical work needed to be done. The list goes on. Out of the $11,000 budget given to them by the county, about $5,000 is spent on 4-H while the rest goes to insurance and maintenance costs. “It’s getting harder and harder,” Garrett said. “Some of us are getting old. We need younger people to step up and help.” Clearly, it’s not a lack of interest in the fair. Garrett said last year’s rodeo drew between 1,500 and 2,000 attendees, and that’s not counting the rest of the week-long festivities. The problem is in finding people willing to step up and help. If the trend continues, Garrett See FAIR | Page A4
Becky Robb, executive board member of the Allen County Fair Association, paints the Baby Barn on Tuesday. The barn is 75 years old this year, and Robb said they plan to celebrate its “birthday” with cake and special activities from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday. REGISTER/KAREN INGRAM
Fashion forward 4-H’ers
HOSPITAL BOARD
Hospital tackles building concerns By KAREN INGRAM The Iola Register
nior reserve champion was Clara Wicoff for her casual outfit and grand champion was Delaney Umholtz for her casual outfit. In the junior division Maddi White won reserve champion with her casual outfit and Tori White won grand champion with her dress.
Continuing maintenance issues were the focus of Allen County Regional Hospital Board trustees Tuesday night. Administrator Ron Baker said the hospital’s information technology system has room for improvement. “We need more bandwidth and redundancy,” he said. Currently, the hospital uses two copper T1 cables, and they would like to at least double that capacity, he said. Other options include switching to fiber optics. The construction punch list was discussed with maintenance personnel. Some of the stonework on the side of the building may need to be replaced. There have been issues with the water circulating pump, which can affect hospital showers. There have also been issues with sewer gas coming into the building, but this does not appear to be necessarily a construction issue. The ventilation stacks on the roof are built to code, but some unknown factors occasionally cause gas pumped out to come back in through the intake system. Wind may be a fac-
See STYLE | Page A4
See HOSPITAL | Page A4
Jessica Sharp, top, won grand champion in constructed garment. Trey Wilson won grand champion in buymanship and Bailey LaRue models buymanship. REGISTER/KAYLA BANZET
Style Revue kicks off fair
By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
Allen County 4-H’ers dazzled the crowd with their fashion sense Tuesday night at the 4-H Style Revue in the Iola High School lecture hall. Following the 4-H friends picnic dinner 4-H’ers mod-
Quote of the day Vol. 116, No. 189
eled outfits that they created or purchased. The 4-H’ers were judged earlier in the day at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center. In the constructed garment revue Delaney Umholtz won reserve champion for her wool skirt and Jessica Sharp won grand champion for her dress. In girls buymanship the se-
“Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.” — Napoleon Hill, author 75 Cents
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