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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
CITY COUNCIL
Public restrooms pushed for square
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Iola City Council members were approached twice Monday on facilitating ways for visitors to “do their business” in downtown Iola and Riverside Park. Adding public restrooms at both areas was broached by visitors to Monday’s council meeting. Mike Ford and Lesley Skahan, who were heavily involved in the Mothers Of Miracles (MOMs) playground development at Riverside Park, spoke about pursuing a $25,000 State Farm grant to build a handicap-accessible restroom at the north shelter house. Ford, a member of the Iola Kiwanis Club and a community resource officer with the Iola Police Department, said none of the existing restrooms in the park are handicap accessible.
Skahan noted the new playground equipment — which also serves children with disabilities — would be well served by an accessible restroom nearby. Council members voted, 8-0, to allow Ford to pursue the grant — 40 of the $25,000 grants will be awarded nationwide — with a caveat. City Administrator Carl Slaugh said Code Enforcement Officer Shonda Jefferis is checking with the state to ensure the city can build a new structure inside the See RESTROOMS | Page A2
Val McClean stands amid fertile soil at the community garden. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Plenty of plots available at garden Warmer weather has brought out gardeners in droves. Even so, there are still plenty of plots available at the Elm Creek Community Garden, noted Val McClean. McLean and wife Carolyn donated the land on which the garden sits. He estimated roughly half of the 123 plots are still
available. “How busy we are depends on the weather. We’re usually pretty slow in getting them rented out until the first real warm spell,” McLean said. “We saw a lot of activity over the weekend.” Plots rent for $25 for each 12-foot by 24-foot section and includes water service, use
of tools and machinery. “About all you have to do right now is the planting,” he said. McLean already has tilled up the available lots. A number of plots for disabled gardeners already are accounted for, he noted. For more information, contact Val or Carolyn McLean at 365-5577.
Rural schools battle for funds, students SYCRACUSE, Kan. (AP) — At 5:55 on an icy cold November morning, Larry Hirsch Jr. was warming up bus No. 34 next to Syracuse High School. Leaving town, he passed Syracuse’s one traffic light and headed east into a golden dawn. Hirsch had just four stops to make on his morning route, to pick up eight kids. But doing so took him about an hour and a half on dusty country roads — a 65-mile jaunt among fields of tender green winter wheat. His school district, Syracuse Unified School District 494, covers just under a thousand square miles. “I have a long day,” laughed
Hirsch, who rises before 5 a.m., works during the school day as a special education aide, and drives this route again after school, finishing at 5 p.m. As he turned north onto the dirt road that separates Hamilton County from its eastern neighbor, Kearny — and that marks the boundary between Mountain time and Central time — he got a call on his two-way radio, asking him to include another house on his route. In terms of area, this southwest Kansas school district is the state’s largest, covering the whole of Hamilton County. But in other ways it is a typical Kansas district —
Isolation and dwindling populations plague many rural schools such as Syracuse. rural and about 550 students, the state’s median enrollment, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
Road crews to begin work Several nearby highways will be affected by road construction or rehabilitation projects, Iola City Council members were told Monday. Darrin Petrowsky, area engineer for the Kansas Department of Transportation, briefed the council on the more prominent ones. “As most everyone knows, we have U.S. 54 closed down between here and Yates Center,” Petrowsky said, prompted by replacement of a railroad overpass just east of Yates Center. Motorists are being diverted south to K-39 on the outskirts of Chanute, then west to U.S. 75 before going back north to Yates Center.
Petrowsky noted local drivers have found unofficial shortcuts, using county roads or alternative state highways, but KDOT officially cannot endorse those because of liability concerns. Petrowsky said the overpass work should be finished by mid-October, although the contractors will receive a financial incentive if they finish earlier. Road crews will work starting in May on “hot-in-place” recycling along U.S. 54 between LaHarpe and the Bourbon County line, as well as a large portion of the highway farther west, in Greenwood County. Hot-in-place recycling involves softening asphalt pavement with heat, scraping away and grinding the mate-
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 99
See RURAL | Page A3
Federal official criticizes Brownback food stamps stance
CITY COUNCIL
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
More than two-thirds of Kansas’ school districts are classified as rural by the U.S. Department of Educa-
tion, and another quarter are town districts. Together they educate just over half of the state’s students. Yet many face challenges related to low enrollment, to their distance from cities or to serving wide swaths of land, and to budget cuts linked to the 2008 recession and the state’s 2012 cuts to income tax. Those challenges vary, but Syracuse has experience with many of them — from the struggle to recruit teachers and the housing shortages that make moving here difficult, to changing demographics and the logistics of busing students from far-flung farms. Last year, Syracuse spent
rial with a new bonding agent, and then reapplying the new mix to the surface. Bottom line: “U.S. 54 is gonna be messed up for a while,” Petrowsky said. Crews also are going to add a 3-inch overlay of asphalt on U.S. 169 between Iola and Welda. The KDOT Garnett office is handling that project. Area projects about to get started include the closure of K-3 south of Uniontown for a bridge replacement, and building new passing lanes along U.S. 400 in Greenwood County. KDOT also is involved with development of Iola’s LehighPortland Trail. Tree removal has begun already, he said. PETROWSKY said KDOT See ROADS | Page A2
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A federal official criticized Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s stance for reforming the federal food stamps program while attending a news conference with the governor on Monday. Audrey Rowe, administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food and nutrition service, made the comments as she and Brownback unveiled a $13.5 million federal grant to give job training to people in Kansas who receive food stamps. She said she disagrees with the governor over a separate proposal in Congress to fund the national food stamps program through block grants to the states. Brownback supports that
“Our most intimate friend is not he to whom we show the worst, but the best of our nature.” — Nathaniel Hawthorne 75 Cents
proposal, which Rowe said would hurt federal oversight and quality of service. “You lose a lot of administrative efficiencies and all of the protections that individuals experience under federal law if you had a different program operating in every state,” Rowe said. Brownback said after the news conference that he believes states could better implement a program according to their local needs. The pilot program announced Monday would provide training and services to match food stamps recipients with jobs in 35 counties over the next three years. It’s part of $200 million in grants given out to 10 states for such programs under the 2014 federal Farm Bill.
Hi: 72 Lo: 43 Iola, KS