Sports: ACC’s Montoya takes 5000m record See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Attendance centers a go 257 board votes, 7-0, to start in 2015-16
Cost-cutting maneuvers on the table By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
Providing students a more equitable learning environment and gaining efficiencies were the two leading factors that led to a unanimous vote Tuesday to move USD 257 elementary schools to attendance centers for the 2015-16 school year. The tension in the meeting room could be cut with a knife during the 90 minutes of presentations and discussions. Community members attending Tuesday’s meeting said they were unaware a vote was
From left, McKinley Elementary School Principal Lori Maxwell, Lincoln Elementary third-grade teacher Heather Luedke and Lincoln first-grade teachers Christy Thompson and Nancy Skahan attend Tuesday’s USD 257 Board of Education meeting. REGISTER/KAYLA BANZET imminent, thinking discussion was only to disseminate information. Before board member Mark Burris made the motion, board president Tony Leavitt asked Superintendent of Schools Jack Koehn how quickly a decision needed to be made.
“You could wait a year and say ‘we’ll do this in 201617,” Koehn said. “If I had my choice, we would do it now. It benefits the students. Why not do it next year instead of two years down the road.” The re-organization will have McKinley Elementary School housing pre-school
through kindergarten with 140 students; Jefferson Elementary with first and second grades with 214 students; Lincoln Elementary with third and fourth grade students with 209 students, and fifth and sixth grades on the third See SCHOOLS | Page A4
Eliminating an administrator, reducing payment to the Bowlus Center, and shrinking the school year were proposed Tuesday night to save District 257 $550,000. Superintendent of Schools Jack Koehn proposed the budget recommendations before trustees. Shrinking the school calendar by 10 days saves $50,000 to $70,000. Koehn suggested moving from block scheduling, where subjects are taught See BUDGET | Page A4
Pickup truck of missing Oklahoma man located GEARY, Okla. — The Hummer pickup belonging to an Oklahoma man missing since March 6 has been found. A hunter found Ed Foreman’s 2006 Hummer H2 pickup Monday morning, deep in the woods less than a half mile from his home in rural Geary, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced. Foreman, 53, is the companion of Michelle Diebolt, LaHarpe, and is suspected as the victim of foul play. Law enforcement personnel scoured the area surrounding the pickup, but Foreman was not found. Foreman has not been
A pickup owned by Ed Foreman, above at left, was found Monday in rural Geary, Okla. Authorities continue to search for a suspect a witness saw driving the vehicle. heard from since the evening of March 5. Diebolt and others went to his home the next See MISSING | Page A4
Wichita State memorabilia on the ACC auction block By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
Hopes are high Saturday’s auction will plump the coffers for scholarships for students attending Allen Community College. The annual auction is sponsored by ACC’s Endowment Association. Doors open at 5 p.m., dinner starts at 6 p.m., entertainment will be from 7 to 9 p.m. and the live auction begins at 9 p.m. The event is at the American Legion. This year’s entertainment will be Dueling Pianos out of Utah. The pianists play back and forth and attendees can pay for them to play a song or stop a song. They also do entertainment bashing. “I hope the audience will be entertained,” said Cindy Adams, director of development.
Plentiful pickings
Shirley Stahl selects a pastry at Calvary United Methodist Church’s Lenten breakfast this morning. The final breakfast of the Lenten season will be at 7 p.m. April 1 at Iola’s First Christian Church. REGISTER/RICK DANLEY
County takes look at structures By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
The roofs on the Allen County Law Enforcement Center and the Senior/Community Center in Moran have problems.
“It will be a light -hearted type of entertainment.” Adams said auction items include themed baskets, tickets to events in big cities and sports memorabilia. “We have a Wichita State autographed basketball from the current team and the coach,” Adams said. The Endowment also has a Kansas City Chief AmbasSee AUCTION | Page A6
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 100
Ron Holman, director of maintenance at the courthouse, told commissioners Tuesday the law center roof had been leaking for several years, causing interior damage. The Emporia contractor
that installed the roof has visited a couple of times in the past six years but leaks continue, Holman said. What responsibility the Emporia company has may be See COUNTY | Page A6
Hospital gets high marks
Voting begins
By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
Voters may cast ballots ahead of the April 7 city and school election, either in Allen County Clerk Sherrie Riebel’s office or by marking ballots at home and returning them. Riebel stressed the deadline to vote in her office, as well as request a ballot, was noon on April 6. No ballots will be mailed to voters after April 3. All ballots must be returned, including those by mail, to the clerk’s office by 7 p.m. on election day, April 7.
Allen County Regional is in pretty elite company when it comes to making its patients happy. The hospital bested both state and national averages in patient satisfaction performance surveys conducted quarterly across 2014. Patients increasingly gave the local hospital
good marks for the care they received. By year’s end the hospital’s overall rating for patient satisfaction was 76.9 percent, putting it just shy of being in the top third of the nation. “We are really pleased our patients are pleased,” said Patty McGuffin, director of nursing, at Tuesday night’s meeting of See HOSPITAL | Page A4
“You may delay, but time will not.” — Benjamin Franklin 75 Cents
Hi: 67 Lo: 38 Iola, KS