Thursday, June 25, 2020
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Economic development manager brings vision to Allen County
Geared up to listen By TREVOR HOAG The Iola Register
Thrive Allen County’s new economic development manager, Jonathon Goering, takes a moment to enjoy the downtown Iola fountain and pocket park. REGISTER/TREVOR HOAG
Jonathon Goering has just joined the team at Thrive Allen County as their new economic development manager. The Register sat down with him during his second day on the job to see how things were going so far during his transition to living and working in Iola, and to get a sense for his economic development vision for Allen County. Goering has been living in Wichita the past 17 years, but was born and raised on a farm in McPherson County, near the town of Inman. Hence he “appreciates the uniqueness of rural America See GOERING | Page A6
Bourbon Co. gets tough with COVID cases By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Four additional COVID-19 diagnoses in Bourbon County have prompted health officer Rebecca Johnson to get tough. Johnson, director of the Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Department, announced Wednesday she will issue written orders, forcing those who test positive for the novel coronavirus to either isolate or quarantine. “The reason for this stricter practice is due to the recent spread of COVID-19 in See COVID | Page A5
Opening Day on tap By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Plans are still a go “unless something drastic happens,” for the Iola Municipal Pool to open for the season on Monday. In a typical year, the pool opens for the season on Memorial Day. This year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Iola and most other communities have either delayed or canceled their openings until later in the summer. “We may tweak some See POOL | Page A5
Iola Recreation Director Jason Bauer, right, sets up a vacuum pump this week to clean the Iola Municipal Pool, which opens Monday. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Provisional ballot practice draws suit PAGE A2 A Indians drop pair to Chanute
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Cold comfort. Gun sales soar. PAGE A4
Warships avoiding pandemic (by staying at sea) WASHINGTON (AP) — The two U.S. warships in the Middle East weren’t aiming to break a record. But when the coronavirus made ship stops in foreign countries too risky, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS San Jacinto were
ordered to keep moving and avoid all port visits. As they steamed through the North Arabian Sea today, they notched their 161st consecutive day at sea, breaking the previous Navy record of 160 days. And they’re on pace to crush it, since they won’t
hit land again until they get home to Virginia later this year. The milestone, Navy Capt. Kyle Higgins said, “is not one that I think we really wanted but one that the circumstancSee WARSHIPS | Page A5
Working to reach youth, as she fights for change By TIM STAUFFER The Iola Register
D
on’t let Ana Davis’s quiet nature fool you. Still waters, as they say, run deep. And once engaged in conversation, Davis’s passion for racial and social justice rises quickly to the surface. “It’s just something that’s embedded in me,” she says. It’s a reVol. 122, No. 168 Iola, KS 75 Cents
mark that reveals little at first, but if one takes the time to listen to Davis’s story, her activism indeed seems all but inevitable. Ana Davis’s family history embodies, in more ways than one, the tortured relationship our country has with race. On her father’s side, her great-grandmother was a slave in northern Louisiana, in bondage as the plantation’s midwife.
Family of her mother’s father, meanwhile, fought for the Confederacy. Born in Wichita, Davis moved to Colony at age 1 to live with her grandparents upon her mother’s tragic death. Her grandparents moved her and her three sisters to Iola when Davis was 8 years old. Now 31, she’s lived here ever since. LIFE as a biracial girl
imparted early and painful lessons for Davis. “I quickly realized there was a void, an unacceptance of me,” she says. “That started when I was about 6 or 7. We’d go to family reunions, and I was automatically singled out. It definitely leaves you feeling less than others.” Davis recog-
Ana Davis
See DAVIS | Page A6
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