Sports: Cleveland blasts Toronto, on brink of NBA Finals berth See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Filing deadline Wednesday
Cemetery cleanup
LaHarpe Police Chief Jason Prock mans a weedeater Wednesday afternoon as part of LaHarpe PRIDE’s cleanup effort at the LaHarpe Cemetery. A group of volunteers spent more than 3½ hours with riding mowers, push mowers and weedeaters to clear overgrown grass. PRIDE members were eager to clean up the cemetery prior to Memorial Day. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
The deadline of noon Wednesday to change party affiliation for the primary election Aug. 2 coincides with the deadline to file for office. Allen County Clerk Sherrie Riebel said voter registration books would remain closed until primary election results were certified, a few days after the Aug. 2 elections. All county offices except one commission seat held by Jerry Daniels, Humboldt, will be filled in the Nov. 8 races. Commissioner Tom Williams and Sheriff Bryan Murphy face opposition in the primary election. Ron Ballard, an Iola firefighter, is Williams’ opponent on the Republican ticket. For sheriff, Kelley Zellner, a Humboldt pastor and police chief in Conway Springs, and Jared Froggatte, an Iola police detective, will face off against Murphy on the primary’s Republican ballot.
Storms blast central Kansas CHAPMAN, Kan. (AP) — A large tornado that the National Weather Service said was on the ground for about 90 minutes damaged or destroyed about 20 homes in a rural area of northern Kansas and came within a mile of hitting a small town. There were no immediate reports of injuries or fatalities from the tornado Wednesday night. Paul Froelich, Dickinson County fire district one chief, said today the tornado swept across a 23-mile stretch of rural Dickinson County, damaging about 20 homes, and that six of those homes are considered total losses. He said crews have completed secondary searches of the damaged properties and residents are so far accounted for. More than 120 firstresponders and some search dogs were on the scene over-
A tornado was on the ground for more than 90 minutes in north-central Kansas Wednesday. NWS PHOTO night helping with searches, Froehlich said. The tornado hit in a sparsely populated, rural area and missed Chapman, a small town of about 1,400 residents on the eastern
edge of the tornado’s path, he said. “It’s amazing how this tornado missed those centers of population,” Froelich See STORMS | Page A9
Lawmaker decries transgender restroom directive By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A top Kansas legislator circulated a letter Wednesday protesting the federal government’s recent directive on accommodating transgender students in public schools and promising that lawmakers will “use every possible avenue” to resist it. Speaker Ray Merrick invited fellow House members in an email to sign on to the letter. It questions whether President Barack Obama’s administration has the legal authority to direct schools to allow transgender students to use restrooms and other facilities associated with
their gender identities instead of their birth genders. He circulated his letter on the same day that 11 other Ray Merrick states, led by Texas, filed a federal lawsuit challenging the directive. Merrick, a Stilwell Republican, plans to send the letter June 2, the day after the Legislature plans to have a ceremony adjourning its annual session, spokeswoman Rachel Whitten said. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 20 GOP representatives had signed on. “This is notification that
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 149
Banners such as this will be displayed this fall around the courthouse square in Iola. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
we will use every possible avenue to protect Kansas children and their parents from blatant federal overreach,” Merrick’s letter said. “We will not stand by while Kansas children are used as pawns in a social engineering experiment.” The letter is addressed to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and U.S. Education Secretary John King, responding to guidance their agencies issued earlier this month. Tom Witt, executive director of the LGBT-rights group Equality Kansas , called the letter “disrespectful” and said he wishes Merrick rec-
Banners project continues About 20 veterans banners have been ordered for display around the courthouse square in downtown Iola this fall. Starting Wednesday, the banners project will be opened to all veterans, reported Mike Ford, a member of Iola Kiwanis and Iola Community Involvement Task Force/PRIDE group. Those groups are sponsoring the banner project, with proceeds going for tile repair in front of the Veterans Memorial Wall on the square. Banner sponsorships sell
See MERRICK | Page A9
“Every obnoxious act is a cry for help.”
— Zig Ziglar, author 75 Cents
for $150 apiece, with each banner showing a veteran’s name, picture and branch of service . The banners will be displayed about a month prior to Veterans Day. Each person who orders a banner also will receive a framed 8x10 replica as well. “We’ve handed out several applications,” Ford said. Order forms are available at City Hall and can be placed by contacting the city administrator’s office, 365-4900. The banners will be displayed for three years.
Hi: 81 Lo: 71 Iola, KS