Locally owned since 1867
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
iolaregister.com
USD 257
Soil report due on school site
Crest tops SCC in 1A thriller
By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register
Before EPA officials get their hands dirty cleaning up the site of a new elementary school, they want to talk it over with USD 257 administrators. “They consider this a very high profile project and they want it to go well,” Dan Willis, school board president, told the board at a meeting Monday evening. The soil cleanup at the school site is unique because it will target ground intended for public and educational use, rather than residential yards. The Environmental Protection Agency, through its contractor, Veterans Worldwide, is remediating soil throughout Iola neighborhoods as part of a Superfund cleanup, a federal program designed to remove toxic waste. The EPA also is working with USD 257,
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Iola High School Principal Scott Crenshaw updates USD 257 Board of Education members Monday about a senior release program, that allows seniors to skip classes they don’t need to graduate during their final semester. The Board approved the proposal. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the geotechnical engineering firm Terracon and SJCF Ar-
chitects of Wichita to determine how to clean the school site. The soil was contaminated
starting more than 100 years ago by lead from a zinc smelt-
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators aren’t ready to declare that marijuana possession never should be a felony, rejecting proposals Monday to lower penalties for third-time offenders and to release others from prison. The House Corrections
and Juvenile Justice Committee voted 7-4 against a bill that would make possessing marijuana a misdemeanor,
no matter how many times someone was convicted. Kansas law currently says a third conviction is a felony that can be punished by up to 14 months in prison, though offenders often receive probation. The bill also initially said offenders now in prison for marijuana possession would be released, but the committee removed that provision
By ROXANNA HEGEMAN The Associated Press
from the measure. Supporters of lessening the penalties for repeated marijuana possession accepted the change to give the bill a better chance of passing. Yet the measure failed to clear the GOP-controlled committee anyway, and Chairman Russ Jennings, a Lakin Republican, said the
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man awarded more than $1.5 million on Monday after spending 23 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit plans to continue his fight against those responsible for his nightmare, his attorney said. In addition to the monetary compensation, Lamonte McIntyre of Kansas City, Kansas, also received on Monday a certificate of innocence from Shawnee County District Judge Teresa L. Watson as part of a resolution of a mistaken-conviction lawsuit McIntyre filed last year. “Today, Lamonte McIntyre has been declared, finally
See POT | Page A3
See MCINTYRE | Page A3
See BOE | Page A5
Lawmakers reject lower penalties for pot possession By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
Court awards wrongfully convicted man $1. 5 million
Rising suicide rates in rural areas cause alarm
IOLA CITY COUNCIL
By CORINNE BOYER Kansas News Service
Attending Monday’s Iola City Council meeting were, from left, City Administrator Sid Fleming and Council members Kim Peterson, Steve French and Nancy Ford. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Iola water rate hikes approved By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
With minimal splash compared to past debates, Iola City Council members approved a series of water rate increases Monday. The price of water will increase 10 percent beginning May 1, another 10 percent in May 2021 and then 5 percent in 2022. The rate hikes, approved Vol. 122, No. 84 Iola, KS 75 Cents
Monday in a 5-2 vote, are geared to replenish the city’s beleaguered water fund. The across-the-board hike will apply to all customers. That means residential customers will pay $4.87 per unit of water (100 cubic feet or 748 gallons), then $5.36 per unit in 2021 and $5.63 in 2022. Wholesale rates for neighboring water districts, including Gas, also will increase 10 percent.
The new meter fees — a flat fee a customer pays regardless of how much water is used — will increase to $25.48 a month; then to $28.02 and finally to $29.42 in 2022. The goal is to cover annual water treatment and distribution costs, including a $682,000 bond payment for the water plant’s construction; increased investment See CITY | Page A5
GARDEN CITY — The number of suicides in northwest Kansas shot up by more than half in recent years. Twenty counties in the region saw suicides climb by 57% from 2014 through 2018. That jump comes in a part of the state where people already die by suicide at a higher rate than in the rest of Kansas. In Kansas “frontier” counties — places with fewer than six people per square mile — about 26 people a year out of every 100,000 die by suicide. Statewide, Kansas sees fewer than 18 suicides per 100,000 people, according to a report by the Kansas Health Institute And overall, Kansas had 555 suicides in 2018, up 2% from the previous year. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said the 2018 suicide rate was the highest in 20 years. Nationally, suicide has
Rural Kansas has a higher suicide rate than anywhere else in the state. KANSAS NEWS SERVICE/CHRIS NEAL /KCUR.ORG
been on the rise since 1999. “Suicidologists have indicated that a combination of factors have increased the risk of suicide,” said Andy Brown, commissioner of behavioral health services with Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services. They include, he said, “growing isolation among Americans, greater economic pressures, and increases in untreated mental illness.” Brown said access to firearms and opioids adds to the chances of suicide. “Suicide risk is highest See SUICIDE | Page A3