Inside: Trump signs Keystone bill See A2
2017 1867
Sports: Foreign students take to Iola See B1
The Weekender Saturday, March 25, 2017
Locally owned since 1867
GOP pulls health bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a humiliating setback, President Donald Trump and GOP leaders p u l l e d Donald Trump t h e i r “Obamacare” repeal bill off the House floor Friday after it became clear the measure would fail badly. It was a stunning defeat for the new president after he had demanded House Republicans vote on the legislation Friday, threatening to leave “Obamacare” in place and move on to other issues if the vote failed. The bill was withdrawn minutes before the vote was to occur. The president’s gamble failed. Instead Trump, who campaigned as a master deal-maker and claimed that he alone could fix the nation’s See PULLED | Page A6
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A deal to purchase the old Herff Jones building on North State Street collapsed last week after the buyer — who had planned to convert the facility into a lumberyard — failed to produce the money. The enterprise was to be named Friends Building & Lumber in reference to what Iolan Roland Sutterby thought to be a good relationship. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE Lumberyard a ruse, Iola man fumes
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Up until a week ago, Roland Sutterby’s plans were to manage a multi-million-dollar lumberyard in Iola’s vacated Herff Jones plant. The excitement was palpable. He had in his hands a contract to purchase the old Herff Jones plant. He was riding in a $60,000 fully loaded 2015 Dodge pickup. And he’d heard from several acquaintances, eager for
the job opportunity. “It was going to be great for the town,” he said. “She was going to pay better than average wages. She said she was going to pay two weeks for one week of vacation, because so many workers live week to week, and they would need extra money. “But have you ever heard that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is?” Sutterby asked. “That’s what this is.” The deal to buy the Herff Jones plant were squashed, and Sutterby’s plans collapsed, he said, because the financial backer — Iolan Bobbie Ingalsbe — has no money. “She’s been telling quite a story,” Sutterby said. The episode has left in its wake a series of stunned (and angry) observers, including representatives from True Value Hardware, an auto
dealership in Olathe, Thrive Allen County, and in particular, Sutterby and his wife, Spring. Sutterby has filed a small claims suit against Ingalsbe, seeking restitution for a cell phone and computer he had purchased for her. Ingalsbe, conversely, insists she still has money in an account, and is awaiting completion of legal proceedings to release the money. “It had something to do with some lawyers and stuff,” Ingalsbe told the Register, declining to be more specific. “It’s getting straightened out now.” And, she still insists she will at some point open a lumberyard in Iola. SUTTERBY AND Ingalsbe crossed paths after she started working in late 2016 for Don Diebolt, who formerly
owned Diebolt Lumber and still runs Diebolt LLC. Both Sutterby and Ingalsbe worked as delivery drivers, transporting work crews or materials for custom homes and other steel- or post-frame buildings to job sites across Kansas, Missouri and other parts of the Midwest. One random conversation led to another. “She asked me that if she had the capital, if I’d run a lumberyard for her,” he said. Sutterby said he would, but with the realization that such a venture would be costly: perhaps as much as $10 million. “I have millions,” Ingalsbe reportedly told Sutterby. The conversation soon turned to planning. Sutterby resigned from Diebolt in late January in order to focus fulltime on getting the operation See RUSE | Page A6
Fighting fire with fire Women working outside the box
Lawmakers closer to Medicaid expansion
By SHELLIE SMITLEY The Iola Register
March is National Wo m e n ’ s History Month. The 2017 theme honors women who have successfully challenged the traditional role of women in the workplace. Ashley Robb, 32, Iola, is a local woman who has not only challenged the role of women in the paid labor force but also challenged herself to go outside her comfort level. A former stay-at-home mom, Robb works for the Iola Fire Department, but you won’t just find her driving the ambulance, she does it all. “I do everything the guys do,” she said. “I am a driver, but when there is not an engineer here I work as an engineer. I drive the engine to the fires and I pump the trucks.” As an engineer she operates the field equipment. Robb’s job often consists of driving the fire engine to the scene, hooking the truck up to the water hydrant, setting up ladders and operating the hose
By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
between the ages of 8 -14, like the idea that their mom saves lives. Between working, going to school, and completing a field internship she is away from home right now 24 hours a day five to six days a week. “They are not real happy with the amount of time I am gone right now, but I think they are proud,” Robb said. It was a big adjustment for the entire family while she
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators moved closer Thursday to approving an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program to provide health coverage for thousands of non-disabled adults, even though the action could prove largely symbolic. The state Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee backed a bill that would expand Medicaid coverage to as many as 180,000 adults, most now without insurance. The panel’s voice vote sent the bill to the full Senate for a debate that is expected
See WOMEN | Page A5
See MEDICAID | Page A3
It was a big adjustment for the entire family when Ashley Robb transitioned from stay-at-home mom to EMT firefighter with the Iola Fire Department. REGISTER/SHELLIE SMITLEY levers, Lieutenant Jeremy Ellington said. Robb also drives the ambulance and responds to non-fire related calls. Robb is an EMT and firefighter and she is attending Coffeyville Community College to become a paramedic. An EMT assists the paramedic with whatever they need while a paramedic can start IVs, administer some medications, and can do advanced airways, Robb said. “You can do a lot more to
Quote of the day Vol. 119, No. 104
help,” she said. While she wanted to be a veterinarian as a youngster, it was her sister, Sara Robb, LaHarpe, who convinced her to go to EMT school at Allen Community College. Robb completed that program in 2012. “I fell in love with it then and it was my goal to go to paramedic school before I even finished EMT school,” Robb said. Robb’s children, four boys
“Learning never exhausts the mind.”
— Leonardo da Vinci 75 Cents
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