Sports: Humboldt rolls in tournament See B1
Don’t Forget... Open house for proposed regional technical education center at the former Diebolt Lumber facility in rural LaHarpe, 4-6 p.m. today.
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Monday, April 25, 2016
Bootlegging, brewing come to life Budget
shortfall greets lawmakers
By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
I
n the innocence of her youth, Iolan Margaret Robb unwittingly broke the law by carrying bootleg whiskey to clients of her stepfather. She unabashedly detailed the experience to an overflow crowd at Saturday evening’s Allen County Historical Society spring meeting. Nich Lohman skipped to the other side of the fence and told about how to make home-brewed beer, a perfectly legal enterprise in Kansas. “This (crowd) is much bigger than we expected,” said Larry Maness, an ACHS director, as available seating in the society’s downtown museum quickly filled. “I guess offering free alcohol brings out a crowd.” Lohman brought along a dispenser that featured three different beers he had made. Robb owned the night for drama and poignancy. Before she was old enough to understand what was occurring her mother, Marjorie, divorced her birth father, Phil Butler. She wouldn’t speak to him until she was in her 30s. At age 3, in 1942, her mother married Lewis — better known as Snipe — Thornton. “I always considered him my father,” Robb said, “and tonight when I refer to my father, it will be him. He was always good to me and watched out for me,” although she can’t remember when he ever called by her given name. “It was always Shorty, which I was. I’m not sure he knew what my real name was.” Bootlegging during the war and afterward was Thornton’s avocation. A stealth means of delivery of whiskey sold had young Margaret tuck a bottle into the bib of the over-sized overalls she often wore for the occasion. “If I was wearing a dress, I’d carry it in a little bag,” she added.
By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators must close projected budget gaps totaling about $290 million when they resume their annual session this week, and top Republicans aren’t sure l aw m a k ers will be tackling much else. The Legislature is scheduled to return Wednesday from its annual spring break. The leaders of its GOP supermajorities hope to remain in session for less than a week. Key budget issues as legislators prepare to reconvene:
Margaret Robb told about delivering bootleg whiskey as a child Saturday evening at Allen County Historical Society’s spring meeting. At right is Robb with her parents Lewis (Snipe) and Marjorie Thornton, when she was carrying bottles of whiskey on the sly. REGISTER/
HOW KANSAS GOT HERE
Last year, lawmakers approved the initial versions of the state’s current $15.7 billion budget and its $16.1 billion budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. When tax collections proved disappointing, they revised both spending blueprints in March. State officials and university economists issued a more pessimistic fiscal forecast last week, slashing projected tax collections by a total of $348 million through June 2017. The new numbers created the projected shortfalls in the current and next budgets that lawmakers must close because the state constitution doesn’t
BOB JOHNSON
After moving from Iola to a wood-frame house along Deer Creek, where then U.S. 169 crossed the stream, Robb’s delivery duties waned. Instead customers knew special places nearby, including under the nearby bridge, where Thornton would leave a bottle of booze in a shallow hole. “I don’t know where the whiskey came from,” Robb said. “It was always late at night after I was asleep,” although later she recalled taking road trips into Missouri to pick up fresh supplies. Thornton’s reputation as See BREWING | Page A4
See STATE | Page A2
Kasich, Cruz announce alliance By STEVE PEOPLES and KEN THOMAS The Associated Press
A Kansas Highway Patrol trooper snapped this spectacular image Sunday of passing storm clouds in Geary County in northeast Kansas. PHOTO COURTESY OF KHP
Kansas braces for storms MUNDEN, Kan. (AP) — Storms with high winds and hail have moved into central and northeast Kansas, prompting tornado warnings and injuring at least two people in Republic County. Authorities were surveying storm damage in Munden, where at least one trailer home was destroyed. Two people who were storm
spotting were taken to a hospital with injuries. It wasn’t immediately clear how badly they were hurt. The storms passed through Ellsworth, Lincoln and Saline counties, where ping pong- to baseball-sized hail and a funnel cloud were reported. More storms are expected in Kansas later this week, particularly Tuesday..
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 125
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — In an extraordinary move, Donald Trump’s Republican rivals late Sunday announced plans to coordinate primary strategies in upcoming states to deprive the GOP front-runner of the delegates needed to win the Republican nomination. Ted Cruz and John Kasich issued near-simultaneous statements outlining an agreement that may be unprecedented in modern American politics. The Kasich campaign will give Cruz “a clear path in Indiana.” In return, the Cruz campaign will “clear the path” for Kasich in Oregon and New Mexico. The arrangement does not address the five Northeastern states set to vote
John Kasih
Ted Cruz
on Tuesday, where Trump is expected to add to his already overwhelming delegate lead. Kasich and Cruz had already retreated to Indiana, which holds its primary on May 3. Yet the shift offers increasingly desperate Trump foes a glimmer of hope in their long and frustrating fight to halt the former reality television star’s unlikely rise. “Having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket in November would be a sure disaster for Republicans,”
Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, said in a statement explaining the new plans. “Not only would Trump get blown out by Clinton or Sanders, but having him as our nominee would set the party back a generation.” Added Kasich’s chief strategist, John Weaver, “Our goal is to have an open convention in Cleveland, where we are confident a candidate capable of uniting the party and winning in
“I never liked you and I always will.” — Samuel Goldwyn, American producer 75 Cents
See ALLIANCE | Page A4
Hi: 78 Lo: 62 Iola, KS