Sports: Ponies host annual tournament See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
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Monday, November 24, 2014
Tour tempts sweet tooths Ogallala Aquifer levels significantly down
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Business remains sweet at Russell Stover Candies, Iola and Allen County leaders were told Thursday. Iola City Council and Allen County Commission members toured the Russell Stover Candies plant as part of an ongoing effort by city officials to learn more about the area’s major industrial players. Plant manager Darrell Weick briefed the visitors on the plant’s status, including how the company’s recent acquisition by the Swiss candymaker Lindt affects Iola’s employees. The Iola plant has 365 employees, Weick said, and focuses solely on individual molded pieces. Most of the candy made here is seasonal, such as Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day or Easter candies, Weick said. As such, Russell Stover is in the midst of its busy season and will be until February. Russell Stover tends to work “one season or more ahead,” Weick explained. That is, while customers are looking at Christmas candy now, the Iola plant is in the midst of producing its Valentine’s Day
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer is causing western Kansas to lose many of its perennial streams, which is damaging the state’s ecosystem, a water expert said. Many streams in western
at the University of Kansas a newly released map showing that more than 60 percent of the aquifer has been depleted, The Lawrence Journal-World reported. “This pumping has obviously had an impact on the
This pumping has obviously had an impact on the western third of Kansas. It’s also caused collateral damage on our ecosystem health — especially our perennial streams. — Jim Butler, geohydrology section chief
Darrell Weick, plant manager at Russell Stover Candies, shows Iola City Council members and Allen County Commissioners products the company makes. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN and Easter pieces. “We’ll work even further ahead during our slow season,” Weick said. The Iola plant’s biggest challenge is meeting demand. Employees typically work four 10-hour days a week. During the busy season they may
be called to work six days a week, or longer, which in turn is attributable to the plant’s 40-percent turnover rate. “We have a lot of parents after a while who find themselves spending less time with See CANDY| Page A4
Kansas used to be fed by the aquifer because its water table was higher than the streams. But because the aquifer’s water table has dropped 3 feet of more below the stream beds, most of the streams are now dry year round, said Jim Butler, geohydrology section chief with the Kansas Geological Survey. Butler showed the Big 12 Universities Water Workshop
western third of Kansas,” Butler said. “It’s also caused collateral damage on our ecosystem health — especially our perennial streams.” The aquifer supplies about 95 percent of water used for irrigation in Kansas and about 25 percent of the water used in the United States, Butler said. See AQUIFER | Page A4
Lawmakers study moving municipal elections TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A legislative committee is looking into changing the way municipal elections are conducted in Kansas to boost turnout. Rep. Steve Huebert, RValley Center, believes it’s time to abandon the system of holding city and school board races on a different cycle than federal and state races. He wants to combine municipal elections with higher-profile November races that generate larger turnout, the Lawrence Journal-World reports. “Plain and simple, turnout for the current system is pitiful, and it gets worse every two years,” Huebert said. “We need to either figure out
a way to increase turnout for the current system or move the elections.” In the past five years, at least 10 municipal election bills have been offered. Some have proposed merging municipal races with state and federal races in even-numbered years while others have proposed holding them in November of odd-numbered years. And some have even proposed making them partisan races. So far, none of those proposals has passed, but lawmakers did agree at the end of the 2014 session to have an interim committee study the issue and make a report to be See ELECTIONS | Page A4
Obama defends new immigration plan WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama argued Sunday that his plan to suspend enforcement of U.S. immigration law for certain violators won’t clear the path for a future Republican president to take similar executive actions regarding tax laws he or she doesn’t like. In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” George Stephanopoulos asked the Democratic president whether one of his successors, unable to get Congress to cut taxes, could simply opt
to look the other way if wealthy people decided not to pay a percentage of their capital gains tax. “Absolutely not,” Obama said. “What is true today is we don’t audit every single person, but we still expect that people are going to go ahead and follow the law.” In a world of limited resources, the president said, the federal government has to “make sure that we prioritize those folks who are most dangerous and we See OBAMA | Page A2
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 22
Top from left, Jordan Garcia, Carley Nelson, Debra Francis, Heather Kropf, Lauren Perez-Engel, and Colton Schubert will direct one-act plays on Dec. 4 through Dec. 6. REGISTER/KAYLA BANZET
ACC students run the show By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
Students will run the show at the Allen Community College Theatre next week. The student-directed one-acts are at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4-6 at the Allen College Theatre. Six students are directing their peers in plays they selected. This is the third time Debra Francis has directed a play. She wasn’t planning on doing a show this year but theater director Tony Piazza had different plans. “I saw this play and suggested it. Tony loved it and wanted me to direct it,” Francis said. Her selection is a piece called “Grace.” A man is try-
ing to commit suicide and a good angel and bad angel show up before he does. The catch is that both angels are in love with the man. Francis said the play is a drama and cast members work well together. “If you have a good cast it makes it easier to direct,” she said. Lauren Perez-Engel is directing a comedy farce that fits in with the holiday season, “Rollin’ in Dough in Mistletoe.” “I like Christmas, “PerezEngel said. “I had two choices and this seemed to be upbeat.” The play is about an evil money lord taking over a toy shop and a Christmas tree farm. To stop him, the charac-
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius 75 Cents
ters must find golden rings to pay him off. Perez-Engel is a Lawrence nursing major on a theater scholarship. This is her first time to direct a play. “I wanted to try it out,” she said. “I like acting and I got a taste of stage manager before.” Her play has seven actors and she said it has been a good challenge. “It’s sometimes hard to keep everyone focused but it’s going well,” she said. Jordan Garcia is directing his own original play, “In My Life.” The production is about a group of friends transitioning into different parts of See PLAYS | Page A4
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